Unwittingly Stirring Spring Mountain

[Coming Soon: After Sending Me Off as a Bride, My Aloof Stepbrother Regrets Everything]

The hunter thinks he's in control, but he's the bird in her palm.

--

Xie Zhixue had a dream.

When she woke up, she remembered only two things.

First: To protect her family, she became an imperial prince's mistress, only to be betrayed in the end.

Second: Her noble distant cousin would become a powerful official, famous throughout the land.

To avoid repeating the past, Xie Zhixue decided to seduce her elegant, jade-like cousin, hoping that one day he would protect her family.

She schemed step by step, seducing his heart and his body, and finally got what she wanted!

Before she could even celebrate, her cousin transformed into a member of the imperial family!

Xie Zhixue: ?

Is it too late to run now?

--

Lu Mingzhang, the legitimate son of the Lu clan of Jiangzuo, was upright and proper, hailed as the model of an eminent family. Suitors seeking his hand in marriage were as numerous as fish crossing a river.

A distant cousin came to visit the household. She was breathtakingly beautiful, and he heard she was being considered as a match for another member of his clan.

Yet she fell into his arms several times, calling him cousin while going on outings with that other man.

Her advances were blatant, her flirtation deliberate.

Lu Mingzhang had always despised women like her most of all.

But every time he dreamed, there she was: beneath the curtains and candlelight, his cousin's skin as fair as snow, her cheeks flushed, her soft tongue and fragrant shoulders, her lovely face glowing like rosy clouds.

She fell into his arms again and clutched his official robe, refusing to let go. "Cousin, I'm scared..."

Dark desire flashed through his eyes.

Since she had thrown herself at him, then she could stay.

[Reading Guide]

The heroine dreams, but her dreams happen out of order, so she misunderstands a few things.

Good news! The hero is head over heels for her.

★★ Coming Soon: Pillow of Jade ★★

She is her stepbrother's secret, hidden from the world.

--

Zhou Ji holds power over the court and commands a mighty army. He is the great general feared by all under Heaven.

Zhou Xuanyu grew up pampered and willful, yet this stepbrother was the one person she feared.

He protected her and taught her strictly.

To her, he was both her elder brother and the pillar of the Zhou family.

Until one day, when she was drunk, she accidentally entered his hidden room.

The walls were covered in fine silks, all of them hers.

The paintings and calligraphy all had something to do with her.

Every word in the documents on the desk recorded the details of her daily life, from what she ate and wore to where she went.

She was shocked,

and even more afraid.

After discovering her stepbrother's secret, she avoided him day after day.

Then one night, she suddenly opened her eyes to find her brother standing beside her bed. Her heart seized.

Zhou Ji lowered his long lashes. His voice sounded as calm as ever. "Ningning, tell your big brother what you saw."

Though he phrased it as a question, she heard certainty in his voice.

--

Zhou Ji had been disciplined and proper since childhood. He knew he carried the glory and decline of his family on his shoulders, and could afford not a single mistake.

Yet he had developed such feelings for the younger sister he had raised himself.

To put an end to his growing, deepening affection, he unhesitatingly arranged a good marriage for his stepsister and sent her off in grand style.

Zhou Ji thought he could endure it for the rest of his life.

Until three days later, when she returned to her parents' home. The newly prominent man of the court helped his stepsister down from her horse. In the icy snow, her radiant little face was tucked into a fur collar as she called to him, full of affection, "My beloved..."

The feelings Zhou Ji had suppressed for three years became a complete joke.

Zhou Ji couldn't understand how things had come to this.

It should have been him standing by her side.

If he had sent her off as a bride, then he would be the one to take her back.

--

On a night of lashing rain and howling wind, her stepbrother kissed her lovely face and caressed her slender waist, whispering, "Ningning, your big brother only wants you."

[Reading Guide]

The male and female leads are not related by blood.

The cover art and character designs were commissioned by me.

Theme: Seize the day