Assistant Architect

Chapter 56: Networking

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Fu Xinhui tried to kick Zhang Siyi. He retreated back to the corner of the sofa while shouting: “She let you be a regular guest to attract female students to participate in special activities, but those female students don’t know you. They are coming to you based on your appearance and then you must accompany them to drink while at the party. What about sleeping? If this isn’t what a Rent-Boy is, then what is it!? Hey! Don’t touch me! You said you weren’t angry!”

Fu Xinhui knocked Zhang Siyi over and got on top of him. In order to prevent him from getting away, he straddled him with one foot on the edge of the sofa and a knee on his thigh. Fu Xinhui pressed down on Zhang Siyi shoulders with his hands. Gnashing his teeth, Fu Xinhui yelled: “You said I’m a Rent-Boy? Let’s see how good I am! I will take you first for practice!”

Struggling, Zhang Siyi yelled at him: “Fuck You! I’m being honest!”

While the two of them are yelling at each other making a scene, the door suddenly opened, both Jiang Hai and Tian stepped forward into the apartment calling for Fu Xinhui. They did not expect to see the scene on the sofa.

Zhang Siyi: “...” (⊙⊙)

Fu Xinhui: “...” (=_=)

Jiang Hai stepped back a small step and said with a smile: “Oh, you, you... continue...”

Tian Yujing also shyly squinted: “That... we didn’t know.... you are doing... that...”

Zhang Siyi: “...”

With such provocative evidence, it will be hard to come clean.

Zhang Siyi rushed to explain: “No, it’s not what you think!”

Fu Xinhui also nodded in a dignified position, then the two separated at the fastest speed, sitting at the two ends of the sofa, separated by a gap of up to one meter long, there is a sense of ambiguity.

All red, Zhang Siyi’s tried to explain: “We were just playing casually!”

Jiang Hai is quiet: “....”

Fu Xinhui nodded again, and then thought half of the point seemed to feel wrong. What is “just playing”? He looked at Zhang Siyi with surprise: “Is that fun?” After asking this sentence, Fu Xinhui realized that his question was also ambiguous.

Jiang Hai has been thoroughly petrified. At this moment, his mind is like a field of thriving grass and a huge horse is running through it. – I am stunned by my two former roommates!

Tian Yujing face is red. Although a little shy, Zhang Siyi sees the same green light in her eyes that he has seen in Bi Lele’s....

“No, no! We were just fooling around....” Zhang Siyi hung his head on the sofa and hit the back with his head.

Fu Xinhui coughed a little and calmly said: “Don’t get me wrong. I just told him that I found a job and then I got upset over a little problem.”

Jiang Hai nodded stiffly. It turned out that you got a job, so you are so excited that you wanted to come up to him on the sofa!

Fu Xinhui inhaled and exhaled a few times. They seem to be digging a deeper grave.

The atmosphere in the room is unprecedentedly different. As if there was a clear bubble safe-zone enchantment, Jiang Hai and Tian Yujian quietly stood at the entrance. If they go one step further, the gay light exuding from Fu Xinhui and Zhang Siyi will blast them to smithereens.

Tian Yujing saw that Jiang Hai was irritated and could not speak. She said: “I am sorry, we did not intentionally bother you. Since we hadn’t seen you for so long, and New Year’s is approaching we thought to stop by....” Feeling guilty she continued: “Hey, we should have called ahead of time.”

Fu Xinhui didn’t know how to explain it. At this moment, Tian Yujing suddenly screamed: “It’s so cute!” It turned out to be a Cheer-Up. All their attention was given to the two men, so they never noticed the dog. As if on cue, Cheer-Up walked over and sat near Tian Yujing.

Tian Yujing was really stunned and bent down to pet him. Jiang Hai also regained some sense and asked, “Hey? Do you have a dog?” As the atmosphere eased, Fu Xinhui and Zhang Siyi breathed a sigh of relief. It seems that this dog is not useless.

“Well, I have been raising it for more than a month,” Fu Xinhui got up and walked over to Jiang Hai. “On the day you decided not to continue with rent, I got the dog.”

“You are handsome,” Jiang Hai smiled at the dog. Handing Fu Xinhui the fruit he had bought to them, he crouched down to pet the dog: “This is a golden retriever, isn’t it? It looks tame. What’s his name?”

Fu Xinhui: “I named him Cheer-Up.”

Jiang Hai: “Cheer-Up? Ha-ha, good name, suitable for you.

Fu Xinhui: “....”

Zhang Siyi also came over, scolding Cheer-Up: “You might think he is cute but this stupid dog, he just pees everywhere! I have a score to settle with him!”

Zhang Siyi has a pair of beautiful black leather shoes he bought while in the UK. They fit perfectly and are super comfortable. They are casual yet formal enough to be worn in almost any occasion. Since he mainly wears them during the week, he doesn’t regularly put them in the shoe closet. One morning, he hurried to work and put his shoes on and felt his foot get wet. Examining the shoe more closely, Zhang Siyi found it soaked with urine. One night of urination and the shoe was ruined by the dog which is equal to a pair of shoes scrapped. Zhang Siyi was so angry that day. He turned towards the dog and glared at Cheer-Up with murderous intent.

Listening to the reprimand, Cheer-Up leaned against Tian Yujing and leaned his butt against Zhang Siyi. Tian Yujing’s heart has been won over: “Zhang Siyi, don’t be mean to it! It’s just a small puppy.”

Jiang Hai also helped: “That is, you have to be patient and teach the puppy so he will be quiet and not disturb people....” Hey, come here boy, give uncle a hug!”

Zhang Siyi’s mouth twitched, why did he suddenly feel that his friends came to visit Cheer-Up and not him? (=_=)

Jiang Hai asked: “Where does he sleep and eat?”

Fu Xinhui pointed to the basin at the entrance of the bathroom: “He will eat dog food and sleep in the living room on the sofa with a dog blanket.”

Jiang Hai nodded: “It’s just fine.”

Zhang Siyi thought: If Fu Xinhui first told you that he is raising the dog in your room, let’s see if you will say it is just fine!

Playing with Cheer-Up, Jiang Hai brought the conversation back to the beginning: “You mentioned a job.... What is going on?” He went to sit on the sofa and listened to Fu Xinhui retell the story.

Tian Yujian carried fruit to the kitchen with Zhang Siyi’s help. After the fruit was sliced, they brought out a fruit tray and hot tea and joined the discussion. Relaxing on the sofa Zhang Siyi put his feet up: “As soon as I said he was like a Rent-Boy, he was furious and jumped at me. That’s when you came inside and saw.”

In his mind, Jiang Hai wanted to block the scene he just saw, but for his friend he continued: “I don’t think you are so short of money, right? So, what is it then? “

As this was his idea, he needed to explain it better. Fu Xinhui gently sighed: “Yes, I do not care about the money. 1800 is not enough for me to buy a T-shirt. I only care about the long-term benefits this job could bring me. My family situation is also more or less what you mentioned, maybe Zhang Siyi knows a little more, but before that, my attitude to life is particularly negative.”

Jiang Hai was nodding to express his considerable approval.

Fu Xinhui raised his hands to wipe his face. Staring down at the coffee table he continued: “Some days ago Zhang Siyi advised me to pull myself together. I thought he was right so the first thing I wanted to do was try and find a job, but to tell you the truth, there aren’t many suitable jobs for me to do.”

Jiang Hai nodded again: “Yes, your profession has been vacant for half a year, and now it is the industry downturn, and at the end of the year, it is difficult to find a good job.”

In the case of other industries, Fu Xinhui in addition to a slightly more fluent spoken English, can only rely on his looks, temperament and family background, but these things in the big city like Haicheng, with a fair amount of competition, are meaningless. A regular company is looking at the definitive power of the applicant. Besides, because of his background, Fu Xinhui’s starting point is so high, that his character won’t be able to adapt to working at the bottom of a small company nine to five.

Fu Xinhui: “If I want a better starting point, I can only rely on my family or my parent’s friends. I don’t want to rely on them. Aside from my family background, I only know you. While you support me in the spirit, you are just starting out and can’t help me elevate my starting point.”

For his own weakness, Zhang Siyi suddenly felt a little uncomfortable. Like his friend, Shen Hao, from back home, he wanted to be able to extend an olive branch and give Fu Xinhui a leg up with an offer for definitive work and wages, but he doesn’t have the power right now.

Fu Xinhui paused, and then said: “When I spoke with the girl, she told me there were only a few dozen people when she founded the Turtle club. In the beginning, she gathered the people around her regularly for parties. Later those people invited other friends, and those other friends brought more and soon enough, it led to couples. She recognized the business opportunity for this sort of thing.

He looked at Zhang Siyi and said: “Remember the two firms that were involved a few days ago after your company’s annual meeting? You called me to go to KTV to sing and afterwards, several girls sent me WeChat messages....”

Hearing the seriousness in Fu Xinhui tone, Zhang Siyi nodded. He only remembered his friend saying he wanted to get a dog to help himself cheer up. Zhang Siyi didn’t know Fu Xinhui would continue to think about the issue so earnestly.

Fu Xinhui said: “Well, even before that, I had doubts about the girls’ offer, but after meeting people at KTV for your annual meeting, I understood what the Turtle Club is about. It is essentially the same thing.”

Fu Xinhui slightly raised his eyes and looked at everyone: “The girl has a monthly income of several hundred thousand. What do you think depends on it? Does she have a high IQ or a strong background? It is nothing but a network of contacts built from scratch. Today, what are people? They are a commodity, a business opportunity, they are money.”

Everyone: “...”

Fu Xinhui firmly said: “This is the reason why I promised her to do the job. If I want to stand on my own feet, I will have to establish my own network. In that club, most of the people who participate in the event are people with the same background as me. She is using me, and I am using her. This is the first step I took to change the status quo.”