Shadow Empire

Chapter 422 Family Dinner, Disposal and Account Sharing
Very few people in Jingang City have attended Councillor Williams' family dinner, not even the mayor.

Congressman Williams was also very clear about the purpose of Lance bringing William here, and was willing to cooperate with William to a certain extent.

After all, there are only eleven council members in the city. If we can gather more of them, we will be stronger in fighting against the Bay Area.

The Bay Area is not so easy to deal with, otherwise he would not have cooperated with Lance. When these people control the jobs of one-fifth or even one-third of the residents in this city, this matter becomes increasingly difficult to handle.

But fortunately, Lance will help him.

At the table Lance saw Congressman Williams' current wife.

The word "current" seems to have a very special meaning when used in front of the wife, but most men are like this, and their tastes are fixed most of the time.

Some people may like someone older, but that is when they are not old enough, for example, when they are twenty years old, they may like a thirty-year-old.

But no one at the age of fifty will like a sixty-year-old, unless the sixty-year-old is particularly rich.

It is said that Congressman Williams' wife has been with him since she was sixteen years old. To him, she is not only his lover and physical partner, but also a special spiritual sustenance.

She is both his daughter and his wife. He likes this woman very much. She is only 37 years old this year, but she still looks very young, and she exudes a mature charm all over her body.

The only person at the table who could stand up to her was Patricia.

She is beautiful, young and youthful. Her youth alone can instantly kill some charm for some people.

Arthur was also at the table, but what Lance found interesting was that Arthur's eyes would occasionally fall on his mother, a guy with an Oedipus complex, and it was really hard to tell.

Maybe every bastard has a little special quirk.

The dinner was very sumptuous, and it was obvious that Congressman Williams had specially prepared it. Both the chef and the ingredients were very fresh and delicious.

James is engaged but not married yet, which is relatively rare for people his age to be unmarried in this era.

However, Congressman Williams also specifically explained the situation. They will hold the wedding in November and hope that Lance can come then.

Before, James could continue to delay and no one cared, and Congressman Williams didn't take it very seriously either.

It is never too late for a capable man to get married at the age of fifty. Even if James wants to get married at the age of forty, there are still many eighteen-year-old girls who want to marry him.

But he is about to become a city councilor, so the issue of family will obviously be on the agenda.

Federalists trust politicians who have families and stable family lives more. They like such politicians and believe that they can be responsible and have integrity.

In some ways, people's choices are actually the same as those of capitalists. Capitalists like workers who can support the entire family by themselves, preferably those who still have loans and cannot lose their jobs and income, even if they are willing to take a pay cut for this.

People don't ask politicians to take the initiative to cut their salaries because their income from work is actually not particularly outrageous, and people are not capitalists and they will not exploit politicians.

All in all, it was a nice family dinner. Congressman Williams’ wife also asked Emily for her phone number and said that they could socialize together when they were free, which made Emily blush with joy!

She actually has the life she wants. Being a lady in upper society is everything she wants, and now her wish is half fulfilled.

Patricia didn't look up for a long time during the night because Emily was a little crazy. They could even hear "oh, yeeeeees!" coming from Emily's room.

This made Patricia feel like she was on fire, completely out of embarrassment and shame.

"She... wasn't like this before." She explained softly in Lance's arms.

Lance hugged her from behind, his breath against her shoulder as he spoke, making her feel very quiet.

It would be better if he could stay still.

Terrible, but fun night.

The next morning when Lance got up, Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence had already prepared breakfast. William looked at Lance a little embarrassedly, he didn't know what to say.

Lance gave him a hug, "I understand."

This made William feel relieved. "She... is a little excited. Mrs. Williams is considered the best in the social circle of ladies in Jingang City. The only one who can be ranked with her is Mrs. Wade."

"But you know, Congressman Wade took them away, so now in the female social circle, Mrs. Williams is the top one!"

She will soon be promoted to "Mayor's Wife", and she will represent the face of the ladies' social circle in Jingang City. Now Emily and she have had a good start, and she will also have a place in the social circle of Jingang City.

Thinking of this, it was difficult for this middle-class lady who led a refined life to control her emotions.

They learn flower arrangement, fashion design, and everything about fashion and trends, certainly not just to fill themselves up.

It is enough to fill themselves with their husbands, and they do this purely for social purposes.

Emily was also a little embarrassed, but only a little. "You explained something that wasn't embarrassing at first, and it became embarrassing!"

She put her hands on her waist and looked at William. William could only pick up a piece of bread that had been toasted in a toaster, buttered, and topped with some vegetables, bacon, ham, and some sauce, and take a bite to show his determination to keep silent.

Lance also had the same breakfast. If there were no WeChat Moments in this era, perhaps the first thing Emily did after making breakfast every day would be to let everyone know what she had made.

"After I deal with the follow-up matters of Qiaobafu, you won't have to worry about these problems anymore."

Emily came over and hugged Lance, kissing his face, "A big house, dear, you are so thoughtful!"

There was also some yearning in William's eyes. Who doesn't want life to be better?

Patricia was still a little speechless when Lance sent her to work, "She's crazy!"

"It's over, honey.", Lance drove, knowing what she was talking about.

Patricia covered her face and said, "I don't know how to face you after encountering something like this!"

Lance couldn't help but laugh and said, "Then next time you shout louder than her so that I can't hear you, then I won't be embarrassed!"

The two chatted and laughed and joked around, and the car stopped in the parking lot of Patricia's workplace.

Many people greeted her and Lance.

As the Lance family continues to expand, Lance's status in Jingang City is becoming increasingly well-known.

No one thought... that there was anything wrong with a gangster and a civil servant dating each other. There are more fantastic things in this world than this.

Furthermore, until the judge finally confirms that Lance is a gang member and the gang leader, no one can say that he is the gang leader and the head of the criminal group.

After sending Patricia off, Lance returned to the company. He found Burton and asked about some follow-up matters regarding Mr. Jobaf.

Bolton was very familiar with Mr. Jobaf. Of course, it was only one-sided familiarity before. In addition, he now had spies in both districts, so it was not wrong to ask him about these things.

"Mr. Chobaff's family heard that he was bankrupt and owed a lot of money, and no one was willing to collect his body for fear of getting into trouble."

"So his body is still in the funeral home. If no one takes care of it within a month, there is a high probability that he will be disposed of."

Lance looked at him, "What do you mean by disposed of?"

"It was sent to some medical universities as dissection courseware, but fresh corpses are hard to come by."

Lance sighed, it was a tragic ending, he couldn't even find the person who buried him. It wasn't that he was such a failure. In fact, most successful people were almost the same after encountering the same thing as him.

People are afraid of getting into trouble, so they don't take the initiative to take on these things.

"How much will it cost to bury him?"

Bolton shook his head and said, "It doesn't cost much. Thirty dollars, at most, including the choice of a cemetery plot."

A coffin costs a dozen dollars, then five dollars to choose a cemetery, and the remaining few dollars are for the pastor. This is the cost of a burial.

"You should advance this part of the money. After all, he was once a respectable gentleman!"

Bolton did not object and did it immediately. When someone takes the lead in doing something, it will naturally become fast, and the word efficiency will be reflected immediately.

This is why it is often difficult for ordinary people to do something, but it is easy for powerful or wealthy people to do something.

Everything was arranged that afternoon, and his burial was scheduled for the weekend.

Once he is buried, he will be truly dead because people will begin to forget him.

Just like turning a page of a book, people will no longer look forward, but only look backward.

In the afternoon, Lance called Jonathan (Vice President of Parkway Bank) to discuss the situation regarding drug collateral.

The two chatted for more than twenty minutes. Special anti-inflammatory drugs and other medicines are very popular internationally. Although they have not been discontinued in the Federation, the purchase quantity has been restricted.

Ordinary people can only get three or seven days of medicine at a time with a doctor's prescription, and it is basically impossible to get more.

The price of this batch of drugs is higher internationally than domestically, so Jonathan can give Lance a 90% valuation.

"If you are unwilling to pay back the money, I believe the board of directors will be very happy!" At the end, he took the initiative to talk about this matter.

Lance smiled and said, "If you can value me at 15 million, I can decide not to pay it back."

Jonathan was stunned for a moment, because his initial estimate was between 5.5 million and 6.5 million.

He didn't really take the number Lance said as a joke. He thought there must be a basis for the number. "You mean, the price of drugs will continue to skyrocket?"

Lance did not give a direct answer, "Life is priceless, and there are always people willing to pay an excessive premium to get the opportunity to keep people alive."

Jonathan didn't understand and couldn't guess what Lance meant.

The Federation’s position has not changed much now, but as the war in Tanfit continues, the Federation will definitely have its own position.

Once the export ban comes into effect, the prices of these things, not just medicines, but other things in the smuggling field will skyrocket!

After ending the call with Jonathan, he asked Roger to handle these matters and, by the way, asked him to finalize the purchase of grain.

The growth of wheat has been amazing recently. The price of a barrel has increased from three dollars and sixty cents in March to four dollars and forty-five cents now, an increase of more than 23 percent.

If compared with last year, the increase is more than 40 percent.

A barrel is about thirty-six liters, which is an international standard. In trade, agricultural products such as grains, including corn, are settled according to the unit of "poke".

He could get a loan of at least five million from Parkson Bank. If this money was used to buy food, it would be an amazing deal!
Many trivial matters were spent in this time. The impact of the gunfight was still ongoing. In the past two days, the "collection" work in the Imperial District and the Port District also came to an end.

"There are more than 8,700 businesses in the two districts. According to our standards, we collected more than 66,000 yuan in total..."

Lance looked visibly surprised when he heard this. "So that means after we pay the extra income to the police, we might still have a little surplus?"

Alvin also looked confused, because when they initially calculated, the money might not be enough, but now it turns out that the money is enough, maybe even more.

Lance suspected they had made a mistake. "Go check again to see if anyone was overcharged. This number doesn't look right."

Alvin immediately assigned someone to do it, but the news was soon summarized and there was no problem with the numbers.

The problem is that the number of merchants has increased.

"Last year, there were only more than 5,000 businesses in the two districts, but now, there are more than 3,000 new businesses."

“So the sanitation fees collected are much higher than we thought!”

Erwin simply explained it and Lance understood.

In fact, this was also caused by him.

Stopping the collection of protection fees from both gangs and police has promoted business development in the area.

Some merchants came from other districts because the profit margins here are greater!

Especially for some small businesses, their monthly profit may be only a few dozen yuan. In the past, most of these tens of yuan would be taken away, and at most they were just doing a very free job.

But now that they can actually make money, they will naturally come over.

As more businesses are added, the sanitation fees collected will increase. There are only more than 1,100 police officers in the two districts combined. Based on the standard of 45 yuan per person, it will indeed be a little more in the end.

"There are still about 30 households that are unwilling to pay."

Lance heard about this last time, and he asked, "How much money do they need to pay, and they are not willing to pay?"

Erwin took out a list of organized materials and said, "The highest is seventeen dollars, and the lowest is four dollars."

If you have to pay 17 yuan for sanitation fee, you must be running a big business, at least a big supermarket.

Looking at the people in the document, Lance asked again, "Have they paid money to other gangs and the police in the past?"

Bolton stood up and said, "Some pay and some don't."

Lance threw the material back, "Those who paid before but don't pay us, let them know that we can be kind or cruel."

"Those who didn't pay before and are unwilling to pay now, let them move to other districts and don't stay here any longer."

"If they can't follow our rules, then don't keep them."

Erwin asked softly, "How do you hold this scale?"

Lance leaned back, "As long as no one dies!"

A successful person must have both a compassionate heart and powerful means, because people always fear power rather than virtue.

To put it simply, people are not afraid of you because you are kind. They are always afraid of you because you hurt them!

With this "bottom line" proposed by Lance, others also know what to do. For this point, Lance still trusts them very much.

After all, if you can't even do such small things, you should just go back to being an ordinary person.

Now that the money has been collected and it is the middle of the month, it should be distributed to the police.

The money will be put in envelopes, each of which is customized with a gold-plated text on it, which roughly means something like "Thank you for your efforts for the property and life safety of the people of Jingang City. All your efforts are worth the reward."

The back side where the envelope is opened is also gold-plated and has the company logo printed on it.

When people opened it, they could see at least forty-five dollars!
Each envelope was worth five cents, and Lance thought it was necessary because ritual had a special magic to the federal people.

Once they get used to this ritual, it becomes a dependency and is difficult to change.

In the evening, the policemen who had worked hard all day returned to the police station and prepared to change shifts. At this moment, several cars suddenly drove into the parking lot of the Imperial Branch, and soon they came to the lobby carrying and pushing several large boxes.

Chief of the Blue Branch came out of his office and announced this to everyone: share the money!

Each policeman had one dollar deducted from his salary this month. He had explained that this dollar would be invested in the "Future Fund".

This fund will make rebates every month, and now is the time for the rebates.

In fact, everyone knows that this is another kind of "regulatory fee", but in the past they collected it directly from merchants and then distributed it among the branches.

Now the process has become that the Lans family collects the funds and then transfers them into their hands in a legal manner.

They also have to mention this income when filing their taxes. The income generated by federal financial investments is taxed very low, almost negligible.

In fact, Chief Blue mentioned that he could do this job, but Lance still asked his people to pay the money, not Chief Blue or anyone else!

(End of this chapter)