Feng Xing Shui never imagined that her brother-in-law would propose to her.
After her husband died, lines of text floated before her eyes, and she learned that this was an ancient erotic novel, with her brother-in-law, Shen Zaixue, as the male lead.
The text said Shen Zaixue would one day become prime minister and wield power over the court. Thinking that an elder sister-in-law was like a mother, she worked hard at embroidery to earn money and pay for Shen Zaixue's schooling.
On the night before Shen Zaixue left for the capital to take the imperial exam, he suddenly proposed to her. His long lashes trembled, and his eyes shone as he asked, "When I return with honors, will you marry me, Sister-in-law?"
Feng Xing Shui hesitated for a long time, then nodded. Shen Zaixue smiled with delight.
After he left, Feng Xing Shui packed her belongings, left home, and settled alone in a distant town.
-
From those lines of text, Feng Xing Shui learned how Shen Zaixue spent the years seizing power at court and becoming prime minister, and how he met the heroine and... shared a bed with her. Feng Xing Shui blushed with embarrassment and dared not read any further.
She had been widowed soon after marrying into the family and knew nothing about what happened in the bedchamber.
Then one day, she woke to find a disheveled man in her bed. Feng Xing Shui looked closely and realized it was Shen Zaixue, who should have been in the capital.
Shen Zaixue's once childish face had matured. He wore the same obedient smile she remembered. "Sister-in-law, I found you."
Only later did Feng Xing Shui notice the chill behind that smile. Shen Zaixue had become a madman!
Night after night, the bed curtains fluttered. So ashamed she wanted to bite through her tongue, she felt his slender fingers pry her lips apart with genteel patience, then push further as he drew out her gasps.
She regretted so many times that she hadn't run farther away. Whenever she tried to escape, he dragged her back. The chains clinked softly as she could only let him kiss her ear and whisper in a voice full of hatred and obsession:
"Sister-in-law, you lied to me..."
-
Since childhood, Shen Zaixue had loved running to the courthouse to watch people be beheaded. He was thrilled by the splatter of blood and the agony contorting the condemned people's faces.
So, even though he had a fair, innocent-looking face, no one wanted to get close to him.
That was until Feng Xing Shui married his elder brother and came to live in their home. She chatted with him, studied with him, lived under the same roof, and even held him without a trace of disgust.
Feng Xing Shui always looked at him with tender eyes. The forbidden thoughts in Shen Zaixue's heart quickly grew wild. He wanted to hold and kiss her, to imprison her in bed so she could smile only for him.
She accepted his proposal, but when he returned with honors, she was gone and the house was empty.
So her affection had been a lie. So Sister-in-law had only looked at him that way because his face resembled his brother's.
Shen Zaixue was consumed by resentment, hatred, and jealousy.
"Sister-in-law, if you love my brother, why can't you love me too?"
Theme: Sister-in-law, you smell so good