Assistant Architect-Chapter 7: Task

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Zhang Siyi thought to himself and repeated a mantra, patience and perseverance.... 500 isn’t really that much. It’s not even enough to buy a pair of jeans. He doesn’t want to be so stingy, but he can’t help but feel wronged by the deductions in his salary. He must keep in mind at this stage, it is about learning and getting experience. Zhang Siyi continues to convince himself: When the trial salary is only 4,500, the salary is not the key point... the salary is not the focus...not the focus...

Zhu Hongzhen saw Zhang Siyi and wanted to ask him where he went and what he had for lunch, but hesitated for a moment then called out: “Are you called Zhang Wei? I forgot.”

Zhu Hongzhen: “Your name is not very easy to remember. Do you have a nickname?”

Zhang Siyi: “English name? I used Daniel while I was in the UK.”

Zhu Hongzhen read it over and said: “That’s worse than your Chinese name.”

Sitting across from them, Bi Lele said: “Since your name is a homophone, Yisi how about Aunt Four?”

Zhu Hongzhen: “poof!”

Zhang Siyi broke down and said, ” Why should I be called and aunt. I’m a man?”

Bi Lele turned a white-eye: “we have a man nicknamed” Joe sister.””

Zhu Hongzhen: “Child labor group also has a woman, nicknamed Cool Brother. Ah, don’t worry about these details, I think the Aunt Four suits you just fine.”

Zhang Siyi: “......”

“And as you can see in this circle, you happen to be the fourth to come, it is appropriate to call you ‘fourth aunt’.”

Yuan Zhicheng, who was diagonally opposite, looked up and said quietly: “Fourth Aunt is good.”

Zhang Siyi couldn’t stop it. Several people on the side chanted “fourth aunt, fourth aunt”. He was a little annoyed. He didn’t want the nickname Aunt Four. He just came to the company and, just like that, his name was changed. Once they set up his computer station, the chance to protest was mercilessly stripped from him.

The office computer has an internal LAN. In order to prevent the outflow of resources, communication and file transfer between colleagues need to be through internal communication software. The form is somewhat similar to QQ, and all employees’ address books are visible, making it clear at a glance.

Zhang Siyi curiously studied for a while and found that the architectural design division had indeed been subdivided into three groups, namely, the Gu Yu group (a), the Child Labor Group (b) and the Choi Group (c). His name was in Group A.

“Piggy, who is this Cui Gong?” The first two Zhang Siyi knew, but the last one he hadn’t heard of.

Zhu Hongzhen: “Oh, you mean Mr. Choi in Group C?” He is a teacher at the J University School of Architecture on the other side of school. His specialty is ancient Chinese architecture design and Borderless department C is equivalent to his personal studio.

Zhang Siyi understands that there are indeed well-known building teachers in China who have their own personal studios, and many teachers will choose to cooperate with design institutes and design companies.

Zhang Siyi carefully looked at the names listed in his company email. When he saw the words “Gu Yu”, he was reminded of his 500-salary deduction, and felt depressed. Unconsciously, he double clicked to open the dialog box. Almost at the same second, a sentence popped up in the dialog box – “Come to my office.”

Zhang Si Yi practically jumped out of his seat. He froze for several seconds and double checked that this was a coincidence and not something he neglected to see.

He did not dare delay replied with “ok”. With apprehension, he stood up and went to Gu Yu’s office.

He lightly knocked on the frosted glass door, and after hearing “please enter” inside, Zhang Siyi pushed the door open and walked inside.

Even though the room is less than ten square feet there is a large design table in the middle with an iMac, laptop, printer, and stack of materials neatly stacked in the corner of the table. Next to it, is a pen holder filled with all kinds of markers, color lead, architectural pens and a measurement scale.

Director Gu sat facing him while behind him was a full bookshelf. The shelves were not only full of professional books, but there also were large and small models in the empty spaces.

Zhang Siyi did not know how to describe it. He was thinking that maybe he would voice his complaints about his salary deductions so, his mood was a little anxious, before he came in. The stress of university and job hunting previously made him doubt himself, however, all the negative feeling dissipated when facing the director in his work space. His inner anxiety transformed into excitement. When looking at everything in the office related to architecture, his past heartfelt yearning has awakened and become like an instinct, rekindling his obsession making it hard to let go.

Gu Yu pointed to the chair opposite his desk and let him sit down.

Zhang Siyi took a deep breath. At first glance, there was a block of calligraphy works on the blank wall to the left. After seeing the words “Zhuge Liang” on the book, he involuntarily calmed down.

“How is it going? Are you getting more familiar with the environment yet?” Gu Yu asked.

“Almost.” Well, don’t think about salary anymore. The most urgent task is to stay through the trial period! Zhang Siyi made up his mind.

Gu Yu handed a piece of printing paper to him: “This is an office building in the city of s. You look at it first. There are three people in the group who are doing this project. The styling and external details have been decided on. Pointing to another plan illustration, this is the functional partition and outline of the building.”

Zhang Siyi took a glance at the plan, dumbfounded...... it’s huge!

“What kind of drawing software do you usually use? Is the computer set up? Is the software installed for you?” Gu Yu asked.

The atmosphere suddenly became tense with the rhythm of Gu Yu’s dialogue. Zhang Siyi quickly said: “I use ArchiCAD.”

Gu Yu nodded: “ArchiCAD plug-in causes problems sometimes when transferring files. Lu Qiao was having issues when he was working on portions of the plan. You will have to learn the other software we use in the office.” 𝐟r𝒆ℯ𝘄𝑒𝒃𝚗𝒐𝘃e𝗹.c𝘰𝐦

Zhang Siyi: “Oh...”

Zhang Siyi isn’t familiar with the other software, so he is unsure how long it will take to render a picture.

Gu Yu: “You will draw a draft of this section here, then show me before the work day is over.”

Zhang Siyi: “...”

Holding the reference materials, he returned to his seat. Zhang Siyi has been living in such a relaxed state that he hasn’t wrapped his mind around his work yet. Not only does he need to learn new software in the afternoon, but also, he has to a make a draft of such a big building. Mom! Who will kill him!

“Did Boss give you a task?” Zhu Hongzhen asked with a smirk.

“Well...” The task was huge. Zhang Siyi didn’t dare to delay. He quickly opened the address book and looked for Lu Qiao. “Little pig, who is Lu Qiao?”

“It’s him,” Zhu Hongzhen pointed to the thin and small figure not far away. “The one in blue clothes, don’t you see?”

As he was saying, he was already paged on the internet: “Is this fourth aunt?””

Zhang Siyi: “......”

Zhang Siyi: “How do you know the nickname they just gave me?”

Lu Qiao: “You are the newcomer, right? Someone in the group inquired about you, Lele has already publicized it.”

Zhang Siyi: “...”

Lu Qiao: “There are three big rotten girls in the group. Handsome boys won’t escape their claws.”

Zhang Siyi: “[Cry]”

Lu Qiao: “Brother, let’s accept it, I understand your pain ~~ “

... But why did he read the smell of schadenfreude from the other side’s big wavy line? !

After a few words, Lu Qiao quickly brought the topic back to the task on hand: “The boss asked me to send you the information of the D City office building. Did you receive it?”

Zhang Siyi received a large package of project materials, and by the way asked: “What about the software? Is it true I have to use this?”

Lu Qiao: “Hey, don’t you know? This is a domestic building software developed based on the ad platform. Most of the domestic construction projects use this.”

Zhang Siyi: “OK. Is it hard to learn?”

Lu Qiao: “It’s easy to learn! Super simple! You will learn in ten minutes!”

Zhang Siyi was relieved. Thanks, I cut the computer to the Indos system. With the help of Zhu Hongzhen, I found this legendary “super simple” software. Little did he know, “super-simple” was not super simple. He struggled for two hours and repeatedly harassed Lu Qiao several times before figuring it out.

When he introduced the electronic map into the design, at five o’clock, it was already close to the days out. – super simple my ass!

The cell phone in his trouser pocket buzzed. Zhang Siyi reached for it and saw that Fu Xinhui sent him a message.

Zhang Siyi quickly replied with “good”, thinking that the draft of the toilet and staircase will be finished soon.

But not long after, Zhang Siyi found that he overestimated himself.

During his undergraduate studies, he was exposed to small buildings of several hundred square meters. The largest one was the student activity center that was designed when he graduated. The total area was no more than 3,000. Now that Gu Yu gave him a ten-story office building, he was so stupid that he didn’t know where to start.

Seeing that it was almost time to get off work, he had a sinking feeling in his stomach. His hadn’t made much progress on the assigned task.

“Little pig, I was handed a drafting assignment and needed to hand it in before I go, but what if it’s not finished by the end of the work hours?”

Zhu Hong Zhen said of course: “Overtime.”

Zhang Siyi: “...”

Just then, a familiar voice suddenly sounded from behind: “How is the drawing going?”

Zhang Siyi stunned, turned around to see Gu Yu, who was quietly standing there. Gu Yu looked at Zhang Siyi’s computer screen, only to see a few toilets arranged in a mess, and a few irregular stairs, and said: “What is this?”

Zhang Siyi’s cold sweat ran down, and he said: “I, I’m getting used to the software.”

Gu Yu in thought did not speak for 5 seconds then spoke. “Continue”, he said, then left.

Zhang Siyi saw Gu’s back disappear through the doors at the entrance of the firm, and dared to ask, “Did he just leave for the day?”

Zhu Hongzhen: “Ah? No way. Didn’t he tell you to show him the picture?”

Zhang Siyi: “I just watched him go out. He’s not leaving work?”

He also thought he was fortunate if Gu Yu left work already. He wanted to slip away for a while to have dinner with his friends. He could finish the work at home and bring the completed task back.

But Zhu Hongzhen gave him a fatal blow: “Maybe he went to the restroom. The boss will definitely be back.”

Zhang Siyi: “Why?”

Zhu Hongzhen looked happy: “He is the only boss I have ever seen to accompany his subordinates to work overtime. If you have tasks in your hands, he will stay with you until you finish.”

Zhang Siyi: “.........” Help!