Lin Bei feels that life is just like milk tea.

You think it’s perfect once you add the tapioca pearls, but then you realize coconut jelly goes even better. And after you’ve added both, you suddenly realize the milk foam is the real soul of it all.

But by the time you’ve thrown in every single topping, you realize—your wallet is empty.

Just like now.

The layoff notice on his phone is still warm, and HR Manager Wang Jie keeps opening and closing her mouth, talking about “optimization,” “compensation,” and “the world out there is so big.” Lin Bei isn’t listening to a single word.

She’s actually pondering a philosophical question:

Should this cup of milk tea have tapioca pearls or coconut jelly?

“Lin Bei? Lin Bei!” Manager Wang taps the desk. “Are you even listening?”

“Of course, of course!” Lin Bei nods vigorously, his eyes finally leaving the milk tea menu. “Go ahead, Manager Wang—so the severance is two months, right?”

“It’s N+1. You’ve been with the company for 13 months, so we’ll count it as two years. The compensation…”

“Twenty thousand,” Lin Bei says, having already done the math himself—and down to the last cent. “Add in the 13th-month bonus, and it comes to 21,631.50 yuan.”

Manager Wang is stunned. “You calculated it yourself?”

“I was ready the day before I got laid off,” Lin Bei admits. “Last month three people left our department, so I figured it would be my turn next.”

“…Then why didn’t you start looking for a new job earlier?”

Lin Bei thinks about it for a moment. “Because I’m lazy.”

Manager Wang is silent for three seconds.

During those three seconds, she looks at the young woman in front of her—wearing a plaid shirt, her hair tied loosely into a ponytail, her eyes clear yet slightly dazed—and suddenly wonders if it really was the right decision to let her go.

“All right,” Manager Wang pushes the paperwork over. “Sign here.”

Lin Bei picks up the pen and suddenly asks, “Manager Wang, if I sign this, will the membership card for that milk tea shop downstairs still work? I want to grab one last drink before I leave.”

Manager Wang: “…”

In her fifteen years in HR, she’s handled over three hundred layoffs, seen people crying, making a scene, smashing things, even threatening to jump off a building.

But asking about a milk tea membership card? That’s the first time.

“Probably… it should still work,” Manager Wang says uncertainly.

“Great then,” Lin Bei quickly signs his name, stands up, and says, “Goodbye, Manager Wang! Hope you never have to lay anyone off again—it’s exhausting. It’s time for you to lie flat, too.”

“I don’t need to lie…”

“You do. Everyone does,” Lin Bei says earnestly, looking straight at her. “Manager Wang, how long has it been since you left work on time?”

Manager Wang opens her mouth but doesn’t say a word.

“So that’s it,” Lin Bei pats her shoulder like an old cadre comforting a subordinate. “Take care of yourself, lay off fewer people, and drink more milk tea.”

With that, she turns around and walks out of the conference room, her steps light and bouncy, just like an elementary school student rushing out after the bell rings.

Manager Wang sits there, and suddenly feels like crying.

Not because she feels guilty—because she really hasn’t left work on time in ages.

Ten minutes later, Lin Bei walks out of the office door, holding two cups of milk tea.

In his left hand is a double-layered pearl-coconut jelly milk tea with extra milk foam and crunchy tapioca balls—his celebration of freedom.

In his right hand is a sugar-free plain tea, saved for tomorrow.

That’s strategic reserve.

The early summer breeze blows across his face, and the sunlight is just right. Lin Bei takes a deep breath and feels like even the air itself is free—no, make that it’s a profit!

His phone vibrates seventeen times.

He’s already been kicked out of the work group. Former colleagues are flooding him with messages of condolence, saying things like “Sister, please accept our sympathy,” “There’s always a better opportunity coming up,” and “Want a referral?”

Lin Bei replies to everyone with the same message: “Thanks, I’m celebrating.”

And he includes a selfie with the milk tea.

Three seconds later, his best friend Wang Tangtang calls.

End of Chapter 1: My First Day After Being Laid Off—I Ordered a Cup of Milk Tea to Celebrate