Jade in Pieces

[The chapters are being unlocked. There's no need to buy them anymore. The author has personal matters to attend to, so updates will resume after the chapters are unlocked. The story will not be abandoned. Sorry.]

Fang Li was placed with a family at the age of eight, where she gained an adoptive older brother.

He was cold, quiet, and mature for his age. Fang Li was a little afraid of him at first, but later realized he was more reliable than anyone else.

Again and again, he pulled her back from the brink. He was beaten deaf in his left ear for her, paid for her education, and protected her as she grew up.

Everyone thought they were biological siblings.

Only Fang Li knew that her feelings for her brother had long since changed into something else.

The year she finished her college entrance exams, she got into a university in the city where her brother worked, just as she had hoped, and naturally moved into his home.

His usually well-behaved younger sister dropped her act and showed him her seductive claws.

She would go to great lengths to apply to live off campus when the university required students to live in dorms. After showering, she would put on her brother's pajamas and deliberately leave two buttons undone. While watching horror movies, she would pretend to be scared and hide in his arms, breathing against the side of his neck.

On a hazy night, she trembled all over with fear and gazed at him with tear-filled eyes, holding him tight. "Fang Jue..."

His expression changed. He pushed her away, his voice colder than she'd ever heard it. "You should call me your brother."

After that, Fang Jue started leaving early and coming home late. They barely saw each other.

-

Fang Li gradually gave up hope and stopped entertaining fantasies. It was around then that the doorbell began ringing constantly, and bouquets of flowers arrived one after another.

Fang Jue's expression grew darker by the day.

He began asking about the new male friends she had made, and if she wasn't home by ten at night, he would call to check on her.

Outsiders teased that he acted less like her brother and more like a jealous boyfriend.

That was until he discovered his sister kissing another man in the stairwell.

That night, Fang Jue finally stopped holding back. For the first time, he acted against his usual calm nature, locking her inside and letting the knocks at the door continue outside.

Like a wolf out of control, he cornered her, pinned both her wrists, lifted her chin with his other hand, and kissed her fiercely.

The word "Brother" was swallowed in her throat. As the girl stared at him in terror, he leaned close to her ear, his burning breath brushing against it. "I'm not going to be your brother anymore."

His voice was hoarse, his gaze icy, and his expression frighteningly fierce. "Tell him to leave. Don't make me say it twice."

Scheming, flirtatious younger sister x cool, restrained older brother

Lawyer x aerospace engineer

"When they were young, he took the blows for her and risked everything to help her escape the mire.

All he ever wanted was not the role of her brother, but to be part of her life, wholly and completely."

* Both are each other's first and only partner; happy ending

* Fake siblings, older man-younger woman, six-year age gap. The leads are not on the same household registration. Their shared surname is a coincidence.

* Jue is pronounced jue, second tone.

Blurb for the upcoming book, Far Away Under a Vast Sky:

Ming Yao was the neighborhood's leader, a second-degree black belt by the age of fifteen, and someone who couldn't stand seeing the weak bullied.

During her school years, she helped many people, including classmates who were bullied and left-behind children who were ostracized. Zhou Siyan was one of them.

In his darkest years, Zhou Siyan had no father's love or mother's care. He was a stubborn boy everyone bullied, but who refused to bend. Ming Yao appeared like a ray of light, illuminating his otherwise dismal life.

Later, after giving it everything he had, he finally managed to get close to her, only to discover that she didn't remember him at all. She was, quite literally, face-blind.

-

As an adult, Ming Yao became a doctor with Doctors Without Borders, fulfilling her dream of helping people while traveling the world.

Walking the lands of Africa or Western Asia, the only real difference was probably the climate.

By then, Zhou Siyan had achieved a measure of success. He had no shortage of admirers, but year after year he waited for Ming Yao's uncertain return, hoping to see her, or not.

He never thought of holding her back.

He knew that there was a flower hotter than the blazing sun, and that the wide world was her home.

Theme: Stay by your side to the ends of the earth