Charles Bennett was using the Ah Q-style spiritual victory method to comfort and console himself, when he heard Laura Reed frown and gently say, “Charles Bennett, how could you do that? She was just walking along the road, we’re all classmates, why did you provoke her? That’s really lacking in manners.”

  “Laura Reed, I…”

  Charles Bennett rubbed his hands awkwardly, about to defend himself, but Laura Reed had already walked away on her own, and didn’t get into Charles Bennett’s car again. Charles Bennett was startled, hurriedly caught up, and tried to appease her with kind words. Laura Reed was the Snow White he had pursued for two years—truly a real-life Snow White. The only daughter of the eldest legitimate son of the Lan family of Hong Kong, the wealthiest family in the Chinese community. Although Laura Reed had yet to agree to be his girlfriend, she would occasionally accept his invitations, like today, taking a ride with him out of the campus.

  In terms of wealth, even a hundred Charles Bennetts couldn’t compare to one Laura Reed. If Laura Reed wanted to drive in and out of campus, no matter how high-end the car, the Lan family would deliver it to her doorstep. But Laura Reed didn’t want to show off in front of her classmates. After all, in those days, it was very unconventional and rebellious for a university student to drive. Only someone like Charles Bennett, a child of high-ranking officials, could drive in and out of school with the administration’s tacit approval.

Chapter 003: Fate Must Be Changed

  Dark red glazed tile roofs, carved beams and painted rafters, bright red gate pillars, and a gold-lettered sign with a blue background reading “Jinghua University”—all of these displayed the profound cultural heritage of this century-old institution.

  Nathaniel Johnson stood quietly at the antique-looking school gate, searching through the bustling crowd for that black Santana that had been buried in his memory for more than a decade. He didn’t find the car, but a familiar yet unfamiliar figure caught his eye—his father Noah Johnson’s driver, Liam Carter, a recently retired soldier who had just started working at the Haidu Public Security Bureau.

  A neat crew cut, a straight posture, a dark and honest face, dressed in an olive-green camouflage uniform with the epaulets removed, and still wearing a pair of black cloth shoes favored by the elderly. Looking at Liam Carter from afar, Nathaniel Johnson’s lips twitched slightly. He steadied himself, dragged his suitcase, and walked over quickly.

  “Mr. Carter!” Nathaniel Johnson called softly. Although he tried to give Liam Carter a smile appropriate for his age and status, what came out instinctively was still that deep smile, the corners of his mouth pressed and lifted in a determined arc.

  Liam Carter didn’t notice these subtle changes, just grinned, reached out and patted Nathaniel Johnson on the shoulder. “Nathaniel Johnson, you’ve finally graduated, congratulations. Come on, get in the car, let’s go back to Haidu! Director Johnson and Aunt Walker are waiting for you at home.”

  ……

  ……

  Nathaniel Johnson’s father, Noah Johnson, was a deputy director in charge of administration at the Haidu Public Security Bureau, ranking quite low, with little real power or perks. In Nathaniel Johnson’s memories from his previous life, his father had always been a rather dull and silent man, low-key in his actions, perhaps due to his long-standing career frustrations. Still, a deputy director—a deputy division-level official—meant the The Johnson Family was considered a family of officials in the local area. Sometimes, when Nathaniel Johnson was on winter or summer break, Noah Johnson would send Liam Carter to Jinghua to pick him up.

  Occasionally riding in his father’s official car was one of the few privileges of being an official’s child that Nathaniel Johnson had enjoyed in his previous life. Later, because of the political earthquake in Haidu’s officialdom in November 1996, Noah Johnson was implicated and forced to resign, ending his career and becoming an ordinary lecturer at Binhai University, living out his days in depression until retirement. From then on, the The Johnson Family declined, and Nathaniel Johnson had to work his way up from a small employee in a state-owned enterprise, enduring countless hardships and storms before seizing the opportunity to enter the business world, amassing a huge fortune in just a few years and becoming a business tycoon admired by millions.

  But after being reborn, Nathaniel Johnson would never allow that to happen again. He had to change his father’s career fate, and also his own. Fortunately, there was still time—perhaps this was heaven’s arrangement.

  Fate must be held in one’s own hands. Before getting in the car, Nathaniel Johnson secretly gritted his teeth.

  Liam Carter slowly drove out of the bustling Jinghua city center and onto the national highway leading to Binhai Province. Along the way, Liam Carter noticed that Nathaniel Johnson seemed a bit down, which puzzled him, so he didn’t say much.

  Nathaniel Johnson kept turning his head, quietly and intently gazing at the cityscape flashing by outside the window, as if trying to find the faint traces he had left during his four years of study in this metropolis of skyscrapers. After a long while, Nathaniel Johnson slowly turned his head and smiled. “Mr. Carter, are my dad and mom both well?”

  Seeing that Nathaniel Johnson seemed to have returned to the gentle and cheerful self he remembered, Liam Carter replied heartily, “They’re both doing well, Nathaniel Johnson. Director Johnson happens to have a pretty important meeting these days, and Aunt Walker is also very busy at work, otherwise they would have come to Jinghua to pick you up themselves… But it’s the same with me coming to get you. When we get back, Aunt Walker will definitely make a big table of your favorite dishes to welcome you home.”

  Liam Carter was only a few years older than Nathaniel Johnson, and had always called Nathaniel Johnson’s mother, Paige Walker, “Auntie.” But that made things feel more intimate.