The cement floor was extremely clean, with traces of water still visible in some low spots—it must have been mopped by his mother not long ago. On the living room ceiling, the ceiling fan was still spinning endlessly, making a whooshing sound, while on the coffee table in front of the old spring sofa, several pieces of sliced watermelon were covered with a mesh food cover to keep the flies away.

　　Although the house was simple, it was spotless.

　　His mother, Evan Morris, was a very neat and efficient woman. She had once been an elegant and beautiful woman with considerable education and a certain family background, someone who could have lived a comfortable and refined life. However, her fate had taken her down a path completely opposite to that.

　　Disasters, hardships, poverty, oppression... these made up the entire imprint of his mother Evan Morris's life.

　　Brian Perry slowly sat down on the sofa and closed his eyes.

　　He knew his mother wasn't home; she must have just left not long ago.

　　She had gone back to her parents' house, for the sake of her only son's job assignment after graduation. She had cut off all contact with her family for more than ten years, and if it weren't for wanting to get her son a better job, she would never have stepped through that door filled with humiliating memories again.

　　……

　　……

　　Brian Perry's father, Eric Perry, died of illness in April 1976, just as that nationwide catastrophe was about to end.

　　Eric Perry came from a farming family. At sixteen, he signed up to join the army, which changed his fate. He served for eight years, joined the Party, and was promoted from squad leader to platoon leader, and then to company commander. At twenty-four, he left the army and returned to his hometown in Xin'an City, Jiangbei Province, to become a workshop director at the local machinery factory—a position neither high nor low.

　　In February 1969, Eric Perry married Evan Morris, the daughter of Ryan Morris, the president of Jiangbei University who had been persecuted and suppressed during that special period. The following year, their son Brian Perry was born. Because he married Evan Morris, Eric Perry, who had an excellent background and was considered a model revolutionary, was also targeted, criticized daily, and fell ill, eventually passing away. At that time, Brian Perry was only six years old.

　　After that special period ended, Evan Morris's father, Ryan Morris, was quickly rehabilitated, and the Meng family re-entered high society. Ryan Morris resumed his position as university president. His eldest son, John Morris, had previously been a deputy factory director at a state-owned enterprise, and later, riding the wave of reform and opening up, went into business and made a fortune, becoming a famous private entrepreneur.

　　As for Ryan Morris's second son, Mark Morris, he became an official and a leading cadre, while his eldest daughter, Emily Morris, became an artist in a drama troupe.

　　After the policies were implemented, Ryan Morris's family looked down on Evan Morris's husband Eric Perry and the Peng family, considering Eric Perry a country bumpkin of low status, unworthy of their daughter. The whole family strongly demanded that Evan Morris remarry and leave Brian Perry with the rural Peng family.

　　Ryan Morris even personally chose another husband for his daughter: his student, Associate Professor David Bolton from the Chinese Department of Jiangbei University. Although Evan Morris had been married, she was just over thirty at the time, beautiful and elegant, and David Bolton admired her deeply.

　　But this was only the wishful thinking of Ryan Morris and David Bolton. Eric Perry and Evan Morris had met and fallen in love in adversity, and Eric Perry had endured countless hardships for her without ever wavering. The couple's feelings ran deep. Evan Morris firmly refused to remarry—first, because she could not forget her beloved husband, and second, because she could not abandon her young son.

　　Ryan Morris flew into a rage, had a huge argument with Evan Morris, and declared that if she did not remarry and give up the Peng family's "bastard," he would sever their father-daughter relationship and never allow Evan Morris to enter his home again.

　　Soon after, Ryan Morris was diagnosed with liver cancer and passed away not long after. As a result, the other children of the Meng family also completely cut ties with Evan Morris. Although Ryan Morris's death had nothing to do with Evan Morris, the Meng family insisted she had angered him to death.

　　More than ten years passed in a flash. Evan Morris endured hardship and raised her son Brian Perry alone. Life was difficult, but warm and happy.

　　In 1987, Brian Perry was admitted to Jinghua University, the top university in the country, and this year he was assigned to work at the Baiyunguan Township Government after graduation. At that time, government jobs were not as desirable as they would be in later years, especially in rural areas. When she heard her son was being sent to a remote mountain area, Evan Morris could no longer sit still.

　　She shamelessly went to ask her second brother, Mark Morris, who was now deputy mayor of Xin'an City, to help her son Brian Perry get a job transfer, but was mercilessly humiliated by the Meng family.

　　Afterwards, Evan Morris sought help everywhere but to no avail. Driven to desperation, she secretly embezzled 5,000 yuan from her job as a cashier at the machinery factory to bribe the deputy director of the personnel bureau in charge of job assignments. She was caught and reported. Although the Meng family later intervened and the money was repaid, and Evan Morris was not prosecuted, her lifelong pride and concern for appearances made her unable to accept it, and she took her own life.

　　After his mother's death, Brian Perry fell seriously ill, but eventually still went to work at the township government. He stayed at that remote township office for five or six years, and only by chance was transferred to the district government, becoming a minor clerk in the district government office. He then spent many cautious years in the bureaucracy before finally being promoted to the nominal position of deputy section chief, living a life of unfulfilled ambition.

　　This was Brian Perry's previous life.

Chapter 002: Finally Let Out a Long-Suppressed Breath

　　Memories wept and pleaded, the past flashed by like lightning.

　　Brian Perry suddenly stood up, a determined light shining in his eyes.