September 5th

Chapter 1

I hated people like him more than anything. Weak, weak-willed, unable to stand up for themselves... My life, which I often liked to associate with the struggle, depressing and continuous in order to snatch a place in the sun for myself, did not dispose to people like him. But how did it happen that he, being one of them, was at the same time completely different from others? And why our paths had crossed was still a mystery to me. It must have had been the purpose of the higher powers.

I was seventeen when I had first heard about him. Our first meeting had taken place in the same year, only a little later. I was a troubled adolescent, but more than that, I was an illegitimate son. My rich dad, secretly from his legitimate family, had paid my mother so that she would not demand unnecessary rights – although his wife had known about us perfectly well – and he had promised to provide me with a "bright" future, as it were. But I didn't need it – it was useless, like giving a pack of cigarettes to a walrus.

Some higher-ups in dad's company, who had something against him, hatched plans to nominate me as the heir on an equal basis with his legitimate son's. But so far, all their attempts were blocked by dad's wife, who hated me for who I was and for having to be a mother figure to me. To be honest, I was happy she did that. I didn't want to get involved in this hell hole. Still, every day was a struggle; a struggle for survival, a struggle for your rights and your pride, because it wasn't a pleasant experience to hear other children laughing at you and at your illegal status...

I was kicked out of different schools, probably five times, if not ten – lost count. I didn't mean to brag, but it looked like all schools in the Celestial Empire had heard about my reputation. It was hardly worth being proud of, really. But in my seventeen years of life I had already managed to get tired of everything; of my life in general, and of these annoying teachers, repeating the same thing like parrots, as if zombifying their pupils.

And now I was skipping a history class, where the teacher always threw a chalk on my forehead. Well, it was impossible to not fall asleep hearing such a monotonous voice. I'd rather have waited out on the roof and stared aimlessly at the sky than wondered in what century Jiaqing Emperor lived in and how he had differed from Qianlong Emperor.

So here I was, lying on the concrete floor of the school's rooftop, floating along, trying not to think about anything; until some melody travelled through the wind, coming from the music room which was straight under the floor. I had never heard of anything like it before – normally students played something from the classics and I, having stayed often on the rooftop, had begun to be able to distinguish the melodies of the pieces. But today, a unique piece of composition stood out, caressing my ears and soothing my nerves. And like a balm for my soul, it erased all the stress and brought peace to me. I felt so light, as if all my problems had been resolved by themselves.

After that, even the usual reprimand from the teachers did not irritate me as much.

"Wang Yibo! This is your last warning!" said the deputy principal sternly. "Your behavior does not comply with the rules of the charter of our school! As a punishment, you will stay after school to clean up for one month, and today on the last lesson, you will be kneeling in the hallway with your hands up for forty minutes! You had better not let me down."

The man looked at me menacingly, adjusting his glasses. He somewhat reminded me of all the other deputy principals from the previous schools whom I had already seen more than once. Like I'd surrender to their threats! Last time I had run fifty laps on a football field. It hadn't got me through, nor had it changed me. So why would I obey this one?

Curious classmates peeked out of the classrooms to look at me as if I had been a tame tiger in a circus. But the teachers quickly forced them to return to their textbooks. However, the punishment lasted exactly five minutes as my limbs became numb, so I nestled against the wall to rest.