Assistant Architect

Assistant Architect by Xi He Qing Ling

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Chapter 12: Help

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When Zhang Siyi arrived at home, he heard the rhythmic music in the livingroom before entering the door. Upon entering, the delicious aroma of tomatobeef sauce assaulted his senses.

Zhang Siyi stepped on the back of his shoes to quickly take them off. His lookedaround for the source of the fragrance: “Aha! You are cooking!”

“Why are you back so early?” When he heard the door, Fu Xinhuiturned his head to see who I was. He was standing in the kitchen wearing anold, worn blue plaid apron that looked like it was from a different era, withchopsticks in hand, dipping them into the sauce and tasting it. At firstglance, his tall figure looked particularly funny, but the whole scene ingeneral seemed so comfortable, he wanted to shout, “I’m home!”.

Zhang Siyi put on his slippers and went over to look what Fu Xinhui wascooking: ” Wow, homemade pasta? Did you make me some?”

Fu Xinhui took the plate and turned to hide: “No touching” Ithought you were working late!"

Zhang Siyi followed and turned, “Don’t be so mean, let me eat too. Youhaven’t put the pasta in yet. Just add some more to the pot.”

With the pot in hand, Fu Xinhui moved around to try to avoid Zhang Siyifollowing like a master teasing a dog, only to give up and make more. At thismoment, Jiang Hai also came back. Seeing Fu Xinhui’s cooking, he reacted thesame as Zhang Siyi and asked for his share.

“Fuck you. It's my food! Even if I’m at home, I’m not yourbabysitter,” Fu Xinhui, muttered.

Zhang Siyi slurped up a mouthful of red sauce.: “So good! You don’thave to look for work, just stay home to cook for us.”

Jiang Hai is also chiming in: “You cook so well that you can stay athome to cook for us while we bring home the money to support you!”

Fu Xinhui laughed: “Fuck off, both of your salaries is not even morethan my pocket money!”

They all laughed together then sat down to eat. Lately, the trio rarely hadtime for a common meal. Jiang Hai went downstairs to the restaurant to pick upsome additional seafood for them to eat.

Fu Xinhui had gone to the supermarket in the afternoon to buy ingredientsfor his dinner. Besides the Pasta and sauce, he also bought a few side dishesand drinks. He placed them all on the coffee table, so they could gather aroundto chat and eat together.

“Why do you suddenly want to cook? "Asked Jiang Hai.

Fu Xinhui replied, “I’m tired of takeout and It's nice to have achange”

While studying abroad they were exposed to many different cuisine flavors.Thinking they would have to cook when they returned in order experience thoseflavors, they were surprised upon their return to find the domestic restaurant industryso developed and thus took the lazy way out and ordered takeout on a regularbusiness.

Zhang Siyi collapsed on the sofa and burped, touching his belly, said:“I used to think convenience store food was pretty good, but now, thisdinner has reminded me how inadequate they are. I won’t be able to use themicrowave anymore.”

Fu Xinhui changed the subject and asked Zhang Siyi: “how was worktoday?”

“Exhausted. I was so busy all day.” Although busy and tired,Zhang Siyi felt very fulfilled. When he thought about all the work he sortedthrough today, he was full of accomplishment.

Zhang Siyi spoke of his three hours of work in the morning. Jiang Hailistened and commented: “It seems that your boss is quite good. The headof the design department I work for is unreliable. There is no practicalexperience at all.”

Zhang Siyi was curious: “What do you real estate companies usuallydo?”

In the industry, the real estate company is commonly known as “PartyA” where Jiang Hai is located: "The real estate company buys landeverywhere. For example, if the government has a commercial property, thecompany buys it and then asks different design departments to bid for the contractaccording to the rules. To put it bluntly, we are the ones who choose whichdepartments can develop the property. The people calling the shots also have aprofessional background. Then whoever has the highest score will be chosen touse the design but if the people in the design department of Party A are notreliable, even with superb designs, they won’t win the contract and will losemoney.”

Fu Xinhui, who was listening on the side, laughed ha-ha, and said to JiangHai: “Doesn't that mean Zhang Siyi is there for you to abuse?”

Zhang Siyi: “…”

Jiang Hai: “You can say this as a joke, but under normalcircumstances, we are also very reliable.

After all, no one wants to lose out repeatedly. Its very labor intensiveand costly. When small companies can’t figure out the problem, then the bigdesigns companies are contacted. At that time, I can't say who abusedwho.”

After talking with his roommates for an hour, Zhang Siyi return to his roomand its almost nine o’clock.

He reached for the drawings he brought back with him from work, along withthe “Architect’s Handbook” given to him by Zhu Hongzhen. Just aftertwo pages his mind is not with the task.

It’s so hard. It’s so boring. I don’t want to draw.……

Stomach full of food and drink, Zhang Siyi is lazy at the moment. Althoughhe is thinking about the homework, he can't muster up the strength to do it.

He suddenly thought about the message he sent to his friends this morning.Wanting to check the comments his friends wrote, he got his phone out. Thereare more than 30 postings and one private message from his mother asking aboutthe job details.

Mom: “Son, did you find a job?"

Zhang Siyi smiled and typed back: “Yes, mom, I am going to worknow!”

He returned the news of other people one by one, and then carefully scannedthrough all the messages again. He didn’t see anything from his ex-girlfriend.Zhang Siyi was hoping she would respond when hearing about his new job.

After thinking about it, he couldn’t resist telling her, so he sent a noteto the other party, but instead, a screen popped up. “XXX. You are not his(her) friend. Please send a friend verification request first…”

Fuck! She already deleted me? Not even a chance to be a friend?

Zhang Siyi was so angry that he immediately deleted her information anddecided not to have any contacts with his ex-girlfriend. Not long ago, when hereturned to China, he saved his living expenses to buy a Fendi bag for her.This is too embarrassing.

Shortly after dealing with his ex-girlfriend, his mother returned hismessage: “My son is awesome! How much is the salary? What department doyou work in?"

Zhang Siyi didn’t like dealing with his father, but his relationship withhis mother was very good. He told his mother the details of the company and thecurrent situation.

He is excited to report to his mom about his job but felt wronged by theinitial salary. He mentioned it to his mom: “The probationary salary isonly four thousand and five. [Cry]”

His mother offered some additional funds as congratulations on finding ajob. If it's not enough Mom will go to the bank tomorrow.”

Zhang Siyi received the red envelope, but righteously refused: “I toldDad that I would work and make money on my own. If you give me money withoutdad knowing, he will get mad at me.”

Mom: “My son grew up and I’m very happy, but mom is also distressedthat you don’t have enough money to spend. Rest assured, I secretly called, soyour father won’t know. I’ll send you some and you can pay me back later.”

Having the support of his mom made Zhang Siyi feel really happy. He sent afew hugs and kisses to his mother and smiled. He continued looking at his phoneto read the messages about his friends and classmates. In the blink of an eye,it was already eleven o’clock.

Zhang Siyi yawned and looked at the drawings, but he could not see it.Because of his mother’s support, he didn’t feel as pressured to work on theassignment. It was easy to make excuses. It’s not due until tomorrow night, sogo to sleep today.……

However, he did not expect that this incident was discovered the nextmorning. But I didn’t think it would be the same the next morning. But I didn’texpect it to happen early the next morning.

However, he didn’t expect his house of cards to fall so suddenly. The nextday Zhang Siyi woke up and saw the three messages his mother had sent him earlyin the morning-

Mom: “Dad is very happy about your new job.”

Mom: “But your father saw the money I sent you. He seriously warnedme. I can’t give you any money, otherwise he will confiscate mysilver|bank|card.”

Mom: “I’m sorry, but you have to take care of yourself. Although, Momis free to come to Haicheng to see you.”

Zhang Siyi: “…”

These three messages once again ignited Zhang Siyi’s determination. “Iwill make a lot of money, just wait and see. Then my family will have nothingto complain about.” Zhang Siyi comforted his mother with a few words thenbounced up from the bed to quickly brush he teeth.

Thinking about work, he took out the drawings and began to concentrate onthe assignment. Zhu Hongzhen’s reference book is very good. Zhang Siyi found alot of useful data inside to help him with the size of the plans.

However, Gu Yu's set of pictures is also very abnormal. The strange sizedspaces on the plans are giving Zhang Siyi a hard time to have the appropriatefunctionality of the plan. Some spaces are so narrow, you can’t even put sinksand toilets. People are crazy.

Without any constraints, at the office, Zhang Siyi patience is thinning.The inability to use software is adding to his agitation. Previously, heeagerly wanted to address the assignment, but now, in the early morning, hefeels like his whole being is hollowed out.

After lunch, Gu Yu also came over to check on him. He turned over the twopathetic drawings on his desk and said nothing, just gave a long sigh:“hmm…”

Zhang Siyi saw Gu Yu’s reaction and can’t helpbut feel suffocated. What to do.

At four o’clock in the afternoon, Zhang Siyi onlycompleted three pictures. He realized it will be almost impossible to get allthe drawing done before leaving work this evening. Gu Yu fucking dug a huge pitfor him!

Zhang Siyi let his negative feelings fromyesterday overwhelmed him. He regrets taking so much time chatting online andignoring his responsibilities. What's done is done. His deadline is fast approaching.He can only admit defeat and seek care from the director. Yes, Zhang Siyiremembers the sentence that Gu Yu said on the day of the interview — if youdon't understand, ask, don't make your own assumptions.

He took a deep breath and messaged the director. “Do you have a minute, there is a pictureI can’t draw”

Gu Yu: “There is only one?”

Zhang Si Yi looked at the words. Why did it seem like Gu Yu was laughing at him? Shameless!

Gu Yu:“Bring it all over.”

Zhang Siyistuffed the picture and design manual under his arm and pushed the door open toGu Yu’s office. When he sat down, he rushed to explain himself: “you cansee on this picture there is only this place for the bathroom, but I checkedthe data in the manual and the minimum size door for a bathroom without a bathis 900*2100, or 1100*1800. It can’t be placed here. Not 100 in the horizontaldirection, or 200 in the vertical direction; there is a door in theway…”

The moreZhang Si Yi said, the angrier he got. It made him feel like his design talentswere completely worthless. Clearly, Gu Yu gave him this assignment knowing hewould have problems!

Gu Yu smiledand laughed at him and flipped through the manual in a pretentious manner. Hegently spoke: “This is indeed the smallest size drawn in this booklet, buthave you ever thought about a more extreme possibility?”

As heexplained, Gu Yu took a pencil from the pen holder: “The reason why the‘standard chart’ drawn in the book is called ‘standard’ is because it's basedon normal conditions, but what happens when the conditions are abnormal?”

Dumbfounded,Zhang Siyi said “oh.”

Under normalcircumstances, only one toilet is placed the long way. Then the most suitablenet width is 900.” Gu Yu took a pencil and steadily drew a few lines onthe drawing. He drew a one-way door, and marked the size then looked at ZhangSiyi and asked, “Can’t that 800 be used?”

Zhang Siyi’sstared blankly and thought "you’refucking with me."

Gu Yu said:“The set of pictures that Du Rui gave you Included bathroom doors’ undernormal circumstances. They are all 700 only because that standard, but on thisdrawing, is 650 and 600 not ok?”

Zhang Siyiwas completely stupid.

Gu Yu lookedat him and said seriously: “Do you know the biggest difference between thedrafter and the designer? The draftsman is only rigidly making plans accordingto the norms and the standardized drawings summarized by others. Designersthink and fix. Don’t forget, you are a designer: you have to question the rulesand common sense.”

Last time hesat here, Gu Yu wanted him to use the standards to design bathrooms. Not lessthan forty-eight hours later, Gu Yu reversed the theory to make Zhang Siyiquestion the rules.

At themoment, Zhang Siyi just want to loudly yell. Fuck! why does it have to be socomplicated?

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