Unemployment

Xiang Kun stood in the subway, his body swaying slightly as he stared at the reflection in the glass.

It was a middle-aged man with glasses and sloppy clothes. His back was slightly bent, and his hair was obviously untidy, making him look a little messy. Furthermore, a large portion of his forehead was exposed, and his hair volume was worrying. He had the momentum of developing a Mediterranean hairstyle. If one casually asked a stranger in the subway, they would probably think that he was in his forties.

But in reality, he had just turned thirty a few days ago.

He actually looked like this?

It was no wonder that when his boss had half-jokingly introduced the newly recruited woman from the administrative department to date him, she had looked at him with such a troubled and disdainful expression.

In the past few years, he had devoted most of his energy to his work. He worked at nine every day, and by ten at night, he would rush home on the last train. He would work overtime on Saturdays and sometimes on Sundays. Even when he was not in the company, he would often think about how to optimize the code, how to solve the bug, and how to perfect the product.

Ever since he started working after graduation and joined this company that had just started, Xiang Kun had been suppressing his anger. He wanted to prove that he wanted to establish himself in this city and start a family.

In seven years, his annual salary had increased by several times, and he had also become the company's technical backbone. He had considerable shares and even bought a house—although the house was in the outer ring, less than 70 square meters, and the down payment was funded by his parents, there was still a large amount of mortgage to pay.

It seemed like he had managed to stand his ground, but it was still far from the expectations he had for himself. Hence, he had never relaxed. He continued to work hard to perfect the project and help the company get listed, turning his options into a huge fortune.

However, today, their boss told them that the company had gone bankrupt. However, the money in the company's account had been cleared. It was not enough to pay their salary for the month, let alone the severance fees and compensation fees.

As an Internet company, they did not have any physical assets. They only had their own work computers, office tables, chairs, and so on. There were even some debts that had not been settled.

As for the stock options in their hands, they were no different from scrap paper.

With his experience and skills, it shouldn't be difficult for him to find another job. Even if his salary wasn't as high as before, it shouldn't be a problem for him to make a living.

However, during the seven years where he was so focused on his work that he forgot to eat and sleep, his workload that far exceeded 996 became a joke.

Xiang Kun did not care about his salary and compensation like the other colleagues. He knew that there was no point in doing so. As for some people, they could simply move their things away. Since the company was about to go bankrupt, the office building management would not allow them to move out. They could only take away their work notebooks.

The metal door slowly opened, and the sound of a report station could be heard. Xiang Kun did not want to think about work and what to do next. He got off the car in advance and went to a food stall. He ordered a dozen beers and a few side dishes.

In fact, Xiang Kun did not like to drink alcohol. In fact, he hated alcohol-based drinks because he did not like the feeling of his brain being numb and unable to maintain his rationality.

Of course, on the other hand, it was also because he did technical work and was not good at socializing. He was usually too busy and did not have time to go out with friends.

She did not smoke or drink. Usually, she would drink coffee, drink tea, drink Red Bull, and drink caffeine.

Xiang Kun could not remember the last time he drank. Perhaps it was when he was in university, but it was definitely not more than a can of beer.

Hence, he did not know how good his alcohol tolerance was.

However, after the third can of beer, Xiang Kun's face turned red and he felt dizzy. His stomach was churning and he felt like vomiting.

He felt very uncomfortable. He could not be bothered to drown his sorrows with alcohol. He immediately returned the rest of the alcohol, paid the bill, and called a DiDi back.

It was a short five-minute drive from the food stall to his house.

Although he had already paid for the house, he did not move in. Instead, he continued to live in the single room that he rented out his new room.

Firstly, the house was too far away from his company. If he moved there, he would have to spend more than twice the amount of time on the road every day. Secondly, the rent he would get from renting the house would be more than the money he would get from renting the house. Moreover, he was living alone and spent most of his time working overtime in the company. It would be a waste if the living costs were high.

Xiang Kun supported his dizzy head and returned to his shabby and narrow rented apartment. He did not even bother to wash up and take off his clothes. He slammed himself onto the bed and fell asleep.

…

When Xiang Kun woke up and saw the sunlight shining through the window, his first reaction was "I'm going to be late for work"!

But when he sprang out of bed and found that he had actually slept through the night in his clothes and shoes, with his own vomit beside the bed, he immediately remembered what had happened yesterday—the company was gone.

Xiang Kun rubbed his numb and aching temples and sat down on the bed. He did not expect to be so drunk after only three cans of 330ml beer. Indeed, he was not suitable for drinking.

He picked up the phone on the bed and wanted to check the time, but he realized that the phone had run out of battery and was switched off. He could not help but feel a little strange. He clearly remembered that before he left the company yesterday, his phone still had more than 80% battery left. Last night, when he went to the food stall to drink, he basically did not use his phone. Did the battery run out in one night?

It seemed like this phone had been used for more than a year, and its battery had deteriorated quite a bit.

With that thought in mind, Xiang Kun charged up his phone and forced himself to get up. He cleaned up the dirt that he had vomited all over the floor and changed the bedsheets before washing up and showering.

During the shower, Xiang Kun realized that a lot of his hair had fallen off and his skin had become very rough. It was similar to the frosted shell of a phone. His teeth seemed to have loosened.

After showering, Xiang Kun stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom and wiped away the tears on the mirror. He realized that his eyes were bloodshot and he had heavy dark circles under his eyes. His face seemed to have lost some weight and he looked extremely haggard.

"You became like this after getting drunk once?" Xiang Kun decided that no matter what trouble he encountered in the future, he would not drown his sorrows with alcohol. Before he could drown his sorrows, his body would collapse.

After changing his clothes, Xiang Kun walked out of the bathroom and switched on the 40% charged cell phone. He realized that there were more than ten missed calls. Some were from his former colleagues, some were suspected to be advertising sales, some were from his mother, and there were dozens of unread WeChat messages.

Seeing that his mother had missed her call 35 minutes ago, Xiang Kun quickly called her. "Mom, what's wrong? Are you looking for me?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Your dad sent you a message on WeChat, but you didn't reply. He thought it was a little strange, so he asked me to call you."

"I was in a meeting just now, so I turned my phone to silent mode and didn't hear it. I was too busy previously and didn't look at WeChat much. I'll look at it later and tell my dad not to worry."

Her mother's voice was filled with concern. "You guys have to work overtime even on Sunday? You have to take good care of yourself and take care of your health. Otherwise, it's useless no matter how much money you earn."

Sunday?

Xiang Kun was stunned for a moment. He subconsciously wanted to say that it was not Friday. He clearly remembered that it was Thursday yesterday, which was the day he left the company.

After a pause, Xiang Kun returned to his phone and looked at the date. It was really Sunday!

In other words, he had slept for two whole days straight after returning from his drunken stupor.