Yet, Gao made it through, and was toughened by the experience. Most importantly, Gao felt something that was close to his heart.

"I wanted to do something chivalrous," he says.

"Sometimes I would imagine myself acting bravely for a just cause, even if I got hurt in the process."

After he got back to college in 2017, Gao got a few internships in the field of market management.

They only reinforced his determination to change the course of his career to law.

"I hope I could reach out to more people in need," he says.

His first attempt for a postgraduate law school failed in 2020, but he continued to reach his goals after graduation in 2021.

However, his father's sudden stroke last year made things worse for his family, which had already been struggling to make ends meet.

It was right during when he was preparing for the postgraduate entrance test for law school with the Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

He used to put his study preparation on a halt, but his mother talked him out of it.

"She held down the fort at the furniture shop on her own, while I cooked for my father at home," Gao says.

During his father's hospitalization, Gao made use of the time to study at the hospital whenever he could, while tending his father.

His efforts paid off.