Switched Life:I Went Viral on a Family Variety Show-Chapter 104: A Kick Awakened Him

The long-buried memories burst forth like seeds breaking through the soil, scenes from decades ago slowly unfolding in front of his eyes.

Tang Yuanmao displayed remarkable intelligence from an early age. He was hailed as a prodigy, reciting almost a thousand poems by the age of two.

With his extraordinary intellect, he continuously skipped grades throughout his education, completing his Ph.D. by the age of 23 and joining the Zijin Research Institute.

He had thought of himself as a standout talent among geniuses, until he met Sang Ning, only then realizing the phrase "there’s always someone better."

After joining the institute, he was assigned to work as an assistant under the honorary director.

Tang Yuanmao had assumed the honorary director would be someone older. But when Sang Ning extended her hand and greeted him politely yet distantly, he froze on the spot.

"Little Tang, hello, I’m Sang Ning, the honorary director of the Zijin Research Institute." Sang Ning was wearing a loose white lab coat, her sleek shoulder-length hair cleanly trimmed.

Tang Yuanmao was dumbfounded. This person looked like she was barely out of her early twenties—she’d be more believable as his junior colleague, let alone the honorary director.

After being stunned for a long moment, he extended his right hand to briefly shake Sang Ning’s hand.

But as he retracted his hand, a barely perceptible trace of disdain flickered in his eyes.

To be honest, he didn’t believe Sang Ning had the ability to deserve such a position, and an insidious suspicion floated up within him.

Could Sang Ning have relied on her strikingly beautiful face to land this honorary position?

However, after working alongside Sang Ning for a while, he quickly dismissed this notion. In fact, he felt a pang of guilt for his unfounded malicious speculation about her.

Sang Ning was extraordinarily capable. Under her leadership, the institute achieved several groundbreaking research milestones that shook the world, elevating Zijin from a relatively unknown institution to an internationally renowned research powerhouse.

Tang Yuanmao was awed by Sang Ning’s professionalism and rigor, transforming his initial skepticism into unwavering dedication to working alongside her.

While Sang Ning’s work ability was exceptional, her personality was aloof. She had no close friends at the institute; to her, the staff were merely colleagues and nothing more.

Tang Yuanmao knew next to nothing about Sang Ning, as did everyone else at the institute. She was seemingly very young, but no one even knew her exact age—Sang Ning was an enigmatic presence in the institute.

Tang Yuanmao understood Sang Ning wasn’t easy to get along with, but his true passion lay in astronomical research. As long as he could learn from her, he didn’t care what kind of personality his mentor had.

It’s often said that highly intelligent people are prone to mental illnesses. Tang Yuanmao once fell into a mental abyss during his research, descending into an extreme and obsessive mindset.

Having an introverted personality to begin with, he had been labeled as a loner by his colleagues ever since joining the institute. During that frenzied phase, he would mutter to himself in an unsettling manner.

His coworkers increasingly regarded him as an oddity, avoiding him as if he were venomous.

Unable to resolve the questions that plagued his mind, he became restless and unsettled, actively seeking people to discuss his doubts.

But during that period, his behavior was so erratic that none of his colleagues were willing to interact with him.

Tang Yuanmao panicked. If even his coworkers wouldn’t talk to him, would his eccentric mentor deign to pay him any attention?

He was on the brink of losing his mind. If he couldn’t find answers, he’d rather die.

On a night when the stars shone brilliantly, he stood alone atop the Astronomical Observatory, gazing at the heavens.

Suddenly, the ancient poem "Night Stay at Mountain Temple" leaped into his mind, and he began murmuring it under his breath:

"On a perilous tower standing a hundred feet high, I could reach for the stars with my hand. Speak not loudly, for fear of startling the celestial beings above."

He walked forward, raising his hand high and making a grasping motion, as if there was only a thin veil separating him from the stars in the sky.

Initially, it was his love of the stars that drove his desire to study them, but now they were causing him such anguish that he no longer wanted to continue his research.

Seduced by the night’s quiet allure, he was overtaken by the idea of jumping off the observatory, ending his own life—perhaps once his brain stopped thinking, he wouldn’t suffer anymore?

With that thought in mind, he closed his eyes and slowly edged toward the precipice of the observatory, reciting "Night Stay at Mountain Temple" with heartfelt emotion as he moved:

Jump, jump, just end this pain by jumping!

The dark thoughts surging from deep within urged him closer to the edge. Just as his left foot was about to dangle into the void, he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Little Tang, what are you doing?"

He opened his eyes and turned back. Under the night sky, anger flashed in Sang Ning’s gaze.

Tang Yuanmao froze, instantly forgetting his suicidal intent—for the first time, he was seeing an emotion on Sang Ning’s face other than indifference.

Before he could fully process, Sang Ning suddenly sprang forward like a heroine in a martial arts film, her foot touching lightly upon the ground as she used Qinggong to leap toward him.

At that moment, only two words formed in his mind: Holy shit!

Who would’ve thought their director had such incredible moves?

Within mere breaths, Sang Ning was in front of him. She grabbed his hand and forcefully pulled him away from the edge.

Without uttering a single word of comfort, she shoved him to the ground, crossing her arms impatiently as she looked down at him. She even extended her foot and kicked him hard where he sat, weak and helpless.

"You want to die? Did you submit a report to me first?" Sang Ning’s fury erupted, her voice sharp and intense.

Tang Yuanmao thought to himself—if his next answer didn’t satisfy Sang Ning, she might just kick him to death on the spot.

He was terrified—genuinely terrified!

That one kick from Sang Ning brought him to an epiphany. Truth is infinite and unattainable; one should simply enjoy the process of seeking truth—why demand an absolute answer?

Not daring to admit the truth to Sang Ning, he gulped nervously, letting the darkness mask the guilt in his eyes, and meekly replied, "I wasn’t trying to die, I was just here to enjoy the night breeze."

Sang Ning narrowed her eyes slightly, clearly not believing him, but she didn’t push him further.

After this incident, Tang Yuanmao finally let down the mental barriers he had subtly erected against Sang Ning. His teacher had turned out to be quite intriguing—not as cold and unapproachable as everyone imagined.

In the days that followed, Tang Yuanmao focused deeply on his research under Sang Ning’s guidance. The questions that had been troubling him found resolution from Sang Ning’s perspective, and the lingering obsessions within him gradually eased.

Later, Tang Yuanmao came to realize that during the time he was unraveling, Sang Ning had always been paying attention to him. Her initial hands-off approach had been out of hope that he could work through it on his own—until she saw him spiral toward suicidal thoughts.

Even the night he wanted to end his life at the Astronomical Observatory, Sang Ning’s appearance there wasn’t coincidental.

From then on, Sang Ning became a pillar of faith to Tang Yuanmao. His addressed her not merely as "Director" anymore, but with heartfelt reverence as "Mentor."

But what he didn’t expect was that faith could disappear.

After leading the institute to win yet another international award, Sang Ning was set to fly overseas to receive the honor. On the day of her departure, she told him—very solemnly—that she was leaving.