Prayer Beads Coil Around Me, Fragrance Hides in My Heartbeat

Everyone in Beijing's elite circles says that Shen Hezhi, the Buddhist devotee, was born without desire.

A pampered heir born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he prefers the quiet of temples. He calmly fingers the Buddhist beads around his wrist, his features aloof and distant, as if worldly love could never catch his eye.

Until the day rain dampened the old temple's green roof tiles, and Wan Qingyao, filming a period drama, swept inside, holding up a skirt embroidered with curling lotus vines. Raindrops still clung to the ends of her hair. Her eyes sparkled with playful allure as she gently hooked a finger around the beads on his wrist and smiled. “Little Master, may I shelter here from the rain?”

Shen Hezhi should have kept his distance and ignored her, but instead he lowered his eyes to the finger curled around his beads. His long lashes concealed the turbulent longing in his gaze, and his voice remained as placid as ever. “Please, make yourself at home.”

Over the next few days, Wan Qingyao kept teasing him, but Shen Hezhi remained aloof, not a ripple disturbing his expression. It was as if all her obvious and subtle advances were merely a breeze passing by, leaving not the slightest trace.

Before long, Wan Qingyao gradually lost interest and began to distance herself...

Later, Shen Hezhi cornered her outside her room. He braced one hand against the door, trapping her in the narrow space. His usually cool eyes were now frighteningly red, filled with possessiveness and madness repressed to the breaking point. There was no trace left of the Buddhist devotee's usual serenity...

No one knew that late at night, he would chant sutras again and again while staring at her photo, her smiling face filling his thoughts. And no one knew that the encrypted album on his phone was named “A Fantasy of the Mortal World.”

The thin layer of cool, chaste ice surrounding the Buddhist devotee was shattered by her at last, revealing the surging, burning love beneath.