"As long as you treat your people well, I don''t mind keeping you as the permanent mayor there."


    Xiaoyun paused for a second as he took out a piece of paper.


    "Do you understand me?"


    "Yes, sir!"


    The vige leader immediately nodded several times in agreement.


    "Good. I''ll station five thousand soldiers there. What city name do you want?" Xiaoyun asked as he pulled out a pen from the desk.


    "Commander Xiaoyun, it will be a great honor for you to name our city."


    After thinking for a bit, Xiaoyun came up with a name.


    "Let''s call it Qijing."


    Xiaoyun thought back to the original 2nd town where he took both Shuli and Wuli for the first time together.


    "Sounds like a great name,mander Xiaoyun."


    "Okay, no need to tter me. Also, don''t call memander, call me Mayor."


    "Yes, Mr.Mayor."


    Seeing the vige leader was fully used to his role, Xiaoyun sent him away as he began drafting a n.


    "Xiaoyun, why does it feel like we got scammed?" Tianci curiously asked as she disliked how the vige leader''s attitude.


    "Scammed? It''s just a trade deal. He got what he wanted, and I got what I wanted... Here, you read this, and you''ll understand why."


    Xiaoyun handed her a folder as he turned his attention back to the draft n.


    "ssified report by Renqin... are you sure you want me to read this?" Tianci asked out of caution.


    "You''re my wife. I''m not going to hide something from you."


    As Tianci opened the folder, Kate quickly turned away to the side despite her being just as curious.


    "The vige leader''s name is Liu Kai, the son of the old vige leader who was elected a month ago after the old one retired... by a popr vote."


    Tianci murmured as she read the report line by line.


    "The people in the vige overwhelmingly are nowposed of refugees from different cities, with a small minority of original vigers..."


    Xiaoyun put his pen down for a second as he looked over to Tianci.


    "Do you understand why I offer him the deal?"


    "Because he''s a new leader with a majority poption that doesn''t care enough about him, just like Qingyuan?"


    "That''s a part of it... Kate, what do you think?"


    Xiaoyun asked as he turned his attention over to Kate, who had been staring at the wall the whole time.


    "Me?"


    Kate looked surprised by Xiaoyun''s sudden question.


    "Yes, you heard everything that Tianci murmured, right?"


    Kate''s face blushed for a second before recovering back to normal as she thought for a moment about how to reply to Xiaoyun''s question.


    "Is it because of the strategic value of Qijing?"


    Xiaoyun didn''t confirm it right away as he waited for Kate to exin her reasoning.


    "It''s located right on the split road between Qingyuan and Luoping, which can serve as a transport hub, right?" Kate exined.


    "That''s also only partially the answer. You two are overthinking it. The biggest reason I epted it is because it gives something for the soldiers to do and practice fighting zombies rather than continue looting Guangzhou.


    Not to mention how much it can relieve the strain on the food supply at Luoping. It is practically a steal for us to get to this deal, considering we got way too many raw resources and construction supplies from looting Guangzhou anyway."


    Both of them nodded in agreement as theypletely didn''t think of the logistics at all.


    "Anyway, can you two stand outside for a bit? I need to focus writing on this."


    The two quickly left the meeting room and closed the door.


    ---


    In the end, Xiaoyun sent Li Miao''s brigades along with a truckload of construction materials to the viges.


    As well as hiring the now private constructionpany to design a defense for Qijing vige.


    When Yuqi finally received the news from Xiaoyun, she was surprised and thankful at the same time.


    "Babe, you''re such a genius!"


    Yuqi excitedly hugged Xiaoyun as he walked inside her office.


    "Of course, I know that," Xiaoyun jokingly replied.


    "How did you convince him to hand over control like that?" Yuqi curiously asked.


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    "I mean, we''re the strongest settlement in the whole province at this point. Besides, you know how charismatic your husband is."


    As the two separated, Yuqi quickly sat back down and went back to work.


    "Totally not because zombies had attacked them..." Shuli murmured as she was the one who carried the Renqin''s report to Xiaoyun.


    "Ahem, Yuqi, I was just curious. Do you want me to have Wuli working alongside you like Shuli?" Xiaoyun suddenly asked as he sat down on the sofa.


    "Wuli? Why would she move from her military post to here?" Yuqi asked before Shuli could.


    "You know, both she and Shuli are pregnant. I don''t want to risk having her lose it." Xiaoyun exined his worries.


    Shuli shyly looked down as she didn''t know how to reply.


    "Sure, you can send Wuli to work here. I guess they are in their second trimester now... Probably best for her to get an office job instead." Yuqi replied.


    "I don''t think she''ll agree to that." Shuli quickly pointed out.


    "She still can return to her post after her pregnancy finishes. I''m sure she''ll understand it''s not just for her safety but for her baby as well."


    "Mom probably can convince her if she really doesn''t take it," Yuqi added.


    Xiaoyun nodded in agreement as well as Shuli still felt like Wuli was being forced out of a job that she loved. But she didn''t have any other way to argue back.


    "Speaking of pregnancy... You know Nami is in her third trimester, right?" Yuqi asked.


    "Wait, really?" Xiaoyun asked to make sure he heard it correctly, as he hadpletely forgotten about it.


    "Yeah, you got her pregnant around on the day of her birthday. That''s back in April, and it''s already November. That''s seven months at this point." Yuqi exined.


    "Xiaoyun... you didn''t notice her belly gotten so much bigger?"


    Shuli looked in disbelief at Xiaoyun as she felt bad for Nami that her husband didn''t even know how long she had been pregnant.


    "I had been busy working so much... Also, it almost looks the same to mepared to the rest of her body." Xiaoyun defended himself.


    "I guess Nami is on the smaller side... But still, you should pay more attention to her." Yuqi pointed out with a slight anger in her voice.


    "I know, I know."


    Just as both of them returned to work, Xiaoyuny down on the sofa as the urge to fall asleep was getting stronger and stronger.


    But before he could, the door was suddenly mmed open.


    "Xiaoyun, Yezi wanted to meet you in themand center right now," Tianci said out loud as she stepped inside.


    "Okay, okay. I''m getting up right now."


    After Xiaoyun got up from the sofa, he waved goodbye to the two as he left the office with Tianci and Kate.


    ---


    When he arrived at themand center, the first thing he saw was an excited Yezi.


    "What are you so excited?" Xiaoyun curiously asked as he sat next to Yezi.


    "Yiming! He''s themander at Shaoguan right now."


    "Yiming? You aren''t joking?" Xiaoyun asked as he was absolutely dumbfounded by the news that Yezi had just revealed.


    "Yes! Gantian is in the training field right now. You wouldn''t believe how different he looks now."


    Yezi exined as they both got up from their seat and headed out of themand center.


    After arriving at the training field next door, he sees several of the regiments training.


    "Where''s Gantian?" Xiaoyun asked as he couldn''t see him anywhere on the field.


    "He''s right there."


    Yezi pointed at the corner, where a man with a stubble beard and a different soldier uniform stood.


    "Yo Gantian!" Yezi yelled.


    Gantian immediately started heading towards the two as all the soldiers training at the field looked surprised by Xiaoyun''s visit and Yezi''s yelling.


    "Long time no see, man. You look so much older now."


    The two hugged as they couldn''t hold the excitement of meeting each other.


    "You still look the same the day I left. The town has really kept you well, didn''t it?" Gantian jokingly replied.


    "Well, it hasn''t been all smooth sailing. Anyway, how''s Shaoguan?" Xiaoyun asked curiously as the three of them sat down at a nearby cafeteria table.


    "Absolute the worst experience I ever had. I knew I should have just stayed here instead."


    Gantian started to get more and more emotional as he thought back on all the things he had experienced on this trip.


    "You still can. There''s always a spot for all of you." Xiaoyun offered.


    "Really? Even if we moved about one hundred thousand people to this town right now?" Gantian asked as he looked toward Xiaoyun with high hopes.


    "Wait, one hundred thousand people? When did you guys have that many people?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.


    "Well it''s a long story..."