Older Sister

Yan Zhiyao is the orphaned daughter of a military family.

By good fortune, Marquis Cheng'an and his wife adopt her.

Everyone in the household respectfully calls her Eldest Young Lady,

except one person, who has never once spoken kindly to her.

The first time they meet, the young man leans down with a nasty grin:

"Miss Yan, don't tell me you moved into my home just because you covet my good looks?"

Then, as she glares at him in anger, he laughs.

"But let me advise you to give up on that idea!"

He is the young master of the marquis's household. Yan Zhiyao knows he hates her,

because she took the place of his late eldest sister,

so she silently puts up with all his tantrums.

Little does she know that on the eve of her wedding, the young master will grab her wrist and hold on tight.

"Yan Zhiyao! Listen to me. That man is no good. You can't marry him!"

Yan Zhiyao simply pries his fingers off one by one, looks him in the eye, and says each word distinctly:

"Pei Chengyuan, by every measure, you should call me... elder sister."

That night, the usually gentle eldest young lady of the marquis's household gets angrier than she ever has in her life and personally shoves him into the pond.

Everyone knows that the young general Pei and the eldest young lady who joined the household later don't get along,

but no one knew it had gone so far that he wouldn't even show up for his elder sister's wedding.

They say the young master had a huge argument with her and went straight back to the frontier.

Pei Chengyuan is gone for three years. When he returns, he has been struck by several arrows.

Looking at the unconscious man, Yan Zhiyao cries out anxiously, "Pei Chengyuan! What is this supposed to mean?! You think other men aren't good enough, but what about you?"

After a long pause, a hand presses against her head.

The man speaks hoarsely, weakly trying to show off:

"Nonsense. Other men really aren't good enough. I'm different. I'm very capable..."

#More or less a fake crematorium arc

Currently updating: The Concubine's Intent, now with a good backlog.

Straightforward, slow-witted heroine vs. calculating hero.

Jin Shuyi's maternal family is the wealthiest in Jiangnan. Unfortunately, her grandfather is getting old, and she watches as greedy relatives prepare to siphon away and divide up the family fortune. She has no choice but to find herself a live-in husband.

The live-in husband is incredibly handsome and obeys her every command.

The reason is simple: she paid him.

Though her handsome husband married into her household for her money, she often needs his help, and Jin Shuyi feels bad about it. She does everything she can to shower him with gold and silver, and most often asks him, "Do you still have enough money to spend?"

Even so, he is rarely happy. Jin Shuyi knows why, so once she has the family fortune firmly in her hands, she writes him a letter of release. After putting it off for days, she finally decides to set him free.

"If you want to leave, you can go whenever you like," she says.

When she looks up and sees his lips pressed into a tight line, she adds quietly, "To be honest, if I keep supporting you like this, I'll... I'll end up bankrupting my family..."

Three years later, the whole country introduces new policies, and Jin Shuyi is brought to the capital by the father who had once abandoned her. Overnight, she becomes the daughter of the Marquis of Zhen'guo and takes his surname.

Three months after arriving in the capital, she is taken to a palace banquet. At her first visit to the palace, she is so nervous that she doesn't dare lift her head. Then the emperor announces he will arrange a marriage for her, and a familiar voice comes from above, sounding as casual as she remembers:

"There is no hurry. Why not think it over, Imperial Brother?"

She looks up in shock and sees His Highness Prince Yu, famed for his formidable skills, slowly raising his wine cup beside the emperor.

Their eyes meet, and she freezes on the spot.

Th-this isn't the husband who left home in a huff?!

Theme: Sincerity is precious.