Rebellious high school senior × aloof English teacher and homeroom adviser
For seventeen years, his heart had been a wasteland. He hid his vulnerability behind indifference and defied the world with half-heartedness. Then, one winter, Shen Zhiyan appeared: a man as cool and distant as snow, who used the sternest restraint to slowly strip away his defenses.
The office lights burning late into the night, the red corrections painstakingly written in his notebook, the sting of the ruler, the “Master” that slipped out before he could stop himself... He had never imagined anyone would care for him like this, or care enough to make him start believing that someone in this world really would catch him when he fell.
Later, he left that little city, thinking he could finally become the person his Master wanted him to be. But the outside world was vast, and one wrong step nearly sent him plunging to the bottom.
Just when he thought he could never again deserve a place in that office where the lights were always on, that person crossed a thousand miles to find him. There were no embraces, only the sternest reprimands and the steadfastest company.
“I’ll stay with you and help you pick up what you’ve lost, one step at a time.”
Many years later, on Lunar New Year’s Eve, he carried holiday gifts through that familiar door. The entryway light was on, and his slippers were still in their usual place.
Snow fell silently outside. Inside, the lights shone on.
All his life, someone had come to him through the snow, teaching him to write and how to be a person, and showing him that no matter how far he went, the light would always be on when he looked back.
Female-oriented · Male/male teacher-student relationship · Age gap · School coming-of-age · No romance plot
