I Ran Away After Getting Close to My Frail Senior Sister

A few things to know before you start:

1. Switch! There is absolutely no bait-and-switch about them taking turns topping. Five-year age gap, 1v1, both virgins, happy ending.

2. Set in the same era as My Lady, Please Behave (GL). There are a few overlapping plot points, but they won't affect your reading.

3. No men in the romance, ever. The main cast is all women; the men are just props in the background.

4. Senior Sister has her reasons for going back to get married, and her partner isn't a man (a tiny spoiler).

5. This is a slow-burn story. If you want something steamy right from the start, this isn't it. No need to tell me if you drop it.

Blurb:

On the night He Chen came of age, she stumbled upon the secret of her senior sister Wen Yingyi's Gu poison and caught a glimpse of her own true feelings.

Unable to bear watching Wen Yingyi suffer from the Gu poison day and night, He Chen endured countless hardships and finally succeeded her as hall master, so she could treat Wen Yingyi.

But Wen Yingyi would rather bite her lip until it bled than get close to her. Her long fingers pried He Chen's whitening wrist away, her eyes full of anger and disgust.

"I never thought that after raising you for fifteen years, you'd turn out to be so shameless. I'm truly disappointed in you."

He Chen didn't care. She trespassed into forbidden grounds to study banned books, then moved Wen Yingyi into the Spring Hall and visited every night to ease her discomfort.

Before long, the whole sect was gossiping. They said He Chen had coveted Wen Yingyi for ages, and after failing to force herself on her, had imprisoned her instead.

Just as He Chen thought Wen Yingyi was slowly accepting her, Wen Yingyi turned cold and heartless. After they spent a night together, she decided to go through with her childhood betrothal.

So what if she was getting married? Let her.

*

Wen Yingyi never imagined that the junior sister she'd raised would harbor such improper feelings for her. And as she tried to stay true to herself, her own resolve began to waver.

She thought that keeping He Chen at arm's length with cold words and leaving her to cool off would put an end to it. Instead, she let herself be caught off guard.

Every nightfall, the same words would come from outside her door: "Senior Sister, open up. I'm here to treat your Gu poison again."

Wen Yingyi's breath grew unsteady. "The Gu poison thrives in the cold and fears heat. If Junior Sister presses so close, won't you stir it awake?"

He Chen pulled her even closer, her hand wandering across Wen Yingyi's chest. "No. It likes this. If it likes it, how could it act up?"

Wen Yingyi was confused. He Chen's methods of treating the Gu poison were strange, but they worked. Gradually, Wen Yingyi lost her reason, letting He Chen do as she pleased and longing for her to knock on the door every night.

But the good times didn't last. The day the terrible news came, Wen Yingyi stayed awake all night, unable to think of a way to satisfy everyone.

"Do you really have to go through with this marriage?"

When He Chen pressed her for an answer, Wen Yingyi said nothing, tacitly agreeing.

*

They met again on Wen Yingyi's wedding night. He Chen was dressed in red wedding robes, the corner of her mouth lifting in a smile.

"Why didn't you even send me an invitation?"

"Or did Senior Sister know I'd come and marry you myself?"

He Chen didn't give Wen Yingyi a chance to reply. She pressed her down, claiming what was hers with words hidden between their lips.

"I've come to take back everything that belongs to me, including you..."

A restrained, secretly passionate senior sister × a scheming, direct junior sister

Blurb for the next book

Don't Mess with the One Pretending to Be Weak!

A modern-day story! A modern-day story! A wild mix of immortals, humans, and ghosts, set mostly in the modern world.

A clever survivalist who gets outsmarted × a metaphysical expert who plays the harmless fool

After a bizarre accident, urban legend blogger Yan Zhaotang became a wandering ghost.

Good news: She wasn't quite dead, and she had a chance to come back to life.

Bad news: She was blind to the truth and had hooked up with a metaphysical expert.

Even worse news: The expert wanted to marry her in a ghost wedding.

On their wedding night, the woman laid down three rules. Yan Zhaotang needed her help, so she readily agreed, but when she caught sight of the words "dual cultivation," her ears warmed. "This is only a marriage of convenience. Do we really have to go that far?"

"Yes."

"Then... do we have to do it often?"

"No..." The woman paused, then turned aside and coughed several times.

Yan Zhaotang sighed in relief, secretly pleased that the woman knew how frail she was and that she couldn't handle too much.

But that very night, Yan Zhaotang learned exactly what it meant to be one thing on the outside and another on the inside.

The next few days were even worse. Yan Zhaotang fumed, "Didn't you say you wouldn't..."

"My throat was itchy. I didn't finish what I was saying." The woman's fingertip traced Yan Zhaotang's swollen, reddened lower lip. "Not often. Every day."

*

Everyone in the metaphysical community knew Jiang Bunian was decisive and cold. When news of her marriage got out, everyone was in an uproar.

People in the know whispered that her new wife looked very much like someone she'd known a thousand years ago.

Yan Zhaotang didn't take it seriously, until one night, while looking after Jiang Bunian, she accidentally found a yellowed portrait hidden beneath her pillow. The person in the portrait looked seven-tenths like her.

So the rumors were true... This marriage was an arrangement of mutual convenience. Yan Zhaotang thought she understood the situation and had never let Jiang Bunian into her heart, yet that night she tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

Not long after, the metaphysical community was sent into a frenzy.

The famously aloof and chaste Jiang Bunian posted her first Weibo: @Yan Zhaotang's Exploration Diary, meet my wife. She was so hard to win over!

At the same time, she told the trembling Yan Zhaotang to "relax" while biting her earlobe and whispering, "They still don't believe me, and I don't have a free hand. Please repost my Weibo, darling, and make us official."

Theme: Love welcomes every hardship and overcomes every hardship.