It was almost dark when Murong's team got out of the dungeon, so they hurriedly went back to the village. On the way, they met with Robert's mercenary squad and told them that their tasks for this trip were all finished. So, they could stop guarding the perimeter and came back with them to the village to rest. Tomorrow, they all would go back to Beidu city first thing in the morning.

When Robert's team heard that, they were glad. Finally, this lengthy mission had already ended. However, they wouldn't make the same mistake twice. They were still vigilant. Nothing was set in stone until they truly stepped on Beidu city.

When Murong's team arrived at the chief Hector's village, Murong immediately came to discuss the remaining plans with Chief Hector before he went to rest. As he previously enforcedly made an agreement with him, Murong reminded chief Hector to do what they had already planned, spying and reporting to him. Murong also hinted that Hector shouldn't have any funny ideas because this domain might fall under his family's jurisdiction in the future. In a way, he should consider himself lucky that his village would be one of the thief villages that survived the cleansing.

Hector heard what Muyong said and nodded. However, he still didn't think too much of it. Which family would like to switch their family territory to this wilderness region? Especially, this Chen family's current territory was very prosperous. He heard that just for the commercial tax alone was enough to support ten times the size of the city itself, or perhaps even more.

'He must be bluffing,' Hector thought. 'He must think that I would plan to betray him, and he needs to give me another persuasion—such a waste of time and an unnecessary act.'

'Umm...actually, I would use the "wait and see" plan first. Find out who would be the better backer. Then, I would see whether I could safely take my daughter back from him. As long as my daughter still stayed in Chen family as a hostage, I couldn't freely betray him.' Hector unceasingly thought.

In Fact, Murong also sensed the doubt from chief Hector's facial expression, but he didn't care. Time would tell chief Hector what would be the right decision for him soon. As soon as he came back home, he would recommend his grandfather to submit the exchange territory proposal right away.

After finishing a discussion with chief Hector, it was time for Murong to go back to rest. So, Murong and the gang stayed in a village for another night. And, the next morning, they drove back to Beidu city, ending the borderlands region trip.

...

Before Gondola period

Blue planet's calendar – 24th February 2024 (321 days before the apocalypse)

Xia kingdom – Kunming

Chen Manor

...

Murong and Dawei had gone for almost a month. During that time, the remaining family members also didn't stay put. Chen Murong found that his father and mother had already stocked a lot of materials in different family's warehouses. They also signed quite a few purchasing contracts for future batches of materials. Uncle Chen Fang also gathered a lot of information about the Borderlands region. It would surely prove to be useful when the family drafted the comprehensive plan to go there.

Apart from the family members' businesses, Chen Murong also asked for an update on the guests he forcefully invited from the Borderlands region. He stopped by and asked Chen Tianlong about the situation of all the hostages, especially Laura.

Chen Tianlong told Murong that they were ok. He had placed them in the right-wing of the manor. They were responsible for helping the maids in cleaning their quarters and gardening for the time being. He assigned some guards to monitor them and restricted them to some areas of the manor.

"That's ok then," Murong said. "For now, I put you in charge of them. You could manage them yourself or assign anyone to help you."

"Yes, young master." Chen Tianlong replied.

Then, Murong went up of the manor to his grandfather's working room. He noticed that his grandfather was still up because he saw that the light was still on. So, He knocked on the door.

"Knock. Knock."

"Come in," the old guy behind the door answered in a calm and welcome voice.

"Grandfather, I am back," Murong greeted the old man while he was walking in the room. His grandfather sat behind his favorite wooden desk. In the past, the desk was neat and clean. But, right now, he noticed several documents were piled up on his desk. His grandfather currently resumed his duty as the family head after he had previously retired.

"Good. You must be tired. How was your trip?" Chen Jinnan asked gently with benevolent eyes.

"It's good, grandfather. We found all of what we were looking for," Murong answered with a big grin. "So, we could proceed with the next step."

"That's good news, indeed." Chen Jinnan replied. "Actually, I've already submitted the proposal to the Official Office while we are waiting for your survey result."

"Oh, you did?" Murong asked back.

"Yes. But, I've not yet submitted to the Royal Court and the House of Lords, though." Chen Jinnan said. "I am waiting for you to come back to report to me before submitting to those two."

"I see, grandpa. Yeah, I think it's a good strategy." Murong said. Submitting to the Official Office beforehand would make the process go faster. It would also be easier to withdraw if they changed their minds later. The Royal Court and the House of Lords were more difficult and tricky to withdraw this kind of proposal.

"I am glad you agreed." Chen Jinnan respond.

"So, when do you plan to submit the proposal to the Royal Court and the House of Lords then?" Murong asked.

"Probably, tomorrow. I don't see the reason why we should wait any longer." Chen Jinnan replied.

"I agree," Murong said.

In the Xia Kingdom's political body, there were three main factions, the Royal Court, the House of Lords, and the Official Office.

The royal court, as its name dictated, it consisted of the people of the royal family. The person who had power over this faction was obviously the king. However, the king usually listened to all the princes' opinions before making any major decisions.

The second faction that, technically, had the largest collective power in the kingdom was the House of Lords. In fact, the House of Lords was established for the purpose of balancing the king's power at the end of the Mount Taiyuan War. At that time, many major families had a lot of soldiers in their possessions. The royal family was afraid of the rebellion by those families if they were all allowed to keep the soldier at those levels.

After a lengthy discussion between the royal family and the major families, a compromise was finally made between the two sides. The major families agreed that each of their individual families would reduce the number of possessed soldiers according to the new quota. In exchange, the House of Lords was created. Every new law that would be enforced in the future had to be approved by both the House of Lords and the Royal Court. The decision of the House of Lords would go with majority votes from representatives of each major family.

Finally, the last faction in the kingdom was the Official Office. Its main duty was to deal with day-to-day operations in the kingdom, such as registration, tax, health care, education, and transportation. Their area of operation covered only the area that belonged to the royal family. They didn't care about individual family territory if they weren't requested by the territory owners. They only cared about the territory tax that the individual family had to pay for the king at the end of each year.

Among these three factions, the most difficult barriers for most proposals were the Royal Court and the House of Lords. The Official Office would only check for the feasibility of the proposal and its correspond related laws. In fact, in this case, the Official Office would be thrilled to get rid of the Borderland region from its responsibility. The territory was a mess and full of bandits and thieves.

"I think both factions would approve our proposal, grandfather. There is no reason not to." Murong said.

"I hope so," Chen Jinnan said.

"Then, if there is nothing else, I would like to excuse and go back to rest?" Murong asked.

"Sure, good night Murong."

"Good night, grandfather."

Then, Murong left the room. On the way to his room, he was thinking about what he would do next. Now, the survey mission was finished. And, once the proposal was submitted, there was nothing else he could do to help with it. Perhaps, he now finally had time to pursue his personal desire.

Yes! Finally! It was time to find his love partner in the previous life!