Zombie Apocalypse: Creation-Chapter 807: Office Duties

"I didn’t want any leaks that might ruin the process... Wait, I’m not saying I don’t trust you—"

"I know what you’re trying to say. It’s okay."

Seeing the happiness disappear on Houqin’s face as she turned over to the computer, Xiaoyun knew he fucked up.

"Hey, Houqin."

"What?"

"Do you want to get married before I go on this trip at the end of November?"

The question shocked Houqin once again. Her brain was unable to process it as she sat there in silence for a whole second.

"Y-You serious? W-Why are you suddenly p-proposing this?"

Houqin questioned, her face starting to blush redder and redder as she couldn’t look back at him in the eyes.

"Because I love you," Xiaoyun said quietly. "I don’t want to live in regret when I might not..."

Xiaoyun fell silent, the rest of his words caught in his throat. He didn’t need to finish—she already understood.

"Don’t say that kind of stuff, you dummy."

She pressed a finger gently against his lips. For a moment, she lingered. But she quickly withdrew her hand.

"I don’t want to become a widow this young, okay? If you do come back safely, then we can..."

Houqin hesitated. She knew it was irrational, yet her heart quickened, quietly convincing her she’d regret letting it pass by.

"If you really do come back home safely, we can get married. There, I said it. You happy now?"

"Yes! No takeies backsies!"

Seeing Xiaoyun celebrating it like a child, Houqin shook her head a little as she felt like she had walked herself into a trap.

---

"Why are you in such a good mood today? You aren’t spending more time at home with the babies today?"

As Yuqi asked her question out loud, Xiaoyun stopped his whistling as he took a seat right across her desk.

"You wouldn’t believe what Houqin had just told me earlier."

"What?"

"She just accepted my proposal. We’re going to get married if I get back home safely from the trip!"

"Right..."

Yuqi rolled her eyes as she shifted her attention back over to the computer, ignoring Xiaoyun’s attempt to spread his happiness.

"Anything new I missed for the past few days?"

"Nope, unless you count that stupid sale that almost ruined everything. Can you at least communicate next time?"

As she voiced her complaint, Xiaoyun only awkwardly scratched his head. In his mind, the sale of goods in Zhongshan wasn’t really seen as that big of a deal.

Especially when he already did the same for Shenzhen and Dongguan, two much bigger cities that had no problem with the whole deflation issue.

"Next time, I’ll have you personally be there... Ahem, but how did it get so bad when we did this in the past?"

"You really want to know?"

Xiaoyun nodded his head, waiting for Yuqi to reveal the answer.

"Look how things have changed. Now you’re the one asking me stuff. Looks like the genius isn’t so smart after all."

"Okay, okay, you’re the smartest. Now, can you tell me the reason why it backfired so badly?"

"Xiaoyun, have you been to Zhongshan City before?" Yuqi questioned as she stared right at his face.

"Zhongshan? I mean, I visited once on a business trip back in the days. What about it?"

"You know it has one of the biggest ports in the country, right? The same city that has multiple specialized manufacturing towns?"

The office fell into silence. The two stared at each other back and forth as Xiaoyun’s brain short-circuited for a whole minute.

"Shit. Fuck me... If this happened twenty years ago, I would have known exactly what you’re talking about."

"Well, it’s 2022... Xiaoyun, you really needed to be more careful with the lines on the drawing on a map."

"My bad."

As Xiaoyun apologized again, a question still lingered in his mind. One that didn’t really add up to his concerns earlier.

"Wait, but Shenzhen and Dongguan are even bigger. How could it be that the same strategy used in those two cities didn’t work in Zhongshan?"

"Because it’s a different time. When we sold the goods in those two cities, there wasn’t even that much manufacturing in the first place.

But now we have so many factories producing stuff, you tell me what will happen if low-priced goods are flooded into the market."

"That makes sense... But why didn’t I think of that?" Xiaoyun wondered as he scratched his head again in confusion.

"You needed money to boost the military budget, so you didn’t hesitate to use the same method that you always used.

Without communicating with me, by the way. The biggest mistake of all time... Where did your brain go when you met with Yiming?"

As Yuqi flicked her finger against Xiaoyun’s forehead, he didn’t react to it at all. He just sat there, frozen.

"Hello? You there?" Yuqi questioned, getting up and waving her hand in front of his face over and over again.

"Sorry. I think I know where my brain went now."

"Where?"

"Inside your bodies."

"Huh? What are you even talking about?"

Seeing her staring at his face with confusion written all over, Xiaoyun slowly got up from his seat before walking to the other side of the desk.

"Right here. That’s what I’m talking about."

The moment he patted Yuqi on the thighs with his hand, she immediately brushed it aside as her face blushed red.

"Stop it."

"Hey, you asked me where. I gave you the answer. Don’t be mad at me for showing you where it went."

"Pervert..."

"Hehe."

As Xiaoyun giggled back to his seat, Yuqi shifted her attention back to the book in front of her desk.

"What are you reading?"

"A philosophy book."

"Philosophy?"

Looking at the book cover, there was a bold printed title that said ’Beyond Good and Evil’ with the author’s name blocked by Yuqi’s finger.

"When did you start reading philosophy all of a sudden?" Xiaoyun curiously asked as he gently tapped his finger on the book.

"I read all kinds of books. You don’t notice the bookshelf right next to the sofa, there?"

Turning around, Xiaoyun could see the bookshelf she was talking about. He slowly walked up to the bookshelf before examining it.

"You read all these?"

"Not all of it. But I had read half of it so far... What are you doing to my books?" Yuqi questioned.

"Nothing."

After running his finger through all the books, he quickly sat back down as he watched Yuqi read in silence.

"You don’t have any work to do?" Xiaoyun quietly asked.

"Not today... You mind letting me focus on my reading?" Yuqi pleaded, her voice starting to sound a little irritated.

"Okay."

Xiaoyun slowly got back up, heading out of the room as Yuqi remained in her seat, reading the book in complete silence.

---

"Hey, honey! Welcome back. You’re so early today... Is there nothing to do at work today?"

As Leyan opened the garage door for Xiaoyun, he quickly put his car into park before coming out of it.

"Nothing that needs me. I should have just spent the time at home today... Are the kids behaving?’

"They’re starting to get attached to you—"

"Dada!"

The moment the two of them entered the living room, they were greeted by three kids running straight into their legs.

"Hey, be careful. Don’t run so fast... What had you all been doing while I was gone?" Xiaoyun asked.

"Reading!" Yongyi excitedly answered, pointing his finger towards the floor next to the coffee table.

Walking over, there was a child’s book right on the floor. He picked it up as it was already opened halfway.

"Leyan, you guys got to this part of the story already?"

"They got a little impatient since you weren’t home. You can start over if you really want."

"That’s fine. Ahem, you all ready to continue the journey?"

"Yeah!"

All three of the babies responded at the same time. Their faces were full of excitement as they sat around Xiaoyun.

"Gimme a second to catch back up."

After flipping back to the first few pages, Xiaoyun easily made out the whole story as he was brainstorming things to add.

"Okay... The little piggy was facing the big bad bear. It was so big, it matches the size of this whole coffee table!"

As Xiaoyun lifted the whole coffee table with one hand, all four of them got a little spooked by it.

"A massive bear. Now chasing after the little piggy. He ran and ran, through the tall grasses and out from the mud pit."

All four of them stared at the book in silence, watching the pig run through all kinds of obstacles as the bear kept chasing after every page.

"And then, slam! The little piggy made it to his straw house. He hides inside the blanket as the big bad bear starts knocking on the door."

Before Xiaoyun continued the story, he quietly cleared his throat as he prepared to dampen his voice a little.

"Knock knock, open the door, little piggy."