A Duckweed Adrift in Troubled Times: From Slave to Empress Dowager

War spreads across the land, and the state of Zhao falls. Li Yue (Feng Yue), once a noble daughter and princess of Zhao, is swept up in the collapse of her country and family. She joins her maternal Feng family on the arduous journey into exile in the state of Han. But fate has other plans. At just fourteen, she becomes separated from them along the way, falling from the heights into the mud. Sold into slavery in the state of Chu, she changes her name to Nu’er and struggles to survive in a country of rigid ranks and treacherous intrigues. With extraordinary intelligence, an indomitable will, and the opportunities offered by a turbulent age, she advances step by step. From the lowest rank of slave, she endures the struggles of life as a concubine and then a secondary consort, eventually rising to the pinnacle of power as empress and even empress dowager. Set against the vast backdrop of conflict among the four states of Chu, Han, Zhao, and Qiong, this is the epic story of a noblewoman who struggles and struggles to survive through a turbulent age, ultimately taking control of her own destiny. The heroine is a virgin; the male lead is not.