Where the Light of Dawn Ends

The year the Nie family chose Wei Zichen, he had just turned seventeen. In a school uniform washed pale with age, he stood before an ornate iron gate like a stray cat that had wandered into a palace.

Nie Weichen was the most pampered young master in their circle. He spent money like water, had a temper bigger than the sky, and took the greatest pleasure in finding new ways to torment the new "study companion."

Wei Zichen was good at everything, so good that Nie Weichen began to feel inferior beneath his haughty exterior. All he could do was glare at him with red-rimmed eyes in front of others and yell, "You're nothing but a dog my family keeps."

Later, when the Nie family fell on hard times, Nie Weichen tumbled from the heights and learned the true meaning of fickle fortune. As he knelt in the snow, begging for help, Wei Zichen came to stand before him with an umbrella, then crouched in front of him in all his wretchedness.

Nie Weichen said hoarsely, "Now it's your turn to laugh at me."

But Wei Zichen reached out to brush the snow from his shoulder. His voice was as gentle as ever. "It took me seven years to get here. I didn't come to laugh at you. I came to take you home."

What Nie Weichen didn't know was how hard Wei Zichen had struggled to climb out of the mud and reach a place in the spotlight. And the years between them were far from the only thing standing in their way.