Assistant Architect

Chapter 25: Overnight

_______________________

Zhang Siyi was so ecstatic that his hair was on end. After his self-confidence and self-esteem have been consistently challenged these last few months doing tasks under the extremely demanding supervision of Gu Yu, has he now gained some sympathy?

Therefore, Zhang Siyi was so flattered at this moment, he jumped out of his seat and quickly grabbed a pen and notepad, headed over to his office and prepared to listen to Gu Yu’s teachings. At the same time, he feels that he is no longer a draftsman, but a real designer! He leaned in to listen intently.

Gu Yu said: “Before you do residential planning, you must first forget that you are a designer.”

Zhang Siyi: “???”

Gu Yu explains: “Currently in China, it is not the design ideas, but the regulations, market demand and development profits that determine the appearance of the house. The planning of the house is based on the comprehensive consideration of regulations, fire codes, traffic flow, floor area ratio, the combination of cash flow, turnover, marketing and other issues, in short, this is a logical mathematical problem.”

Zhang Siyi’s face is blank. This seems to be a little different from his imagination!

Gu Xiao paused and asked, “Are you okay with math?”

Zhang Siyi: “It’s very good…”.

“Okay, let’s continue,” Gu Yu nodded and glanced at the section of the plan that they had already done. Then, “The directors of the planning board of Z City only provided an outline for the plan, scope, and purpose. Since it isn’t a final plot construction plan, it does not specifically address various functions with detailed indicators, so we must come up with answers based on the local statistics bureau on the new district’s demographics such as population growth rate, local residential style, planning height control, etc. A reasonable indicator will make the subsequent arrangement look more reliable.”

Clasping a pen and wide eyed, Zhang Siyi has been knocked unconscious by this string of nouns. He wants to take notes, but he doesn’t know what variables to write.

In advanced, Gu Yu gathered the data necessary for calculations. He calmly brought out a calculator, a blank sheet of paper, and pen and in front of Zhang Siyi, quickly began to list a string of values. He handed the paper to Zhang Siyi and said: “These figures set up the rules of the game. You make arrangements and combinations to play the game.”

Zhang Siyi: “………”

“Similar to the parking lot planning from before, residential planning is not about starting with the building alone. One must start from the flow of traffic on the roadways and determine the main entrance, internal axis, road traffic, etc.…… Gu Yu took one of the plots as an example. He picked up a pen and draw on the side of the map. “The difference between them are that the parking spaces are mostly fixed 3 meters by 6 meters whereas the houses have more variables like height requirements. There are lighting requirements as well, but the principle is exactly the same no matter if the content changes.”

After drawing the road network, he pulled open the drawer and grabbed a small homemade plastic building block from inside. He said: “We assume that this is the size of a single-family house.”

It is like a special plan for the same scale. The building blocks are just the size of the house. Gu Yu put them one by one on the map and quickly draw a decent picture of the house.

Zhang Siyi is simply stupid. In a project that he sounds so complicated, it seems like playtime for Gu Yu. At the rate he was drawing, it looked like he could finish the whole area in twenty minutes!

“Do you understand?” Gu Yu looked at him. “If you don’t have any more questions, go try and draw.”

Zhang Siyi seems to understand and nod his head and go out. It is not that he has no problem, but he does not know what questions he can ask. Outside the office, the pizzas that were ordered have been delivered and the entire office is filled with a rich cheesy scent.

“Four! Come and eat! Supreme seafood is being robbed!” Bi Lele screamed at him with a pizza. Zhang Siyi put down his notebook with no words and the sheet of statistics that Gu Yu wrote to rush and grab the pizza.

Already seven o’clock, more than half of the group is still there. Due to the refinement plan, even the original non-project team Du Rui and Lu Qiao were temporarily transferred. Although it is overtime, the office staff are full of enthusiasm. Without complaints, the transfer has invigorated the group and the good mood is very infectious.

Everyone is talking about the similarities between B Group and H Design Institute plans. People are guessing whether there is a spy in the company. It’s a conspiracy.

“Impossible! H Design Institute is a large-scale business. With such capabilities, they don’t need to engage in low means to prevent the small firms like Borderless to compete on a bid.”

“The element of a city flower is inherently easy to think of….”

“…but the elements have different usages. Does it include a flower pattern?”

“This is not clear…”

After listening to a few people, Zhang Siyi was worried: “If the plan of the Design Institute is really similar to B Group, will we have a chance of winning? A group plan has already been smashed once by B Group’s plan. If the Design Institute’s plan is even better then our Group B, then when it comes time to put it on the table, would it even be a contender?”

Everyone is somewhat silent. Ji Feiyu promptly encourages everyone: “Gu Yu said, since it is done, we must believe that our plan is the best, although the total effect is not dazzling, but our content is very rich!”

Zhu Hongzhen also said: “Yes, those who are not allowed to be the city government are real-handed, we still have a good chance.”

A few simple words have suddenly stimulated everyone’s confidence. Zhang Siyi shoved the last bites of pizza in his mouth and with a purposeful clap of his hands, he psyched himself up to tackle his house planning problems.

Everyone was about to start work. Du Rui suddenly looked at Gu’s office and asked: “Has the boss had any food?”

Zhang Siyi stunned, indeed, it was almost eight o’clock, and Gu Yu had not come out of his office since the time he was inside.

Bi Lele saw a few pieces of pizza on the table and didn’t finish eating. She blinked at Du Rui and said, “Go give a few pizzas to the boss!”

Blushing Du Rui had a thin face and shouted: “You do it.” Then she hurried back to her seat.

The task of delivering the pizza to Boss was handed to the position of Zhang Siyi, who was closest to Gu Yu’s office.

Zhang Siyi walked to the door of Gu Yu’s office with a box and heard the faint voices from inside. He was a bit unsure of whether or not to knock on the door, hesitating for two seconds, there was a voice from Gu Yu: “Who? Come in.”

Zhang Siyi almost forgot, this door is frosted glass, even if he does not knock on the door, Gu Yu can also see someone outside. He pushed in and saw Gu Wei standing by the window with his mobile phone, still talking on the phone –

“In short, this time I’ll be very busy and won’t be back at night….” Gu Yu turned to look at Zhang Siyi and immediately said to the human on the phone. “Well, I know, I am going to eat now, you should rest early. Good night.”

Zhang Siyi listened to the intimate tone of Gu Yu’s speech, and the gossip cells in his mind started to brew again – but not going home at night? Take some rest first? Gu Yu lives with someone? girlfriend? Intimate people? Wife?

Zhang Siyi specially glanced at Gu Yu’s right hand and saw that there was no ring on his ring finger. Could he be in a relationship?

Zhang Siyi don’t know what to think. Seeing Gu Yu hang up the phone, he instinctively blurted out: “Is that your girlfriend?” Perhaps it was because Gu Yu jokingly asked him if Fu Xinhui was his boyfriend, so he returned the question. But Gu Xiao took the phone, just looked at him and smiled then laughed.

Zhang Siyi: “……”

Gu Xiao looked directly at the pizza box in Zhang Siyi’s hand and said, “Is this for me?”

Zhang Siyi felt perturbed, but he still replied honestly: “Well, since the group couldn’t go out to eat, we used today’s bonus for pizza instead. Here are a few slices for you.”

Gu Xiao asked him to put it on the table and let him out. Zhang Si resolutely returned to his seat and clearly felt the difference in the number of paragraphs between himself and Gu Yu. …. ah! Why did he laugh? Is it by default? Why didn’t he answer me?!

At 9:30 in the evening, the office is still brightly lit.

A few hours later, Zhang Siyi only slightly digested the data and rules that Gu Yu said, and finally began to draw the road network. He noticed the difference between the smooth road network that Gu Yu drew in comparison to his own wavy work and sighed. Zhang Siyi was concentrating on his drawing that he didn’t notice the top of his head was dark.

Looking at Zhang Siyi so absorbed in what he was going, Gu Yu wasn’t sure when to interrupt him. He placed one hand at his table and leaned over. With a slender finger he pointed towards the edge of the screen. “This side”.

Zhang Siyi wore headphones, intently drawing and suddenly caught by the person next to him. A hand appeared in front of him, pointing. Zhang Siyi practically jumped out of his seat, startled. He quickly took off the headset and looked at Gu Yu who was observing him.

Gu Yu whispered in his ear, “Have you considered the road retreat?”

Zhang Siyi looked back at the drawing with a red face and pointed to the Blue line he had drawn: “Well, this one.”

Gu Yu: “Very good but remember to draw red after the retreat.”

Zhang Siyi can only hear the loud thumping of his heart. Every time he is praised by Gu Yu, he is never calm. “I…, I painted a bit slow.” Zhang Siyi said.

Gu Yu: “Slow is irrelevant. As long as the ideas are right, all the conditions are considered clearly, and the feelings are slowly conveyed. As they say, practice makes perfect.”

Slow doesn’t matter? Isn’t time already very scarce? Seeing that others are doing things so fast, Zhang Siyi is afraid that he will drag everyone down!

Zhang Siyi: “There are still nine days left. What do I do if I can’t finish drawing?”

Gu Yu calmly said: “You won’t have a problem finishing. You have me.”

Zhang Siyi “……” Crap. That sentence is so domineering! Zhang Siyi feels electrocuted. What to do! What to do! Ah, ~~!

Gu Yu left Zhang Siyi to his task and went to walk around the room to evaluate the progress of everyone else. He was very satisfied with the work everyone has completed thus far so he let everyone go back home for tonight. Work can continue tomorrow.

For the next few days, the project team stayed at Borderless until 10 in the evening every night. The refinement of the project is not only to refine the detailed level of the major functional sections, but also to provide guidance on street space and architectural style as well as to arrange fine landscape planning and ecological planning. The night lighting design of the whole district is even more detailed as the design is derived from the shape of the iconic building in the commercial center of the area. Finally, it will take a few days to make a full set of 3D renderings for the company.

Because of the huge number of tasks, more people are starting to work even later overtime hours. Gu Yu’s principle of doing things is “today’s today”. Generally, tasks assigned that day are expected to be completed that day. If its not done, then it will cause a delay for the next step which in turn would cause more accumulated delays.

Under the control of Gu Xiao, the overtime work of the crowd has been to the utmost minimum. The light of hope remains in people’s eyes. Even when everyone stayed up for a few nights, they are still motivated to continue as if the extra time working was nothing.

However, the four lounges in the company aren’t enough to house everyone. Many people bring their own folding beds and put them next to the desk. They can work until two or three in the morning then sleep for three to four hours, then get up at six or seven in the morning.

Under such a tight situation, Zhang Siyi finally ushered in his first day and night in his career.

In fact, two days earlier, he was already working until midnight then going home and then arriving back at the office by 8am the next day. Since Zhang Siyi lived close, he always went home to sleep better. Anyway, the taxi fare was also reimbursed by the company.

It was only in the last two days that it was very urgent. Everyone counted the second hand. Even eating and going to the bathroom felt like a waste of time.

Zhang Siyi’s housing plan has been completed with the help of Gu Yu. He continued to act as a patch in the later stages. He was so embarrassed to be idle that he made himself available if needed, so he simply followed around everyone in the office these last two nights.

Since the text was to be presented in both Chinese and English, Zhang Siyi concentrated his efforts into translation. Originally, there was no international student in Group A. The only professional level English-speaking girl in the group felt overwhelmed every time she was asked to translate because she had to juggle her design tasks with the pressure of also translating. Now with the help of Zhang Siyi, she is so happy that she is sobbing: “Four aunts Ah!” You’re the mascot of our group!”

Zhang Siyi: “Aha?” When did he become a mascot?

The girl said: “You are a good person, willing to help, and can build stuff!”

Zhang Siyi’s hands-on ability is not only manifested in the pumpkin lantern. Half a month ago, the girl bought a bookshelf to assemble which Zhang Siyi helped with.

When studying abroad, Zhang Siyi’s design classes often require them to do manual models. The architecture department is equipped with an oversized model studio with various sawmills, laser engraving machines, 3D printers and other model instruments… Zhang Siyi doesn’t like drawing pictures, but he likes to build them.

Fu Xinhui also said he would have been a great carpenter in ancient times, but this skill did not seem to be particularly useful to Zhang Siyi now.

First of all, from a professional point of view, computer software is now so developed, most construction companies do not have the conditions and time to let the designer build physical models. Secondly, from the point of view of wooing a girl, this is not something to brag about.

When Zhang Siyi learned to use the engraving machine, he also used a cork to engrave a “ghost” in the studio and gave it to his ex-girlfriend. However, because the symbolic meaning wasn’t good, she didn’t want it. Indeed, a piece of broken wood is better than a bag and a necklace? Even if you are looking for a blind date, the meaning of doing a manual model is not as great as the significance of repairing a water pipe.

Therefore, his advantage may only be slightly downgraded to medial tasks. His ability is highlighted when buying assembled furniture and making pumpkin lights.

The girl stood on the side and watched the English on the keyboard without stopping. While continuing to talk about him: “Good character, soft and cute, can laugh, take pictures beautifully, and translate!”

Zhang Siyi: “……” Seems to have mixed in some weird adjectives.……

She said with emotion: ” It’s no wonder that the Boss is so fond of you!”

Zhang Siyi: “……” Wait, where did she see that Gu Yu, uh, liked him? Don’t say it’s about the cactus again?

“Hehe,” Zhang Siyi, laughing, “You must have got it wrong, he’s pretty much treats me like everyone else.”

The girl said: “No way! He gave you a cactus!”

Zhang Siyi: “…” Sure enough!

The girl said with a smile: “You also gave him your pumpkin lantern. It is still in the most prominent position on his desk. Every time one goes to Gu Yu’s office, they can see it. Give and gave… you two are so ambiguous!”

Zhang Siyi listened with a face of constraint: “I think you are sure…… There’s something…… Got It……. Wrong…….”

The girl continued: “I haven’t made a mistake! We all think that the work is very special for you. Let’s go to the office to think about the girl who gave the gift. Is there any gift for his birthday? Yours! The pumpkin lantern is the first one to be put on display!”

Zhang Siyi: “But it’s just a pumpkin lantern, it’s not worth it.”

The girl looked at him with a “you won’t understand it anyway” expression on her face.

Zhang Siyi paused and asked: “When is Gu Yu’s birthday?”

The girl blurted out and said: “On January 8, the Capricorn man symbolizes absolute consciousness, ideals and ambitions…”

Zhang Siyi: “…”

It seems that this girl also feels the same as Du Rui.

This translation was translated to five in the morning, and for several days of high-intensity work, Zhang Siyi couldn’t open his eyes until the end.

Colleagues are still encouraging each other: “Hang in there… today and another night, to tomorrow night and will be free!” Yes, by the last two days, most people’s work is done. The reporting day is the day after tomorrow and generally most are finished. The last task is putting all the text onto the plan drawings and that responsibility is Bi Lele.

Bi Lele stared at the computer screen with utmost attention and was already immersed in the work. Also, reluctant to go to sleep since others are still working, Zhang Siyi saw several girls giving Bi Lele help. He turned his head to see Gu Yu’s office lights are still on. He whispered to Zhu Hongzhen: “Boss hasn’t slept?”

Zhu Hongzhen A haggard face: “You don’t have to worry about him, he has a rollaway bed in his office. When he is tired, he will sleep.”

Zhang Siyi nodded and looked at the results of the concerted efforts of everyone. All the work that everyone has contributed and the comradery between them gave Zhang Siyi and overwhelmingly good feeling. He felt hopeful – yes, they will win the bid!

Ji Feiyu saw a few people around the room on the verge of collapse, and quickly said: “You guys go to sleep first, don’t stay up late!”

Zhang Siyi couldn’t stay awake anymore and walked to the lounge swaying. The whole person fell on the little single bed and lost consciousness.

Since it’s not be his own bed, he is a little uncomfortable when he falls asleep. As he is slowly waking up, he feels something itchy on his face. It seems that something is touching him.

Zhang Siyi opened his eyes in an uncomfortable way. The lounge was a dark room with no windows, and the front was dim. The doorway was open with a bright light.

In the mist, he saw a familiar face.