The Little Empress Dowager

At sixteen, Yu Bailu became the youngest regent empress dowager in the history of the Great Sheng dynasty.

Seated on the imperial throne with the six-year-old new emperor in her arms, surrounded by cold, hostile gazes from every direction, she was utterly alone, confused, and trembling with fear.

No one trusted her. No one was loyal to her. Everyone had their own agenda and schemes. In the countless stories of orphaned children and widowed mothers, she was the most insignificant widow of them all. In the hundreds and thousands of power struggles throughout history, she was the prettiest and most useless pawn.

Incompetent, useless, weak, and timid. Anyone could see that this frightened young girl would spend a life unnoticed, confined deep within the palace and manipulated by the bloody storms raging at court.

Many years later, the court officials bowed low and prostrated themselves, not daring to look up. From the corner of their eyes, they caught a glimpse of the imposing dark robes on the jade steps and dimly recalled that years ago, this empress dowager, whose power shook the Four Seas and whose hands held the authority of the realm, had spoken in that same soft, slightly trembling voice:

"His Majesty is young. The late emperor left an edict allowing me... to govern for the time being."

It seemed that the day this timid, trembling young girl spoke those words was the day their glorious age truly began, and the day the fate of every one of them was set in motion.

Wei Zheng had often wondered why he was alive.

The world was dim and dull. There was nothing to be glad about.

Later, he thought: He had to live one more day. Just one more day.

Before his sun had set, there would always be someone to shield her from the shadows.

1. Aloof, cold prince x young regent empress dowager, happy ending

2. A young girl slowly makes her way toward becoming an empress dowager with real power

Theme: Do your job well.