Shadow Empire

Chapter 743 Heart of Gold

In the courtyard of the grand mansion in Reims, the chefs from the best restaurant in Maintenon have begun cooking dinner.

They don't know for whom the meal is being cooked, nor do they know who will be sitting at the table to enjoy the food they create.

They don't care about or have any enthusiasm for these things.

This has happened to them many times. As the best restaurant, they always receive such orders.

Some special guests are not suitable to appear in public, but they really like some of the food in their restaurant.

Then these special guests only need to spend an extra amount of money, and the chefs will go to the place they specify to cook evening dishes for the guests.

They will not come into contact with the guests during the whole process. After all the food is cooked, it will be covered with a table cover to keep the temperature. The best time to serve the food is within ten minutes.

Anything longer than ten minutes might cause the food to cool down a bit and change the taste of some dishes a little, but if the customer has a larger oven at home, there won't be these problems.

Of course, they can also provide professional equipment to ensure the temperature of the food without destroying the taste of the food due to moisture. This only requires a small extra payment.

In the reception room of the big house, several executive members of the state prohibition committee were here -

It's a very interesting phenomenon that the people who can actually make decisions on certain things in the federation are often not the ones with the most business capabilities.

Because the people with the most business capabilities are always on the front line, and those on the front line are always small characters.

Before Dell joined the State Prohibition Committee as an executive member, the executive member who was mainly responsible for presiding over the state's prohibition work held a glass of wine and watched the cooks working hard in the courtyard.

This scene is extremely funny.

The executive member of the Prohibition Committee was drinking, but people around him didn't think there was anything wrong.

Because even the senators on the Congressional Prohibition Committee would discuss prohibition work while drinking.

Drinking and work are two different things. Now is their private time, so no one will care whether it is appropriate for them to drink.

This guy's name is Tim, and he comes from a family that's basically the same as most people in his class.

He didn't have a very prominent family background. He was born into a middle-class family. His father was a lawyer, his mother was a doctor, and he had a younger brother and a younger sister. He received an elite education since childhood and worked hard to become a superior person.

After graduating from high school, he received an invitation letter from an elite league school with excellent grades and thanks to his father's operation, and became one of the potential lackeys in the upper class.

Because he was exposed to some very realistic things since he was a child, and his family education did not allow him to develop in the direction of "I am the sun", his father used bloody cases to make him more mature and realistic than his peers.

So during college, I made friends with some capable classmates and became their lackey.

Some people looked down on him, including his first girlfriend.

His first love girlfriend was extremely disappointed in him because she felt that he had a good family background and excellent academic performance, but had to become a lackey for some "villains"!

But it turned out that he was right to do so!

He has completed the class leap by turning himself into a lackey, while those classmates who think they can change the world are still struggling at the bottom.

This time when Dell "dropped in", he not only did not regard Dell as a rival for power and profit, but instead, under the stunned gaze of many people, he actively cooperated with some of Dell's initiatives.

He knew very well that the people behind him were no match for the people behind Dell, or the people behind Lance.

He believes that he is definitely more capable than Dell, but if the people above him are useless, his abilities become meaningless.

He had seen through the concept of ability twenty years ago. It was just a gilded tulip.

With it, you can get some extra compliments.

Without it, people wouldn't say anything.

As for whether you are willing to do so in your heart, that is another matter.

This is also the most common problem encountered by this class of people. Even if they have already risked their lives, they have risked their lives on the wrong person.

His reflection in the floor-to-ceiling glass no longer looked young, and his ears were filled with the chatter of his colleagues, but he was thinking about how he could curry favor with Lance.

Others are not quite clear about his thoughts, and some even think... he is just not very happy, because Dell is in power now and everything has to be decided by Dell.

After a while, the team came back from outside and Dale returned to the room.

The moment Tim turned around, a smile appeared on his face. He drank the little wine left in the glass, put it on the table beside him, and then walked towards Dell at the door.

"Mr. Lance, go change into a new set of clothes and he'll be down soon."

In fact, the Federals are a very casual group, but they seem to be particularly entangled on certain issues. What kind of clothes to wear in different occasions is obviously a simple matter, but they make it very complicated.

Soon Lance changed into a set of clothes suitable for receiving important guests in his own home. He entered the room and Tim was already standing in the front.

"Let me introduce you, this is Mr. Perry, Tim Perry, he has been very helpful to me in my work."

"He played a big role in my ability to become familiar with my job so quickly!"

Lance extended his hand and shook his, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Perry, I've been wanting to meet you for a long time!"

Tim also expressed the same view with a smile, "Thank you Dell for coming to work for us. It gives me the honor to make friends like you. It is also an honor for me and us!"

The two men quickly loosened their hands, and he just expressed his position and attitude, and then Dell introduced the people behind him.

After the introductions, everyone sat down. Now there were about twenty minutes left before dinner started.

Because some dishes will not be cooked until Lance arrives, this is also to ensure that the dishes are in perfect condition when they are served.

Of course, this kind of booking that is subject to change will also require a small additional fee.

At this point, the additional cost was much higher than the price of the meal itself.

Lance took the main seat without hesitation. After everyone else was seated, he said with a smile, "Thanks to your help, we were able to discover and eradicate a cancer that had been entrenched in the northwest region of this state."

"How much wine did we find in their warehouse?" he looked at Dale.

Dell smiled and said, "About three and a half million to four million."

"Yes, four million bottles of wine. Looking at the entire federation, this is also an amazing record!"

"Congress must have already given you a reward!"

Tim nodded. "Indeed, this is the largest batch we have ever caught."

Creating records is something that every politician desires, because having records means that they will be noticed by those above them.

Being noticed means that if the right opportunity comes, it will favor him.

"It can be seen that the State Prohibition Committee has performed outstandingly in prohibition work. You are the backbone of the country, and the stability of society depends on you!"

When a young man in his twenties says something like this to a group of middle-aged people in their thirties and forties, it doesn't make people feel presumptuous or uncomfortable, but rather it feels very harmonious and reasonable.

"But...", the subject changed and the expressions of the people in the room became a little more serious.

"The current situation of alcohol prohibition in the state is still not optimistic. A large number of bootleg liquor workshops, even private brewing, and low-quality liquor mixed with industrial alcohol are flooding the market."

"Not only are they undermining our anti-alcohol work, they're also hurting ordinary people who are getting drunk."

He recounted the incidents of industrial alcohol causing casualties, but he didn't really care whether it had already happened or not.

"News" doesn't have to be true. If it had to be true to be news, then the world would have been destroyed long ago. He will use his influence in News Corporation to publicize this news. Congress and local governments will definitely increase the publicity of this news.

Because "drinking may cause casualties" is undoubtedly the best excuse to dissuade people from drinking. What if you drink fake alcohol and go blind or die?
The others all nodded, agreeing with Lance's point of view, and some even looked at Lance with a slightly strange look.

Everyone knows that Lance is the biggest producer and seller in Likalai State.

In the past, he had to produce secretly, but now that he has obtained the franchise, he is not hiding it at all. Although they are still not sure where he is, it can be seen from the amount of goods he is producing that he is stepping up production.

As for the market, among the liquors near Jingang City, Golden Lion whiskey has occupied at least one-third of the market, and other smuggled liquors have to pay Lance.

The Holy Bell Party was recently destroyed, and many people said that it was because Lance had set his eyes on the Holy Bell Party’s territory and wanted to sell his own wine there.

No one knows exactly what happened, but it is definitely not groundless.

Tim understood what Lance meant. "Don't worry, Mr. Lance. We will increase the intensity of alcohol prohibition in various regions. We will never let go of those criminals who dare to undermine social stability!"

Lansdo glanced at Tim. This guy is very active!

He smiled with satisfaction, "This is the best. Not tolerating any criminals or criminal behavior is the bottom line for us law enforcers!"

But his words had an ending, which made people feel that he had not finished speaking.

Sure enough, after two or three seconds, he added, "But we must also be careful to identify."

Pay attention to identification?

What to identify?
Tim frowned slightly, and the others seemed to be thinking about it as well.

However, this is not the best time to ask. This kind of question is best discussed in private rather than asked publicly, even if everyone knows what he is referring to.

The topic then became a lot more relaxed. Led by Dell and Tim, everyone talked about some interesting things, both work-related and some real upper-class rumors.

As they chatted, they talked about war. That's how men are. The topics of conversation always revolve around politics and war.

In fact, younger men will also talk about women, but everyone here has already gotten beyond that low-level interest stage.

The main reason is that after playing it more, I naturally become less interested in it.

Young men discuss the little women next door because of their innocent admiration, but middle-aged men never talk about it because they not only have one at home, but also many outside.

So the war became the topic of conversation while waiting for dinner.

Because these people have limited channels for obtaining information, their channels for obtaining information are the same as those of ordinary people in the federation, which is through official media and newspapers.

Even if they have doubts about these reports, they can only have doubts.

They talked about the current situation, development, and future of the war.

As they chatted, Tim felt that Lance was not sufficiently engaged in this topic, so out of consideration for his master, he took the initiative to put the topic in Lance's hands.

"Mr. Lance, what do you think the future development trend will be?"

"About this war!"

Lance thought for a moment and said, "The situation won't be too bad, and we will have new actions and plans soon. As for the outcome, it's hard for me to make a judgment."

"But I believe one thing!" He picked up the wine glass and took a sip, then slowly put it down and raised his eyebrows, "The Federation will win!"

This sentence contains too much information!

For a moment, the gentlemen in the room were speechless. Except for those who were really stupid, the others read too much information from his words that they had previously suspected but were not confident about.

What did Lance mean when he said "it won't be too bad"?
What he means is that the current situation is actually very bad. If the situation is really good, he will only say something like "it's really good".

Then new actions and plans were mentioned, and the consequences were unpredictable. This shows that the military does not always intend to follow the tasks assigned to them by the alliance and play the role of a wall on the battlefield. They have their own ideas.

As for the final "Federation must win"?
Tim has already thought of the recent ongoing conscription, and they plan to exchange casualties for results!
Tim took a look at Lance and thought this young man was terrifying!
It's not just his own skills and abilities, but more importantly the network of interests and relationships he has established in this society.

There are too many capable people. Tim himself is a capable person, but he is not as successful as Lance. On the one hand, he is much less capable than Lance, and on the other hand, his network of relationships is much worse than Lance's.

The information revealed in Lance's words was telling them a hidden message: Lance had very close ties with senior military and Ministry of Defense officials, at least in one aspect.

Otherwise, he would not have been able to obtain such highly confidential information, and this also made the people here recognize him even more.

At this time, Lance's people knocked on the door, walked in from outside and stood by the door, "Dinner is ready."

Lance nodded, and stood up with the help of his assistant who was sitting on the sofa. The chefs in the courtyard also brought the dishes to the table, put on the table covers, and then began to pack up and leave.

During this period, the gentlemen in the room went to the toilet if they needed to, and cleaned themselves if they needed to.

Seven or eight minutes later, everyone arrived at the garden.

Lance's men acted as waiters, opening the table cover to reveal the sumptuous food inside.

Lance smiled and touched his stomach, "I've been hungry for a long time, so... let's get started!"

“Does anyone need to pray first?”

The gentlemen laughed and shook their heads. Although they were believers, they were not that convinced.

The Lord can do almost nothing, but power and wealth can do it. Even if they are believers, they are believers in power and wealth.

I have to say that there is a reason why the cost of this dinner was so outrageous. The taste was indeed good and everyone enjoyed it very much.

It was getting late and Lance had been on the bus for almost a whole day, so people decided to say goodbye.

Anyway, Lance still has a few days in Maintenon, so they have plenty of opportunities to visit Lance privately.

Lance did not try to persuade them to stay. He really wanted to take a rest. "I have prepared some small gifts for you. I have asked someone to put them in the trunk of your car."

Tim and the others were stunned for a moment, but did not refuse.

Everyone knows that Lance is now a super rich man, and if both parties want to have a deeper friendship, these small gifts must be accepted.

They all thanked Lance, and Lance glanced at Dale, "You too."

Then he smiled and said, "Okay, I won't keep you guys here anymore. I hope you have a safe journey."

After leaving the villa, these people did not immediately go to see what Lance had given them, but instead said goodbye to each other. In case the things Lance had given them were different, it would be awkward to open them.

These people have very flexible minds and directly reject this possibility.

Tim drove very fast all the way, and when he arrived home, he saw the suitcase in the trunk.

He wanted to lift it with one hand, but found that he couldn't lift it at all because it was too heavy.

He used both hands to lift the suitcase.

He picked it up and walked for a while, then stopped for a while, and returned to the study under his wife's strange gaze. He sent his wife away who came over to know what had happened, and then opened the box.

As the suitcase was slowly opened, he looked at the things inside and said expressionlessly, "Gift crab!"
He stretched out his hand and touched the gold bricks. A total of ten kilograms of gold bricks were lined up in a row. Below it was a transfer agreement for Maintenon's villa. As long as he signed, no matter who he was, he would be able to get a big mansion worth more than 30,000 yuan!
This was just a meeting, Tim knew that, and he now wanted to work with Lance even more.

Tim is determined to make friends with this kind of person who is generous with money and has strong connections!
There were many people who had the same idea as him. Being a member of the Prohibition Committee could indeed make some money, but compared to what they got, Lance obviously gave more!

They offered so much, I really couldn't refuse!

(End of this chapter)