Shen Zeming, a farmer’s son from Qingping County in Dongjiang Province, graduated from a top-tier university and spent three years taking civil service exams before finally passing. He started out as the lowest-ranking clerk in the Pingchuan County Government Office.
He had no connections and no resources. His monthly salary was just over three thousand yuan. He had to buy medicine for his father’s lung disease, repay his student loans, and support his divorced younger sister. He rented the cheapest old apartment in the county seat, couldn’t bring himself to buy a down jacket in winter, and didn’t dare join his colleagues for meals.
All he wanted was to survive. But in this System, simply staying alive was already difficult.
