貂蟬

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Counted among China’s Four Great Beauties — yet she never existed in the histories: she is the novel’s invention. As Wang Yun’s singing girl she plays both Dong Zhuo and Lü Bu in the interlocking scheme, toppling a tyrant with a smile; hers is the epithet "so lovely the moon hid behind the clouds." The seed is a single line in the histories: Lü Bu’s uneasy affair with one of Dong Zhuo’s maids.

Key events

1. 192

   Wang Yun and Lü Bu Kill Dong Zhuo

   Minister Wang Yun’s plot wins over Lü Bu, who cuts down Dong Zhuo. The novel dramatizes it with the fictional Diao Chan’s double scheme.

   Wang YunLü BuDong Zhuo

History vs. the novelHistoryvsNovel

She is herself the textbook case of the history/novel divide — this entire page sits under the "novel invention" badge. Unreal, yet indelible: the narrative embodiment of the scheme that brought Dong Zhuo down.