Chapter 044: Iron-blooded Night-Staying Man
Although this was a bit unethical, after all, it was done secretly in front of colleagues. But because Chen Sangning and he were playing finger-entwining, Lin Xi felt that time passed quite quickly.
Lin Xi really looked like she was in a daze, staring at her colleagues with lifeless eyes.
After a long moment, Lin Xi noticed Uncle Li move. She poked Shen Sangning's hand, and she instantly withdrew it. But they had been playing for too long, their fingers tangled together, and Shen Sangning didn't withdraw in time. Uncle Li saw something white flash from Lin Xi's arms.
He was silent for a moment. Lin Xi looked at him, still wearing an innocent smile. But in reality, Lin Xi felt a little guilty. Her performance only went so far as the innocent smile. If Uncle Li asked anything else, she might reveal something. Fortunately, Uncle Li was a quiet man. Even if he thought he had mistaken Lin Xi, he would not initiate a conversation with her.
Uncle Li carried his teacup and walked to the water dispenser not far from Lin Xi. After filling it with water, he looked at his watch and said, "It's almost time. Let's decide where to patrol."
Lin Xi also looked at his watch, but to her surprise, it was already 9:25.
After Uncle Li spoke, Xiao Zhao and Sister Sun put down their work. Seeing this, Lin Xi stood up as well. They came to the table in the middle of the duty room. Uncle Li pulled out a map. Lin Xi took a closer look and saw it was a map of the funeral home. Uncle Li seemed to hold a higher position among the four employees.
Being older, he should have worked the longest, so he gave the task directly.
"Lin Xi, today is your first day at work, and you are not required to be able to work on your own. So, you and Xiao Sun can go around our building, check out the fences and walkways nearby, and then go to the security booth at the door. Xiao Zhao and I will go around the inside separately."
Sister Sun, fearing Lin Xi might not understand, briefly explained the usual patrol areas. This building, with its twelve farewell halls, large and small, was the most important; every room needed to be visited. Then, every floor of the administrative building and the cafeteria needed to be visited. The dormitories didn't need to be visited; just stand at the entrance with a flashlight and scan for any unusual signs. Finally, the roads. The funeral home was quite large, so it was enough to glance around the roads as you walked around the buildings.
"It's all thanks to you. Otherwise, I would have to walk around for a long time, and I wouldn't have been able to take on such an easy job." Sister Sun laughed and said to Xiao Zhao and Uncle Li, "Thank you for your hard work today. I'll take her around once, and she'll know what to do. Let her walk around on her own later, and I'll help you with the work."
Everyone rested in the duty room for a while. It was almost 10 o'clock. At 9:50, Uncle Li tightened his hat and said, "Let's go." He and Xiao Zhao took the flashlight and keys and went out first, followed by Sister Sun and Lin Xi.
The two of them walked very fast, and when Lin Xi came out, they had disappeared.
Sister Sun shook the key in her hand and explained the situation to Lin Xi: "You don't need to go to the third floor. We are only responsible for the first and second floors.
"Sister Sun took Lin Xi and started from the room opposite the duty room. They opened the doors one by one, shone the flashlight around, and moved forward after confirming that there was nothing wrong.
There were twelve rooms on the second floor. After inspecting them, they also checked the electrical distribution box in the middle of the second floor. After confirming that everything was working properly, Sister Sun shone her flashlight at the third-floor stairwell and led Lin Xi downstairs. The light from the two flashlights flickered in the first-floor lobby, reflecting off the tiles and glass. The first floor was even simpler than the second. The front was the payment area, with a waiting area on one side and a restroom on the other.
After a brief walk around, Sister Sun took Lin Xi on another walk around, and finally headed to the security booth. Inside the booth was the same security guard from before. He waved at Sister Sun from inside the security room. Sister Sun said, "That's considered a greeting. We don't need to go into the security room."
Lin Xi nodded to indicate that he understood.
Next, Sister Sun took Lin Xi for a walk around the periphery, but still nothing happened.
The whole trip didn't take that long. Lin Xi raised her hand to check the time; only an hour had passed. The most tedious part was being inside the building. She had to open and lock each room one by one, even pushing open the toilet stalls one by one, checking both the men's and women's restrooms.
After a round of patrol, Sister Sun was ready to take Lin Xi back to the duty room. Lin Xi tilted her head and called Sister Sun.
"But isn't the patrol time from 10 to 12 o'clock? It's only a little after 11 o'clock now. Isn't it too early for us to go back?" She had wasted a lot of brain cells in order to memorize the rules. She remembered very clearly that the patrol time was from 10 to 12 o'clock. Lin Xi guessed that this rule was set by the boss. If they went back early now, it might be a violation of the rules.
Capitalists are like this. If you slack off for a minute at work, they will treat you as if you are not working, let alone shortening the time by an hour. If I go back now, I am afraid that the boss will suddenly appear in the duty room and kill Lin Xi directly.
Sister Sun was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized: "Oh, thanks for reminding me. I usually work long hours, and it takes me two hours to walk here. I shortened my journey today and forgot about it. Then let's walk around for a while and go back when it's time."
Her performance was a bit fake, and her words were also weird. How could it be possible to shorten the time from two hours to one hour without feeling anything? It was obvious that she wanted to trick Lin Xi. Although the rules would definitely apply to ghosts, as long as Sister Sun didn't go into the duty room in the end, she could just push Lin Xi in from outside.
Besides, maybe she has other ways to evade the punishment of the rules.
After all, he's a veteran employee. Wouldn't it be easy for him to bully a newcomer like Lin Xi? Ugh, what workplace bullying?
Lin Xi quickly thought of the name of this strange rule talk - Survival is Work. Looking at it now, it seems reasonable to read it the other way around as Work is Survival.
After Lin Xi reminded her, Sister Sun finally "remembered" that it was not her break time yet, so she continued to walk around with Lin Xi. They didn't really have to work, they just had to walk around aimlessly. They walked around for a long time on the road between the building and the security booth within an hour, and occasionally sat on the curb to rest for a while.
Lin Xi felt like they were trapped in a maze. Thinking of the same thing she encountered when she first came to the funeral home, Lin Xi couldn't help but sigh. She wondered why there was such a maze at the intersection. It turned out that everything made sense and everything was connected.
There is no such thing as a ghost wall in the world. It is the result of slacking off too much and doing repetitive things over and over again that a ghost wall is formed.
They rested on the curb until 11:50 before heading back. It was 11:56 when they arrived at the door of the duty room on the second floor. Sister Sun smiled and asked Lin Xi to go in first, as she suddenly remembered that she had something else to do.
——Are you coming again?
Lin Xi remained silent and didn't go inside at all. Instead, he stayed in front of the window at the end of the corridor: "I'm getting a little hot from walking. I'll take a breath here and go in later."
Sister Sun's smile remained unchanged. She didn't bother doing what she had just thought of. She said to Lin Xi, "You're right. I'll take a breather."
They didn't stay in the window for long. At 12:01, Uncle Li and Xiao Zhao came back. Uncle Li didn't say anything and went straight inside. Xiao Zhao smiled and said, "Why are you two standing here? Why don't you go in and sit down?"
"It's stuffy in there, I'll stand by the window with Lin Xi for a while."
Seeing Uncle Li had gone in, Lin Xi said, "Don't stand anymore, go in and sit down."
She finally understood that the essence of being a worker is to never be late or leave early, but don't expect them to work any longer. A seasoned worker like Uncle Li always arrives at 12:01. Lin Xi roughly understood the intricacies of working hours, so she didn't plan to stand outside any longer and went inside.
Lin Xi took a sip of water to moisten her throat. She'd been admitted to university as an athlete, and she'd gotten in regularly. So, even after two hours of walking, she wasn't tired. With this level of work, the average person wouldn't be too exhausted.
Because after walking for a while, Sister Sun would take them to rest for a while. It seemed that she was very considerate of Lin Xi, but in fact, Lin Xi found that this matter was not simple. With Sister Sun by their side, nothing happened during their patrol this time. But next time, it would be Lin Xi who would patrol alone. This seemingly peaceful journey, where they could even rest several times, would be so safe if Lin Xi was alone.
Lin Xi was very skeptical, and once he became lazy, it would be difficult for him to exert his full strength.
From the moment he started working, this night shift seemed too easy. Lin Xi knew that the real test would be the next patrol.
From 12 to 4, there is nearly four hours of rest time, especially at 2 or 3 o'clock, when people are most likely to feel sleepy. The duty room is extremely quiet, with only some fixed sounds, such as the sound of Uncle Li turning pages and the crisp click of Xiao Zhao flipping the Rubik's Cube. There is almost no sound from Sister Sun.
It is really easy to fall asleep in a quiet, comfortable environment with a little white noise.
But Lin Xi was different. First and foremost, she was young. Young people these days might not be good at many other things, but they were incredibly good at staying up late. Back in college, if Shen Sangning asked Lin Xi to go hiking the next day, she'd go to class the day before, stay up all night playing games, and then be energetic the next morning to go hiking with Shen Sangning.
For a hard-working person like Lin Xi who stays up late at night, it would be a daydream to want her to be sleepy. If she were still at work, she might not be able to resist the temptation of Zhou Gong and fall asleep leisurely. But today was different. Not only had she slept well during the day, but now there was Shen Sang Ning playing finger hooks with her, how could Lin Xi be sleepy!
It was impossible for her to feel sleepy, and it was even more impossible for her to fall asleep immediately. Not only was she not sleepy, she was also full of energy.
Even when Sister Sun said to her at two o'clock, "Lin Xi, don't be so nervous on your first day at work. If you feel sleepy, just take a nap." Lin Xi ruthlessly rejected her.
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