Chapter 7

Fang Shimian jumped down from the terrace railing, his face burning with embarrassment. In his haste to turn off the desk lamp, he only managed to make it brighter. The wind howled, and he seemed to hear a faint sound from next door, but he didn’t dare to look back to see who it was.

Finally, the light was turned off, and the terrace area returned to silence. Fang Shimian, trying to maintain his composure, returned to the bedroom. As soon as the curtains were drawn, he squatted on the ground, holding his head, looking quite annoyed and embarrassed.

Why did he have to make a call and enjoy the breeze for no reason…

He longed to return underground, missing the stagnant air of the surveillance room.

After squatting for a few minutes, Fang Shimian thought to himself that the person next door didn’t know who he was. They might not have been looking at him, and he hadn’t spoken loudly, nor was the light very bright.

The ornate carved door echoed with a rhythmic knock. Fang Shimian ruffled his wind-blown hair and got up to open the door.

“Mr. Fang, Mr. Zhu is asking if you would like to rest here or go back?” The maid’s voice was soft and sweet.

Fang Shimian stepped out, “I want to go home.”

When Fang Shimian was brought over, Zhu Ze had also stopped his conversation with Shen Jiang. Their discussion seemed pleasant, and they both smiled at Fang Shimian.

As they were leaving, Shen Jiang thanked them repeatedly, suggesting they stay and rest before heading back. Zhu Ze found an excuse to decline, as there were still events at the banquet ahead. The servant led the two of them away through the side garden path.

While walking in the garden, Fang Shimian thought about the terrace incident and, on a whim, looked up. He saw a large terrace on the third floor, slightly to the left, with lights on, and the room inside was also brightly lit.

“What are you looking at?” Zhu Ze touched Fang Shimian’s head and followed his gaze.

Fang Shimian lowered his head again and casually said, “Just looking around… this building is beautifully constructed.”

Zhu Ze rarely saw Fang Shimian express fondness for anything and asked, “Xiao Mian, do you like this style?”

The small building leaned towards Western classical architecture, with retro carvings and decorations. The exterior materials were all stone, a style favored by the older generation.

Fang Shimian was just making it up. It was so dark, and he was mostly focused on eating inside, but the carvings were indeed exquisite, and some of the patterns were quite beautiful, leaving a deep impression on him.

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

“Your actions today were too dangerous.” Zhu Ze relaxed, leaning back in his seat, tiredly rubbing his forehead. “Next time, don’t stray too far from me.”

It was only then that Fang Shimian noticed the smell of alcohol on Zhu Ze. He looked out the window, and in the hazy night, for some reason, he thought of the child being held by their parents, softly coaxed, crying uncontrollably.

“It’s just some cups, not stones.” Fang Shimian tried to keep his tone light.

Zhu Ze frowned, sighed, and closed his eyes. He clearly disagreed with Fang Shimian’s view but didn’t want to argue about it, so he said, “Anyway, it was a blessing in disguise. Shen Jiang is capable, and Maoshu is developing well now. Next year, they should be able to secure more policy resources. If you go there now, they certainly won’t treat you poorly.”

Fang Shimian remained silent, his head lowered in a daze.

Silence was a form of unspoken resistance.

Zhu Ze opened his eyes to look at him. Perhaps because of the alcohol, his voice carried a hint of sternness, “Do you really plan to stay in that basement for the rest of your life?”

The car fell silent again.

The driver glanced back through the mirror, and Zhu Ze’s expression was already unpleasant.

“I like my current job…” Fang Shimian didn’t dare to look at Zhu Ze’s expression.

Zhu Ze suddenly lowered his hand from his forehead, and Fang Shimian instinctively leaned towards the car window, feeling embarrassed after realizing it.

Seeing this, Zhu Ze’s initial anger turned into helplessness and pity, thinking that this child had been too restrained before, with a playful nature that hadn’t matured.

“If you don’t want to, we can talk about it later. Your brother won’t force you. Play if you want, and let me know when you’ve thought it through.”

Fang Shimian didn’t think working in the surveillance room was playing. Although there were few tasks, it was an important position. Detecting fires in time could save more than just a few people.

“Does the wound still hurt?”

Fang Shimian shook his head, “It’s not much of a wound, just that the suit got ruined. Can I return this set of clothes?”

Zhu Ze felt more headache but also found this child more endearing, slowly saying, “No need to return the clothes; they’re gifts. And don’t give me money anymore. If you feel bad, just consider it a gift from the Jiang family.”

The driver still took Fang Shimian to Yunjin. Fang Shimian greeted the security guard on night duty and went to the basement to get his little electric scooter.

After getting home, Fang Shimian checked the time and decided not to disturb Xu Long.

He had to switch shifts tomorrow, starting work at six in the afternoon. Fang Shimian turned off all the morning alarms.

The surveillance room had day and night shifts. The night shift was longer, from six in the evening to nine the next morning. However, there was a hidden camp bed behind the machines in the surveillance room, allowing two people to take turns sleeping at night, which wasn’t too bad.

Normally, day and night shifts rotated every half month, but sometimes they could negotiate with colleagues to rotate once a month.

When Fang Shimian woke up, he felt that desserts weren’t filling, and his stomach growled. After quickly washing up, he grabbed two bags of pickled pepper beef noodles and headed straight to Xu Long’s place. Xu Long seemed to have anticipated this, as the door wasn’t even closed.

Xu Long sat with his legs crossed, a cigarette in his mouth, playing games in the living room.

Fang Shimian ran into the kitchen, boiled water, and cooked four bags of instant noodles. He took two metal bowls from the empty cabinet above and added double the seasoning.

Once the noodles were ready, Fang Shimian brought the metal bowls to the living room coffee table. Xu Long hadn’t finished his game yet, so he grabbed the seafood-flavored bowl and slurped it down, pausing his cursing.

While eating noodles, Fang Shimian watched videos. Xu Long glanced at him and kicked a bottle of mineral water from under the coffee table, placing it in front of Fang Shimian, who opened it and drank, gasping from the spiciness.

Xu Long liked to play games with the volume turned up high, so Fang Shimian couldn’t hear the video content. He was about to move the bowl away when Xu Long voluntarily turned down the game volume a bit.

Satisfied, Fang Shimian continued eating noodles. He came across a video where someone loudly said, “Swipe away quickly, this method I won’t tell anyone…”

Xu Long looked up and saw Fang Shimian swiftly swipe the video away without a moment’s pause, almost laughing to death.

Sometimes, reverse marketing is pure self-destruction for certain groups.

After they were full, Xu Long reluctantly took the two large metal bowls to wash, while Fang Shimian sat on the sofa, leisurely opening a game and inviting Xu Long. He even tapped “agree” on Xu Long’s phone, which was on the coffee table.

When Xu Long finished washing the dishes and came out, they were already in a match.

He dried his hands and looked at Fang Shimian, whose lips were swollen from the spiciness, “Just so you know, if we lose, you can’t get mad at me.”

“Mm-hmm, got it.” Fang Shimian didn’t even lift his head.

After two hours of intense battle in the canyon, they successfully dropped a rank.

Fang Shimian exited the game, staring at his phone in a daze.

“You’re sulking again. Maybe you should just uninstall it,” Xu Long stretched lazily. “Why didn’t you come yesterday?”

“Got back too late, you were already asleep.” Fang Shimian opened a video app to study game techniques.

Xu Long wasn’t happy, shouting loudly, “How do you know I was asleep if you didn’t knock?”

Fang Shimian hummed a couple of times to brush him off, fully focused on watching videos.

In the afternoon, they went to a self-service barbecue place. Xu Long found it average, but Fang Shimian ate a lot.

After eating, they rode Xu Long’s motorcycle to work. At the non-motorized vehicle garage under Building Six, they took off their helmets. Xu Long, engrossed in his phone, didn’t watch where he was going, so Fang Shimian held his arm to guide him, preventing him from bumping into walls.

An off-road vehicle brushed past them, but it was moving slowly, so Xu Long didn’t notice. Only Fang Shimian glanced over, but he didn’t think much of it.

After seven o’clock, there was usually nothing much happening in the surveillance room. Fang Shimian took a folder, moved a chair in front of the big machine, operated it a bit, and pulled up today’s fire alarm records, sitting upright to start transcribing.

Xu Long was snoring behind the machine.

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

After transcribing, Fang Shimian put the file back and took the duty roster to keep by his side, filling it out every half hour.

Among the few people working in the surveillance room, only Fang Shimian diligently recorded every half hour. The others usually filled it out all at once. Even if they were unlucky and got caught, the fine was only a few dozen yuan, and everyone preferred to pay for convenience.

Fang Shimian took a piece of paper and started drawing on the surveillance console.

The surveillance room also had a camera, just one, facing the console. Because it was behind him, the screen couldn’t block it, and staff couldn’t play on their phones for long. With two people on duty, one had to stay at the console.

However, Xu Long never cared about these rules, and Ma Liang and the others didn’t mind either. Except for the rule that someone must be at the console, playing on phones was up to whoever was unlucky enough to be caught during a headquarters check.

So far, only Fang Shimian had listened to and followed these rules. In the two months of his internship, he had never been caught making a mistake. Even the headquarters’ inspectors were impressed with him, often sending managers to warn the other old hands not to teach him bad habits.

Around nine or ten o’clock, two night shift security guards came to the surveillance room to chat with Xu Long and Fang Shimian.

The night patrol posts were mostly older men, while the younger ones worked the day shift for appearances. They didn’t have a rest room or even a place to sit. The security booth had surveillance, so they couldn’t visit there. Only the surveillance room offered a place to rest.

Moreover, the city had cooled down in recent days, and it was getting colder at night. The surveillance room maintained a constant temperature with air conditioning to ensure the equipment operated normally. Compared to the biting cold outside, it was like a haven.

Xu Long got up and played a few rounds of mobile mahjong with them. Fang Shimian put down his pen and paper, took some peanuts and sunflower seeds from the cabinet, and stood behind them, watching intently.

After about half an hour, the two security guards left. Due to recent car vandalism incidents, the management was stricter, requiring them to clock in for patrols every half hour.

Xu Long checked the time and asked if Fang Shimian needed to use the restroom. When Fang Shimian declined, he went by himself.

The public restroom in the community was next to the property center upstairs, a bit of a distance from the surveillance room. Surveillance staff took turns going to the restroom.

Once Xu Long left, Fang Shimian buried himself in drawing again.

He had a fondness for patterns and totems. He drew the patterns that left a deep impression on him from the banquet, modifying the arrangement and line thickness, and then redrawing the overall design with his aesthetic considerations.

After finishing, he took a few photos and sent them to a contact in his WeChat, noted as Zhao You.

Zhao You: [On night shift again?]

Fang Shimian: [Mm-hmm]

Zhao You: [Come to my place during your days off.]

Zhao You: [Grandpa’s been talking about you a lot lately.]

Fang Shimian sent an OK emoji. Just as he was about to exit, he noticed an unread message from Zhu Ze.

Zhu Ze: [Dinner on Wednesday night. I’ve arranged for your leave. The driver will pick you up at five.]

Fang Shimian deleted the message directly, turned off his phone, and took out a blank sheet of paper to draw little figures.