Assistant Architect by Xi He Qing Ling

Chapter 132: The Cold War

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Since hisheart and mind were occupied with thoughts of Gu Yu and despite Zhang Siyiinitial determination to stay, he wasn't able to fully concentrate on his work.By midnight, all of his attention was on his phone as he was expecting a goodnight message from Gu Yu. However, after Gu Yu left the office, there wasn't asingle update on social media or any text messages.

With onlyfour subway stops between them, they obviously live in the same city. However,emotionally they were far apart. Due to their dispute and since Gu Yu left theoffice without saying goodbye, Zhang Siyi felt wronged. As long as Gu Yu sent a'good night' or 'don't stay up too late' message to him, Zhang Siyi wouldn'thave the guts to stay any longer, but neither Zhang Siyi or Gu Yu sent anymessages.

Feeling verydepressed, Zhang Siyi tried to psych himself up. – Stop acting like a lovesick little girl! Work hard and catch up to GuYu.

Zhang Siyiforced himself to stop thinking about Gu Yu and focus on the work. Otherwise,his overnight stay would be meaningless. Fortunately, the work on hand wasindeed a lot. Like the time during the period of jealousy when Tao Fei firstcame to Borderless, once he set his mind to it, he thought about nothing else.

The designconcept is only a small portion of the work that Zhang Siyi and Tao Fei have tocomplete. In addition to the concepts, they have to build a power-pointpresentation. Through 3D renderings, different elevation details, and landscapemaps, they have to create an enticing story from start to finish that showcasesthe work in the best way in order to convince Party A to move forward with theproject.

It wasn'tuntil three in the morning that they went to sleep. Zhang Siyi was reminded ofhis university days when he also stayed up late to finish his projects. Unlikepreviously when he had to work alone, he now was working alongside a colleagueand as a result, Zhang Siyi was enjoying the experience and felt invigorated.

Zhang Siyi'sonly regret was his disagreement with Gu Yu. Even though he didn't understandwhat happened, it was very clear that this state is definitely not normal.After laying down, he took out his phone again. He uploaded a picture of thenightscape from the office window and posted a public statement in WeChat:"Struggling." The main motivation for posting his picture isn't for outsiders'praise, but to see if Gu Yu was listening.

The next morning,he woke up at 8:50 and went to wash his face in the bathroom. On the way, hebumped into Xu Jia and Bi Lele who were just arriving at work. They asked:"Aunt Four, did you stay overnight at the company?"

Still tired,Zhang Siyi yawned and nodded.

Xu Jia:“You and Peach Brother have been working hard recently. Yesterday, I wentto look at your general design. It's super cool!”

Hearing thepraise, Zhang Siyi's mood perked up: “Ha, really?”

Bi Lelesaid: “I've seen it too. When is the presentation? The boss asked me tohelp you develop the power-point presentation if I have time."

Pleasantly surprised,Zhang Siyi said: “That's great! The report is on Friday. Are you free onWednesday or Thursday?”

Bi Leleshrugged her shoulders and said: “I think I might have some time.”

Zhang Si Yipatted his chest and said: ” Whatever you want to eat, you canchoose!”"

Satisfiedwith Zhang Siyi's offer, Bi Lele nodded. “Send me all the work and I'llarrange it for you in advance."

Feelinghappy, Zhang Siyi exclaimed: “Ah, you are so good!"

Bi Lelesmiled narcissistically: “What did you say? I don't think I heardenough…."

With sugarin his mouth, Zhang Siyi boasted: "You are the most beautiful. Your hair islike soft clouds in the sky and your eyes are like the sparkling moon reflectedin the water…."

Bi Lele:“Poof !!!”

Listeningnext to them, Xu Jia burst of laughter. As the three were flirtatiouslychatting happily, Gu Yu suddenly appeared. The two girls stopped their gigglesin a timely manner and jointly bowed slightly: "Boss." Only Zhang Siyi wastrying to say hello, but Gu Yu simply glanced at him and turned away.

At thatmoment, the sense of loss that Zhang Siyi felt was overwhelming. Feelingdepressed, he slowly walked downstairs to the convenience store to buybreakfast. Along the way, he checked his social media page. There were manypeople that commented on his status and as expected, his close friends all toldhim to go to sleep early and take care of himself. The one person he wanted tosee wasn't among the list of people that sent him comments.

Now, Zhang Siyiis 100% sure that Gu Yu is angry, but he doesn't know why. – Was simply because I stayed overnight withTao Fei? But that doesn't make sense. And besides, unlike what Gu Yu wassaying, we got a lot of work done. It wasn't inefficient at all!

Swallowingthe last bite of his breakfast sandwich, Zhang Siyi knocked on Gu Yu's officedoor and then entered.

Gu Yu wasbusy looking at the data on his computer screen. When he looked up and saw Zhang Siyi, hefrowned: "What’s the matter?”

Gettingstraight to the point, Zhang Siyi folded his arms and questioned firmly: "Areyou in a cold war with me?"

Looking awayfrom Zhang Siyi, Gu Yu remained silent. Then he spoke: "This isn't the placefor such discussions. Go out to work and finish your project first."

With aflushed face, Zhang Siyi left Gu Yu's office angrily. After he mustered up thecourage to approach Gu Yu, he didn't expect him to be so emotional closed andbe shut-out right away. What's more, Zhang Siyi didn't understand how Gu Yu couldact so calmly in lieu of their disagreement.

Zhang Siyisnickered at himself. He knew Gu Yu's principles and he warned Zhang Siyi aheadof time that there was a difference between their public office relationshipand private one. Being impulsive, he ran to Gu Yu feeling wronged and wanted animmediate resolution. It was his own stupidity. - If its personal, why isn't he mad now? But I know he is angry,then… What’s wrong with me staying up late for work?!

Although ZhangSiyi wasn't bold enough to slam Gu Yu's office door, his inner turmoil wasn'tany less. Returning to his desk, he roughly pulled back his chair and sat down.Zhu Hongzhen was startled: “What’swrong with you?"

“Nothing!”Zhang Siyi was like a gunpowder keg exploding his heart. - Fine, if you ignore me, I will ignore you. Who is the stubbornone?!

Angry, ZhangSiyi worked for the rest of the day feeling increasingly resentful. The onlybright spot in Zhang Siyi day was the thought of being able to see Gu Yu at theoffice. However, unbeknownst to Zhang Siyi, Gu Yu left the office at 5 o'clockwithout telling him.

Stillfeeling confused over their dispute, Zhang Siyi was looking forward to seeingGu Yu at the end of the day to talk. After waiting an hour after the officialwork day ended, he finally turned around to talk to Gu Yu and what he saw wascompletely unexpected. The office was locked and the lights were out.

In themoment he realized that Gu Yu was gone, Zhang Siyi felt a sudden suffocationand sorrow. Tears welled up, but before they found release, he covered hisface. Pressing down the grievances that came up from his heart, he held backhis tears, and rubbed his face hard. Thinking of this morning's conversationwhen Gu Yu said to leave and finish work first… – Is it possible that Gu Yu wasn't planning on talking to me until theproject was completed?

Sure enough,for the next two days, Gu Yu did not say a word to Zhang Siyi and Zhang Siyidid not talk to Gu Yu. The cold war continued.

A day beforethey were scheduled to report their design concept, Bi Lele started helpingthem typeset the power-point presentation. Also, Zhang Siyi work load hadgradually been reduced. As the days unfolded, he didn't think one could be soobstinate.

In themiddle of the night, Zhang Siyi and Tao Fei ordered take-out and ate in theoffice. Having pulled all-nighters for a few days, they appeared haggard.Especially Tao Fei who had deep dark circles under his eyes. Looking more likea beast, it was hard to imagine he was normally a beautiful peach.

Apart frombeing worn out, both of them expressed relief for this is the last night beforethe reporting day. Everything is near completion and they are very confidentwith their concepts and design plans.

Eatingquietly, Tao Fei broke the silence: "You and my brother had a fight?”

Zhang Siyiretorted: “No.”

Tao Fei smirked and said: “Even though you said no, I can tell. Is it because you are working overtime?"

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