Assistant Architect

Chapter 3: Interview

“What are you doing in the room alone?” Fu Xinhui, who heard the noises from the other room, shouted from the hallway.

“Ah, ah...” Zhang Siyi opened the door, pounced for him while waving his arms around and yelling to express his excitement for the moment.

Fu Xinhui turned to avoid him as his hands were full.

Just at this moment, a voice came from the front door. “What are you doing?” Jiang Hai held the key in his left hand while holding a convenience store lunch box in his right hand and looked at them with a strange expression.

Fu Xinhui: “...”

Zhang Siyi excitedly rushed to Jiang Hai cheering: “I received a response from a job inquiry! I am going to an interview!”

“Really?” Jiang Hai followed with a happy smile, “Which company?”

“Borderless Architecture Design!”

The three people gathered together around the coffee table and talked. Jiang Hai had an arranged job, so he wasn’t familiar with other architectural companies other than the several large design institutes. He asked: “Is that place good or not?”

Fu Xinhui, thinking, hmm... “I haven’t heard of it and you didn’t hear back for so long. Doesn’t that mean it’s a bad company that nobody goes to?”

Zhang Siyi was so angry at his friends. He quickly set them straight and showed them the background information of Borderless and its evaluation from critics online.

Jiang Hai said: “It sounds very good. When are you going to the interview?”

With this reminder, Zhang Siyi immediately became anxious. He slapped his forehead and said: “What should I do for three days starting tomorrow? I am so nervous. What questions do you usually ask during an interview?”

Fu Xinhui chuckled and joked: “You look so handsome, it shouldn’t be a problem!”

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Zhang Siyi: “Seriously?... that’s not funny.”

Jiang Hai scratched his head and said: “I haven’t interviewed yet so maybe ask Su Yuan for help?”

Su Yuan is one of the girls who returned home during the same period as them. Her professional achievements were considered the best among several people and her career path was nicely planned. While Zhang Siyi was still traveling around with Fu Xinhui after graduating, she had been offered a starting position with a British design firm in the Haicheng branch. They were not Chinese, but they were very friendly with each other.

Zhang Siyi slapped his thigh and hurried back to the room to get his iPad and make a video call to Su Yuan.

“Hello!” Once connected, Su Yuan’s passionate voice came from the other side. “Little Yi, what’s up?”

In the video, the girl wore a short black dress. She talked to them with a mobile phone in one hand and moved the strap of the chain bag in her other hand out of the way, revealing a mature intellectual beauty.

Before they became classmates, Su Yuan studied English for two years at a domestic university and then transferred to an architecture program abroad. Thus, she was two years older and usually called them “little”.

At this time, another smiling face with beautiful eye makeup and a lip gloss, squeezed into the small window of the video making her shine.

“What’s going on? “This is the other female classmate, Ren Mengyu, who stayed in Haicheng,” Where are you going?”

“Just after work, classmate Xuan Xuan called out to go clubbing. “Su Yuan laughed.

“Sounds like fun!” Fu Xinhui and Jiang Hai also came over to the iPad to say hello.

“Oh, of course, do you want to come out and have a drink?” Ren Mengyu warmly invited.

Thinking of his interview, Zhang Siyi quickly refused, indicating that he had a purpose to his phone call to her. He told her about the interview appointment with Borderless. Su Yuan was shocked: “Wow, I also applied for Borderless before, and they didn’t respond to me!”

Zhang Siyi glanced at the two ignorant buddies. See, I told you! This company is amazing. I wasn’t bragging.

After a few laughs, Su Yuan returned to the topic at hand: “In general, by scheduling an appointment, it means they already recognize your work. If the interview goes well, and your portfolio presentation is good, there won’t be a problem. Some overseas studios let foreigners interview you in order to gauge how good your professional English communication skills are. This is already an advantage in China.” Su Yuan shrugged. “In my opinion, going to the interview is just procedure. They will talk about your salary and work expectations, nothing else.”

Zhang Siyi was still very nervous. He is not as composed as Su Yuan so naturally he can’t emulate her calm aura.

With encouragement, Su Yuan said: “Relax, we are a few undergraduates fresh out of school. Do you think you were recruited to be the backbone of the firm?” No! What they want is cheap labor and the willingness to work hard so the most important thing is attitude! You’ve already knocked on that door, so just act like you can do anything, no matter what the interviewer asks you to do. You have to say ‘yes’, even if it’s something you rather not do. It’s important to express your willingness to learn. They are also taking a gamble on a new graduate. It will be up to your own power whether you will become a rock or diamond.

Zhang Siyi was inspired by her words: “Yes, thanks for guiding me!”

Su Yuan waved her hand and smiled. “You’ll be fine. Don’t worry so much!”

Being filled with such a good feeling, Zhang Siyi was so excited that he had a hard time falling asleep. Even though he fell asleep in the early hours of the morning, he quickly woke up. He was sleepy, but thinking of the interview, he was determined to make a good impression. He quickly got out of bed and jumped into the bathroom to wash thoroughly... soap, shampoo, shave. For the better part of an hour, Zhang Siyi fussed with his hair and clothing choices. He wanted to make the best impression possible during the interview. The last time he spent so much energy on his appearance was two years ago when he went to meet a girl.

Finally, looking at the radiant and handsome young man in the mirror, Zhang Siyi whistled. His long-lost confidence bloomed from the bottom of his heart.Let’s do this!

The office is in the center of Haicheng City which was only 20 minutes by subway from the apartment he rents. In the future, if he can work there, then it is extremely convenient to go to and from the office every day. This advantage makes Zhang Siyi happy and makes him look forward to it.

There were many people nearby all rushing to their destinations. Arriving at the building, Zhang Siyi looked up at the 100 meters tall facade. He can see the Borderless logo on the first floor. Looking at the white-collar elite who rushed to the entrance, Zhang Siyi opened his arms, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath of the city’s dirty morning air. Soon he will become a member of these office workers and work every day from 9 to 5. Thinking this, Zhang Siyi is filled with happiness.

Because it is the morning rush hour, there are a lot of people coming and going. The elevator seems to stop at every floor in the building. Finally, at the floor where the Borderless offices are located, the elevator door opened to reveal a large glass wall with a plant display.

Zhang Siyi is startled to see that it is a whole surface is built from glass creating a lattice frame and on almost every shelf, lays a plant. There are plants seemingly of every variety. Herbal plants, conifers, succulents, small sparse plants, fat fleshy ones... There isn’t any pattern to them, but the plant display creates a visually pleasing, modern art piece.

Through the glass and gaps between the pots, you can faintly see the internal office space. The neatly arranged beige tables are full of computers each with an employee in twos and threes, working intensively.

... ah ah, it’s so cool!

After turning left, Zhang Siyi saw the awe inspiring, red logo “Borderless” on the pure white wall at the end of the green corridor. Along the wide wall, straight to the end, Zhang Si Yi sees small black words below the characters in a row: “The Pursuit Is Endless”

Zhang Siyi’s heart instantly soars and looks so happy and excited that one would think he was in love.

Further inside is the entrance to the office, Zhang Siyi regained his senses and approached the front desk asking about his appointment. The other party enthusiastically took him into a small reception room and poured him a glass of water and courteously said, “Please wait a moment, I will inform the personnel department.” Half a minute later, Miss Wang from the personnel department came over and greeted him, telling him that the director who will interview him would arrive soon.

Zhang Siyi nodded and expressed his gratitude. While waiting for the appointment time, he thought about all that has transpired lately. He imagined that the director would ask his own array of questions so once again he thought about Su Yuan’s words and desperately tried to encourage himself.

“Knock Knock. The sound of fingers tapping the glass door pulled back Zhang Siyi thoughts. He turned his head and saw a tall, thin young man standing at the door.

Leather casual shoes, gray casual pants, white t-shirts, open cotton sweater.... Wait a minute, this person looks familiar!

Ah... yesterday morning... in the cafe.... coffee ... He seems to be -that- handsome guy!

...Oo Oao! Why is this person here?!!

He glanced at Zhang Siyi to the side with a blank expression and slightly pointing his head to him to show his greetings. Then he gestured gracefully, as if they were only meeting for the first time.

... Has he forgotten?

“Hello, my name is Gu Yu.” The opposite youth took out a business card and offered it to Zhang Siyi. Then he officially took out a pen and said: “Introduce yourself.”

Zhang Siyi glanced at the words on the business card –

Gu Yu

National First-Class Certified Architect

Creative Design Director

Compared with Zhang Siyi’s inner turmoil, the other party looks very calm. He slowly opened the file in his hand and asked, “You are Zhang Siyi, right?”

“Uh, uh, hello....... Director Gu? Zhang Si Yi cannot believe that this person is an architect? The fucking director? He looks a little older than himself! Why is the director so young??

At each title Zhang Siyi eyes bulged.

Zhang Siyi’s mind is suddenly full of his conversation with his ex-girlfriend from yesterday morning. Because of the comments she said, he assumes that he left a very bad impression on the director in front of him. Plus, the coffee......

For a moment, he can see his original dream job coalesce into a large bubble and float away only to “pop” right in front of him.

If, last night, the Lord let him experience the joys of heaven, then now, Zhang Si Yi deeply tasted something bitter, that is “the ultimate sorrow”. It takes only a moment to fall from the clouds to the bottom of the valley. He suddenly feels that this job is not going to happen.

Gu looked at him, Zhang Siyi immediately sat up straighter, and stiffly said: “I, my name is Zhang Siyi. I graduated from the British Department of Architecture.”

Gu Yu used the end of the pen to point at the printed material on the table, that is Zhang Siyi’s resume: “I know, say something else.”

“...” something else? Say what? The situation is a complete mess.

Gu Yu put down the pen, picked up his arm and leaned back on the chair, and looked at Zhang Siyi up and down. He said, “You cleaned up.”

Zhang Siyi: “...” he really remembers!!!

Director Gu raised his eyebrows: “Why don’t you say something about your girlfriend?”

Zhang Siyi now despondent, wonders: “is this man joking?” But why doesn’t his eyes and tone look like a joke at all?

Gu Yu waited for a moment, looked at Zhang Siyi helpless face and sighed. He asked, “Then, why did you study architecture? Why did you send a resume to Borderless without a clear goal?”