The Resignation Letter of Koi Fish

The willows by the pond drooped their heads, as if watching a silent pantomime.

The water surface was as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the gray color of the sky. Only the occasional small bubbles emerging showed that the underwater world was not dead.

After retirement, Lao Wang was assigned to manage the koi pond in Guanyin Bridge Park. His daily task was to feed them regularly and occasionally clean the fallen leaves at the bottom of the pond. It was said that each of these koi fish was worth a fortune, their colors as bright as a pile of cheap silk. Lao Wang always felt that they were not like living creatures, but rather like crafts placed in a showcase.

This day, Lao Wang came to the pond as usual. He was carrying a bucket full of fish food, about to scatter it, when he noticed something unusual on the water surface. The koi fish, which should have been scrambling to grab food, were floating quietly on the surface, motionless. He thought he was seeing things, but upon closer inspection, he found that under those vibrant fish bodies, there were "papers" wrapped in plastic bags.

Lao Wang picked up one. There was a small hole in the plastic bag, and he carefully pulled out the paper inside. It was a "resignation letter" written in a childish script.

"Respected leaders of the park: I, Koi Fish No. 1, hereby solemnly submit my resignation application. I am tired of swimming in the same fixed area every day, tired of being fed the same food, tired of being watched by people. I hope to gain freedom and go to a wider world. Sincerely, Resigner: Koi Fish No. 1"

Lao Wang looked at the resignation letter in shock. The handwriting was crooked, like the work of a kindergarten child. He picked up a few more, and the contents were similar, but with different names: Koi Fish No. 2, Koi Fish No. 3, all the way up to Koi Fish No. 37.

"This...this...this is really weird!" Lao Wang muttered to himself. He had lived for more than sixty years, and this was the first time he had encountered such a strange thing.

He carefully observed the koi fish on the water. They seemed to be waiting for something, and their eyes seemed to flicker with a hint of...unwillingness? Or perhaps, just a kind of fish expression he couldn't understand. Lao Wang suddenly felt that these fish were no longer like crafts in a showcase, but rather like a group of white-collar workers trapped in cubicles, who finally could not bear the day-to-day mechanical repetition and chose to collectively "resign."

Lao Wang trembled as he took out his phone and took a picture of this bizarre scene. He felt it was necessary to report it, after all, these were more than thirty resignation letters!

The next day, the leaders of Guanyin Bridge Park came to the scene. They looked at the motionless koi fish floating on the water, and the pile of "resignation letters" scattered on the ground, and fell into silence.

The leaders looked at each other and discussed for a while. The final conclusion was: this must be a prank.

So, the cleaners were ordered to put all the "resignation letters" together with the koi fish into more than thirty woven bags and transport them out of the park.

Lao Wang looked at the empty pond, and suddenly felt that something was missing. Those koi fish, maybe they really wanted to resign? And what about them? Who cares about their feelings?

A few days later, Lao Wang discovered that new koi fish had been put into the pond. They were even more brightly colored and larger in size. They scrambled for food as usual, without hesitation.

Only Lao Wang knew that beneath those bright scales, there might be new "resignation letters" hidden.