Lady Zhen 甄氏
The Idealist
You believe people could be better — and you say so.
- Compassionate
- Principled
- Unforgettable
As a girl she borrowed her brothers' ink and paper, arguing that a woman needs the past to learn from. At about ten, in a famine, she talked her family out of profiteering: in a collapsing world, she said, owning treasure is itself the crime. They gave their surplus grain to the neighbours.
You lead with conscience, even when it is dangerous. Taken into Cao Pi's household after the fall of Ye, she was passed over when he became emperor of Wei; she complained, and he ordered her death. Her son later honoured her as Empress Wenzhao. Centuries on, legend tied her to Cao Zhi's Rhapsody on the Goddess of the Luo River — which is why this portrait carries a goddess's name, Luo Shen.
