Brother! Brother!

Qiao Zhen was poisoned to the marrow and had little time left.

She leaned her head against the young emperor's shoulder and wept.

"After I am gone, my husband must lie low and bide his time. When the moment is right, destroy the traitor Qiao."

The "traitor Qiao" she spoke of was her elder brother, Qiao Yue.

Qiao Yue was wickedly ambitious. Ever since her husband ascended the throne, he had monopolized the power of the court and reduced him to a puppet emperor.

That was why she had broken with Qiao Yue, and he had completely lost control over her.

The poison clinging to her bones was surely Qiao Yue's punishment for her betrayal.

Before drawing her last breath, Qiao Zhen had only one regret: Qiao Yue knew the truth of her birth, but would not tell her.

When Qiao Zhen awoke again, she had returned to the age of five.

She was no longer the Qiao family's naive Ninth Lady, who obeyed her elder brother Qiao Yue without question.

Reborn into a new life, Qiao Zhen decided to cling to Qiao Yue's coattails in public while secretly plotting to escape him.

*

Zhou Wang wept for her for three days, then his grief was gone.

Because three days later, he finally finished writing the abdication decree, and could go meet her in the afterlife.

But when Zhou Wang opened his eyes, he found himself back thirteen years earlier, when he was still Crown Prince.

He knew perfectly well how he felt about Qiao Zhen.

In his previous life, he had made one mistake: he had failed to protect her, giving Qiao Yue's political enemies the chance to poison her with that marrow-deep toxin.

Those people knew that Qiao Zhen was Qiao Yue's lifeline.

If Qiao Zhen died, it was as good as Qiao Yue losing his own life.

Zhou Wang despised Qiao Yue's sordid, secret desires.

In his previous life, he had kept Qiao Zhen from learning the nature of Qiao Yue's obsession with her.

In this life, he would keep her from finding out, too.

And he certainly would show Qiao Yue no mercy.

*

When Qiao Yue was ten, his father brought home a little beggar he had found and told Qiao Yue to accept her as his younger sister.

Qiao Yue named her Zhen.

His sister was pretty, sweet, sensible, and very good at making him happy.

He taught her everything he knew, hoping she would grow up quickly into a brave and fearless young woman.

He hoped he could raise her for the rest of her life.

But she was only eighteen when she died.

P.S. This story has a happy ending! The male and female leads are not related by blood! They will not develop romantic feelings while they are siblings in name!

Theme: The righteous path of the world is forged through hardship