Shadow Empire

Chapter 390: Victory Party
"I'm a little nervous!" Patricia's palms were sweaty as she held Lance's.

Lance tried to calm her down, "William and Emily will be here soon, and you should know many people here, so there's nothing to be nervous about."

Patricia looked at him, "But that's the Senator!"

"Oh my god, do you know how much this shocks me?"

"I'm going to go to a party that the senator is going to attend. Oh my God, I'm going crazy!"

She was indeed going crazy, and Lance was almost going crazy too, because she spent more than two hours just choosing clothes.

If time wasn't running out, she might have continued picking!
She tried every piece of clothing on and then tried different combinations, as she didn't want to embarrass herself at the party.

Throwing her own, and Lance's.

In fact, from Lance's point of view, her cleanliness and beauty surpass everything!
"No one will be harsh on a beautiful girl."

Patricia rolled her eyes. “You think the Senator has never seen a pretty girl?”

“Those girls in the Special Zone are more elegant and beautiful than me!”

Lance squeezed his hand. "But they are not as good as you in one respect."

Women seem to be interested in similar topics. They want to be unique or better than others. "What's not as good as me?"

Lance said with a smile, "You are the only one at the top of my heart!"

"God!" Patricia quickly covered her cheeks. Although she gave Lance a cold look, she was still happy in her heart. "You made me blush, Lance. They will think I failed at putting on makeup!"

Lance laughed, "It doesn't matter, because in my eyes you will always be perfect!"

Although the girl kept rolling her eyes, it must be said that her emotions gradually stabilized.

The luxurious convoy arrived at Congressman Williams' estate. They were actually acquaintances. Congressman Williams and Senator Cleveland had at least met before.

Before we even got close to the manor, police officers were already on duty on the roadside.

Some people say that federal politicians never abuse their privileges. It’s not that they don’t abuse their privileges, but that ordinary people are simply not qualified to see it.

The convoy was stopped by the police. The police bent down, took a look at Lance sitting inside, saluted, and then stepped back.

They didn't have the guts to ask Lance to come down for inspection or questioning, and he was indeed on the list.

Going further back, there will be police on duty every few meters. Today, anyone who is not on the invitation list is not even allowed to walk this road, in order to ensure the quietness and safety here.

Lance's car slowly entered the gate of the manor and stopped at the gate. When James saw Lance, he immediately ended the conversation with the people around him and walked over with a smile.

"Lance, you're here!" He held Lance's arm and shook hands with him, then his eyes fell on Patricia, "Is this beautiful girl Ms. Patricia?"

He leaned forward slightly but did not reach out to touch Patricia because Patricia was not married to Lance and was still an unmarried woman.

No one can touch her unless she allows it, it's very rude.

Patricia returned the greeting, "Nice to meet you, Jen... er, I mean Mr. Williams."

James laughed after hearing this, "No need to be so formal, you can call me James, Lance and I are very good friends!"

Lance also nodded slightly, which made Patricia's rapidly heating face feel a little better. "Sorry, I may have made some jokes, James."

Lance turned to look at her, "It's your privilege, no one will blame you!", he then turned to look at James, "Will you blame her?"

James quickly raised his hands in front of his chest, "No, no, of course not!"

After some chatting and laughing he gave a rough outline of the people who were already there, then he and Lance headed into the manor with him.

In fact, Lance doesn’t know many people here, but many people here know him!
Congressman Williams was also chatting with someone else. When he saw Lance, he raised his glass to greet him. Lance nodded in return, which attracted more people's attention.

Councilman Wade has now taken office as mayor. He has taken away everyone he could. Now the only political cards that the entire city can play are the mayor and Councilman Williams.

The mayor is finished. He was not invited to such an important occasion today. You know, the main guest today is a senator of Congress!
There's the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and some state government officials.

Together with local celebrities, it can be said that all recognized celebrities and upper-class people appeared here today.

Everyone from the five major families came, but the mayor was missing.

He's been abandoned, he's screwed up, and Congress has spoken to the governor and the tone is very harsh because they almost triggered a national strike.

The sudden appearance of the Labor Federation and the information revealed by Lance indicate that they are indeed preparing for a nationwide super strike.

Whether or not this strike was avoidable, at least for the governor, it shouldn't have happened in his state.

So he felt strongly dissatisfied with the mayor. He felt that he had been deceived by the mayor. The mayor told him that the purpose of sending militia into the city was only to suppress the gangs!

But now, they told him that he even planned to use the militia to suppress the strike!
Although the governor himself believes that this possibility is not very high, we are all politicians and understand the interests involved, but many times politics is not one plus one equals two. There is a connection, but not necessarily inevitability!
In other words, even if the militia did not suppress the strike, they would publicize that they had suppressed the striking workers.

These things should not be put together!
You came out of your sister-in-law's bedroom with your pants up, and your brother who came back from work happened to see you, but you just couldn't explain it clearly!
In short, he was finished.

Councilman Williams even privately announced that he would run for mayor, which is basically a done deal.

The Socialist Party's Likalai State Committee will definitely nominate and support him. Within the city, people will also prefer a local ruler to come to power because he will protect the interests of the locals better than anyone else!
Lance is now very close to Congressman Williams, and it is very likely that they will form a complementary power.

Councilman Williams handles the daytime work, while Lance helps him with the nighttime work.

It is foreseeable that once Councilman Williams becomes mayor, he will definitely be the mayor with the strongest ruling power in recent years.

With Lance's help, they will definitely be able to control the entire city to the greatest extent possible!
This forced people to take a closer look at Lance.

This is power!
It’s Pava who attracts attention!

It was the first time that Patricia was stared at by so many people. She was so nervous that her body seemed to be moving slightly. Lance tried to raise his arms slightly to support her body.

"Imagine them as pigs in a pigsty, and you won't be so nervous," he whispered, and Patricia couldn't help laughing.

She had already imagined such a scene because she really had a pigsty at home!
In other words, Lawrence, a big landowner, farmer, and ranch owner, still owns large farms and ranches.

There were cows, sheep and pigs in it. She had seen them when she was a child playing at her grandfather's house. She could imagine those scenes!
Once she brought these people into those pig heads, she seemed less nervous!
She hit Lance, "How can there be such a person as you?"

"It would be too offensive if they knew about this!"

Lance laughed twice, "It's okay if it's offensive, at least my princess won't feel nervous!"

Patricia's eyes were drawn when she looked at Lance. If there weren't so many people here, she would even want to kiss Lance, "Honey, you are so sweet!"

The two of them entered the party while talking. The senator had not arrived yet, but the people around him had already arrived.

Although these people do not hold any specific party or government positions, they are still surrounded by many people.

Tom took the initiative to walk over when he saw Lance and handed him an envelope. "This is the congressman's business card. You did a great job on this matter. You are a capable person, Lance."

Tom now behaves very "equally" and is no longer as arrogant as when they first met.

Capable people deserve respect wherever they are, and the Lance family has strong execution capabilities. They cooperated with the police to resolve a riot involving thousands of people in just one day. This is ability!
Lance put the envelope into his pocket and said, "Thank you for your recognition, Mr. Congressman. It is my honor to work for you!"

Tom couldn't help laughing when he heard this. "Has anyone ever told you that it's obvious when you're lying?"

Lance blinked, "Is it obvious?"

Tom nodded and said, "I can't see the awe in your eyes!" He paused, took out his business card and handed it to Lance, "This is my business card. If you have any problems in the future, you can call me." Lance looked at his business card and didn't quite understand, but Tom just smiled and said, "You will know."

He patted Lance's arm and turned away.

In fact, Senator Cleveland is also one of the "beneficiaries" of this incident. He will have a share of the benefits that Jingang City delivers to Congress. This is one of the reasons why he came to Jingang City!

Congressman Williams will definitely not handle such a huge transfer of benefits personally. This is a bit... not so good. It will be a big trouble if it is discovered.

Therefore, it is very likely that Lance will be the one to do this in the end, and he will be responsible for delivering the money into everyone's hands.

Obviously, Senator Cleveland would not take the money personally, it would remain in the hands of someone he trusted, so it seemed that Tom should be the one to handle this matter.

This involves millions or even more in financial transactions every year. They will definitely deal with each other many times!

William and Emily arrived later, and they completely stole Lance's attention.

Because Councilman Williams and James were responsible for the invitation list, Lance asked them to add William and Emily's names to facilitate William's early warm-up and momentum building for his campaign for city councillor.

It can be seen that the couple were also a little nervous. After all, from this moment on, they had truly entered the upper class of Jingang City!

There were well-dressed gentlemen and ladies everywhere, and in the environment of Prohibition, everyone was holding a glass of wine in their hands. This was the most desirable and eye-catching life, where they had everything they wanted, everything!
"You look beautiful today, dear!" Emily hugged her daughter, and then Patricia took her arm affectionately.

"You have no idea, Mom, I was so nervous!"

“I’ve only seen these people in the newspapers.”

“Everything feels like a dream!”

Emily stroked the girl's hair. "You have to get used to it." She glanced at Lance. "Lance will often appear in such occasions in the future and interact with the people here. Female companions are also the most important part of social interaction."

"If you don't adjust to these, some other bad girl will take your place!"

Her eyes stared at Lance as if they could speak, and the purpose was self-evident.

Lance quickly raised his hands, "I only have Patricia in my heart."

Emily shook her head. "Some things are hard to change, Lance."

"Well... I don't think this is a good place to discuss this issue." William knew that if he continued speaking, it would be his turn.

Patricia might not know what they were talking about yet, but Lance could read it, and he glanced at William with a "you have a really fucking amazing life" expression.

William rolled his eyes and said nothing.

Emily took the initiative and said, "Pat, I will take you to meet the ladies here. They actually want to meet you more than you think!"

“Give the men some space.”

After the two women left, Lance nudged William with his elbow, "Are you having an affair?"

William took out a cigarette and gave one to Lance. "In the past, during work-related social events, the receptionist specified that we had to go to that kind of place. I couldn't not take them there, could I?"

"After you get in, you can't just watch them play and not play yourself."

“Sometimes being sober is a sin, you know?”

Lance took out a match and struck it, and when they both lit up the cigarette together, he squinted his eyes and smoked, shaking the match to put it out, "Yeah, I understand."

"You didn't go there to spy on them, you went there to play with them, but I'm curious how Emily found out?"

William shook his head, “I don’t want to talk about this.”

But Lance really wanted to know, "Then I'll ask her later."

"Hou Lixie, are you so curious?" Facing Lance's inquiring gaze, he sighed, "A bitch stuffed her panties into my pocket, and I didn't notice."

A drunk person never knows what is in his pocket, nor does he care about it.

Then he came home drunk, and Emily found a pair of underwear in his pocket that didn't belong to him.

The couple reconciled after a few days of cold war. This is also the most common situation among the middle class. Their understanding of "loyalty" is somewhat different from that of the lower-class people.

For the lower class, their body is the only thing they can be loyal to.

But for the middle class, family and career are the core of loyalty, not just the body.

If William's sleeping with other women could bring about a class leap and make them richer and more powerful, Emily wouldn't care at all!
Lance patted him on the back when he heard this, "Next time you go out for a social event, remember to wear clothes without pockets!"

The pockets of some handmade formal wear are sewn together and cannot be used directly. If you want to use them, you must cut the thread with scissors.

The purpose of this is to ensure that the shape of the clothes will not be changed due to the pockets being opened.

For example, if you put something in the pocket of some clothes, it will deform.

This is also why many people put small items in their jacket pockets instead of their outer formal pockets.

William nodded, but suddenly looked at him, "What the hell are you talking about?"

Lance laughed and put his arm around his shoulders. "You're going to be the mayor in the future. Do you think there won't be enough temptations?"

His expression froze, and he suddenly became a little unclear. After a while, he said, "You have to protect Patricia. She is my angel. Don't hurt her."

"Otherwise I won't let you go, even though I may not be able to beat you!"

Lance nodded and said, "You didn't have to say that last sentence. It sounded like you were compromising with me in advance."

As they were talking, Senator Cleveland arrived at the scene and everyone gathered around, including Lance and William.

He was the absolute core of the party tonight. Congressman Williams stood beside him and chatted with him about something. Everyone had a flattering smile on their face.

This is the value of peak power, everyone is a good person and you are the focus of everyone!
Lance stood at a relatively peripheral position. As a "gang leader", it was obviously impossible for him to have a close conversation with Congressman Cleveland in such a public setting.

Even if he wanted to, the senator would not agree. This involved many issues, so he did not take the initiative to go there.

Always on the edge.

"I just spoke to Councilman Williams and we are both very pleased to have been able to resolve this thrilling crisis and save it from the hands of evil!"

“Jingang City has a very long history and plays a very important role!”

"This is true in politics, economy, and international influence."

“I am very honored to be here today, standing among you and saying these words. I also hope that it and you can get better, and I hope that the Federation can get better!”

He raised his glass and said, "Salute to the increasingly better federation and people!"

People raised their glasses as if Prohibition did not exist at all!

"To the Federation and the people!"

"cheers!"

(End of this chapter)