"Is this all you wanted?"
Houqin shyly nodded her head, blushing red like an apple as she looked to the ground, unable to look back at Xiaoyun in the eyes.
"Great. Then I'm going to let you handle this. I'm going to go outside to check how the progress is going."
As Xiaoyun ran out of the room, Houqin's heart rate slowly climbed back down as her hand reached her lips.
"Why did I ask him to kiss ?"
Unable to figure out her feelings, Houqin quickly shook her head, turning her attention back to the monitor in front of her.
---
As Xiaoyun stepped back to the training field, the last person was being signed up by the very last booth as all other booths had closed up.
"Is everything going fine?"
Xiaoyun asked as he walked up to one of the booths, standing right next to the n in the process of signing up.
"The process was smooth, Mr.Governor."
"Mr.Governor? You gotta change the na. It's Commander Chen." Xiaoyun pointed out as he saw the signed military contract.
"Sorry, Commander Chen!"
Xiaoyun didn't say anything else as the soldier on the side quickly took the new guy over to the other side of the training field.
"How was the operation? Were there any rowdy n who caused any trouble?" Xiaoyun asked as he looked over to the logistics worker.
" One of the n did try to cause so chaos. But Miss Houqin was able to take care of it earlier."
"That's good to hear... Thank you for your hard work."
"No problem, sir."
As the booth worker started packing up the stand with several other workers, Xiaoyun left and headed back into his car.
"What do I need to do now?"
Xiaoyun wondered to himself as he sat in the driver's seat alone. Both Yuqi and Houqin were busy working on their work.
His idea bank ca up blank after blank... until a thought suddenly popped up. One that nearly made his heart jump for a second.
"Stop thinking you're a figurehead... Everyone respects you and bravely follows whatever you lead them towards."
With nothing in mind, Xiaoyun started up the engine, driving out of the training field before aimlessly driving around Guangzhou.
Looking around, he could feel the liveliness of the city. People walking in and out of the streets and buildings.
It was the complete opposite of what he felt in Shaoguan. Not a mont of deafening silence as people brought food from street vendors.
For a second, the thought of the outbreak had never happened as he sat in his driver's seat, waiting for the red light to turn green.
The thought vanished as fast as it appeared, as he was the only car driving on a three-lane road.
He could just stop here and sit in the car in the middle of the road. No one would co to disrupt him until—
"Beep!"
As the loud horn snapped Xiaoyun back to reality, he quickly noticed the bus behind him in the rear view.
With the gas pedal pressed, the car took off as he switched lanes, letting the oversized bus go by as he shook his head a little.
"What was I thinking? There's still a lot of work to be done..."
After driving for a bit, Xiaoyun arrived back at the administrative office as he saw a bunch of people gathered in front of the building.
More importantly, several ard police were standing by, with a bunch of minivans parked nearby.
"What's happening here?"
Exiting the car, Xiaoyun started walking towards the crowd before stopping as he realized what was happening.
A whole podium was stationed right in front of an entrance, with mics and n holding caras kneeling down.
The only thing missing was the person on the podium, which soon appeared as several people ca out of the glass door.
"Good afternoon."
Within seconds, all of the caras started making click sounds as Yuqi stood right behind the podium.
"I'm excited to announce the governnt's First Five-Year Plan. It is a comprehensive plan aiming to tackle many of the problems in our society..."
As the speech began, Xiaoyun watched it from a distance, standing right next to the crowds of citizens watching alongside him.
"For those who wanted to know what's inside it, the plan itself will be publicly shared with the selected newspaper partners."
Yuqi held up the docunt for a second before putting it down, resuming her speech once again as she remained calm.
"In a gross overview, the goal is to increase the standard of living, resolve sticky inflation, and stabilize the economy.
All of the governnt departnts will be working together. Our ultimate goal is bring the living standard up to pre-outbreak level."
Xiaoyun could feel the level of ambition in her voice as the crowd remained silent, waiting for her to continue.
"To make sure the goal is achieved, we will release a quarterly progress report. This will also be published online on the new governnt website..."
As soon as Yuqi ntioned the word online, several of the people within the crowd looked a little shocked.
"That's all I have for today. Now, is there any question?"
Several of the people in the very front near the caran raised their hands, wearing a press tag that showed which newspaper company they belonged to.
"You can go." The woman next to Yuqi said out loud as she pointed her finger towards one of the reporters.
"Luoping Daily, Zhengfu. As you had stated earlier, this first-five year plan is new. Is there any connection to the recently implented tax code?"
"It's connected. As a matter of fact, the tax code was supposed to be a part of the five-year plan, but we ultimately decided to release it early."
"Guangzhou Daily next."
"Reporter Minqi here, will this five-year plan indicate a governnt pivot of re-nationalization of certain industries?"
"I cannot answer that question on the spot. However, inside the plan, it will have an answer to your question."
As Yuqi deliberately avoided the question, the woman next to her quickly pointed to the next reporter.
"Economist Weekly here, the tax code released over the weekend had caused a 10% and triggered multiple limit down in the stock market since open.
With your newly released five-year plan and the end of subsidies, is this an indication that private businesses will be negatively impacted?"
"First off, the end of subsidies always had a set date for when it would end. There were no plans for it to continue indefinitely.
Secondly, both public and private businesses will continue working with the governnt. The relationship has not changed based on this plan.
Nor are there any plans to change this relationship. Both serve an important function in society that will remain separate."
The answer easily pushed the negative attempt out as the worker pointed to the fourth report.
"Country News here. With the creation of the five-year plan, it seems to be mirroring the historical record of centralizing planning.
Will we see any internal changes to the governnt that are more similar to pre-outbreak? Or will it continue to operate as a stand-alone bureaucracy?"
Everyone in the crowd could see a pause by Yuqi as she stood there in complete silence for several seconds before speaking up again.
"As the deputy governnt, I cannot give you an answer to this question. But I'll state again, our governnt's goal is to improve the citizens' lives.
It is still a ti of ergency. Many outside threats that could endanger us. We have to be pragmatic first before formality."
The answer created a smile on Xiaoyun's face as it was the perfect answer that rebutted the report's arrogant question.
"Ahem, thank you for coming out today. That's all the questions the deputy governor is taking today."
As the woman next to Yuqi quickly ended the eting, all of the police officers began escorting the reporters and the caran back into their vans.
The crowd itself began to disperse as everyone went on with their life. Except for Xiaoyun, who started walking towards the entrance.
"Good afternoon, Governor." One of the police officers murmured as he noticed Xiaoyun walking by.
"Good afternoon."
After entering the heavily guarded administrative building, Xiaoyun didn't waste any ti as he entered the elevator.
With a button press, it began bringing him up. As it stopped, he was back on the top floor as he knocked on Yuqi's office.
"Co in... Look who decided to show up again."
"That was a nice press interview earlier." Xiaoyun complinted as he took a seat across from her.
"Thanks. You watched the whole thing?" Yuqi asked as she took out a wet napkin to wipe her face.
"From the beginning to the end. It did feel a little short, though. I was expecting you to explain more in detail."
"Do I look like an expert? If I really wanted to explain everything, I would have had the entire departnt heads at the press eting as well."
"That wouldn't be a bad idea..." Xiaoyun murmured as he imagined a whole hour eting in front of the press.
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