The Weight of the Year-End Bonus

Old Wang, in his forties, had been working at a company of moderate size for almost twenty years. He was like an old machine that had been running for years, following the routine day after day, a cog screwed tightly into his position. He considered himself to have seen through the tricks of the workplace, regarding promotions and pay raises as mere fleeting clouds. Only the year-end bonus was the real hope that could revitalize his old engine.

This year's year-end bonus was distributed in a rather special way. Not as cold, hard numbers, but as "surprises" packed in cardboard boxes. Old Wang received a heavy box, with a red paper label that read "Year-end welfare, wishing you a Happy New Year". He carefully carried the box, as if he was holding a box of gold.

His colleagues also received their boxes one after another, some boxes noticeably larger than his, while others were pitifully small. Everyone sized up each other’s boxes, with faces that were both excited and a little confused. Speculations and discussions rose and fell, as if they were not opening year-end bonuses, but a series of puzzles to be solved.

Old Wang squeezed back to his workstation, eager to open the box. What greeted him was not the cash he had imagined, nor shopping cards, but a huge iron ingot! The surface of the ingot was rough, emitting a cold metallic luster, and even had some rust. Old Wang was stunned. He touched the ingot, and then looked at the other things in the box. Aside from a card that read "Thank you for your hard work this year", there was nothing else.

"What does this mean?" Old Wang muttered to himself, his brow furrowed. He looked around. His colleagues were also looking at each other with confused expressions, some studying the contents of their own boxes, others already beginning to complain. Some received a bag of cement, some a pile of bricks, and even one person received a complete set of "Five-Year Gaokao Three-Year Simulation" practice papers. The entire office was filled with an absurd and comical atmosphere, like a live performance art piece.

Old Wang tried to lift the iron ingot, but found it unusually heavy. He struggled with all his strength to move it from the box to the table. Looking at the cold iron ingot, a deep sense of powerlessness welled up within him. Was this what his year of hard work had earned him? Was this the so-called "year-end welfare"?

At lunch break, Old Wang dragged his heavy feet to the coffee shop downstairs. He ordered the cheapest Americano coffee, sat by the window, watching the bustling crowd outside. He felt like the iron ingot, stuck in place, unable to break free.

"Hey, Old Wang, you're here too?" a familiar voice came. Old Wang looked up and saw Little Li from the department next door. Little Li held a bulging plastic bag, with a sly smile on his face. "What did you get?" Old Wang asked impatiently.

Little Li shook the bag in his hand, and said mysteriously, "I got company shares!"

Old Wang was stunned, looking at Little Li incredulously with his mouth wide open. Little Li continued, "But they’re all virtual. You have to trade them in the company's 'virtual stock trading system.' I heard that the company is about to launch 'national mining,' everyone will have to use their virtual shares to exchange for the company’s 'computing power' and participate in 'mining'."

Old Wang was completely confused. He felt like he was living in an absurd dream. He looked down at the iron ingot on the table, and suddenly, an idea popped into his mind. He hurriedly ran back to the office, and with all his strength carried the iron ingot to the company's weighing scale. The weight of the ingot displayed on the electronic screen, the number was clear: 23.6 kilograms.

The next day, Old Wang, carrying a delicate gift bag, came to the company’s finance office. He handed a thick envelope to the finance personnel, and then said with a smile, "This is my year-end bonus this year, please help me convert it into cash."

The finance personnel opened the envelope in confusion, and found inside not cash, but a slip of paper, which read: “23.6 kilograms, according to today's steel market price, 5 yuan per kilogram, a total of 118 yuan. Thank you for your contribution."

The finance personnel was stunned, and then laughed, and the people in the office also laughed out loud, some taking out their phones to take pictures. Old Wang ignored the laughter around him. He calmly picked up the piece of paper, and looked at it carefully against the sunlight, as if there was some special meaning contained in the paper.

Old Wang turned and walked out of the finance office. He felt a sense of ease he had never felt before. He knew that he had won this absurd year-end bonus game. Although he only had a "voucher" worth 118 yuan, he had regained his inner peace. A rare smile appeared on his face. As he walked out of the company gate, he felt his body was much lighter.

He looked up at the sky, the sun still rising, and everything seemed as if nothing had happened, only he knew, that some things had changed forever.