diskusbooks Chapter 221 (Extra Chapter) The Old Angelica
Chapter 221 (Extra Chapter) The Old Angelica
"Xiaozhi! Have you finished that PowerPoint presentation?"
Bai Zhi peeked out from behind the computer screen, looking haggard, and stretched: "Just finished making it, do you want it now?"
"Come on, let me take a look first." Sister Wang strode through the maze of desks. "The client wants to change the product. If I see no problems, you can send it to the client first and let them see if the layout is okay... Okay, that's fine, send it."
"Change the product?" Bai Zhi's eyes widened. "That's like having to redo the PowerPoint presentation!"
Sister Wang shrugged: "What can we do? They're the client. You send it first, so they can see that we've finished our work. I'll try my best to prevent them from changing the product."
Bai Zhi took a deep breath, tapped the date in the lower right corner of the computer screen, and said with a grim face, "The date for the press conference has been set. If we really have to redo it, it's very likely we won't be able to finish it. Sister, thank you for your hard work. You must do your best. My life is in your hands."
Sister Wang cleared her throat, leaned close to Bai Zhi's ear and whispered, "If we really have to redo it, you can ask for any amount of overtime you want these next few days. I'll approve any number of hours you ask. As long as it's finished, you can even work through the night. Just consider it helping me out, Xiao Zhi. You've been following up on these products from start to finish, you know them best, no one else can do this job."
Bai Zhi's eyelids twitched—it was more than just working overtime; given the client's shameless behavior, she estimated she'd have to pack her bags and sleep at the company until the minute before the press conference.
But Sister Wang clearly meant to go along with the client, and any talk of trying to negotiate was probably just empty words, so she still managed a twitch of her lips to ease the situation: "Sister, you're so loyal."
Sister Wang patted Bai Zhi on the shoulder: "You've worked hard, Xiao Zhi. It's so late, let's eat first."
The time on the screen showed 20:07. Bai Zhi nodded and casually replied, "Okay, you should go eat too, sis."
The sky was completely dark, but the building was as bright as day.
Many people were no longer at their desks; a few left on time, while most rushed to the cafeteria for the last meal service. Bai Zhi slumped into her office swivel chair, lazily picking up her phone to scroll through short videos to relax.
Ding-dong, a text message popped up. Bai Zhi's eyes lit up—her salary from last month had arrived. She skillfully transferred 300 yuan to her mortgage card, then 1200 yuan to her car loan card, and then contentedly opened the food delivery app, ready to indulge herself a little, while sighing, "The housing provident fund is truly a wonderful thing..."
Half an hour later, Bai Zhi's takeout and Sister Wang's bad news arrived at the same time: "Xiao Zhi, the client insists on changing the product no matter what. I'll send you the information right away. Thank you for your hard work these next few days~" She also added a cute flower emoji.
Bai Zhi was opening a takeout box when she saw this message and slammed her phone down on the table.
My appetite vanished along with the client's personality.
A dozen seconds later, my phone chimed with a notification that Sister Wang's information had arrived, along with a few words of nonsense about how hard she worked overtime.
Bai Zhi replied expressionlessly: Okay, okay, I'll ask for overtime later.
After finishing their meal, the colleagues slacked off for a while before gradually leaving. Bai Zhi picked up her takeout and bag in one hand, submitted her application to work overtime all night in the other, and then shut down her phone and went downstairs without any hesitation.
Payday comes once a month, so let's rest today, at least.
Taking the elevator down to the second basement level, Bai Zhi skillfully found the parking space she had parked that morning, where a brand-new used car was parked. This was a car Bai Zhi had bought just last month; she had spent over three months choosing it, finally settling on this SUV with its short age, low mileage, and excellent fuel economy. Normally, such a good car wouldn't be cheap, but Bai Zhi really liked it and managed to haggle down the price by almost ten thousand yuan.
At this moment, Bai Zhi was in a very good mood. After activating the car door, she even said in a serious tone, "Little car, have you been missing me all day?"
Then she pressed the key again, as if the car was responding to her, and then got into the car, satisfied.
There weren't many cars on the road around nine o'clock. Bai Zhi turned on the music, stepped on the gas, and sped home.
At 9:30, Bai Zhi opened the door and went inside. She took a can of Coke from the refrigerator and then leaned against the coffee table to eat her takeout.
She ordered braised pork intestine noodles, but it had been sitting for too long, so the oil from the intestines had solidified and the noodles had clumped together. She skillfully used her chopsticks to flip them up.
Anyway, it's not like I haven't eaten tuomian (a type of noodle soup) and cold meat before; or rather, these are old friends.
The living room opens onto a large floor-to-ceiling window, offering a beautiful view at night. Only half of the view is blocked by tall buildings across the street, while the other half reveals the city's mother river, its banks adorned with tasteless little colored lights. Bai Zhi quickly finished her noodles, turned off all the lights, and sat down by the window with a can of cola.
Buying this house went more smoothly than buying the car. She was originally a tenant, but last year her landlord suddenly decided to move abroad with his daughter and sold the house to her cheaply, allowing her to snag a great deal. After buying it, she would buy some furniture every month as soon as she received her salary: a soft bed, a light-colored, bright sofa, and a quirky coffee table.
At this point, Bai Zhi finally achieved her first ideal – owning a house and a car, and being able to travel and return home.
She stared at the colorful lights in the distance, her thoughts drifting far away.
Not enough, still not enough, Bai Zhi thought. What she had now was far from enough. Right now, she was just a working mule, and everything she had was earned through hard labor. If she were to be laid off one day and her mortgage and car loan payments were cut off, she would instantly lose everything.
She wants to be the one cracking the whip, not the mule. Then she wants to earn more money, buy a bigger and better house and car, and gain more power and fame. Perhaps she can stop when no one dares to make her work extra hours anymore.
Bai Zhi tilted her head back and gulped down a mouthful of cola, as if she were giving herself courage.
For the next few days, Bai Zhi worked day and night, making PowerPoint presentations while also handling her other tasks. All the work was important, and she couldn't afford to neglect any of it.
Because she slept at her workstation every day, she attracted the attention of her colleagues in various departments and the big boss. This was also her original intention; you can't work silently, otherwise you won't get any benefits.
On the day of the press conference, she finally relaxed.
Sister Wang came over excitedly to share the good news: "Xiao Zhi, you did a great job! General Manager Liu has been praising you to me."
Bai Zhi mustered her strength: "As long as it didn't cause any delays, that's fine."
"After today's press conference, they want to have dinner with our General Manager Zhang to discuss the follow-up contract." Sister Wang lowered her voice mysteriously, "General Manager Zhang knows how hard you've worked, and he'll definitely give you a bonus next month."
Bai Zhi suddenly felt energized and beamed with joy: "Sister, you must have put in a good word for me, so I have to treat you to a meal after I receive my bonus."
"Sure, sure, you rest first, I'm going to work."
After Sister Wang left in a hurry, her colleague at the next table complained to her: "Is it really necessary for you to work so hard? It makes us look like we're not proactive at all."
Bai Zhi sensed the resentment in his voice and said with a bitter face, "Brother, I have a mortgage. What am I supposed to do if I don't work? If you fire me tomorrow, how am I supposed to live?"
Usually, once you've played the victim to this point, your colleagues will be satisfied and back down without saying anything more.
Only one girl, who had just graduated this year, would occasionally ask a few more questions. And this time she came too, bringing Bai Zhi a bag of dried strawberries, and asked with great concern, "Sister Bai Zhi, are you alright?"
"Don't worry, it's fine." Bai Zhi tore open the packaging on the spot, grabbed two pieces and put them in her mouth. "Mmm... this is delicious, much better than the ones I bought myself."
The girl was clearly still in the transition from school to society, and she leaned on the back of Bai Zhi's chair with a worried look on her face: "Why are you working so hard? No one will appreciate it. They just think it's what you should do."
Bai Zhi said half-jokingly, "You can't just say things like that."
The girl's entire demeanor was radiating disdain, but she still whispered in Bai Zhi's ear, "Sister Wang scolded me for not working overtime yesterday. She said everyone else was working overtime, and what would people think if I left? But during the interview, I was clearly told that overtime was discouraged. And don't I even have the freedom not to work overtime?"
Bai Zhi rubbed her temples: "Going to work is just hard labor. Have you ever seen a slave talk to his slave owner about freedom?"
"Pah! The People's Republic of China has been established, and they're still using the same old methods. I'm not going to put up with them. Besides, I feel like there's no life at all working like this. Think about it, I open my eyes in the morning and go to work, then I come home exhausted at night, eat a quick meal, watch some TV, and then go to sleep. I only get one day off a week, and on that day I have to do a week's worth of housework, cleaning, laundry, and so on. After finishing the chores, it's time to go back to work." The girl became more and more frustrated as she spoke. "The thought of having to live like this for more than thirty years makes me not want to live anymore."
Bai Zhi comforted her, "Work hard to save money now so you can enjoy life later. What if you achieve financial freedom by forty? Wouldn't that mean you can retire at forty?"
The girl glanced at her and said, "What if I suddenly die when I'm thirty?"
"What bad luck could possibly happen..."
"I believe life should be enjoyed to the fullest, and dreams should be pursued. It would be such a waste to spend your whole life working a miserable job. Sister Baizhi, what is your dream?"
Bai Zhi was genuinely taken aback by this question. She didn't have any dreams. If she had to say, her dream was to make a lot of money, but everyone wants to make a lot of money. In her understanding, a dream should be something like "becoming a scientist" or "traveling around the world."
But she still honestly said, "I want to make a lot of money."
The girl pressed further: "Make a lot of money, and then what?"
"And then... you don't have to take orders from the client anymore, and you can live a leisurely life?"
The girl clapped her hands and said, "If you quit your job now, you can live a leisurely life."
Bai Zhi narrowed her eyes: "Then what about my mortgage and car loan?"
“If I were you, I’d sell the house and buy a cheaper one in another city. I’d still have some money left over. Anyway, you’re from out of town, so leaving here won’t bother you. I remember your car loan is over a thousand, right? My dear sister, where can’t you find a job that pays three thousand? That’ll be more than enough to cover the car loan. Then you’ll have a house, a car, a job, and a relaxed life. You can live a carefree life.” The girl said, “I was wondering why you took such a roundabout route when what you wanted was right in front of you.”
Bai Zhi's eyes widened, and she was speechless for a moment.
After a while, she shook her head: "No, this kind of life is good, but what if one day, a scoundrel comes to bully me? I must at least..." She gestured with her hand, "...at least get to the middle of the pyramid."
“If you’re going to work hard for that ‘what if one day’… then I don’t know what to say.” The girl scratched her head. “What I really wanted to say after all this time is that I’m quitting my job. I really don’t like it here. Sister Baizhi, I want you to come with me. I have a friend at that company, and I’ve already looked into it. It’s a two-day weekend, and although the salary is a bit lower, it won’t exploit people like this.”
Bai Zhi refused without hesitation: "Single or double weekends are fine, but low pay is out of the question."
"Scab!"
A month later, the girl resigned as promised. Bai Zhi received an extra 500 yuan in salary, which she heard was a reward from the big boss for her hard work. She smiled and shook her head, then found the client in the work group and added them as a friend.
A month later, Bai Zhi switched to a new company.
The client company was an industry leader, and her salary doubled, but she also worked much harder than before, not even getting a single day off a week, and often working ten-plus days a week. Occasionally, she would think of that girl who had just graduated, and of her talk about abandoning everything to live in another city, and she would indulge in grand fantasies. But after a while, the image of the orphanage where she had lived would uncontrollably appear in her mind.
It is so difficult for people to live without being threatened; people are so fragile.
Just thinking about that scene kept her awake. And several times she woke up in the middle of the night, staring at the dark ceiling and asking herself—what is it that I really want?
Or maybe you could hold on for two or three years, pay off your mortgage and car loan early, and then stop on your own?
But should I really stop?
In yet another non-stop workday, at 1:29 a.m., Bai Zhi finally reached her limit.
First came a sharp pain in my chest, like a knife stabbing me, the pain shooting from my front to my back. Then came difficulty breathing, blurred vision, and jumbled documents flying around in front of me. Next came a buzzing in my ears and an uncontrollable urge to vomit.
The company was deserted by then. She forced herself to hold her phone close to her already blurry vision and painstakingly dialed 120. With ringing in her ears, she couldn't hear the caller's questions, and could only repeat her exact location between bouts of vomiting.
The ambulance arrived relatively quickly. She vaguely felt the doctor give her an injection, then she was lifted onto a stretcher and taken to the emergency room. Her consciousness gradually faded, and the only thing she could clearly feel was that she was really going to die.
There's not much to miss, but her meticulously decorated house, her beloved car, and the money she worked so hard to earn are truly a pity.
The piercing beeping in the emergency room gradually subsided, and the girl's words echoed in my ears again: "What if I suddenly die when I'm thirty?"
People really can die at any time, Bai Zhi thought, finding it rather amusing.
On her deathbed, she thought that if she could survive this stroke of luck, she would definitely quit her job and leave to live a carefree life in the vast world.
"Drip, drip, drip, drip—"
The electrocardiogram is drawn as a straight line.
Bai Zhi's consciousness completely left this body.