My Younger Sister, Cast Out, Has Returned

In her previous life, Li Xiuying was orphaned at twelve. Her stepbrother and her future husband's family came to take her in on the same day, and she chose her future husband's family.

At fifteen, she married her childhood sweetheart and betrothed. At sixteen, she died in childbirth along with her baby. Only after becoming a ghost did she learn that her difficult labor had not been fate's doing. Her husband had passed the imperial examinations and caught the eye of a powerful patron, so her mother-in-law wanted her to vacate her place as the principal wife.

Ten years later, her childhood sweetheart had risen rapidly through the ranks with the support of his wife's family and become a chief minister. Her stepbrother became a ruthless official, framing people and fabricating wrongful cases. Her childhood sweetheart's family was implicated too: their property was confiscated and their clan exterminated. Her stepbrother was also brought to justice soon afterward and executed by the slow slicing method.

Reborn, Xiuying returned to the eve of her first pregnancy.

In this life, she had only two wishes: first, to leave her husband's family alive; second, to keep her brother from becoming a traitor.

She asked to be divorced and returned to her childhood home, where she devoted herself every day to helping her brother prepare for the imperial examinations and stay on the right path.

In less than three years, her stepbrother placed first in the palace examinations and entered the Hanlin Academy. The prime minister's daughter wanted to choose a husband from among the successful candidates, and Xiuying knew it was time to step aside. If she stayed by her brother's side, she would only become a burden to him.

She packed her bags and said goodbye to her brother. "I wish you every success, Brother. I'm going back to my hometown to get married, too."

Her brother agreed and accompanied her all the way home. He dug up a jar of wine from beneath an old tree, saying he wanted to bid her farewell.

Only when the mellow wine touched her lips did she realize it was the daughter wine her brother had buried when she was born.

Her brother drank one cup after another in silence, until the whole jar was empty.

"If you're going back to your hometown to get married, marry me."

As the blade cut through his flesh again and again, he thought of his little sister, lying in a pool of blood with her eyes wide open, the tears at their corners not yet dry.

How much pain she must have been in, he thought. If there were another life, he would protect her at any cost.

But even in his wildest dreams, he could never have imagined that in his next life, he would develop such forbidden feelings for his little sister.

Honest younger sister x upright gentleman of an older brother

A sibling bond that turns into something else

Theme: Love should be open and honest