The Fat Empress Is Not to Be Messed With: Your Majesty, Please Enlighten Me

A cryptic prophecy declaring, “Whoever wins over Wang Xia will bring peace to the realm,” places the chancellor’s daughter Wang Xia on the empress’s throne. Because of her plump figure, she is mocked as a “fat wife” as soon as she enters the palace. Emperor Liu Yinwu gives her the cold shoulder on their wedding night, while the other consorts regard her as a thorn in their side.

But Wang Xia never gives in to self-pity. When she is framed in the imperial kitchens, she sets a clever trap to expose the traitor. At a private club’s card table, she uses her wits to pry secrets from the enemy camp. Even while suffering from an old illness, she works through her pain to uncover the royal family’s hidden secrets, ultimately earning an imperial pardon. When Noble Consort Cui publicly provokes her, Wang Xia uses modern gadgets to turn the tables and leave her humiliated and defeated. When the retired emperor falls gravely ill, Wang Xia defies the majority and saves his life with an “uncanny technique,” astonishing the court and the people.

From establishing herself in the inner palace to helping the emperor stabilize the court, from outwitting corrupt officials to quelling threats from abroad, Wang Xia uses her intelligence and vision to shatter prejudice, turning Liu Yinwu’s initial disdain into affection. As one crisis after another unfolds, from a falling-out between father and daughter to a vassal prince’s rebellion and an enemy nation’s invasion, she remains calm in the face of danger. As a “fat empress,” she carves out a path to survival in the treacherous palace, ultimately becoming a wise empress who joins the emperor in ushering in a golden age and writing a legendary story about a woman no one dares to mess with.