Three days quickly passed since Yuqi had become the co-mayor.
The wall was fully completed, and stairs were expanded to allow the militia to stand and shoot outward rather than awkwardly lean down to the battlement.
The construction crew finally began building the houses that Yezi had been asking for a long time, as well as the administrative building for Yuqi.
Fortunately, Yiming's idea of chopping down the forest behind the wall worked perfectly for building houses, as they required a lot of wood.
Half the crew was split between building the road connecting the two entrances and simple log cabins, as originally planned, and the other half building the administrative building.
At the same time, Yuqi was forced to work inside the building next to the security room, a concrete block that only had a table and chair.
But she quickly moved every document out of the security room and into the new office space she had created.
She even called Leyan to assist her as she became overwhelmed with the workload, especially as she began conducting a full census and seriously tracking everything in the town.
Besides that, the two's plans to reduce inflation backfired, as the massive wage cut and food cost raises caused even more food stamps to be used.
Since their initial use of lowering prices had caused everyone to believe they were going to get lower, the fact that they rose caused a panic, which only stopped when Xiaoyun showed them a full inventory.
But to get the full inventory, Xiaoyun had to spend almost all three days driving Yezi's pickup truck back and forth, pretending to get more food from outside.
Still, the two were mostly satisfied with the town's economy. The food stamps lost by the civilians meant there was less money in the market, which was exactly what they wanted.
However, many people were extremely unhappy, leading to a massive pile of complaints against Yuqi when rumors spread that she had made the changes.
It got so bad that Yuqi went from being a nice lady working in the store to earning the nickname 'The Iron Lady' among the townspeople.
Meanwhile, Nami soon fell in love with working in the store.
The fact of being able to gossip with the customers every time they walked into the store was the best thing she could wish for.
She was instantly hailed as a 'saint' as she leniently allowed people to loan food stamps for food.
But the truth was that the loan was just one of Yuqi's recent ideas to incentivize everyone to work harder and recoup even more food stamps, which Yezi described as inhumane loan traps.
During these three days, many visitors from the outside wanted to trade, which was dealt with by Yezi.
Several families and a lone survivor were also asking to join, which Yuqi gladly accepted as the town desperately needed more workers.
Oddly enough, the human trafficker seems to have stopped sending anyone to the town, as there is zero sign of them showing up. Almost as if they are facing some trouble or planning something big.
---
Another day passed, and it was finally Friday. The day when Huayi and Yezi having their wedding.
Unlike Xiaoyun's wedding, he only invited Xiaoyun's family and ten people.
The wedding went very smoothly, except for Xiaoyun having to take all of the alcohol away from Yezi after he began to fumble.
"Geez, Yezi was almost just like you on our wedding night," Leyan commented as the five of them walked back home.
"Yeah, but at least he wasn't completely drunk to the point of being unable to walk," Yuqi added.
"Good thing Xiaoyun took all of it for him..." Yueyue chimed in as she carried Xiaoyun on her back.
"Is alcohol really that bad?" Lily curiously asked, with Nami's face looking just as curious.
"It's not good or bad. But you two are not drinking until you become an adult," Leyan warned.
"Mom always has to be a party pooper. Hmph!"
Nami and Lily quickly ran back inside the house before heading upstairs to their room as the sound of the door closing traveled to the living room.
"Qiqi and Yueyue, we can't drink any alcohol when pregnant, okay? It's extremely bad for the baby." Leyan warned as she could tell they wanted to have a drink during the whole wedding.
"Yeah, yeah, we know," Yueyue murmured as she dropped Xiaoyun back on the sofa.
Suddenly, Xiaoyun got up from the sofa before raising his fist into the air.
"I have an idea! I know how to solve the electricity problem!" Xiaoyun excitedly yelled as he seemed to sober up a little.
"What is it?" Yuqi curiously asked as the two had been worrying about the electric grid for the whole day now, even during the wedding.
Especially as the town kept growing, the gas generator simply couldn't keep up with the demand.
"The RV! It has a solar panel and battery——" Before Xiaoyun finished talking, he fell back onto the sofa, completely blacked out.
"Finally, he came up with a good idea." Yuqi sighed, with the other three sighing after being unable to wake him up at all.
---
The next day.
Yuqi and Xiaoyun went to the empty field and created a massive pile of solar panels and batteries.
But neither of them knew how to use them, let alone how to connect them to the power grid.
"What do we do now?" Xiaoyun asked as they arrived back in Yuqi's temporary office.
"Um, let me check the occupation paper..."
After digging a bit, Yuqi finally found the paper, and the two of them began reading their skill listed.
"Teacher, nope, construction worker, nope, barber, nope... I found it, and it was an electrician named Li Dian. What a fitting name." Yuqi replied.
"Well then, let's find him."
An hour later.
After walking in circles, trying to find Li Dian in the construction area, the two finally found Jingming.
Unfortunately, they were told that Li Dian was located in one of the designated forest chopping zones.
"Man, I miss our car," Yuqi complained as the sun was making her sweat like crazy, and her leg was starting to get tired from walking so much.
"Unfortunately, it's in a scouting mission. Too bad." Xiaoyun replied as he wiped the sweat off of his forehead.
With several workers in front of them working on chopping down trees, Xiaoyun decided to take the chance.
"Hello, is anyone here named Li Dian? I have a job for him!" Xiaoyun yelled out.
"Yes, mayor, I'm here." A middle-aged man replied before walking up to the two.
"You are an electrician?"
"Yes, I'm an electrician. Is there anything that needs me?" Li Dian asked.
"Well, you don't need to work in construction anymore. You'll maintain the generator, solar panels, and all things related to power."
Xiaoyun stated as he patted him on the back.
"What solar panels?" Li Dian asked, looking a little confused.
"Just follow us."
The three of them walked back to the empty field, which still had all the things they had created earlier.
"Here it is. Can you connect them to the battery and the main grid?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.
"Um, I think I can. The electric grid is just right there. But there are so many solar panels and batteries here.
It's going to take forever for me to install it. Can I call in some of my friends? Just three people," Li Dian pleaded.
"Sure, you can tell Qijian that I sent you. Your pay is going to be... Qiqi, how much can I pay him?"
"If it is a one-time payment for four people, it is going to be fifty-six food stamps over a week.
And as for Li Dian's wage, it is going to be fourteen food stamps a week." Yuqi replied.
"Well, you heard her. Here are the food stamps."
Xiaoyun moved his hand inside the bag to pretend he had taken it out and gave it to him the exact amount.
"Thank you, thank you, iron lady——Ahem, Ms.Yuqi and Mr.Xiaoyun. I will get going now."
With Li Dian gone, the two started heading back to her temporary office.
"Well, that one problem solved... I think he was trying to call your nickname in the town. Iron lady?" Xiaoyun stretched his arms and laughed.
---
Back in the temporary office, Leyan recorded all the sales made today and all the loans paid.
Leyan was wearing almost the same outfit as Yuqi: a boring blazer with a buttoned shirt and suit pants below that barely showed any skin.
However, her clothes were much tighter, making her body stand out even more despite the hot day.
"You guys are back. I am assuming the electricity issue is solved?" Leyan asked, not looking back up at the two.
"Yeah, it's done. Let me do the other half."
Yuqi sat back down and started helping Leyan, but Xiaoyun slowly sneaked out and left the room without the two notices.
"Whew, I'm free!" Xiaoyun excitedly yelled as he started strolling around the town.
Several new log cabins were built for one family to live in alongside the original mansions meant for multiple families.
The still-in-construction administration building is a five-minute walk away from Xiaoyun's home, which was extremely close to the town center.
"Man, the town has changed so much..." Xiaoyun mumbled to himself.
"Yeah, a lot more buildings now... I still can't believe a town could grow this much."
Yiming's voice suddenly appeared behind Xiaoyun, making him turn around to look back at him.
"What do you think, Major Yiming? Do you think joining us was a mistake?" Xiaoyun asked as he turned around.
"Nope, this much growth in under three months is crazy," Yiming instantly replied.
"Right... almost three months have passed now," Xiaoyun murmured as it almost felt like a whole month had passed despite being less than a week for the past few days.
As the two continued to walk down the street, they arrived back at the front entrance and took a stop.
"They are almost in their second month of first trimester——" Xiaoyun accidentally spoke his mind, quickly shutting his mouth halfway.
"What second month? What trimester?" Yiming curiously asked.
"It's nothing. Just ignore it... Anyway, how have we still not found a doctor?" Xiaoyun complained as he thought back to the census paper.
"Well, doctors are not that common... Besides, Mrs.Leyan is almost like a doctor." Yiming pointed out.
"Yeah, but she can't do it to herself——she is only a nurse."
Xiaoyun almost slips up again as he is just about to say Leyan can't deliver her own baby while on the bed.
"We will find one eventually," Yiming commented, looking much more optimistic as he walked down the newly built road next to the wall.
After walking for a bit, the two were stopped by the construction site with a label saying fresh concrete.
"Look like it isn't finished yet, time to go back... I'm going to go back to work now. See you later."
"See you."
The two went their separate ways. Xiaoyun headed back to Yuqi's office, slowly opening the door as he sneaked inside.
"Hey! Where had you been?" Yuqi asked as the door sound alerted her.
"I was just taking a walk break," Xiaoyun replied.
"Sure you are, taking an hour's walking break." Leyan joked.
"I really mean it. I just walked past from the administration building to the road site at the middle of the wall part."
Xiaoyun tries to explain himself, but both of them don't believe him.
"Whatever, come help me with this stack of paper." Leyan waved for Xiaoyun to come over.
---
Another two weeks have passed.
Exactly three months have passed since the outbreak. It was finally almost halfway to November now.
The weather is getting colder as the daylight hours decrease, indicating that winter is about to take full effect.
Meanwhile, the city's outskirts seemed to have a mass exodus as people started moving out looking for food.
Many people joined the town as they eventually stumbled upon it, but none of them were from the inner cities. It's almost as if the inner city is a death zone that no one can enter.
The scouting mission Yezi sent out could also see many cars driving onto the highway, almost as if people were still escaping to the countryside this late.
In addition to the outside world, the town has grown to almost one hundred people, and the road behind the wall has been completed, allowing both entrances to be reached directly.
The administration building was finally finished, and the solar panel and the battery were all set up by the field, which relieved Xiaoyun from the generator duty as it was no longer needed.
The log cabin plan was also massively expanded upon as more people meant more demand for housing.
This led to the point that Yuqi had to create a completely new workgroup just for chopping trees.
Many of the cabins also started requesting connection to power, which Yuqi granted with an upfront cost of ten food stamps and weekly electric bills.
The town itself was growing perfectly, just as Yuqi had planned. However, a problem was starting to appear on the defense side.
---
Yiming, Yuqi, and Xiaoyun were in Yuqi's office. Yuqi and Yiming looked at each other as if they were enemies.
"We need to increase the militia to at least fifty people," Yiming demanded.
"What? That is way too high. Xiaoyun, we're not doing this." Yuqi immediately refused, looking over to Xiaoyun with gentle yet sharp eyes.
"And the ten original ones need to work full-time as soldiers rather than militia, and we need to build a hospital even if we don't have a doctor," Yiming added to his demand.
"That ten people out of the labor pool, and fifty people losing their valuable labor time. That's a little too much.
I can accept building a hospital. That was on the agenda anyway." Yuqi compromised after noticing Xiaoyun started to lean towards Yiming's side.
"Also, isn't the one-hour mandatory training enough? We just need a defensive force, right?" Yuqi pleaded.
After a long silence, much to Yuqi's disappointment, Xiaoyun landed with Yiming's side.
"Yiming is right. Yezi's scout has been detecting more and more zombies that have started to move out of the cities in large numbers.
The civilian department needs to serve the military until the apocalypse is over... Yuqi, I hope you can understand." Xiaoyun explained.
"Fine, but you will have to convince the people to join the militia as well as convince the ten to be full-time soldiers. Here's the salary you can give them."
Yuqi handed Yiming a piece of paper with the salary number and food stamps, but she still looked extremely unhappy.
"Thank you for your understanding, Mrs. Yuqi." Yiming bowed down in gratitude before leaving the room.
"Darling, I'm sorry I had to do this." Xiaoyun apologized. He could tell she looked a little hurt by it.
"Its okay, I understand, I'm not some unreasonable women okay?" Yuqi relaxed on the chair as all the work was finished.
"Darling, what do you think of this new building?" Xiaoyun curiously asked as he moved his seat next to her.
"Well, it's pretty big. Downstairs is the new grocery store... No, it's more like a general goods store with so many different items.
The second floor is an office block, and we have our private little room here. We should probably hire some people full-time to start managing the entire workload,"
Yuqi suggested since all the people who had been working under her carrying out the census and data were all part-time workers.
"Yeah, only three of us managing a town is not enough——" Before Xiaoyun finished speaking, Leyan walked in with two cups of coffee.
"Your coffee."
Leyan handed the two coffees over to the two before sitting down next to them.
"Leyan, do you like doing this job?" Xiaoyun suddenly asked as he took a small sip.
"Um, I am going to be real with you two. I don't like sitting in the office all day. I want to go back to the garden or a hospital," Leyan replied.
"Well, what a coincidence! You won't need to work here anymore. We are just planning to build a hospital.
A few days ago, a group of doctors and nurses joined us. The hospital is currently under construction," Yuqi mentioned.
"Wait, really?" Xiaoyun looked a little surprised, as he didn't even know it.
"Yeah, really. It's just yesterday." Yuqi reaffirmed.
"Leyan, do you want to be the head nurse when the hospital is built?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.
"Me? The head nurse? No, no, that should depend on who has more experience." Leyan refused the title.
"Well, the census tells us that the doctors and nurses are only in their late twenties. You definitely have more experience than them." Yuqi pointed out as she took a sip of the coffee.
"Fine... But I'm quitting if someone else can do a better job than me." Leyan folded as she accepted her new gain position.
"Great. Let's go home now. Work is over."