Chapter 1 Stingy Year-End Bonuses
22:47
The neon lights of the CBD still shine brightly, outlining the prosperity of the metropolis.
Xu Nianyi rubbed her throbbing temples, her gaze fixed on the densely packed numbers on the computer screen.
In the administrative office on the 22nd floor, only the lamp on her workstation stubbornly remained lit, casting her lonely shadow on the white wall.
"Xu Nianyi, you haven't left yet?"
A slightly surprised voice came from the doorway.
Xu Nian looked up and saw Fang Qihang from the R&D department leaning halfway in, a backpack slung over his shoulder, looking like he was about to leave work.
"That's strange, why are you administrative staff always working overtime lately?"
"I'm leaving." Xu Nianyi gave a standard professional smile, her lips a little stiff, her voice carrying a deliberately relaxed tone, "It's the end of the year, there's nothing I can do about it."
Once the footsteps completely disappeared at the end of the corridor, the forced smile on her face instantly crumbled, leaving her like a puppet with its strings pulled out, only a lingering weariness on her face.
She reached out and vigorously rubbed her left shoulder, which felt so sore and hard, like a blockage of solidified cement. She wished she could stick a wooden stick deep inside, stir it up, and release all the pent-up fatigue and soreness.
Even the programmers have gone home, but she, the administrative nanny, is still working overtime.
The thought was like a tiny thorn, gently but firmly pricking my heart.
"The overall environment is not good."
These five words are like a tight band, suffocating all the working dogs.
Especially after the massive yet subtle layoffs that took place six months ago.
"Structural optimization"
That's what HR announced.
Behind those cold, sophisticated phrases lies the sudden emptying of countless familiar or unfamiliar workstations overnight.
What remains are young key employees like Xu Nianyi, who have been with the company for two and a half years and whose salaries are in the best value range.
cheap.
Durability.
She was the one who dragged down the average salary on the HR report, and also the lucky one who survived this wave of layoffs and could do the work of four people.
Lucky?
Xu Nianyi tugged at the corners of her mouth, revealing a bitter self-mockery.
She moved the mouse, clicked save, and closed the "Annual Administrative Expenditure Summary Table" that she had just finished compiling and that had taken her three whole nights to complete.
Finally, I can focus my attention on the constantly flashing green icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.
It's a message from my college roommates' group chat.
[Yujia]: "Sisters! Our company announced we're giving out year-end bonuses! A 1000 RMB Ruixiang shopping card! [Image]"
【Mengmeng】: "Wow! I'm so envious! We only received a few New Year's gift boxes, with nuts, whole grains, ham, etc. They were so heavy that I had to ask my boyfriend to help me carry them."
【Yaoyao】: "Our company is so stingy. They gave out a gift box that they called 'health care,' but when I opened it, it was full of junk—a mugwort hammer, a U-shaped pillow, a heated eye mask, and stuff like that. But I had amazing luck in the company's year-end raffle and won an air fryer! 【Smug】"
[Yaqian]: "@Nianyi Nian Nian, come out quickly! You guys are a listed company! You must be even richer, right? I heard your company's average year-end bonus is six figures? I'm so envious!"
[Yu Jia]: "+1, please let me cling to a rich woman's thigh! [Pitiful]"
As Xu Nianyi looked at the words and glamorous pictures on the screen, her heart grew increasingly bitter.
Where would she get a six-figure bonus? Last year, her year-end bonus was four thousand yuan, which is less than a month's basic salary.
As an employee of an affiliated department of HR, she had already learned from internal rumors that this year's year-end bonus would be delayed until May of next year, and the specific amount was unknown.
unknown.
She closed the chat window, as if that would shut out the suffocating feeling brought on by the invisible contrast.
I let out a long sigh, feeling utterly exhausted, and prepared to shut down the computer.
Xu Nianyi, as if it were a routine matter, gave one last glance at the payment application processes that were still hanging in the OA system.
Fourth-quarter service payments to suppliers, office rent and property management fees, and miscellaneous purchases by various departments...
Several progress bars are stubbornly stuck on the "Financial General Ledger Review" column, approved by Manager Chen.
I don't know if it will be approved tomorrow.
As the year draws to a close, our suppliers are all pressing for payment, their tone shifting from initial politeness to anxious impatience.
Xu Nianyi truly couldn't understand why the finance department was dragging its feet on payment, like squeezing toothpaste, when the company clearly didn't lack this little bit of cash flow.
She suddenly remembered the question that Manager Qin from administration had specifically asked about that afternoon, so she moved the mouse and clicked on it.
[Purchase reason: Purchase of scratch-off lottery tickets as employee year-end benefits]
Payment Amount: 13,560 yuan
[Note: 20 yuan per ticket, total 678 people.]
[Attachment: Staffing Details]
Xu Nian stared at the screen, feeling utterly absurd.
Listed companies.
The hottest unicorn companies in the technology sector.
The year-end bonus for employees is a "Happy Reunion" scratch-off lottery ticket worth twenty yuan.
"Give employees a chance to embrace surprises; the cost is controllable, it generates a lot of buzz, and it aligns with the spirit of innovation in the internet industry."
When Director Wang of the Human Resources Department announced this innovation at the Monday morning meeting, his face was filled with a shrewdness and pride in saving the company a lot of money through careful budgeting.
I really don't want to go to this class even for a single day.
This thought, like an undercurrent, has been surfacing unexpectedly lately, threatening her already fragile rationality.
After staying up all night for several nights in a row, I found that even expensive foundation and concealer couldn't cover up the dark circles under my eyes;
When she went for a traditional Chinese medicine massage, the master masseur made her grimace, but still couldn't relieve the deep-seated soreness and stiffness in her shoulders and neck.
When I saw photos of my college classmates on their WeChat Moments, showing them smiling brightly on a beach vacation with their kids;
When I suddenly realized that I didn't even have the time or energy to nurture a relationship...
She turned off the computer and packed her things.
My phone vibrated in my bag.
It was a voice message from my mother.
"Niannian, are you still at get off work?" Her mother's voice was filled with her usual concern.
Xu Nian paused for a few seconds with one finger on the top of the screen, then simply pressed the screen off, threw the phone back into her bag, and zipped it up.
Tired. Don't want to go back.
The elevator slowly descended, the metal wall like a blurry mirror, reflecting her unconcealed haggard appearance.
Stepping out of the office building, the biting night wind felt like a slap in the face, instantly piercing through Xu Nianyi's wool coat.
She shivered violently and instinctively buried her face in her scarf, trying to draw in even the slightest bit of warmth.
The bus stop was not far away, its sign emitting a dim and lonely light.
Xu Nianyi suddenly felt that she was lucky in some ways.
The rented house is accessible by a night bus line.
In the past, when we didn't have to work overtime, it didn't matter.
Now, however, she is sincerely grateful for the existence of this route, which saves her from paying exorbitant taxi fares in the dead of winter nights.
She subconsciously looked up and glanced around at the towering glass castles of the CBD, whose windows were still lit even in the dead of night, symbolizing the dreams and ambitions of countless people.
Beneath that respectable exterior, how many other shells, like hers, are slowly having their souls hollowed out and their futures overdrawn?
I boarded the night bus, scanned the QR code, and sat down in an empty seat by the window.
Xu Nian slumped her head against the cold glass window, swaying slightly as the car started moving.
Exhaustion washed over me like a tide, but my consciousness was somewhat hazy due to the brief relaxation.
My thoughts drifted uncontrollably back to that "benefit" of twenty yuan per person.
She had looked into the specific "Happy Reunion" scratch-off lottery ticket; the highest prize was 800,000 yuan.
Eight hundred thousand. After taxes, I received six hundred and forty thousand.
For her, that was an astronomical figure.
She saved up that amount of money over many years by not eating or drinking and relying on her current seemingly respectable job.
She had read online that if you buy a whole book of scratch cards, the odds of winning are relatively higher, at least enough to recoup some of your losses.
After all, from a probabilistic point of view, with a sufficiently large sample size, there's always a chance that one in a million will happen.
This time, the company purchased nearly 30 books, totaling 678 pages.
Surely someone will be there?
There will always be someone, quietly or dramatically, who becomes one of the lucky ones chosen by cold, hard probability.
Overnight, the trajectory of fate was changed.
So......
Why can't I be the one blessed by Lady Luck, the one who's about to become rich?
This thought, like a tiny flame, suddenly flickered, bringing a glimmer of burning hope.
Although she knew perfectly well deep down how unrealistic the idea was, how fragile and ridiculous it was, like a drowning person desperately grasping at a piece of duckweed.
Probability is cold, impersonal mathematics.
Xu Nianyi has lived for twenty-four years. From childhood to adulthood, she has rarely even managed to twist the cap off a supermarket drink with the "buy one get one free" offer, and she only ever won the lucky draw prizes.
She's always had average luck, and the kind of urban legends of sudden wealth and overnight riches seem impossible for someone as ordinary as her.
But......
But...
Even if it's as insignificant as a speck of dust in the universe, it still exists, doesn't it?
All you have to do is scrape off that thin, mysterious coating.
Tomorrow, as long as she urges the finance department to pay out that sum, she can go to the lottery shop she's contacted to pick up the scratch-off tickets and distribute them to various departments before the end of the workday.
She could almost foresee that once these little cards were taken away, a relaxed and subtle atmosphere would briefly permeate the lifeless office area.
Colleagues would whisper among themselves and ask each other:
Hey, did you win?
"How much did you win?"
Even a small prize of ten or twenty yuan can bring a moment of cheap pleasure.
The 800,000 yuan grand prize, which may exist and is hidden among the 678 cards, will be a collective fantasy that everyone tacitly understands and participates in.
This absurdly adds a romantic touch to this extremely stingy year-end bonus.
Xu Nianyi took a deep breath of the cold air, carefully and forcefully suppressing the tiny flame of "what if it's me" back into the deepest corner of her heart.
Tomorrow, she will be the first to choose the "Hope" card that belongs to her, worth twenty yuan.
Before she scratched it open herself, she allowed herself a few more minutes to indulge in that dream of getting rich overnight.
Then what?
Then, the dream ends. Life goes on.
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