This volume takes Zhang Heng as the core character, supplemented by supporting characters such as Ouyang Xiu (real historical figure), Zhang Yaozuo (real historical figure), Zhang Dun (fictional but based on the historical figure Zhang Dun), Zhao Mingyun (fictional, as a "spectator" perspective), etc. Through their interactions between the second and third years of Jiayou's reign, the complex ecology of the court in the mid-Northern Song Dynasty is outlined.
