The Jade in My Palm

Blurb:

A sudden calamity strikes Shu. Her father dies in battle. Dressed in mourning, Xie Yunshu heads north to ask her fiance, Xiao Yan, to send troops.

But no one could have imagined that this plea would lead the famed jade of the Xiao family to die on the battlefield.

To stabilize the situation in Northern Yan, she agrees to the request of Old Madam Xiao and marries into the Xiao family in place of her fiance, taking as her husband Xiao Yi, a concubine-born son cast out by his family and reduced to wallowing in the dirt.

He grew up under the cold stares of others, concealing his sharp edge beneath the guise of a wastrel.

On their wedding night, with the red candles burning high, he approached her, reeking of wine, yet his eyes were as clear as a blade. "Sister-in-law, you must feel wronged to have married someone as worthless as me."

Yet the very next morning, he saw her set aside her bridal clothes to make him soup and arrange his crown.

Night after night, she taught him the art of war, pulling him out of the mire. "Xiao Yi, you are your own person. You don't have to become another Xiao Yan."

So he put his reckless ways behind him and took up his sword to head south, carving out a place for himself with his own blood and flesh. They had promised to restore the Central Plains together.

Through countless nights, he gradually found himself unable to restrain his feelings.

But just as he was finally able to hold her openly in his arms, the elder brother who should have been dead returned from the border under cover of night.

Amid frost and snow on a bitter night, Xiao Yan gazed at Xie Yunshu, her hair and face as lovely as flowers, and spoke hoarsely. "When did my fiancee become my younger brother's wife?"

Reader's guide:

1. The setting is fictional, loosely inspired by the Three Kingdoms period. Many details are invented, so please don't overanalyze them.

2. Both male leads are virgins. There will be plenty of rivalry and dramatic tension, but the heroine will have no intimate interactions with anyone else while married.

3. The younger brother goes from a scheming wastrel to a dangerous obsessive, then chases his wife after she leaves him.

4. The elder brother is proper and self-restrained, with a green tea side revealed later.

Theme: Love and duty.