Wandering the world of film and television begins with the golden years

The city's permanent urban population is less than five million. 🍧💋 ➅➈s卄Ⓤ𝔁.ᶜⓞΜ 🐠🐯

Xishan City is a second-tier city with a less developed economy.

Li Haoyu was currently buried in his workspace, which was less than one square meter in size, silently preparing his lesson plan for tomorrow.

He is an academic affairs officer at Zhongzheng Civil Service Exam Training Institute.

At least 80% of the employees at Chung Cheng Civil Service Exam Preparation Center have dreamed of working here while studying for the civil service exam after failing it, and eventually succeeding in passing the exam.

Many people have secretly prepared for the civil service exam, dreaming of quitting their jobs once they pass.

However, very few people actually succeed in making it ashore.

Li Haoyu was clearly not a lucky one.

He has long since given up his dream of passing the civil service exam and is now simply working a job to make a living.

The title of "Course Operations Specialist" sounds prestigious, but frankly, it's just a general administrative job. They handle all the mundane tasks, including coordinating between teachers and administrators, relaying information, calculating teacher salaries, and so on.

This job is not only tiring, but also often requires working overtime.

The salary isn't high, and there are very few opportunities for promotion and raises in this position.

When Li Haoyu joined the company, HR said there would be a chance for a raise once a year. However, four years have passed and the raise is still just a blank check.

Li Haoyu, 32, has been working at this training institution for four years.

His earlier boast about passing the civil service exam and becoming a civil servant, which he used to say all the time, has now become a joke among his colleagues.

Day after day, he left early and returned late, spending his days with the computer, answering the same monotonous and repetitive questions from test takers. This monotonous and repetitive routine had worn away the youthful vigor that Li Haoyu should have had.

His monotonous life, consisting of going back and forth between three points, made him somewhat taciturn in his daily life.

The burdens of life have made his hair look less like that of a thirty-year-old; it has gradually thinned from its original thickness, and recently his hairstyle has even developed into a "Mediterranean" pattern.

There are four academic affairs operations in Zhongzheng Civil Service Exam Training Center.

Li Haoyu is the oldest of the four, and also the one who has been employed the longest.

However, because he only had a junior college diploma, his salary was the lowest among the group.

Li Haoyu did try to fight for this, and he even subtly asked his female boss for a promotion and a raise.

The manager said, "I will report this to headquarters for you. But the job market is tough right now, and your educational background is indeed a problem. You need to think this over carefully."

This left Li Haoyu speechless.

Li Haoyu had also considered finding another job, but putting aside the question of whether he could find a suitable job after resigning.

With his third-rate college diploma, he might not even pass the initial screening stage of a resume at a slightly better large company, except for sales positions.

In addition, he came at an era of increasingly fierce competition in the job market, with recent college graduates everywhere and even graduate students starting to compete for jobs.

He felt that even if he quit his job and started over, it would just be working in a different place and being exploited by other companies for his remaining value!

It's better to stay in this familiar place and be comfortable. It's been over ten years since I graduated from university, and I've gone from real estate sales and video editing to running a training institution. I've always just been trying to make a living.

But no matter how unwilling he was, he could never change his miserable life.

Even the most beautiful fantasy is ultimately just a bubble.

…………

The company was brightly lit, and Li Haoyu was momentarily lost in thought.

The office area was filled with the incessant ringing of telephones.

For Zhongzheng Training's course sales, the real battle begins after the average person gets off work.

Li Haoyu had finished his work for the day, but it was only just past his off-get off work time. ••¤(`×[¤ ❻➈𝔰Ĥ𝕦x.ςØ𝕄 ¤]×´)¤•• So he skillfully opened a novel website and started his day.

Now he has to pretend to be busy and can't get off work until after 7 p.m.

Otherwise, when performance reviews are conducted at the end of the year, he will inevitably receive another D grade, making his already meager performance bonus even more embarrassing.

Time always flies when you're slacking off, and before you know it, it's almost eight o'clock again.

"I got home late again today," Li Haoyu complained as he stood by the window, looking at the bustling street.

Tomorrow is Sunday again, and the training teachers are all busy preparing lesson plans.

The training instructors are working tirelessly on their lesson plans, and they'll most likely be working until midnight again.

At times like these, his envious heart, yearning for the high salaries of training instructors, finds some solace. The high wages of training instructors are the result of an incredibly demanding workload!

Basically, tutoring institutions either don't pay their teachers a base salary or pay it very little. If teachers want to earn a high salary, they have to work hard to teach more students.

During peak training periods like winter and summer vacations, it's normal for a teacher to teach more than ten classes a day.

"Brother Li, what do you think of my lesson plan for tomorrow? Is it okay?"

The person who consulted Li Haoyu was Liu Yan, a training teacher who was still in her internship.

She was probably in her early twenties and had been with Zhonggong Education for less than a week.

I heard she hasn't been officially hired yet; it depends on how her trial lecture goes tomorrow.

Ultimately, training institutions are all about making money, and teachers who don't generate revenue will soon be fired.

They sell anxiety and openly peddle dreams at a price.

However, in recent years, the teaching quality of these training institutions has been getting worse and worse.

The quality of training instructors is also mixed. Many institutions recruit large numbers of recent college graduates to be teachers. They give them a standardized training, package them as so-called "star" teachers, and then start selling courses.

The number of good teachers leaving training institutions is very high; most of the high-performing teachers have left to start their own businesses.

Li Haoyu admired her seriousness and rigor, but after looking at her course content, he found it too old-fashioned. This rigid style would probably be difficult for today's students to accept.

These days, to be a successful training instructor, you need to be able to tell jokes.

If it had been a few years earlier, she might have had a chance.

But times have changed!

"The content is quite solid, keep up the good work tomorrow!"

After talking with her, Li Haoyu returned to his workstation and suddenly felt unhappy even about slacking off at work.

The fate of the female teacher he witnessed—couldn't others also foresee his fate? How many more years could he possibly stay at this training institution?

You might not even reach the age of 35 as a programmer. When the company can no longer exploit you for profit, they will naturally replace you with a cheaper intern.

The Spartan sword of layoffs will eventually fall on his head.

…………

As night deepened, the once bustling streets became quiet and deserted.

The surrounding office buildings were all dark.

The thirteenth floor, where Chung Cheng Education is located, was still brightly lit.

Most people had already left work, leaving only Li Haoyu and Wang Ziru, two close friends, in the operations team. Wang Ziru is a fitness fanatic; even after work, he has to lift weights to feel good. Li Haoyu, on the other hand, finds even drinking water a hassle; their tastes are completely opposite.

Fate is a strange thing; two people with such different interests and personalities became best friends in the company. Li Haoyu said goodbye to Wang Ziru and then started his journey home.

I guess it's because tomorrow is the weekend, and it's already late.

The road home was clear and unobstructed.

Li Haoyu didn't have anything to do, so he could theoretically relax.

But perhaps because he had too many worries lately, he was inexplicably unhappy. It wasn't until he put on his headphones and Jay Chou's "In the Name of the Father" started playing that his mood improved a little.

Old songs are still the best! What are all those pop songs these days?

Li Haoyu initially thought Jay Chou's rise marked the beginning of a legend in the Chinese music scene. Little did he expect that Jay Chou would become an insurmountable peak in the music industry.

In his spare time, Li Haoyu would watch TV dramas and read online novels that didn't cost any money to relieve his boredom.

He occasionally makes a living as a small-time film and television commentary creator on Bilibili, using his rudimentary editing skills learned in college. He also enjoys reading novels and listening to music while slacking off at work. These ordinary joys have become some of the few small moments of happiness in his otherwise monotonous life.

………………

"Bang!"

When Li Haoyu got home, he took off his coat.

He lay back and collapsed onto the bed.

A hissing sound came from the single bed, as if protesting its dissatisfaction.

On the journey of life, we never stop moving forward.

There are always so many regrets and remorse that cannot be undone.

Lying in bed, Li Haoyu fell into deep thought; his life had been filled with too many regrets.

He regretted wasting his high school years in internet cafes, where he, who had once had excellent grades, ended up in a second-rate vocational college. He regretted working for many years after graduation, still achieving nothing. But his biggest regret was meeting the right person, yet not being able to hold her hand tightly.

When they met again after many years, he could only keep his distance from her.

…………

"what!"

"Is your ear ringing again?"

Are you still troubled by life's disappointments?

Are you still upset about having a bad job?

Do you want to change your failed life?

"Movie and TV Gamer: Change your life, starting now!"

"Are you ready?"