Fake teacher-student relationship, real undercover operation
Cool, abstinent department head as the pursuer
Young, bold police officer as the pursued
The hardest thing An Chengyi ever faced was getting assigned an undercover mission at a university when he was twenty-three. He thought he'd be dealing with cunning criminals, but it turned out his biggest “enemy” was...
Lu Ran, a department head who seemed cool and abstinent but actually loved messing with people.
The first time they met, Lu Ran made him stand as punishment.
The second time, Lu Ran bailed him out of the police station.
The third time, Lu Ran actually pulled him into his arms!!!
Wait... is that right??
And Lu Ran's gaze kept growing more and more suspicious.
First An Chengyi was a “problem student,” then Lu Ran seemed to have something to say but held back. Then, one late night, Lu Ran pinned him against the wall and asked, “Who are you, really?”
An Chengyi thought: I'm done for. My cover's blown.
But to his surprise, Lu Ran's next question was: “Why do I feel like you're not afraid of me at all? Are you... trying to manipulate me?”
An Chengyi: ...Teacher, is it possible that I want to kiss you?
Only later did he realize that harder than going undercover was falling for the person he was investigating.
Harder than falling for the person he was investigating was pretending to be innocent in front of someone who had clearly seen right through him, and fooling himself into thinking he was getting away with it.
And harder than putting on an act was having both of them put on an act, testing each other across eight hundred layers of ulterior motives. In the end, whoever broke first had to write a confession.
Three thousand words, handwritten. No printing.
An Chengyi reasonably suspected that Lu Ran, a total straight guy, had spent every last one of his romantic impulses figuring out how to torment him.
Lu Ran neither confirmed nor denied it. One day, he quietly slipped a note beneath the glass on his desk. It said just four words: “Fluid, eloquent writing.”
An Chengyi couldn't figure out whether it was praise or a requirement for his next confession.
Much later, he finally understood. It was neither praise nor a requirement.
Lu Ran missed him.
One counted the days beneath a hail of bullets. The other wrote his name on the back of lesson plans.
Neither of them was any better off than the other.
But neither of them could let go.
Theme: There is no need for an answer, because you never forget.
