A Zhu
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A Zhu (Chinese: 阿朱; pinyin: ā zhū; literally "scarlet") is a character in Jinyong's Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils. Her full name is Ruan Azhu (阮阿朱), following the surname of her mother, Ruan Xingzhu (阮星竹).
A Zhu is a seventeen-year-old beauty with an oval shaped face and vibrant personality. She was given away to villagers shortly after she was born by her birth mother, with only an identifying tattoo on her body and a golden jewellery, on which the Chinese words "Sky full of stars, Bright and shiny, Forever brilliant, A long time of peace (天上星, 亮晶晶, 永燦爛, 長安寧/天上星, 亮晶晶, 永灿烂, 长安宁)" was carved.
Later, she was adopted into the household of Gusu Murong (姑蘇慕容 / 姑苏慕容), and given the status of a high-class maid, with servants of her own. She lives the isolated grounds of her adopted household, and have excellent make-up skills which can be used to disguise herself as another person. Mischievous but kind-hearted, she gangs up with her friend and fellow maid A Bi to help Duan Yu（段譽/段誉）, the Little Prince of Dali, when he was held hostage by a Tibetan monk, Jiu Mo Zhi (鳩摩智 / 鸠摩智) and brought to the Murong household grounds.
Her help brings her into the Central Plains and the pugulist world, where she meets Xiao Feng (蕭峰/萧峰, or Qiao Feng (喬峰/乔峰), the leader of the Beggars' Sect. After Xiao Feng (萧峰) was thrown out of the Beggars' Sect because he was found to be of Khitan lineage, she becomes his only friend and comforts him with her understanding and gentle ways. This friendship later blossomed into love when Xiao Feng risked his life to take her to a great physician.
In the end, A Zhu finds out that her birth father is actually Duan Yu's father, Duan Zhengchun (段正淳), the Prince of Dali, who had an affair with her mother when he was young. She and her sister A Zi (阿紫), or Violet, was the result of the affair. After Duan Zheng Chun left her mother, who was pregnant, her mother had no choice but to give the two sisters away as her grandparents were very strict and frowned upon pregnancies out of the wedlock.
A Zhu's life ended in a tragedy when she realised that her birth father is the supposed enemy of her lover, Xiao Feng. In one of the most touching scene of the novel, she disguised herself as her father to accept a challenge by Xiao Feng. Xiao Feng, not knowing it, killed A Zhu with one hit. It was too late when he realised this and, before she died, A Zhu gave the responsibility of caring for her sister, A Zi, to Xiao Feng. Saddened, Xiao Feng vowed never to marry again, in remembrance of this lover.
