The Gift

Although festivals like Christmas Eve and Christmas were imported from abroad, in this era when Eastern and Western cultures constantly influenced each other, most young people in the East had practically begun celebrating these Western holidays as traditional festivals.

Of course it was time to date, date, and date!

The major hotels had long since been fully booked, and tickets at the various cinemas had sold out as well. Christmas Eve had not even arrived, yet most of the younger generation had already lost all interest in work. They stared at the clocks on the walls, and with tomorrow being a weekend holiday, the work pressure they had accumulated over the past week would surely be released properly.

"Stop dreaming! Even if Christmas arrives, it won't change the fact that you're all single losers! Work overtime!"

At the newspaper where Editor-in-Chief Ren worked, the boss stood at the office door with his hands on his hips, berating a crowd of employees who had no heart for work.

As a bystander enjoying the show, Lizi felt no pressure from the accusations against single losers. She was working hard to finish a new-flavored bag of chips. Sister Ren, on the other hand, was full of worry, sighing repeatedly. She looked like a woman confined deep within a grand mansion, watching the autumn leaves fall.

For a moment, Lizi almost imagined her as the concubine of a wealthy landowner from the Meiji Restoration era, dressed in a kimono and leaning against the railing in sorrow.

"Sister Ren, what's wrong?"

"I'm going to die..." Ren Ziling sprawled across the table. Her defeated-dog appearance was utterly beyond saving, as though she had been ravaged countless times. She looked at Lizi in despair and said, "This month's performance is terrible. I still have three articles to