Don’t Run, Sis. I’m the Prince You Raised

When Shen Tang was twelve, she found a half-dead boy in a dry well outside the city. He was covered in wounds and burning with fever. When he woke up, he couldn't remember anything, so Shen Tang named him “Little Stone.” Shen Tang herself was a poor soul who had always disguised herself as a boy and scraped by waiting tables, but her heart softened, and she took him in anyway. That one act of kindness lasted five years. Shen Tang worked at a teahouse by day and squeezed into a woodshed at night to care for Little Stone. The two of them and a mynah bird they'd found lived hand to mouth, but their days were lively. Little Stone didn't say much, but he was unbelievably clever. He'd helped her fight and keep the books. Shen Tang called him “little freeloader,” but in her heart she treated him like her own younger brother. When Shen Tang was seventeen, she offended the prefect and was framed and thrown in prison, sentenced to execution after the autumn harvest. Little Stone, who was twelve, stood outside the death-row prison all night. On the third day, he surrounded the prefect's office with the Imperial Guard. When Shen Tang came out of the prison, she saw a young man in brocade robes with a gold seal hanging from his waist. He was even taller than her, with a stern, striking face. He was nothing like the “Little Stone” who used to curl up in the woodshed and gnaw on steamed buns. The “younger brother” she had raised for five years turned out to be a member of the imperial family who had gone missing many years ago. After reclaiming his identity, Little Stone stopped calling her “Big Brother” and began calling her “A-Tang.” He turned down every marriage proposal and declared before the entire court, “I wish to take Shen Tang as my consort.” The court erupted: Shen Tang was registered as male. The secret Shen Tang had hidden for more than a decade was finally about to be exposed. She was furious and panicked. But Little Stone walked up to her and knelt on one knee. “You deceived me for five years, and I deceived you for five years too. But from now on, if the sky falls, I'll bear it for you.”