Moonlight on the Courtyard

[A seemingly sweet, scheming sister-in-law x A proud younger brother-in-law driven to obsession]

When Fan Mengniang married into the Xie family, she heard that her husband’s younger brother, Xie Yu’an, was a phoenix that had flown out of a sparrow’s nest.

Brilliant from a young age, extraordinarily gifted.

Handsome and refined, bright as the moon.

By comparison, the eldest son, Xie Yucheng, who merely managed the Xie family estate, was far less impressive.

The most outrageous thing in his brief life of just over twenty years was marrying a mere flower seller as his principal wife, despite his mother’s objections.

After her husband died, Fan Mengniang thought she would spend the rest of her life alone in the Xie family ancestral home.

But her mother-in-law, Madam Qin, handed her a bottle of pills.

“These pills help you conceive, but taking too many will harm your health.” Madam Qin told Fan Mengniang to keep the bottle safe.

With no one else to rely on, Fan Mengniang had no choice but to go to the capital to “look after” her younger brother-in-law.

Late at night, she knocked on his door, raised her tear-bright eyes, and softly called to the cool young man beneath the moon: “Brother-in-law…”

At first, Xie Yu’an could hardly stand his widowed sister-in-law, Fan.

She ought to remain faithful to his late brother.

But Fan Mengniang was gentle and kind, weak and easily bullied, and unable to do without his protection.

At some point, the word “sister-in-law” began to fill him with genuine distaste.

After placing first in the imperial examinations, Xie Yu’an resolutely turned down the young emperor’s offer to arrange a marriage for him, determined to look after his sister-in-law for the rest of his life.

They depended on each other, closer than family.

Mengniang could only ever be his sister-in-law.

Until an imperial edict bestowed upon Fan Mengniang the title of Lady of Wei. Even that was not enough for the young emperor, who went so far as to order that Fan and Xie address each other as brother and sister from then on.

Only then did Xie Yu’an finally understand why the young emperor had repeatedly tried to arrange a marriage for him.

Fan Mengniang had gone to great lengths to secure a place in Xie Yu’an’s heart.

But getting any closer was harder than reaching the heavens.

Just as she was fretting over it, an unexpected favor from the emperor caught her completely off guard.

The day the imperial edict arrived, Xie Yu’an came straight from work without even changing out of his official robes and pulled Fan Mengniang tightly into his arms. “Sister-in-law, we’ll always be together, won’t we?”

“Mm.” Fan Mengniang hugged him back.

But her expression, unseen by anyone else, was thoughtful.

Fate cannot be defied.

In the end, Fan Mengniang entered the palace as a consort.

With tears in her eyes, she told Xie Yu’an all the things she could not help. From then on, the emperor’s favor never waned. She was made Noble Consort, while envy and attacks against her grew ever more fierce in the court.

One rainy night, Noble Consort Fan held an edict of dismissal and knocked on the Xie family gates.

“He’s always suspecting that there’s still something between us.” Fan Mengniang draped a sash over Xie Yu’an’s eyes. Her voice was distant. “Yu’an, I won’t bear this injustice…”

But the wind died down and the rain stopped, and the emperor himself came to the Xie residence to invite his consort back to the palace.

Not long after, the consort became pregnant and was made empress.

When the emperor passed away, Empress Fan held her young son in her arms and ruled from behind the curtain.

Three years later,

Xie Yu’an learned an old secret.

When Fan Mengniang had first come to the capital seeking refuge, the first person she met was the late emperor.

Late at night in the bedchamber, Xie Yu’an bit down on those cherry lips so practiced at sweet-talking and demanded bitterly, “What am I to you, really?”

.

1. The female lead is not chaste, while the male lead is. The second male lead is chaste at first, too, but takes consorts much later, so he becomes the late emperor. (smiles :)

2. The female lead will never give up the power she has gained.

Theme: Love life even when you find yourself in difficult circumstances.