Humbling the Aloof One

A possessive, sweet-faced-but-dark princess x a gentle, aloof tutor

Xi Tang lost her mother as a child and endured a hard life in the Cold Palace.

The first time she met Rong Yan Zhou, she was ten, crying beneath a crabapple tree after being bullied. A seventeen-year-old boy reached out to her, his fingertips passing through a halo of light. His voice rang clear as a mountain spring as he comforted her gently.

From that moment, Xi Tang knew he was the bodhi tree branch reaching into the Cold Palace, while she was a dodder vine. If she clung to him, she could reach the warm sun.

The second time she met Rong Yan Zhou was when she was thirteen and her father brought her out of the Cold Palace. She saw Rong Yan Zhou in a jade crown and crane-patterned robe, gentle and refined as jade, almost like a saint.

They said Rong Yan Zhou would be her teacher, and that she should respectfully call him her adoptive father.

She was naughty, a rebellious student.

He patiently taught her, sharing his knowledge and taking meticulous care of her.

In Xi Tang's sixteen years of life, Rong Yan Zhou was the gentlest person she had ever known, except when she did something wrong. Then he would sternly and helplessly strike her with a ruler.

She would allow no one to take away such a noble, radiant man.

Possessively, she clung to his side, drove away every admirer around him, and schemed to ruin the good marriage arranged by his family. Afterwards, she would blink innocently, leaving Rong Yan Zhou unable to reprimand her.

Once, she even kicked off her shoes on purpose, revealing her feet, and asked him to marry her.

He only put her shoes back on gently, saying nothing.

When she was eighteen, the State of Chu was on the verge of collapse, and she was sent away for a political marriage. Before departing, she kissed his lips again.

"Adoptive Father, save me."

Later, when the young emperor ascended the throne, the Grand Princess took charge of the government. He supported and assisted her.

Late at night in the resplendent palace, Xi Tang's cheeks were flushed as she kissed the bridge of his nose.

"Adoptive Father, why won't you accept me?"

He gently refused her again. "Your Highness is drunk."

Later, on another dark night, in a shadowy dungeon, Xi Tang looked at Rong Yan Zhou kneeling at her feet, still as straight and dignified as a pine tree or a crane.

An upright, honest official, he had taken the blame for her, to further her grand plans.

"Why did you accept?"

"I have no regrets."

As if bestowing a reward, she gently stroked his face. "Rong Yan Zhou, I will remember you forever."

From then on, she lived in splendor while he devoted himself to the Buddha by lamplight.

Until late one night in the meditation room, the princess, eyes red, embraced him as she had in the past. "Adoptive Father, I still can't quite bear to part with you."

He gently patted her back.

She was a strangler fig, using him again and again, yet time after time, he still softened toward her.

Both are sexually inexperienced, happy ending.

Seven-year age gap. The romance begins when the female lead is sixteen; there is absolutely no romance before then.

Theme: Strive for constant improvement.