No Ghosting Allowed chapter 38
You Have to Stand with Me
It took Zhou Qingbo two seconds to react to why Pei You suddenly asked to buy him coke.
His expression went from confusion to sudden realization, seamlessly connecting as if it only took a moment.
“interesting” Zhou Qingbo’s footsteps moved slightly as he leaned closer to Pei You, smiling mischievously as he looked at him. “Are you trying to appease me?”
The term sounded a bit too intimate, but Pei You couldn’t find another adjective to replace it, so after hesitating for a moment, he accepted it.
“That won’t do.” Teacher Zhou seemed to have an education hobby, trying to seize every opportunity to correct his only student’s “straight male” thinking.
“One trick can’t be used repeatedly; you have to adapt your methods accordingly.” Zhou Qingbo shook his head. “For example, you have to consider the actual situation and adjust your approach to appease someone.”
Pei You: …
Pei You subconsciously slowed down his pace, afraid that Zhou Qingbo’s voice would be heard by the middle-aged man ahead.
They had just had a minor confrontation a moment ago. If the man heard Zhou Qingbo lecturing him on “love matters,” the atmosphere would become even more awkward.
“For example, right now.” Zhou Qingbo paused, saying earnestly, “I’m upset with someone, so you have to stand with me and not change the subject.”
Pei You: …
“…Then, what does it mean to stand with someone?” Pei You asked.
“Well…” Zhou Qingbo gave him a look that seemed to say “you should know,” then thought for a moment. He glanced at the distant figure of the middle-aged man, raised an eyebrow, and whispered, “For example, you could help me put a sack over his head and beat him up. That would be satisfying.”
The answer caught Pei You off guard and he was taken aback for a moment, about to advise Zhou Qingbo to give up this dangerous idea, but then he saw him burst into laughter, leaning his head on Pei You’s shoulder.
“Just kidding.” Zhou Qingbo nudged Pei You with his elbow and whispered in his ear, “Don’t take it seriously; it’s not worth going to jail for someone like him. I’m not angry anymore; I was just teasing you.”
Zhou Qingbo’s temper came and went quickly. His momentary impulsiveness was quickly interrupted by Pei You.
Zhou Qingbo always felt that Pei You was like a positive emotion diffuser. When they were together, even working overtime felt more comfortable than before, let alone dealing with such trivial matters.
“But we still have to buy the cola,” Zhou Qingbo never liked being taken advantage of and was good at pushing it further. He stretched out two fingers and shook them in front of Pei You, pretending, “With such a big psychological trauma, I need two bottles to heal.”
Pei You: “…”
Pei You understood. It suddenly dawned on him that Zhou Qingbo had taken all those twists and turns just to get these two bottles of cola.
But no matter how you looked at it, exchanging two bottles of cola for a cooperative and well-behaved Zhou Qingbo was definitely a good deal.
So, Pei You willingly fell into this “consumer trap” and bought two bottles of cola for him from the supermarket near the construction site.
The middle-aged man waited impatiently at the warehouse entrance for more than ten minutes, wishing he could dig a hole in the sand under his feet. Finally, he saw the belated arrival of Pei You and Zhou Qingbo.
The middle-aged man obviously looked down on Zhou Qingbo, who came to the construction site to “inspect” and had to buy drinks. He glanced at him disdainfully and snorted.
Zhou Qingbo didn’t care how others saw him. He walked up lazily and walked side by side with Pei You. As they entered the warehouse, he casually stuffed the extra bottle of cola he was holding into Pei You’s briefcase.
Pei You glanced at him and Zhou Qingbo innocently blinked at him, making a gesture.
“It’s too heavy,” he said. “I’ll also drink them later.”
Pei You was used to Zhou Qingbo’s whims, so he wasn’t too surprised. He just nodded lightly, then went into the warehouse, holding Zhou Qingbo’s hand and pulling him along.
The warehouse made of colored steel was hot and dim. Cement and sand were piled up haphazardly in the same room, causing irritating construction dust everywhere.
Zhou Qingbo furrowed his brows and chose not to walk through the dusty mess. Instead, he stood at the edge of the warehouse, idly looking around.
On the wall of the main entrance of the warehouse hung a simple paper attendance book. Zhou Qingbo walked over, glanced at it casually, and surprisingly found a few familiar names on it.
He frowned slightly, the nonchalant smile on his face faded a bit, revealing a hint of seriousness.
The middle-aged man and Pei You had already walked deeper into the warehouse to take inventory. Zhou Qingbo confirmed that there were no other people nearby, reached out, and flipped through the attendance book.
The attendance book was already pressed to the first page, with several foremen’s passport-sized photos stuck on it. Zhou Qingbo carefully inspected each one and found the person he was looking for in the second last row.
Having verified his guess, Zhou Qingbo reset the attendance book, thought for a moment, then turned and walked into the warehouse to find Pei You, who was working.
“Pei You.” Zhou Qingbo walked to the depths of the warehouse and called out to him from a distance.
Pei You looked up from a pile of steel bars in front of him, turned to look at Zhou Qingbo, and asked, “What’s up?”
“It’s stuffy in here.” Zhou Qingbo said lazily, “I want to go out and take a break.”
Zhou Qingbo was originally worried that Pei You couldn’t handle these local workers and might get bullied or underestimated. But he had just witnessed Pei You’s ability to deal with people, so he put his worries aside and prepared to go out.
Their gazes met briefly in midair. In that split second, Pei You already understood Zhou Qingbo’s intention. He nodded and instructed, “Go ahead but be careful of the pits outside, and don’t step on any abandoned materials.”
Zhou Qingbo lazily nodded to indicate that he heard him, then waved his hand and walked out of the warehouse.
The middle-aged man seemed irritated by Zhou Qingbo’s attitude and lazy appearance, muttering sarcastically, “Why bother coming to a construction site to pass time? It’s much better to go home and sleep.”
Pei You didn’t even raise his head. He held the folder and wrote down some notes on the form, coldly saying, “Let him do whatever he wants. Show me the detailed purchase orders for the composite materials. I want to see them.”
Compared to previous projects, this construction site was relatively new, and the building framework hadn’t been erected yet. The deep pit of the foundation was filled with countless steel bars and iron mesh, and several excavators were in operation.
Zhou Qingbo walked cautiously around the outskirts of the construction site, squinting his eyes to survey the area until he found the person he was looking for.
He patiently waited for about twenty minutes until the man was about to change shifts and take a break. Then, he approached the man from behind.
“Zhao-ge (Brother Zhao).”
Zhou Qingbo’s voice was slightly raised, and it carried a hint of pleasant surprise. The man he called Zhao was taken aback, startled, he turned around to look at him.
“Ah… Zhou, Manager Zhou,” the man obviously didn’t expect to see Zhou Qingbo there. He instinctively wanted to stand up and greet him but was held down by Zhou Qingbo’s hand on his shoulder.
“No need to be polite; I’m just here to have some fun,” Zhou Qingbo said casually as he sat down on a mound of soil next to the man.
“But you, Zhao-ge, why are you here again? Weren’t you building the factory over there?” Zhou Qingbo casually asked, “This construction site is for a different project, right?”
The man in front of Zhou Qingbo had a dark complexion, calloused hands from dealing with rubber and sand daily, and his knuckles were somewhat cracked from the constant contact with the materials.
Though he was tall, he had a bit of a hunch in his back, giving him a very honest appearance. His round face featured narrowed eyes, and Zhou Qingbo remembered his appearance and even his name clearly after just one glance at Liu Quan’s construction site.
Just now, when Zhou Qingbai saw his name in the attendance book, he was still wondering if it was a different person. However, it wasn’t until he saw the photo of their group’s construction supervisor on the last page that he became completely certain.
When Zhou Qingbo would want to get along with people, he would become very friendly. He wouldn’t put on airs, and Zhao Shan, having seen him before, wasn’t too nervous this time.
“We workers go wherever we are needed,” Zhao Shan said with a simple and honest smile, patting his head and saying, “We finished the work over there, and now we’re here to work on the foundation, so we were transferred.”
“Oh,” Zhou Qingbo nodded, his gaze sweeping over the deep foundation pit not far away, and casually said, “Is the foundation almost done? I see the steel beams are already in place.”
“We’ve just dug it out. The framework hasn’t been completed yet, and we still need to pour concrete later,” Zhao Shan replied.
“In that case, it will take you guys some time to finish the work during this busy period,” Zhou Qingbo remarked.
“Yes, building houses takes time. It can’t be rushed,” Zhao Shan said with a sigh, fanning himself with his safety helmet. “This amount of work can’t be completed in just a month.”
“I see,” Zhou Qingbo’s gaze slightly darkened. Suddenly changing the topic, he asked, “But during this busy period, your entire construction team suddenly takes a week off. Isn’t that a bit unusual?”