Zhou Fusheng

Biodata

Background / History

Childhood and the Zhou Household

Zhou Fusheng was raised as the youngest of the Zhou household’s four sons, after Zhou Fu’an, Zhou Fukang, and Zhou Fuyu. According to what he heard from village elders, his birth parents entrusted him to the Zhous while fleeing danger. They were subsequently hunted down and jumped off a cliff, leaving him with the family 1 7.

His upbringing was markedly different from that of his adoptive brothers. He worked from childhood, ate the least, and was denied the schooling they received. Beatings left lasting scars on his body. As an adult, he handed over all his earnings to the household, while Zhou Fukang secretly kept half of his own wages 22 36.

Separation and Expulsion

When Old Madam Zhou attempted to sell five-year-old Zhou Wanwan to Pockmarked Liu for ten sacks of grain, Fusheng supported Liu Su’e’s refusal. He declared that he would accompany his wife wherever she went and demanded a family division rather than surrender their daughter 1.

The household gave their family of six only a dilapidated, roofless ancestral house, withholding grain and other necessities. When Fusheng returned with Zhou Qingyan to ask for a pot and bowls, he came back with slap marks and no supplies. Old Madam Zhou told them to die, while villagers refused them entry to Zhou Family Village 1 2.

Fusheng subsequently asked the village chief for land on which to build a home. The chief rejected the request and told the family they could transfer their household registration elsewhere instead 4.

A Home in Wild Field Village

The family’s departure brought Fusheng back into contact with Lin Shouyi, whom he had once helped with twenty copper coins and several steamed buns. In gratitude, Shouyi provided free transport and arranged their household registration in Wild Field Village through his uncle at the county yamen 5.

With the proceeds from a gold ring Wanwan found, Fusheng purchased a former schoolmaster’s blue-brick house for two taels of silver. Village chief Lin Fugui welcomed him warmly, crediting Fusheng’s earlier assistance with saving his family from ruin 5 7.

Fusheng accepted Wanwan’s authority over household decisions and helped carry out her preparations for the approaching disaster. His work included building a rabbit hutch, digging cellars, and moving grain and water into storage 4 14 18 29.

Severing Clan Ties

Despite acknowledging the Zhous’ mistreatment, Fusheng initially remained willing to return if they invited his family back. Liu Su’e and the children firmly rejected that possibility 14 29.

When Zhang Guilan later demanded the deed to their new house as the price of remaining in the Zhou Clan, Fusheng protested. The confrontation ended with Wanwan forcing a formal separation: his family relinquished clan rights and protection, but also ceased owing contributions, service, or maintenance duties to the ancestral hall 35 36.

Fusheng publicly defended Wanwan as a lucky star and chose hardship with his wife and children over returning. Although he still questioned the decision afterward, Wanwan prompted him to recall that the clan had never helped them. He finally agreed that they would not go back and should concentrate on their own lives 36 37.

Further Famine Preparations

Fusheng continued helping establish alternatives to their Wild Field Village home. He and Liu Su’e spent an afternoon cleaning another house while Wanwan explained that hostile neighbors and worsening famine could eventually make their current residence unsafe 40.

Appearance

• Lame right leg: He limps and leans to one side with each step because an old fracture healed crookedly 1 21 22.
• Scars: His body retains numerous scars from beatings suffered while growing up in the Zhou household 36.

Personality

Fusheng is affectionate and protective toward his children. He refuses to sell Wanwan, praises her accomplishments, and worries intensely when she enters the mountains without telling him. During the family’s first days after separation, he allocates more eggs to the children than to himself and Liu Su’e 1 3 8.

His gratitude also makes him vulnerable to manipulation. Wanwan observes that, after being looked down on throughout childhood, he remembers even a small kindness tenfold. He defends an elder uncle for feeding him as a child, despite Liu Su’e pointing out that the food was merely leftovers 22.

He struggles to abandon his sense of obligation to the people who raised him. Even after securing a new home, he imagines returning if asked and fears that leaving the clan will deprive his family of support. His eventual refusal to return follows repeated challenges from his wife and daughter 29 36 37.

Fusheng is modest about his own good deeds and readily follows Wanwan’s practical direction. He dismisses Lin Fugui’s gratitude as unnecessary and repeatedly agrees to let his daughter make decisions 4 7 37.

Abilities & Skills

Archery

Fusheng practiced archery diligently in his youth, when he hoped to go to war. Using a bow restored by Wanwan, he successfully hits a nearby tree 21.

• Trained his horse stance before dawn to develop stable footing 21.
• Practiced drawing a bow until his arms ached and emphasized keeping his eyes fixed on the target 21.
• Believes his injured leg prevents him from shooting as accurately as he otherwise could 21.
• Previously attempted to make his own bow and arrows, but could not get the arrows to fly 21.

Handcraft and Household Work

Wanwan recognizes that her father is good with his hands and assigns him practical construction and security tasks 19.

• Animal housing: Builds a rabbit hutch from wooden poles, woven twigs, and dry straw 14.
• Defenses: Agrees to sharpen branches and position them along the walls to injure intruders 19 20.
• Food storage: Helps dig and prepare cellars, including one treated with lime to reduce dampness 18 29.
• Food preparation: Cleans pig intestines, lungs, and stomach with plant ash under Wanwan’s instructions 10.

Leg Injury and Proposed Treatment

Relationships

• Liu Su’e — Wife and partner in protecting their children. She comforts him after separation but refuses to let his loyalty to the Zhous draw her and the children back into servitude 1 14 29.
• Zhou Wanwan — Daughter whose judgment he increasingly trusts. She directs the family’s survival preparations, challenges his misplaced guilt, and offers to treat his leg 4 22 36 37.
• Zhou Qingyan, Zhou Qinghe, and Zhou Qingchen — His three sons. Qingyan accompanies him to request cooking utensils; Qinghe and Qingchen later openly oppose his suggestion of returning to the Zhou household 2 29.
• Old Madam Zhou and Old Man Zhou — Adoptive parents who exploit his labor and expel his family. Liu Su’e states that his birth parents paid them fifty taels for his care; they deny this and claim they found him abandoned 7 22 36.
• Zhou Fu’an, Zhou Fukang, and Zhou Fuyu — Adoptive elder brothers. They discuss using the disaster to force his family back into dependence and service 1 18.
• Lin Shouyi and Lin Fugui — Beneficiaries of his earlier generosity who become important allies. They help his family settle in Wild Field Village, establish food storage, and resist harassment from Zhou Family Village 5 7 14 16.

Notable Quotes

“Wife, where could you go if you left the Zhou family? Wherever you go, I’ll go. We won’t sell our daughter.” 1

“No need. I like hardship. As long as I’m with my wife and children, I’m willing to endure any hardship.” 36