His throat bobbed, and the wooden bed beneath him creaked more violently with the movement of his hand. A soft silk handkerchief rubbed against Shen Xinghuai's er3ct and hardened length. He could almost picture her focused expression as she meticulously embroidered it.

"Ugh... ah..." Shen Xinghuai suddenly bit his lower lip; he cl1maxed. The finally released pleasure made his dark eyes glisten slightly. Thick s3men spilled onto the square of silk. Even after finding release, he didn't stop, his body tense as his hand continued its rhythmic movements.

Shen Ruoyu thought the dream was disturbing enough, but then the satisfied Shen Xinghuai muttered, "Sister, you can only be mine in this life. If anyone else sets their eyes on you... I will... I definitely will..." He would surely kill anyone who dared covet his sister.

The dream abruptly ended there. Shen Ruoyu woke up in a cold sweat. "What's going on! Why am I having this dream again!?" Such a dream was too absurd. She knew Shen Xinghuai; he wouldn't do anything so outrageous.

"Was that handkerchief really lost by Rong Yan?" Shen Ruoyu tried to calm herself. She didn't want to rashly accuse anyone. Verifying the dream was simple; she just needed to know if the handkerchief was indeed lost by Rong Yan, as the dream suggested.

She still needed to find an opportunity to probe both Rong Yan and Shen Xinghuai.

These recurring dreams left Shen Ruoyu completely sleepless. Glancing out the window, she saw the moon still high in the sky. She decided to read the unfinished novel from last time until dawn.

Shen Ruoyu got up, lit the oil lamp, and retrieved the book. Before she could lie back down, a soft knock came from the door.

Shen Xinghuai's voice drifted through the wood, "Sister, are you asleep?"

"Is something the matter?" Having just had that dream, Shen Ruoyu didn't even want to see Shen Xinghuai.

Outside, Shen Xinghuai stood in his thin clothes, shivering in the biting wind. He pressed his face against Shen Ruoyu's door. "Sister, my room is so cold. I want to squeeze in with you..."

Shen Xinghuai's voice was thick with nasal congestion, as if he had caught a cold.

"You're a grown up, and you still want to sleep with your sister? How improper."

Shen Ruoyu knew what her brother's room was like. It was less a room and more a storage closet, not even as good as the servants' quarters. With the cold weather, drafts blew in from everywhere, and he could only huddle in whatever corner offered the slightest protection from the wind.

It had only been a few days since her rebirth in this life, and she hadn't had time to arrange a new room for Shen Xinghuai. They were a man and a woman, after all, and it wasn't appropriate to share a bed at their age. But the weather was truly frigid, and even if he went to their father, he wouldn't care.

"Sister, I couldn't sleep, so I went to the back courtyard and washed that hibiscus-gold, wide-sleeved gown you wore last time..."

Shen Xinghuai's voice came through the door again. Shen Ruoyu opened it and stared at her brother's pale, gentle face. "You couldn't sleep? Why would you wash my clothes?" she asked, puzzled.

Looking down, Shen Ruoyu saw by the moonlight that Shen Xinghuai's hands were red and swollen from the cold.

"Because you said last time that the fabric was expensive and you were afraid the maids would be too rough with it. Since I couldn't sleep anyway, I washed it for you. Don't worry, Sister, I was very careful and didn't damage it!"

Shen Ruoyu's memory flashed back to their childhood. The Shen Xinghuai in her memories had always been obedient and well-behaved. He was her shadow, always clinging to her, every other word about his older sister. She didn't know when she had started to become cruel. Sometimes she truly loathed her role as the villainess.

"Come in. Sleep on the floor." Shen Ruoyu tossed Shen Xinghuai a blanket and pointed to a clean, spacious spot. As she handed him the blanket, she noticed a flicker of disappointment on his face.

"You don't seriously want to sleep with me, do you?"

The room was warm from the charcoal brazier. Shen Xinghuai spread the blanket. "No, Sister, sleeping on the floor is more than enough."

"Alright, go to sleep." Shen Ruoyu lay back down. Her brother was easy to appease; after she promised not to mistreat him again, he had become much closer to her.

Lying on the floor, Shen Xinghuai breathed in the scent of his sister that permeated the room. He tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. Then he heard Shen Ruoyu's voice, "Shen Xinghuai, do you remember a long time ago, I embroidered a handkerchief for Rong Yan?"

"I don't remember," he answered without hesitation.

Shen Ruoyu didn't press the issue. She changed the subject. "Shen Xinghuai, your Rong Yan gege is so good to you. Do you like him?" She was truly afraid her brother would repeat the mistakes of her past lives.

Shen Xinghuai pulled the blanket over his head. "Of course I like him. Rong Yan gege is so good, to you and to me." He hid his face completely, lest Shen Ruoyu see the disdainful expression he couldn't suppress.

"You are not allowed to like him. In the future, when I need your help, I'll need you to help me deal with him."

Shen Xinghuai heard the second half of her sentence, but he dwelled on the first.

What did she mean, he wasn't allowed to like Rong Yan? Did she like Rong Yan so much that she already saw her own brother as a thorn in her side?