Tale

Tale is a fictional story, written by KingZhongmou. It was initially titled "Vengeance", however, following the author rewriting the storyline, the title was changed. Tale is set in the year 190, and is supposed to contradict the version of China and Dong Zhuo depicted in Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong, instead placing a more original idea of his life. The protagonists of the story are Lu Shao and Lu Lingqi, the children of Lu Bu and adoptive grandchildren of the God of War, Lu Bu.

Backstory
In the year 159, a merchant from Western China began meeting with the daughter of a noble and eventually the two fell in love. The noble disapproved of this relationship and ordered the two to stop communicating with one another, however, niether listened and they continued their secret affair. Eventually the noble's daughter became with child and she arranged to elope with the merchant to his hometown. Her sisters helped her hide her pregnancy, however, it soon became too difficult and her father learned that she was going to have his grandchild. After the birth of her child, the noble threatened to slay the child and his daughter fled to the merchant. The merchant, however, refused to help her and returned to his hometown alone. The noble found his daughter, beat her and raped her for her wrongs and exiled her from his lands to live with the poor. The noble's daughter and her son were taken in by a hunter in the woods nearby. She soon married the hunter and brought up her son alongside her.

In the year 175, the wild, energetical youth, Lu Bu, took Lady Yan, the daughter of a noble, as his wife. However, he did not remain faithful to her and had numerous affairs with women and concubines. As a result of this, Lady Yan and one of his lovers, Lady Shi, gave birth to two children on the same day (December 2 175). His illegitimate child with Lady Yan, Lu Lingqi, was born a few hours before his son, Lu Shao, with Lady Shi. In 178, Lu Bu's mother and her husband, Lu Bu's stepfather, had a son, Lu Meng, however, his stepfather was soon called away to battle where he died on the field. Now penniless, Lu Bu's mother was forced to return to her noble father and beg him to allow her family to reside with him. Her father refused and when Lu Bu asked why his mother's relationship with her father was poor, she was forced to tell him the truth about his merchant father and her own father's rape of her. Enraged, Lu Bu returned to his grandfather's home and promised he would allow him to execute him, as he wanted since he was a baby, but when his grandfather swung his blade, Lu Bu turned his own blade against him and murdered him in front of the entire family. Lu Bu then forced the noble clan to seperate and decided to search for his father to learn the truth of his past. When he did find his father in 181, his father was in a brothel with several women at once. When Lu Bu confronted his father, he lied that he was his father's landlord's brother and claimed that his "brother" had left something at the house. Taking him back to the house, Lu Bu learned that his father was married and, further enraged that his father was having multiple affairs without his wife's permission, revealed all to his father's wife. When his father began to beat his wife for talking, Lu Bu dragged him out and beat him to near death in his garden. Unable to murder his own father, Lu Bu instead arranged for his father's wife to reside with a warlord called Ding Yuan before burning down his father's house.

In 182, Lu Bu later turned up to visit Ding Yuan when he noticed his father's ex-wife following him through Ding Yuan's palace. Confronting her at last, she revealed his love to him and she became his second wife; Lady Cao, whose father, Cao Bao, was a famous strategist under Tao Qian. Ding Yuan married Lu Bu's mother and became his stepfather. Lu Bu, under his stepfather's service, grew to become the most feared and powerful warrior in the land, defeating enemies single-handedly and winning battles with ease. By 189, Lu Bu's name was known by all and Ding Yuan's forces were a dangerous force. Dong Zhuo sought to ally himself with Ding Yuan to take over the eunuchs controlling the Han, however, the deal was never made and Dong Zhuo instead allied with He Jin and Yuan Shao. Ding Yuan, angered by the eunuchs, decided to lead a coup de'tat in the capital, Luoyang, but was murdered in his home by a masked assassin. Lu Bu came home moments after and attempted to kill the assassin, screaming in anger as he swung his sword. Guards rushed in to find Lu Bu standing over Ding Yuan's corpse with the assassin having fled, and accused him of the murder. Framed, Lu Bu gathered his clan and escaped with a band of loyal generals to Luoyang. Dong Zhuo had been occupying the capital at the time following the clearance of the ten eunuchs and the deposing of Emperor Shao. Dong Zhuo soon adopted Lu Bu and became a loyal follower of the Han.