Shadow Empire

Chapter 1073 Magnanimity and Pettyness

When he returned to the party hall, Senator Cleveland waved to him from a distance. Lance gave Barbara a look and then went over first.

Senator Cleveland had drunk some alcohol that evening, and his face looked slightly flushed. He held a glass of wine in his hand and pulled Lance's arm.

Lance also greeted the people around him.

Senator Cleveland then took him to a secluded spot and asked, "Has the president spoken to you?"

Lance nodded. "I just came from over there."

Senator Cleveland smiled slightly, seemingly pleased with the outcome. "I bet he talked to you about the Gold Heart Medal."

"How about it?"

When will I give it to you?

Lance's gaze lingered on the senator's face for a moment. He didn't answer immediately, and it was this disjointed exchange that made Senator Cleveland frown.

"What happened?" If he hadn't noticed Lance's abnormality, he probably wouldn't have gotten this far.

He noticed the abnormality within just two or three seconds.

Lance wasn't sure if this was an act or if he genuinely knew nothing. "The President said that the awarding of the Gold Heart Medal is a very important and very serious matter."

“I am not really suited to receive this medal, especially given my current somewhat sensitive position.”

“You know, the gang leader.”

Senator Cleveland's eyebrows furrowed even more upon hearing this. "This isn't in my plan. I need to ask him. Wait for me a moment."

Lance initially disagreed, saying, "If he refuses, so be it. It's not something I absolutely need."

But Senator Cleveland clearly didn't think so. "You can refuse, but I told him that whether he wanted to give it to you or not, he had to talk to me first, but he didn't do that."

"I need to ask him what made him make this decision. This isn't just your problem anymore, it's mine too!"

Lance didn't stop him any further. "Alright, I'll wait for you here."

"Try not to interact with him normally; now is not the time."

Senator Cleveland had already turned around, but upon hearing his words, he stopped and looked at Lance with a puzzled expression, unsure if his guess was true.

He looked at Lance for a few seconds, then said, "Wait for me here," before walking back to another room.

As he reached the door of the room, the president's aides stopped him, saying, "The president has guests now."

Senator Cleveland glanced at his staff, then walked to the door, lit a cigarette, and said, "Hopefully they can finish this conversation before I finish this one; our time is precious."

The aide keenly noticed the senator's somewhat displeased mood, which made him feel uneasy.

In fact, his advice to the president was that it was best to pretend to be invisible for now, no matter what. After the armistice was signed tomorrow, the federal constitution would grant the president a high degree of centralized power during the war, which could even be described as a dictatorial privilege, and that would be the official end of the war.

Next comes another day of direct confrontation between the Presidential Palace and Congress, with Congress consistently holding the upper hand. The most crucial point is that the president's term can only last until the end of this year.

His term had actually ended long ago, but it was extended by three years due to the Federation's intervention in the war. He was probably one of the longest-serving presidents in the Federation's history, serving a total of eleven years.

However, no matter how long he stays in this position, once he leaves the presidential palace at the end of the year, all the power he currently possesses will become a thing of the past.

He may still have some personal connections to rely on, but in order to continue his presidency during the midterm elections, he used some unscrupulous methods, offending many people both inside and outside the party.

If he keeps a low profile until he steps down, perhaps those who come after him won't bother him, considering the victory in the war and the fact that he hasn't caused much trouble for others.

But if he gets too active now, getting involved in this and that, and can't stop, then the next president might have to settle some of his issues.

This kind of thing often happens when three parties take turns in power; it has become a routine for the newly elected president to settle scores with the previous president.

Only a select few presidents who are low-key, have high emotional intelligence, and know how to protect themselves can retain a certain level of political influence after retirement.

However, this is difficult, in fact.

Having held the highest power in the country and tasted that flavor, it's hard for them to truly forget.

Power is the most terrible poison in the world. Once someone has tasted it, there is only endless tasting or death.

Other presidents have the protection of their parties after leaving office, but the current president also has many opinions about his party, so keeping a low profile is the best choice.

However, it seems he doesn't want to keep a low profile.

Now Senator Cleveland has come over, and his tone doesn't seem very friendly, which makes the staff feel uneasy.

People like them don't actually possess much power, even though they seem to have some influence in the federal political arena now.

But once they leave the presidency, or the president leaves office, their influence diminishes.

Therefore, this aide was well aware of this and tried to avoid conflict with these politicians who were on the rise.

Unfortunately, the president did not do that.

Senator Cleveland stood by the door without saying a word, just smoking his cigarette. As the cigarette in his hand grew shorter and shorter, the president's staff couldn't help but get impatient.

He opened the door a crack, then walked in apologetically, went to the president's side, bent down, and whispered in his ear, "Senator Cleveland is waiting for you at the door; he's in a bad mood."

The president nodded slightly, then smiled at the man opposite him. "In short, let's leave it at that for now. I'll call you or have someone contact you if there are any new developments or changes."

As he spoke, he stood up, and the other person also stood up, walked over, extended both hands, shook the president's hands twice, and said, "Thank you very much, Mr. President."

The president shook his hand and patted his arm. “Keep in touch. I won’t see you out.”

The visitor said "goodbye" and left quickly. He knew, of course, that there were people waiting outside. The conversation was abruptly interrupted after the staff came in, which must have been for a reason.

The door to the room was quickly pushed open, and Senator Cleveland looked at the person who came out. The person was also taken aback when he saw him, and quickly bowed, "Good evening, Senator."

Senator Cleveland recognized him, but simply nodded without shaking his hand, and then walked directly into the room.

When the president saw Senator Cleveland enter, he casually asked him to find a place to sit down. "Why don't you go out socializing? What brings you here to chat with me?"

Senator Cleveland looked at him. “I’ve had some drinks, you know. Alcohol makes me less calm and rational in my actions.”

This is a typical case of someone telling others they have a mental illness before they start hitting someone, and the defining characteristic is a liking for hitting people.

The president chuckled twice, seemingly oblivious to the underlying meaning, and exclaimed, "Interesting!"

He curled his lip. "You came to see me because of Lance's Golden Heart Medal?"

Senator Cleveland sat on the sofa, took a drag of his cigarette, and said, “We’ve talked about this before, and you said there was no problem.”

“Lance is a very capable young man, and what he has done is more than enough to warrant a Gold Heart Medal. I don’t think that’s excessive.”

"Don't talk to me about gangs or immigrants. Prisoners can get medals too if they do something outstanding for the country. Lance hasn't even been in jail yet!"

"Your sudden change of heart has put me in a very passive position."

After listening attentively to what he had to say, the president said, "Jeffrey, you know me. I certainly wouldn't do this without a valid reason."

"In fact, before this, didn't your Congress and some government departments have discussed the re-establishment of social order and rules after the war?"

“We don’t actually need that many gangs now. We won’t need them anymore after 1000 years!” “We used to need gangs to help us do things that were inconvenient for us, but what about now?”

Do you really think we still need them?

In the past, politicians and capitalists needed gangs to help them capture slaves, guard slaves, and kill some runaway slaves.

Slave-hunting teams, which were active in various regions, have largely evolved into gangs and remain active.

By 1000 years ago, slavery had been largely abolished, but society was still not very stable and gangs were still needed to help the government and capitalists do things that they couldn't sell.

For example, it can teach a lesson to those who are unwilling to work honestly, teach a lesson to those troublemakers in the factory, and most importantly, it can deter strikes.

Strikes and demonstrations are civil rights enshrined in the federal constitution, and no one has the right to stop them from doing so.

Large-scale strikes in factories and mines can cause huge losses to capitalists and society.

Therefore, it is crucial to stop a strike as soon as it is detected, which is the main job of the gang.

Lance gained the attention of the higher-ups because he timely prevented the dockworkers' strike, directly destroying it with the simplest and most violent means, just like the gangsters had always done in the past.

The government certainly can't do it, but gangs can do it with impunity.

However, with social development and the victory in the war, the power and prestige of the federal government had reached their peak, and their control over society had been strengthened to an unprecedented degree.

On the contrary, in recent years, gangs have gradually broken away from the control of the government and capitalists. They have become independent and have started to engage in various illegal and criminal businesses to obtain huge profits that should not have been theirs.

Congress had planned to crack down on, or rather purge, the gangs after the war, eliminating some of those with serious criminal activities.

This is also a consensus among everyone.

Senator Cleveland took a deep drag on his cigarette. "Lance is different from ordinary gangsters; they're unique."

The president scoffed. "Do you even believe that yourself?"

“I’ve seen some files about the Lance family. Murder, crime, theft, smuggling, all sorts of criminal and illegal businesses. You say they’re unique, but they’re not really any different from ordinary gangsters.”

"The only difference might be that you know Lance, but you don't know anyone from other gangs, that's all!"

"If we award the Golden Heart Medal to Lance and then go on a crackdown on the gangs, what will people think if they find out about these things?"

“Even they know Lance is a gang leader, so how could we not know?”

"Knowing he's a gang leader, we still awarded him the Gold Heart Medal. Won't the public think we have some kind of connection with him?"

"Furthermore, in the subsequent crackdown on the gang, will Lance arrest them or not?"

"What should we do if other gangs, like the Five Great Families, also obtain the Golden Heart Medal through some means?"

The president seems to be genuinely concerned for the country and society, "so I think that agreeing to award Lance the Gold Heart Medal was somewhat hasty."

“It’s too important for me to agree. You can wait until the next president takes office and let him do it.”

"I'm definitely not going to do it!"

Senator Cleveland listened to his lengthy explanations, which seemed quite reasonable, but based on his understanding of the president's character, he was certain that this was not his own idea, and that there must be some other driving force behind him supporting his decision.

The senators simply cannot see this driving force.

However, on the other hand, the reasons the president gave were indeed quite appropriate, and the "explanation" itself was a form of explanation and compromise. He was lowering his stance in order to end the matter in this way.

Senator Cleveland stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, the last words Lance had just said to him echoing in his mind.

His eyes trembled slightly before refocusing on the president's face. "A reason that couldn't be worse."

“You know, I know, and Lance knows too, this is a pile of shit, an excuse you use to cover up your real purpose and reasons.”

The president wasn't angry when he was scolded; he just smiled and said, "Even if we all know, so what?"

Senator Cleveland stood up. "Fine, whatever makes you happy. I hope you stay happy."

He shook his head as he spoke, and without even shaking hands or saying goodbye, he walked outside.

This caused the president to frown for the first time since facing Senator Cleveland. He felt there was more to Senator Cleveland's words than met the eye, but he couldn't quite decipher what it was.

However, he knew that these were definitely not pleasant words.

He watched Senator Cleveland's retreating figure and shook his head. The decision was actually made after discussions with another group of people in Congress, and also involved a request from the FBI Director.

Whether or not he gives Lance the Golden Heart Medal is irrelevant to him personally, since he's about to step down anyway.

It doesn't matter if people curse him, call him incompetent, or call him stupid, because what's done is done and can't be undone.

But it was because of these people's demands that he changed his mind.

After sitting there thinking for a while, he put the matter out of his mind. A nobody like Lance White, if it weren't for Senator Cleveland, would never have had the chance to sit down and talk to him face to face in his entire life!

Being able to chat with him for a few minutes in a small room is already a great blessing. What more could he possibly want?
Senator Cleveland came out of the VIP room, walked over to Lance, and lit another cigarette for himself.

He drank quite a bit of alcohol that night, and under the influence of alcohol, smoking brought him more pleasure, but it also gave him more strength to calm down and become more rational.

“I just spoke with the president. Someone stopped us here. I’m not sure who it was, but I’ll try to find him.”

He looked at Lance and said, "They stopped you from receiving the medal, which was actually an attempt to embarrass me. I will talk to this person once I find him."

"If we can reach an agreement, your medal will still be yours at the end of this year."

“If we can’t reach an agreement…” He looked into Lance’s eyes, a hint of fierceness in his gaze.

He had been on a smooth and successful path for several years to get to where he was now, but there were still people in Congress, or even in this country, who dared to oppose him and humiliate him. He was starting to feel a bit ruthless.

He pursed his lips, took a deep drag of his cigarette, and calmed himself down.

"We won't talk tonight. Tomorrow afternoon, come to my manor. There are some things I need to discuss with you."

Lance nodded. "What time should I go?"

Senator Cleveland thought for a moment, "After three o'clock."

“I might be at the Capitol before 3 o’clock. Come over after 3 o’clock. If I’m not there, wait for me. I’ll be back soon.”

"Don't let this ruin your mood. Enjoy the happy times right now. Didn't he say he'd give you a tax exemption?"

"Then take it all!"

Lance chuckled twice. "I will."

Senator Cleveland patted him on the arm and then left, saying, "Have fun."

Lance then walked over to Barbara, who was chatting with a few young people, while he pondered his own thoughts.

Sometimes he is very generous, but sometimes he is very stingy.

Now it's his turn to be stingy.