The least valued concubine-born daughter in the Prime Minister’s household, with no maternal family to rely on, she entered the palace only to be trampled underfoot by her legitimate elder sister. The empress saw her as an insect, and the emperor treated her as a pawn.
But they were waiting for the wrong person. In her previous life, she was a top lawyer. She had seen every kind of scheme and every twist of the human heart. She recruited informants, won over military officers, and gradually took control of the army’s power. Empress Qi laid traps at every turn, and she sent them right back. She would neither compete for favor nor curry favor with anyone. What she intended to overturn was the entire imperial palace.
