A Day of “Full of Blessings“

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, at exactly six in the morning, Zhang Wei was awakened by his phone ringing. It wasn't the alarm; it was the endless "Happy New Year" and "Full of Blessings" messages in the WeChat group. Rubbing his sleepy eyes, he opened his phone. The company group was filled with festive cheer. The boss took the lead, and everyone sent red envelopes, paired with the sentence, "New year, new atmosphere, full of blessings for the whole year."

Zhang Wei grabbed a few red envelopes, totaling less than five yuan. He sighed. Although he knew it was routine, seeing everyone echoing the boss and sending flattering messages like "Boss is generous, we will do our best in the new year," he still felt a wave of nausea.

The internet company he worked for was known for its "wolf culture" and offered very little annual leave. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, all employees were pretending to be "full of blessings" in the group, as if the company was their home and the boss was their family.

Zhang Wei quickly washed up and prepared to go out. He didn't have the day off because the boss said, "During special periods, someone needs to be on duty to show responsibility." The on-duty staff would receive triple pay, but Zhang Wei still felt like he had swallowed a fly.

Walking downstairs, he saw red lanterns hanging all over the community entrance. Each lantern was printed with a golden "Fu" character (meaning "blessing"), swaying in the cold wind. He took out his phone, took a picture, and posted it on his WeChat Moments with the caption, "A day full of blessings has begun." He knew it was against his will, but everyone else was doing it, and if you didn’t, you would seem out of place.

Arriving at the company, it was deserted except for the security guard on duty, who was dozing off. He turned on his computer and started processing emails. Most of them were New Year's greeting emails, as well as some routine work reports. He replied to each one, adding "Happy New Year, full of blessings." He felt like a walking dead, mechanically repeating meaningless greetings.

At noon, he ordered takeout. The delivery guy also said to him, "Happy New Year, full of blessings." Looking at the delivery guy's face, red with cold, and his battered electric scooter, he suddenly felt that the words "full of blessings" were particularly ironic.

In the afternoon, the boss suddenly posted a message in the group: "To show the company's care for its employees, today's on-duty staff will each receive a 'full of blessings' gift package!" The group immediately cheered and a chorus of "Thank you, boss" erupted.

Zhang Wei went to the front desk and received a so-called "full of blessings" gift package. He opened it to find a bag of expired peanuts, a bag of unknown knock-off cookies, and a sticker printed with "full of blessings." Holding these items, he felt like a clown.

In the evening, he finally finished his day's work and dragged his exhausted body home. He opened his phone and found that the company group was still buzzing about the "full of blessings" gift package. Everyone was posting pictures in the group, with all sorts of thank you messages to the boss. He silently turned off his phone and threw the "full of blessings" gift package into the trash.

The next day, Zhang Wei went to work as usual, and the company returned to its usual "wolf" rhythm, as if the "full of blessings" greetings from yesterday had never existed. But he found that everyone had become more "positive," working harder, as if they were really filled with "blessings."

At the morning meeting, the boss announced: "To motivate everyone, we will launch a 'full of blessings' performance evaluation system, selecting 'blessed employees' each month and giving them rewards." The group cheered again, and Zhang Wei felt that everything had become absurd.

Watching his colleagues scrambling to perform and pretending to be happy and joyful for the sake of those meager rewards, he felt as if he were inside a giant "full of blessings" bubble, suffocating and breathless.

A month later, Zhang Wei was fired for having the lowest "blessing value" score. The reason given was "not proactive enough, not 'blessed' enough." Holding his termination letter, he walked out of the company gate, looked up at the sky, and felt that the glaring sunlight was also imprinted with two large characters: Blessings.

He smiled bitterly, took out his phone, opened the WeChat group, and was shocked to find that the boss had just posted a message: "Wishing everyone a new month, full of blessings!" Without thinking, he exited the group directly. He decided to no longer live in other people's "blessings."