The Tale of Yun Zheng

Synopsis: Set in the fictional Great Zhou dynasty, this story centers on one family and tells the sweeping history of a dynasty over forty years, as the old gives way to the new.

About the protagonist: 1. The heroine is cheerful, magnanimous, kind, and responsible. (No one in this story is perfect; the protagonist has flaws.)

2. The heroine will have several relationships in this story, including heartbreaking episodes. But she remains devoted to the person she truly loves.

3. The heroine is inspired by the author's own life experiences, and the female characters in the story reflect women the author has encountered in real life.

Reader's guide: 1. Gender equality is a foundational assumption of this story. It won't be emphasized deliberately, so readers can simply experience it for themselves.

2. The large cast at the beginning may make the story difficult to follow. There are between 120 and 160 major and minor characters. Almost everyone involved in the main plot has a distinct personality and background, and characters appear and reappear throughout the story.

3. The story contains many foreshadowed clues. The author plants hints for later developments in every chapter.

4. The main text rarely indicates when events take place. Check the summaries to confirm the timeline and help you follow the plot.

5. There are many pairings in this story, including women with women, men with men, men with women, teacher and student, sisters, older man and young woman, and tragic romances.

6. This story is told nonlinearly. The ends and beginnings of each part overlap in time, and there are time jumps in between as well.

7. The author aims for polished prose, a winding plot, vivid characters, sincere and moving emotions, and broad appeal. This is not a simplistic story.

8. The pairings will not be changed. The characters' entrances and exits have been planned, with earlier clues paying off later and future events hinted at in advance.

9. The author is doing their best to write compelling analyses of the mysterious cases. If there are logical gaps in the case analyses, please forgive the author and leave a comment pointing them out so they can be corrected.

10. The author welcomes feedback and hopes to hear from you in the comments. If needed, the author will make appropriate changes to the plot and writing.

11. Unless otherwise noted, all the poetry in this story was written by the author. The author's writing skills are limited, so please forgive any shortcomings.

Update schedule: 1. The author is very busy with school, so updates will be infrequent. I'm sorry about that. Starting in August, there will be weekly updates every Friday at 11 p.m. The author will build up a stock of chapters in the meantime. Once updates begin, they will arrive regularly each week.

2. After each chapter, the author will explain their interpretation of it in an author's note, but won't point out foreshadowing.

3. Each chapter will generally be around 5,000 characters or more.

Author's note: I absolutely will not abandon this story!

The author spent a year developing this story, and every part of it was built up bit by bit. It is absolutely not plagiarized!

This story is absolutely top-tier among Girls' Love novels! The author won't let readers down, and hopes you enjoy the story!