[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-zombie-apocalypse-creation":3,"chapter-zombie-apocalypse-creation-zombie-apocalypse-creation-chapter-703":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Zombie Apocalypse: Creation",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1887280,2510,"Chapter 703: Late Birthdays and Balance Workload","zombie-apocalypse-creation-chapter-703",703,"\u003Cp>\"Leyan’s birthday? Wait, when was that?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"A month ago. Exactly four days after Lily’s birthday... You were too busy with that whole fuel deal that you completely forgot about it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Why didn’t anyone say something then? You didn’t celebrate her birthday either, did you?\" Xiaoyun immediately questioned back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Who said that? I gifted her the clothes she wore a few weeks ago. You remember the one she wore in the classroom?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment Yuqi mentioned the clothes, Xiaoyun fell back into his chair in complete silence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No one told me about her birthday?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You’re supposed to remember that yourself. Anyway, no one else gave her any gift either. I’m sure it’s fine.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It’s not fine thought. Just because I was busy doesn’t mean I’m allowed to forget her birthday like this.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiaoyun’s brain already started kicking into gear, thinking of things that Leyan had wanted for a very long time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, everything came up blank.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was even worse than Yueyue’s birthday situation, as he couldn’t think of the last time she asked for something or something that would be important to her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If you help me come up with a gift for Yueyue, I can help you come up with a gift for Mom.\" Yuqi offered again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Really?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I know exactly what she wanted. But you have to help me first.\" Yuqi demanded as she refused to budge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Fine... Have you thought of gifting Yueyue a plushie?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Plushies? Come on, don’t be joking with me. Yueyue is way too old for plushies. That sounds more like a gift for Nami.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Um, how about a dress?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What kind of dress would she even like?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Anything that’s on her bookshelf. You’ve seen how much she likes to cosplay things she had read before, right?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiaoyun suggested, as his mind quickly thought back to the number of manga hidden away in her normal clothes ’closet.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Where would I even buy those kinds of clothes? And what if she already owns a replica of the things I brought?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Just buy a collection of them. I’m sure there’s a clothing store that has a whole warehouse of those kinds of clothes.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That’s.... That’s such a good idea. You’re a genius, Xiaoyun. Wait, you sit here, I’m going to go look for it right now——\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Wait, wait, wait, you haven’t told me what kind of gift I should give to Leyan.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Are you dumb? You’re the best gift to Xiaoyun. Now let me go before those stores go into a lunch break.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Yuqi ran out of Xiaoyun’s hand, he was a little stunned by what she had said. He didn’t expect the answer to be so simple.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Me? Really?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. All those years in the past, he had never really brought her actual gifts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She never asked him for any gifts or reminded him of her birthday. Yuqi didn’t even like him to celebrate her birthday at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was one of those things where she even stated in the past ’Why should I remind myself that I’m losing my youth?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What can I do as a husband? Cook food for her? Take care of the babies? Let her have a day off?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>None of them made sense to Xiaoyun, as they felt more like things he should already be doing rather than a ’makeup’ for a late birthday.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What did I do last time? Was it really just flowers and that’s it?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After doing several more digs in his memory, he finally stumbled onto something that made his face blush a little for a second.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Something that almost repeated every single year when Yuqi had her birthday. Something lewd that would make her extremely pleased.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Come on, I have to come up with something better... This is just going to be another day for her rather than an actual, genuine birthday gift.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Xiaoyun resumed looking through his memory, he was quickly interrupted as the office door opened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hey, Governor, the deputy governor?\" Jianlin curiously asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"She went outside to deal with something. Just put it on the table, I’ll handle her workload for now.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Oh, okay... This is the quarterly food report for spring and the upcoming summer prediction for the amount of food needed.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Thank you.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jianlin quickly puts the papers down before speed-walking out of the room, not even making eye contact with Xiaoyun as if he were some scary monster.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Weird...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>---\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After three hours had gone by, Yuqi finally came back to the office empty-handed. Her forehead was sweating like crazy as she threw her jacket aside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You found something?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yeah. It’s in the back of my car... Holy shit, it’s hot outside today. I should have never gone out with a jacket on.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Well, you went out right around peak hour of the sun... Anyway, I already went through all of the work that came to the office.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Thank you so much... Where did you put all the paper?\" Yuqi curiously asked, noticing her desk was much emptier than before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I sent them back to the department. Half of these papers you shouldn’t even be the one deciding or reading over them.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You what?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yuqi’s face immediately turned more and more red, seemingly about to kick him out of the office if it wasn’t for Xiaoyun getting up from her seat first.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Relax. Don’t get so angry. I actually read through every single one of them and found your workflow has some serious flaws.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Xiaoyun, I don’t need someone else to tell me how to do my work. I had done this way longer than you had sat in this office now.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Take a seat first.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Xiaoyun constantly trying to get her to sit down first, she finally budged as she sat back in her own office chair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You’d better give a good reason, or else I’m never letting you go inside my office again.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Just wait a second. I’ll give you an explanation that would make all of your anger go away.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he turned around to look away from her for a second, Yuqi was a little confused until he turned back around to face her again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Why did you make yourself look mature all of a sudden?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yuqi curiously asked, her face looking uncomfortable with his ’new’ look that was more of a replica of Songming.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Maybe you’ll calm down and listen to me. Yuqi, do you remember what I told you in the past?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"In the past?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Remember what I talked about you overworking yourself?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’m not overworking myself. I still go home at a usual time and leave them here in the office.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Leave them in the office. And the next day you’ll be working on the same pile while new piles come in for you to decide on.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yuqi didn’t argue back directly this time, as what Xiaoyun said was true. But the reasoning still didn’t satisfy any of her anger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I need information to make a decision. Or else I’ll be making a blind decision without those reports to read.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"And that’s the key issue. Making a decision. Don’t you think you have overloaded yourself with information to make every single decision?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If I don’t make it, who makes it?\" Yuqi questioned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The people below you. Don’t tell me this is how you worked when you were running my business while I was gone.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’m perfectly fine with it. I can handle more information and make good decisions. It has always worked out for me.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Do you remember the debate about the village leaders? Those people who are scared of responsibility and push it to the higher-ups?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I already let my workers give themsleve some discretion on certain issues. I already implemented what you had told me in the past long time ago.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing her stubborn answer, Xiaoyun shook his head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You’re still not understanding me. Yuqi, let me ask you a question. Do you think you’re smarter than a hundred people?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yeah, I think I’m smarter than those hundred people,\" Yuqi answered, her face full of confidence as she crossed her arms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Okay, maybe I phrased the question wrong. Do you think you’re smarter than every single office worker in the adminstrative building combined?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Why does that matter?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yuqi questioned back, her voice starting to get a little irritated. She was unwilling to get lectured by Xiaoyun again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Okay, you might be smarter than everyone else. And you probably do have a higher chance of getting things solved than letting someone else decide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But let me ask you this. What do you think is going to happen when something goes wrong, and everyone turns their attention to you?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I admit I did something wrong and I’ll fix it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"To what point do you think people will be frustrated when the track record starts to build up? Not just the outside, but people internally.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"People internally? Can you stop beating around the bush and say who they are?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"All of the office workers under you. The more control you give yourself, the more blame you get when a mistake happens.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And before you say anything. Sometimes it doesn’t even need to be your mistake. But someone else at the lower entry position.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What does that have to do with me?\" Yuqi questioned again as her voice got more and more impatient.\u003C\u002Fp>",1562,"2026-06-10T06:59:54.595Z",1,"novelbin.me","a1b0d1d376b625322dde1b70ef42d0c6f59ce37428f0785b6b23133a383b12ea","zombie-apocalypse-creation-chapter-704","zombie-apocalypse-creation-chapter-702",829,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fzombie-apocalypse-creation-cover.jpg"]