Zhang Shouzhuo

Biodata

Background / History

Medical career

Zhang Shouzhuo had practiced medicine for decades and was a nominal disciple of the Medicine King, Sun Simiao. He became Director of Imperial Medicine and recommended Zhou Ming as medical officer to Princess Taiping’s household. Wang Zhen, a medical supervisor at the Imperial Medical Bureau, was his junior fellow disciple 3 10.

His private practice brought him into contact with martial-world figures and retainers of powerful households. According to Yan Mingxiao’s investigation, he took private patients to enrich himself and had quarreled with seven or eight people over unsuccessful treatment. One was Poison-Handed Yama, whose damaged meridians worsened under Zhang’s care, nearly costing him his martial arts 13.

Lu Changfeng later accused Zhang of purging opponents within the Imperial Medical Bureau, embezzling funds, and amassing wealth despite his poor medical skills. He invoked Zhang’s many enemies to challenge Yan Mingxiao’s decision to single him out for questioning 31.

Jiang Li subsequently explained that he had known of Zhang’s vile character but had not expelled him from the lineage because of Sun Simiao’s wishes. Zhang’s court appointment also made disciplinary action politically complicated: publicly removing him and Sun Huaijin would have drawn Medicine King Valley into court struggles. The account of Jiang Li’s deliberations characterized Zhang’s misconduct before Lu’s appearance as largely inadequate medical skill and occasional misdiagnoses, offenses that the softhearted healers had not considered sufficient to justify enforcing the sect’s iron laws against court officials 119.

Conflict with Lu Changfeng

After Lu Changfeng cured Xue Chongyin, Zhang examined the boy and recognized that his colleagues had likely misdiagnosed him. Princess Taiping held Zhang responsible for recommending incompetent physicians and informed him that both Zhou Ming and Wang Zhen had been executed. Humiliated, Zhang invoked appointment regulations to obtain permission to meet Lu, the household’s new medical officer 3.

Zhang questioned the lineage of Lu’s golden-needle technique and dismissed unorthodox treatments as lucky accidents. When Lu countered by pointing to the Imperial Medical Bureau’s failed diagnosis, Zhang attempted to intimidate him with true qi. Qing Dai effortlessly dispersed the pressure, forcing Zhang to leave with a warning 4.

Search for the Shennong Glazed Glass Art

Zhang assisted Wu Lingyun in searching Sun Simiao’s handwritten manuscripts at the Pivot of Heaven Pavilion. He explained that Sun Huaijin believed the manuscripts concealed the Shennong Glazed Glass Art, an inheritance Sun Simiao had not passed directly to his disciples 10.

Suspecting that Lu had discovered the secret, Zhang tested him on difficult prescriptions and acupuncture details. Lu answered accurately, demonstrating his photographic memory. After Qing Dai intervened to take Lu away, Zhang urged Wu Lingyun to kill him rather than risk losing the inheritance. Wu instead rebuked Zhang for trying to use her to settle his private grievance 11.

Zhang then reported his suspicions to Sun Huaijin. Sun ordered him to bribe Wu Lingyun’s attendants into examining volume thirty of Thousand Gold Prescriptions and to monitor Lu’s medicinal purchases and cultivation activities 12.

Death and investigation

On returning to the Imperial Medical Bureau, Zhang received a letter addressed for him to open personally. Wang Bingwen warned that its unseen messenger possessed exceptional lightness skills and that the letter might be a trap. Zhang dismissed the danger, trusting his medical inheritance and protective Shennong qi; he also refused to appear frightened before the assembled officials 12.

Tearing the seal released an almost imperceptible, colorless and odorless vapor into his face. Zhang immediately lost the ability to call for help, convulsed, and collapsed as his complexion turned blue-black. He died around noon on the twelfth day of the third month. The enclosed paper bore the word “Quack” 13 31.

Lu’s later reflections establish that he killed Zhang using refined pufferfish toxin after repeated provocations. The murder also served to deter Medicine King Valley from acting against him over the stolen inheritance. Investigators, however, could not identify the poison: Sun Huaijin judged its potency comparable to rare fifth-tier poisons, while Yan Mingxiao found no conclusive evidence against Lu 13 14 15 29.

Zhao Zhijie sealed the Imperial Medical Bureau and detained those present, while Sun Huaijin examined Zhang’s corpse and identified the envelope as the means of poisoning. Sun named Lu as a suspect on the basis of their confrontation at the Pivot of Heaven Pavilion earlier that day. Yan Mingxiao challenged the accusation, arguing that producing such a potent poison in so little time was implausible. She also considered Sun suspicious because Zhang had died shortly after leaving his duty room and because Sun possessed greater access to powerful poisons 13 14.

When ordinary pufferfish poison was proposed as a possible explanation, Yan rejected it because Zhang’s nearly instantaneous death and the tiny quantity delivered through the envelope did not match its usual effects. The poison remained unidentified even as physicians from the imperial medical offices and Medicine King Valley debated the case 14 29.

Posthumous repercussions

Yan Mingxiao later confronted Lu at the Moon-Gathering Tower about his whereabouts at the time of Zhang’s death. Lu demanded proof of her authority and a warrant, challenged her selective focus on him, and left after she failed to establish grounds to detain him. Luo Qingge likewise refused to treat Lu as guilty without conclusive evidence 31 32.

Princess Taiping privately associated Zhang’s death with pufferfish and recognized Lu’s capacity to kill without leaving evidence. She subsequently ordered Jinghong to warn Shen Qingshu and his junior martial sister not to trouble Lu over the case, extending the warning to the Embroidered Shadow Pavilion. She declared that Zhang deserved death for his crimes and was willing to confront the pavilion to protect Lu 38 41.

At Little Apricot Ridge, Jiang Li directly asked Lu whether he had killed Zhang. During their discussion, Jiang acknowledged his prior knowledge of Zhang and Sun Huaijin’s flaws and explained why he had refrained from purging them from Medicine King Valley. He also told Lu that he had punished Sun Huaijin and that Lu’s poison would prevent Sun from causing further trouble 119.

Personality

Zhang placed great importance on prestigious medical lineages, treating Lu’s lack of a recognized teacher as grounds to question his competence despite a successful cure. His wounded pride quickly became hostility: when verbal intimidation failed, he resorted to martial pressure, then attempted to turn Wu Lingyun’s authority against Lu 4 11.

His conduct changed sharply around powerful figures. He knelt and begged forgiveness before Princess Taiping and Wu Lingyun, yet treated Lu with open condescension. His confidence in his own medical defenses—and concern for maintaining appearances—ultimately led him to ignore the warning about the fatal letter 3 4 11 12.

His hostility included a willingness to exploit official authority for personal revenge. During his examination of Lu’s medical knowledge, he hoped that an incorrect answer would provide grounds to accuse Lu of deceiving Wu Lingyun and subject him to torture. Jiang Li later explicitly described Zhang’s character as vile 11 119.

Abilities & Skills

Medical knowledge

• Pulse diagnosis: Recognized that Xue Chongyin’s pulse was weak but stable and that he was no longer in danger 3.
• Classical medicine: Knew enough prescription theory, acupuncture, and moxibustion to devise detailed tests using Medical Compendium and Thousand Gold Prescriptions 11.
• Limitations: His treatment worsened Poison-Handed Yama’s injuries, and Yan Mingxiao characterized his medical skill as mediocre 13.

True qi and Shennong qi

• Martial pressure: Projected an invisible wave of true qi toward Lu Changfeng; Qing Dai neutralized it without visible effort 4.
• Shennong qi: Possessed Shennong qi protecting his body, which he believed would safeguard him against a small dose of poison 12.
• Limits: His defenses did not prevent the poisoned letter from killing him almost immediately 13.

Power Progression

Relationships

• Sun Simiao — The Medicine King and Zhang’s teacher; Zhang described himself as a nominal disciple rather than a personal disciple 10.
• Sun Huaijin — Senior fellow disciple and collaborator in seeking the Shennong Glazed Glass Art. Zhang’s death frightened Sun into remaining in his palace duty room and having others handle correspondence 12 22.
• Lu Changfeng — Medical rival and eventual killer. Zhang’s efforts to discredit and investigate him escalated their dispute beyond professional competition 4 11 15.
• Princess Taiping — Rebuked him over his recommendations; later ordered officials and the Embroidered Shadow Pavilion not to trouble Lu over his death 3 41.
• Wu Lingyun — Partner in the manuscript search who rejected his attempt to manipulate her into eliminating Lu 10 11.
• Poison-Handed Yama — Former patient who publicly called him a “quack” and threatened revenge after Zhang worsened his injuries 13.
• Yan Mingxiao — Constable investigating his murder. She continued to suspect Lu but lacked evidence sufficient to detain him 29 31 32.
• Qing Dai — Protected Lu from Zhang’s martial intimidation and later interrupted the manuscript interrogation with a fabricated medical emergency, preventing Zhang from continuing to press him 4 11.
• Wang Bingwen — Imperial Medical Deputy who brought Zhang the fatal letter and warned him that its mysterious delivery might indicate a trap 12.
• Jiang Li — Fellow member of Sun Simiao’s lineage who knew of Zhang’s bad character but refrained from expelling him out of deference to their master’s wishes and concern over court entanglements. He later questioned Lu directly about Zhang’s death 119.

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