Short story

The sun shines on the desk through the window, bright and gentle. Sitting at the table by the window, she made a pot of black tea, which was fragrant. Holding a book, she enjoyed a rare weekend afternoon.

As time went by, it was getting dark. Several whistles pierced the sky, and some pigeons flew back to the roof next door.

She got up and looked out of the window and saw a pigeon breeder whistling on the roof next door to recall his pigeons. Gray, gray-spaced, black-gray mottled pigeons stood on the railing of the rooftop in twos and threes. In the distance, several pigeons drew circles in the sky and kept flying. Every evening at this time, pigeon breeders whistle for pigeons to come back for food. Pigeons roaming in the sky, seemingly free, are actually captive birds. In order to survive, they must abide by the agreement with pigeon breeders.

An orange cat jumped on the desk flexibly, and a slender cat leg crossed her book. He looked out of the window nervously, cocked his head slightly, grinned, his chin trembled violently, his limbs kicked hard, his tail hair swelled and stood upright, and he seemed to be ready to jump out of the window to hunt. She closed the window and went back to the table, soothing the cat's head and back, trying to relax it. Then she went to the kitchen, took some cat food and poured it into the cat bowl. Hearing the sound of pouring food, the cat jumped off the table and ate in the bowl.

How time flies! It's the last weekend night, and I have to work tomorrow. While feeding the cat water, she stroked its little head and said to it.

She seldom works overtime, and she will try to finish the work within eight hours. The world eight hours away belongs to you.

But on Monday, everything piled up. In the morning, she finished playing the card and just sat down. The leader came over and told her that she needed to investigate the new product and that she had to finish a planning report this Friday. But these two days, at the regular meeting last Friday, she decided to assist the company's internal exhibition for two days as a product commentator. The meeting is expected to be held on Friday morning, because the plan will be optimized in the afternoon, so there are only two days left to do research and analysis for her, and time is very tight. She put on her badge, took her laptop, walked to the company exhibition, and then drank water. She took out her mobile phone while walking, intending to know about the new product, when the phone came, and the project partner urged her to express the product parts to them for testing. She promised to come to the exhibition area, put away her mobile phone and began to explain the work of the exhibition area.

At 2 pm, there are not many people in the exhibition area. She took the time to send a courier. After returning, she negotiated with her colleagues for an hour, and then went to attend a meeting on the functional test of the project. Just after the meeting, she received a call from the leader, who asked her if she had contacted the customer. She said, no, isn't there an exhibition these two days? There is no time for reception. Tomorrow is the earliest. The leader was very dissatisfied and said angrily, "It's all unreliable! Time has been squeezed out, and I don't understand! " And then hung up.

She was wronged and felt that she had done her best. But this week's work rhythm was completely disrupted by the sudden exhibition and new tasks. She hates everything that disrupts the rhythm. She is still a little scared, afraid of losing this well-paid job. Her mood plummeted and she trudged to the exhibition area, and she still needed to finish the explanation work in the afternoon.

Monday passed through these nonstop work tasks, and she was led by everything like a puppet. On the surface, these things are exhibitions, telephone calls, new tasks and meetings, but in essence, they sign work contracts and sell their time. No way, she can only use overtime at night to learn about the industry situation of new products and the market information of competitors in the company.

Usually she gets off work at 6: 30. Although it takes an hour to get home by bus and subway, she will turn on her mobile phone software and listen to books all the way, which is also a pleasant journey. I worked overtime today and got home at half past ten.

There is a cat waiting for her at home. She opened the door gently, revealing a gap first, and then slowly pushed it away. A little head stuck out, and an orange cat let out a long "meow", which was urgent and loud, as if to say, why are you back! Let me out! The door opened a little, and the cat showed a half-meter-long body, ran out of the house naughty and successfully, fell down at the door, landed on all fours, turned out a big white belly, and stared at you with round eyes, as if to say, touch me! She put her palm into the cat's belly and circled gently, feeling a sense of healing. After a while, she picked it up and closed the door. It was a busy and flustered day. She collapsed on the sofa, holding the cat and looking at the ceiling.

Too tired, she sighed. At ordinary times, at this time, she has finished taking a shower and fell into bed reading. She remembered the recent rereading of buckman's The Gift of Time. The successful person in the story is a person who puts every minute into his work and has no time to accompany his wife and son. After his wife and children left him, he got cancer and went to the hospital. Finally, he decided to make a deal with death and gave his life to the little girl in the ward to let her live. How precious time is, but he finally gave up.

Today's sunshine is a little blurred, and the tables, chairs and furniture in the living room are a little hazy under the morning light.

The cat curled up in the corner of the bed and fell asleep. She gave a light cry, and the cat opened its eyes slightly, only wagging the tip of its tail slightly in response. She likes the quiet and peaceful temperament of cats, which implies a certain lifestyle. She stroked its little head gently, feeling its temperature and softness.

When she got to the office, it was already 8: 55, and she was going to punch in at 9: 00. She's a little nervous. She lined up to get into the elevator. Today, everyone seems calm. Everyone's face was full of smiles, and later people walked leisurely and didn't worry about being late. She stepped into the elevator and pressed the 10 floor. Colleagues next to them pressed floors 2, 3, 9 and 15 respectively. The elevator door closed slowly, and the colleagues standing next to the elevator button did not press the elevator close button as usual to speed up the response of the elevator. Whenever the elevator stops at the arriving floor, it is natural to close the elevator door. She's a little strange. Colleagues who usually work on the second and third floors usually climb stairs in order to catch the clock. Taking the elevator will not only delay time, but also attract the attention of colleagues who take the elevator. Today, they not only come to take the elevator, but also acquiesce in the natural opening and closing of the elevator door. Everyone was still chatting calmly when they took the elevator.

Back at the station, she took the computer and trotted to the exhibition to explain. Not many people came to the booth, but all the people who came stopped to watch with a smile, looked carefully, touched with their hands, talked loudly, felt wholeheartedly, focused and happy. Just ask once in a while. She felt that if she took the initiative to introduce more, it would seem to disturb their viewing. She felt very satisfied, and the value of the work itself was magnified. There is nothing better than an explanation at the moment.

After a while, he found that colleagues from the project team also came over. She asked if there was any progress in the functional test. They nodded, smiled and studied the product carefully, as if they didn't hear it. They are so serious that she can't bear to disturb them. After colleagues in the project team saw Xiao Wei's booth, the test supervisor turned and smiled and told her that before leaving, there was no hurry to see the exhibition these days, and we would discuss it next week. She nodded approvingly, unconsciously influenced by such an atmosphere, as if she had gradually adapted to such a slow pace. She felt happy and peaceful.

When she woke up, she was lying on the sofa on her side. It was a dream. I don't know when the cat got into her coat and held its head with its paws. The cat's head leaned against her chest, leaving only the rest of her ass exposed outside her coat. Her long tail accompanied her hind legs, trying to wrap the cat. It fell asleep, as if it were one with her.

When I went to work the next day, the head of the department gently and seriously said to everyone: We should always work overtime in the future, and everyone should work at least twice a week.

Everyone asked why, and their eyes were confused.

People in other departments often work overtime, but we don't. Your grades are not good this year, at least show your efforts! The supervisor's tone is firm, but he also reveals a little helplessness.

There was silence for a while, and everyone understood.

Someone asked, "So ... when?"

"At least nine o'clock." The supervisor thought about it and said.

In this way, Xiao Wei bid farewell to the life of getting off work on time.

I don't know if it is to improve the necessity of overtime, and her workload has also increased.

She felt tired, and her body was running slowly like an aging machine. I have been working for eight hours before, but I am more energetic at work and can improve my attention and efficiency in a limited time. Now, after punching out every day, it's like pressing the time button for unlimited work, and the whole person is stiff and empty, losing the happiness and physical and mental peace that was once filled. She gradually discovered that an impatient monkey appeared in her heart. This monkey used to appear only when she was in a particularly bad mood, but now it has been jumping up and down in her heart, making her feel inexplicable anxiety and irritability every day, and it is easy to lose patience with people and things. She couldn't resist working for ten minutes at a time, browsing the web, brushing a Weibo and listening to two songs. She narrowed the window for paddling so as not to be seen. If she finds that the leader is away for a long time, she will row for at least half an hour. Only at this time did she feel some freedom and secretly pleased. She found that male colleagues in the department smoked more on the balcony. Even Xiao Liu, who didn't smoke before, now runs on the balcony two or three times a day. The pace of life has changed, and everyone seems to be looking for a way to balance this change.

Now it's more than 10 when I get home every night. In order to sleep before 65,438+02, I have little time to read books before going to bed, because I need to sleep for at least seven hours to reserve energy for more than ten hours of work the next day. She put a copy of Tao Te Ching on the pillow, and she could only turn a page and read two sentences before going to bed.

"If you wade in winter, you are still afraid of your neighbors. The guests are strict, the release is rough, the simplicity is chaotic, and the mixing is muddy."

Xiao Wei chewed these words, which are sentences describing enlightened people in Tao Te Ching. What are enlightened people like? What will they do with everything around them? She thought that if she realized Tao and achieved the ultimate emptiness, then all the pressures and troubles would disappear and she would be able to maintain inner peace.

That night, she returned to the slow world in her dream.

She strolled into the elevator, and several big characters were written on the elevator button-elevator comity, fine for grabbing the elevator 1000 yuan. Later, she couldn't help but retreat behind the key, for fear of accidentally touching the key, thinking it would be true!

The elevator slowly opened and she walked into the office with easy steps. The early morning sun shone obliquely on her desktop through the window, sprinkling a slightly hot golden light. She sat down and took out a brand-new health pot from the cupboard. She bought this pot when she joined the company, and only used it once in more than a year. Usually because of busy work, there is no chance to use it at all. I only tried boiling jujube water on the day I arrived. She picked up the kettle, went to the water cooler and filled it with water. Then she put a few pieces of washed tremella, a few red dates and a little medlar into the health pot, covered it, pressed the start button, cut the bread in half and put it into the bread machine for heating. Breakfast is expected to be finished in ten minutes. She was waiting for breakfast while browsing the news. During the period, colleagues came one after another and greeted her with a smile. Ah, what a beautiful day is about to begin.

After breakfast, the group will inform the meeting within one hour. The old superior was fired for violating the company's corporate culture and work standards. This meeting is mainly the first meeting speech of the new leader.

She looked up and saw an orange cat in a suit and tie, wearing a top hat and big round eyes coming straight in. She was surprised. Isn't this her Mr. Cat?

Mr. Mao said hello to everyone, briefly described his understanding of the company's work, and expressed his support and expectation for the future work of various departments. The meeting didn't shout slogans as before, but everyone's work soon ended in a pragmatic and harmonious atmosphere.

She didn't leave after the meeting. Mr. Cat sat in his seat and didn't leave, as if waiting for her.

Mr. Cat said to her, How do you feel?

Very ... very good. But why are you here?

I'm honored that you enjoyed your stay here. This is my world. I invited you. You can wear my hat if you want to stay here forever. With that, he took his hat off his head and put it on the conference table, as if remembering something. He turned to Xiao Wei and said that life is limited and precious. All accelerated behaviors will accelerate the burning of life. Slow down, enjoy your work and enjoy your life. Then he leaned over to Xiao Wei and turned around.

Xiaowei coldly picked up his hat and studied it inside and out, and found nothing unusual. She remembered what Mr. Cat said just now, but she hasn't decided whether to stay here forever. She put her hat away in doubt, took it back to her place and put it in the bottom drawer of the cupboard.

Cat leaders are as enthusiastic as the spring breeze. Together with several administrative colleagues, the slogan "Race against time, efficiency first" on the corridor wall of the office area was removed and replaced with a new slogan-"Enjoy time is to prolong life".

Feeling very happy, she glanced at the bottom drawer of the cupboard, hoping that this dream would never wake up.

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