After My Stepbrother Set His Sights on Me

[The blurb for my next book, The Golden Hall Locks Away Its Beauty, is at the end. If you're interested, please add it to your favorites.]

After transmigrating, Xie Rouhui became the stepdaughter brought into the Liu family when her mother remarried. Living under someone else's roof, she was at everyone's mercy.

Just as she was at her wit's end, the Liu family's eldest son, Liu Xianzhang, came into view.

Young Master Liu was famous throughout Shenzhou. He was as aloof and noble as snow on a mountaintop, as a pine clinging to a cliff. Even just walking past along a corridor was enough to send his wicked brothers scattering like startled birds and beasts.

Having suffered enough, Xie Rouhui secretly began to plot her way to a better life.

She pouted, fawned, and pretended to be sweet. After going to great lengths, she finally won Liu Xianzhang's tacit consent to call him "big brother."

Just as she wished, she hid beneath her stepbrother's wing and lived a life of comfort.

If anyone dared to provoke her, she would use the same trick again, rushing to Liu Xianzhang's back with a pitiful look.

Liu Xianzhang would always take her side without asking why.

For years, she had grown used to being open with Liu Xianzhang, close as could be, like a pair of real siblings.

Until she was preparing to marry. The "big brother" who had always cherished her suddenly changed, holding her tight in his arms, desire filling his eyes.

Xie Rouhui covered her smeared lipstick and fled through the door in a panic.

If she had known that beneath his radiant, refined exterior he was an obsessive madman, she would never have provoked him.

Liu Xianzhang had never been an easy man to please.

He seemed courteous and respectful, yet remained out of reach, surrounded by invisible, icy walls.

Only his newly arrived stepsister, delicate and tender, had won his affection.

He gave her shelter and kept her safe,

watching her blossom into a more and more captivating beauty, unaware of it herself as she came to link arms with him, take his hand, and confide her innermost thoughts.

Liu Xianzhang thought nothing of it and treated her as usual,

yet her slender figure began to appear again and again in his dreams, timidly slipping into his bed and doing things a brother and sister should never do.

For twenty years, he had guarded his conduct and remained beyond reproach. He was certain he could suppress his unspeakable feelings.

Then his little sister came to him with a bright smile and told him she was getting married.

At last, he cast reason aside and surrendered to the demands of desire.

Note: The leads are not related by blood, and their feelings develop only after they end their brother-sister relationship.

A preview from my upcoming book, The Golden Hall Locks Away Its Beauty

After the kingdom fell, the rebel prince He Qiong ascended the throne.

The former dynasty's imperial family were all confined behind the high walls of Anhe Residence, struggling to survive in humiliation and fear.

Every night, a sedan chair would quietly stop at a side gate of Anhe Residence. A woman of extraordinary beauty would hurry inside, wrapped in a heavy cloak, and be carried all the way to the imperial palace, leaving only at dawn.

Palace servants who knew the old story said that the new emperor was now riding high, but once he had been a hostage, and had shared a romance with the noble Princess Yuan Jue.

Later, when their affair came to light, Princess Yuan Jue had to treat He Qiong as a pawn to be sacrificed to preserve her reputation, silently allowing a matron to bring him a bowl of poison.

Though He Qiong had narrowly escaped death, he came to hate her because of his love.

Now that the new emperor held supreme power, naturally he would make Princess Yuan Jue pay for everything.

Late at night, every lamp in the side hall had gone out, and silence filled the room.

The lives at stake included the deposed emperor, the former empress, the princes of the imperial clan, and even her husband's family.

Yuan Jue clenched her sweaty palms. She bowed before the man in imperial robes and golden boots, revealing the pale, delicate nape of her neck and leaving herself at his mercy.

The silver chain stretching to the bed swayed without pause, then snapped abruptly.

He Qiong lowered his eyes and coldly looked at the woman beneath him, her face streaked with tears.

The very Princess Yuan Jue who had once sworn eternal love with him and driven him mad with infatuation.

But in the end, she had abandoned him and married another man.

At first, he only wanted revenge. Gradually, he became addicted and no longer wanted to let go.

As he hesitated, the woman was no longer able to serve him. She pleaded earnestly, "Your Majesty, when will you finally tire of me and let me go home?"

The shadows in He Qiong's eyes deepened. His hand tightened inch by inch around Yuan Jue's chin. "You want me to watch you reunite with your husband and live happily ever after?"

He imprisoned Yuan Jue, who wanted nothing more than to return home, in the inner palace, hoping to keep her forever.

From then on, he wanted her to look only at him, smile only for him, bear his children, and love no one but him.

Theme: Face setbacks with a positive attitude to win a better future