Shadow Empire

Chapter 457: Noble and Despicable

"Mr. Lance, I know this is excessive, but we really have no other choice."

An old man who looked to be in his fifties stood in front of Lance. His back was bent by life and this blow, making him look a little unwell.

He is very thin and wears a gray hat. "I am no longer able to work and have been looking for a job recently, but... no one is willing to hire me."

"All my savings are in the bank. I could have lived on them, but now..."

He choked up a little as he said, "I have lost hope of living, Mr. Lance."

"I know this is not your problem, but I...I want to live, Mr. Lance. My grandson is not grown up yet."

"I want to see him graduate, see him get married, see his children..."

He wiped away his tears and said, "I don't know how to say it, but I want to live!"

Bolton on the side introduced the old man's situation to Lance.

His wife died many years ago, and his son also died in a work-related accident. Fortunately, he left behind a child.

The factory was not willing to accept the entire compensation package for work-related deaths, so they filed a lawsuit against the elderly man's family in an attempt to reduce the amount of compensation.

Although the old man's family won the lawsuit, they did not receive enough compensation to change their lives after deducting the lawyer's fees, only about 800 yuan.

Together with some of his own savings, he had a total of one thousand dollars in the bank.

They all believed in Mr. Jobaf and deposited their money in Jinda Bank, earning an annual interest rate of about 8%, which is more than 80 yuan.

In this way, he can receive eight dollars in interest every month.

Occasionally find some odd jobs to at least ensure that you don't starve to death, and you'll still have a thousand yuan in emergency money.

His son left him a child, who was taken away by his mother, so now strictly speaking, the old man is living alone.

Although his life might not be so rich, at least he could survive and not starve to death.

But now that he has lost this money, he has lost hope in life.

Lance felt a little heavy after listening to this. Other people around him also surrounded him and told him about their similar tragic experiences.

Many of them are elderly people who are unable to work, and they are the real and worst victims.

Only the elderly would keep a large amount of their savings in the bank.

For young people who are able to work, they are more accustomed to spending and have no habit of saving.

Because they can make money, they are willing to spend money. Only the elderly who can no longer make money will be thrifty and save.

After the disaster, the situation of younger victims was slightly better and they could find jobs.

Although they lost a savings account, they are still able to survive and there is still hope.

After all, their wage demands are lower than those of local workers, and they do not have legal status like refugee workers.

Some capitalists who are not so confident about refugee workers but are unwilling to pay higher wages prefer immigrant workers.

But what about these elderly people who have lost their ability to work?
It is impossible to find a stable job, and factories are unlikely to hire these elderly people who are unable to work. They can only face the cruel society and be eliminated.

Lance looked at them and said soothingly, "This is indeed a problem. I will think of a solution."

"Jobav is dead. He can't be in his grave trying to raise funds to return the money to you."

"I can't pay for him because it will make more people think I should pay a debt that is not mine."

"I have to think about it and see if there is any other way to help you."

After calming these people down for a while, they dispersed on their own initiative. They also knew that it was unrealistic to ask Lance to be responsible for the money. They just hoped that Lance could help them get through their current troubles.

If it were anyone else, they might not even say anything, just thinking alone about how to deal with the coming winter.

Try not to let yourself shiver and freeze to death in your cold bed on a cold night.

But just because the person in front of them was Lance, a humane gang leader, they had the courage to come over and say something.

Back in the car, the atmosphere was a bit depressing. Lance looked at the scenery receding outside the window and fell into deep thought.

This is the busiest place in the Imperial District. There are pedestrians on both sides of the road, including many elderly people.

They pushed a cart or pulled a simple small trailer with a rope, on which were some garbage that could be sold.

There are also many people rummaging through trash cans, looking for unfinished cigarettes.

Before cigarette holders were invented, people would not continue to inhale the last bit of a cigarette because it would burn their mouths, so they would throw away the small part of the cigarette butt.

These cigarette butts have no value to them, but for these elderly people who have no income, it is still a way to make money.

They gathered the unburned tobacco together, re-rolled it into cigarettes, and then sold them to passers-by.

Five cigarettes for one cent, or even more. After picking up cigarette butts all day, you might only be able to sell them for a few cents.

But these few cents can allow them to have a few bites of bread and avoid starving to death.

Sometimes, only when you look down, you will realize how hard people’s lives are, and that just living has exhausted some people’s energy!
Looking at the street scenes outside the window, Lance took a puff of cigarette and said, "We can provide some free food and free winter supplies to help them get through the winter first."

"But don't give them cash. If you give them cash, things will become troublesome and bad."

"We just need to keep them alive and not have them become completely dependent on us."

Erwin noted, “This may cost a lot of money and may cause some controversy and trouble.”

His ability to think about things has improved greatly now than before. In fact, a person will grow differently when he is in different environments and takes on different responsibilities.

He was already able to think of more things, like the "you have, but I don't" trouble.

Who can receive these reliefs and how are they divided? Will anyone feel resentful that others can receive them but they cannot?

These could all turn into trouble.

Lance agreed with his idea, "People are like this. If everyone is having a hard time, there is no problem."

"But if someone's life suddenly becomes easier, it can throw some people off balance."

"When the time comes to distribute the supplies, pay attention. If anyone messes up, teach them a lesson."

"Remind me when you get back to discuss this matter with William."

William is now a city councilor in the Imperial District, which is obviously a good political achievement. If Lance cooperates with him to promote this matter, he will definitely gain great reputation.

Reputation is an important resource for everyone, especially public figures.

Reputation can help them a lot, in all aspects, especially politicians!

Erwin nodded, "I'll remind you."

"It would probably cost a lot of money if we did that."

Lance curled his lips and said, "We can earn tens of thousands of dollars every day. Add it all together, this amount of expenditure is still within our budget."

“It is also a resource for us!”

The old people on the roadside, those who are searching through the garbage dumps for food and resources to survive, have long lost interest in the vehicles running on the road, because they know.

No matter how bad their lives are, people driving cars, especially luxury cars, will not stop to take a second look at them.

Trying hard to earn even a penny more today is their most important task at the moment. When William heard that Lance was going to distribute relief food, he drove over immediately, which was very attractive to him.

Why in capitalist society are capitalists able to corrupt politicians at an unimaginable speed?

It’s actually very simple, because capitalists hold in their hands everything that politicians desire!
Public opinion needs financial support, policies need financial support, and realizing political programs requires even more capital support!

Capital has been integrated into and penetrated into every corner of this society, and everything related to politics must be supported by funds.

This does not allow politicians to get rid of capitalists.

For example, what William is doing now, he wants to fulfill his campaign speech when he ran for city councillor, he wants to build a new high school.

This cannot be achieved just by talking. It requires finding a suitable site, building a house, hiring teachers, and fully staffing the teaching staff.

These educational resources outside the government plan are all "self-funded projects". William has no money and the people cannot pay for it, so they can only ask the capitalists for help.

If the capitalists put forward some demands that benefit both parties during this process, will William agree to them?

He agreed, and the capital would pay to build a new middle school for him, so that he could gain the recognition of the voters and have greater political prospects.

But this will also tie him more closely to the capitalists, because now he may only build middle schools, but in the future, he may promise things like employment rate, public security rate, etc. that require more funds.

If he doesn't agree, the school won't be built, he won't be able to continue to get the support of voters, people will think he is a liar, and he won't be able to go far in politics.

William had gradually begun to feel this atmosphere, and as soon as Lance said that, he drove over.

"Have you seen the new house?" Lance asked after they sat down.

William had been there and had a smile on his face. Mr. Jobaf's villa was decorated very luxuriously, had a large area, and was in a good location.

It’s not far from the city center and it may take less than ten minutes to drive there.

The surroundings are quiet and the environment is closed. Except that the Imperial District itself is not so lively and wealthy, there are no disadvantages.

But William didn't care about that. He believed that with Patricia's efforts, he would eventually have a villa in the Bay Area.

He might not be able to afford it himself, but as long as Patricia worked hard, Lance would definitely remember him.

"The house is great!" He gave Lance a positive answer first, "But it will take a while to clean it up. Emily hired six servants, and they only cleaned up a small area today."

"And I think our housing expenses will go up a lot!"

Lance smiled and said, "These are not problems. I will be responsible for them. You don't have to manage them. That's why I didn't put the house in your name."

Now the house is still Lance's property. Lance pays various fees and expenses every month. Strictly speaking, William and Emily are just "tenants" of the villa.

The federal people actually like this, especially the lower levels. They like this kind of clearly defined relationship. William even signed a contract with Lance.

Although they may be a family in the future, they cannot engage in any behavior that may result in the transfer of benefits before Lance and Patricia get married.

Funny federal guy.

After briefly chatting about the house, their topic naturally shifted to relief.

"How much money do you plan to invest in this?" William asked, "Also, can your funds support these relief efforts?"

Lance told him his idea, and William listened and thought about it, "Everyone can have half a pound of canned beans in broth every day, and half a pound of whole wheat bread, and you can add some toppings."

"Add some plant fiber, so you feel fuller and it takes more time to digest. To put it simply, you won't feel hungry so easily!"

"Maybe we need to hand out some candies that can quickly replenish calories. I need to do the math."

He took out a pen from the pen holder and a piece of paper to calculate. After a while, he said, "If you add some other things, such as matches, your daily expenditure will be about 15 to 20 cents."

"What did you think about it?"

"Not everyone can get relief!" Lance first set the tone. "Only the elderly who have lost their ability to work can get relief. For those who are still able to work, if they can't survive, we can find a class for them."

"There are so many factories in the west of the city, there will always be one that suits them!"

William frowned after hearing this. His worry was the same as Erwin's. "Someone will cause trouble soon!"

Lance laughed twice, "Ahaha," "William, you've forgotten what we do!"

William was stunned for a moment, then he burst into laughter. Then he remembered that Lance was not a government official, nor the president of a large company, he was just a gang leader!
Are you in trouble with the gang?

Are you afraid you've lived too long?
Thinking in this way, this matter is actually very easy to implement, and some problems can be solved. "You need to provide these supplies to at least 20,000 to 30,000 people every day. Taking into account other costs, it will cost more than 10,000 yuan."

When he heard the number, he was a little shocked. More than ten thousand a day, which is more than three hundred thousand a month.

There are at least four more months from this month to the end of winter in March, which means almost one and a half million people!

One million and a half million, used for relief without asking for anything in return. Even he felt some... emotions churning in him that he didn't even know how to express.

"This winter must be golden, because it will be worth more than a million dollars to you!"

William added a little more emphasis and asked, "Is it worth it?"

"This one million plus is not a business. If you pay, you will get a return, even if it's not much, even if you lose money, there will be some."

"After investing more than one million yuan, there is nothing left. Even if people remember your kindness, you are just a gang leader and cannot gain political or other transformation from this gratitude."

Lance still maintained his previous attitude. He smiled and spread his hands. "Although I lost a lot of money, William, this will make me very comfortable!"

"I'm not short of money!" He lit a cigarette and took a long puff. "When my bar in the Starlight District is fully opened, my monthly income will be 700,000 to 800,000 yuan."

He held up a finger. "Every month, at least!"

"I took out a part of it and used it here. It won't make any difference to my overall income and expenses, but it makes me feel good!"

William seemed to be trying to figure out whether this was true or not, but he couldn't tell. He shook his head and said, "I really don't understand!"

Lance thought for a moment, "Yes, you don't understand, and it's hard to understand because you are not me."

"We just need to do this now, as for the rest, who cares!"

William nodded, “Yes, just get this done.”

He paused, "But you will embarrass the mayor and the wealthy people in the Bay Area. You have done what a government should do and what those big capitalists should do."

"They'll just dislike you even more!"

This is a fact, a bloody fact.

Sometimes doing good things will bring troubles, and some people will not like you, because you make yourself noble, and those who would not be considered to have low morals will become low morals under the contrast of your nobility!
If they also want to become noble, they have to spend money, but not everyone is willing to pay this money, and in the end, this will further highlight your nobility.

The more noble Lance appears, the smaller others will appear, and the more they will dislike him, or even hate him.

Lance still had the same attitude, "I don't care."

"William, caring too much about others will only make you uncomfortable. If they don't like me, just come over and punch me. Otherwise, it's better to hold it in and don't let me know!"

Looking at the strong self-confidence that was almost shining on Lance's face, William felt the call of personal charm!

He laughed too, "They probably wouldn't dare to do that!"

He let out a long sigh and said, "I'll plan it and arrange it. You can rest assured about this matter."

After finishing the business, William's expression suddenly became a little awkward, "I have something and I need your advice."

(End of this chapter)