Chapter 319: Chapter 319: Guangdong Adventure
After the doctor's checkup on the second day was over, she instantly chose to go back home with her daughter, not wanting to stay at the hospital any longer.
But while Nami experienced what it was like to be a mother back home, Xiaoyun was on his way to Guangdong.
---
"Didn't you extend a day's break for all the government employees? Why are you going to the city instead of staying at home with Nami?" Kate curiously asked as she sat in the driver's seat.
"They deserve a day break after working through their break time to take care of others."
"But how about Nami and Xuanhua?" Kate repeated her question, as she could feel Xiaoyun avoiding it.
After a short silence, Xiaoyun finally spoke up to answer her question.
"I have a responsibility as a leader. I need to make sure the situation in Guangdong is good enough to have people start moving in it."
"Don't you already have people sending you reports?" Kate pointed out as she thought back to all the documents that had been sent inside the office the past few days.
"I need to see it with my own eyes..." Xiaoyun answered as he took out a notebook and a pen.
"Okay... But where's Tianci?"
"I assigned her to be security for Yuqi... Stop asking so many questions. Focus on driving."
Xiaoyun quickly shut Kate's mouth as his face blushed a little, not wanting to admit the real reason why.
"Okay, geez..." Kate murmured as she shifted her attention back to the road.
With the pen in hand, Xiaoyun tried to write down ideas for the Guangdong trip. But the only thing that came out of the pen was blank.
"Xuanhua really made her jealous, hasn't it?"
As he thought more and more, his leg started to tremble, thinking of the amount of time he had done it with Tianci for the past few days.
The other five, besides Nami, who had an actual valid excuse, had purposely used their baby as an excuse to kick him out of their bedroom. Even Wuli, Shuli, and Yueyue, who seemed to want to do it badly, had given their chances to Tianci instead.
"Seven people is enough... I need to control myself. I'm going to die if I keep this up."
Xiaoyun quickly shook his head to get everything out of his head as he shifted his focus back to writing on the notepad.
---
At the southern entrance of Guangdong, a roadblock consisted of several wooden planks stacked together, acting as a barrier in front of a two-story-tall wall.
As the car came to a stop, several soldiers opened the gates and approached the car parked in the front.
But as they got close enough to see who was inside the car, they immediately straightened their back and saluted.
"Good morning, sir!"
"Good morning... How's your day going?." Xiaoyun asked as he rolled down the window.
"Very good, sir!" The captain of the three standing guard stepped forward and replied.
"That's good... Is there anything I need to know before going inside?"
"Um, there really isn't much... Actually, sir please have this paper. It will save you a lot of trouble."
The captain went inside his jacket and pulled out a piece of paper. Then he quickly signed it with his name.
"Thank you."
The soldier watched Kate restart the car again as they quickly went back to put the barrier back up before going inside.
"Huh... Guangdong's permit. Who came up with this idea?" Xiaoyun murmured as the car had just driven past the gate.
"Where do I go from here?" Kate curiously asked.
"Just keep driving forward until you see a sign that says Luoping's Guangdong outpost."
As Kate continued driving forward, the two occasionally saw several soldiers walking on the street, seemingly on a patrol mission.
One of them even stopped the car and requested a permit, which Xiaoyun tried to hand over, but they quickly refused it after seeing his face.
After driving for almost ten minutes straight, the two finally see the sign in the distance.
"Damn... That's a big sign." Kate murmured as she had to look up to see the sign attached to skyscrapers.
"Yeah... How did they even put that up there?"
As Kate drove closer and closer to the skyscraper, they could see more and more people walking in the streets.
However, the people weren't in soldier's uniforms. Instead, most of them were wearing casual clothing or blue-collar clothes, holding tools or heavy cement or rice bags on their backs.
Xiaoyun quickly pulled out a scarf to cover his face, which was quite fitting as the temperature was still pretty cold for being in the first week of January.
With everything prepared, Xiaoyun headed out of the car, and Kate quickly followed behind him into the skyscraper.
As they entered the skyscraper, two soldiers acting as security quickly met them and held them back.
"Who are you?" One of the soldiers asked.
"I've just got here from Luoping. Can you tell me where I should go?"
Xiaoyun purposely deepened his voice, not giving the soldier a chance to recognize him.
"You should be going to the skyscraper next door. This one is for military use only."
"Thank you."
Xiaoyun quickly turned around and left, leaving Kate confused as she followed him out of the building.
"Where are we going now?"
"Going to see what it's like to live here. We'll meet with the local commander later... Man, I can't even remember who I assigned to guard here."
As the two headed towards the skyscraper next door, Xiaoyun was still thinking of who could be the commander.
"Lingang is still in Luoping... It can't be Wuli or Ningjing since they both are in Luoping. Li Miao is still in Qijing overtime. Zhen Ren is at Shaoguan..."
With the door approaching, Xiaoyun finally realized who it was.
"Oh right, Han Bang... I assigned him here the day after Nami gave birth."
As Xiaoyun opened the door, he was met by hundreds of people sitting at different tables eating the same food.
And right in the middle was a chef cooking with a giant wok, still cooking food as people stood in line waiting.
"Man, I'm getting a little hungry watching..." Xiaoyun murmured as the two walked past the lines of people.
After taking a few turns following the posters that said job listing, the two finally made it to a giant reception area with a single person.
"You looking for a job?" The receptionist asked first.
"Yeah, I just got here from Luoping... Why is it so empty here?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.
"Because everyone is on lunch break... Besides, everyone in Guangdong already has a job, so why would they be here?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, there are so many things to do, from construction to repair to even simple dumb labor like carrying things over to the other side of the city.
As long as you have the will, we can train anyone to be fit for a job... Anyway, all the jobs are on the wall.
Just pick one and wait for the office workers to come back from lunch break... Actually, I need to get my lunch now. See you."
As the receptionist left the area, Xiaoyun started looking at the job application on the walls.
"Private job listing: Hiring for Haoyun's salvage groups, need to be an adult and no older than forty-five, one food stamp per day with bonus for commission. Call xxx-xxx-xxxx.
Hiring for Fei Fei's salvage group, no requirement needed, three food stamps per day, no commission, but everything is provided. Call xxx-xxx-xxxx.
Jianji Construction Group is hiring. No skill is needed, and pay is based on your ability. Report to the warehouse for more details.
For journalists at Luoping Weekly, applicants need a college degree in writing or experience in the field. They will receive twenty food stamps per week. Interested applicants should report to Floor Five."
As Xiaoyun read all the private job listings, he recognized many of them as businesses from Luoping, from factories to shops with the same name as the salvage groups.
"Huh, they really took that salvage permit to heart..." Xiaoyun murmured as he turned to the right, only to see Kate already looking at the public job listing.
"Public job listing: Chef needed government benefits and three food stamps per day. Everything covered. Interested applicants, please report to the chef in the middle of the first floor...
Dumb laborer needed, no skill needed—government benefit. Perform simple tasks such as carrying ammo and cleaning up blood...
Five food stamps per day are provided at the start for applicants who want to enlist as soldiers.
Report to 1st skyscraper for more details... How are all these pay so high?"