Chapter One: Past Dust

  Sweltering summer days, the sun is like a fire. Yibin, this big southwestern wine city, is everywhere emitting suffocating heat, yet everywhere wafting with waves of wine fragrance, captivating people's hearts. This damn life, Zhou Cheng thought languidly, a thousand pieces of gold can't buy a single drunkenness, why not use wine to dispel worries! Zhou Cheng has been feeling very depressed lately, extremely depressed. He doesn't think he is very smart, but also never thinks he is stupid, yet his life is always not going smoothly. From a rural family, he struggled to finish high school and then attended a local third-rate university - Yibin College due to lack of money to study abroad. In college, he was busy working part-time jobs until he failed N courses and had to retake them after much effort, finally relying on his relatives' connections to get a job at a wine factory's branch company, where every day's task was to guard the branch manager, listening to his orders, euphemistically called: office assistant. Zhou Cheng has been diligently working hard because he knows his family situation, his sister's education relies entirely on him.

  That damned, despicable, murderous hemorrhoid of a manager Wang, Zhou Cheng muttered to himself in indignation as he swayed back and forth, clutching a newly purchased bottle of inferior Wuliangye liquor. His heart was filled with despair.

  Huh? Even when it comes to drinking, I can only afford inferior liquor. No wonder others look down on me. Zhou Cheng was referring to an incident that had happened recently. A new female employee had joined the branch office, a beauty from Suzhou named Yu Jing. "Hello, my name is Yu Jing, please take care of me in the future," she said with a pure and lovely smile, her demeanor lively and generous.

  Zhou Cheng's heart skipped a beat as he felt an instant attraction to her. Spring had arrived, and this was Zhou Cheng's first feeling. Manager Wang sneered from the side, "Little Li, you two will have to work together closely in the future." Ugh, that expression made Zhou Cheng almost vomit up his overnight food. It was lewd, extremely lewd.

  Zhou Cheng has gone crazy in his pursuit of Yu Jing, from helping her find a rental house to delivering gas, buying groceries, and cleaning the house. Zhou Cheng has become a full-time nanny for Yu Jing, always at her beck and call. Gradually, Yu Jing also began to show some affection towards Zhou Cheng, often expressing gratitude to him in a soft voice, and occasionally giving him small rewards, such as wiping his sweat or patting his back. Although Zhou Cheng is very tired, he feels it's all worth it, for the person he loves, he is willing to pay any price. Today is the weekend, Zhou Cheng got up early and carefully dressed himself, even going to a flower shop to buy a bouquet of bright red roses. The roses are really expensive, Zhou Cheng couldn't help but gasp, but thinking of Yu Jing's lovely face, he felt a wave of happiness. He thinks Yu Jing also has feelings for him, today he plans to formally confess his love to her.

  Pushing open the slightly ajar door of Yu Jing's rental house, Zhou Cheng was stunned. Yu Jing was sitting horizontally on Manager Wang's lap, giggling and letting Manager Wang feed her sliced apples. Zhou Cheng was as if struck by lightning, his whole body trembling, his fingers pointing at Yu Jing and Manager Wang: "You, you...you..."

  "Little Zhou, don't you need to rest today? Or is it that I've been assigning too little work to you lately? No pressure?" Manager Wang said with a teasing tone while feeding Yu Jing an apple. "In the future, don't always come to Yu Jing's place for no reason, I'm not at ease with you, I don't want my love with Yu Jing to be invaded by a third party. As for helping Little Yu get familiar with the environment last time, thank you here." Manager Wang said coldly.

  "No, no, it's not like that, Yu Jing, why did you deceive me?" Zhou Cheng was somewhat hysterical.

  "Come on, what did I cheat you of? At first, I just arrived here and wasn't familiar with the environment. You were willing to help me for free, so I made do with you. But honestly, if you had the status and taste of Manager Wang, I wouldn't mind considering you." Yu Jing said with a flirtatious tone while teasing Manager Wang, glancing sideways at Zhou Cheng.

  "Alright, Xiao Zhou, stop making trouble. If you continue, I'll make sure you lose your job tomorrow." Manager Wang's menacing threat immediately calmed Xiao Zhou down. He had no right to argue with Yu Jing, and maybe she wasn't even worth his love. He couldn't afford to lose his job, or else his little sister's education and the family's expenses wouldn't be guaranteed. He disliked Manager Wang because of his sleaziness and despicable attitude, but he didn't dislike Yu Jing; he just suddenly felt that she was very common, and maybe not worth his love.

  He drank inferior wine while walking aimlessly, and unknowingly strolled onto the Minjiang Bridge. The scenery by the river was truly beautiful, with a gentle breeze and clear skies for miles. He took advantage of his intoxication to sit on the bridge pier, which was very thrilling - he had this habit since childhood. In southern Sichuan, where there were many rivers and bridges, he always liked to sit on top of the piers, gazing far away at the rushing river waters and the clouds that seemed to touch the sky. What a magnificent and carefree atmosphere it was! How wonderful it would be if one could ride the wind and waves, and roam freely without bounds! If one could ride the harmony of heaven and earth, and command the six elements, wouldn't that be delightful? These had been Zhou Cheng's dreams since childhood.

  "Danger, don't be foolish!" A loud shout came from a few meters away. The slightly drunk Zhou Cheng only felt his ears ringing and buzzing, and he was dazed. Then, he saw a figure rushing towards him, and before he knew it, he was plummeting straight into the river... Ah, I don't want to die! You're doing a good deed, but you didn't have to push me in, did you? My poor parents and little sister will be left unattended. These were Zhou Cheng's last thoughts before losing consciousness.

  The bridge returned to calm, the river water still flowing, leaving only a burly man muttering to himself: "Damn it, that bastard pushed someone down again..."

  The next day, the headline of Yibin Evening News reported: Yesterday afternoon, a man climbed onto the pier of Minjiang Bridge while drunk and fell into the river before passersby could rescue him...