[Foster Care] The Pavlov Effect

[Fatherly powerful male lead / Pseudo uncle and niece / Long-planned pursuit / Intense push and pull / Older man, 11-year age gap]

Meng Ranyun had always been in awe of the uncle she called her own.

Meng Jianchuan was the youngest professor at a top university, specializing in obscure ancient scripts found in Buddhist texts. Refined and noble, he seemed to dwell on an altar above the world.

To escape his suffocating control, she moved out of the Meng family home and even got herself a boyfriend.

Until one night, when she tried to surprise her boyfriend, she blindly lunged toward him in the dark and planted a passionate kiss on him.

But a pair of burning hands clamped around her waist. He turned the tables and kissed her until she was driven back step by step.

When the lights came on, she found herself looking at Meng Jianchuan's deep, composed face, its calm surface hiding turbulent currents beneath.

The next day, Meng Ranyun nervously tested the waters. "You study Buddhist texts, so surely you wouldn't hold it against a junior like me, would you?"

The man corrected her. "I study Buddhist texts as an academic subject. I haven't become a monk."

To keep her parents from discovering her secret relationship, Meng Ranyun was forced to sign an "unfair agreement" and obey her imposing uncle in everything.

He used his perfectly legitimate status as an elder to keep her by his side. With subtle insinuations and casual ease, he crushed her youthful romance, trampled her current boyfriend's pride, and calmly took his place.

Only after her boyfriend broke down and left did Meng Ranyun realize what a vast trap she had fallen into...

[The leads are not related by blood. Their families have been close friends for generations and just happen to share a surname.]

Theme: Love is life!