After Distancing Myself from My Aloof Eldest Brother

Xie Hengzhi was born among the clouds, a man of great talent. By the age of twenty, he was already Crown Prince's Tutor. Yet he was cold by nature, and no one dared approach him. He had never married.

One autumn night, as rain tapped against the window, his younger cousin Sang Rou, who had come to stay at the estate with her stepfather, came to him. Her tearful eyes were filled with sorrow as she looked up at him. "Brother, save me. I don't want to be sold as a concubine to the old prince."

Her white clothes were soaked through, revealing her graceful figure. Her intention to trade herself for his help was plain to see. Xie Hengzhi furrowed his brows, his hand gripping the book tighter and tighter.

He had no intention of taking advantage of her distress. With a sweep of his brush, he sent her to the palace to be selected as a female official, putting an end to the farce.

But afterward, whenever they met at the Imperial Academy, Sang Rou was always calling him "Brother" this and "Brother" that, bringing him snacks to cheer him up and clinging to his side all day.

Everyone said she was devoted to him. Xie Hengzhi, however, remained coldly indifferent. He could tell the difference between sincere affection and ulterior motives.

Sang Rou kept trying despite being rejected for three years. Then, on the night before Xie Hengzhi was to leave the capital, she suddenly told him dejectedly that he was simply too cold, and she was giving up.

Xie Hengzhi looked at his cousin, pretending to be miserable, and nearly laughed out loud. He didn't take her seriously. "It's good that you've come to your senses, little sister."

A palace coup broke out, and a prince rebelled.

Xie Hengzhi led his troops to the capital overnight to reinforce the palace, but by the time he found Sang Rou, she had already been rescued by the young master of the Minister of Justice's household.

Sang Rou really did change after that day.

She soon fell in love and accepted the young master's proposal. They were always together, and she called him "Brother" this and "Brother" that. When she saw Xie Hengzhi, she truly changed her tune. Her smiles held nothing but polite respect, with none of the intimacy and clinginess of before.

At first, he only found it amusing. But as he watched them inseparable, his slight displeasure gradually turned into an indescribable agitation that gnawed at him day and night.

*

Sang Rou's birth father had died unjustly, her birth mother was weak, and her stepfather was a compulsive gambler. Not long after she arrived in the capital, he tried to sell her to an old prince past sixty.

To escape that quagmire and avenge her father, she had to find someone she could rely on.

With nowhere else to turn, Sang Rou gambled the only thing she had, her own body, and knocked on Xie Hengzhi's door.

Three years later, she finally used his power to find clues that her father had been framed. Then she turned her sights on the Ministry of Justice.

Her cousin was so upright and magnanimous that even if he discovered she had used him, he wouldn't hold it against her.

Besides, he had never liked her anyway.

On an auspicious day, amid the sound of drums and music, Sang Rou wore her phoenix crown and wedding robes and smiled as she bade him farewell. "I owe everything I have today to your care, Brother. Please accept this bow from your little sister."

"Congratulations, little sister," Xie Hengzhi said with a smile. "But I still prefer it when you call me Brother."

Sang Rou looked up and met the dark, roiling depths of his eyes. A sudden shiver ran through her.

On the day of the wedding, the Minister's new bride disappeared without a trace.

In a dim secret chamber, chains showed beneath her scarlet dress, clinking against her slender, jade-like bones like ornaments.

Xie Hengzhi leaned close to Sang Rou's ear and asked hoarsely, "What kind of brother have you decided I'm this time, Rou'er? You repay your savior with yourself. Wasn't I your brother before he was?"

The woman in his arms winced in pain and tried to shrink away. He pressed her back in place.

"Even if you meant to use me, you should have stayed true to me from beginning to end, shouldn't you?"

A black-hearted beauty hidden beneath a refined exterior x a gentle-looking but strong-willed beauty. Fake siblings / Taking what he wants by force / The long road to winning her back

Theme: May I be as graceful as the bright moon.