In a high-rise building in a big city, Zanni rings the alarm clock at seven o’clock every morning. She did not hesitate or entangle, she lifted the quilt, got up to wash, had a simple breakfast, and then walked out of the house and stepped into the cold and huge building where she worked.
She is a scientific researcher and a fighter in the Mingchao world. In the game, she controls the fire element, with swift skills and extreme rationality. But if Zanni is separated from the game and pulled into the context of real life, Lu Yao may be familiar with her appearance. She is like Sun Lanxiang, the sister of Sun Shaoping in “Ordinary World”, or like Gao Jialin’s childhood friend in “Life”: not dazzling, but always tenaciously walking on her own path.
Zanni is ordinary. She is not a hero, not the key to saving the world, and has no moving legendary experience. She is just one of the thousands of workers. Her task is not to lead, but to complete, support, and maintain stability. She does repetitive and boring work every day, analyzing data, handling the scene, proposing solutions, and rectifying defects. She is indifferent to her colleagues, obedient to her superiors, and harsh to her subordinates, but if you observe carefully, you can find a glimmer of stubbornness in her eyes – not ambition, but the stubbornness of “not accepting fate”.
The “fire” in Zanni does not represent passion, but a kind of persistence, a spiritual power that burns in silence and struggles to move forward in the ordinary. She was seriously injured during training, and was questioned countless times during her recovery whether she could still perform her duties. She did not explain or complain, but just practiced day by day and revised again and again until she stood on the front line again.
Do you think she is suffering? Bitter. Her life is like a machine, rigid and rigid, without any poetry and distance; do you think she is tired? Tired. She is not as lively and bright as Yinlin, nor does she have talent and glory like Verine. All she can rely on is her little self-discipline that is accurate to the second and a self-requirement of “not failing”.
But it is this kind of people who are the most indispensable people in this era. Like the ordinary characters in Lu Yao’s works, Zani also has her dreams, but she doesn’t speak them out loud. She once thought that one day she would no longer have to work night shifts and review the work process every week. She once fantasized about opening a small bookstore in the past, or quitting her job to start a business with like-minded colleagues. But every time she thought about it, she would be ruthlessly beaten back by life.
So she continued to do this job. Not because of love, but because of responsibility, and because of reality – she had to support herself, take care of her parents, repay the loan, and survive. And between these “musts”, she tried to retain a little dignity, a little rationality, and a little fire.
She would quietly take over for her colleagues when they fell down due to overwork; she would criticize and patiently guide newcomers when they made mistakes; she would quietly reply “OK” to the “rest early” message sent by her mother on her mobile phone on her way home late at night. All this, she never said anything.
This is Zani, an extremely ordinary, but tenacious modern woman. She has no earth-shattering feats, but every bit of her persistence is contributing to this world.
Lu Yao said: “As long as a person lives tenaciously in this world, no matter how small, it is a victory.” Zanni is such a person. She has no ups and downs in her fate, but she faces every morning as a new battlefield and every night as a moment of rest after the battle.
She does not live a wonderful life, but she lives seriously. She is not romantic, but she is responsible. Her life is as monotonous as running water, but her heart has never really dried up.
We often say that life is moving forward and the times are changing. But the people who really drive these changes are not those with halos on their heads, not those with the most say, but those who silently stick to their posts and continue to heat up in the system like Zanni. They are screws, but they know why they tighten; they are restricted, but still retain the last bit of faith in “a better life” in their hearts.
Zanni’s existence proves a simple truth: if a person can maintain her self in the ordinary, adhere to principles in the busy, and live confidently within the rules – then she is extraordinary.
Just like the belief written by Sun Shaoping in the coal mine: “In one’s life, one should see hope in the ordinary and strengthen faith in the suffering.” This sentence also applies to Zanni, and also to every ordinary person like us who rushes around in the city, buries himself in the cubicle, and struggles in the system.
You and I may not have a combat skill called “Judgment”, but we are also using silence and hard work to fight our own blows in the struggles of life.