diff --git a/tests/_utils/setup.sql b/tests/_utils/setup.sql
index 8298a5b8a728..2d9f50a0bfbb 100644
--- a/tests/_utils/setup.sql
+++ b/tests/_utils/setup.sql
@@ -600,3 +600,13 @@ CREATE TABLE `delete_player_game` (
   KEY (`player_id`),
   KEY(`game_id`)
 );
+
+-- db_functions
+CREATE TABLE `db_functions_article_author` (
+  `article_id` BIGINT NOT NULL,
+  `author_id` BIGINT NOT NULL,
+  SHARD KEY (`article_id`),
+  UNIQUE KEY (`article_id`, `author_id`),
+  KEY (`article_id`),
+  KEY (`author_id`)
+);
diff --git a/tests/db_functions/migrations/0002_create_test_models.py b/tests/db_functions/migrations/0002_create_test_models.py
index 37ee93f92f6e..4934ccb6e211 100644
--- a/tests/db_functions/migrations/0002_create_test_models.py
+++ b/tests/db_functions/migrations/0002_create_test_models.py
@@ -19,12 +19,6 @@ class Migration(migrations.Migration):
         migrations.CreateModel(
             name="Article",
             fields=[
-                (
-                    "authors",
-                    models.ManyToManyField(
-                        "db_functions.Author", related_name="articles"
-                    ),
-                ),
                 ("title", models.CharField(max_length=50)),
                 ("summary", models.CharField(max_length=200, null=True, blank=True)),
                 ("text", models.TextField()),
@@ -34,6 +28,37 @@ class Migration(migrations.Migration):
                 ("views", models.PositiveIntegerField(default=0)),
             ],
         ),
+        migrations.CreateModel(
+            name="ArticleAuthor",
+            fields=[
+                (
+                    "article",
+                    models.ForeignKey(
+                        on_delete=models.CASCADE, to="db_functions.article"
+                    ),
+                ),
+                (
+                    "author",
+                    models.ForeignKey(
+                        on_delete=models.CASCADE, to="db_functions.author"
+                    ),
+                ),
+            ],
+            options={
+                "managed": False,
+                "db_table": "db_functions_article_author",
+                "unique_together": {("article", "author")},
+            },
+        ),
+        migrations.AddField(
+            model_name="article",
+            name="authors",
+            field=models.ManyToManyField(
+                related_name="articles",
+                through="db_functions.ArticleAuthor",
+                to="db_functions.author",
+            ),
+        ),
         migrations.CreateModel(
             name="Fan",
             fields=[
diff --git a/tests/db_functions/models.py b/tests/db_functions/models.py
index d6a06511bcc1..7b4336d0aacb 100644
--- a/tests/db_functions/models.py
+++ b/tests/db_functions/models.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ class Author(models.Model):
 
 
 class Article(models.Model):
-    authors = models.ManyToManyField(Author, related_name="articles")
+    authors = models.ManyToManyField("Author", related_name="articles", through="ArticleAuthor")
     title = models.CharField(max_length=50)
     summary = models.CharField(max_length=200, null=True, blank=True)
     text = models.TextField()
@@ -22,6 +22,15 @@ class Article(models.Model):
     views = models.PositiveIntegerField(default=0)
 
 
+class ArticleAuthor(models.Model):
+    article = models.ForeignKey(Article, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
+    author = models.ForeignKey(Author, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
+
+    class Meta:
+        unique_together = (('article', 'author'),)
+        db_table = "db_functions_article_author"
+
+
 class Fan(models.Model):
     name = models.CharField(max_length=50)
     age = models.PositiveSmallIntegerField(default=30)