Even in her youth, Ci Xi was affectionately called Orchid. The young Chinese woman was as beautiful in face as she was black in soul. Seeing the young beauty, Emperor Hsien Feng wished to take her as a concubine. This day can be called the beginning of the collapse of the imperial dynasty. The thirst for power and worship, the uncontrollable desire for fame and wealth, love and voluptuousness - all this lived in the heart of the “little Orchid”. And turned her into a real Flower of Evil. Insidious murders of other concubines - they could have given birth to a son to the emperor before Ci Xi. Kidnapping of a baby and imitation of pregnancy - the emperor must recognize Ci Xi as the chosen one among the concubines. The mysterious death of the emperor and poisoned cakes for Hsien Feng’s wife - and how else to become the Empress of the Celestial Empire?! All this is just a small part of the crimes of the last mistress of the great empire.

The story of the femme fatale in Anchi Min’s novel “Empress Orchid.”