Let my thoughts drift in the night

     Today, as usual, I got up around 7 a.m., went to work at 8 a.m., skipped breakfast, and floated into the office, clearly trembling slightly. Who would imagine that yesterday morning around 4 a.m., I only managed to fall asleep by imagining the ocean waves, sleeping for a little over three hours in total? No wonder I was trembling! My punctual biological clock wouldn't let me stay in bed, so I got up as usual.

    I thought that having gotten used to coffee, I wouldn't easily experience insomnia again. I read in the bookstore until after 9 p.m., finishing the love song, "Already unable to extricate herself, trapped in endless dreams, she knew the ending herself. But in her heart, it was already filled with Ye Lang's image, leaving no room for anyone else. She preferred to believe in miracles, that perhaps one day he would belong to her." After that, I couldn't concentrate on the novel anymore. I read a book about the world's top perfumes; turns out I own one too! Hey! A little splurge: Elizabeth Arden's Green Tea perfume, a gift from a friend. It also reminded me of a

    film I've forgotten the name of, about a French slave who unknowingly killed a young girl to extract her scent and create a perfume. I also searched for information on digital photography and materials, but didn't find much. Finally, I watched the film *The Children of Huang Shi*, which turns out to be based on a true story. It makes one remember He Ke and the place called Shandan in the Gobi Desert near Lanzhou.

    Around 12:00, I told Xiao Hong I was hungry and wanted a Big Mac. Xiao Hong said, "Okay, my treat." After we sat down, Xiao Hong ordered me a Big Mac and coffee. I was really starving, and for the first time, I devoured the Big Mac in a very fast way, then told Xiao Hong I wasn't full. Xiao Hong said, "You'll be full after the coffee!" This has never happened before. I've never finished a whole hamburger, so I rarely order one. This unusual behavior is probably related to the discomfort in my mouth that has kept me eating only porridge for a week. Once I can eat freely again, I'll try to enjoy this happiness! What's a Big Mac! On my way to work, I chatted with Xiaohong about my childhood deskmate. I think I should write a story called "My Deskmate and I."

    Suddenly, I really want to write about the story of "Cracked Water." The characters in it are ones I've always wanted to record. I was thinking about it with great interest when I looked at the time. It was already past 7 o'clock, and I wasn't sleepy at all. I remembered Xiaohong saying she didn't know how long she would be working overtime, so I called her. I heard her voice saying she was working overtime, so I had to hang up. My eyes were wide open, and my mind was very clear. The electronic alarm clock was making a loud, rhythmic sound, like a beetle crawling into my brain. Luckily, the alarm clock wasn't mine, so I resisted the urge to throw it into the Arctic. I turned on my reading light and started reading my newly bought *Reader's Digest* from the end.

    Around 1 a.m., I felt intensely hungry. Only romantic novels describe love stories like that. I paced around the room, but couldn't find anything to eat, only water, yet I felt increasingly hungry. The rubbing sound grew clearer, my head started to ache, but my mind remained sharp. I said, "I have to finish this book and sleep, no matter what." It was 4 a.m. when I finished the book. I closed the book, turned off the light, and closed my eyes. That damned rubbing sound was so clear. I tried not to think about it, and started imagining the sea in the darkness, the surging waves crashing against my thoughts. The sound of the waves drowned out the rubbing sound, my consciousness began to blur, and finally I fell asleep.

    A colleague recommended this book to me. I flipped through it at first, and it seemed similar to the business novel *The Circle and the Trap*. The chapters were a bit complicated, but I thought maybe the author was a meticulous person, which is why he listed the details so clearly. I went to bed at 8 PM, but woke up at 10 PM and couldn't fall back asleep, so I continued reading. By the time I finished, it was already 4 AM. This book has a female protagonist and isn't as professionally focused as *The Circle and the Trap*, but the later part, where Qiu, a saleswoman, is forced into a power struggle and taken away for investigation by unknown individuals, is too similar to *The Circle and the Trap*. It makes me feel like the author

    simply copied the ideas and structure of *The Circle and the Trap*, making only minor modifications. Or perhaps *Du Lala's Promotion Diary* and *The Circle and the Trap* were written by the same person. Although the chapters weren't particularly tight, I managed to finish it because of Lala. After all, the central message is that the book aims to teach readers how to succeed in the workplace in a relaxed and easy-to-understand way. This reminded me of what my brother once told me: "You should work for a big company." Sigh, perhaps my career is coming to an end this year; I can't help but feel a little melancholy.

    I spent the whole day in my room online, too lazy to move. I was thinking about how I'd finished reading the original novels on the Chinese Literature Forum, except for "Comparatively Happy," which I felt would be the most interesting. I really appreciated the simultaneous occurrence of two events, the suspenseful writing, and the dialogue with the cat.

    I snuggled up in bed, the lamp on, and read quietly, eager to find out the truth. What exactly happened with the fainting spell? Are there really ghosts? Can souls really be collected?

    The book got thinner with each turn, and I was so eager to see the ending that I became increasingly alert. This continued for three days. My mind was clear, my hands were turning the pages, but my eyes couldn't see the words clearly. My clear consciousness told me I almost fell asleep—unbelievable! I shifted my position and continued reading, but after a while, the same thing happened again. I hadn't finished the book yet. I had to tell myself, "I really need to sleep. Sleep!