The King and Queen of Pop Actually Lost Their Jobs

In Chengdu, Sichuan, inside a cramped rental apartment, lived Zhou Ji, a divorced man born in the 1980s. The old guy did not work, spending every day scrolling through Douyin, listening to music, and reading novels. He grew more and more listless. The 700,000 yuan he got from his divorce was nearly gone, after he had often gone out partying with girls aged sixteen to twenty.

One morning, he woke up with his throat dry as usual. It was a smoking aftereffect. He wanted to quit but had no willpower. He reached for the soda by his bed, but his hand slipped and knocked it over. The liquid spilled into a power strip, and the current followed it into his body. It gave him a full-body massage, so exhilarating he convulsed. After about a minute of continuous bliss, his legs kicked out and he was gone.

Gradually, he felt himself floating as scenes from his life replayed one after another. As a child, he had been recognized as a prodigy by the whole village. He skipped kindergarten and first grade, going straight into second grade, and stayed top of the class until the end of junior high... He deeply regretted never making a move on the pretty girls at school back when he was handsome and dashing, or having the nerve to pull the neighborhood beauty into his house when she passed his door late at night. Deep beneath the Pacific, his heart was breaking. Sob, sob, sob.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.