The Blind Sister Pities Me

Note added on 2024.7.30 (currently drafting!)

After the flood, Tan Dai has no home left. Her mother and stepfather contract a plague and die one after the other, leaving her with only her stepbrother, Pei He'an.

Tan Dai has been blind since childhood, so she doesn't know what her stepbrother looks like. He barely speaks, so she doesn't know what kind of person he is, either. But her other senses are sharp, and she can tell he's difficult to get along with. With their mother and stepfather gone, he probably doesn't want to drag her, a burden, along with him.

One day, while her stepbrother is out searching for food, Tan Dai stumbles out of the ruined temple where the two of them have taken refuge. She plans to jump into the pond beside it and end her life. But once she jumps in, the water is deep and cold, and the suffocating sensation rushing toward her fills her with panic. She starts thrashing and struggling.

Just as she's about to pass out, a large hand clamps around her slender waist and drags her back to shore. Her stepbrother's clear, low voice falls beside her ear, sounding both teasing and mocking. "Sister, are you still trying to kill yourself?"

Tan Dai frantically shakes her head.

Pei He'an looks at the woman before him, soaked through and so terrified that she's completely out of her wits. His gaze slowly darkens, and he curls his lips into a smile. "Then it's settled. I saved your life, Sister, so from now on, it's mine."

*

As her stepbrother grows older, other young men his age have already married and had children, but for some reason, he has no interest in any of it.

One day, Tan Dai persuades him to meet a young woman. The day before the meeting, Tan Dai opens her eyes and is delighted to discover that she can see. Not far from her, her stepbrother, who shouldn't be in her bedroom, is lying on the daybed, with what is unmistakably the tasseled bodice she always wears draped over his face.

*

From the hero's perspective

Pei He'an has had little family affection since childhood. He's cold and distant, and knows how to kill, but not how to love.

Until the day he rescues his foolish stepsister, at least in name, from the pond. After that, everything changes.

As he looks at her trembling, drenched body in his arms, wicked thoughts fill his mind.

The woman before him has skin like ice and jade, beautiful and ethereal. All he wants is to hide her away and keep her for himself.

"Short skit"

Pei He'an at first: What a nuisance. She's frail, and blind, too.

Later: Sniffs her. Why does she smell kind of nice?

After that: Wait, she really does smell amazing.

And later still: What? She wants to set me up with someone else? No way. I won't allow it.

Theme: Nurture a beautiful flower with care