After I Gave Up the Princess's Crown, the Cool and Aloof Tutor Got Teary-Eyed

[Angsty Push and Pull] [The Ultimate Groveling Chase] [Clear-Headed Female Lead] [Both Chaste] [Political Intrigue and Case Reversal]

Three years ago, Shen Nianqing, the Great Yan’s most beloved Princess Minghua, was framed for harming the imperial heir and plunged into disgrace.

Back then, Lu Qingyan, the eldest legitimate grandson of the Lu family and the aloof man she had been devoted to for years, said not a word in court. He watched coldly as she was stripped of her title and demoted to commoner.

Three years later, the old lanes south of the city reeked of cooking oil and bitter medicine.

Shen Nianqing deftly wrapped a piping-hot flatbread in oiled paper and set it on the wooden board without looking up. Her expression was indifferent. “Two coins each. No credit. Take care, Lord Lu.”

Before her stall stood the upright, impeccably mannered, untouchable Grand Tutor Lu. His eyes reddened. He didn’t take the flatbread. Instead, he stepped forward and clamped his long fingers around her wrist, rough with thin calluses from burns. His voice was hoarse. “Shen Nianqing, you won’t even look at me anymore?”

To survive, she stopped being spoiled and stopped chasing after him. She tallied accounts with ease, her backbone hard as iron.

But he went mad, standing watch in the old lane day after day: repairing her roof, buying her flatbreads, battling powerful ministers, reopening old cases, and even willingly acting as bait, all just to make her look back at him.

Until one day, she returned every coin she had received for selling flatbread to the Lu residence.

“Lord Lu, you once said my pursuit of you was disgusting. I remembered those words all my life. Now I owe you nothing.”

In that moment, the youngest Grand Preceptor in Great Yan completely lost control and broke down.