Time flies, and with 2025 already arrived, before you know it, it's that time of the year again to pack up and head home for the Spring Festival.
As for the New Year, Wen Ling no longer holds any expectations. The desolate atmosphere at home and the meager headcount are nowhere near enough to conjure up the lively spirit a proper New Year should have. To top it all off, there are the relatives and neighbors who treat marriage pressure like a spectator sport, coming together to gossip and rubberneck. Consequently, Wen Ling delays going home for as long as humanly possible, which made her fiercely supportive of her company's notorious reluctance to start the holiday break early.
Born in the winter of 1995, when her parents looked out at the frozen pond right outside their door amid sub-zero temperatures, they decided to name her accordingly: Wen Ling, derived from the sub-zero temperatures outside.
Whether due to this or not, Wen Ling inherited a naturally detached disposition just like her name, waking up early to the cold realities of the world.
Ever since the official announcement that New Year's Eve would be a public holiday, young people who dread going home for the festival seemed to have even more justification to stay away. Originally, Wen Ling's company was also scheduled to start the break on New Year's Eve, but they weren't ruthless enough to make everyone stick it out until the very last day, opting instead to wrap up the company's busy season a day early.
Wen Ling didn't harbor any complaints about the late start to the holiday. Although the workload at the office practically worked her to the bone, the pay was quite decent. After deducting social insurance and individual income tax, she was now pulling in over ten thousand yuan a month.
On the day before the break, the finance department at Wen Ling's company, with the boss's approval, distributed the following month's salary early to everyone. Combined with her year-end bonus and holiday red envelope, she pocketed over thirty thousand yuan in total—a fact that left Wen Ling thoroughly pleased.
Nowadays, aside from the holiday itself and the occasional flicker of familial affection from home, payday was one of the few moments that brought her genuine joy.
It was also the happiest thing that had happened to her lately—after all, who doesn't love money?
At five-thirty in the afternoon, Wen Ling grabbed the New Year gift package handed out by the company, along with the laptop of a relentless overachiever, and strolled leisurely toward the subway station.
"Mom, tomorrow is New Year's Eve. I'm catching the bus tomorrow, so I'll make it back home in time for the New Year's Eve dinner tomorrow night. Yeah, yeah, I'll transfer some more money to you right now so you and Dad can go to the market and pick up some groceries. Mmhmm, alright, I'll make sure to get back for the holiday, don't worry. I'll be careful. The holiday red envelope from the company was pretty good this year, so I'll send you and Dad a red envelope in a bit. Let's all be a little happier in the new year. Alright, alright, I'm hanging up now, I'm almost at the subway station."
Hanging up the phone, Wen Ling transferred a sum of money to her parents without hesitation, along with a New Year's red envelope.
Sighing, she recalled how her mother's somewhat cheerful tone on the phone had quickly dissolved into a swamp of despondency. She had long since run out of ideas on how to change her mother's temperament. Wen Ling herself already leaned toward a somewhat melancholic disposition, and when compounded by the constant sighing and complaining of her parents, she was left utterly speechless.
Now past thirty, Wen Ling had long since given up on trying to change her parents. Whenever a conversation hit a dead end, she could only bring it to a helpless close and comfort herself. Would she vent to her friends? If she said too much it wouldn't mean anything anyway, and others couldn't truly empathize, so Wen Ling simply stopped putting her emotions on display for anyone else.
By now, Wen Ling had long learned to keep her emotions under tight control. She fished her earphones out of her pocket, opened her music app, and used music as an antidote to steer her mind away from its gloomy state.
"Embracing under the same sky,
singing the same song,
our journeying footsteps never stop,
I am with you..."
Wen Ling had already listened to half of this song by Xiao Zhan yesterday, so she simply picked up right where she left off.
With its slow rhythm and soothing melody, Wen Ling settled into the state of listening. Bathed in Xiao Zhan's clean vocals, she let her mind drift away, thinking of nothing at all, allowing her soul to find peace.
At seven in the evening, Wen Ling arrived back home. She pulled the very last slice of bread from the refrigerator and brewed a cup of milk—this constituted her dinner for the vast majority of nights. When she was in a good mood, she would go out to eat or cook something herself; when she was in a bad mood, she would listen to music or study new skills.
Wen Ling brought her computer home for two reasons: first, to organize her year-end review; second, because there were documents on the computer that she might need if clients reached out. Of course, it wasn't as if she was working herself to the bone purely out of her own volition—there was pressure from upper management. Since all her colleagues in the office were taking their laptops home, it wouldn't do for her to stand out and act like an exception. Besides, Wen Ling was already famous in the company for her intense work ethic; she certainly couldn't be the one to leave hers behind.
As an ordinary white-collar worker, Wen Ling relied entirely on her own diligence to slowly earn raises and promotions. In an era where college graduates were a dime a dozen, she lacked any standout talent, leaving her with only one advantage—a work ethic that far surpassed the average person's—allowing her to slowly level up and defeat her challenges one by one.
And so, on the night before New Year's Eve, Wen Ling once again unconsciously found herself working overtime past midnight.
"Ha... so tired." Wen Ling finished up the task at hand and outlined her target plans for the coming year before finally shutting down her computer. Just as she was about to head to bed, she felt a sharp, spasmodic pain grip her chest. Then, her consciousness clouded over, and she lost all sensation.