Little Sister-in-Law

He was back again.

He couldn’t even wash away the heavy stench of blood before eagerly cupping Cheng Baojia’s face in the hands that had crushed human bones and kissing her.

Cheng Baojia trembled, terrified, but didn’t dare refuse.

He rubbed his cheek affectionately against hers. “He’s dead. Shouldn’t you reward me properly tonight, sister-in-law?”

When Cheng Baojia arrived at the Marquis of Changxin’s residence carrying a token of introduction, she had no idea that Xie Mingyu already had someone he loved. He had married her, an insignificant physician, only to keep the Marquis’s household from being branded as faithless.

After the wedding, Xie Mingyu never came home. Her mother-in-law found fault with everything she did, imposing rules on her every day and tormenting her. Her sister-in-law called her a homewrecker and threw her luggage out.

With nowhere left to turn, Cheng Baojia was desperate when the devil reached out to her.

“Sister-in-law, would you like to come sit in my courtyard?”

Shh. Never make a deal with the devil. One day, you won’t be able to pay the price he demands.

*

“She’s so cute. How can sister-in-law be this cute?”

“Why does that bastard keep looking at sister-in-law? I want to gouge his eyes out, but sister-in-law won’t let me hurt people whenever I want. I have to do what she says, or she won’t kiss me anymore…”

“I love sister-in-law, I love her so much, so much, so much. I want to kill everyone around her, then she’ll belong to me alone.”

*

Xie Anfeng is a mad dog, and Cheng Baojia is the only leash that can hold him.

P.S. The hero is a little madman who doesn’t understand love. Until he receives proper guidance, he can’t tell the difference between the urge to destroy, hunger, and love or lust, so he says some genuinely frightening things in his crazed state. But he won’t actually hurt the heroine.

The romance and physical intimacy only begin after they are no longer related by marriage.

My next novel, The Crown Princess Still Hasn’t Divorced Today, is coming soon. Here’s the blurb. Add it to your favorites if you’re interested:

The Crown Prince, Chengsi, was refined, elegant, and as gentle as jade. When Guan Yinyue was chosen as his Crown Princess, all the noble young ladies envied her.

But barely a month after their wedding, Guan Yinyue wrote to her older sister, complaining bitterly about the Crown Prince’s rules.

“Every time we kiss, just when I’m completely swept up in the moment, he stops to ask if it’s okay. What am I supposed to say? If I say no, I’m being dishonest; if I say yes, I’m too embarrassed. Can’t he be a little more forceful?”

“He insists I have dinner with him every night, but he doesn’t return to the Eastern Palace from his duties until almost nine. I’m busy reading romance novels and really don’t have time for him. Even if I send a maid to say I’ve already gone to sleep, he still won’t give up. He even comes into my room to catch me!”

“I really don’t know what’s so interesting about the flowers and plants in the Eastern Palace. I’m sick of looking at them. I wanted him to take me out on my day off, and he was happy at first. But when he found out I also wanted to bring my brother, sister-in-law, older sister, brother-in-law, A Qing, and her younger sister, his face turned black. He said I knew nothing about being a wife and punished me by making me stay in the Eastern Palace and look at flowers and plants with him while reflecting on my behavior.”

She ended the letter with a firm conclusion.

“Is this any way to live? I want a divorce!”

*

When Guan Yinyue was six, the empress teased her by asking what kind of man she liked. Thinking of her older brother, who was always too mischievous and constantly bullied her, she blurted out, “Yue’er likes gentle and refined gentlemen best.”

The young Crown Prince sat nearby and silently took her words to heart.

He held himself to strict rules and propriety, determined to become the perfect gentleman in Yue’er’s eyes. Even when he killed someone, he never abandoned his graceful nature. Before striking, he remembered to smile and bid his victim good night. Afterward, he would kindly close their eyes if they had died with them open.

At last, when he was twenty, he married Guan Yinyue as he had always wished. But his happy life lasted barely a month before a serious problem arose.

Not only did he discover the huge stash of steamy books Guan Yinyue had hidden away, he also found a letter she had written to her close friend. After denouncing him as stiff and boring, she had added a request:

“Once I get divorced, remember to find me eighteen strong, strapping men.”

The Crown Prince gripped the letter and smiled coldly.

Theme: Sincerity for sincerity