Shadow Empire

Chapter 1167 A Little Chat on the Farm
“It would be good for us to build a town,” Lance, standing in the middle of the crowd, offered his opinion.

From the mayor to the sheriff, everyone is a member of the Lawrence family, which means they are the local tyrants. Moreover, more and more farmers from the surrounding area need to flock here and come closer to them, so the Lawrence family's control over this place will only become stronger and stronger.

William nodded and said, "That's the same idea, but the older folks think we need to think about it. They've never done anything like this before, and they don't know who should be the mayor and sheriff."

Lance looked around and said, "I think anyone is fine, including themselves, as long as they are family members."

I'll talk to him later.

The men were all surrounding Lance, which made the women in the distance notice him as well. Ace, under Patricia's watchful eye, ran towards them.

He felt somewhat unfamiliar with Lance, but the innate sense of closeness based on blood ties made him want to get closer to him.

He wasn't very tall, after all, he was just a child of a few years old, not even as tall as the adults' thighs. But the moment he came running over, all the adults spontaneously, like water being parted, naturally dispersed to both sides, creating a clearing that led straight to Lance.

Perhaps he is too young to know that what he has now surpasses that of 98 percent of the people in the world.

Whether Lance can surpass the remaining one percent and two percent depends on whether there is still an opportunity for growth in the future.

However, most people, including William, believe that there is still such an opportunity. Lance is still young. To the current ruling class of the Federation, he is just a young man. He has at least thirty to forty years of "golden age of power".

During this phase, his personal power, that of the Lance family, the Lawrence family, and the Licarle State interest group will continue to rise and reach their peak!
Perhaps not everyone knows this in their hearts, but they can feel it.

William stood beside Lance, watching the future "emperor of the family" run over, a smile appearing on his face.

This is his grandson, his great-grandson, and that is also his grandson. He will not only become the emperor of the Lawrence family, but also the emperor of the Lance family. He is the rightful heir to this invisible empire!
Lance crouched down, letting the little guy jump into his arms, calling out "papa." He picked him up, lifted him high, and finally held him in his arms amidst his laughter.

Patricia also came over from outside, linking her arm with Lance's. "We need to give you and your husband some time."

The other men all showed understanding. Lance had been busy outside, and apart from talking on the phone, they hadn't seen each other much in the past six months.

“We’ll talk later. Governor Terry will be here tomorrow, but he’ll only be staying for one day.”

Lance nodded slightly. As the current governor of Lilalai, Terry was bound to come to see Lance, not only because Lance supported him in becoming governor and held the final say in the election of the next governor.

More importantly, there needs to be a change in congressional seats. Likale, as one of the nineteen legal states of the Union, also has two senator seats.

The two previous senators were not familiar with Lance and had little communication with him; they were products of political interests during the previous governor's term.

Lance didn't really want to get involved with them. They were part of someone else's "line," and after this change in seats, these two would definitely not continue to enter Congress, so Lance had even less need to meet with them privately.

If there's anything, let them talk to Senator Cleveland, and then have Senator Cleveland relay it to him.

Back in the detached house that belonged to Lance and Patricia, Lance had entrusted Ace to two farm women who would take little Ace to play in the neighborhood.

Lance had heard that the farm had arranged a pony for him, and the two little guys were getting along quite well. He liked the pony very much, which was probably the saddest thing—

As humans are relatively long-lived among animals, having a pet too early is actually a sad thing.

Whether it's cats, dogs, ponies, or anything else, most of them can't outlive wealthy humans.

The average lifespan of humans will not apply to these people, just like in the last century, when the average lifespan in the United States was only in the forties, some people still lived to be over ninety.

With the continuous development of medical technology, wealthy people are actually very difficult to die as long as they don't care about living a painful life.

It's not that you can't die, it's that it's very difficult to die.

With the children gone, it was naturally the adults who communicated in an adult manner, and as the brilliant essence of life blossomed, everything came to a standstill.

Lance lit a cigarette, leaned back on the bed, and stroked Patricia's still supple skin.

These skins are very delicate. He heard that Patricia takes a bath in milk every other day, and that she doesn't need to work or sunbathe. Moreover, at Lance's suggestion, she rarely eats sweets or consumes too many carbohydrates.

All of these factors contribute to her aging more slowly than others. Even though Patricia is already twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, she still looks no different from how she did a few years ago.

“Is there anything you want to say?” Patricia asked.

Lance looked at her. "What I wanted to say?"

“I’m just curious about what you think about Barbara.”

Patricia shifted to a more comfortable position, "because I really can't handle those social situations; those environments make me a little uncomfortable."

She lay on Lance, looking into his eyes. "I don't know what the right thing to do is. I feel nervous and have trouble breathing. I don't like that kind of environment."

"I actually prefer this place, the countryside, to the terrible social interactions."

“There is no pressure at all. The cows, sheep, horses, and geese are all my friends. The farmers and farmers here are also very gentle. I am not nervous at all.”

“But I know you can’t always be alone. Someone has to play that role. Rather than you finding someone I don’t know, I would actually prefer my cousin.”

"At least we've been very close sisters since we were little. Although we sometimes argue about things, we are essentially very close sisters."

"Instead of finding someone I don't know who might pose a threat to me, it's better to have Barbara. She likes you a lot, and we're quite close. That's it."

Lance often needs a female companion at the high-class events he attends. If everyone else brings a female companion, and you don't, you'll seem a bit different.

In social situations involving those of lower social classes, such as those less fortunate than Lance, Lance may disregard this condition.

However, in social environments where status is higher than in Lance, following the rules is the most basic obligation. If you can't even follow the most basic rules of participating in an event, how can people believe that you can follow the more advanced rules of the game?

The more upscale the place, the more Patricia felt a sense of unreality and hypocrisy from the smiles of those ladies. She felt very uncomfortable; the way they spoke, their expressions, and their movements all made her feel uneasy.

Therefore, she prefers to be in an environment that suits her, which makes the selection of Lance's female companion a problem.

Fortunately, the matter was resolved satisfactorily. In fact, everyone in the family knew about it and strongly supported it.

Rather than having an unknown "illegitimate child" in Lance later, they actually preferred to keep the truth out of the pot.

In fact, it was William and Emily who first came up with this idea.

Lance raised an eyebrow. "Actually, you could have told me first."

Patricia didn't want to continue the conversation; she asked curiously, "Is Barbara in good shape?"

Lance gently pinched her, and the pain and itchiness made Patricia giggle and wriggle her body. Soon the two started playing around again.

In the evening, the three elders held a small bonfire party for their family members to celebrate Lance's arrival. The farm women helped with the barbecue around the fire and then brought the cooked meat to the table.

People were laughing and talking loudly; the atmosphere was joyful!

"This year's harvest is good, and we've bred a truly magnificent horse!" Old Schubert stroked his beard, his face flushed. The flush came from joy and a little wine; the two old men beside him were the same. For them now, life held no further grand ambitions; they were beginning to pursue the kind of life they desired.

Crops, and horse breeding.

For these old "cowboys," horses are something that has accompanied them throughout their lives; they can even be described as a kind of faith.

Breeding a group of good horses and achieving the best results in races—that's probably what they desire most right now.

They had trained quite a few racehorses before, but the results were not bad, only a little far from the best.

Continuous improvement of the breed has given them great confidence in the racehorses they have bred, believing they can compete for the state championship and then be sent to higher stages to participate in competitions.

In addition to this incident, they also mentioned that a giant pumpkin weighing over 500 pounds had been grown on the farm.

This is a very good thing for the whole farm. The Commonwealth people are very superstitious, and this will make them think that God is blessing Lawrence Farm, so they will be more serious and loyal to everything here.

The farm at night is so carefree; even the wind feels lighter.

The fire crackled and popped in the wind, seemingly telling a story of its affection for the farm.

The bright red firelight illuminated everyone's faces, and smiles bloomed on their faces like flames!

People eat beef and mutton and drink fine wine. At this moment, it seems that all their troubles have been left behind!

Lance drank a little too much that night, and everyone wanted to clink glasses with him, which made him drink even more. He fell asleep not long after he got home.

He closed his eyes, and it was the next morning. Patricia nudged him and said, "The governor is here with his men."

Lance opened his eyes. Strong light shone in from outside the drawn curtains. He slowly sat up, glanced at the clock, and saw that it was already past nine o'clock.

He went to the bathroom, turned on the shower, and washed away the lingering fatigue from the night before emerging refreshed.

Not long after, he met Governor Terry, his family, and some close associates at the farm.

When Governor Terry saw Lance, he was chatting with William and stood up. He walked over and hugged Lance, then introduced Lance to his family.

His wife, his two children, his sister and brother, and some entourage.

“I have events and work at the state government during Segunda, so I have to go back, but my family will stay on the farm for the whole Segunda.”

"This is something they've been looking forward to; they've never been so close to everything here before."

The large landowning class was still a "powerful" force in this era, and many people were very interested in life on large farms, especially children who grew up in cities.

Lance had no complaints about this. The state government was indeed quite busy, and it was reasonable for the federal government to want to take this opportunity to hold a grand celebration to praise the Socialist Party's contributions to the country.

They're about to step down and cease to be the ruling party, so it's only natural that they want to tell people that the good life in the federal government wasn't brought about by the Liberal Party, but by them.

The Federation also has strong political ideological conflicts and struggles. It is neither a paradise nor a haven; in some ways, it is even more brutal.

Because they conceal the cruel things, just like those beautiful carnivorous plants.

If you are deceived by its beautiful appearance and get too close to it, it will swallow you whole.

Unlike empires or other countries, where cruelty is outwardly apparent, allowing you to sense danger from afar and avoid it.

Here, the more beautiful and attractive something is, the more likely it is to be a trap, something that could kill you.

The group then sat down separately. Governor Terry's wife and two children were still quite curious about Lance. After all, in today's Likale, this man had spent more than ten years rising from an ordinary person who had been trafficked to a black mine to become a person of high status. His experience could be described as a legendary story!
Many well-known authors and publishers have contacted Lance, wanting to write a biographical novel based on him, or directly arranging for top authors to write his biography, but Lance has refused them all.

Even so, people are still full of curiosity about him. They want to know how someone with no background could succeed in this cruel society.

And whether his success can be replicated.

Lance was used to these curious looks. He turned to look at Governor Terry and then tilted his head.

Governor Terry immediately apologized to his family and then followed Lance to a more secluded spot.

Everyone knew they had something to say, so they naturally didn't disturb them. The people on the farm immediately began to receive Governor Terry's entourage and take them to experience the fun things on the farm.

"After this election, how are the state government and the legislature considering electing new senators?"

Lance asked very directly from the start: whoever this person is, they must be under his control.

Governor Terry lit a cigarette. "I was just thinking about how to talk to you about this. Someone from the Socialist Party committee has already contacted me and wants to sit down and talk about it."

"The state legislature definitely supports the state government's opinion. They haven't shown any signs of wanting to 'separate' yet, and you know, many of them are our people!"

"Our people" refers to the entire interest group. Only by joining this interest group can one enjoy all the best things here, including monopolistic practices, disregard for the law, and the frenzied acquisition of more social benefits.

Whether these actions are illegal or criminal is hard to say; until they are brought to trial, everything is legal.

Because the federal government itself has done a lot of similar things, they have united with capitalists within the country to swallow up some foreign capital, and then smear and slander it, directly eliminating this foreign capital from all aspects.

This kind of thing has happened more than once, and it will continue to happen in the past, present, and future, so no one can blame anyone else.

As long as these people are on Lance's ship, they must abide by Lance's opinions.

Lance thought for a moment, "You guys come up with two candidates first, and then listen to what the Socialist Committee thinks. I'll talk to Senator Cleveland when I have time to see how to arrange these candidates."

Governor Terry's lips moved, but he didn't say anything until Lance told him to "say what you have to say."

“We can actually build up our own power within Congress.”

His point was that there was no need to continue relying on Senator Cleveland; they could produce their own senators, so why make someone else the center?
Lance took a drag of his cigarette, shook his head, then nodded. "It's an option, but not the right option right now."

"Our foundation is still too shallow, whether within the Liberal Party or the Socialist Party, it is not deep enough."

"Even if we give our full support to our state's senators, to what extent can they actually achieve it?"

"Senator Cleveland has now become a symbolic figure for the Socialist Party, and his influence in Congress will remain significant even after the election."

"So we'll arrange for our people to follow him and grow under his wing. We'll consider becoming independent when we're strong enough."

There were some things Lance hadn't even said yet, but Senator Cleveland had already started thinking about the next election and manipulating the presidency—something that a "small workshop" couldn't do.

There's no need for everyone to have a falling out at this time.

(End of this chapter)