[Possessive pursuit, unbrotherly older and younger brothers, a battle of male rivals]
[Dark, domineering patriarch / obsessive, overbearing young man x woman who pretends to play along and has transmigrated into this world]
"Love is precious, but freedom is worth more. If life is at stake, both can be cast aside."
That was a true reflection of Cheng Wenyue's life for the eighteen years leading up to this point.
She did not believe that true love was paramount, did not sincerely pray for freedom, and valued her life above all else.
Then she met the Jiang brothers and became a prisoner held hostage by her own life, stripped of both love and freedom.
When Jiang Jizhou received a letter from his elder brother, who was traveling the world, his first reaction was disbelief. What sort of woman could make his brother, who had renounced worldly affairs, fall for someone?
Instinctively, he thought of the woman who had abandoned him and vanished without a trace on the eve of their wedding.
But he soon dismissed the thought and set off to pay a visit, carrying his brother's birth details for the matchmaker and a gift of his own.
He traveled day and night, hurrying as fast as he could, and finally arrived at Luoying Village before autumn set in.
A clap of thunder struck. He saw the woman standing beneath the eaves, her eyes bright with tenderness. It was as if lightning had struck him, and all reason left him at once.
"Nunu..."
He heard his own voice, trembling uncontrollably. All he wanted now was to step forward and tie up the faithless woman who had walked away.
The next moment, a familiar man's voice rang out from inside the house.
"Yue'er."
"Who's out there?"
Then he saw his once-proud elder brother appear behind her, wearing an undershirt sewn with abysmal workmanship, his expression calm.
His brother, who had been gone for four years, merely glanced at him, and not the slightest trace of brotherly affection showed in his eyes. He looked at him like a complete stranger.
"So it's you, Jizhou."
He put an arm around Cheng Wenyue's shoulders and covered her from head to toe with a cloak that was much too large. With a faint, hard-to-detect smile, he raised his brows and spoke slowly. "This is my new bride. By rights, you should call her 'Sister-in-law.'"
Jiang Bochuan knew his new wife had an obscure past, and that her background was nowhere near as simple as the villagers claimed.
But that did not matter. As long as she was willing to stay by his side, he could cover for her, no matter how complicated things got.
So when he heard the truth about her past with his cousin and saw her sobbing under pressure, Jiang Bochuan had no trouble deciding to kill the cousin he had cherished for over a decade.
A little scene:
"You bastard, I'll..."
"Shh. My uncle is your father-in-law now, Sister-in-law. You'd better think carefully before you curse him."
"Mmph..."
"Why not marry me instead, Sister-in-law? Then I'll make sure you can curse him to your heart's content right in front of him."
Content warnings:
1. Temporarily one-on-one pairings. The female lead has no previous sexual experience, while the male lead does.
2. Includes plenty of groveling, rivalry, and melodramatic possessive pursuit.
3. The female lead transmigrates into the past and has no family in the ancient world.
4. The brothers are not on good terms, and there is plenty of competition between men.
5. The story still leans toward a strong male lead and a comparatively weak female lead.
Theme: Live for the better, and enjoy life while you can
