Empress Zhangde: From Minister's Daughter to Regent Dowager

She once believed that by restraining herself and observing propriety, she could find peace in the deep palace.

Dou Shu, daughter of a convicted minister, enters the palace and takes Empress Dowager Ma, famed for her virtue, as her example. She studies, learns etiquette, and exercises caution and self-discipline. Then she discovers that even Empress Dowager Ma's selflessness has an edge: she endures when there is no opportunity, but seizes one when it comes. At last, Dou Shu understands that virtue alone has never been enough to survive in the harem.

After Empress Dowager Ma dies, Liu Qing, the son of Noble Lady Song, is made crown prince. Though Dou Shu is empress and already has an adopted son, Liu Zhao, she remains deeply uneasy. She joins forces with Cai Lun, her elder brother Dou Xian, and her mother, Princess Biyang, to eliminate the Song clan and depose Liu Qing. She then lets Dou Xian purge the Liang clan, who are secretly celebrating, and finally puts Liu Zhao in line for the throne. She holds sole authority over the harem and enjoys ever greater favor, while watching the Ma clan, freed from restraint, get driven out of Luoyang. Gradually, she comes to understand why Empress Dowager Ma had always kept her maternal clan in check.

When Emperor Zhang dies and Liu Zhao takes the throne, Dou Shu governs as regent. Only then does she see clearly: ministers, imperial clansmen, and powerful relatives all have their own agendas. The people she can trust and rely on most are still her own blood.

But as Dou Xian's power grows overwhelming and the Dou clan nears the brink of a fall after reaching its height, she must choose. She secretly helps her adopted son reclaim imperial authority, to protect the Dou clan and preserve the realm she herself helped raise. In the end, she still chooses to stand with the Dou family through thick and thin.