At 10:30 pm, the central air conditioning in the office building had already stopped. I typed the last enter key, saved, closed the document, and let out a long sigh of anger.
At the moment of pushing open the company door, the cold winter wind poured into the collar without hesitation, instantly blowing away the remaining warmth on the body. There are very few pedestrians on the street anymore, occasionally a few taxis with red taillights speeding by. In this vast city, the tranquility at night always carries a sense of emptiness that leaves no place to hide.
A familiar throbbing pain came from my stomach, reminding me that I had missed dinner time. I didn’t walk towards the subway station, but turned into the convenience store on the street corner with warm yellow lights on.
Welcome, “the shop assistant shouted without lifting his head, his voice filled with mechanical exhaustion but inexplicably reassuring.
I stood in front of the shelf for a while, my gaze swept over the beautifully packaged bento boxes, and finally stopped at the most ordinary Kanto style dish. When heating up, I watched the steaming soup bottom in the glass pot, with radishes, seaweed knots, and lucky bags floating in the soup, just like our daily ups and downs in the compartments.
Carrying a paper cup, I walked out of the convenience store and sat on a bench by the roadside, taking a bite of a radish filled with soup. It was very hot, and it warmed up along the esophagus to the stomach, causing the nerves that had been tense all day to relax.
During the day, the tension between arguing with clients in the conference room, the grievance of being forcefully suppressed by the leader’s rejection of the proposal, and the feeling of powerlessness when watching the sky gradually darken outside the window… At this moment, it seems that they are all smoothed out by this hot soup.
In fact, how can there be so many earth shattering breakdowns in the adult world? Many people silently sigh in front of the computer and then continue typing on the keyboard; He secretly rubbed his sore neck in the elevator and then put on an impeccable professional smile. We are all silently swallowing all our exhaustion for that little silver coin, for having a small foothold of our own in this city.
A gust of wind blew, lifting up several fallen leaves on the ground. I finished my last sip of soup, threw the paper cup into the trash can, and stood up to pat the dust on my coat.
The night is still deep, the wind is still cold, but with food in my stomach, I seem to have confidence in my heart. Tomorrow morning at 9 o’clock, the clock in machine will still ring on time, and emails will still fill the inbox. But at least tonight, I can sleep well.
Life may be like this, in countless moments of wanting to give up, there are always some small, warm things that can bring you back to the world.
