Zombie Apocalypse: Creation-Chapter 812: Cabinet Meeting
"The number is reflected based on the report submitted last week. We had done months of preparation for the estimated cost."
A back and forth between the health department and Xiaoyun appeared before he turned around to look over to Yuqi.
"Is that report accurate?"
"It’s as accurate as it could be... Did you not read the report I sent you on Friday?"
"Of course I did. Ahem, very well. Yuqi, what’s needed from me? Signing the approval paper?"
"I can sign it later myself... I just want to make sure you know something important like this."
"I see... You all can continue the meeting."
With Xiaoyun taking a step back, Yuqi quickly took charge again as the health department continued to ramble on for a few more minutes.
---
After several hours of meetings had gone by, most of the ministers had finished giving their work reports.
Everyone was sent out of the meeting room for a restroom break, except for Xiaoyun and Yuqi, who stayed behind.
"Yuqi, where’s the important thing that you wanted me to see? These things don’t really feel like the thing you wanted me to come here for."
"Is it really that obvious?" Yuqi questioned back.
"I mean, I had been just sitting here and listening to them talk. Most of these issues can be resolved with time and a stroke of a pen."
Xiaoyun paused for a second, then continued.
"What do you want me to come to this meeting for exactly?"
"Can those smart brains of yours not figure this out? Or did you leave it back at home with Tianci and Ziling?"
As Yuqi joked back with a smile, he didn’t get mad at it. Instead, Xiaoyun felt a little relief knowing it wasn’t something bad.
"I haven’t been at work for a bit. Would my beautiful, genius wife tell me what she wants me to be here for today?"
The moment he tried to move closer, Yuqi immediately pushed his hands away before staring at him with a serious face.
"Stop being so corny. Be serious for a second. Did you already forget what you needed to do at the end of this month?"
"Of course not. I had been preparing for the trips for a month and a half now... Wait a moment."
After a few seconds of thinking in pure silence, Xiaoyun’s brain finally figured out the puzzle.
"You wanted me to give an announcement about it. Did I get that right?"
"Looks like your brain isn’t empty after all... Ahem, the break is almost over. Stop touching my legs."
As she shoved his hands away from her thighs, the ministers began to come back into the room one by one from their break.
Thirty minutes later...
"Li Fa, you’re the last one to report. Do you have anything important you wanted to say outside of yesterday?" Yuqi questioned.
"No, deputy governor."
"Great. Before I end the meeting today, our Governor has a few words to say... Can we all give him a round of applause first?"
All of the ministers looked a little confused by the request, but they all clapped in the end as it slowly died down.
"I’m going to try to make this short. I’ll be out of Luoping by November 14th, and out of Guangdong by November 30th."
Within seconds, both Xiaoyun and Yuqi could see that their faces all looked a little puzzled, more so than the request to clap earlier.
"I won’t be back until... roughly by the end of December if everything goes according to plan."
"Is this another military operation?" The minister of the treasury curiously asked.
"For the first part of the trip, yes. I’ll be assisting General Han Bang and General Lingang to start the last offensive into the south.
And with Yiming officially retiring, I’ll be in charge of his unit until someone suitable comes up for his replacement."
Several of the ministers looked shocked, especially the head of border patrol and the head of police, who had worked multiple times with Yiming.
Even Yuqi looked a little shocked, as she only expected Xiaoyun to leave at the end of the month, not two weeks away.
"By the 30th, I’ll be coming back to Luoping to... Take a plane ride to the capital."
"The capital?"
This time, it was Li Zhen who spoke up. His face looked more confused than ever as he couldn’t imagine why someone would go there.
"The military in the North had sent invites to multiple settlement leaders across the country to the capital, including me. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞
I’ll be taking a transport plane from our Gansu friends on the 30th... And fly back hopefully in time for the New Year."
"Why don’t we just refuse the meeting?" Li Fa questioned.
"If all the settlement leaders are there, who am I to refuse? Does anyone want to see an ICMB flying towards our homes?"
As soon as Xiaoyun reminded them of the potential threat, the meeting room fell into silence.
Everyone knew the planned trip was an open-and-shut case... Until he suddenly started to chuckle a little.
"Ahem, don’t look all sad and everything. It’s a good thing for us to make contact with potential allies."
"But what if you lock you up and refuse to let you go?" The Minister of Health questioned, with everyone else agreeing with her.
"Then they’ll ruin their own reputation... Besides, they have no reason to lock me up in a meeting meant to create a united front against zombies."
Seeing the minister’s face showing zero trust in assumptions he made up on the spot, Xiaoyun let out a small sigh.
"Look, I’m not here to talk about why I should go or shouldn’t go. I’m here to tell you all that I’ll be gone for a while.
I want you all to continue working without me, and you all have already shown the capability for that."
Xiaoyun paused for a second as he looked around. He could see their faces still holding a grim look.
"This is just a small request from me. Please treat Yuqi as if she were the Governor. She’ll be taking my spot while I’m gone."
The bombshell news didn’t surprise any of them this time, as they had been working under Yuqi since the beginning of the Luoping.
"Next week, I’ll be going on TV to make this announcement public myself. I don’t want any of this leaked to the public before then."
"Yes, sir!"
---
As the meeting officially came to an end, Xiaoyun could see the irritated face on Yuqi as everyone else left the room.
"Xiaoyun, you didn’t tell me you’re leaving on the 14th."
"My bad. I didn’t intend to keep it a secret. I only planned for this a few weeks ago with Yiming."
"Whatever. You’re going to explain this to Mom yourself... They’re going to be so mad when they hear this."
"It’s just two weeks earlier than before. It can’t be that bad—"
"You don’t understand. All of us were..."
Yuqi suddenly fell into silence. Her lips sealed shut as she started packing up her stuff into her briefcase.
"Were what? You guys planning something for me?"
"Of course, we are planning something. It was going to be something special... But now you had ruined it."
Yuqi answered with frustration in her voice as she zipped her bag. Getting up from her chair, she looked over to him.
"You’re going to be so dead when you get home today."
"It can’t be that bad... I mean, I didn’t plan for it either. Yiming had to retire, his body is way too weak to—"
"I don’t want to hear it. Tell it to Mom and everyone else in the family. All I’m going to say is good luck."
The sudden mysterious look left Xiaoyun confused as she left the room without elaborating on it any further.
"What are they possibly planning for me? It can’t be something bad... But why would it matter if I’m leaving early or late?"
Xiaoyun continued to sit in the chair, his mind unable to wrap around what they could be doing for him before the trip.
"They haven’t been acting weird or anything... No hints either... Did they do something while I was asleep or something?"
The more he tried to dig into his memories, the more he felt confused. Everything just came up blank as if they had shown nothing.
At the same time, the nothingness itself was an indicator. Something more was going on rather than the usual calmness.
"Whatever. I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it."
Once out of the meeting room and into the empty hallway, he froze for a second. He didn’t know where to go now.
"No way I’m going back to Yuqi’s office... Oh snap, almost forgot. I need to go to the command center today."
With the decision made, he headed straight to the elevator before reaching downstairs to the main lobby.
