The staff called out several times, just as Jiang Si was about to lift her foot and follow the crowd.
Suddenly someone called out to her from behind.
Jiang Si turned around in surprise and saw that it was the two people she had met at the entrance of the Artists Association that day.
Compared to their polished and efficient demeanor that day, the two of them looked noticeably more disheveled today.
Vice President Fang, in particular, noticed that her knees were covered in mud and snow, and she was walking with a limp.
Jiang Si stepped forward and helped her up. Although the two did not talk much that day, the kindness in each other's eyes was genuine.
"Is your knee alright? Should I take you to the hospital?"
Fang Wenjun shook her head. The heavy snow came suddenly today, and all the buses to the square were delayed.
Having no other option, she had to walk over.
Since the small mural group didn't have much to do today, Qiu Yashu came along as well.
But as she was walking, Qiu Yashu suddenly slipped.
Out of instinct, Fang Wenjun pulled her up, and as a result, they both fell to the ground.
Fortunately, she managed to protect her wrist at the crucial moment; otherwise, the work of coloring the second half of the mural would definitely have been delayed.
Fang Wenjun said with a look of lingering fear, "It's nothing, I just tripped and fell on the way."
"By the way, Comrade Jiang, I think I just heard something about an emergency notice. What happened?"
Jiang Si arrived a few minutes earlier than them, and she wasn't sure of the specifics.
But she guessed that the problem might be with the wall coating in the mural area.
"What?"
Upon hearing that the problem originated here, Fang Wenjun's already pale face went completely bloodless.
This task is both an honor and a difficult challenge for their artists' association.
If the project cannot be completed smoothly, it may be escalated to the point of being labeled as a lack of proactive propaganda, or even, in severe cases, as a major accident.
At this moment, Fang Wenjun disregarded the pain in her knees.
"Let's go, let's get to the meeting point right away."
The meeting point is in the conference room on the second floor of the building next door.
Huo Tingzhou escorted the person to the meeting room door, and then, like the other members of the working group, stayed in the corridor to wait for news.
The atmosphere in the meeting room was extremely oppressive at that moment.
"Please sit down."
After Chairman Zhou and the others sat down, their usual amiable demeanor vanished.
He immediately launched into a tirade against Liang Guodong, the head of the mural construction team.
“What’s the use of hanging your head now? I’ve repeatedly told you to make sure you’re prepared for rain and snow.”
"The painting team members are all in place now, and the scaffolding has been erected."
"Now you're telling me there's a problem with the mural coating? How am I supposed to explain this to these people?!"
After this incident, Liang Guodong felt not only guilty but also somewhat aggrieved.
Seeing this, other members of the project team also spoke up in support.
"Chairman, this matter can't really be blamed on Team Leader Liang."
"This time, the eaves on the mural have been widened to 80 centimeters."
"The tarpaulin has been hung up, and two layers of straw curtains have been added in front. They have done all the necessary preparations."
No one expected that such strong winds would blow through Beijing last night, and this area happened to be right in the eye of the storm.
This morning, when they saw the tarpaulins and straw mats that had been blown askew, it felt like the sky had fallen.
What's even more disheartening is that the strong winds whipped up snow particles, directly wetting at least a third of the wall coating that had been drying for almost a month.
At first glance, it doesn't seem to have much of an impact, but the walls that were soaked in snow water overnight are now starting to peel in some areas.
If we were to force a painting now, let's not even talk about whether the wall is flat or not.
Even if the mural is completed smoothly, it will start to fade or peel off the wall within a month.
If it were just an ordinary mural, that would be fine.
However, this time the topic involves leaders and the worker-peasant-soldier group.
If such a mistake really occurs later, no one can bear the responsibility.
That's why Chairman Zhou couldn't control his temper for a moment.
But a problem has already arisen.
No amount of scolding now will help; Fang Wenjun asked a crucial question.
"Team Leader Liang, if we start repairing these areas now, is it possible to do it in time?"
"It's too late."
Team Leader Liang explained, "Because these snowflakes aren't large, continuous patches, we can only hurry up and scrape off all the existing coating and reapply it."
"How long would it take to lay a new layer at the fastest?"
"It's hard to say, it depends on the weather later on."
"If it doesn't snow again and the temperature is the same as before, the coating should be dry in about ten days."
"What?"
As soon as these words were spoken, Chairman Zhou and Fang Wenjun's voices rang out simultaneously.
"No, ten days is too long!"
The timeline for this project was set a long time ago. It will take about two weeks to make the initial draft and make revisions for the mural, and ten days for the coloring process.
In addition, after the mural is completed, it needs to be coated with two to three layers of tung oil to fix the color, which will take at least five to six days.
The timing for each step is extremely tight.
Now that the construction period is suddenly compressed to ten days, there are only twenty days left for the rest of the project.
The problem is that the theme of this mural is far more complex than what they have painted before, and there simply isn't enough time.
Because of this, members of other groups in the meeting room also started discussing it.
"What should we do? If we can't finish the project, how are we going to explain it to our superiors?"
I was hoping this would make me look good, but look what happened.
It won't save face, and you might even get punished.
The thought of this immediately filled the conference room with sighs and lamentations.
The painting team members also quietly asked Jiang Si about it.
"Team Leader Jiang, what should we do?"
"Don't rush," Jiang Si said after a moment's thought.
The head of the political work group suddenly suggested, "Why don't we change the plan? I remember the creative team has several alternative themes?"
"Those ones are all pretty good. Now we should hurry up and find someone with fewer roles. We should be able to find someone in time."
"no!"
These words were immediately met with unanimous opposition from the creative team.
"We spent so much time and effort to create this work."
"The problem lies with the construction team. If there's any pressure to cut back on time, it should be them. Why should we have to switch to an alternative plan?"
Team Leader Liang quickly stood up and apologized, "I'm sorry everyone, this is indeed a problem with our construction team."
"But we have no choice now, we really can't find the time."
"If you can't find the time, you can't just reject our proposal."
The creative team understood, but showed no intention of making any concessions.
Seeing that the two sides were about to start arguing, Chairman Zhou spoke up to stop them.
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