I Bow Before You

1. Meng Jiayin was born and raised in Britain. Unfortunately, she was so unruly that at seventeen, her Chinese mother exiled her back to China.

On her first day at her new school, the classroom erupts in cheers. The high school students back home have never seen a girl so beautiful and full of life.

Forty-six of the forty-seven students can't take their eyes off her.

Meng Jiayin quickly notices the one who isn't looking.

The boy beside her introduces him.

"Zhou Siyan. Top student in the year, poor, and a loner. We've always suspected he's a robot. Just don't bother with him."

By the window, in the seat that gets the most summer sun, lies a vacuum zone.

The boy's back is straight. His shoulder blades press through his faded school uniform shirt, making two clean lines.

Later, Meng Jiayin would wonder why she'd wanted to desecrate him the moment she first saw him.

Right now, Meng Jiayin is playing the good girl, smiling innocently as she blurts out:

"He won't even look me in the eye. How interesting."

People walk around Zhou Siyan's desk. Everyone knows he's difficult to deal with, and everyone says:

"Someone like Zhou Siyan can hardly recover if he takes even one wrong step in life. It's only natural that he doesn't care to make friends."

But Meng Jiayin is above such worldly concerns. She never cares what path he is supposed to follow.

Later, Meng Jiayin really does get used to seeing Zhou Siyan with his lashes mussed, asking her for a kiss.

2. After the college entrance exams, their classmates gather for a meal. They wait a long time, but Meng Jiayin never shows up.

Not long afterward, a server tells them that all the bills for the evening have already been paid.

A voice message pops up in the class group chat. "I'm leaving first. You all have fun."

Her voice is languid, as if steeped in honey, as though there is nothing left here to keep her.

Everyone is disappointed, but they can't help cheering.

"Princess Jiayin is so generous!"

Only Zhou Siyan, sitting in the corner, suddenly turns red-eyed and rushes out the door, almost losing control.

Meng Jiayin never thought she'd be stopped by a man at the boarding gate.

"Didn't we say we'd go to the same university?"

Zhou Siyan's eyes are clouded with silent anger, but in the end he doesn't dare let his tears fall.

His burning presence makes Meng Jiayin lose her senses. In a hurry to board her flight, her innate sense of superiority takes over, and she says something almost heartless.

"My father is sending me to Cambridge. How could I possibly settle for a university in China?"

3. Six years later, Meng Jiayin accompanies her advisor to China for an academic conference as a student assistant.

Everyone else attending is at least an associate professor, while she stands among them in her early twenties, bright-eyed, beautiful, and full of life.

The one who was left behind has become like a stone, worn down over and over through the years, until who knows how much of his original character is left.

When they meet again after all these years, the first time he looks at her, his palms still break out in a thin sheen of sweat.

In the teachers' dormitory at Jing University, Zhou Siyan pins Meng Jiayin against a mirror fogged with steam and kisses her without restraint.

The shower drenches her from head to toe as he puts his revenge into action.

She bites her lip and looks at herself in the mirror. She still looks just as delicious as ever, so she smiles coquettishly.

"Zhou Siyan, I hear the walls in the teachers' dormitory are thin. Aren't you afraid someone will hear us?"

Zhou Siyan rubs her earlobe, not stopping for a moment.

"Meng Jiayin, I want everyone outside to know."

Through gritted teeth, he pins her hands behind her back and presses against her abs, showing her through his actions:

"And I, I, Zhou Siyan, have always been yours."

Why did you wait until now to come back and see me, my Jiayin?

*One-on-one romance, both leads have no prior sexual experience, all intimate scenes take place after they are adults.

*The heroine is of mixed Chinese and British heritage, but looks more Chinese.

*From school to city life, separated lovers reunite.

Theme: Sincere love must not be betrayed.