Rowing Against the Current

[Bold, Straightforward Younger Sister with a Petty Streak × Proper, Stubborn Old Man Who Chases His Wife to the Crematorium]

Honest Younger Sister × Brooding Male Lead Who Keeps Quiet Until He Makes a Stunning Entrance

Old flame reignited // Age gap, height gap, build gap // Man who wins himself over

When Zhong Du was sixteen, she accompanied her mother to a banquet. After getting lost, she came across someone in a room in the rear courtyard. He had broad shoulders and a tall, slender build. Every movement was restrained and elegant, and the years had etched lines around his eyes.

He was Pei Ling, her distant brother-in-law, who had been a widower for many years.

Pei Ling was the eldest grandson of the main branch of the Pei family, blessed with extraordinary talent. He wrote poetry at three, composed essays at seven, passed the three highest imperial examinations at twenty and entered the court, married at twenty-two, and lost his wife at twenty-three. He had been alone for nine years.

The year he met Zhong Du, he was thirty-two.

She was very young, with the appearance of an unremarkable white flower in the spring breeze. Yet she was bold, gazing at him with unmistakable affection, shy and bashful, appearing at his side again and again. Her intentions were plain for all to see.

She was his wife's younger sister. Pei Ling disdained her, yet from then on, she filled his dreams.

He despised himself for his shameless, sordid thoughts, and all the more eagerly sought a kind, honest husband for her among his pupils.

He had been prepared for her to cling to him, but who could have guessed she would wipe away her tears, climb into the bridal sedan, and marry into a small courtyard in a secluded corner of the estate? It was their new home, as far away from him as possible.

On the second day after the wedding, she came to pay her respects with her husband. Her eyes were charming, her smile open and bright, and she had already found her match in love: “An Lang, this is your brother-in-law.”

The honest, plainspoken student blushed. “Teacher... Brother-in-law.”

Pei Ling held the bride's tea and nearly crushed the cup.

That night, at the Mid-Autumn banquet, all he could see were red lips and flowing skirts. Carelessly falling victim to someone's plot, he passed by that secluded residence and, as if possessed, went inside.

He wondered: if he regretted it, was there still time?

Note:

1. The ex-husband is no good. The male lead simply misjudged him. Before the female lead and male lead become physically intimate, her husband has already accepted an opportunity to take an official post away from the capital and signed a divorce agreement.

2. The male lead is good at winning himself over. The female lead eventually gets the upper hand, but not by much (maybe).

3. Fifteen-year age gap.

4. The female lead is not a virgin, the male lead is. Happy ending.

5. Not even the slightest serious career plotline, just romance and love.

6. Neither lead is perfect. They each have their little issues and their own odd ways of thinking.

Theme: Honesty and kindness