Running Alongside You, Treading on Shadows

At 32, Ling Du is a rising star in Jiangcheng's private vocational education sector.

A graduate of Xi'an University of Finance and Economics, he rose from an ordinary Chinese teacher to director of the General Affairs Office in just eight years. With key authority over personnel, administration, and school-enterprise partnerships, he is the youngest mid-level administrator at Shuanghua Vocational School and a rising talent the school committee is grooming.

Upright and principled, he refuses to take sides or form cliques. But when he protects Qi Zheng, a newcomer just starting her career, he earns the enmity of Vice Principal Yang Jianmin, a powerful figure, and gets caught up in the bloodless power struggle raging through private vocational schools.

For the sake of his promise, “I’ll take care of you,” he gives Qi Zheng everything he has. He maxes out his credit cards, borrows from every friend and relative, and even turns to loan sharks, all to satisfy her ever-growing appetite for luxury. In return, when he falls on hard times, she betrays him without a second thought.

Yang Jianmin conspires with a schemer to frame him. With nowhere left to turn, one moment of poor judgment lands Ling Du in prison, transforming him from a promising school administrator into a convict everyone despises.

Behind the prison walls, he turns over a new leaf, studying law, finance, and AI technology, and rises from the ashes reborn.

After his release, he joins forces with Zhou Siyu, who has stood by him through it all, and starts an AI tech company. Their vocational talent assessment system sweeps the industry, making him a tech mogul after his rise from convict to success.

He will show no mercy to anyone who framed him. And where he once fell, he will climb to the very top with his own hands.

He acquires his alma mater, Shuanghua, outright, drives out the parasites, and reforms vocational education. He returns through the ashes, seeking not only vengeance but also redemption for himself and others. In the depths of the abyss, he will become his own light.