72 posts tagged with "Society"

When Old Wang walked into the "Step by Step Higher" clinic, his heart was pounding. At a height of one meter sixty-eight, it had become the biggest obstacle in his life. Failed blind dates, setbacks at work, even the dancing grannies in the community would look at him with eyes that seemed to say, "How can you be so short?" He gritted his teeth and decided to try this unconventional method of "bone lengthening."

The clinic was decorated in a luxurious and glittering style, more like a high-end club than a hospital. The receptionist had a sweet smile, addressing him with "sir" at every turn, making Old Wang feel lightheaded. He was led into a small room where a doctor in a white coat was waiting for him. The doctor was young, wearing wire-rimmed glasses, looking refined and scholarly.

"Sigh, failed again." Zhang Wei sighed softly, looking at herself in the mirror.

Master Li had been working at "Old Chengdu" hot pot restaurant for seven years, making him a veteran. His expertise wasn't in stir-frying spices, but in recognizing angelica. The angelica used in the restaurant was all hand-picked by him. He said that good angelica has a special fragrance, and smelling it for a long time can calm your heart.

He was responsible for the miscellaneous tasks in the back kitchen. His daily job was to spread out bundles of angelica, pick out the ones with poor appearance, and then slice them according to the standard and dry them. When slicing angelica, he was always very serious, as if he were sculpting a work of art. At this time, he would always hum the songs he loved to sing when he was young, songs he learned when he was a soldier. He had long forgotten the lyrics, but the tune was imprinted in his bones.

Old Wang first met "Little Wang" when he was skillfully assembling a robotic arm. Old Wang remembered that at that time, Little Wang's eyes still had a hint of wildness that didn't belong to this place. That was Little Wang, who had just stepped down from the "Dian Han" position. The company, in order to appease "talent," had transferred him to the "robotic arm assembly" department.

Old Wang, oh no, everyone calls me "Dianhan" now, standing on the stage of the company's annual meeting, the lights are blinding me. The audience below is a sea of black, all colleagues dressed in suits, looking like they just came off the assembly line. I'm holding this freshly baked "Dianhan 2024 Annual Work Report" in my hand, feeling a mix of emotions.

The first page of the report is a record of my hard work over the past year. I've transformed from an ordinary assembly line worker into the company's ace in the "new media strategy." Every day, I livestream, forcing a smile at the phone camera, teaching people how to tighten screws and solder circuit boards. Sometimes, I even perform a "welder's rock and roll." Fans call me "Dianhan," saying I've made the boring factory life interesting, which is considered a significant contribution to the company.

Old Zhang was carrying a heavy combination lock suitcase, like he was holding a box of gold bars. In fact, it contained the company’s year-end bonus for employees – 300,000 yuan in cash. He carefully stepped into the elevator, the suitcase creaking, as if whispering its value. He was alone in the elevator. Old Zhang looked down at the old-fashioned mechanical watch on his wrist. It was already 6:30 PM, and the annual meeting was about to begin.

Old Wang's greatest pleasure after retirement was flushing the toilet every morning. His toilet wasn't an ordinary one, but a high-tech smart toilet that could automatically detect the composition of human excrement and record daily health data. Old Wang felt this thing was more reliable than his good-for-nothing son.

Today, a bright red warning flashed on the toilet's display screen: "Solid waste exceeded, please clean immediately." Old Wang frowned, wondering if he had an upset stomach from something he ate last night. He pressed the flush button, and the toilet emitted a muffled hum, but the water seemed blocked and refused to go down.

Old Liu is an early warning operator at the city's Earthquake Early Warning Center, or more precisely, the "Chief Duty Officer" of the early warning team. The reason for the addition of "chief" is not because he has superior technical skills, but because he is the most senior and has the thinnest hair, making him the team's acknowledged "fixture."

Every morning at eight o'clock, Old Liu sits down in front of his outdated computer. The screen displays various fluctuating curves, like a heart monitor in a hospital. Old Liu's job is to stare at these curves, waiting for the line representing an earthquake to suddenly twitch.

Before retirement, Lao Li was an accountant at a factory, adept at the abacus. After retiring, he became addicted to the internet. Not for news or chatting, but for enthusiastically “reconciling accounts” in various forums. Not really for money, but for the pleasure of precise, error-free numbers. He often said, "This world is full of fluff, only numbers are real."

Recently, he became engrossed in reconciling accounts with a group of American netizens. It began with several mysterious lists of goods, with a mix of items ranging from Chinese tea to American coffee, and prices in both RMB and USD, like a large global trade mystery box. Most of these netizens were Americans. Lao Li guessed they were probably from the finance industry, very sensitive to numbers.

On the eve of the Spring Festival, Lao Wang discovered a new app on his phone called "UnionPay Red Packet Rain." It was said that to celebrate the successful inscription of the Spring Festival as a World Heritage, UnionPay, in collaboration with various merchants, was distributing digital red packets in the sky over cities at set times each day. These red packets could be used to offset consumer spending. Initially, Lao Wang didn't pay much attention, thinking it was just another gimmick used by businesses. That was until he saw people in his neighborhood wearing AR glasses, running around downstairs like a group of madmen chasing fireflies.