"God has given me countless opportunities to get rich, but I've missed every single one of them. However, God has also given me a few chances to act like an idiot, and I've nailed every single one of them!"
This internet meme was a true reflection of Yan Feng's ten years of working experience.
When he first entered society, his dream was to save up some money, start a business, and then gradually climb up the Forbes billionaire list...
But after being trampled by reality for many years, he had abandoned those naive and unrealistic dreams from back then.
Now, all he hoped for was to find a woman he liked, marry her, have children, and if he could make a bit of money, he would be content staying at home to take care of his parents.
Exhausted, Yan Feng walked home after work, and couldn't help but laugh at the version of himself from years ago.
He was thirty years old and worked as an interior designer at a decoration company in Nanquan City, Province F.
Aside from the fact that he could get calls from clients at midnight to revise plans, this job was quite respectable, with decent income.
Decoration companies were different from design studios. They were more focused on projects, and design was often a side gig—sometimes even offered for free.
Being an interior designer sounded nice, but it was a tough job, especially in a decoration company like this. Besides doing the main job of designing, he had to explain techniques, negotiate prices, and manage contracts with clients. When the project didn't go smoothly, and the client had a bad temper, he might even get screamed at over the phone at midnight.
To put it bluntly, if you only knew how to design but didn't know how to communicate with clients, you'd starve in this kind of company.
Even if you were good at design and negotiating, it was just enough to survive in the company. To truly do well, these alone weren't enough.
At the very least, you had to maintain good relationships with your clients, your superiors, the marketing department, suppliers, skilled supervisors, and so on.
In other words, you had to be proactive and also high-profile because no one would hand anything to you on a silver platter—everything had to be fought for.
And on top of all that, you couldn't be too soft-hearted. You had to be ruthless when taking commissions, and know how to flatter clients, making them feel like you're both professional and responsible while pocketing the money.
With Yan Feng's image and ability, he could have done better. However, he was a bit too proud (or maybe just not desperate enough yet). In any case, he wouldn't lie to people he didn't like, wouldn't pander to someone just for a high-quality client, and certainly wouldn't let clients waste money on unnecessary fees just to get a commission.
He knew in his heart that it was his lack of ambition that held him back. He didn't want to leave his comfort zone—he was, in a sense, lazy.
Some would call him idealistic, others might call him a workplace loser.
Sometimes, growth is about constantly realizing who you are and compromising with yourself.
Yan Feng had compromised. He knew that he would never strike it rich in this lifetime.
Lost in thought, Yan Feng dragged his exhausted body back to his rental apartment. As soon as he entered the door, he overheard his landlady, Aunt Cui, chatting with someone in the living room.
"Xiao Yan, you're back from work!" When she saw him enter, Aunt Cui quickly stopped talking.
"Mm."
Yan Feng nodded, about to head upstairs, when he heard his landlady speak again. "Lan Chun, this is the interior designer I told you about, Yan Feng. Your daughter is about to renovate a house, right? Xiao Yan here is a good guy. You can trust him with the house renovation!"
"Thank you, Aunt Cui." Hearing that she was introducing him as a potential business contact, Yan Feng mustered some energy and took out his business card to hand it to the woman named Lan Chun. "Auntie, hello. Here's my business card."
Lan Chun took the card and gave Yan Feng a thorough look.
He had slightly curly hair parted to the side, a chiseled face with sharp features, dark, deep eyes beneath his sword-like brows, a high nose bridge, and moderately thick lips, which made him very pleasing to the eye.
The only flaw was that he had quite a few blackheads on his nose, and his skin was rough. However, it didn't affect his overall demeanor. The short stubble on his face added a few more points to his masculine charm.
"What a handsome young man! Are you seeing someone? How old are you? Where are you from? Have you bought a house in Nanquan?" Lan Chun finished speaking, then glanced at the business card. "Xin Cheng Decoration, I've heard of it. I heard it's the biggest home decoration company in Nanquan."
"...."
Yan Feng had his sales pitch down to a tee, but the rapid-fire questions from Lan Chun caught him off guard and left him a little dazed.
Fortunately, once she heard that he hadn't bought a house in Nanquan, she finally stopped pressing.
"Alright! It's getting late, I should head back. I'll have my daughter contact you later." Lan Chun seemed a bit regretful, and before she left, she turned to Yan Feng and said seriously, "Xiao Yan, keep working hard! With your looks and abilities, you'll definitely find a girlfriend!"
"...."
Out of politeness and because she was a potential client, Yan Feng could only nod and force a smile.
Yan Feng's rental apartment was located in the Xiufeng District of Nanquan City, in a place called Mu Cuo, a village in the city.
Taking advantage of the economic boom, the locals had added extra floors to their houses, converting them into rental properties for migrant workers from nearby areas. Not only did they make money from the rent, but they could also receive large compensation once the area was demolished for redevelopment.
These houses were mostly old, but the rent was cheap. Yan Feng could have rented a better apartment, but he had lived here for many years. The landlord was good to him, and the place was close to his office, so he had never bothered to move.
The building had five floors in total. The first floor, and the fourth and fifth floors, were for the landlord's personal use, while the second and third floors were rented out.
After Lan Chun left, Yan Feng greeted Aunt Cui and was about to head upstairs when a golden Labrador suddenly jumped out from the kitchen and rushed to his feet.
This was the landlord's dog, named Youfu. Yan Feng had lived here for five years, and he had basically treated Youfu like his own pet. He often shared food with the dog, and as a result, Youfu was very close to him.
"Youfu, I didn't bring any food today," Yan Feng said with a smile.
Every time he saw Youfu, Yan Feng would think to himself, I really wish I could be a pet dog—no worries, just eat, sleep, and play.
"Don't mind it, it's getting fatter. Time to go on a diet," Aunt Cui remarked.
"Yeah, it really should lose some weight. Look at all that fat," Yan Feng agreed.
Youfu seemed to understand them, wagging its tail and hopping toward Yan Feng, rubbing its head against his hand.
Yan Feng rubbed its head, said a few words to Aunt Cui, and then headed straight for his suite on the third floor.
Back in his room, the first thing he did was take off his T-shirt and go to the floor-to-ceiling mirror by the window to check his back.
About half a month ago, during the company's busy May Day promotional campaign, Yan Feng suddenly started having trouble sleeping, feeling anxious, losing his appetite, and overall feeling mentally exhausted.
The task of closing deals was heavy during this time, and not completing the orders would not only make him lose face but also result in punishment.
At first, he thought it was just the stress of work, so he didn't pay much attention to it.
However, starting last Thursday, as soon as it got dark, he began feeling a strange itching and swelling deep in his spine, as if something was trying to emerge from inside. During this process, his hunger became especially intense, but no matter what he ate, it didn't help.
The night before last, this sensation of swelling began spreading to other parts of his body, particularly his gums and finger joints. As soon as it got dark, it felt as though millions of ants were biting inside, a sensation that was both itchy and painful, with hunger growing stronger than the day before.
"It's swollen again, just like the other day. As soon as the sun sets, it starts to swell."
Looking at his back in the mirror, Yan Feng couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong.
Whenever holidays came around, that was the busiest time for Yan Feng and his team. After the May Day activities ended, they would have three days off—every designer had to take their leave on different days.
Last Saturday morning, the second-to-last day of the campaign, he took some time off to go to the First City Hospital for a CT scan, MRI, and pathology slides. The results would be out tomorrow.
Before leaving work, he had already taken leave from his department manager and was planning to pick up the report the next day.
After observing himself for a while, Yan Feng sat on the edge of the bed, enduring the pain for over ten minutes.
As the sun set and the evening darkened, the intense hunger and the strange itching and swelling returned, even stronger than the night before!
"Damn it, my health check at the end of last year was perfectly fine. Why is this happening all of a sudden??"
Sitting at the head of his bed, Yan Feng was both angry and scared. Less than half an hour later, the pain began spreading to all his joints, growing more intense, and the hunger was becoming unbearable.
"Ah..."
Soon, the pain became so intense that he couldn't stand it any longer. His throat let out a low, guttural growl. He collapsed from the bed, landing on the floor.
At this point, his entire spine felt like a burning wire, and the pain was unbearable. His brain was heavily stimulated, as if thousands of needles were stabbing into it.
For the next hour, as the pain and hunger attacked him from all sides, he gradually lost control over his body. His limbs started convulsing uncontrollably, as though he were a rabid dog in the throes of an excited frenzy.
"I'm done for... am I going to die from this?"
The thought flashed through his mind, and his consciousness started to fade, until he was swallowed by complete darkness...