Teacher, You're So Beautiful

[It's been revised! Now it's a pregnancy-and-childbirth story! A refined, aloof older teacher getting pregnant and giving birth, then becoming sensitive and delicate, is the best! And there's a silly, devoted puppy of a younger man doting on him! I'll keep working on the blurb.]

Xi Quan first met Shen Yanshen when he was eight.

He was shorter than a trash can, a can of soda in his mouth, digging a sandpit by the roadside with a bunch of kids. He looked up and saw a man hanging laundry on the rooftop of the old building across the street.

The man had fair skin and rosy lips, with gentle eyes. He wore a thin, gauzy nightgown and rose onto his toes to pat the clothes. His exposed wrists were delicate, and his long, slender fingers were as pale and lustrous as scallion tips.

A gust of wind swept across the rooftop, billowing the clothes on the line. The man seemed to choke, covering his mouth as he coughed uncontrollably. A lovely, faint blush tinged the corners of his eyes, and his waist trembled. He looked so delicate and fragile, yet so beautiful it was almost unreal.

Xi Quan stood staring up at him, dumbfounded. The can of soda in his hand clattered to the ground.

That summer, the air was filled not only with the refreshing coolness of soda, but also with the fresh scent of laundry detergent.

-

Xi Quan next saw Shen Yanshen when he was eighteen.

His father wanted him to make something of himself. Though he was a rough, uncultured man himself, he insisted on forcing Xi Quan to learn calligraphy.

Apparently, they'd hired a calligraphy master renowned both at home and abroad. The master came from a distinguished family of artists and kept a low profile. People from all walks of life would pay a fortune for a single piece of his calligraphy, and he was extremely selective about taking students, accepting only those with exceptional talent.

Unfortunately, Xi Quan's handwriting looked like a dog's scratches. He had no talent at all, and the Xi family had gone to a lot of trouble to hire this teacher.

Xi Quan wasn't impressed in the slightest. He stood outside the classroom with his chin up and said, "I'm not going in. You can beat me to death, but I'm not going in."

Then he was kicked into the classroom.

The door slammed open, and Xi Quan saw that man again.

He stood on the raised platform, as handsome and refined as he had been all those years ago. He wore a white shirt with knotted buttons, his slender fingers wrapped around a calligraphy brush. People crowded around him, but he alone stood out like an elegant crabapple blossom, gazing at Xi Quan with those gentle eyes.

Xi Quan stood there, rooted to the spot, as if he'd lost the ability to speak.

In that moment, he glimpsed once again the beauty he had seen ten years ago, through the gauzy fabric stirred by the wind. His entire body was still, but his heart raced like mad.

1. Teacher-becomes-wife story, with an eight-year age gap. The teacher is older.

2. Loyal, rugged, only-loves-his-wife, handsome and wealthy gong X refined, elegant, outwardly aloof, gentle only to the gong, frail teacher shou.

3. The shou isn't the gong's teacher in the traditional sense. The gong's father simply asks him to teach the gong calligraphy. There are no school admissions, awards, or other interference involved.

Theme: Be honest and keep your feet on the ground