Empress Jiang

This is the story of a girl named Jiang Wei, who enters the palace as an obscure ceremonial attendant and eventually rises to become empress. (The heroine is very clear-headed, and never falls in love with the emperor, not even by the end.) I'm not very good at writing stories full of dramatic twists and turns, so this novel is all about a gradual, steady unfolding. There are palace intrigues, but nothing too mind-bending (I couldn't write a brainteaser even if I tried). The characters are not mutually chaste, nor is this a story where both leads are virgins. If that bothers you, please don't read. In palace-intrigue stories, it's basically impossible for everyone to be chaste!