The Green Tea Factory Director Courts the Empress Dowager

Wang Duoqian became Empress Dowager at a young age. She stood proudly amid the palace's bloody storms, never having loved anyone. The chief eunuch Zheng Xi, known as the Jade-Faced Impermanence Ghost, was sent by the narrow-minded emperor to seduce the Empress Dowager. He tried every trick in the book, yet she was like a jade Guanyin statue, unmoved no matter what he did. He did things for her: "Your Highness, I found a way to get Yu Jingqian, your childhood sweetheart, released." "Oh." He dropped hints: "Your Highness, Consort De and Consort Xian are quarreling over a young eunuch." "Oh." He tried to get close to her, but she had him beaten. Kneeling before the Empress Dowager, his eyes unfocused, he looked like a shattered flower: "Everything I do is for Your Highness. Can't you see what's in my heart?" Wang Duoqian lifted his chin. "Oh, is that so?" He intercepted a handkerchief the Empress Dowager had given to a friend, then flaunted it triumphantly before her: "Your Highness, how careless of you. How could you let this fall into my hands?" * * * * * * At night, he stole into her bedchamber: "Call it false affection or casual appeasement, I just want to see Your Highness." She gritted her teeth. "You are completely insane!" He chuckled softly. "You still haven't called for anyone. Does that mean Your Highness is in her right mind?" Everyone's only goal was to stay alive. Who knows when someone started falling for someone else amid it all. Male lead: A scheming, smooth-talking liar who loves to act pitiful, and is a real eunuch. Female lead: A young empress dowager in danger, calm and self-possessed, in control of the whole situation. Sparks fly, with tension to spare. Happy ending. *This book was written to pay tribute to Riken, the former author and book reviewer I respected most (and to get Riken to read it, though I don't think that worked, since Riken seems to have lost interest in this kind of story. Sob sob.) Theme: Exploring sincere feelings and calling for the goodness and beauty of human nature.