After Marrying My Husband's Elder Brother

[Sweet little softie vs. stern old-fashioned man] Starts in October, please add it to your collection

Bai An'an had been married to Shen Mu for a year, but they still hadn't consummated their marriage.

Rumors gradually spread. Her sister-in-law laughed at her for being unable to bear children, her mother-in-law looked at her with disdain, and her own mother urged her to have a child.

That night, she worked up the courage to sneak into the study and nervously wrapped her arms around his waist...

He pried her fingers off one by one, his voice as cold as ice:

"Madam Bai, have some self-respect."

Only later did she learn he wasn't her husband, but her husband's elder brother.

-

The most outrageous thing Shen Mu ever did was marry his younger brother's fiancée in his place.

He was the youngest Grand Secretary of the Great Yin Dynasty, stern and unyielding, a strict adherent to propriety.

Taking his brother's place in marriage was against the rules. But his younger brother had fled, and the young woman was in danger. He couldn't simply stand by and do nothing.

He thought that when his brother returned, he would give her back to him.

He would merely... protect her on his brother's behalf for a while.

But after that night, he kept dreaming of her pale jade arms curling around his neck, her soft body pressing against him... Each time, the dream went further.

He knew this couldn't go on.

So one day, he said something harsh. Perhaps too harsh.

The next day, she handed him a divorce agreement.

He stared at the neat line of handwriting, his fingers crushing the edge of the paper until it tore.

-

The day she left, heavy snow fell from the sky.

Shen Mu galloped thirty li after her, only to see her held in his younger brother's arms.

She looked up and addressed him coolly: "Elder brother-in-law."

At that moment, he tasted the metallic tang of blood. Jealousy surged wildly in his heart, impossible to suppress...

P.S.

1. [Marriage first, love later / Driving a stern official to madness / Hidden identity revealed / Brothers vying for the same wife / Rekindled romance / Pursuit after the breakup / Taking by force]

2. Both leads are each other's first and only partners; happy ending. The heroine tends to overthink.

3. Hero is 27, heroine is 17; ten-year age gap.

4. The hero becomes physically addicted to touching the heroine. Cold and stern by day, crazed by night.

5. The heroine and the younger brother were never actually married.

6. Set in an alternate early Southern Song period.

Theme: The fortunate are blessed with good lives