After I Flirted with My Fiancé's Older Brother by Mistake

My next novels, "Broken Jade" and "Those Years with My Four Childhood Friends," are introduced below.

-----This novel's blurb-----

A Xue, who grew up in a small village, was betrothed as a child. But when she was ten, he was taken back to the Marquis's estate, and the two never saw each other again.

A Xue often heard her parents say that the engagement didn't count, that they were too far beneath his family, and things like that.

Then one day, someone really did come to break off the engagement.

A Xue said nothing and carried on with her steamed bun business.

A murder took place in town that day. She heard that quite a few officials and nobles had arrived, and her business grew even more prosperous.

At dusk, a young man in official robes came to her shop. As he handed her the money, she saw a mole on the back of his hand.

The young master of the Xie family had a mole just like that on his left hand.

A Xue looked up. The young man's handsome, refined face bore a faint resemblance to the boy she'd known as a child. She still held a grudge against him, and everything about him rubbed her the wrong way.

"We're sold out," A Xue lied without batting an eye.

Later, she thought, why should he be the only one who got to decide what happened to their engagement? She wouldn't stand for it!

So A Xue grew close to her fiance. Once he fell deeply in love with her and insisted that he would never marry anyone else, and was going home to tell his parents to propose, she would find fault with everything and reject him with utter disdain.

A Xue felt so refreshed that even sleeping seemed sweeter. But the next day, soldiers surrounded her shop.

"What law have I broken?"

The young man she'd dumped emerged from the crowd with a knowing smile. "You toyed with his heart, seduced him, then abandoned him. Little lady, you really have quite a way with men."

How had the gentle young master of the Xie family turned into a completely different person?

A Xue hurriedly said, "Fourth Brother, our fate together has run its course."

"Fourth Brother..." He repeated those two words, his gaze growing sharper as he lifted her chin.

"Take a good look. I'm the eldest son of the Xie family."

A Xue froze.

The man she had toyed with all along was the eldest son of the Xie family, the celebrated genius, and her fiance's older brother.

-----Those Years of Playing Mind Games with My Four Childhood Friends-----

A fortune-teller said that a benefactor was written in my fate. He would rise to great heights, with limitless prospects ahead.

My mother was delighted and gave him a full tael of silver as a reward. She also asked who this benefactor was and when he would appear.

The fortune-teller smiled mysteriously. "Heaven's secrets cannot be revealed. You only need to know that he is someone close to you."

Later, my mother came up with a plan. She poured two jars of wine into the fortune-teller, and learned the most important detail: this benefactor was a boy who had grown up with me, our families close since childhood.

My mother grinned from ear to ear, and I grinned along with her.

As I kept grinning, I realized something.

I had four childhood friends.

The twin brothers next door were opposites, one lively and one quiet. One would often make me cry, and the other would gently comfort me.

"An An, don't cry." The older twin wiped my tears while his younger brother watched me timidly.

But whenever I wasn't looking, they would often get into vicious fights. They were too bruised and battered to face me afterward.

The boy across the street was handsome and skilled in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. His only flaw was that he couldn't walk, and sometimes he looked at me strangely.

"An An, come here." His gaze was shadowed as he reached out to me from the darkness.

Then there was someone staying at my house for a while. I asked him, "Are you one of my childhood friends?"

He scoffed. "In your dreams."

But sometimes he would turn around at just the right moment for me to catch him sneaking a look at me, then turn away and deny it.

My four childhood friends were each stranger than the last. My mother said I should get along with all of them, then choose one in the end. I just had to be subtle, because if anyone noticed, that would spoil everything.

I agreed completely, and did a pretty good job, until... On the day of the Qixi Festival, I delivered my love letter to the wrong person. The boy in the wheelchair, who should have appeared at a different time, stood with the twin brothers behind him. All three stared at me with complicated expressions.

I knew I was in trouble and tried to make a quick escape. The moment I turned around, I crashed into someone's arms.

All four of them... Why had they all shown up at the same time?

Theme: See through the fog and face reality