Shadow Empire

Chapter 179 Family Dinner 2 and Promotion

It has been a while since we last saw each other, almost two months, and there is an indescribable sense of strangeness between us.

She had obviously been looking forward to seeing Lance again and had even thought about what to say when they met, but now that Lance was standing in front of her, she was a little at a loss.

Emily was very polite. "Please sit down and wait for me. You must tell me those thrilling stories while we eat!"

She seemed a little excited, "William, come to the kitchen, I need you!"

Lance could actually understand this excitement. A person who only appeared in newspapers and news suddenly appeared next to him, and Lance now had a good reputation.

Apart from the fact that his methods in dealing with the Camilla Gang shocked some people, he gained the approval of most people in managing the Empire District.

In nearly two months, given their family background, it was easy for them to find out things that did not involve high-level officials.

According to the rumors I heard, Lance is a gang leader who is not violent, but a gentleman and has a humane attitude.

His image fits some people's imagination of "romantic violence", so some people are interested in him rather than afraid of him.

The Federals are obsessed with romance, and the image of a gang leader who is ruthless to his enemies but tolerant to ordinary people fits well with people's understanding of "romance".

Of course, the people here refer to the middle and lower classes of society, with more people in the lower class and fewer in the middle class.

William put down the newspaper and went to the dining room.

Lance and Patricia were the only ones left in the living room. Lance took the initiative to sit next to the girl, took her hand and placed it in his palm.

Perhaps it was the warmth from Lance's palm that dispelled some of the strangeness, and she seemed to be a little more natural than before.

"I'm a little worried about you." She still said the dialogue that she had prepared for several days, her voice was a little low, and she lowered her head.

Lance played with the girl's fingers, which were long, white and a healthy pink.

He burst out laughing.

This laughter made Patricia a little curious, after she felt a little shy.

"What are you laughing at?" She looked at her clothes in confusion, then at her hands and sleeves. She didn't find anything funny about herself.

Lance looked up at her, "I thought of a book."

"Book?" Perhaps because we were getting into the rhythm of the conversation, the strangeness was reduced a lot, "I hope it's a normal book!"

Lance leaned back on the sofa naturally, but he did not put his arm around the girl's shoulders.

Many virgins make a mistake here. They have watched too many movies or read too many literary and artistic works and think that this is a good time to hug a girl's shoulders, but it is not.

First of all, the person who has his shoulders hugged will not feel very comfortable physically.

If someone taller and stronger than you puts his arm around your shoulders, you will only feel pressure, especially when there is still some unfamiliarity and lack of intimacy between you.

Besides, the girl still hadn't gotten over the strangeness she felt towards Lance. Excessive contact would provoke a negative reaction from her, so he just sat back on the sofa. "It's a very serious book. You must not have read it."

Patricia began to get curious. "If it's a serious book, how do you know I haven't read it? What kind of book is it?"

Lance pulled her hand and rolled up a small section of her sleeve, revealing her pink wrist and a small section of her arm, then turned it over with the back of her hand facing up.

“See these fine hairs?”

Patricia focused her attention on the tiny hairs that were spreading freely on her forearms. She nodded, "Yes, I saw them. What happened to them?"

"This means you are healthy!" Lance's tone was very certain, as if he was 100% sure.

This made Patricia even more curious. "How did you know that?"

Lance's smile grew even wider, "I just said I read a book, right?"

Patricia nodded, "Yes."

"That book taught me that pink skin and these fuzzes symbolize health."

“It’s called ‘How to Pick a Healthy Piglet.’”

"Ha ha!"

Patricia was a little annoyed at first, but soon she started laughing. It was not an exaggerated joke, and she found it very funny.

The feeling of strangeness, nervousness and discomfort soon disappeared!

"You're so funny, Lance, do you have this fuzz on you too?"

Lance half smiled, "This isn't the right place. I'm not used to taking off my clothes in someone else's living room."

When the atmosphere is right, some harmless little hints can bring people closer together faster.

The girl blushed and rolled her eyes. "People say you're a gang boss, but you don't look anything like the rumors!"

When she started saying this, it meant everything was back to how it was before and the atmosphere became more relaxed.

There is no restraint, no distance, and the sense of strangeness is much less.

"So what do you think I should be like?" Lance asked, but didn't let her answer. "I am who I am. I won't change because of my job."

Patricia was also interested in the topic, "Do you think gangs are a job?"

Lance reached out and took two pieces of fruit from the plate on the coffee table, stuffed one into his mouth and gave the other to the girl, "This is a job."

“We also work and earn money every day, but we have to say it makes much more money than ordinary jobs!”

The girl seemed to have endless curiosity and "whys". She moved closer to Lance and asked, "How much is it? Ten thousand dollars? That much? Is there any?"

Lance nodded, "Yes, but there's more than this!"

The girl showed a surprised expression and thought it was too incredible!
Federal civil servants have very good benefits. If those benefits are converted into "cash", although Patricia is only a low-level civil servant, her monthly income is about ninety dollars.

Sometimes it may be more.

It was hard for her to imagine what it meant to have more than ten thousand yuan!
She came back to her senses and asked again, "Then how do you make money?"

Lance said a lot of things, such as that it was the firm with the most legal income at present, and as Wanli Labor Service grew in size, it would occasionally advertise in newspapers, and the Lance family had already taken over most of the empire.

Lance now has about 4,700 to 800 work permits in his hands, and nearly 8,000 illegal immigrants are working for him.

Every month he can earn at least 6,500 to 7,000 yuan in net profit from these work cards.

Sounds like very little?
You have to know that this is the net profit after deducting all other costs, and it is very clean money, the kind that has been taxed and deposited in the bank.

All of Lans Financial Services' income is taxable because it complies with federal law and is not usury.

As for the expensive service fee?
If you talk to a lawyer for a while, they will charge you dozens of dollars for service fees. If the service fee is unreasonable, then it is obvious that the lawyers’ income is even more unreasonable!

This aspect earns about 10,000 yuan per month, sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes only 6,000 or 7,000 yuan.

What remains is to run those five bars and the Empire Nights nightclub for the mayor, but the first batch of money will not be received until next month.

So he actually didn't know the exact amount. The mayor, or Orson, had put their own people in all the positions related to money. Even Lance didn't know how much the nightclub's daily income was, let alone how much money he would get.

After listening to Lance's general description of the income and sources of income, the girl was a little surprised. "You don't have anything else... sorry, not criminal income or something like that?"

Lance shook his head. "If you're talking about selling alcohol, I'll have my own family bar soon."

"But if the criminal income you are talking about is kidnapping, blackmail, extortion, etc., then I'm sorry, I don't plan to run these for the time being!"

The last bit of uneasiness Patricia felt also disappeared.

The two young men were chatting happily on the sofa in the living room, and William also smiled after seeing them.

Emily nudged him with her elbow. She knew her husband very well, otherwise they would not have married him and they would not have been together until today.

"You don't seem so opposed now." The two young people were chatting in the living room, while the two old people were chatting in the kitchen.

William is making steak skillfully. He is good at eating meat and cooking anything related to meat.

"Patricia is already a grown-up girl, and she will marry someone one day," he said as he flipped the steak. "And I never said she was not allowed to date someone else. I just said she couldn't just give away her most precious thing."

Emily could sense some changes in her husband, "So Lance is not just a simple gang leader?"

William shook his head. "He has at least eight or nine thousand legal votes in his hands. You know, these votes account for almost one-fifteenth of the votes in Jingang City."

“From the perspective of the big guys, he already has some qualifications to stand in the room.”

“And I went there for a party congress some time ago, and they were very supportive of my proposal to run for city councillor.”

He cut a small piece of steak, looked at the quality, and put it back. "Lance is a good guy. He doesn't make money by hurting others."

Emily seemed to be looking for trouble, "I heard he killed a lot of people."

Hostesses in middle-class communities also have their own social circles and are well-informed.

William shook his head slightly. “If someone tried to break into my house with a gun and hurt you, I would do worse than him.”

Emily put down the kitchen utensils in her hands, turned her wrists outward to prevent the oil stains on her hands from staining William's clothes, and kissed William on the face, "Oh, dear, you are such a warrior."

William shrugged. “Everyone has something they want to protect, so I don’t think he’s a bad person.”

"And I've been watching him, and I heard he refused to take over the Red Heels, as I told you before."

The middle class is full of curiosity about the upper class. They collect all the information they can, including the shitty habits of some big shots.

Of course, everyone has heard of red high heels.

William continued to process the ingredients, “Besides, you see, the stability of Jingang City today is not due to Charlie.”

"The only thing that old dog is good at is being a thug for the rich. He can't keep law and order."

"Without the five major families, there would be no stable life today."

“So this may not be a path, and he has already taken the first step to success.”

William looked down on Chief Charlie. When Chief Charlie was the chief of the Bay Area branch, he secretly helped the rich, celebrities, and politicians and did a lot of dirty things.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have stayed in the position of police chief until retirement, and he also had a nickname called "Bay Area Hound".

For the real rulers of this city, they don’t care whether the city’s management is capable or not. They only care whether the management can listen to them, that’s all!

He tried it again and found the steak was just right, almost well-done. While putting it on the plate, he said, "If others can do it, I think I can do it too. I want to try it too."

Emily didn't say anything, just gave him a firm look.

In the twenty years since William got married, he has been... not at all up and down. He works every day as if he were just doing a chore, and even his life is very negative.

He never talked about things in the office and rarely talked about work because there was nothing worth talking about.

This is also the reason why he insisted on going on a business trip when the whole family gathered together for Patricia's cousin Barbara's birthday.

There is nothing much to say. The dead life has no waves. It is not desperate, but it is grey and has no color.

This man once had passion and ambition in his heart, but his work consumed all his impulses towards the world.

Until recently.

From their sex life at night, Emily could feel that William was changing. He was releasing his desires more forcefully and proactively!
This is a positive sign!

As a wife, she would support William in this era where there is no distinction between right and wrong in this society.

Soon a sumptuous dinner was served on the table. Lance came over holding Patricia's hand. The initial bad feelings were gone and they became intimate again.

The four of them sat down separately. As the hostess, Emily was more suitable to speak first at the family dinner, so that the atmosphere of the dinner would not be too serious.

"I hope you enjoy today's dinner. I heard you guys laughing loudly just now. Do you have anything funny you'd like to share with us?"

The girl said something brief, which amused the couple. Harsh jokes are indeed a good helper in socializing.

Most of Emily's problems are the same as Patricia's, centered around real gang life and work.

But everyone tried their best to avoid the more negative aspects, which were all quite common.

It can be seen that she is indeed curious about these things.

After dinner, Lance was quite full. During this period, capitalists were still making money from meat and eggs, so they always advocated eating eggs, drinking milk, and eating beef, and advocated eating until full.

Only by eating enough can they make more money, so a sumptuous dinner can often be seen at this time.

After dinner, William "grabbed" Lance away, saying that Patricia and Emily took up too much of his time and he also needed to talk to Lance.

The two went to his study, William made a cup of black tea, and the two men sat in the quiet study. As the fragrance of the black tea filled the room, the whole world seemed to quiet down in an instant.

There is heavy snow outside the window, and inside the house is a warm room with warm black tea.

William closed the curtains and sat behind the table. "I'll probably quit soon," he said, holding the cup of red tea and taking a sip.

“Although the election for municipal councillor is a little more troublesome than the election for other government officials, and it takes longer to prepare.”

"I am a stranger to the Empire State. I must do something for them and let them know me. Only then will I have a chance to succeed in the election."

He looked at Lance, "I know you can mobilize some votes, but we have to silence them!"

He paused, and said with a little emotion, "So..."

Lance asked, "How much?"

William took out a piece of paper from the drawer. It was full of things. He handed it over and said, "I found some time to calculate this."

"I need at least three assistants to work for me, and these people must have experience working in government agencies, otherwise they would be confused just by delivering documents."

"I asked around and it's about 120 yuan per person, so 360 yuan for three people..."

No campaign organization would hire a civil servant like Patricia because she is just the kind of civil servant at the bottom of the society who is just getting by.

I know nothing except the things I am responsible for.

William was talking about those who work in city hall offices and are unwilling to be lonely.

These people are very familiar with the municipal system, the operation of the government, the structure of various departments, and they also have their own connections.

Although these connections may not be of high enough level, they are enough for William at the moment.

Lance nodded, but he took out a pen and changed the number to five hundred dollars.

"I don't care how much money you give them. I'll give you 500 yuan. You can hire one more person, but you can also give them more money to motivate them."

William nodded repeatedly, "You have considered it very comprehensively." In fact, he had thought about it, but he just didn't know how to say it out loud, after all, Lance had not married his daughter yet.

"Then I need an office in Princia, which is close to the City Hall and various government departments, and not far from the Imperial District."

"I found an office and the rent is 25 dollars a month, which is 300 dollars a year."

Lance asked him, "How many square meters?"

William scratched his head. "About 70 square meters, which can be used to separate an independent office and put down four desks..."

Lance crossed out the line again. "Find one that's at least 200 square meters. Now you're only electing a city councilor, but in the future, maybe we'll elect the mayor."

“It would be best to find a place in the city center. This will help you promote your image and make people think you are powerful!”

(End of this chapter)