He Stole His Younger Brother's Wife

[A seemingly virtuous older brother-in-law with a domineering streak x a sensitive yet resilient beauty]

Xie Lai rose to the cabinet before turning thirty, with power firmly in his grasp.

People spared no praise for him, calling his appearance as elegant as a jade tree, his inner nature as fragrant as orchids, his virtue as steadfast as pines and cypresses, and his talent and insight as clear as the bright moon after a storm.

The only thing they held against him was that he had stolen his younger brother's wife.

·

A marriage contract brought Rong Yin to the Xie family.

Xie Jun had an otherworldly beauty, graceful as rosy clouds and the moon.

The two had shared tender, loving moments in perfect harmony, and Rong Yin had naturally fallen for him.

She had always thought Xie Jun was merely bad at expressing himself when he acted cold.

Until one day, she saw his eyes filled with a tenderness as gentle as water, directed at the cousin who had come to seek refuge at their home. Only then did she realize he was cold because she was the wrong person.

The Xie family's cousin was delicate and frail, with the willowy beauty of a courtesan.

He had finally decided to give her a place to call home. So the promise he'd made to Rong Yin, that they would be together for life and belong only to each other, had been nothing but a joke.

Rong Yin was tired, and weary, too.

-

Her husband probably wouldn't come home again today.

Rong Yin left the courtyard and looked back. Her gaze met Xie Lai's, standing some distance away.

The evening glow had faded. He stood alone in the gloom, his gaze fixed heavily on her. Something in his eyes, something she could not make out, seemed ready to drown her whole.

She shouldn't be this sad.

Watching her, Xie Lai suddenly remembered the snowfall the year before, when she had mistaken him for someone else and looked back with a smile. Her eyes had shimmered, filled with his reflection.

A girl in red, with skin as white as snow and ice.

Ever since that day, she had haunted his dreams night after night.

In those dreams, red candles burned bright, and beneath the bridal veil were her flushed cheeks, her porcelain-white neck, the lashes trembling when she was startled, the tips of her ears reddening with embarrassment, and her lips, barely parted.

At last, she lifted her eyes and called to him in a voice soft and trembling, "Husband."

That voice, fine as silk, bound him in the deeper night.

Since then, he had tossed and turned in sleepless longing, never again knowing peaceful rest.

·

Rong Yin hadn't wanted a divorce. Even if her husband treated her indifferently, even if life in this deep and lonely household was as still as a dry well, she had accepted it.

Men who stayed faithful to a single wife and took no concubines were rare indeed, as rare as phoenix feathers and morning stars.

But it had to be him.

It had to be this older brother-in-law, someone she should have kept at a respectful distance in accordance with propriety,

who tempted her into a desire she should never have had,

and trapped her in a web with no escape.

-

The ink on the divorce papers had barely dried when Xie Jun regretted it.

But when he looked up, he saw the older brother who had once said, "Love is a burden. Only a career is worth pursuing," standing on the steps and gently brushing the newly fallen snow from his wife's hair.

Reader notes:

1. One-on-one pairing. The female lead is not a virgin; the male lead is.

2. The male lead shamelessly seduces the female lead. At first, he thinks of himself as a substitute for his younger brother.

3. Brothers at odds, with the second male lead facing a long road to redemption.

Archived 2025.12.27

Theme: Fate is in your own hands