The Empress Is a Dodder Flower (Palace Intrigue)

[Synopsis provisional, palace intrigue]

[An aloof beauty, resilient yet gentle at first, then ambitious, naturally indifferent to affection]

[Basically, a story about the heroine coming to her senses, divorcing her former husband, rising in rank, growing rich, and outliving her husband]

*Based on the dodder vine: seemingly weak and harmless, but it grows fast, clinging to its Host and drawing nourishment from them*

"Who could make a better Host than the emperor?"

Zhe Shuang was born into the Zhe clan of Jiangnan. With her cool, striking beauty, she was a poised young lady raised by an eminent noble family.

She had been betrothed since childhood to the heir of the Duke of Qi. They were well matched in status and had grown up together. It was a rare and happy match.

After their wedding, Zhe Shuang was summoned by the Empress Dowager and traveled from Jiangnan to the capital. There, in the imperial palace, she met the new emperor, as radiant as a jade tree.

One glance was all it took for Zhe Shuang to know that the emperor had fallen in love with her at first sight.

Just a few months later, the Zhe clan was implicated in a major imperial examination cheating scandal, putting the entire family in danger.

The Duke of Qi immediately announced that his heir and Zhe Shuang would divorce on the grounds that their birth dates were incompatible, then promptly arranged a new marriage for his son.

The Zhe clan was stranded like an island, with no one to turn to.

Knowing that her former husband valued loyalty above all, Zhe Shuang staked everything on a keepsake from their engagement, asking only to see him once.

But the figure who emerged through the torrential rain and mist was the emperor.

Zhe Shuang was not surprised.

The one she had always wagered on was the emperor.

When the emperor asked if she would enter the palace of her own free will, Zhe Shuang slowly raised her eyes.

Rain dampened her black hair, water glistened on her jade-white skin, and she was like a cool yet delicate dodder vine in the storm.

"Your Majesty went to such lengths to claim me. You must be deeply in love with me."

"Now that you want me to enter the palace willingly, may I ask what you can offer that would move my heart?"

*

As the imperial examination scandal was thoroughly investigated, the Zhe clan was proven innocent. Instead, the Duke of Qi's household was implicated when the real culprit was exposed, leaving it severely weakened.

Meanwhile, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau declared that Zhe Shuang's birth chart was a perfect match for the emperor's and that she was a heaven-sent bringer of good fortune. She was selected to enter the palace as a consort.

The Zhe clan regained its former prestige, while the Duke of Qi's household became a laughingstock.

On the day before she was to enter the palace, her former husband came to her, pale-faced. He spoke of how powerless he had been and begged her to stay. His words carried a faint accusation that she had submitted to power and betrayed their marriage.

Zhe Shuang gave a cool smile and raised an eyebrow, scoffing. "A faithless, cowardly weakling who can't compete with imperial power, yet dares to vent his frustration on others."

The Zhe clan was a century-old prestigious family, and what they had taught her went far beyond the rules of the inner chambers and a woman's virtue.

They had also taught her to hunger for power.

*

From Jieyu to Guipin, Zhaorong, and Noble Consort, then to become the first empress in this dynasty to have remarried.

Later, Zhe Shuang became the youngest Empress Dowager, raised a son and a daughter, and ruled from behind the curtain.

Once, while she was reviewing memorials, her beloved daughter came to ask about the late emperor.

"Mother, when did you fall in love with Father?"

Zhe Shuang raised her head slightly, her smile as cold as frost and snow.

"Your father actually won Mother's heart the very first time we met."

"I remember that on the day I first paid my respects, the imperial physician examined your father's pulse and said he might die young."

Even then, Zhe Shuang knew that rising in rank, growing rich, and outliving one's husband was a wonderful thing.

How could she not be tempted?

Theme: Rise in rank, grow rich, and outlive your husband