In his previous life, Zhou Jianmin spent decades struggling within the bureaucracy.
With no connections and no ambition, he dared neither to compete nor to seize opportunities.
He spent his whole life treading carefully, yet by retirement had risen no higher than director of the county government’s research office.
At his bedside, his wife sold her wedding ring to pay for his treatment, while his son borrowed money wherever he could. Only then did Zhou Jianmin finally understand:
In the official world, honest people are the easiest to leave behind.
When he opened his eyes again, he was back in 2001.
That year, he was a newly graduated teacher-training student about to be assigned to a middle school in the countryside.
In this life, Zhou Jianmin didn’t want to be the man who was always one step too slow.
He would enter the county government.
He would climb the ranks, one step at a time.
