Assistant Architect

Assistant Architect by Xi He Qing Ling

_______________________________________

Chapter 8: Overtime

_______________________________________

In fact, Gu Yu came back after about forty minutes and it was already more thanhalf an hour passed the official work day.

A small group of colleagues who didn’t need to work overtime already left.There were still quite a group of people in the office working overtime,however many spontaneously have begun to pack up, including Zhu Hongzhen and BiLele. In the end, there are only a few people who have projects on hand to getovertime. For example, the participating members of the D city office projectteam.

Of course, Zhang Siyi did not need to work overtime, provided that he hadfinished his drafting assignment. The mobile phone in his pocket keptvibrating. His friends were going together to the appointed place and sharedthe real-time location information in the WeChat discussion group. As theprotagonist of the party, Zhang Siyi can’t go, he doesn’t dare go.

Since he agreed to overtime work in the morning interview, he wasn’t goingto leave on the first night. He didn’t want to die.!

Before, when Gu Yu did not return, Zhang Siyi thought maybe he had beenplayed, and maybe the other party had already left.

While walking to the restroom, he checked his messages and sent a messageto his group of friends to say that he was going to work for a while and willbe late. Zhang Siyi sent the message comforting his friends, but maybe he sent itto comfort himself because he has no idea how long it will be. He just wantedto rush out to dinner.

Until Gu Yu appeared again, Zhang Siyi's uneasiness dissipated. Heaccelerated the speed of drawing. When Gu Yu passed him, he stopped to look athis screen with special care.

Zhang Siyi is very nervous. He doesn’t know if he is drawing correctly ornot, but at least he stayed. Isn’t that worthy of recognition?

Gu Yan saw him draw for half a minute, there was no comment, and finallyonly said: “If you are hungry, you can go downstairs and buy something toeat. After a while, draw a 1:50 ratio and print it out and come to the officeto find me.”

Zhang Siyi: “…” Hey, he doesn’t want to eat, he wants to finishthe draft and leave!

It took another half an hour, and Zhang Siyi finally got the picture donebefore 7:00.

He printed the picture according to his words, and went to Gu Yu with joy,thinking that it is not too late to get a taxi to meet up with his friends.

But he soon discovered that he was too naive.

At that time, Gu Yu was sitting in front of the computer and browsing ArchDaily.He put a cup of steaming tea on hand and saw Zhang Siyi coming in. He whispered“sit” and took out the scale and pencil from the pen holder.

Gu Yan glanced at the drawings, like a teacher who was looking over an assignment.

“Did Lu Qiao not send you the information? Have you not seen how manypeople use this building?” Gu Yu asked.

Zhang Siyi stupidly opened his mouth: “ah”, he only wanted tohurry and draw, so he didn’t think about how many people are in this buildingto better understand how to plan the toilets.

Gu Yu used a pencil to lightly draw the drawings and explained:“According to the provisions of the “Architectural Design Code”,the number of men’s toilets is less than 100, and one is set for 25 people. If thereare more than 100 people, one additional for each additional 50 people. Thenumber of urinals is the same as that of the toilet; the female toilet…”

Listening to Gu Xiao slowly explain these terms like it was normal, he wasblindsided. He didn’t know! ah!

"The details of the project clearly stated that the total flow of thebuilding is 2000, and the average to each floor is about 120 people, so thetotal number of positions on each floor will not exceed six. Let's see what youdrew. There are 8 male restrooms and 10 female restrooms, which add up to18,” Gu Yu looked up at him and said with a serious expression. “You laidout the floor plan with so many. I think the designer must be suffering fromfrequent urination and other digestion problems.”

Zhang Siyi: “……”

“And,” Gu Yu paused, placed the scale in hand on theillustration, and raised his eyebrows. “The interior compartment door ofthe bathroom is 500 wide? Are all the seats for kindergarten children?”

Zhang Qi: “……”

Gu Yu glanced at the stairs he drew and asked: “When you went toschool, did you learn how much higher the normal stairs were?”

Zhang Siyi asked with apprehension: “150?”"

“The height of the step-in staircase in homes is between 180-200, andin public places, it is between 130-160,” Gu Yu precisely said thespecific range. While using a pencil to circle the stairs on the map, he asks,“3.2 meters… You have drawn 28 steps, how high is each step?”

He also did not wait for Zhang Si Yi to answer, and directly took 3 booksfrom the bookshelf and stacked them to show him. Pointing to the height of thestack he said: “so shallow, you want people to constantly fall whiletrying to climb stairs?”

Zhang Siyi wants to refute because he used the automatic stair plugin inthe software.

“So, you didn’t even read the outline document that Lu Qiao sent toyou?” Gu Yu sharply said.

Zhang Siyi was speechless for a moment—yes, Gu Yu was right. He wasconfused and eager to finish the draft, so he rushed through it and made manymistakes.

Gu Yu also pointed out several problems. His tone did not have much ups anddowns. He calmly said that “how much money is today’s cabbage” and“how much pork is”, but the lethality of these words is comparable tothat of Zhang Siyi. The flying knife, hit the hit, the knife saw the blood!

Moreover, Gu Yu is not like Zhang Siyi’s ex-girlfriend. When she is down,she expresses her feelings strongly, which can make people feel uncomfortable.Gu Yu's criticism is so logical and justified. It is simply impeccable.

At the bottom of his heart, Zhang Siyi is slightly annoyed. Why did Gu Yuclearly see so many problems? When he came back half an hour ago, he must havenoticed some issues, but he didn’t mention it. Was he purposely making ZhangSiyi suffer?

At this moment, on the table, Gu Yu's cell phone suddenly rang. He glancedat the screen. This time, he did not leave the room and directly answered infront of Zhang Siyi's face.

Zhang Siyi finally can take a moment to relax. He thought for a moment howto make amends to his friends, while silently listen to Gu Yu talk on thephone.

"…… Sorry, I’m still in the company. “Gu Yu whispered, his tonewas no different from the one he had just criticized Zhang Siyi with, butsomehow one could inexplicitly hear the hint of tenderness.”

Zhang Siyi secretly speculated, who is the call from? The Director’sgirlfriend?

“You can eat dinner yourself. I’ve already eaten.” said Gu Xiao.

Zhang Siyi, thinking: "When didyou go to eat? The 40 minutes to get out before work?"

“…. at the fast food place downstairs in the company….” Gu Yulowered his head, and his long eyelashes covered his dark eyes and continuedwith the phone conversation. “Yes… next time I’ll eat better… I know……”

As Gu Yu listened while on the phone, he continued to look at Zhang Siyi’sdrawings, and made a list of the questions he had just mentioned in the blankspaces in the illustration.

“No, there is nothing urgent,” Gu Yu glanced at Zhang Siyi andsaid, ” There is a new employee today and I’m helping him with somebeginning work.”

Zhang Siyi suddenly felt good. Gu Yu had to put his girlfriend (if it was)on hold in order to stay with him at the office for overtime work. On the otherhand, Zhang Siyi still wanted to meet up with friends and have fun.

“Okay, I'll contact you later.”

Gu Yu hung up the phone and looked at Zhang Siyi. He quickly put his phoneaway and pointed at the draft to continue with his criticism: “Thesmallest size of a toilet door, and the ergonomic scale of things are issuesyou should already know as a designer. Basic common sense that must be met. Iunderstand you don’t know the rules of the country yet, but you must at leasthave the awareness of the specification before design.”

At this point, Zhang Siyi has been ashamed and wants to dig a hole to buryhimself. At this rate, he wonders how he ever was able to graduate.

Looking at Zhang Siyi despondent figure, Gu Yu is cautious of saying toomuch. Sighing, then pushing the already annotated drawings back to him, andsaid: “Go and change these problems.”

……. Aah …but I still have to finish drawingbefore I can leave can get?…

Zhang Siyi took the drawings and returned to his seat. He saw Lu Qiaomessage: “Are you still alive? I am ready to get off work.”

Zhang Siyi: “I am drawing the first draft.”

Lu Qiao: “The floor plan is simple, are you still drawing?”

Zhang Siyi: “…”

Zhang Siyi: “It is very difficult for me!”

Lu Qiao: “Well, the initial draft is complicated for the first fewtimes, but it gets easier. Then you will know how to do it fast, but also, thenthe Boss gets stricter.

Lu Qiao: “Oh by the way, there are free biscuits in the dining area.If you are hungry, you can get some to eat. Not much more and you can go homesoon. You can do it!”

Zhang Siyi was moved: “Thank you!”

He wasn’t hungry at all at first. He really wanted to celebrate with friends,so he didn’t plan to stay for so long, but now he is over-hungry.

After Lu Qiao left, there were only a few people left in the office. ZhangSiyi took out his mobile phone and did not dare read the news records inWeChat. He was afraid that his friends would be disappointed, and even moreafraid of being discovered by Gu Yu, he only quickly sent a letter to FuXinhui. SMS: “I am still working overtime, you should eat first, don’twait for me!”

After sending the text message, he simply shut down the machine andconcentrated on the picture.

On the first day of work, between the boss’s criticism, the care ofcolleagues, friends waiting for him, and the now lonely office, Zhang Siyiemotions are a mess.

As he worked at his computer fixing the drawing, he began to reflect on hispast studies. Would it be a different situation today if all those hours wereused for learning instead of playing around?

He is feeling very uncomfortable. This kind of discomfort is completelydifferent from the emptiness of the former girlfriend when he broke up. It isan annoyance of digging the heart and digging the lungs.

After that, he reworked the plans twice and continued to draw until nineo’clock. He showed the drawings, then Gu Yu nodded and let him go.

When he walked out of the office building, it was already dark out, andthere weren’t many people around which was a sharp contrast to the vigorousflow of people in the morning hours.

Zhang Siyi took a deep breath and was tempted by his dying brain cells tofeel the call of freedom.

He reopened the phone and saw a red dot on the screen – missed calls,unread text messages, and hundreds of WeChat messages not seen…

Zhang Siyi braced himself and gave Fu Xinhui a call. When he firstconnected, he heard a roar: “Zhang Siyi! Where the fuck are you?”

He pulled the phone away from his ear briefly as Fu Xinhui spoke, thenreplied “Oh, well, I just got off work,” Zhang Siyi shrank hisshoulders and cautiously said, “I am coming to you now?”

Fu Xinhui: “No point now. We’re almost out of here! Do you know howmany phone calls I just made? How dare you turn off your phone!"

Zhang Si Yi wants to cry without tears: “No, I really it was justwork, I’m sorry."

He faintly heard the voice of Su Yuan and Ren Mengyu from the phone, andboth seemed to be a bit upset.

“Don’t go. Let me at least see you quickly. After all, I was the onedoing the inviting.” Zhang Siyi looked for a taxi, eager to get to therestaurant quickly and appease his friends.

Fu Xinfei but mercilessly said: “Don’t bother. Su Yuan already left to take the last train to her apartment in the new East side.”

_________________________________________