CH 33

Chapter 33: Trapped in an Office Building

The newly developed eco-tourism project with transformation has always been steadily advancing, and has never had any problems.

It was Friday, and with the weekend approaching, Zhou Mushi, who was fully responsible for the project, was with his two directors.

Li Daqiang and Jin Yang worked together for half an hour, discussing the contract for renting a house with a third party after conducting a field inspection at the beginning of next month.

Li Daqiang is forty years old this year, with both elderly parents and young children to take care of. His daughter is currently in her third year of middle school and studies in a school far away from home. She lives in the school dormitory during weekdays and needs someone to pick her up every Friday.

Originally, Li Daqiang’s wife was supposed to take care of picking up their daughter, but she couldn’t do it because her elderly mother-in-law was admitted to the hospital due to health reasons. She is currently at the hospital taking care of her, and couldn’t spare any time to do it.

When the contract had been sorted out in detail, Li Daqiang glanced at the time and apologized to his two colleagues, explaining his situation.

Zhou Mushi didn’t expect that keeping his employees overtime would delay their important matters. He quickly let them go and pick up the girl. As for the remaining details, he could discuss them with Jin Yang.

Despite some past grudges, these two men take their work seriously and are meticulous in their approach. Putting personal feelings aside, when it comes to discussing a project, they are quite harmonious in their interactions.

When it comes to details, even though they may seem small, they cannot be taken lightly. When it comes to really studying them, the more perfect they need to be, the more time it takes to accomplish.

The two printed contract samples had been marked up and revised, and they lost track of time.

“I think we can further reduce this percentage. Although giving fifteen percent to the third party may seem reasonable based on market standards, if we negotiate, it shouldn’t be a problem to lower it to fourteen percent.”

As Zhou Mushi leaned over to take a look at the document, he heard a “click” and the entire office plunged into darkness.

The sudden change from light to darkness made people feel uneasy.

Zhou Mushi instinctively gripped the armrests of his chair and asked, “Is it a power outage?”

“Probably,” Jin Yang replied. He opened the flashlight on his phone, which was much calmer in comparison. The small circle of light illuminated the office.

Zhou Mushi steadied his mind and bent down with Jin Yang to pick up the scattered documents that had accidentally fallen on the ground due to the power outage.

Picking up the pages one by one wasn’t too much trouble. One picked up from the left, the other from the right, until they reached the last page. It was then that Zhou Mushi’s hand accidentally brushed against Jin Yang’s hand.

The light from their phone’s flashlight was limited in its range and was currently resting on the table, leaving their crouched position partially shrouded in darkness. With their eyes meeting and faces close, the atmosphere became somewhat romantic.

Zhou Mushi quickly stood up from the ground, trying to ignore the sight of Jin Yang’s eyes that looked like they were filled with seawater.

“I think we should stop working for today. We don’t know when the electricity will come back on. Let’s continue next Monday.”

“Okay.” Jin Yang responded with a sound, and under the light of his phone, he organized the page numbers of the documents in his hand, and clipped them together before putting them into a folder beside him.

Similarly, Zhou Mushi turned on his phone’s flashlight, went to the next office to retrieve his coat, nodded with Jin Yang and said, “Let’s go,” and they walked together towards the door of the company.

When they arrived at the door and pressed the button to open it, there was no response from the company door.

Although the door was electric, it was also equipped with a battery for emergency use. How could it not even open now when the power was out?

Zhou Mushi repeatedly pressed his hand on the white switch several times to confirm, but there was still no response.

Damn it! Now, the people outside cannot come in, and the people inside cannot go out!

Zhou Mushi’s company was located on the 15th, 16th, and 17th floors of an office building. They couldn’t reach up or down, and looking out of the company’s window, the whole building was pitch black. This ruled out the possibility of a blown fuse in their company.

“Don’t worry, it’s probably just that the battery is dead. If we replace it with two new batteries, the door should be able to work again,” Jin Yang said calmly.

Zhou Mushi found a stool to sit on, and studied the door lock. Unfortunately, the battery could only be replaced from the outside.

This meant that unless someone outside replaced the battery for them, they wouldn’t be able to open the door by pressing the open button from the inside.

He nodded and gestured for Jin Yang to find a place to sit. Then, he opened the company’s WeChat group and sent a message.

“Is there any employee who lives close to the company? Please bring two pieces of size 5 and two pieces of size 7 batteries to the front of the company door to replace the door’s batteries.”

After Jin Yang looked at the notification sound on his phone’s WeChat, he immediately sent a large WeChat red envelope.

【Emergency Aid】

Zhou Mushi glanced at his phone screen and thought to himself, “As expected, this old fox knows how to play the game. This red envelope is definitely an opportunity to win people over.”

If it were the old Zhou Mushi, he would have refused to accept the red envelope. But now, after being in the business world for so long, he was familiar with all the twists and turns inside it. He was no longer as naive as he used to be.

The red envelope was quickly responded to, and an employee volunteered to come over with the batteries. Zhou Mushi breathed a sigh of relief and waited for the person to come and rescue him from this situation.

However, just after he sat down for less than two minutes, he began to realize that something was wrong with the situation.

Actually, they could have bought the batteries on a food delivery app and asked the delivery person to help install them, so as not to trouble the company’s employees. But it was too late now. It’s a lesson learned from a mistake.

The power outage not only meant that the lights were out, but also that the air conditioning had completely shut down. Despite it not being March yet, the large office suddenly lost its cool air and the heat dissipated. A chilly breeze seeped through the cracks and seemed to gather around the two living people in the room, penetrating through their clothes and attempting to burrow into their bones.

Zhou Mushi buttoned up his coat, but he still shivered in the cold.

The person next to him took off their own coat and handed it to him. Zhou Mushi was taken aback and pushed the coat back.

“I’m fine, you wear it yourself.”

Jin Yang smiled and didn’t insist, just put on his clothes again.

For a moment, Zhou Mushi felt a bit dazed, as if the current Jin Yang overlapped with the Jin Yang he had been with for three years. The person who had ruthlessly pushed him away that winter was left behind, and he couldn’t describe the feeling, as if it was someone else who had been so cruel, not Jin Yang.

The atmosphere was quiet, and time passed by second by second, but it didn’t feel long. That is, until the employee who was supposed to bring the batteries called Zhou Mushi on WeChat.

“Hello, President Zhou. I’m downstairs now, but it looks like I can’t get in because the building’s main entrance is closed today. I won’t be able to deliver the batteries.”