Shadow Empire

Chapter 89 I'll Say You Owe Me

When you first visit your girlfriend's house and see her father, and he asks if you're nervous, how do you respond?

nervous?

Why are you nervous?
not nervous?
Why not nervous?

No matter how you answer, there will be more questions, and each question will be very difficult to answer, and you will fail if you are not careful.

Lance glanced at Patricia in the restaurant and replied, "Not nervous."

He looked at Mr. Lawrence again, "If you really like someone, you will understand that I am full of courage if you stand in my position now."

"I will overcome all the difficulties and bring her home."

"The only thing that makes me nervous is losing her."

"But it also gives me courage, because I know I will get her back!"

Mrs. Lawrence laughed so hard that she couldn't stop. She leaned over and asked Patricia in a low voice, "Does he always talk like this?"

Mr. Lawrence glanced at his wife and daughter who were watching the fun, and felt that Lance's answer was too...skilled. "How many girls and their fathers have you said these words to?"

Lance responded fearlessly, "You and Pat were the first. I swear to God."

Eighty percent of the people in the Federation are believers, so swearing an oath to God is a very serious matter.

He looked at Lance, and Lance also looked at him calmly. This was indeed the first time in this world.

This frankness made Mr. Lawrence's attitude relax a little, "You can call me William."

A good transition.

Patricia quickly ran to the bathroom and laughed for a while before coming back with a flushed face. She felt very happy now.

Mr. Lawrence began to inquire about Lance's recent situation.

"I heard that you were sold to a black factory when you were a child?"

He had done some research and found that it was too easy for a government official to investigate the identity information of an ordinary person.

As for the so-called privacy management, it is actually just used to fool ordinary taxpayers. It can't even fool senior taxpayers.

No one knows better than them what this country and its government are like.

Lance went through all the old stuff, and Mr. Lawrence listened carefully. "How do you plan to deal with the relationship between you, your parents, and your sister?"

"You haven't been together for many years. I believe you can understand what I mean. You are like strangers, but also family."

Federal people attach great importance to family, and it has become an intuitive label to distinguish whether a person is good or bad.

If you can maintain good family relationships, even if you do something bad, others will think it was probably an accident.

But if you don't maintain good family relationships, even if you always do good things, they will think that you will have a big shit one day.

"I will try to fit in, but I won't force us all to do it. I will take on all that I should take on. That's all I can do for now."

At least the answer was above the passing line. Mr. Lawrence changed the subject and said, "I heard from Pat that you registered two companies?"

"Yes, a financial consulting company and a labor agency."

He briefly described the businesses of the two companies and the legal portion of their revenues that they could bring to him, and Mr. Lawrence's expression softened.

Although he was a Federalist, he also understood that the policy promoted by the Socialist Party, which focused on developing a modern industrial economy, was correct, and it was inevitable that capital had become the god of this country.

Lance has money, and there is no discussion about what he can do for society or for their family, but at least it is not a bad thing.

Inevitably, they talked about the recent anti-immigration movement.

Lance did not go further into the discussion on this issue, but appropriately showed some sympathy for the immigrant community. Mr. Lawrence did not express his opinion, but it was obvious that he was very satisfied with Lance now.

Soon, it was time for dinner. Mrs. Lawrence had already opened the wine. The top-quality cognac was just so-so, but Mr. Lawrence liked it very much.

The dinner was sumptuous, and it was obvious that Mrs. Lawrence was a good housewife, at least her cooking was impeccable.

In just one meal, Lance established a very complete image of himself: "being abducted as a child, then working hard to become stronger, finding the way home, and finally succeeding after hardships."

He called his meeting with Patricia "God's arrangement," and Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence, both believers, were also satisfied with this statement.

From now on, they couldn't find much fault with Lance.

The guests and hosts enjoy themselves.

After dinner, Lance did not stay long. After a short rest, he tactfully asked to leave, and Mr. Lawrence of course agreed.

After watching Lance leave, Mrs. Lawrence was very satisfied with Lance's performance during the family dinner.

He is witty, humorous, intelligent, sharp, and his appearance is also in line with the aesthetic taste of people of this era: tough and handsome.

She teased her husband jokingly and said, "Now you won't worry anymore, will you?"

Mr. Lawrence sighed heavily, somewhat helplessly, "On the contrary, I am even more worried!"

As for what he was worried about, he probably had plenty of time to talk to Mrs. Lawrence about it. Sometimes being too good was not a good thing. He was a little hesitant and not sure how to deal with this matter.

The next morning, when Lance was at the company, Erwin suddenly knocked on the door. "What's up?"

Lance asked him to come and sit down, Erwin took a sip of water, "Guess who's here?"

"Who?" Lance handed him a cigarette. Erwin skillfully lit up Lance's first, and then his own.

"Your old boss, Johnny, he's here to borrow money."

Lance was a little surprised. Alvin briefly told him what he had found out. After listening, Lance also felt it was a little unbelievable. This was too unlucky.

He always thought that the apprentice would be patient to the end, but he didn't expect that as soon as he left, the apprentice would give Johnny a hard time. He even thought that the tax evasion issue was reported by the apprentice.

Because not many people, only a few, know how much he actually earns.

Originally, Lance planned to wait until Sean obtained his bar license and then have him practice with Johnny to thank him for taking care of him, but now it seems too late.

Lance thought about it and said, "I'll go and receive him in person."

"That's something I could think of too!", Erwin said with a smile.

At this time, Johnny was very frustrated in the office. He had already gone to other financial companies to ask, but they could only lend him two thousand yuan, and the interest rate was very high.

He couldn't afford to borrow, nor could he repay.

The lawyer came today and told him that the lawyer had obtained the request from the tax bureau through some connections. They advocated the recovery of Johnny's ten years of unpaid taxes, as well as the corresponding fines, totaling ten thousand dollars.

The court will agree to their request for tax recovery, and the only room for maneuver now is the amount of the fine. But in any case, he must prepare the money as soon as possible, because there is a high probability that the lawsuit will be decided on the spot.

After the verdict is announced, the execution period will begin. If he does not pay the money and the execution period expires, the tax bureau will apply to auction his real estate.

It will be even worse then, and they will also charge late fees.

He contacted three financial companies, and the prices they offered were much higher than those of the bank, but the interest rates were much higher. He had no other options and could only come here with the mentality of giving it a try.

The person who received him looked familiar to him, as if he had seen him somewhere before, but he couldn't remember where he was at the moment.

The other party said that such a large transaction required the presence of a manager and asked him to wait for a moment.

While waiting, he thought about many things, which eventually turned into a helpless sigh.

Just at this moment, the door rang. He quickly stood up and turned around, only to see Lance.

Lance was wearing a high-end suit, looking like a successful man. "Hello again, Johnny."

Johnny was stunned for a moment, then asked uncertainly, "You...here?"

Lance walked over to Erwin's chair and sat down, looking at him straight in the eye. "I'm the manager here. I heard you're in trouble?"

Johnny, who was about to leave, changed his expression again and again, "Yes, I need some money urgently."

Lance smiled and fiddled with the small ornaments on the table. "Money is never a problem, but what can you use to guarantee that you can pay it back?"

"You know, your bread-making skills are worthless to me."

Johnny's face flushed a little, his bread-making skill was what he was most proud of, and he would be proud of this skill all his life!

But now, he couldn't even refute it.

Lance didn't intend to let him go, "It seems that you don't agree with me. How much is your craft worth, Johnny? Five, ten, or twenty dollars?"

“How much are other finance companies and banks willing to pay you for your craftsmanship?”

"Just tell me, no matter how much they give, I will add 20 percent to their amount."

Johnny didn't say anything, his face turned red and white, because he knew that his skills were worthless at the bank.

He couldn't stand it anymore. If it was someone else, he might be able to bear it, but this was Lance!
"If you wanted to humiliate me, then you succeeded, but only this time!", he stood up and wanted to leave, he had had enough!

Lance didn't give him a chance to leave, "I'll give you three thousand dollars."

Johnny had already stood up, but slowly sat back down as Lance smiled.

"You want to leave?"

Johnny was silent for a moment, "My butt hurts a little."

This made Lance laugh, "You have to find a better lie, Johnny, this is not a bakery, no one likes to hear your bullshit!"

He laughed for a long time, "Now, tell me that your bread-making skills are worthless."

"Of course you don't have to do this, but you know, it's three thousand dollars."

Johnny struggled with his thoughts for a while. Although he was a worthless person, he was still very persistent in some aspects.

But he couldn't hold on any longer, and he said in a very depressed voice, "You win, my skills are worthless."

Lance waved at him, motioning him to hand over the documents.

Lance took one look and felt something was wrong, "It's not the bakery you want to mortgage?"

Johnny was stunned for a moment, "I only need three thousand dollars."

He had a sum of money in the bank that the court had given him, plus more than three hundred dollars of his own money, totaling nearly eighteen hundred dollars.

If he could borrow three thousand dollars from Lance, and then find a way to scrape together some extra cash, he could come up with five thousand dollars in cash.

This is also what the lawyer thinks is a more appropriate number, and it may be a little less. After all, he is just evading taxes, not subjective tax evasion. The judge should consider reducing the fine at his discretion.

He doesn’t need to mortgage the bakery, and he won’t mortgage it. “If you want my bakery, I can leave now.”

Lance thought for a while and said, "Jonny, I will lend it to you because you have provided me with a place to live and enough food to eat."

Johnny couldn't believe this was true!

He stared at Lance with wide eyes, and he began to regret what he had done before. Although it was only temporary and he would forget these things in no time, at least he regretted it now.

“How much interest do others give you?”

Johnny recalled and lowered the interest rate a little after some hesitation. "They are willing to lend me 2,000 yuan and ask me to pay back 5,000 yuan in half a year."

"Twenty-five percent interest is very high. I will lend you three thousand yuan at 18 percent interest per month."

Johnny was not very good at arithmetic. "How much should I pay you when the due date comes?"

Lance wrote a simple calculation on a piece of paper, "Six thousand two hundred and forty dollars."

Johnny was silent for a while. "The interest rate is still too high. Can we..."

"No!" Lance answered firmly, "Johnny, if someone lends you two thousand dollars, they will ask you for five thousand. I'm lending you an extra thousand dollars and I won't ask you for interest."

"People have to learn to be grateful. If you think the interest rate is too high, you can try somewhere else."

Johnny held his head in pain, "I don't know, Lance!"

Lance took out two contracts, one of which was a legal loan contract, which was executed in accordance with the federal judicial regulations with an annual interest rate cap of 22%.

There is also a "financial consulting fee", the cost of which exceeds the reasonable interest, which can effectively circumvent the Usury Law.

After he filled in all the blanks, he placed the pen and a total of four contracts in front of Johnny, "Sign it or not, the choice is yours."

Looking at the two contracts, thinking about the trouble the tax bureau was causing him, and thinking about what the lawyer said about late payment fees if he couldn't pay, he finally picked up the pen in pain and signed his name.

Lance asked Erwin to come over and took three photos of Johnny with a camera, one of him standing next to Lance holding two contracts, and the other one turning to the page that said "I volunteer..."

After doing all this, Lance asked, "Cash or wire?"

"Cash!" Johnny said viciously. Federals have a special obsession with cash.

Lance quickly counted out a large amount of money for him. He counted it again, and when he was done, he looked up at Lance and said, "The money is wrong. Eighteen dollars is missing."

Lance looked at him with a half-smile, "You forgot, you owe me."

(End of this chapter)