Chapter 31
Yoda arrived at the company in the morning and waited for a long time, but Zhou Liu never showed up. He called and found Zhou Liu's phone on his desk. Going out alone wasn't convenient, but luckily there wasn't much work to do today, so Yoda could only wait where he was.
After waiting for quite a while, Zhou Liu walked over with a bad expression.
"What's wrong?" Zhou Liu lowered his head and didn't speak. Yoda looked at the others behind him, whispering amongst themselves.
Yoda looked on in confusion as Zhou Liu silently packed his things. "What's going on?"
Zhou Liu hesitated for a moment, but still said in a low voice, "I quit. I'm leaving now."
"What?"
Yoda discovered that the company had already issued an internal notice that Zhou Liu had been fired for taking on private orders, which affected the company's image.
Yoda frowned. She knew that Zhou Liu was taking orders privately, but he had never advertised them under the company's name. How could the company have found out?
But it was pointless to say anything now; the atmosphere between them was heavy. After all, everyone knew that the decision to expel them had been made public, and there was no going back.
Zhou Liu looked up and forced a smile: "It's good that you left. It's not hard to find a job with such low pay anywhere."
Yoda could only feign nonchalance. But what would happen after leaving the company was anyone's guess.
The dejected Yoda didn't notice that some people in the crowd were avoiding eye contact.
In fact, Yoda had many more questions he wanted to ask: why did the company discover that Zhou Liu was definitely not the only one doing this, and why was he the only one who was fired in the end?
There were just too many people coming and going around, so Yoda couldn't speak up and could only watch Zhou Liu leave with his things.
Zhou Liu's departure had no impact. Everyone went to work as usual. Yoda looked at her work assignments for the day and tentatively asked the person in charge of assigning them, "Zhou Liu's gone, who am I going with?"
The person said irritably, "You can do it by yourself. Many people do it by themselves now. Before, there were many interns, so we arranged them in pairs. Now there are hardly any interns left, so you can go by yourself."
After saying that, he left. It seems that the requirement that two people must go together to ensure professional accuracy, which was mentioned when he first came in for the internship, was just an insignificant excuse.
Yoda didn't ask any more questions. The other party's attitude was already very clear: Zhou Liu was gone, and no one would feel that it had any impact.
Using the excuse of going out for measurements, Yoda caught up with Zhou Liu. Sure enough, he hadn't gone far, sitting alone on the steps outside the company, talking on the phone. Yoda approached and overheard him say, "I'll take responsibility. The results are in, I'm leaving."
Yoda stepped forward and looked at Zhou Liu, who had hung up the phone and slumped his shoulders: "Why don't you explain yourself? I don't believe you could have done this all by yourself, let alone something so serious that the company should fire you immediately."
“Even if you took on private orders, someone still needs to do the drawing and construction work. The two of us are already exhausted from going out every day, how do you still have time? There must be other people besides you, right? If you had explained, you wouldn’t have been fired like this.”
Zhou Liu put the things in his hand on top of the trash can and said, "What's there to explain? Anyway, I don't want to be a designer. I can't even survive in this city on such a low salary. Even if I wasn't fired, I would have quit."
Yoda sighed: "So where will you go after you resign?"
Zhou Liu remained silent; in truth, he hadn't made up his mind either.
Yoda looked at Zhou Liu, who was stubborn but looked completely lost. Yoda's initial anger at Zhou Liu's lack of ambition gradually subsided. The two of them sat on the steps, watching the cars drive by from time to time.
Yoda broke the silence: "There must be a reason why you want to take on this responsibility alone."
Zhou Liu stared blankly at the road, his eyes unfocused: "Don't ask anymore. Anyway, even if I reveal other people's names, I'll still leave. It doesn't matter who takes the blame."
Yoda recalled what Zhou Liu had said earlier and realized that this wasn't just because he was taking orders privately. But if Yoda knew this, how could the company not know?
Looking back now, this was probably the result of a balance between all parties. By having Zhou Liu dismissed, the company's stance was demonstrated without harming the interests of others, making it a relatively low-cost solution.
Yoda didn't know what to say. The company agreed, Zhou Liu was willing, and she had no grounds to disagree. However, she couldn't help feeling a little sad, because she was just an intern, so it wouldn't matter if she left.
Zhou Liu snapped out of his thoughts and saw Yoda staring blankly at the road beside him, just like he had been earlier. His face held a rare look of dejection. He offered words of comfort: "Don't overthink it. You're going to be a design assistant now, so just focus on becoming a designer smoothly. I never liked doing these internships day after day. Besides, the company's attitude towards interns isn't new. From the beginning, nobody cared who we were. Someone like you, who's actually learning from the designers, is already doing quite well. Haven't you noticed how many of the interns who joined with us couldn't take it anymore and left?"
He scratched his head as he spoke: "And I really feel that I'm not suited to be a designer, I can't do it. So, I might as well switch careers now. Maybe a different track will suit me better."
Yoda pouted: "After studying for so many years, if it were easy to switch careers, you wouldn't have had to endure so much with me."
Zhou Liu stood up and patted his back: "Don't worry about me. I'm a grown man, I'm not going to starve to death. I'll work hard and find a new job."
As she spoke, she seemed a little embarrassed and said to Yoda, "Well, Zhou Ying, you shouldn't say anything. If she finds out that I was fired during my probation period, she'll definitely criticize me. I can imagine she'll say that I didn't study hard when I was studying, and now I'm not working hard at work either."
Zhou Liu imitated Zhou Ying's tone, ending with a frustrated yet helpless stomp of his foot, a signature move of Zhou Ying.
Yoda was amused, and the heavy atmosphere dissipated. Zhou Liu continued, "But from now on, you'll have to go out by yourself."
Yoda laughed: "You should worry about yourself first. If you need anything, just tell me."
Zhou Liu turned around gracefully: "Don't worry, I'm leaving."
Even the slow-witted Wang Mian noticed something was wrong at the firm. The atmosphere had been strange lately, and everyone vaguely sensed it, tacitly agreeing to wait for a clear instruction.
Shi Xing sat in his office, deep in thought, staring at the design plans. The interior design project he was working on featured a large, panoramic window in the living room, offering a view of the river in the distance. Although the homeowner, due to budget constraints, only required basic functionality.
Shi Xing felt that following the usual approach would waste the window view. For the best final effect, a panoramic window should be installed, and the living room should be decorated around it; the final result would be much better. However, he frowned slightly, still struggling with how to balance the final renovation cost and the design effect. Perhaps, he could find some more cost-effective alternatives in the building materials to reduce costs.
Compared to before, Shi Xing now wants to design the effects he desires. Even if adding his own ideas increases his workload, he is willing to keep trying.
Just then, Yu Shun pushed the door open and entered. Shi Xing's thoughts were interrupted, and he subconsciously frowned, but quickly regained his composure.
Unaware of what was happening, Yu Shun walked straight to Shi Xing's desk and asked in an unfriendly tone, "Why aren't you doing the orders I signed?"
Shi Xing calmly met her gaze: "Those renovation orders that are meant to be rented out? I've done a lot of those before, and I don't want to do these repetitive designs anymore. Besides, at the price you gave, our design fees are simply not enough."
Yu Shun was somewhat speechless. Of course, he knew that Shi Xing didn't want to do repetitive designs right now, but it was so difficult to get contracts these days. Was it a time when you could just say you didn't want to do something and then refuse? Besides, what did it matter if the design fee was a little lower? In the end, if they changed the building materials, they would still make a profit.
Thinking of this, Yu Shun, who was initially a little guilty, rallied: "It's not like you can do whatever you want. The firm also needs costs to operate. Look at all these people sitting there outside. Every single person and every day is a cost to both of us. And you're here talking to me about design. Didn't you agree with what I was doing in the first place? If we don't do it now, how will the firm survive? This is not only your hard work, but also mine."
Shi Xing looked at the angry Yu Shun and calmed down: "We've already discussed the design aspects, and I'll take charge. Besides, the projects you want to undertake don't meet market demands. Shared rental apartments are about to be banned, and if you start renovating now, it will cause a lot of disputes later."
Yu Shun paused, he knew, but so what? Someone had come to them for a design; they just needed to finish it quickly, decorate the house, and get paid, right? Why worry about so much? Seeing Shi Xing's expression, he suddenly felt embarrassed and continued, "This isn't a design issue. Do you know how hard it is to do business these days? If we don't take on a project we worked so hard to get, it'll damage the firm's reputation. Besides, if you don't want to do it now, we have so many designers we can have others do it."
Shi Xing looked up and said, "I won't allow anyone to accept these low-priced designs under the firm's name. I've already seen the price they offered. Even with the cost-cutting measures, normally there's no profit to be made on this project."
Yu Shun: "The past is the past, and the present is the present. When we first started, orders came to us. Now, people have to actively sign contracts. And if you don't do sales and rely entirely on me to work hard on marketing, it will be even more difficult in the future."
He walked over to Shi Xing's desk and handed him the contract: "Sign this contract now. We'll continue with the previous profit sharing for this order. If you don't want to do it, then we'll have to renegotiate the previous profit sharing ratio."
Yu Shun continued, "You know, nowadays other firms don't offer profit sharing without designers. I was trying to take care of you back then, but reality has changed. You have to be flexible."
Shi Xing looked at the opposing viewpoint and asked calmly, "How can this be considered a flexibility?"
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