Assistant Architect

Assistant Architect by Xi He Qing Ling

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Chapter 16: Gathering

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That night, Zhang Siyi was curious about housing prices,so he took out the business card of the intermediary and called.

"Mister, where do you want to buy a house. What size areyou looking for? There are different prices in different locations forsimilarly sized homes. I'm mainly responsible for the area around your company.The market is pretty saturated so there aren't new houses, but there are goodsecond-hand homes…." The person also carefully askes, "Do you live alone, orare you planning on buying a wedding room?"

Zhang Siyi did not understand the market, and thoughtabout his own situation, then responded: “Of course, I live alone, and themarriage is still far away. I want something near CBD with an area of about 100square meters.”

The agent enthusiastically said: “Oh! Then I havetwo sets of houses that meet your conditions. One set is a subway house in acommunity. The total price is less than 8 million. The location is…”

“What! What do you say?” Zhang Siyi thought hehad heard it wrong and interrupted him. “Eight million?”

Intermediary: “Yes, this is the second-hand housingprices, the average price of each unit is seventy thousand, an area of onehundred……"

“Sorry, I am not interested, we will talk again inanother day!” Zhang Siyi was so scared that he hung up the phone andshouted “Shit”!

Fu Xinhui raised his eyes and said, “Whathappened?”

“A set of 100 flat houses for 8 million! Oh, myGod!!” With his current salary, Zhang Siyi would have to stop eating anddrinking for a hundred years before he could afford a place like that. It issimply too crazy!

Fu Xinhui looked at him strangely: “You want to buya house?”

Zhang Siyi: “No way, but you may be able to affordit! At noon, I came across a sales agent. We exchanged business card. I was curious,so I asked.”

Fu Xin-Hui peered at the card in Zhang Siyi's hand andscolded: "Idiot! Don't casually give your business card to others! An intermediaryno less? Are you not afraid? You will be harassed with phone calls in thefuture!"

“It’s impossible …” that’s when Zhang Siyi’sphone rang again.

Zhang Siyi: “…”

Fu Xinhui: “…”

Even though Zhang Siyi hung up the phone on him, theintermediary was not discouraged, and steadily called for the second time. Onceconnected, he continued to say warmly: “Mr. Zhang I found a house that isperfect for you. The area is small, but the price is less than six million. Thinkabout it! This house is very close tothe supermarket and you can buy it directly…”

“I have no money!” I'm not thinking about it!Sorry! Don’t call me again! “Zhang Siyi hurriedly finished and hung up thephone. He placed the phone number on his blacklist with a sigh of relief. It will be ok."

Without saying anything FuXinhui looked at him with pity.

Since Zhang Siyi probationaryperiod was over and he was promoted to a full staff member, he found a reasonto ask his friends out for dinner again. This time he dares not make a mistakeand he confirmed ahead of time that he would not be working overtime.

A total of 5 classmatesreturned to China and lived in Haicheng. In the past three months, surprisingly,there has not been a single member who has gathered together. Thus, when ZhangSiyi called everyone to initiate a proposal, they all eagerly agreed and decidedin advance.

At this moment, Zhang Siyiand Fu Xinhui discussed the best way to meet.

The five of them have theirown ideals so it's hard to pick the right restaurant. The Cantonese restaurantselected by Fu Xinhui last time was said to be excellent, but in their eyes, itwas nothing new. Most Chinese restaurants in the UK are Cantonese cuisine sothey are sick of eating it.

Fu Xinhui thought of a 5-starrestaurant he has been to in Haicheng. There are a lot of people on the waitinglist to get in. Knowing the expense, Zhang Siyi doesn't think he can enjoy it.

Zhang Siyi was annoyed:“I haven’t received my paycheck yet. I am very poor now. I can’t affordhigh-end luxury.”

When the words werefinished, his cell phone rang again.

Zhang Siyi glanced at it andsaw that it was a strange call. He thought he already put the intermediary onthe blacklist. He pressed the answer button with a watchful face and heard agentle and sweet female voice: “Hello, is this Mr. Zhang Siyi, fromBorderless architectural design firm?”

Zhang Siyi cautiously:“Yes, it’s me, who are you?”

Female voice: “We arexx credit service company. Do you need to apply for a loan soon? Once the bankissues your money, we guarantee that there are no fees and no charge……"

Zhang Siyi: “…” Fuck!

He hung up the phone againand put the number on the blacklist. A little afraid Zhang Siyi said:“That intermediary actually gave my phone to the credit company!”

Fu Xinhui smirked:“Idiot, do you think your business card was just sent to anintermediary?” This is the era of big data. Your phone number has now beenexposed to the full Haicheng service platform: insurance company, medicalcompany, used car company and so on. Tele-marketers will call you all the time.Take my advice and quickly change the number."

Feeling forlorn, Zhang Siyisaid: “I just got a whole box of new business cards printed. how can Ichange it now? Ahh!"

Fu Xinhui laughed at himagain, then he switched to their initial discussion. "What if they came over.We can go to the supermarket and buy something to make ourselves. We used to dothis a lot in the UK."

Zhang Siyi slapped his thighand quickly asked in the group. The two girls had seen the photos of theirhomes and had never had the chance to visit them. This idea immediately wontheir approval.

The house they rented was onthe 20^th floor in a prosperous place, and the transportation wasconvenient. From the balcony, Jingnan Road can be seen. There is a commercialbuilding and an old house with the unique taste of Haicheng. The scenery isexcellent.

However, asking someone tocome over to a place lived in by three boys is a bit of a problem.

The places where the boyslive are definitely not as clean and careful as the girls, especially ZhangSiyi. Since he started working, he didn't have much time to take care of hisprivate life.

In his room is a single sofahe bought from IKEA. Initially, he thought that he would have a place to sit andread and think about life, but the results in less than two weeks, is not whathe thought. The sofa has become the place where he piles his clothes. It hasnever reflected its value as a “seat.”

Zhang Siyi regarded this asan opportunity to clean up. Friday after work, he came straight home andstarted a different kind of 'overtime' work. He was busy for the night cleaningup, doing laundry, putting and his clothes away. The process was tedious, but the sense ofaccomplishment after the completion of it is also fulfilling. The clean andrefreshing environment will make Zhang Siyi’s sleep better.

Since he was accustomed toit, saturday morning Zhang Siyi got up early. He went to get Fu Xinhui up eventhough he normally sleeps in. He also called Jiang Hai and the three went tothe grocery store together. They also went to a flower shop to select a fewdecorations and flowers.

In the living room, there isa melodious and exotic jazz tune. The coffee table is covered with a tableclothof the same color as the sofa. There is plum colored, Australian decoration inthe middle of the table. Surrounded by a beautiful circle of color, slendervials with scented candles on top stand tall. There are fresh cherries too.

This is an arrangement fromboys who studied architectural design. There is nothing bad to say about thedisplay. Even if they can hold off bathing for a month, when the situationcomes, they too can be very romantic.

At eleven o'clock he girlsarrived. When they came inside, they marveled at the room., "Oh my god, youboys are living the high life, aren't you?" Su Yuan and Ren Mengyu lookedaround the bourgeoisie room and took out their mobile phones to take pictures.Posting the pictures to their respective social media accounts, they receivedall kinds of envy.

Su Yuan: "I don't think Iwant to know how much the rent of this place is! Ten thousand?"

Fu Xinhui shrugged: “Weeach pay 4,000 for the apartment.”

Su Yuan said: “I onlyearned seven thousand after tax. If four thousand goes to my living expenses,then how will I be able to afford clothes and cosmetics?”

This sentence also struck ZhangSiyi’s nerve. Although he has been employed for one month, his paycheck isn'tissued until the 5^th. He hasn't received a penny.

Depressed, Zhang Siyiinexplicably remembered the phone number of the loan company. Could it be thathe had to borrow some money to spend money?

No, no, no! Zhang Siyi!That’s all lies! I Can’t Believe it! Just as he is thinking his ridiculousthoughts, the cell phone rang again. Stunned, Zhang Siyi instinctively went onalert.

He tentatively answered thephone call. There was an unfamiliar voice on the other side: “Hello Mr.Zhang, we are xx international English training institutions. Do you want toimprove your foreign language skills? It will make you more competitive in theworkplace.”

It may be that this past weekhe received too many harassing calls, so he was fed up with the harassment.Zhang Siyi yelled into the phone in English: “I'm the one that graduatedfrom a University in the UK and have not spoken English ten times in a monthsince returning to China!”

"Oh? Really? Is Mr. Zhanginterested in coming to our training school as a part-time teacher? If youdon't speak English for a long time, you will start to forget!"

“…forget English, myass!" Zhang Siyi slammed the phone and put another number on the blacklist.

Su Yuan looked at him inamazement: “What’s the matter with you, eating dynamite?"

Fu Xinfei laughed on the edgeof his seat: “Ignore this fool. He gave his business card to an intermediary,so he has been receiving harassing phone calls all week. He's on the verge ofcollapse."

Su Yuan. "……"

“Oh hey, my businesscard!” Zhang Siyi rushed back to his bedroom and grabbed two new businesscards then proudly gave it them. With Zhang Siyi's business card in view peopleare naturally going to start talking about their work.

Su Yuan's job is at a foreignoffice and the work is very similar to what they have learned before. She must check design materials, createvarious analysis charts, draw diagrams, and occasionally translate foreigntexts. She had been going home on time every day as there is no overtime.

Zhang Siyi admired:“Hey, this is what normal internationally educated students should do. Whydo I have to spend my days drawing toilets!"

Su Yuan laughed: “No,this is not the area we are good at.”

"Yes" Zhang Siyi nodded vigorously.He was frustrated over his work assignments. He thought once he became a fullstaff member, his tasks would change. Ever since the issue of using templateswas brought to Gu Yu attention, he was doing the same thing for the past twodays. He is starting to think that his job will only consist of these types oftasks.

Su Yuan wondered: “Isit because your boss graduated from a domestic university and treats you withthe requirements of a domestic graduate?”

When hearing from Su Yu, Zhang Siyi is stunned. Is it really the right choice for him at Borderless?

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