Becoming the Widow of a Darkened Villain

Court politics / business / younger brother steals elder brother's wife

Shi Ningxue is born into the body of a farm girl. She learns to raise silkworms, reel silk, and embroider...

At fifteen, she goes through the traditional betrothal rites and marries Song Shuwen, from a family of scholars and farmers.

A year later, Song Shuwen dies unexpectedly. Her parents-in-law grieve so deeply that they soon pass away as well.

The Song family is left with only ten-year-old Song Mianxue and Shi Ningxue, who has been married into the family for a year without bearing a child.

That night, Song Ningxue dreams that the world she lives in is a book. After her husband dies, she will sell her younger brother-in-law to child traffickers, take the family fortune, and remarry her cousin.

After being sold, Song Mianxue will grow up to become a strategist for the fifth prince, who commits treason and usurps the throne. He will slaughter the household of his sister-in-law and her cousin, and spare neither her birth family nor anyone else.

After his failed coup, Song Mianxue will take his own life, and the Song and Shi families will disappear from history.

*

When Song Ningxue wakes, she wipes away a cold sweat and looks at the child beside her, who studies diligently even in the sweltering heat.

The boy has been clever and hardworking since childhood. And even his rebellion came close to succeeding, so his intelligence goes without saying.

He managed to carve out such a place for himself even from the hands of a trafficker. If he takes the proper path and sits the imperial examinations, his future will be beyond measure.

With a great talent like him to back her, won't her future be smooth sailing?

Besides, there are no parents-in-law now, and she runs the household. Why find herself another husband to lord over her?

So she protects the family fortune, takes on the clan, manages the farmland, finds a renowned teacher, raises her young brother-in-law, and restores the family's prestige.

Shi Ningxue abandons her former lazy ways and helps Song Mianxue earn the distinction of placing first in all three levels of the imperial examinations and enter officialdom. He goes on to achieve one remarkable feat after another: dredging waterways, putting down foreign threats, helping refugees, promoting trade, compiling classics, and establishing rites and music.

Just three years after entering office, he becomes a close confidant of the emperor. Before he turns twenty, he holds power over the entire court.

*

When his parents and elder brother die, young Song Mianxue is at a loss. Now only he and his unrelated elder sister-in-law remain in the household. How are they supposed to get along?

He studies at school, and he and his sister-in-law barely exchange a nod at holidays and during the monthly breaks. They are very distant.

In his eyes, his sister-in-law is beautiful and delicate, but also indistinct.

Later, he watches his sister-in-law use her delicate shoulders to hold up the sky for him, beautiful as the bright moon above.

The face that once seemed indistinct gradually comes into focus as she cares for him: smiling crescent eyes, the scent of osmanthus wafting from her sleeves, and a voice as lovely as music.

He establishes rites and music at court and expounds on proper conduct, yet his desire for his sister-in-law grows wildly within him like a vine.

He doesn't want to be her brother-in-law. He wants to be the man she takes to her bed.

If they aren't related by blood, then he'll make them related.

Theme: Reform villains with love