[Original title: A Tale of Clearing Her Name]
[Not blood-related siblings | Possessive pursuit | Groveling redemption]
1.
The last time Chu Ningyu saw Pei Yanqing was in the Ministry of Justice’s prison.
The once all-powerful chancellor now wore shackles, his white robes soaked with blood.
His head hung slightly, his eyes half-closed, his back straight.
A mocking, contemptuous smile curled his lips.
Everyone said the treacherous official Pei Yanqing was ruthless and skilled in political machinations. If his treason had not been uncovered, he might have taken the throne.
She was his stepsister. He had never shown her any kindness, and Chu Ningyu had once feared him.
She had come today only because her life had been used as leverage, to persuade Pei Yanqing to name his accomplices.
But when she saw him tortured into such a state, all she felt was heartache.
As if sensing her, Pei Yanqing suddenly lifted his eyes and looked at her.
Those usually deep, steady eyes held a panic she had never seen before.
“Let her go!” Pei Yanqing’s voice was hoarse, but his words were resolute. “Let her go, and I’ll confess...”
Chu Ningyu was stunned.
Her stepsister’s brother, who had always been at odds with her, was willing to trade his life for hers.
2.
Chu Ningyu had been blind, marrying a wolf in human clothing. In the end, the entire Pei family was exiled, her stepbrother died horribly in prison, and she too died on a snowy winter day.
When Chu Ningyu opened her eyes again, she had returned to ten years earlier.
She had just arrived at the Pei residence with her mother. The elders were kind, and the sisters were close.
Only her stepbrother, Pei Yanqing, was still as he had been in her previous life: gloomy and hard to read, treating her with cold indifference.
Given another chance at life, Chu Ningyu looked at the aloof young man and remembered everything from her past life.
Pei Yanqing had spent half his life laboring day and night for Great Liang. He did not deserve to be beheaded and remembered as a man of infamy.
To save him, and herself, she summoned the courage to approach him. Their relationship finally thawed, but he still treated her coldly.
Until the day her mother planned to take her to meet a potential match. She changed into a bright outfit and stepped out lightly, only to find her way blocked by a tall figure.
Pei Yanqing stood at the top of the steps, his gaze pressing down on her. “Little sister, where are you going?”
3.
Pei Yanqing studied, entered officialdom, and carefully advanced, fighting his way to the pinnacle of power.
People said he was wildly ambitious.
But all Pei Yanqing had ever wanted was for his Ningyu to live a carefree life.
He had never imagined she would one day blossom into someone so radiant.
One day, returning home on his day off, Pei Yanqing stood beneath the covered walkway and watched her hurry off to her meeting, his gaze turning abruptly dark.
Suddenly, he no longer wanted to hold back.
Morality, etiquette, the rules of kinship: all were empty notions!
He had never been her brother, and he had never wanted to be only her brother.
Title inspiration:
The third watch moon shines just right upon the pear-blossom snow in the courtyard.
“Midnight Song: Moon at the Third Watch,” by He Zhu
Blurb written on 2025.7.27, screenshot saved.
Theme: Breaking down prejudice
