The moment the Wen family's real daughter collapsed in a pool of blood, Shu He took the token. From then on, she went from a servant girl everyone could bully to a young lady of the family.
Shu He now had a mother who loved her, but Madam Ye was bedridden with a lingering illness and probably had only a few years left to live.
She knew that the Wen family's current glory rested entirely on her elder brother, Wen Xiuheng, who had helped the future emperor ascend the throne.
He was as refined as a jade orchid, yet cold and unfeeling. He was especially distant toward her, his “younger sister.”
Shu He thought that she would have to rely on him eventually, so all she could do was try her hardest to win his favor.
Until one day, she carried ginseng soup into Wen Xiuheng's study and saw his bloodshot eyes and ragged breathing...
From then on, Shu He feared Wen Xiuheng, and her brother grew even colder toward her, even planning to marry her off as soon as possible.
Shu He lived in fear and trepidation at the Wen residence. One day, especially, she saw the real daughter, who was supposed to be dead, on the street...
She thought that finding a husband and someone to protect her in time might not be such a bad thing.
But after she became engaged to the young master of the Minister of Works' family, Wen Xiuheng brought the real daughter into the residence.
Madam Ye looked at her real daughter, then at Shu He, and said helplessly to Wen Xiuheng, “She's already engaged to the young master of the Minister of Works' family. Why not recognize them both as daughters of the Wen family?”
The man's icy voice extinguished the hope that had flared in Shu He's heart.
“No.”
Fearing Wen Xiuheng's ruthless methods, she packed her belongings and climbed over the wall to escape, but her fiancé, who had agreed to meet her there, was nowhere to be seen.
When she spotted his jade pendant on the ground and looked up, she saw Wen Xiuheng's livid face.
Wen Xiuheng could only think how ridiculous he was.
Her impersonation had been so clumsy, yet he hadn't seen a single flaw. He had treated her as his real younger sister, and even looking at her too long had felt like a violation. After countless days of tormenting himself, he learned it had all been a lie.
The ever-proper elder brother pulled her slender ankle onto the bed. A red mark immediately appeared on her fair skin, while his calloused fingertip gently wiped away the tear at the corner of her eye.
The dream he'd suppressed countless times had finally become reality. His usually cold eyes no longer concealed the turbulent desire within.
They weren't siblings, so from now on, she could belong only to him...
Reader's guide:
1. Both leads are virgins.
2. While they remain siblings, their feelings do not develop and there is no physical intimacy.
Theme: Your fate is in your own hands.
