As it turned out, things were just as good as they had sounded: His co-worker was overjoyed when he heard that Li Ming was willing to take the same shift on the regular and wouldn’t even mind taking the late one.

Manager Quan watched the two of them and finally intervened when he felt that Li Ming was about to be taken advantage of. “Now, now, don’t be so quick, you two! I don’t mind you going on a steady shift if that’s alright with both of you but I do expect you to change every now and then. It doesn’t have to be daily or even weekly but it’s not alright to have one person to always deal with night shifts.”

The two of them exchanged glances and finally decided on a monthly interval. Anyway, the tough thing about shifts was how quickly they changed. They definitely wouldn’t mind having the same shift for a whole month even if it meant they had to work at night. At the very least, that was something you could get used to.

Manager Quan didn’t have any complaints about that either. Since both were alright with this arrangement, he’d agree unless there was a problem. “Alright, then we’ll do it this way. Don’t forget that this is only possible if nothing else comes up. If people get sick or somebody leaves, you might still have to cover somewhere or be switched around.”

Li Ming and his co-worker both nodded. Anyway, this was always a risk but they were sure that something could be arranged in those cases and they were rare anyway. Manager Quan always made sure to arrange everything as well as he could so that nobody would be overworked. This was especially true for the security guards who constantly needed to be alert because the consequences if they weren’t, might be disastrous.

The two of them gave their thanks and then left the office together. Li Ming already wanted to say goodbye to his co-worker as well but was held back.

“Hey, thank you again. I know you also asked for the switch yourself but this is really important to me. I wouldn’t have known what to do if you hadn’t spoken up today. Actually, we were even considering for me to quit this job and go somewhere with more regular times before.”

Li Ming nodded. He could understand how the shifts might be a problem for somebody who was about to have a child. “It’s alright. Anyway, it suits both of us. And even if it didn’t, I wouldn’t mind stepping up if it helps.” Anyway, a regular work schedule had its advantages and while he didn’t mind working shifts, he would absolutely switch if he could help somebody out by doing so.

His co-worker nodded and the two of them finally bid farewell, him rushing off to his shift for the day while Li Ming went back home.

His thoughts stayed on the topic for a while longer. For him, this change was only in case the course worked out. If it didn’t, he would have switched without reason. But then, what he had said about not minding it was true so he wouldn’t go and make trouble in case Zhu Yi really thought he wasn’t suited to do the courses with him.

Come to think of it, he had talked about the matter with the shifts with Zhao Chen before and from what his boyfriend had said, the shifts were one of the hardest parts for him to get used to. If he could, he’d probably like to switch as well. Maybe this was something they should bring up to Manager Quan.

Li Ming wasn’t sure how Manager Quan intended to schedule everything but usually, for each location or route that needed a security guard, there were three or maybe four people scheduled over the course of the day. If they blocked two of those, what did that mean for the others? But then, they would likely just be assigned to different locations more often.

He decided not to worry about it and just leave those questions to Manager Quan. Anyway, if it wasn’t possible, he wouldn’t have allowed this. Who knew? He might have wanted to transition to a different system for their schedules in the first place and this was a small test run he was happy about. It was possible. Either way, it wasn’t for him to worry about.

Li Ming went to cook some food and pulled out his phone at the side, sending a message to Zhu Yi that he had talked to his manager and freed up the time.

Zhu Yi didn’t need long to reply, his usual passion showing through even over text.

Zhu Yi: [That’s awesome! Is that just for next week or in general? Anyway, really looking forward to our test run next week!]

Li Ming smiled subconsciously and shook his head. Working with Zhu Yi should be fun. No matter what he did, he always seemed incredibly into it. That kind of attitude was easy to get affected by and it really made him look forward to not just next week but even the time after that.

He made sure to keep an eye on his food while replying, his thoughts starting to circle around the details of next week.

Li Ming: [It’s a general change. By the way, is there anything specific I should wear next week?]

Sportswear would be easiest to move in but he didn’t know if Zhu Yi had any other requirements. Maybe there was a specific color? People paid a lot of attention to branding from what he knew.

Li Ming was definitely thinking too much. Zhu Yi didn’t care about colors. In fact, he had a completely different idea.

Zhu Yi: [Not really. But if you can, please, please, please, wear a suit for me!]

Li Ming stared at the message dumbfounded, not sure if he was seeing right or if Zhu Yi had simply made a typo. No matter how he looked at it, he couldn’t think of what else he might have wanted to say though.