Plucking Green Plums

[A stern, distant older brother x his childhood sweetheart, now his younger brother's wife]

Xia Caiwei had known since childhood that she would grow up to marry her distant cousin, Ning Junze. He came from a family of military officers and looked stern and unsmiling, but he was actually kind-tempered.

Later, after her cousin died in battle, she married his younger brother, Ning Junchuan, who had grown up playing with her. But less than a year after their wedding, her supposedly dead cousin came back.

The day Ning Junze returned, he wore armor that made him look handsome and imposing, cool and restrained. Amid the deafening clamor of gongs and drums, he strode straight up to Caiwei. His warm, dry hand caressed her dazed little face, and he smiled as he called her by name. "Weiwei, I'm back."

Xia Caiwei staggered back half a step and curtseyed. "Your younger brother's wife, Caiwei, pays her respects to her elder brother-in-law."

.

Ning Junze had survived one brush with death after another on the battlefield, clawing his way out of piles of corpses with nothing but sheer willpower. The people on his mind were his parents and younger brother, and the fiancée he'd cherished since childhood.

He had raced home through wind and dust, day and night without rest, only to receive a greeting of "May all be well with you, elder brother-in-law."

The woman he loved had become his sister-in-law, and she was carrying his brother's child. His heart turned to ashes, and he devoted himself entirely to court affairs. Then one day, he happened to see the heavily pregnant Xia Caiwei nimbly climbing a tree to pick peaches. The young woman lounged lazily on a branch, then bent down and pulled a pillow out from under her belly...

A few days later, on the Qixi Festival, Ning Junze looked at the mandarin-duck sachet in his hand, then raised his eyes to the young woman, who looked close to fainting, and spoke in a low voice.

"So you gave me this sachet just by accident? On a whim? It had nothing to do with love?"

Xia Caiwei had no idea how the sachet she'd embroidered the previous year had ended up in his hands. She was so nervous she was about to cry. She stammered as she tried to explain, but the man across from her spoke again.

"Do you want me to be your lover?"

Ning Junze watched the young woman's eyes grow round. The corners of his lips lifted, his mood brightening. "I can. I'm willing."

.

Once he became her lover, Ning Junze began plotting how to claim a proper place in her life.

The scent of pear blossom incense hung thick in the bed curtains. He held the woman in his arms a little tighter and spoke softly. "I bought a new residence. Move there for now. After the New Year, we'll go through the betrothal and wedding ceremonies, one step at a time."

Xia Caiwei was still savoring the moment. At his words, she was so startled she rolled right off the bed. "What?"

With his arms suddenly empty, Ning Junze watched her hurry about, apparently planning to pull on her skirt and deny everything. His smile faded.

"What do you mean?"

Xia Caiwei edged toward the door in tiny steps as she got dressed, her voice lacking conviction. "I-I don't want to marry again..."

"You don't want to marry again?"

Ning Junze stared at her in disbelief for a moment, then laughed in exasperation.

"Xia Caiwei, did you really take me for a male courtesan from a pleasure house?"

Theme: Love can overcome anything