Adopted Younger Sister

[Pseudo-incest / Three brothers in a love triangle / A gentle, resilient, growing little sister x an eldest brother who holds back at first, then unleashes himself in full] Wan Ying was the adopted daughter of the Marquis of Zhongyong's household. Having to live under someone else's roof made her cautious by nature. Her greatest skill was keeping things fair and even. Why did she need to learn to keep everyone happy? Because she had three brothers in name only. Wan Ying felt she had been an exemplary adopted daughter. She had no designs on the marquis's riches and status, and she got along wonderfully with her brothers. That illusion lasted until the year she came of age. When her parents started arranging a marriage for her, her youngest brother, Ji Xiaoran, was the first to speak up. "She's only adopted, not their real daughter. Rather than have Wan Ying marry into another family, serve her sister-in-law, and live under her in-laws' scrutiny, why not let her marry me? I promise to cherish her." Before Wan Ying could recover from her shock, her second brother, Ji Shaoheng, spoke up as well. "Surely you understand that younger siblings must respect the proper order of age, don't you?" At last, the eldest brother, seated silently at the head of the room, slowly spoke. "If we're being serious, I'm the one most qualified to marry her." * Everyone in the capital said Ji Henian was the perfect older brother and the most reliable heir to the Earl's household. But only he knew that every time Wan Ying called him "Big Brother," it wrapped another layer of moral shackles around his heart and soul. He had spent his whole life building an unbreakable cage out of self-restraint, locking his own true feelings inside. Until Wan Ying began to discuss marriage, and his younger brothers rushed to cast off the restraints of their positions and become the husbands who would share her life. At last, the string in Ji Henian's mind called reason snapped. To hell with moral duty, to hell with social conventions and ethics. In that moment, the beast he had kept imprisoned in his heart for years tore the rules of propriety and gentlemanly conduct to shreds. Ji Henian slowly rose, his eyes fixed on the young woman he had protected for so many years, and secretly longed for all the while. Now, he would no longer be her brother. [Reading Guide] 1. A bittersweet, sweet romance with a pseudo-incest premise, centered on the heroine's push and pull with the three brothers. 2. The endgame pairing is the eldest brother. The second and third brothers do not get equal treatment in the ending. 3. The romance only begins after the adoptive family relationship ends. Theme: Respect the order of age and distinctions of status.