By the time Ming Ze returned to the dorm, the sun was dipping low in the sky. The warm light did soften the ache in his stomach.
He hadn't bought a drink. Couldn't afford it.
The dorm was still empty. Quiet. He placed the laptop gently on his desk, sat down, and turned it on. The screen flickered to life, and for a moment, he just stared at the soft glow-something about it comforting, familiar.
Like home. At least, the only home he could rely on now.
He connected to the campus Wi-fi and opened a freelance platform. It didn't take long to find listings. Most were scams or ridiculously underpaid, but then one caught his eyes.
LOOKING FOR A FREELANCE PROGRAMMER TO CREATE A LIGHTWEIGHT ENCRYPTION TOOL FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION. PAY NEGOTIABLE. DEADLINE: ONE WEEK.
Ming Ze's fingers hovered over the trackpad.
It was a simple work for someone like him-child's play, really. In his past life, he'd started building programs like this to survive after being cast out of the Ming family. At first, they ignored him. Treated him like garbage.
But when his company began to rise, when investors flocked to him, that's when they showed up.
His so-called father came to him and said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes, "You will be family again, if you hand it over to Yu'er. You will be the second young master."
Like he was been offered a reward.
He had refused and for that, they destroyed him.
His company was still small compared to the giant Ming family.
Slander. Law suits. Fake scandal. Whispers campaign in tech circles.
While he's still struggling to fight back, the final blow came. His boyfriend and his trusted assistant, the only person he'd believed in, stole every major project and handed them to the Ming family leaving him an empty shell. Within months, they launched a "new" tech company under their beloved Ming Yu's name.
Everything Ming Ze had bled to build was gone.
Now, back in the present, his jaw clenched as he stared at the job posting. The rage didn't burn as hot as it once had. It was colder now, controlled.
He clicked Apply.
After apply for the encryption tool job, Ming Ze didn't stop. He kept browsing the listings one after another, taking notes of anything that paid decently and aligned with his skills. Programming was one of the few things he could rely on, a weapon sharpened through years of survival.
Every accepted job brought him closer to what he really wanted: enough money to visit the village.
He hadn't been back there since he was taken into the Ming family.
Aunt Chen had raised him like her own. She'd fed him, clothed him, scolded him gently when he got into trouble. Her small house with the faded curtains, warm had once been his entire world before the Ming family swooped in with their polished cars and fake benevolence.
Aunt Chen didn't want him to leave but she was powerless against the Ming family.
He wanted-needed-to see her again.
But memory, bitter and sharp, pulled him back into the last.
In his past life, not long after he was brought into the Ming household, they told him a story-one delivered with soft smile and disgust beneath.
"She took the money we offered her and left you behind without a second thought."
"She said you had been hard enough."
The words wounded him deeply. He hadn't wanted to believe them.
But when he tried to call her, again and again, there was nothing but silence. No answers. No returned messages. Her number rang out and eventually disconnected. Letters never replied to.
The silence began to feel like confirmation.
Even after leaving the Ming family and started his own tech company, the idea of returning had quietly stayed with him. But every time he tried to reach out, he was met with silence.
Only much later, when he was strapped to a hospital bed, drugged and restrained, humiliated and broken, did the truth come out. A nurse had been gossiping in the hallway. Ming Ze had heard her clearly.
"That old woman came looking for him, crying and begging to see him. But the Ming family said he didn't want her anymore."
The words cut deeper than any sedative.
They had lied to her too.
Even when she tried to reach him
They told her he had cut ties.
He wanted to look for her and go to her but his body was long being destroyed and was also locked up.
That's when Wu Zhen took matters into his own hands. With a mocking laugh and chilling calm, he had told Ming Ze the truth himself:
"She came looking for you. She was bothering Yu'er, so I dealt with her."
An "accident" on the road, they said. A tragic twist of fate. Just like that. But he knew better. Wu Zhen had ensured that Aunt Chen would never reach him again. Ming Ze knew that the Ming family knows about it or even had a hand in it.
Aunt Chen died thinking he had abandoned her.
Back in the present, Ming Ze stared at the laptop screen, his jaw clenched.
He knew the Ming family had already told her to stay away from him. He wouldn't lose her again in this life.
This life was different.
In this life, he would make things right.
He would earn money. He would back. He would find her while she was still alive.
Before they could reach her.
Before history repeated itself.