Romantic Time Difference

[Mutual secret crushes / Reunion after years apart]

High school homeroom teacher VS criminal police captain

Straightforward, devoted man VS cool, well-behaved woman

1. Lin Youchuan was the biggest troublemaker at Beicheng High School, bold and unruly, a thorn in everyone's side whom even the teachers couldn't handle.

Xie Zhihuan first met him in their senior year. He limped in late, and the teacher called him out in front of the class, took away his crutch, and assigned Xie Zhihuan to sit beside him.

Because she was well-behaved.

Lin Youchuan dropped into the seat beside her and sneered, "Careful, good student. Don't let me corrupt you."

Xie Zhihuan said nothing. She simply took out a piece of candy and handed it to him.

Three months later, amid the jeers of his underlings, Lin Youchuan picked up his books and buried himself in studying, all because Xie Zhihuan said she wanted to attend university in the same city as him.

On the day they finished the college entrance exams and received their admission letters, Lin Youchuan was so smug he looked like an idiot.

But Xie Zhihuan vanished without a trace. He searched all over the small town, but there was no sign of her.

Seven years apart.

2. The next time Xie Zhihuan saw Lin Youchuan was at the police station. As a homeroom teacher, she was accompanying a student who had been abused at home while they gave a statement. The man had outgrown his youthful innocence. He looked at her with cold composure, as if he didn't know her.

Xie Zhihuan suppressed her restless feelings and didn't dare speak to him.

After the statement, she escorted the student back to school and prepared to go home. But just after she left the school gates, someone stopped her at the corner.

The man stubbed out his cigarette and tossed it into the trash can. In a quiet voice, he said, "Where do you live? I'll take you home."

Xie Zhihuan thought he was doing it out of their old classmates' friendship and didn't dare read more into it.

Not long afterward, a colleague at school introduced her to someone for a blind date. She agreed to go.

At the restaurant, the man sat across from her, scrutinizing her. "Why did you come on this blind date?"

Xie Zhihuan spoke softly. "I want to get married."

"Did you bring your household registration booklet?"

Xie Zhihuan looked up in confusion, then heard him say, "The civil affairs bureau closes in half an hour. If I drive fast, we'll make it."

Content warnings:

Both leads are sexually inexperienced / an unconventional healing story (the man saves the woman) / primarily a workplace story, with schooldays interspersed; the bonus chapters will cover their schooldays in detail.

The heroine has a very, very hard life.

Theme: Dreams come true.