By the beach, the sea stretched endlessly.
It was vast and open, where the sky and water met.
Li Jing, wearing a white shirt, leaned his hands lazily on the slightly wet railing of the viewing deck, his expression indifferent, his gaze drifting towards a group of women in swimsuits playing by the beach.
The women's graceful figures and lively spirit didn't lift Li Jing's gloomy mood this time.
"Hello, Manager Li, I'm Xiaojiang from Wanlei Company, about last month's project..."
The phone rang, and a somewhat nervous female voice came through. Li Jing interrupted calmly before she could finish, "You don't need to bother discussing cooperation on this project. The partner has already been internally decided by the leadership.
Also, I've been dismissed. Don't call me next time."
"???"
At the last moment before hanging up, Li Jing vaguely heard the surprised and confused voice on the other end. He slightly raised his eyelids and looked towards the expansive sea.
Since childhood, Li Jing had always been a particularly diligent and serious person.
As a small-town student, although his family background was ordinary, he still achieved outstanding grades in high school and got into a prestigious university, choosing the then popular civil engineering major.
After graduation, he successfully entered a major company related to his field. Nearly five years of training, along with his high education and appreciation from his superiors, made him the youngest project manager in the company.
This year was the pinnacle of Li Jing's career.
He spent all his savings of 300,000 yuan accumulated over the years to buy a new house for his parents in a fourth-tier small city, moving them out of their leaky, shabby old home. This was what he was most proud of after graduation.
He had thought that he would continue to soar, but an unexpected incident disrupted his ideal life plan.
An upper-level leader secretly designated the company's supplied materials, which had serious quality issues, as discovered by inspectors from the head office. Under the persuasion of his leader, Li Jing took the blame voluntarily, ultimately resulting in his dismissal.
He had thought he could start over, but due to the declining industry and tightened recruitment at major companies, a month passed without him finding a suitable job, as if everything had returned to square one.
When he saw on social media that former classmates with much lower college entrance exam scores than his were doing better, Li Jing's mood became even more downcast and gloomy.
"My original goal was to establish myself in this city five years after graduation, at twenty-seven.
Well, I achieved half of the goal; I'm damn well twenty-seven already."
Li Jing chuckled self-deprecatingly and was about to leave when he received a call from his mom.
"Son, it's just over a month until your twenty-seventh birthday, isn't it? Your uncle and aunt plan to come to Celestial Sea City to celebrate and to take a tour of the big city."
As soon as the call connected, his mom couldn't wait to start talking, sounding somewhat excited: "You know, they've lived their whole lives in our small place, and they want to take this chance to see the big city on your birthday.
You've been in Celestial Sea City for so long, see if you can take a day off to show them around."
Upon hearing this, Li Jing fell silent and spoke only after a moment: "Mom, actually, I've alrea..."
"Oh right, right! Your uncle came to the house today and praised you, saying you're the most successful of the Li Family, graduated from a prestigious school, working in a big city, and even becoming a leader. You should've heard the praises they heaped on you, almost wanting you as their own son!"
His mom's excitement seemed to overflow from the phone, completely ignoring Li Jing's unease, and she continued: "Honestly, mom never hoped you'd be extremely rich, but I never expected you to achieve so much. You're the greatest pride of mom and dad's lives!"
Hearing this, Li Jing's fingers slightly tightened around his phone, his emotions swirling, and the resignation words he had prepared got stuck in his throat, unable to come out.
"Son, son? Why aren't you saying anything..."
"Alright, alright! Son's busy with work, doesn't have time to listen to all this nonsense you're talking about."
At this point, a low voice from his father came through the call: "I say, on the day of Xiaojing's birthday, just take some time to have a meal together, no need to take leave, we can tour Celestial Sea City ourselves, don't interrupt his work."
"Right, right, work is important, work is important. Son, don't worry, anyway, we know the password to your rented place's fingerprint lock, so your mom and I will go directly, no need to pick us up..."
After hanging up the phone, Li Jing stood there, the phone by his ear but not putting it down for a long time. His knuckles turning white from gripping it tightly revealed the tumult within him.
He hadn't listened to much of what his mom said at the end, only a feeling of frustration and disappointment filled his mind.
"Hoo..."
Li Jing finally let out a deep breath, slightly adjusting his mood, looked up at the sky, and couldn't help but curse:
"This shitty life really gives me no breathing space at all.
They say that diligence brings rewards, and I've worked hard for twenty years, so where's the promised reward?
Heaven, are you playing the credit-and-run game too..."
Bzzz Bzzz Bzzz.
At this moment, the phone vibrated, it was a message alert.
Li Jing looked down, it was a message from his ex-girlfriend.
"I've moved all my stuff out of the rented place, anything left you don't need you can throw out.
By the way, remember to remove my fingerprint from the lock, I probably won't be returning."
Seeing the cold lines of text, Li Jing was already numb, directly replying: "Since you're taking things, also help take the trash at the door and clean the house if you can."
"??"
Turning off the phone and no longer responding to his ex-girlfriend's messages, he knew that the girl who had once chased after him in university had now completely disappeared from his life.
During university graduation, they started dating, as Li Jing began his career with a steady rise.
The ex-girlfriend took the postgraduate exam twice and finally succeeded, with Li Jing covering most of her living expenses during the year of exam preparation and three years of study.
Now Li Jing was unemployed, and the girlfriend had graduated with a master's degree and secured a good job, the huge gap in their life paces led to the end of their relationship.
Li Jing was calm about the breakup. In fact, since his career trouble began, her attitude had quietly changed, and the separation was only a matter of time.
He just felt that his longing for pure emotional connection between men and women had completely shattered after this incident.
He finally learned that love means if there's no better choice, only then will I stay with you until the end of time.
For the first time, he also realized that marriage isn't the grave of love, being penniless is.
Perhaps overwhelmed by his troubles, Li Jing felt a bit stifled inside and wanted to vent.
Glancing at the rapidly gliding jet skis on the sea, he only thought for a few seconds before his gaze steadied, deciding to use the jet ski to shake off the frustration and discomfort in his heart.
Splash!!
White waves rolled and splashed.
Li Jing, like a fish breaking free from its restrictions, rode the jet ski and suddenly shot out from the waves, soaring into the air.
"Yeah!!"
Li Jing couldn't help but shout, shaking the water droplets from his hair, accelerating again, charging into the sea without hesitation.
Maybe it was this period of depression, but on the rapidly gliding jet ski, Li Jing finally released his emotions.
Although he required the instructor's help to return to shore, Li Jing felt much more relieved with his soaking wet body, his previously gray mood turning much brighter.
After those few dozen minutes of unrestrained venting, Li Jing seemed to rekindle some motivation to work hard in life once more.
He took a deep breath, gave the sea the middle finger:
"Since this world didn't finish me off...
I'll damn well take down this byd world!"
After saying this, just as he picked up his belongings to leave, a phrase suddenly appeared in his mind.
[How can life always be favorable, we can only strive for half satisfaction.
Congratulations to the host for stepping out of the emotional low, facing the ups and downs of life with a strong mentality, successfully activating the emotion evaluation system.
Emotion evaluation: The host gains a positive emotion through spending, which results in a report and evaluation form, with different results awarding different rewards.
This time, the host spent 700 yuan on the jet ski activity, releasing accumulated pressure, not bowing to life, with a positive emotion index of two stars.
Reward of twenty times the spending amount, totaling 14,000 yuan.]
"This?!"
Li Jing's eyes widened slightly, stunned at the spot, unable to tell if it was an illusion or reality.
Then his phone vibrated, receiving a message.
He looked down to unlock the screen, his pupils shrinking immediately.
His bank card had indeed received 14,000 yuan!
"Damn?!
Heaven, I just complained a bit, and you're paying off like this?
If I'd known, I'd have complained earlier!"
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