I'm Dr. Niu

A Niu, the beloved grandson of the richest man in the county, had been swaddled in luxury ever since birth. The private pool at the family’s lavish estate shimmered in the sunlight, a team of private tutors had filled his childhood with custom lesson plans, and even his backpack was made of limited-edition crocodile leather. But this privileged life quietly fell apart once he entered adolescence.

Smartphones and virtual worlds swallowed his attention like a black hole. First came all-night gaming, then sneaking his father’s expensive cigarettes, and finally hanging around the county’s dimly lit bars. The burning rush of alcohol and the brief dizziness from nicotine left him completely lost. At last, in his senior year of high school, A Niu dropped out, tearing up his gilded admission notice from a prestigious secondary school.

Without the protection of his family, A Niu was like a fragile vine cast out of a greenhouse, struggling to survive the storms of the outside world. He delivered takeout, falling into the mud in the pouring rain. He drove trucks, staying awake for 36 hours straight just to earn a few hundred yuan more. He even hauled bricks at construction sites, where rough cement wore through the hands that had once known nothing but comfort. Ten years, then twenty. Wrinkles crept around his eyes, and his once-refined face grew weathered. Only then did A Niu realize that his peers had left him far behind.

His turning point came one night when he happened upon a 24-hour bookstore. Under the warm lights, yellowed pages opened before him. He picked up a philosophy book at random, and its profound words were like a beam of light piercing the haze of his life. From then on, he worked in a warehouse by day and immersed himself in a sea of knowledge at night. Eventually, he taught himself enough to become Dr. Niu.