The third-floor break room.
Xu Shi braced himself against the table, his fingertips trembling slightly as he took his usual medication out of his pocket.
He counted out four pills at random and swallowed them with cold water.
In truth, all these years, the only people whose opinions mattered most to him, and whom he feared most, were his adoptive parents.
Lin Yuxiang was a professor in HKU's Chinese department, and his adoptive father had been a promising young entrepreneur. A highly educated, highly accomplished family, they had even higher expectations for their adopted son.
When Xu Shi was in school, he dared not come in anything but first.
To ensure his grades could improve every time, he had learned to control his scores as early as his first entrance exam in high school.
Even so, whenever he came home, he never saw his adoptive parents smile. All he ever heard was, "That's what you're supposed to do."
Pleasing his family was what he was supposed to do.
Xu Xingqi never had to do any of that.
They were the real family.
Xu Shi only understood that after he started university.
Later, when he failed to get into graduate school, he endured countless scornful looks and cutting remarks, as though he had been born a failure.
"No amount of hard work can fix bad genes or the stupidity in your bones."
"I've mentored so many graduate students, yet my own son couldn't get in. What a laughingstock I'd be if people heard."
"Your advisor even said you were so gifted. You couldn't be more mediocre."
"..."
Those words kept echoing in his ears. No matter how he tried, he could never forget them.
He knew he had always been inadequate.
Always.
"Xu Shi."
A familiar voice suddenly sounded beside his