The town hadn’t really changed at all; it was his feelings that had. Whenever someone returned from a big, bustling city to a lonely mountain town, they always had this kind of reaction. Gao Jialin walked along the main road, his stride steady and carefree. He felt even more confident in his future. Although he hadn’t been gone long, he felt like now he basically understood the outside world. As he compared the little town in front of his eyes with the big universe beyond it, he felt he no longer had to live a shrunken life. He could stretch his arms and legs . . . It was like he had returned
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