After Killing My Brooding Lover

Shen Cuiwu was born into poverty, but married Xue Lang, the provincial governor. After three years of marriage, they were deeply in love, and lived a carefree, comfortable life.

Then, one day, she received a letter.

The familiar, brazen handwriting, tinged with the smell of blood, stabbed straight into her eyes:

"I've found you.

You got married? My dear Cuicui, you're as bold as ever.

You dared to leave me without even saying goodbye? Oh, no, that's not quite right. You did leave me a parting gift: a dagger plunged into my heart. Tsk, that really hurt.

How wicked of you.

Do you remember the snake that died in the carriage three days ago? That was my gift to celebrate our reunion.

It was so much like you. I killed it one stab at a time, fueled by my hatred for you. Did you like it?

You looked so adorable when you were frightened.

My dear Cuicui, you know I'll always be by your side. At a quarter past seven yesterday morning, you ate two osmanthus cakes. They were a little too sweet, weren't they?

Don't be nervous. Put down your teacup before you burn yourself."

A chill spread through her. Cold sweat prickled across her back as the feeling of being watched from the shadows suddenly intensified.

She lowered her eyes. The steaming tea in her cup seemed to reflect that man's sinister smile.

She sprang to her feet and looked around, but there was no one in the room but her.

She knew who had written the letter:

Her sweetheart from her youth.

The man she had stabbed through the heart with her own hands when she climbed into Xue Lang's favor, desperate to shed the burden of her past: Ji Tongchen.

*

Her peaceful life gradually took on a sinister turn.

Things that shouldn't have been there kept appearing around her:

A crow crushed beneath fallen flowers, its flesh and blood smeared across the ground; Xue Lang's severed hair... and kiss marks on her neck that had not come from her husband.

Terrified, she told Xue Lang about it, leaving out the most important details.

But even as Xue Lang held her and comforted her in bed, telling her not to worry...

She clearly saw a familiar, sinister eye flicker behind the screen.

*

No one could find him. Even when Xue Lang sent people everywhere to search, they found no trace of him.

But that only enraged him.

He began appearing behind her like a ghost, no matter where she was, even when her husband was only a step away.

He covered her eyes. His familiar, hoarse voice, so frightening to her, sounded by her ear. His breath on her neck felt like a snake's tongue, damp and clammy with a chilling slickness.

"Cuicui, let me think. How should I punish you?"

[Reading Guide]

1. One-on-one romance, both leads are each other's only partners.

2. The sweetheart, the husband, and the lover (who hasn't appeared in the blurb) are all the same person.

3. Inspired by Edogawa Ranpo's The Insect. Some parts of the male lead's letter are adapted from it, but nothing else is similar, and there are no character models. (I just thought the letter had a great feel, so I decided to bake a whole platter of dumplings just for that bit of vinegar.)

4. Yawu is an ancient term for a crow.

5. Before the novel starts on December 28, 2025, the blurb may be slightly revised, but the core premise won't change.

6. The male lead's name is easy to pronounce: Ji Tong is pronounced like "jee tong."

Theme: Love doesn't need to be proven again and again