Trespassing on Green Mountain [Teacher-Student Romance]

[CPTSD-stricken girl x aloof, celibate professor of Dunhuang studies]

“Green mountains are untouchable, yet I want to linger at their feet.”

The first time she meets Professor Meng is in the principal's office.

He stands with the light behind him, dressed in an impeccably tailored dark gray suit. His silver tie clip glints coldly, and behind him stretches a golden grove of ginkgo trees.

He doesn't smile, only gives a distant, slight nod.

Yet in that instant, her ears burn.

Professor Meng is like the statues in the Dunhuang Buddhist shrines he has spent his life studying: detached from the world, free from desire and anger.

She knows she mustn't get close, much less overstep. It is wrong to profane a god.

So she tests the waters carefully, then restrains herself and draws back. In the end, she chooses to study abroad, believing she can cut off her attachment and forget him completely.

But three years later, he unexpectedly appears at the overseas university where she studies, as a visiting scholar.

She pretends to be calm, not daring to take a single step beyond the line.

Until that summer night when the power goes out.

In the cramped, stifling apartment, he accidentally sees what she has hidden beneath her pillow: the old shirt of his she's kept.

Just as she expects him to reprimand her again,

he sighs softly. “I taught you for three years. I shouldn't have let you get the wrong idea.”

His fingers tremble as he cups her face. “If I led you on... I'll take responsibility.”

Only from that night on does she learn:

Even a celibate god can fall in love, and become addicted.

(Note: There is absolutely no romance or inappropriate behavior while the teacher-student relationship is still in effect! They develop feelings only after the female lead has graduated and reached adulthood!) (Dear reviewers, look, I'm kneeling here.)

Reader's Guide (Read to Avoid Pitfalls)

1. The male lead has never been with anyone; the female lead has had one relationship. The female lead is absolutely no paragon of virtue. She's a bit of a mess, and the older male lead gets jealous of men all over the world because of her.

Theme: If you love someone, pursue them boldly!