A'Jin
"Ow, ow, easy, Senior Sister. Aren't I just talking you up so I can ask him for money?"
A Disciple of the Kongtong Sect's Flying Heaven Gate and 's Junior Brother, whom she calls "stinking A'Jin". The Flying Heaven Gate's well-informed know-it-all, sly to the bone, and the business partner of in his money-making schemes at Kongtong.
When Zhao Huo is locked in the Soul-Quelling Prison, Rui Sheng runs everywhere and still cannot get him released. A'Jin hears of it and seeks Rui Sheng out himself, puffing Xiaomei up as the "Flying Fire Crane Immortal" who stands above all but one, and, pretending to be greatly troubled, extorts a fee and leads Rui Sheng up Crane Cliff to ask for help. But Xiaomei and Rui Sheng already knew each other, and she had long since broken into the prison and freed Zhao Huo. A'Jin instead gets grabbed by Xiaomei and interrogated over whether he took any money, and does not pocket a single coin.
After Venerable Golden Crow is pushed from behind off One-Line Sky at Wild Fox Bridge and, before losing consciousness, writes the character "Mei" in his own blood, A'Jin is ordered by the Sect Leader to go up Crane Cliff and summon Xiaomei for questioning. Faced with the alibi Xiaomei offers, he scoffs at Zhao Huo's false testimony, but is half convinced when Rui Sheng backs it up. Then Xiaomei, gloating, lets her tongue slip and casually mentions "silencing" someone, which sends Fire Lightning lunging at A'Jin. Even so, before he leaves, A'Jin kindly warns Xiaomei that Golden Crow may well become Sect Leader one day, so she should not offend him beyond all repair, and that whether she apologizes or runs is her own call.
After Late May Year 2, if Kongtong's Seasonal Trials have three wins in total (a clean sweep, or two wins plus Xiaomei's intercession), Zhao Huo runs into him again while training at Crane Cliff. He reveals that Golden Crow was blown up that morning when someone threw a lit paper spill at him while he was at the latrine, and that men are being sent everywhere to hunt down Xiaomei. He warns Zhao Huo that he showed off too much at the Grand Trial and is always hovering around Xiaomei, whom Golden Crow regards as his wife-to-be, and will bring disaster on himself sooner or later, and advises him not to set foot on Crane Cliff again (Mood −20; Crane Cliff is closed from then on).
Notes
- Xiaomei's rule is that anyone looking for her must "knock" first, but Crane Cliff has no door. The "door" she means is A'Jin's forehead.
- Xiaomei herself despises the nickname "Flying Fire Crane Immortal". It is just something A'Jin made up to drive up his price with Rui Sheng.