Xu Dengming spent a day moving out and arrived at Azalea Street with her luggage on November 30th.
Wang Yanxing didn’t come along.
She hadn’t been home for too long and had to visit her elders in the inner city first.
She wouldn’t return to the outer city until around the 5th or 6th.
“I really don’t want to stay at home for that long,” Wang Yanxing complained.
“But the traffic between the inner and outer cities has always been restricted. Without a special reason, you can’t move back and forth frequently.”
At this point, she sighed heavily:
“Originally, I didn’t have to go back, but this time it’s a family gathering. Plus, my uncle couldn’t make it, so my parents insisted I come to fill in.”
Xu Dengming patted Wang Yanxing’s shoulder to comfort her:
“When you go back, try to eat more and make up for your uncle’s family’s share. Make others feel that your presence is worth more than expected.”
When she bid farewell to her classmate, she didn’t forget to return the keys to the apartment downstairs.
As she left Sunflower Apartments, Xu Dengming didn’t feel any sense of reluctance as a resident of the outer city with a less-than-ideal background, she had long been accustomed to moving.
Xu Dengming didn’t have many personal belongings.
Apart from the necessary bedding and clothes, she chose to store the rest of her luggage.
The suitcase she used was bought from a second-hand market and was already very old.
She had repaired the wheels herself, but perhaps the size didn’t quite match, so it wobbled and was unbalanced when dragged.
On the afternoon of November 30th, Xu Dengming arrived at Azalea Street and knocked on the door of No. 27 for the second time.
After carefully verifying her identity, a young woman in uniform came to arrange her accommodation.
The young woman asked Xu Dengming to wait for a while, then drove over in her car.
Her car wasn’t big and looked well-suited for navigating narrow streets.
The car was pure black in color, with a design somewhat resembling a Beetle.
She explained to Xu Dengming: “Originally, I should have taken you directly to register, but the personnel department isn’t on duty yet. I’ll take you to your accommodation first. The living quarters for you newcomers are arranged nearby, not too far.”
Xu Dengming, who had deliberately arrived at 2:40, silently thought to herself that she still didn’t fully understand the work rhythm of some of her future colleagues.
After getting in the car, Xu Dengming asked, “How long is the commute between the accommodation and the management bureau?”
The young woman quickly estimated and gave her an answer:
“About half an hour on foot, or ten minutes by bike.”
The accommodation area arranged by the bureau for newcomers was located on the edge of the Azalea Street complex, a place Xu Dengming had never been to before.
After winding through the alleys, the small black car finally arrived at its destination.
Xu Dengming saw that it was an entire eight-story building, which looked quite old.
The young woman introduced: “It’s said that this place used to be a hotel, but due to poor management, it struggled for a few years before eventually being abandoned. Later, the bureau bought it at a low price and turned it into a dormitory.”
Xu Dengming thought that, just from the difficulty of transportation, it was no surprise that this hotel had gone bankrupt.
She hoped that the original operator, after failing once, had improved their investment insight.
Xu Dengming opened the car door, took her suitcase from the trunk, and then looked up at the dormitory building in front of her, suddenly recalling memories from the past.
When she was a child, she had also lived in a similar old building, though it was a single-story house.
The exterior walls of the former hotel building, originally brick-red, were now completely covered in dark green vines, resembling a piece of stale meat draped in moss.
The vines not only engulfed the building in front but also climbed onto the adjacent high-rise.
The leaves were a deep shade of green, triangular in shape, and rustled loudly in the wind, producing a cold, metallic clatter as if countless iron sheets were colliding.
Thin rootlets sprouted from the stems, showcasing a tenacious vitality.
The young lady who led Xu Dengming to the dormitory smiled and explained, “These were planted by people who used to work at the hotel. They’re ornamental plants cultivated in the core city, called Eternal Ivy.”
She added, “Eternal Ivy is an evergreen plant; it never withers, no matter the season.”
After the Great Calamity, many beautiful ornamental plants had become symbols of wealth.
Xu Dengming raised an eyebrow.
Perhaps due to differences in aesthetic taste, she didn’t find the Eternal Ivy particularly beautiful.
Instead, she felt the leaves on the wall were packed too densely, creating a sense of overwhelming clutter.
The young lady continued, “You’ve arrived early, so there aren’t many people living here yet. You can choose any floor from the third to the eighth. The layout is pretty much the same on each floor.”
Xu Dengming asked, “What about the first and second floors?”
The young lady replied, “The first floor is mostly abandoned. There used to be a parking lot, but hardly anyone drives here anymore. Only the reception area is still set up there. The public cafeteria is on the second floor, and you can use your employee card to eat there during meal times.”
She added, “The dormitory offers single, double, and triple rooms. Apart from the number of occupants, the room types are essentially the same. For now, only triple rooms are available to you.”
“Each bedroom is occupied by one person, but the living room and bathroom are shared with two others. Once you’re officially hired, you can apply to rearrange your dormitory.”
At this point, the young lady smiled at Xu Dengming, “I hope your probation period goes smoothly.”
Xu Dengming nodded, “Thank you,” and followed the young lady into the first-floor lobby.
The first and second floors were noticeably taller than the others.
As Xu Dengming entered the lobby, she felt the space around her was somewhat empty.
A faint song echoed from the reception area, occasionally accompanied by the crackling of static.
Further inside, the darkness completely swallowed everything.
The floor was cluttered with various discarded items some were old furniture, while others were rusted metal bars of unknown purpose.
The young lady skillfully navigated around the obstacles and led Xu Dengming to the reception desk to pick up a key.
Xu Dengming randomly selected one from the keys for the third floor.
The room she chose was 303-3.
The receptionist, wrapped in a thick brown coat, handed over the key and then retreated back into his chair to read the newspaper, seemingly indifferent to the outside world.
The weather was cold, and the reception area lacked heating.
The receptionist had bundled himself entirely into his coat, revealing only half of his thin, sallow, and aged face.
The young lady politely said, “You can go and drop off your luggage first. I’ll take you back to complete the paperwork afterward.”
Xu Dengming replied, “I’ve caused you so much trouble with this delay.”
The young lady smiled, “No trouble at all. I didn’t have much work to do today anyway.”
Xu Dengming:”……”
She thought the management bureau probably didn’t often dismiss full-time employees due to insufficient workload.
Five minutes later, after temporarily settling Xu Dengming, the young lady drove her back to Azalea Street.
This time, however, they didn’t go to number 27 but to number 22.
The management bureau’s branch on Azalea Street was only responsible for affairs in the outer city district, while most of the important tasks were coordinated and arranged by the inner city district.
After entering with the young lady, Xu Dengming saw people in dark uniforms bustling back and forth in the corridors.
Many employees sat at their desks with absent-minded expressions, tapping on their keyboards intermittently, unsure if they were writing documents or testing the keyboard’s sensitivity.
The young lady walked briskly, leading Xu Dengming directly to the human resources department on the second floor. After a brief verification of her documents, she handed Xu Dengming an intern ID card.
Holding the ID card, Xu Dengming suddenly recalled her experiences in the Nest Park.
Fortunately, compared to the employee ID from Nest Park, the management bureau’s ID appeared completely normal from every angle.
Even with Xu Dengming’s keen eye, she couldn’t spot anything amiss.
The young lady offered to take Xu Dengming back, but she politely declined.
The young lady didn’t insist, only escorting her to the door and giving her some reminders.
She said courteously, “It’s not the 7th yet, so we won’t assign you any actual tasks for now. However, there are daily reports about the management bureau in the building. It’s best to attend them.”
Xu Dengming agreed, “Thank you for the reminder.”
She was well aware that the phrase “it’s best to attend” wasn’t a suggestion that interns could skip if they wanted to.
It was a subtle hint that her current performance would affect her chances of becoming a full-time employee in the future.
The covert screening had begun the moment she moved into the building.
The distance between the residential area and Azalea Street wasn’t particularly far, but walking there was still time-consuming.
The narrow paths between the buildings made it impossible to set up bus routes, which made Xu Dengming eager to get a bicycle for convenience.
Back in school, Xu Dengming had once assembled a bicycle using discarded parts left by former classmates.
However, in June of this year, she had repaired that bike, which she obviously wouldn’t need after graduation, and sold it for 20 city coins to a sophomore who happened to pass by.
Many places in Triangle Banyan City had recycling points.
Strapped for cash, Xu Dengming thought she might be able to scavenge some parts from the recycling station and assemble another bike.
She walked leisurely, occasionally stopping.
The brick pavement, long neglected, was cracked and broken in many places, with some bricks completely missing.
Some shabbily dressed children dashed past her there were several private orphanages in the area.
In the past, some stores would leave expired food outside for children who couldn’t afford meals to rummage through.
But as prices rose, even expired food became a precious commodity.
By the time Xu Dengming returned to the residential building, it was already 5 PM.
The sky had darkened, and the evening breeze carried a cool dampness. The streetlights along the road had turned on, with small black insects fluttering around the bulbs.
It was dinner time, so Xu Dengming headed straight to the second floor.
She had been busy storing her luggage earlier and hadn’t had the chance to take a closer look at the second floor.
Now that she finally had some free time, she decided to explore the dining area first.
Coming up from the stairs on the first floor, she entered a square hall.
The hall was sparsely decorated, with only two long benches against the walls and a few paintings hanging above them.
In one corner stood a public water dispenser with paper cups placed beside it.
Directly opposite the staircase entrance was a glass door, beyond which lay a dark, duck-bill-shaped area protruding from the building.
Curious about what the “duck bill” outside might be, Xu Dengming approached the glass door and looked out.
To her surprise, it turned out to be a spacious balcony, roughly the same size as the square hall.
The balcony itself wasn’t black, but it was completely covered with a thick layer of ivy, obscuring its original appearance.