The Dowry Maid to the Villain’s Eldest Sister-in-Law

◆ Everyone's favorite | fake death | cross-dressing as a woman | dark female devotee | coercive romance | groveling pursuit

◆ Super-strong, airheaded beauty x cross-dressing, obsessive man x gentle, scheming family man x younger brother with a possessive streak

◆ Blurb: (The young lady is a man.)

An orphaned beggar, Huo Xiaofu nearly froze to death in a heavy snowfall in the capital before she even had a name.

By a stroke of luck, Huo Ling, the only daughter of the General's household, happened to pass by in a fine carriage. She took pity on the girl, saved her, and gave her a name. From then on, Huo Xiaofu became a kitchen servant in the General's household.

To become the young lady's personal maid, Huo Xiaofu trained in martial arts under the instructor and learned etiquette from the matrons. Outside, she could wield a long whip against a burly man; inside, she could warm the bed, help her mistress dress, and attend to her every need. At last, before the young lady's wedding, she was chosen to accompany her to her new home.

Huo Ling was to marry Cui Pingwu, the legitimate son of the Chancellor's family, known in the capital as the talented Changqing and a most gentle gentleman.

The match was perfectly suited to their families and promised boundless glory. Huo Xiaofu was overjoyed. She agreed when her usually proper young lady asked her to steal some wine. The two drank together in the boudoir, and eventually, they went too far and got drunk in the young lady's bed.

The next day, Huo Xiaofu woke up aching all over. Just as she was about to endure the pain and help her mistress get dressed, a terrible commotion erupted outside the door.

The Huo household was raided, and overnight, its people scattered.

Fortunately, the emperor took pity on Huo Ling because the Empress Dowager had arranged the marriage. She was spared exile and took Huo Xiaofu with her to live at the Chancellor's residence. There, she endured contempt, and her wedding was repeatedly delayed as Cui Pingwu failed to return from his mission to the northern frontier.

Huo Xiaofu worried about her increasingly frail young lady and kept by her side, warming her bed every night. Eventually, she too began having nightmares.

She dreamed that Cui Lianmu, the Chancellor's obnoxious illegitimate second son, forced himself on her young lady, and that Huo Ling, unable to bear it, jumped into a river and drowned.

The dream haunted her night after night, leaving Huo Xiaofu beside herself with worry. At last, she saw Cui Lianmu and Huo Ling coming and going together. Cui Lianmu laughed with wild abandon, while Huo Ling frowned, her face clouded with worry. Huo Xiaofu couldn't sit by any longer and came up with a few ways to help.

Her first idea was to write Cui Pingwu and ask him to discipline his younger brother and protect his fiancee. But after a few letters had been sent, she waited half a month for a reply, and all she got was Cui Pingwu's gentle reassurance. He even asked whether she had a portrait of Huo Ling so he could find someone to watch over her.

Her second idea was to secretly plead with Cui Lianmu. But Huo Xiaofu hadn't expected his unruly behavior to stem from years of suffering from delusions. She saw him drenched in cold sweat from pain, insisting that he could only get better if she whipped him. Later, even the whip no longer helped, and Cui Lianmu began setting his sights on her young lady. Huo Xiaofu had no choice but to take her place, but it became harder and harder to endure.

Her third idea was to tell her young lady about the dream and warn her to be on guard. But on the day she nervously confessed everything, her young lady suddenly flew into a rage and called her shameless. She blindfolded Huo Xiaofu, locked her in a room, and had someone molest her for a day and a night.

At that moment, Huo Xiaofu's heart turned to ash. She had never imagined that Huo Ling had already fallen for the second son of the Cui family. She had been a fool.

A fire burned down a small side room in the Chancellor's residence, and a lowly servant named Huo Xiaofu died.

A distant relative named Rufu sought refuge with Cui Pingwu, the military governor of Youzhou.

Years later, Cui Pingwu returned to the capital with his wife and children to pay his respects to the new emperor, who had usurped the throne.

Rufu kept her head bowed, not daring to look at the emperor or the general, whose faces were twisted with fury and hatred.

◆Reader advisory

1. All the men are chaste, but none of them are good people. The young lady is the one who molests the heroine.

2. Dark, melodramatic female-devotee story, with childbirth. Don't read if that's not for you.

3. The young lady was her first.

Theme: Don't dream