Assistant Architect

Chapter 8: Overtime

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In fact, Gu Yu came back after about forty minutes and it was already more than half 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 Bi Lele. In the end, there are only a few people who have projects on hand to get overtime. For example, the participating members of the D city office project team.

Of course, Zhang Siyi did not need to work overtime, provided that he had finished his drafting assignment. The mobile phone in his pocket kept vibrating. His friends were going together to the appointed place and shared the real-time location information in the WeChat discussion group. As the protagonist 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 going to leave on the first night. He didn’t want to die.!

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

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

Until Gu Yu appeared again, Zhang Siyi’s uneasiness dissipated. He accelerated the speed of drawing. When Gu Yu passed him, he stopped to look at his screen with special care.

Zhang Siyi is very nervous. He doesn’t know if he is drawing correctly or not, 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 finally only said: “If you are hungry, you can go downstairs and buy something to eat. After a while, draw a 1:50 ratio and print it out and come to the office to find me.”

Zhang Siyi: “...” Hey, he doesn’t want to eat, he wants to finish the draft and leave!

It took another half an hour, and Zhang Siyi finally got the picture done before 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 many people use this building?” Gu Yu asked.

Zhang Siyi stupidly opened his mouth: “ah”, he only wanted to hurry and draw, so he didn’t think about how many people are in this building to 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 there are more than 100 people, one additional for each additional 50 people. The number 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 was blindsided. He didn’t know! ah!

“The details of the project clearly stated that the total flow of the building is 2000, and the average to each floor is about 120 people, so the total number of positions on each floor will not exceed six. Let’s see what you drew. There are 8 male restrooms and 10 female restrooms, which add up to 18,” Gu Yu looked up at him and said with a serious expression. “You laid out the floor plan with so many. I think the designer must be suffering from frequent urination and other digestion problems.”

Zhang Siyi: “......”

“And,” Gu Yu paused, placed the scale in hand on the illustration, and raised his eyebrows. “The interior compartment door of the 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 to school, 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, and in public places, it is between 130-160,” Gu Yu precisely said the specific 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 books from the bookshelf and stacked them to show him. Pointing to the height of the stack he said: “so shallow, you want people to constantly fall while trying to climb stairs?”

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

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

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

Gu Yu also pointed out several problems. His tone did not have much ups and downs. He calmly said that “how much money is today’s cabbage” and “how much pork is”, but the lethality of these words is comparable to that 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 Yu clearly see so many problems? When he came back half an hour ago, he must have noticed some issues, but he didn’t mention it. Was he purposely making Zhang Siyi suffer?

At this moment, on the table, Gu Yu’s cell phone suddenly rang. He glanced at the screen. This time, he did not leave the room and directly answered in front of Zhang Siyi’s face.

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

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

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

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

Zhang Siyi, thinking: “When did you go to eat? The 40 minutes to get out before work?”

“.... at the fast food place downstairs in the company....” Gu Yu lowered his head, and his long eyelashes covered his dark eyes and continued with 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’s drawings, and made a list of the questions he had just mentioned in the blank spaces in the illustration.

“No, there is nothing urgent,” Gu Yu glanced at Zhang Siyi and said, ” There is a new employee today and I’m helping him with some beginning 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 other hand, 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 phone away and pointed at the draft to continue with his criticism: “The smallest size of a toilet door, and the ergonomic scale of things are issues you should already know as a designer. Basic common sense that must be met. I understand you don’t know the rules of the country yet, but you must at least have the awareness of the specification before design.”

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

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

....... Aah ...but I still have to finish drawing before I can leave can get?...

Zhang Siyi took the drawings and returned to his seat. He saw Lu Qiao message: “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 few times, but it gets easier. Then you will know how to do it fast, but also, then the 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 home soon. 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. Zhang Siyi took out his mobile phone and did not dare read the news records in WeChat. He was afraid that his friends would be disappointed, and even more afraid of being discovered by Gu Yu, he only quickly sent a letter to Fu Xinhui. SMS: “I am still working overtime, you should eat first, don’t wait for me!”

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

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

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

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

After that, he reworked the plans twice and continued to draw until nine o’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, and there weren’t many people around which was a sharp contrast to the vigorous flow of people in the morning hours.

Zhang Siyi took a deep breath and was tempted by his dying brain cells to feel 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 first connected, he heard a roar: “Zhang Siyi! Where the fuck are you?”

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

Fu Xinhui: “No point now. We’re almost out of here! Do you know how many 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 just work, I’m sorry.”

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

“Don’t go. Let me at least see you quickly. After all, I was the one doing the inviting.” Zhang Siyi looked for a taxi, eager to get to the restaurant 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.”