23. Blank space in life

Since things have come to this, there's no need to overthink it. Just enjoy this sudden free time. Besides, someone is still paying me.

Modern people are really pitiful. They talk about retiring every day while they are at work, but when they suddenly have free time, they have no idea what to do. They still wake up at seven o'clock in the morning and don't need an alarm clock at all.

As for her physical condition, the improvement was immediate and significant. Whether it was the pressure Chen Zhilun had placed on her that gradually dissipated over time, or whether not working was indeed the simplest way to maintain health, Fang Kaixuan's cheeks gradually regained color, and she was no longer that lifeless, cold-faced expression.

Xiao Ju described Fang Kaixuan as finally looking like a living person again, unlike his previous weak and feeble appearance.

Fang Kaixuan himself felt as if he had been reborn.

In peacetime, without war, famine, or the pain of terminal illness, to say one has been reborn seems somewhat frivolous. But the previous torment truly felt like an eternity. Now, no longer suffering sleepless nights or waking up in terror with half a pillow soaked in tears, no longer experiencing sudden heart palpitations that threaten sudden death, and no longer losing so much weight that no pants fit properly—for Fang Kaixuan, this feels like a rebirth.

They thought it was a very important task, so they simply put it aside and everything would be fine. It turns out that a report not being completed on time, or a PowerPoint presentation not being formatted nicely enough, has absolutely no importance. In fact, if the company went bankrupt tomorrow, and these self-important egoists disappeared, it would mean nothing to the earth.

The Earth continues to rotate and revolve as usual, but arrogant humans believe themselves to be of paramount importance.

Having been busy all the time, I suddenly felt empty when I had some free time. Just then, Xiao Ju also suddenly found herself with a lot of free time.

It turns out that the media outlet where Xiaoju has worked for many years has officially decided to eliminate its feature articles department and fully shift to a video-centric operating model. Xiaoju and her team are about to lose their jobs.

This matter has actually been discussed internally for a long time. After all, given the current decline of the media industry, maintaining even a few feature writers is a luxury. In the past, the existence of feature writing departments was something every media outlet could be proud of, but times have changed. Now, the number of feature writers remaining in the industry is even rarer than pandas. Because no one needs to read articles longer than 3,000 words anymore; everyone prefers to watch 20-second videos with upbeat music.

In just two or three years, this group of people went from being the leader's darlings to being a burden that the leader wanted to get rid of as soon as possible.

The leadership felt they should have been removed long ago, and their competitors had done the same. Xiao Ju's team has only survived this long thanks to their department head, Qi Chun, holding them together.

Qi Chun was also a veteran media professional, and he was specifically invited to oversee the establishment of the feature writing department at this media outlet. To protect his team, Qi Chun often persuaded his superiors, saying: "A media outlet with a brand and style must have original, in-depth content; otherwise, if everyone rushes to compete for increasingly expensive traffic, it will become just another face in the crowd and will probably find it even harder to survive."

Although Qi Chun understood that the situation was hopeless, he could hold on for as long as possible.

But even the leaders are helpless. Everyone is overwhelmed by the pressure of data, and this anxiety is passed down through the ranks. All advertising must be based on data; anything that can't be proven by data to bring direct benefits is considered ineffective and needs to be cut.

In addition, this group of people are all very individualistic and not easy to manage. When we hired them a few years ago, their salaries were not low. It would be better to lay off this group and use the same amount of money to hire two or even three times as many young people who could produce five or eight short videos a day, and who knows which one might go viral. It would be better to keep this group of people who are ambitious but incompetent, cynical and useless.

Of course, the most important reason is that the times have brought both good and bad. If we were still in the golden age of media, supporting a few people would be no problem, and even if only three to five influential pieces of content were produced a year, it would still be worth the investment.

Unfortunately, all of that is now history. Today, the media is an extremely humble profession.

Those who don't contribute have no right to stay.

Qi Chun knew there was no way to reverse the situation, so she instructed her subordinates to find a way out as soon as possible. Xiao Ju was the one she had the most faith in, so she helped Xiao Ju find a way out: to work in marketing and public relations at her husband's company.

Qi Chun's husband is the vice president of a new energy vehicle company. The company often has thousands or even tens of thousands of employees, so it's not too difficult to squeeze someone in.

Ironically, the reason Qi Chun was able to persist in a declining industry for so long was because her husband earned enough that she didn't have to worry about making a living or household expenses. She could comfortably accept a salary that was even lower than it was ten years ago, all for the sake of a sliver of an ideal.

"But judging from your temper, if you want to do PR, you really need to rein it in," Qi Chun said worriedly to Xiao Ju. She knew that this subordinate was not someone who could lower herself and smile sweetly.

Xiao Ju was well aware of this. In her daily work, she came into contact with many PR professionals, mostly women, especially young girls. They were all charming and approachable, always greeting her sweetly as "Teacher." They would always present her with exquisite gifts in advance for the New Year, Dragon Boat Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival, and would frequently invite her for coffee or a meal to maintain their relationship.

Xiao Ju wondered to herself, where could she possibly have such skill?

Qi Chun was considerate and gave Xiao Ju a month to consider it. She didn't need to come to work either, since the department no longer existed and there was nothing to do anyway; HR was only concerned with cleaning up the mess. If Xiao Ju wanted to go to that car company, she was willing to have her husband recommend her.

Qi Chun herself is a capable and independent career woman who is already preparing for retirement. Having spent half her life in media, it's too late for her to switch careers at this age; no matter how capable she is, it won't matter. No one wants to hire someone over 35 years old with no industry experience.

Xiao Ju was grateful for Qi Chun's consideration, but she couldn't make a decision immediately.

Having worked as a journalist for so many years, she felt she had nothing of real skill except writing. The only standard by which she was judged was the quality of her writing—a purely technical skill—and she never had to worry about anyone's opinion. She found it hard to believe she could go to a large company with thousands of employees and start from scratch as a cog in the machine.

Therefore, suddenly, both she and Fang Kaixuan experienced a rare period of blankness in their lives after adulthood.

“If others take a gap year, taking a gap month is fine too.” Xiao Ju has always been the type to throw caution to the wind and cover up any disasters, the complete opposite of Fang Kaixuan. I don’t know how they became good friends.

The two met at a lively gathering of a group of people; they didn't hit it off immediately. Initially, they only occasionally went out for a meal together, but from their first meal together alone, they chatted until the restaurant closed. After that, they were always the last customers at every restaurant.

Xiao Ju loves beer. Whenever the boss comes to urge them to pay the bill, Xiao Ju always smiles and holds up one finger, saying, "Boss, just one more bottle, okay?"

No boss can resist such a cute plea from a slightly tipsy person.

And so, the two went from having meals together only occasionally to becoming close friends who could talk about anything.

What's remarkable is that they never kept secrets from each other, never felt jealousy, and never had any subtle emotions that would arise for no reason whenever the other was doing a little better.

Little Orange is a true and genuine good friend.

Now that they had a gap month, whether voluntary or involuntary, the two discussed where to go during this time. Xiao Ju mentioned a place Fang Kaixuan had never thought of before.

"Where is Kamchatka?"

"Have you read 'The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber'? After the Golden Lion King Xie Xun and Zhang Wuji's parents Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu encountered a shipwreck, they lived there for a few years, and Zhang Wuji was born there," Xiao Ju took out her phone and read aloud, "In Jin Yong's book, this island is described as having a unique location, covered in ice and snow all year round, extremely cold, and where you can see the aurora, but there are volcanoes that are constantly erupting, hence the name Ice and Fire Island."

Seeing Xiao Ju's serious expression, Fang Kaixuan couldn't help but chuckle: "Isn't this just some later generations making wild guesses?"

It might be made up, but the Kamchatka Peninsula does exist, and after watching a few videos sent by Xiao Ju, Fang Kaixuan agreed to go together.

Because it seems like almost the perfect travel destination: short flight time, easy visa application, and low prices.

What attracted Fang Kaixuan even more was the presence of volcanoes, ice fields, snow-capped mountains, and the sea—all the serene and expansive landscapes she loved. It's one of the world's most concentrated areas of active volcanoes, one of the least populated areas on Earth, and one of the least developed regions in terms of land road transportation.

She even saw brown bears occasionally swaggering into the city in the video.

Fang Kaixuan liked cold weather, probably because it allowed him to legitimately hibernate like a hibernating animal, neither producing anything nor needing to see anyone. And the desolate wilderness covered in ice and snow was perfect for self-exile.

This is Fang Kaixuan right now. She only wants to exile herself.

Kamchatka, "the farthest place." It's the place in Russia that greets the sunrise earliest, across eleven time zones.

A perfect place of exile.

///

Haha, finally we've set off!

The male lead returns in chapter 25 (feeling guilty) hahaha

expect

Sorry, I made a mistake, it's 26. Haha.