Free Web NovelChapter 31: Chapter 31: A Closed Door and the Overtime Dog
Although the events that had just occurred were heart-pounding, not much time had actually passed.
So, rush hour was still in full swing on the way back.
The van still weaved through a series of shortcuts to avoid the congestion.
The driver, Old Guo, was in a completely different state of mind compared to the drive over; he was even obeying traffic laws more carefully than before.
Since the three passengers in the back hadn’t given him a new address, Old Guo drove toward the Qiantang City District, planning to ask for their specific destination once they were in the city.
Only after the van came down from the elevated highway did Old Guo speak up.
"Folks, are we heading back to the barbecue shop to keep eating, or am I dropping you off somewhere else?"
Hearing the words "keep eating barbecue," Doudou’s eyes instantly lit up.
"No need," Qin Xiaoxia said. "I imagine you’re in a hurry to get back to your son. Su Su, where are you headed?"
Su Su, who had been trying to eavesdrop on where Qin Xiaoxia and the others were going, was startled when the question was suddenly directed at her. She answered, feeling a little guilty.
"Ah? Me? Uh, just drop me off at the amusement park. I need to go back there for a bit."
"Alright. Old Guo, head to the amusement park first."
After saying that, Qin Xiaoxia fell silent, showing no intention of revealing his own destination.
This made Su Su grit her teeth in frustration, though she was careful not to show it.
"You got it."
Old Guo, of course, had no objections. He stepped on the gas, and the beat-up old van immediately sped up.
The barbecue shop was near the amusement park, relying on the crowds from the area for business, so he knew the route well. They sped along, approaching their destination less than twenty minutes after getting off the highway.
"Which entrance?"
"The main entrance is fine. I’ll walk in from there."
Su Su replied listlessly.
She felt that she probably still hadn’t left a deep enough impression on Qin Xiaoxia—at least, not enough to make up for her previous rudeness.
Although the inside of the amusement park was rather deserted in the evening, the area outside was already starting to get lively.
The van stopped, and Su Su had no choice but to get out, both reluctant and dejected.
"Miss, from now on, whenever you come to my place for barbecue, it’s on me. It’s not far, so just come by often!"
Old Guo’s tone was lighthearted; he had stopped calling her "Master." frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
"Mmm..."
Su Su hummed in acknowledgment but showed no intention of turning to leave. She kept her eyes fixed on Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou, not even closing the van door.
"Mr... Mr. Qin... could I..."
"No, you can’t!"
Doudou answered even faster than Qin Xiaoxia could.
But the moment he finished speaking, Qin Xiaoxia rapped him on the head.
"Can I add you on WeChat?"
"Sure!"
Su Su’s expression instantly went from gloomy to radiant. With lightning speed, she whipped out her phone and only relaxed after personally watching Qin Xiaoxia scan her QR code to add her on WeChat.
Afterward, Su Su happily said her goodbyes and cheerfully headed toward the amusement park’s employee entrance.
Watching the girl’s retreating figure as she hummed a tune, Old Guo felt a little emotional.
He was an old hand at life; if he couldn’t tell by now that the girl was trying every trick in the book to latch onto Qin Xiaoxia, he’d have wasted the last few decades.
Old Guo only started the van after Su Su’s figure had disappeared from view.
"Master, where to now?"
Old Guo wouldn’t dare be presumptuous with Qin Xiaoxia, his benefactor whom he both respected and feared.
"Head to Xinyue District in the Xing Sheng District."
"Alright, hold on tight."
Qin Xiaoxia wasn’t rich, so of course he didn’t own property in Xinyue District. However, Huang Jiutian rented a place there.
Tonight, he planned to take Doudou to go crash with Jiutian.
At the entrance of the complex, just before they got out, Old Guo once again slapped his chest and guaranteed that if Qin Xiaoxia or any of his friends ate at Haohao Barbecue or one of its branches, it would all be on the house.
Qin Xiaoxia agreed, but he was more curious about one thing: Haohao Barbecue had branches?
He casually asked the older man about it, and Old Guo replied with conviction, "There will be in the future!"
This also ruined Doudou’s plan to look for a Haohao Barbecue in Yue City.
Haohao Barbecue would definitely not be open for business tonight.
「Five minutes later.」
Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou stared at each other, both dumbfounded.
Their visit was sudden, so they hadn’t notified Huang Jiutian beforehand. What they didn’t know was that, due to a rush project, Huang had barely left his office chair since getting back to work. The entire design department was racing against time, barely even taking breaks to eat or use the restroom.
It was only when the two of them arrived at Huang Jiutian’s front door and found no one home that they remembered to call him.
"What? Are you serious? ... So when are you coming back? ... What the hell, what do you mean you might not be back at all!?"
Qin Xiaoxia subconsciously glanced at Doudou again, who wore a helpless expression.
"What’s your company’s address? Doudou and I can at least swing by and get the key, right? ... Okay, okay, I’ll call you when we get there. 11th floor, right? Got it, I know what your company’s called... Alright!"
After saying that, Qin Xiaoxia hung up the phone.
"Let’s go. It’s only a fifteen-minute walk... We’ll grab dinner on the way and get a takeout order for Jiutian too."
Doudou had actually been craving more barbecue, but he betrayed his principles the second he was introduced to braised chicken.
Any restaurant owner would love customers who order enough food for six people despite being a party of two, especially when they also get an order to go.
Leaving the restaurant, even though he no longer kept cash in his wallet, Qin Xiaoxia still subconsciously clutched it.
Doudou was small, but an absolute glutton—a fact he had learned long ago. But his own body was getting stranger and stranger, too; his appetite grew by the day.
’From now on, food is probably going to be the biggest expense!’
Qin Xiaoxia didn’t call Huang Jiutian when he arrived. Instead, he went straight into the office building, took the elevator, and got off at the 11th floor where Jiutian’s company was located.
It was after business hours, so no one was at the front desk.
He pushed open the company door.
"Delivery, delivery! Delivery for Huang Jiutian~~~ Where is Huang Jiutian?"
The shout immediately drew everyone’s attention and made Huang Jiutian break out in a sweat.
"Over here! Over here!"
Huang Jiutian’s slightly embarrassed voice called out, and he quickly stood up from his desk to lead them in from the entrance.
After they went inside, the people there realized that this "delivery guy," who even had a child with him, was actually Huang Jiutian’s friend.
The entire design department, all thirty-something of them, were working overtime. A few small groups were eating takeout they had ordered.
Except for the restrooms, the hallway, the printing room, and the design department itself, most of the lights in the company were off.
Huang Jiutian had intended to just give them the key and have them go back first, but Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou’s curiosity was piqued. They insisted on seeing how a building was designed and detailed in the later stages.
He dragged two chairs out of a conference room for Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou to sit beside him. While eating his takeout, Huang Jiutian still had to occasionally adjust a model or send a file to the printer.
"Are you guys really this busy? What kind of building is this you’re designing? It looks completely different from any building I’ve ever imagined..."
To be honest, Qin Xiaoxia’s understanding of buildings came from photographs and renderings. He couldn’t connect them at all to the detailed plans and process models Huang Jiutian was working on.
Jiutian spit out a chicken bone, picked up another piece of chicken for the eagerly staring Doudou, and only then answered the ever-curious Qin Xiaoxia’s question.
"This isn’t an ordinary commercial building. Forget you, even non-design professionals in the industry might not understand these plans."
"Oh!"
Qin Xiaoxia only half-understood.
"So what is it?"
"Ever heard of civil defense projects?"
"The underground part? Like the building’s parking garage or an air-raid shelter?"
Huang Jiutian couldn’t really be bothered to explain it all to a layman, but since Qin Xiaoxia wanted to know, he elaborated a bit.
"Of course it’s not that simple. This is a brand-new system design, and it’s not a small-scale project. There are a lot of functional architectural structures inside that aren’t even labeled. I’m guessing other departments are responsible for those!"
"Oh, right. A few of my old classmates who are also in architectural design have privately mentioned that their firms have taken on similar projects too. Honestly, the scale of all this is pretty baffling to me!"
There was more Huang Jiutian didn’t say, but it touched upon a non-disclosure agreement.
Namely, for these projects, they were basically only told the soil type, the bedrock conditions, the surrounding environment, and the load-bearing environment. But the locations were never disclosed, which made it all seem rather mysterious.
But Qin Xiaoxia was who he was. Not only were his instincts sharp, but he had also experienced far more than an ordinary person recently.
The moment he heard this, his mind instantly made a dozen connections.
’Looks like our government might not be completely in the dark after all!’
As for whether such precautions were too extreme, that was a matter of opinion. Qin Xiaoxia had no idea how much they really knew, or how it compared to his own knowledge.
