Li Wei

Today is the day, Li Wei is 23 years old. He has been working as an Internet Café Assistance for the past 5 years. His father worked as a lorry driver while his mother worked as a grocery store assistant.

His father and mother were married when they were really young, 19 and 18 years old respectively. They met at their high school, after being a hot and passionate couple for 2 years, they got married right after completing their high school. A year later, Li Wei was born.

When Li Wei was born, both of them promised that they would work hard and save most of their income for the newly born baby. In the future, as the parents, they wanted the baby boy to become a university student, graduate, and have a great job. They sacrificed their youth and ambition for the baby's future.

However, 6 years ago everything they had planned for their son was crushed. Li Wei was 17 years old during that time, he was in the final year of his secondary high school. He was smart and among the top 3 performing students. One day, upon reaching his home from school, he saw his mother was crying in front of their house.

His mother told him that his father was involved in a freak accident. It was a terrible accident and his father is in the ICU at that moment.

The accident happened while his father was delivering goods to Hunan Province. Her mother left that day for Hunan leaving Li Wei alone. (Did anyone among you readers out there able to guess this scenario? Please leave a comment below TQ.)

At first, everything was normal for Li Wei. Even though his father was still in the hospital, nothing has changed much. His father had been a lorry driver for over 15 years, and due to his job requirements, he was rarely at home.

A month after the accident, his father was transferred back to the nearest hospital. Li Wei was able to visit his father for the first time and was shocked upon seeing his father.

His father lost both of his legs and his right hand was also gone. He couldn't recognize his father, he didn't believe that his 37-year-old father suddenly became a cripple man. His eyes were in tears for the whole night thinking about his father's condition.

"Men don't cry, don't worry my son, I will soon be back up and running again. If I can't drive anymore, I will find other jobs which do not require using my legs." These were his father's last positive words after the second visit.

Even though his father and his mother didn't show any sad expressions in front of him, he knew both of them were trying not to affect his mood, since the final year examination is around the corner. To respect his parents' wishes, Li Wei will try his best during the final exam.

However, 1 week later, 3 days before the final exam, a lawyer came to his house. The lawyer tried to find her mother in the hospital but he couldn't. As a result, he went to the family's house and met with Li Wei. The lawyer gave Li Wei an official letter to pass onto his mother.

Soon after the lawyer left, due to his curiosity, Li Wei opened the letter and read it. After reading the letter, Li Wei was petrified. The letter contains an accusation that his father's reckless driving resulted in 2 dead people. He was charged with reckless driving, manslaughter and if this case goes to public court, he will be found guilty and sent to jail for 20 years!

On the other hand, the lawyer was able to change the jail sentence to a monetary sentence if they were able to pay 1,000,000 yuan. The money will be used to pay the victim's family and the court fine.

It didn't state how much money goes to victim families and the court. Obviously, this is a daylight robbery, the lawyer was trying to benefit from this terrible event.

In the end, after so many rounds of negotiations between the Li Wei appointed Family's lawyer, the victim family's lawyer, and the court representatives. All parties agreed to settle at 700,000 yuan.

If this case goes to court, Li Wei's father will surely go to jail. Nevertheless, due to his cripple condition, even the jail does not want to accept him. The jail couldn't accommodate a cripple prisoner.

At last, the court representative asked both of the families to negotiate in order to settle the case.

At first, the victim's families sternly didn't want to settle the case outside the court. Both of the victim's families wanted Li Wei's father apprehended and thrown into jail.

To settle this case quickly, the lawyer representing the Li Wei family persuaded them to meet with Li Wei's father and his family. Soon after they saw Li Wei's father with his cripple condition, they immediately agreed to settle it outside the court.

Obviously, they were quite satisfied seeing Li Wei's father in cripple condition. For them, dying is much more acceptable than losing both legs and one hand. With the monetary settlement, the case was closed.

Although the case was settled, the Li Wei family problem didn't stop there. They were facing a deep financial problem after the court settlement.

His father's medical expenses took a large share of his life insurance payments. The accident settlement wiped out all of Li Wei's parent savings, including the life insurance money.

At the moment, his father still needs a regular medical check-up and the medicines were too costly for them. Furthermore, they also need to pay the money they borrowed from their friends and family.

As a result, Li Wei can't continue his studies anymore, much less going to university. Seeing his mother with 2 shifts working every day, he wanted to help his mother.

So after his final year examination, he quitted school and went to work immediately as an internet café assistant which is located 2 km away from his home.

Every day, he went to work and returned home using only his old bicycle. He can't afford to buy any fancy telephone or go clubbing with his friends due to his father's condition.

For unknown reasons, his father's health deteriorated for the past few years. They have met many doctors and spent substantial amounts of money, nevertheless, his father's condition didn't improve.

In the end, his mother quitted her job to take care of her sick husband. Meanwhile, Li Wei used all of his monthly salaries to keep his family afloat. His monthly salary was barely enough to pay for the family food and utility expenses.

They haven't paid the house rent for the past few months. Due to his father's condition, the landlord didn't pursue it. However sooner or later nobody will be charitable enough to let their house be used without any return.

Without the house, where would they live? Li Wei couldn't imagine this scene happening. He tried to find another job, but with only his high school qualification, nobody will offer him a better job.

As a result, he ended up working two jobs. After his job shift at the internet café ended, he went to the nearest restaurant for his second job as a kitchen helper. For the last 2 years, he has had 2 jobs! He can't continue living like this or one day he might end up dead from exhaustion.

One day, while cleaning a computer station used by the previous customer, he saw a job advertisement on the computer screen.

The job pays quite well, double his current combined salary. The most important thing is that the minimum educational qualification was only a secondary school. He can't believe it, good pay and low job requirements.

So, he wrote down the company email and continued doing his job. When he came home late at night that day, even though he was exhausted from two jobs, it didn't stop him from using his old computer and started modifying his old resume.

He sent a lot of resumes before, so it was quite easy and simple to modify his previous resume to match the current job he was applying for.

On the 8th day, feeling exhausted from his 2 jobs, he turned on his computer to check on his email. To his surprise, there was a new email from the company where he had applied for a job.

He prayed that the email content would not disappoint him again. He applied for so many job vacancies before and all of them returned with a disappointing reply. The new email message he received was very simple.

Dear Mr. Li,

You have been chosen for the job interview.

Due to overwhelming applicants, the interview will be conducted online through Q-Zoom Video Call Apps.

Please make sure your mobile phone is turned on and installed with the said above application.

Date : 29 Sept 2030

Time : Between 8.00 am till 6:00pm

This online interview will be conducted formally, so make yourself available during the stated date and time. A company representative will video call you during that day. Please DO NOT miss accepting the video call.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Wong Fook Yong.

Head of Human Resource Department

Head of Legal Department

AOSIS Investment Private Limited Company.

Note: DO NOT REPLY to this email.

After reading the email, Li Wei wanted to jump and shout till the end of his lungs! However, he couldn't, it was already quite late at night, and he does not want to wake up his parents or his neighbors. He held his right hand tightly and punched heavily in the air in front of him to release his satisfaction.

Tomorrow, he is going to apply for 1 day's leave from both of his jobs. He can't make any mistakes during the interview, he needs to prepare well to secure this well-paying job.

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