Ten Years, Then Ten More

I am a civil servant, and I have worked in my current post for ten years. I deeply love this job. One afternoon, I suddenly received an informal notice from the office director: because I had held the position for too long, I was being transferred to another department. I was reluctant to leave, but I knew the real reason might be that the head of the department had been pulling strings behind the scenes. She was my apprentice, and she had used her advantages in education and connections to snatch the promotion that should have been mine. Once our positions were switched, I became an obstacle in her way, and she naturally wanted me dealt with as soon as possible. I knew this day would come sooner or later. In fact, half a month before I got the news, I had inexplicably felt like sorting through my belongings, preparing for a transfer that might come at any time. I just never thought it would happen so soon. That night, I lay awake, remembering the hardships of the past ten years, as I went from a workplace novice to a leading expert in my field. I also thought back to the decade before that, when I first entered the system and grew from an inexperienced, naive young man into a capable professional praised by everyone.