Chapter 7 Chapter 7 Fang Shimian jumped down from the balcony railing...

Fang Shimian jumped down from the terrace railing, his face flushed with embarrassment. He hurriedly tried to turn off the desk lamp, but it kept getting brighter.

The wind was howling, and he seemed to hear a faint sound coming from next door, but he didn't dare to look back to see who that person was.

Finally, the lights were turned off and silence returned to the terrace area. Fang Shimian looked straight ahead and pretended to be calm as he returned to the bedroom. The moment the curtains were drawn, he squatted on the ground with his head in his hands, looking quite annoyed and embarrassed.

Why are you making phone calls for no reason?

I want to go back underground and miss the stagnant air in the monitoring room.

After squatting for a few minutes, Fang Shimian changed his mind and realized that the man actually didn't know who he was, and he wasn't necessarily looking at him. He didn't speak loudly and the lights were not on brightly.

There were regular knocks on the exquisitely carved door. Fang Shimian brushed away his wind-messed hair and stood up to open the door.

"Mr. Fang, Mr. Zhu asks if you want to stay here and rest or go back?" The maid's voice was soft and sweet.

Fang Shimian walked out, "I want to go home."

When Fang Shimian was brought over, Zhu Ze also stopped talking with Shen Jiang. The conversation between the two seemed very pleasant, and they both looked at Fang Shimian with smiles.

Before leaving, Chen Jiang thanked them again and again, and asked them to stay and have a good rest before going back. Zhu Ze found an excuse to decline, because he had other activities at the dinner ahead. The servant took the two of them away from the side door garden.

While walking in the garden, Fang Shimian thought of the terrace and looked up as if possessed by a ghost. He saw that a large terrace on the left side of the center of the third floor was lit up, and the rooms in the house were also brightly lit.

"What are you looking at?" Zhu Ze touched Shi Mian's head below and followed his gaze.

Fang Shimian lowered his head again and said casually, "Just take a look... This building is very beautiful."

Zhu Ze rarely saw Fang Shimian express his affection for something, so he asked, "Does Xiaomian like this style?"

This small building is more like an ancient Western building. The patterns and carvings are relatively retro, and the facade materials are all stone stacking, which is the aesthetic that the older generation is keen on.

Fang Shimian was of course talking nonsense; it was so dark and he was just busy eating inside. But the carvings were indeed exquisite, and some of the patterns were very beautiful. Fang Shimian was deeply impressed.

The car drove over, Fang Shimian quickly ran to the other side, opened the door and got in, and the driver went to open the door for Zhu Ze.

"Your actions today were too dangerous." Zhu Ze relaxed, leaned back in his seat, and rubbed his forehead tiredly, "Next time, don't stay too far away from me."

Only now did Fang Shimian notice the smell of alcohol on Zhu Ze. He looked out the window in the dim night, and for some reason, he thought of the child who was crying breathlessly while being held in his parents' arms and coaxed by soft voices.

"They're just some cups, not stones." Fang Shimian tried to make his tone sound more relaxed.

Zhu Ze frowned, sighed and closed his eyes. He obviously disagreed with Fang Shimian's point of view, but he didn't want to argue with him about right and wrong on this matter, so he said: "Anyway, it can be regarded as a blessing in disguise. Chen Jiang is a capable person, and Mao Shu is developing very well now. He should be able to get more policy resources next year. If you go there now, they will definitely not treat you unfairly."

Fang Shimian said nothing, just lowered his head in a daze.

Silence is a silent resistance.

Zhu Ze opened his eyes and looked at him. Perhaps because he had been drinking, his voice sounded a bit stern. "Are you really going to stay in that basement forever?"

There was dead silence in the car again.

The driver then glanced back through the mirror and saw that Zhu Ze's expression looked very ugly.

"I like my current job..." Fang Shimian didn't dare to look at Zhu Ze's expression.

Zhu Ze suddenly put down the hand that was rubbing his forehead. Fang Shimian subconsciously dodged towards the car window, then came to his senses and felt embarrassed.

Zhu Ze, who was originally full of anger, was left with only helplessness and pity after seeing this scene. He just thought that this child had been restrained too tightly in the past and had a playful nature that had not grown up.

"If you don't want to, talk to me later. I won't force you. If you want to play, play. Tell me when you figure it out."

Fang Shimian didn't think that working in the monitoring room was fun. Although there wasn't much to do, it was a very important position. If a fire was discovered in time, more than one or two people could be saved.

"Does the wound still hurt?"

Fang Shimian shook his head, "Nothing serious has happened, it's just that the suit is damaged, can I return this suit to you?"

Zhu Ze had a bigger headache, but he also felt that the child was even cuter, so he said slowly, "You don't have to return the clothes, they were all gifts. And don't give me any more money. If you feel bad, just think of it as a gift from the Jiang family."

The driver still took Fang Shimian to Yunjin. Fang Shimian said hello to the security guard on duty tonight and went to the basement to drive out his electric scooter.

After returning home, Fang Shimian looked at the time and decided not to disturb Xu Long.

He has to change shifts tomorrow and won’t be going to work until 6pm, so Fang Shimian turned off his morning alarm.

The monitoring room is divided into day shift and night shift. The night shift is longer, from 6 pm to 9 am the next morning. However, there is a hidden camp bed behind the machine in the monitoring room, so two people can take turns sleeping at night, which is not bad.

Normally, the day shift and night shift are rotated every half a month. Sometimes you can discuss with colleagues to rotate them once a month.

Fang Shimian woke up and felt that the dessert was not enough to satisfy his hunger. His stomach was rumbling. After quickly washing up, he carried two bags of pickled pepper beef noodles and ran straight to Xu Long. It seemed that Xu Long had expected this and did not even close the door.

Xu Long was playing games in the living room with his legs crossed like an old man, a cigarette in his mouth.

Fang Shimian ran into the kitchen, boiled water and put in four bags of instant noodles. He then took two iron basins from the empty cupboard above his head and put in double the seasoning.

The noodles were cooked, and Fang Shimian brought the iron basin to the coffee table in the living room. Xu Long hadn't finished his game yet, so he took the bowl of seafood-flavored noodles and slurped them, pausing for a moment from cursing.

Fang Shimian was eating noodles and watching videos at the same time. Xu Long glanced at Fang Shimian, kicked out a bottle of mineral water from under the coffee table, took out a bottle and placed it in front of Fang Shimian. Fang Shimian opened it and drank it the next second, gasping for air because of the spiciness.

Xu Long likes to turn up the volume when playing games. Fang Shimian couldn't hear clearly what was in the video, so he prepared to move the rice bowl away. He had just clicked pause, but before he started, Xu Long took the initiative to turn down the volume of the game.

Fang Shimian continued to eat noodles with great satisfaction, and then he saw a video in which the person shouted, "Swipe away quickly, I can't use this method on anyone else..."

Xu Long looked up and saw that Fang Shimian really swiped away the video very quickly without stopping for even a second. He almost died of laughter.

Sometimes, for a certain group of people, reverse marketing is pure suicide.

After they had enough water and noodles, Xu Long reluctantly took two large iron basins to wash. Fang Shimian sat on the sofa, opened the game with a relaxed look, and invited Xu Long, and clicked the "Agree" on the phone that Xu Long placed on the coffee table.

When Xu Long came out after washing the dishes, the two were already matching.

He wiped the water off his hands and looked at Fang Shimian, whose mouth was swollen from the spiciness. "Let me make it clear first, you are not allowed to be angry with me even if you lose the game."

"Yeah, I know." Fang Shimian said without even raising his head.

After two hours of fierce fighting in the canyon, the two successfully eliminated each other.

Fang Shimian quit the game and stared at his phone in a daze.

"You're being autistic again. Why don't you just uninstall it?" Xu Long stretched. "Why didn't you come yesterday?"

"I'm back too late, you're already asleep." Fang Shimian opened the video software and concentrated on learning gaming skills.

Xu Long was not happy and yelled, "How did you know I was asleep when you didn't even knock on the door?"

Fang Shimian hummed twice to answer him perfunctorily and concentrated on watching the video.

The two of them went to eat at the barbecue buffet in the afternoon. Xu Long thought it was just average, but Fang Shimian ate a lot.

After eating, they rode Xu Long's motorcycle to go to work together. They took off their helmets in the non-motor vehicle garage under Building 6. Xu Long lowered his head to play with his mobile phone without looking at the road. Fang Shimian held his arm and led the way to prevent him from banging his head against the wall.

An off-road vehicle passed by the two of them, but it was going so slowly that it did not attract Xu Long's attention. Only Fang Shimian glanced over there but did not take it seriously.

There would basically be nothing happening in the monitoring room after seven o'clock. Fang Shimian took a folder, lifted a stool in front of the large machine, operated it a few times, called up today's fire alarm record, sat upright and began to copy it.

Xu Long was sleeping soundly behind the machine.

He slept in the first half of the night, and Fang Shimian slept in the second half.

After copying the document, Fang Shimian put it back, then took out the duty roster and put it next to him, filling it out every half hour.

Among the few people working in the monitoring room, only Fang Shimian honestly records every half an hour, while the others basically finish writing in one go. Even if they are unlucky enough to be caught and fined, it is only a few dozen dollars, so everyone just takes the money and saves trouble.

Fang Shimian took a piece of paper and drew on the monitoring console.

There is also a surveillance camera in the monitoring room, but only one, which is facing the operating table. Because it is facing away from the operating table, the display screen cannot be blocked. The staff cannot play with their mobile phones for a long time. There are two people on duty, and one person must guard the operating table.

However, Xu Long never cared about these rules and regulations, and Ma Liang and the others didn't care much about them either. Except for the strict enforcement that someone must be on duty at the operating table, playing with mobile phones or something like that was all up to the headquarters during random inspections. Whoever was on duty would be the unlucky one to have his salary deducted.

So far, Fang Shimian is the only one who has listened to and implemented these rules and regulations. During the more than two months of internship, he has never been caught doing anything wrong. Even the spot checkers from the headquarters are impressed by Fang Shimian and often send managers to warn the other old hands not to teach recklessly.

At around ten o'clock, two night shift security guards came to the monitoring room to chat with Xu Long and Fang Shimian.

The night shift patrollers are all older uncles, and the younger ones are on the day shift to keep up appearances. They don't have a rest room, not even a place to sit. The security booth has surveillance cameras so it's not easy to visit them, and only the surveillance room can they take a break.

Moreover, the temperature in the city has dropped in the past few days, and it has become even colder at night. In order to ensure the normal operation of the equipment inside, the monitoring room has 24-hour constant temperature air conditioning. Compared with the biting cold wind outside, this place can be said to be a safe haven.

Xu Long got up and played a few games of mobile mahjong with them. Fang Shimian put down his paper and pen, took out some peanuts and melon seeds from the cupboard, and stood behind them watching with a serious look on his face.

After resting for about half an hour, the two security guards left. Because of the car smashing incidents in recent days, the supervision from above has become stricter, and they have to clock in and keep patrol records in real time every half an hour.

Xu Long looked at the time and asked Fang Shimian if he wanted to go to the bathroom. When Fang Shimian said no, he put on his clothes and went to the bathroom.

The community’s public toilet is next to the property center upstairs, some distance away from the monitoring room, and the monitors have to take turns using the toilet.

After everyone left, Fang Shimian started painting again.

He was more fond of things like patterns and totems. He drew the pattern that impressed him the most at the dinner that day on paper, and changed the layout and line thickness by himself. Based on these, he re-drew the overall texture and added his own aesthetic considerations.

After finishing the painting, he took a few photos and sent them to WeChat, noting the contact name Zhao You.

Zhao You: [Working the night shift again? ]

Fang Shimian: [Hmm]

Zhao You: [Come to my house after two days of vacation]

Zhao You: [Grandpa has been talking about you a lot recently]

Fang Shimian sent an OK emoticon and was about to exit when he saw that Zhu Ze had an unread message.

Zhu Ze: [Let’s have dinner together on Wednesday night. I’ve asked for leave for you. The driver will pick you up at five o’clock.]

Fang Shimian deleted the message directly, turned off his phone, and took out a piece of white paper to draw a little man.