My Wife's Younger Sister in My Arms

[National Beauty and Heavenly Fragrance: scheming younger sister-in-law x high offense, low defense: hypocritical brother-in-law]

Shen Qingwu was born extraordinarily beautiful, but she was merely a low-status concubine-born daughter of the Shen family, and her legal mother saw her as a thorn in her side.

The best future she could hope for was to be married off to some high-ranking family's concubine-born son, paving the way for her father and brothers' careers. She would spend the rest of her life dependent on others.

Shen Qingwu was not willing to accept that.

She would use her beauty to fight for a bright future for herself.

The man Shen Qingwu chose was Xiao Xingzhi, the legitimate son of the second branch of the related Xiao family.

Xiao Xingzhi was a dashing, talented, and charming young man, famous in Jiankang City as a rake.

Shen Qingwu flirted with him, playing hard to get. Before she had even exhausted her tricks, she had him so entranced that he would gladly give her his life.

That night, she carefully set her trap and lured him beneath the bed curtains. Afraid he might deny it later, she deliberately bit his neck. But the next day, the vivid red bite mark appeared on the neck of her eldest brother, a self-disciplined, proper gentleman.

The man she had been intimate with was someone else entirely. Shen Qingwu felt the world spin around her.

Her eldest brother, Xiao Yinhuai, had been brilliant since childhood. He became the top candidate in all three imperial examinations at nineteen, made a name for himself throughout the land, and was now the head of the Xiao family.

Her girlish schemes were like children's play before this noble, cold, and powerful minister, utterly embarrassing to behold.

What's more, Xiao Yinhuai was the man her elder sister was being courted for. If the match went through, she would have to call him brother-in-law.

Shen Qingwu was so panicked her legs went weak. After hastily paying her respects, she turned and fled. Seeing her strange expression, Xiao Xingzhi hurried after her, lifting his robe as he ran.

But Shen Qingwu vanished in the blink of an eye. No matter how he called for her, she did not reappear.

He had no idea that at that very moment, the woman he loved was being cornered behind a rockery by his own biological elder brother.

*

Shen Qingwu had always thought herself clever, but in the end, she fell into the hands of this untouchable eldest brother.

She had thought that, given Xiao Yinhuai's character, he would either hand her over to her legal mother to be dealt with and ruin her reputation, or sell her off with a single order so he would never have to see her again.

Shen Qingwu had even prepared herself to kneel and beg for mercy.

Who could have imagined that Lord Xiao, whom everyone thought cold, stern, and indifferent to women, would use this to force her step by step across the line...

Content warnings:

1. Both leads have only been with each other, but the heroine will deal with different men.

2. Neither the men nor the women are saints. Their morality is faint at best, and practically nonexistent.

3. The male lead and the heroine's sister are only being considered for marriage. They are not involved in any other way now, and never will be.

4. Original setting: The heroine has "Spring Tide Syndrome."

Please add my next book, A Thousand Springs in the Yandere's Bed, to your reading list!

Blurb:

[Yandere, scheming crown prince vs. unyielding farm girl]

The year Chun Niang turned eighteen, she became a widow in all but name.

Her husband, Liu Sheng, had gone up the mountain and been struck by a bear, crushing his family jewels. To ensure an heir, her husband suggested borrowing seed.

The donor was a young man with a broken leg whom they had found at the foot of the mountain a few days earlier. His name was Cui Jiu, and he claimed to be a merchant from the capital who had been robbed by bandits on a trading journey.

They agreed to borrow seed for three months, then part ways once the seed had taken.

Unfortunately, before the three months were up, Cui Jiu left without a word. Fortunately, Chun Niang was already pregnant.

*

Helian Qi was the crown prince of the previous dynasty, a heaven-blessed favorite who looked down on everyone. After a military coup, he fell from a cliff and was rescued by a farming family. He took the name Cui Jiu.

To stay alive, he could only accept the humiliating arrangement to provide seed.

Three months later, he contacted his subordinates and went with them to lie low in the capital.

For two years, he advanced step by step according to plan, and at last ascended the throne.

The first thing he did after securing the empire was to find that woman. He imagined countless ways to humiliate and torment her, crushing her dignity underfoot inch by inch to ease the hatred he had harbored ever since.

But when he saw her again, Helian Qi realized he had been utterly wrong.

That day, the cruel and sinister emperor knelt before the woman in front of all his civil and military officials, calling her name over and over.

"Chun Niang, Chun Niang, Chun Niang, Chun Niang, Chun Niang, Chun Niang, Chun Niang, Chun Niang, Chun Niang..."

"Please, don't leave me again."

*

He had been like a rotting, sick tree, mired in the mud with no light in sight.

But then, one day, he glimpsed spring.

The embers blazed anew, and the withered tree blossomed again.

Theme: Love can overcome anything