Zhou Zishu

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Character
Name: Zhou Zishu (also known as Zhou Xu)
Occupation:
Relationships:
Fandom: Faraway Wanderers/Word of Honor
Other:
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Zhou Zishu (周子舒) is the main character of the Chinese danmei webnovel Faraway Wanderers and its live-action drama adaptation Word of Honor. In the drama adaptation he is played by Zhang Zhehan.

Together with Wen Kexing, he is one half of the most popular ship in the fandom, Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu or WenZhou.

Canon Background

Zhou Zishu first appears as a secondary character in the novel Qi Ye by Priest, where he is the leader of Tian Chuang, or the Window of Heaven, a royal assassin/spy organisation. He is a martial arts master and an expert at disguises. He is friends with Jing Beiyuan, the main character, and has a naive disciple who admires him--named Liang Jiuxiao in the novel, Qin Jiuxiao in the drama. Zishu and Beiyuan commit multiple murders of innocent people (among other heinous crimes) to ensure the crown prince (Helian Yi) ascends to the throne. Jiuxiao dies toward the end of the novel. In the sequel, Faraway Wanderers, set a few years later, the story starts when Zhou Zishu, now the main character, escapes Tian Chuang by driving seven nails into his own body that will kill him in three years. There are some differences in Zhou Zishu's motivations and backstory between the novel and the drama; although it is implied in the drama that his criminal past is the same, he appears to regret it more, and he realizes that his efforts were in vain because the prince he backed (now called Jin Wang) was not good. They are cousins in the drama, and no relation in the novel. His original motivation in working for the prince is also changed--he took his 81 disciples from the martial arts sect Four Seasons Manor to start working for his cousin because they were promised safety (all the disciples die), but in the novel he seems to have acted alone and was motivated by ambition.

In Faraway Wanderers/Word of Honor, Zhou Zishu intends to relax and enjoy his last years wandering the martial arts world, but ends up involved in jianghu drama, adopting a new disciple, Zhang Chengling, and meeting and falling in love with Wen Kexing. In the drama Wen Kexing turns out to be another long-lost disciple. At the end of the novel, Jing Beiyuan's husband Wu Xi cures him, and he lives happily ever after with Wen Kexing, but at the end of the drama, Wen Kexing cures him.

Shipping

By far the most popular ship in the fandom is Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu, the end game canon relationship in the novel and heavily implied in the drama. A few rarepair ships also include Zhou Zishu.

On AO3 as of September 24, 2023:

Tropes and Fanon

  • "Hoboxu" - Zhou Zishu's canonical disguise as a sickly hobo, alias "Zhou Xu", is a subject of interest for fanartists, some of whom have developed their own interpretation of the novel version of his appearance.
  • In Modern AUs, Hoboxu is often translated as just dressing in as slovenly a manner as possible: hoodies, crocks, wearing socks with sandals, etc.
Here’s the thing. ZZS is the kind of man who wears oversized hoodies, knee socks, and slides, and correspondingly LOOKS like the kind of man who wears oversized hoodies, knee socks, and slides.

The ZZS that greets him in the parking lot is wearing clothes that actually fit him, and looks like this:

For a moment, WKX forgets to breathe. Then, he thinks, in italics, OH.

from this Chinese New Year Modern AU threadfic by aubreyli

Example Fanworks

雪中的阿絮～ (Ah Xu in the snow) by asong. Watercolor of a scene from the show

Fanfiction and Podfic

Fanart

Video

Other

Fannish Resources

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