41 posts tagged with "Absurd"

The spring of 2024 arrived with more clamor than usual.

Li Ming received a letter, a letter from the tax bureau. The envelope was thin, light, as if it carried not paper, but a kind of void judgment. He opened the letter and read the words "tax refund," a feeling of inexplicable joy surged in his heart, immediately replaced by a deeper doubt.

Old Wang shivered in the cold wind, carrying his ancestral small bench. Today was the first day of the Lunar New Year, and he had managed to get away from the mahjong table to watch a movie at the newly opened "Bench Cinema" in the county town. He had heard that this cinema was unique in that it did not have seats, and audiences had to bring their own benches. When the idea first came out, Old Wang had scoffed at it, thinking it was nonsense. However, he couldn't resist the cinema's "New Year Special Offers," the tickets were surprisingly cheap, and curiosity eventually overcame his principles.

When he arrived at the cinema entrance, Old Wang realized he was not an oddity. Men and women, old and young, each carried a bench, of different colors and materials, like a bench exposition. There were plastic ones, wooden ones, and elegant folding stools. Someone even carried a small grand master chair. People sized up each other's "vehicles," with a hint of novelty and a hint of helplessness on their faces.

The advertising screen in the elevator was once again replaying the promotional video for the "Worry-Free Office" app. Zhang Qiang stared at the stiffly smiling office elite on the screen, feeling a wave of nausea. He had to use this app every day to clock in, submit expenses, apply for leave, and even book a toilet stall.

Zhang Qiang was an ordinary technician, functioning like a cog set in a fixed orbit within the vast corporate machine. He disliked the "continuous monthly subscription" services on various apps on his phone the most, always feeling it was a disguised form of exploitation. A few days ago, he had seen news that a celebrity had also immediately canceled a continuous monthly subscription on an app, and he had felt quite relieved about it.

　 The alarm went off.

Old Wang sat in his twenty-seventh-floor office at Jinsheng Group, staring blankly at the K-line chart on his computer screen. The price of gold had risen again, like a mad, runaway horse, galloping far ahead. He tapped on the keyboard, trying to turn these frantic numbers into a decent report, but the lines, in his eyes, were like golden fetters around his neck, tightening more and more.

Li Ming, carrying his small red plastic stool, looked out of place in the crowded cinema ticket gate. The people around him were either carrying small stools printed with cartoon characters, holding folding chairs, or even lugging wooden benches from home. This was a new project launched by the "Starlight Cinema" in the small county – no-seat movie viewing.

He originally thought it was just a gimmick, but he didn't expect that people actually bought these tickets. The Spring Festival movies were so popular that tickets were hard to come by. Those with seats were in "emperor positions," while those without became "stool spectators." Li Ming originally grabbed a ticket with a seat, but the system crashed. After the refund, he could only helplessly choose the no-seat ticket, which was half the price.

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.

"Oh, look, look! This 'Jilin Changbai Mountain' outfit is so grand!"

Old Zhang stood in front of the mirror, carefully applying foam to his hair. Today was National Hair Washing Day, a new regulation issued by the "Better Life Promotion Committee" aimed at "enhancing the national spirit." Old Zhang didn't quite understand the connection between spirit and hair washing, but he was a law-abiding person, after all, it was related to his personal credit score.

He lived in an old residential area, where the water pressure had always been unstable. To ensure a good hair washing effect, he had turned on the tap half an hour early, accumulating half a bucket of cold water. Now the hot water supply was normal, but the temperature felt inconsistent, like the unpredictable policy.