"Repeat after me: No operations without safety gear, follow instructions and don't break the rules!"
"No operations without safety gear, follow instructions and don't break the rules!"
"Safety first, quality above all…"
"Safety first, quality above all…"
Standing on the platform at the construction site gate, Lin Lan, wearing a safety helmet and holding a loudspeaker, led the rows of workers below in reciting the daily safety slogans.
With that, the morning assembly came to an end.
After assigning the day's tasks to each team leader, Lin Lan watched as the workers clocked in and entered the site in batches. Yet, he still felt a strange emptiness in his heart.
It was a bizarre feeling, as if he had forgotten something incredibly important.
"Hey, Engineer Lin, tough work running the morning meeting. Wanna smoke?"
Just as he was zoning out, a team leader with tanned skin came over, greeted him, and pulled out a pack of Huazi cigarettes from his pocket, offering one to Lin Lan.
"Oh, it's Engineer Ma. What wind blew you this way—you're even smoking Huazi now?"
Lin Lan instinctively called out the man's nickname. He remembered that this team leader had always gotten along well with him.
So, while replying politely, he took the cigarette and started patting his body to find his lighter—only to realize he didn't bring one.
"That's not right. Where's my lighter?"
Lin Lan muttered to himself in confusion. With ten years of smoking under his belt, how could he possibly forget his lighter?
"Heh, I treated the boss and the supervisors to dinner last night. Took the chance to swipe a pack. Here, you can have this lighter—I've got extras."
Engineer Ma chuckled and quickly took out a lighter from his pocket, lighting Lin Lan's cigarette for him before slipping the lighter into Lin Lan's pocket.
"Nice. So you didn't swipe a couple extra packs for the brothers to try too—cough cough! cough cough cough!"
Just as Lin Lan was jokingly taking a hard drag on the Huazi, a fit of uncontrollable coughing exploded from his throat.
"Whoa, Lin! What's going on? There's nothing wrong with this smoke, right?"
The simple-minded Engineer Ma was startled by Lin Lan's sudden coughing and quickly stepped forward to pound his back.
Then, puzzled, he took a puff from his own cigarette and found nothing wrong with it.
"Forget it. Maybe I'm just not feeling well these past couple of days. Cough cough cough… You go on ahead. I'll go in after Old Yang brings my lunch."
Barely recovering, Lin Lan didn't dare take another puff and quickly stomped the cigarette out on the ground.
"Alright, but make sure you get some rest, Engineer Lin. Come check out the rebar work later—if everything's good, we can get the supervisor to inspect early…"
"Yeah, yeah. You think I'd dare delay that? Tell your workers to stay sharp. Don't get me reamed by the supervisor and forced into rework again. Go on."
Lin Lan waved him off and added a few more instructions before sending Engineer Ma into the site.
That's right. Whatever he forgot doesn't matter—he still has to work, earn money, and pay off his debts. That's life.
By now, the sun had peeked halfway over the horizon. After eating the steamed buns and soy milk brought by Old Yang, Lin Lan followed him through the gate into the construction site.
A busy day was underway again.
Once inside the site and down into the foundation pit, Lin Lan went to check the rebar progress and precision, contacted the supervisor for inspection, and didn't forget to notify the concrete station to prep for an afternoon pour, all while pressing the materials department for delivery timelines.
He also continued correcting every safety violation he saw—workers not wearing helmets, not using safety harnesses at heights.
After all, aside from being the general contractor's chief foreman, he also served as the site's safety officer, meaning his workload was massive.
He had long grown used to the dust and noise from excavation and hauling in the pit, fully immersed in his work.
The morning passed quickly, and the temperature on site kept rising.
Just as Lin Lan finally finished all the tasks at hand and found a shady spot to check the time before heading back for lunch, he received a call from the site gate guard.
Usually, that meant another truckload of materials was arriving, and the guard needed his confirmation.
After all, materials could only enter the site once Lin Lan and the supervisor had inspected and approved them.
"Hello? Another batch of materials?"
"Engineer Lin, someone came to deliver your lunch. She said she's your… girlfriend?"
Lin Lan froze upon hearing the unsure tone in the guard's voice.
Lunch delivery? Girlfriend?
When did he ever get a girlfriend?
Without time to rest, he hurried toward the foundation slope under the blazing midday sun, wondering who was playing a prank on him.
By the time he finally climbed up the slope, panting and sweating, and reached the gate—
He immediately spotted a petite girl with long white curly hair standing outside the gate, wearing a black dress.
She held a lunchbox in her hand, golden eyes curiously surveying the surroundings.
At first glance, Lin Lan couldn't help but marvel at how incredibly cute she was—cuter than any little girl he'd ever seen.
But here came the problem—he had no idea who she was.
"Good afternoon~ You've worked hard. Come eat the lunch I made for you."
Lin Lan was covered in dust from the foundation pit, drenched in sweat, and unshaven. His appearance was utterly disheveled.
Yet the little girl seemed thrilled to see him, cheerfully greeting him with a smile as she walked over.
"Uhh…"
Lin Lan's sense of disconnect grew even stronger. This was a construction site full of rough, burly men. How could such a pretty little girl show up here with lunch for him?
And now she was actually walking into the construction site—that was extremely dangerous.
Just as he was about to stop her and get her out of the danger zone, his pupils suddenly shrank.
Up above her, a bundle of long steel rebar was being hoisted by the tower crane.
One of the bars hadn't been secured properly and, due to the swinging motion, had slipped dangerously toward the edge—ready to fall!
The next second, Lin Lan's worst fear came true. The steel bar dropped straight toward the little girl!
"Damn it—look out!"
With a curse, Lin Lan acted on instinct, sprinting toward the confused girl and tackling her to the side.
Clang!!!
The long steel bar slammed into the spot the white-haired girl had just been standing, smashing a shallow pit into the hard ground.
Fortunately, it bounced and rolled off to another direction.
Lin Lan had landed with his back to the ground, shielding the golden-eyed girl tightly in his arms.
As he hit the ground, his first thought was: Huh, I didn't know I could still move that fast…
"You little brat! What the hell are you doing on a construction site?! Do you have any idea how dangerous it is here?!"
Ignoring the searing pain in his back, Lin Lan gritted through it and scolded the girl—who looked like she had been scared stiff—still sprawled on top of him.
"But you'll protect me, won't you?"
The beautiful white-haired girl blinked up at him for a second, then broke into a radiant smile.
Lin Lan was momentarily speechless.
At that moment, a group of workers and the gate guard, having heard the commotion, came running.
"Engineer Lin! Are you okay?!"
"I'm fine. But check on the girl—wait, what?! Where is she?!"
Halfway through replying, Lin Lan suddenly felt his body lighten—the white-haired girl had vanished from his arms without a trace!
Even the pain in his back was gone. If he weren't still lying on the ground and the steel bar still rolling beside him, he would've thought it was all a hallucination.
"What girl? Are you sure that bar didn't rattle your brain—or are you just love-starved?"
The workers and guard helped Lin Lan up and, confirming he hadn't been hit, laughed and joked.
"But you were the one who called me up here…"
Lin Lan looked around in confusion. The white-haired, golden-eyed girl was nowhere to be seen, and even the spilled lunch on the ground had disappeared.
The gate guard he stared at looked completely blank, as if he had no clue what Lin Lan was talking about.
Lin Lan quickly pulled out his phone to find proof—only to discover there was no call record at all.
This bizarre development made Lin Lan instinctively touch his head—his helmet, to make sure he hadn't actually been hit.
"Forget it. Maybe I'm just exhausted. Who the hell called for this lift?
This isn't just a violation—it's a huge one. I'm hitting them with a massive fine so they learn their damn lesson!"
Unable to find any proof, Lin Lan had no choice but to bury the whole incident deep in his heart.
Fuming at how close he'd come to getting skewered, he began barking orders to investigate who was responsible for the near-accident.
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50 advanced chapters on p@t re on (.) com/SenatusTheta
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