Gao Er had once been a prodigy blessed by heaven, excelling in both finance and AI. But after years of ups and downs in the workplace, he'd been ground down into a useful workhorse, a doormat everyone trampled on.
Then a sudden car accident unexpectedly sent him back to a turning point in his life: that sweltering summer filled with the incessant chirping of cicadas.
Back in his sophomore-year classroom, his gaze met the profile of the girl beside him as she twirled her pen, head bowed. His heart raced. The girl he'd secretly loved throughout his youth, who had ultimately married another man in a wedding dress, was now within arm's reach, close enough to hear her breathe. His knuckles turned white with the force of his grip, as memories of ten turbulent years surged through his veins.
The cicadas' cries tore through the heat. Sunlight spilled across the desks, illuminating a resolve in his eyes he'd never felt before.
This time, he would break through his cowardice and tell her how he'd felt all those years ago! He would also seize the initiative, standing firm at the crest of the wave when the AI revolution swept in and building a business of his own! He would turn the ten years he'd never truly lived into a life where he called the shots.
Time had given him a chance to go back, so he wouldn't be a coward again. What he could seize was never fate's handout, but the courage to try again and the ruthless determination to tear his life apart and reshape it.
