The Elder Brother Steals His Younger Brother's Wife

Yu Shuzhen x Nie Chuntang

Shuzhen's father died in battle.

Shuzhen's father had served under Uncle Nie. Shuzhen was raised in Uncle Nie's home, and the two families had arranged a marriage. The Nie family had two sons.

Nie Xiangwen was the same age as him. The two met and became close when they were three.

Shuzhen accompanied him in his studies and went abroad with him. Uncle Nie said that when they returned from studying overseas, they would marry and Shuzhen would become his wife, fulfilling the promise Shuzhen's father had entrusted to him.

Shuzhen listened, his ears turning red. Xiangwen took his hand and leaned close to whisper, "Little Shu, are you blushing again?"

But after they'd been abroad for a year, Uncle Nie died unexpectedly. Nie Xiangwen returned to China and met an untimely death. Shuzhen was Xiangwen's surviving partner, as well as his bride-to-be.

On the day of the funeral, Shuzhen clutched a photograph of Xiangwen, eyes red. When the Nie family called him a bringer of bad luck, eldest brother Nie Chuntang stroked his hair. "Don't be afraid. Big Brother is here."

Nie Chuntang was ten years older than Shuzhen. He had held him when he was little, and they grew up under the same roof. Nie Chuntang was the heir to the family headship. After Uncle Nie died, he became head of the Nie family, with absolute authority.

Nie Chuntang said, "Shuzhen, Father's dying wish was for you to marry into the family. Before Xiangwen died, he also hoped you'd become one of the Nie family. The engagement was arranged long ago. I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to make a sacrifice and enter into a sham marriage with me, so they can both rest in peace."

Shuzhen's lashes trembled. After his fiance died, he married his elder brother.

Shuzhen's friend asked if Big Brother treated him well.

Shuzhen said he treated him very well.

Nie Chuntang had often held him and sung him to sleep when he was a child. They hadn't been very close as adults, but Big Brother was a gentle, gentlemanly elder who followed the old rules. He had never treated Shuzhen badly after the wedding.

They were only pretending to be married.

Of course, only Shuzhen believed that.

After the wedding, Nie Chuntang often sat alone in the ancestral hall.

The servants said the brothers had been close, and that Young Master Nie missed his younger brother.

Sitting in a wooden chair in the ancestral hall, Nie Chuntang savored his white tea as the incense smoke and tea steam mingled. The man curled his lips into a smile. "Little brother, if you can hear me from the underworld, bless Shuzhen with a child soon. Otherwise, he'll never forget you."

"Consider it my thanks for giving you a quick death."

Nie Chuntang had raised Shuzhen from childhood. He had watched Shuzhen and Xiangwen love each other without question. The two had fallen in love amid crowds and clamor, while Nie Chuntang could only watch helplessly as the head of the family.

Now, at last, Shuzhen was his wife.

A year later, Nie Xiangwen narrowly escaped death and finally returned to the home he had yearned for.

But all he saw was Shuzhen, whose belly was swollen with child, and his elder brother, whose face was dark with anger.

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An elder brother steals his younger brother's wife. Ten-year age gap.

An innocent little cat, pure as freshly fallen snow, x a fake gentleman and a real scoundrel

The top is truly a scoundrel, and the bottom is truly innocent.

Partly raised by him, 1v1, pregnancy and childbirth, not an intersex character.

(Blurb is rough; details will be revised.)

Theme: The road ahead is long and arduous