Summer Night at the Pool
In the dimly lit swimming pool, Gu Jiahe stood by the poolside, turned on his phone flashlight, and looked down, searching for something.
The surroundings of the swimming pool were very quiet, with only the sound of the ventilation fan blowing in fresh air.
However, in the next second…
Splash!
A loud splash startled Gu Jiahe, who quickly looked up. A figure emerged from the water surface of the swimming pool.
“Oh my god!” Gu Jiahe’s voice trembled with fear. “Who’s there?”
The person in the pool climbed up two steps along the steps and sat on the edge, taking off their swim cap and shaking their head vigorously. Gu Jiahe didn’t have time to dodge, and water splashed all over his face.
“What are you doing here?” The person seemed even more surprised than Gu Jiahe.
Gu Jiahe took a closer look. It was actually Li Zhao.
“I’m looking for something,” Gu Jiahe quickly replied.
Li Zhao supported himself with both hands on the ground and stood up, dripping wet. He was wearing swimming trunks, with nothing else on.
Gu Jiahe’s gaze wandered, not quite looking, not quite avoiding.
Li Zhao wasn’t embarrassed at all. He picked up a large towel from the side of the pool and wiped his body.
In the late-night swimming pool, only one overhead light was on. Li Zhao stood in the shadows, his muscular contours outlined by the reflected light.
When they met again that day, Gu Jiahe didn’t dare to look closely, but now, taking another glance, he noticed Li Zhao’s well-maintained physique even more deeply.
Compared to the slender teenager he used to be, he now looked more muscular.
That arm felt like it could crush him in an instant. Thinking of this, Gu Jiahe subconsciously took a half step back.
“What are you looking for?” Li Zhao walked straight towards him.
“Manager Wu said he lost his ID here and asked me to come take a look.”
“Why would they ask you to do such a trivial thing?”
Gu Jiahe shook his head, thinking, I’d like to know why all these trivial matters always fall on me.
For the past few days, Wu Mou seemed to have gone crazy and suddenly started working out. He got a membership at this gym and came here to work out every day after work.
The gym was next to the office building of the company, a large chain store with an indoor pool.
Tonight, just as Gu Jiahe was about to go home, he received an urgent call from Wu Mou, saying that he had lost his ID by the pool and urgently needed it for a business trip by high-speed rail the next day. So Gu Jiahe had to turn back to help him find his ID.
Luckily, the ID hadn’t been lost. Gu Jiahe found the card under the third chair, put it in his bag, and prepared to leave.
He didn’t intend to continue chatting with Li Zhao. He waved his hand, “I’ll go first.”
But as he walked through the pool and back to the lobby of the gym, he found that it was pitch black outside, with no one around.
What’s going on? When he came in just now, there was still someone at the front desk.
“Hello? Is anyone there?” Gu Jiahe shouted into the darkness.
No one answered.
Gu Jiahe walked to the front door and saw a heavy metal lock hanging between the two large glass doors.
Gu Jiahe was instantly furious. The staff at this gym were so irresponsible, locking the doors before everyone had left.
He circled around, tried all the exits, and found that they were all locked.
He and Li Zhao were now trapped in the late-night building.
The entire space was lit only by the overhead light of the swimming pool, which seemed to be powered by the general power supply outside the corridor.
Gu Jiahe had to grope his way back to the edge of the pool.
Li Zhao hadn’t changed into his clothes in the locker room yet, but he seemed calmer than Gu Jiahe. He sat down on the edge of the pool, not in a hurry.
After two minutes, the two of them sat side by side at the edge of the dimly lit pool. The entire space was now only filled with the sound of the ventilation fan.
To ease the awkward atmosphere, Gu Jiahe turned his head and asked a stupid question, “When did you start working out?”
In the dim light, he couldn’t see Li Zhao’s expression clearly. Li Zhao replied softly, “I didn’t. I’ve been practicing martial arts for two years.”
“Martial arts?” Gu Jiahe didn’t expect him to have practiced such a sport. It seemed that the pressure of working at the law firm was indeed quite high.
Li Zhao nodded slightly but didn’t say anything further.
“Are you cold?” Gu Jiahe noticed that Li Zhao wasn’t wearing a shirt on his upper body and couldn’t help asking.
“Me? Not cold.” Li Zhao’s feet were submerged in the water, his gaze fixed on the deep blue surface.
Gu Jiahe had brought a shirt with him, and he took it out of his bag, handing it to Li Zhao.
“Put it on. We still have to wait for over half an hour.”
Li Zhao turned his head to look at him, hesitated for a moment, then reached out and took it. “Thank you.”
But Gu Jiahe’s shirt was obviously a size smaller. After Li Zhao put it on, it looked somewhat comical, with the sleeves too tight.
Gu Jiahe scratched his head. “Just make do with it.”
It was almost 11 o’clock, but the messages in the work group chat were still scrolling non-stop.
“We still have work tomorrow.” Gu Jiahe scrolled through the chat records, roughly explaining that there would be a coordination meeting with the auditors and brokers tomorrow, and both lawyers and legal affairs staff would need to attend.
Li Zhao’s phone was locked in the locker room, so he could only lean over to take a look at his screen.
“No problem, I’ve sorted out all the documents on my end,” Li Zhao’s voice sounded in his ears. Gu Jiahe felt a slight itch on his skin and subtly moved to the side.
The preparation work for the IPO was extremely complex and tedious. Lawyers not only had to communicate with the company on various details but also needed to stay in touch with various institutions, sort out all potential legal issues according to the requirements of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and ensure that the listing process proceeded smoothly.
The deadlines for various reports were very tight, and all institutions had to follow suit.
Even in such a high-intensity work rhythm, Li Zhao was still able to handle each task properly.
Gu Jiahe, felt a bit guilty: “You’ve been working hard lately.”
Li Zhao chuckled lightly and said, “The auditors are the ones working the hardest, with endless reports to do.”
Gu Jiahe glanced at the representative of the accounting firm who was still sending messages in the group chat and nodded involuntarily.
The water in the pool returned to calm, and the two fell silent again.
Half an hour later, the lights outside came on with a click. The entire space brightened up.
Gu Jiahe stood up abruptly as if he had been saved.
The receptionist at the gym came in with a look of apology, greeted them, and helped Li Zhao unlock the door to the locker room.
Li Zhao went into the locker room and closed the door behind him to change clothes.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I just arrived, and I didn’t clear the place properly today.” The receptionist bowed repeatedly to Gu Jiahe.
Gu Jiahe couldn’t bear to see someone bowing and scraping like that, so he quickly told him not to apologize.
But the other party still felt embarrassed and took out two paper bags from behind.
“I bought a little gift for you two on the way here,” he said as he handed the bags to Gu Jiahe, “It’s been hot these days, so I thought this might help cool you down. I’m really sorry for the inconvenience.”
Gu Jiahe didn’t have time to refuse, and the receptionist walked away nodding.
Gu Jiahe looked into the bags and found two boxes of red bean ice cream, drizzled with condensed milk. After a moment of thought, he knocked on the door of the locker room, and Li Zhao’s voice came from inside.
“Come in.”
He entered the locker room, where Li Zhao had already changed into a T-shirt and pants, and his hair was half dry. Compared to his usual attire, he looked more casual.
Gu Jiahe handed him one of the bags.
Li Zhao took the bag and glanced inside, his eyes flashing with surprise, but before he could speak, Gu Jiahe said, “From the receptionist, he said sorry for delaying our time.”
Li Zhao’s throat moved, and he nodded.
He neatly folded the shirt Gu Jiahe had given him. It had gotten a bit wet because he still had water droplets on his body.
After a moment of thought, Li Zhao said, “I’ll wash it and give it back to you.”
“Okay.” Gu Jiahe glanced at the shirt, thinking that he wouldn’t be able to wear it anytime soon anyway.
The two of them, one after the other, each holding a box of red bean ice cream, walked through the dark corridors of the building. The sound of their footsteps echoed in the corridor.
Before long, the sound of a fire truck passing by could be heard downstairs, and the alarm rang through the entire street.
Summer was a season prone to accidents, and it seemed that there was a fire somewhere again.
…..
Early the next morning, Gu Jiahe first went to deliver Wu Mou’s ID. By the time he returned to the company, the project coordination meeting was about to begin.
He rushed to the meeting room in three steps, but before he could push the door open, someone stopped him.
Gu Jiahe turned around, panting heavily.
Li Zhao reached out and handed him a paper bag.
Gu Jiahe was a little surprised. Opening it, he found his shirt neatly folded inside.
He whispered to Li Zhao, “Did you wash it so quickly?”
Li Zhao nodded. “I used the dryer.”
Gu Jiahe was a bit stunned, realizing that Li Zhao probably didn’t need to hang clothes on the rooftop to dry. He clutched the paper bag and hid it behind his back before entering the meeting room.
That day’s meeting was initiated by the representatives of the brokerage firm.
The brokerage firm needed to coordinate various intermediary institutions, serving as the overall manager of the IPO project. The main purpose of that day’s coordination meeting was to go through the phase reports of various institutions.
The representative of the brokerage firm, wearing thin-framed glasses, looked somewhat serious.
Gu Jiahe sat on one side as the company’s representative, while Li Zhao and the auditor sat on the other side.
The representative of the brokerage firm turned on the projector and displayed the documents sent by the law firm on the screen.
“Mr. Li,” the representative of the brokerage firm said to Li Zhao, “Why hasn’t this Dong Gao’s investigation form been sorted into the version we requested?”
Li Zhao had been sitting calmly on the side, but now he looked up at the screen, his expression slightly uncomfortable.
“We have already sorted out all the investigation forms. I’m not sure what version you’re referring to?” Li Zhao’s tone was calm, but his eyes were fixed on the representative of the brokerage firm without any intention of backing down.
The person from the brokerage firm was certainly not easy to deal with and retorted directly, “I’ve made it clear before that our documents need to be sorted into the version required for the subsequent prospectus. The lawyer from your firm has already gone through it, and it was already communicated via email. He didn’t attend today’s meeting, so is he on leave or has he already resigned?”
Li Zhao also encountered such a difficult representative from the brokerage firm for the first time. He rubbed his forehead and was thinking about how to respond.
However, unexpectedly, someone stood up from the opposite side of the table.
Gu Jiahe straightened up and smiled at the representative of the brokerage firm. “How about this, I know you’re both responsible for your work, and our project schedule is indeed very tight. How about I call our CFO to join the video conference? Let’s clarify this issue. Mr. Li has gone through all the materials, and we didn’t find any fundamental issues during the process.”
Li Zhao suddenly looked up at him.
Gu Jiahe didn’t look at him and sat down after speaking.
The representative of the brokerage firm was a bit slow to react for a moment. After about half a minute, he cleared his throat and said, “Ahem, since the issuer said so. Then I’ll follow up on this later. There’s no need to bother the CFO.”
After the meeting, Gu Jiahe walked at the back of the group.
Back at his desk, he found a cup of iced latte sitting there.
He looked up and asked He Xiao, who was standing opposite him, “Who ordered this?”
He Xiao smiled and raised the cup on her desk, “Li Lawyer just ordered it.”
Gu Jiahe let out a sigh of relief. So, it was for everyone in the office. He turned to look at the desk next to him, and surprisingly, there was also a cup of coffee on the desk of the representative from the brokerage firm.
Li Zhao happened to be returning from the pantry, and he sat down next to Gu Jiahe.
“He was being difficult with you, and you still ordered coffee for him?” Gu Jiahe raised his eyebrows and asked him softly.
“We still have to work together for several months. Can’t be too harsh,” Li Zhao pulled out a chair and sat down.
After he sat down, he added, “Quite bold of you.”
“Hmm?” Gu Jiahe didn’t understand why he said that.
“You,” Li Zhao replied with just one word.
Gu Jiahe had been working for so long, but it was the first time someone praised him for being bold. He laughed at himself.
He didn’t know why he stood up during the meeting just now; perhaps he didn’t like the style of the glasses worn by the representative of the brokerage firm.
Wu Mou was away on a business trip this morning, not too far away. The company recently built a new factory in the suburbs next door. Wu Mou went with the HR and finance department to make a trip.
With Wu Mou absent, Gu Jiahe enjoyed the leisurely afternoon. He only reviewed a contract sent by the business department and had no other trivial matters to deal with.
This kind of leisure lasted until he was on his way home after work.
He walked back home against the sunset, humming a tune.
But when he pushed open the door of his rented apartment, he froze.
“Damn it.” Gu Jiahe couldn’t help but curse.
The floor of his small bedroom was flooded with water, about half an inch deep.
He took off his shoes and walked into the bathroom, taking a look at the water valve.
Who could have imagined that after a day of work, the pipes at home would burst?!
Gu Jiahe used a stick to try to clear the drain, but the water level in the bathroom still didn’t go down.
He had told the landlord before that the pipes in this room were aging and needed repair.
But the landlord had just scolded him, saying to pay the rent on time first, and then they could talk about other issues.
Gu Jiahe felt a bit helpless and didn’t pursue the matter further. Who could have thought that the pipes would burst so soon?
With no way to step on the floor at home and no access to normal water for daily use, Gu Jiahe spent quite some time searching on the local website before finding a phone number for a repairman.
But after calling, the repairman said he wouldn’t come today; the orders were already scheduled for the day after tomorrow. At the latest, it would take two more days.
Gu Jiahe closed all the water valves and found a deep bucket in the abandoned storage room on the rooftop. He bent over and slowly scooped the water into the bucket, then poured it into the drain.
After more than an hour of busy work, the water level in the house finally went down a bit. Gu Jiahe went to the next door to borrow a mop from an old lady and gradually cleaned up the dirty water.
By the end of it, his waist was hurting badly, and he plopped down on the floor, sweat dripping from his forehead.
Dark clouds pressed outside the window, and the air was so stifling that it was hard to breathe.
Gu Jiahe had forgotten how many times he had faced such a miserable situation before.
It seemed that unexpected difficulties were the norm in his life, and occasional calmness was a reward from heaven.
The water in the house was almost cleared, but the room still couldn’t be lived in. Without tap water for daily use, and not knowing where the water pipe burst, drinking and washing became problems.
Gu Jiahe sighed and checked his phone for nearby budget hotels. Before the repairman arrived, he could only spend two nights outside.
He didn’t have many friends in the city, and the only one he kept in touch with was someone he had met at the library, a fellow from his hometown.
But he was probably busy with the renovation of his new house recently, and Gu Jiahe didn’t want to bother him.
Gu Jiahe had always consciously or unconsciously kept his social circle small. For him, meeting new people, forming friendships, and then gradually drifting apart for various reasons was an uncomfortable feeling and made him feel exhausted.
Fortunately, on a street very close to the company, he found a cheap and clean hotel.
He quickly called and booked a single room.
He packed two changes of clothes and toiletries, slung a bag over his shoulder, and went over.
By the time he arrived at the hotel, it was late at night, and he was sore and exhausted all over.
The deserted hotel lobby had only him, and he waited for more than ten minutes before the front desk appeared.
He handed over his ID for check-in, but the front desk absent-mindedly placed it on the sensor and brushed it for a while with no response.
“Just wait a moment,” the front desk said without looking up.
Gu Jiahe waited for five minutes, still not finished, feeling a little impatient. “I’ll go outside for a smoke. Let me know when it’s done.”
Gu Jiahe wasn’t a heavy smoker; he only used it to relieve stress when he was very annoyed.
He took out a pack of cigarettes from his bag, lit one, and went to the open space outside the hotel. It had started drizzling outside, and the ground was slippery.
He took a step back and hid under the eaves.
Just as he lit the cigarette, the headlights suddenly came on in front of him, he was momentarily blinded, raising his hand to shield his eyes.
The car didn’t turn, but drove straight into the street. Gu Jiahe stepped aside and flicked the ashes.
When he finally saw the car, he instinctively wanted to hide. But the person in the car rolled down the window and called out to him, “Gu Jiahe?”
Gu Jiahe extinguished the cigarette, unable to avoid eye contact with him. Why did he always encounter him when he was in such a miserable situation?
“Why are you here?” Gu Jiahe asked him.
“I just finished work and was passing by,” Li Zhao gestured to their company building not far behind him.
Gu Jiahe looked and saw that this hotel happened to be on the corner of the main road after work, so Li Zhao would indeed pass by.
There was a three-second silence between the two, and Li Zhao didn’t roll up the car window.
Li Zhao’s gaze lingered on the hotel sign for a moment, his throat moved up and down, and he asked, “Are you here to rent a room?”
At this moment, the receptionist behind him suddenly shouted loudly, “Sir! Your check-in is done!”
“Okay.”
Gu Jiahe nodded and turned to walk in.