Empire of Shadows

"Are you talking about Jack?" Patricia looked at Lance. "I remember you guys met once, at Barbara's birthday party."

Speaking of Barbara's birthday party, Patricia revealed a hint of envy.

Barbara's life was what she longed for, perhaps this was the idea that most good girls had.

They longed to wear the long skirts that church schools didn't allow girls to wear, not allowing them to dress up in a flamboyant manner, and not allowing them to laugh or cry loudly.

The gradual withdrawal of church schools from the historical stage is not only a change brought about by the improvement of women's status, but also a social awakening, an awakening of humanity.

As a school that at least deprived some people of their humanity and imposed restrictions, it was no longer in line with the development of the times and the liberation of thought.

Now people pursue individuality and freedom, instead of wearing skirts that reach the back of the feet, half-sleeved shirts that do not exceed the elbows, and not smiling like nuns.

Lance drove the car away from the roadside, "It's him, do you have his phone number?"

"Of course, do you need to find him for something?"

Lance nodded, "Some work matters."

Although this excuse wasn't very good, Patricia didn't seem to notice that Lance and Jack had no contact in their work environment.

She didn't think about these things, and wouldn't think in that direction.

The seaside sunlight shone lazily on people, and when you are with someone you like, the whole world is sparkling.

Patricia and Lance talked about interesting things at work, the interesting things that young boys and girls encountered.

In fact, from Lance's point of view, these stories weren't that interesting, very ordinary, but he still showed that he was interested in them.

This was of course not deceiving Patricia, but respecting her, because this "narrow" and even uninteresting world she described was her whole world!

The two didn't go back immediately, Lance took Patricia to a cake shop in the city center and bought her a single serving of fruit cake.

This made the girl very happy. Sweets, like love, can make people feel comfortable, and she also shared some with Lance.

Then they called Emily and said that Lance would be going back with them in the evening, which made Emily complain about not saying it earlier, while telling them to play outside for a while longer.

She needed to prepare the ingredients.

William was full of passion and energy during this time, which gave Emily a feeling of returning to her youth!

When he was still working at the city hall before, sometimes when she had needs, William would only perfunctorily end it, which once made her suspect that William had some kind of disease that most middle-aged men would have.

But now, she knew that it was the stagnant, gray life that had made him lose his color.

Now he was like he was when he was young, even like a male dog that goes into heat at the drop of a hat, anytime, anywhere!

A few days ago, he actually came back suddenly in the afternoon, picked her up while she was arranging flowers, threw her on the sofa in the living room, and even used swear words in the process!

The Lawrence family, as a typical representative of the local middle class, they were all well-educated and almost never used swear words in the family.

Including the sexual life between husband and wife, they respected each other, so they wouldn't say those swear words. No one needed to teach them this, they understood this principle after they became adults.

At that time, when Emily heard William say some swear words or lewd words, she didn't even feel uncomfortable, but instead felt very stimulated!

A brand new experience, and brand new passion, so she was very grateful to Lance, all these changes happened after Lance came here.

"My mom told us to play outside for a while longer, she's going to buy food for dinner now."

The girl's eyes darted around a little, she rarely came to the city center.

Emily and William didn't have time, and her colleagues... couldn't really come out.

Actually, she was very good, but to some people who were very familiar with her, they would think she was very boring.

She never wore too trendy clothes, always so "conservative", which made those young and beautiful girls who liked to pursue fashion not really willing to play with her.

Lance took her hand and went to many places. There were many fun places in the city center, eating some delicious food, or watching a street magic performance for a while.

Patricia would smile purely because of the delicious food, and would also show an unbelievable expression for those street magic tricks with obvious flaws...

In the evening, after seven o'clock, the two drove back to the Precia district. When they opened the door, William and Emily were both busy in the kitchen.

After hearing the sound of the door opening, William leaned back from the kitchen and poked out his head and his upper body. He was wearing a red and blue checkered apron and looked very busy.

"It'll be ready in fifteen minutes, you can sit for a while first."

Emily also poked out half of her body, her nimble fingers greeted Lance like playing the piano in the air, "Hi, there's cut fruit on the coffee table, you can rest for a while first, it'll be ready soon."

The two quickly returned to the kitchen, with a pinglingdanglang sound of kitchen utensils colliding.

Patricia went to change into a set of casual clothes, and Lance read the newspaper for a while.

A copy of "International News".

Speaking of this "International News", it's actually a bit interesting. During this period, the Federation's economy was in a rapid development stage. Although people don't pay attention to the workers at the bottom, earning income through labor can't support the life they want.

However, the rapid progress in the financial field has made some financial people shout the slogan "The best ten years have arrived", expanding the blind and foolish self-confidence of the Federal people to an incomprehensible level!

A country at certain times and a person are essentially no different.

A country is made up of people, and people are made up of cells, they will all give birth to an overall consciousness based on collective consciousness.

So the Federation has developed very well in recent years, just like poor relatives in the countryside suddenly becoming rich, which leads them to eagerly want to share with the international community and gain recognition from the international community.

Many middle-class people have begun to be dissatisfied with paying attention to domestic news, they have also begun to discuss international events, as if the Federation plays a very important role in the entire international community.

If you walk on the streets of those financial-based cities and don't have a copy of "International News" or "Financial News" in your hand, many people may think you are a poor boy from the countryside!

Lance didn't know much about this newspaper, and didn't quite believe it—in this era of backward communication, where the methods and speed of information dissemination are equally backward, you can't confirm whether something that happened thousands of miles away is really as it is described.

People's channels for obtaining information are singular and unverifiable, which is one of the reasons why scammers are very easy to succeed in this period.

Opening the newspaper, the headline on the front page reads "The Empire's situation changes again, the tyrannical emperor may lose his life!"

The thick and large exclamation mark attracted people's attention, although Lance learned from Madore (the old veteran leader who smuggled from the Empire) that the Emperor was actually doing very well now.

He just used "Who will be the next emperor" as bait to make several rebel armies who had pushed him to the brink of desperation kill each other first.

They didn't even care whether the Emperor had escaped the encirclement, because they felt that they could encircle His Majesty the Emperor once, and they would definitely be able to do it a second time.

But in fact, Madore and the others felt deeply uneasy about the Emperor's breakthrough this time. It would be almost impossible to create such a good opportunity next time.

Because of the infighting of the rebel army, it was difficult for them to encircle the Imperial army from multiple aspects again. This may be the last glorious moment of the rebel army.

Moreover, the positions of some nobles and big capitalists in the Empire have also begun to waver—it's not that they don't support the rebel army, but that this group of people are really trash!

Once these people who can really determine the direction of the war waver, then it is very likely that this uprising will be like countless previous uprisings, becoming an unsightly page in the history of the Empire.

But this newspaper and the writer don't think so. They think that the rebel army is now just carrying out "integration". After the integration is over, the Emperor will give up his crown and scepter.

The reporter said in a tone as if he had witnessed it with his own eyes that the Emperor at this time had already burrowed into the velvet quilt and was shivering, completely forgetting that his exposed big butt was facing the rebel army...

The report did its best to vilify the image of the Imperial Emperor, making him look both cruel and stupid.

This is the so-called political correctness, because many people were terrified when His Majesty the Emperor declared war on the Federation. They were really afraid that war would break out.

How afraid they were at that time, how much they hate this Emperor now, who may not have any military ability, but is definitely a master in politics.

So reports describing his wise and martial prowess will not be read by anyone, but if you say how stupid and how bad he is, then readers are willing to take out five cents for it.

The second edition describes the military frictions and conflicts between several countries on the Tanfite continent this year, and the possible development trends.

I have to say, if it wasn't for the last part of this newspaper, about one-fifth of the content describing the scandals of celebrities from various countries, and some erotic short stories related to current affairs.

Lance would still be willing to treat it as a serious reading!

"Dinner is ready, come over, Lance!"

Lance walked to the dining table, Emily came over and gave him a hug. This was the privilege of the ladies, while William just shook his hand.

Maybe the men don't have the habit or idea of hugging.

Patricia also came out of the room, having taken a shower and changed her clothes.

The table was full of a lavish dinner, but it was clear that Patricia probably couldn't eat too much today. "We ate something in the city center."

She was a little embarrassed because William and Emily had prepared all this so carefully. Emily, however, seemed quite nonchalant, "There's a cake shop over there with very good flavors. I hope you didn't miss it when you passed by."

Family dinners often follow this pattern, opening with a simple, everyday topic and then gradually delving deeper.

Lance watched the mother and daughter chat for a while about the pastries they ate and the things they bought, before William gradually shifted the topic to Lance.

"I hope she didn't cause you any trouble."

"Not at all, we get along very well."

William smiled. "You mentioned wanting to contact Jack earlier?"

Lance nodded. "I need him to provide me with some information."

Emily immediately became interested. "Are you planning to do some smuggling?"

Smuggling is also a good business, with considerable profits.

Under the control of capitalists, the federal government imposes higher tariffs on some inexpensive goods from abroad that have obvious advantages, in order to protect the domestic market—protective tariffs.

Simply put, the price of a bowler hat in the Federation might be three to five dollars, referring to the kind sold to ordinary people in ordinary stores.

But in Yalan, a bowler hat of the same quality might only cost fifty cents or a dollar.

The journey from Yalan to the Federation is not far, and maritime transport is well-developed. The landed price of these hats after arriving in the Federation would not exceed one dollar and ten cents per hat.

This would be devastating to businesses that produce bowler hats locally, because the Federation's production costs are higher.

Those small vendors could buy them back for one dollar and fifty cents and sell them for two dollars, which would be enough to crush the Federation's local bowler hat businesses.

Even if these businesses lowered their prices and reduced their profits, it would be difficult for them to last too long, because the essence of business is competition.

They could import goods whose final sales prices are lower than the local production costs, because they are more competitive, and competitiveness is initially reflected in sales and profits.

Therefore, in order to ensure that their interests are not crushed by cheap imported goods, the capitalists of the Federation impose protective tariffs on these listed goods.

A dollar hat that costs two hundred percent in tariffs after landing is clearly telling these people not to think about making money from these hats.

If end retailers get hats that cost more than three dollars, they can't sell them for one or two dollars, so they won't be able to impact local businesses.

There are actually quite a few such commodities. With the continuous development of the Federation's paper economy, the cost of Federal commodities is also constantly increasing, so as long as you can avoid tariffs and get things in, you can definitely make money.

Jack had talked a lot about these things at family gatherings, like how a certain smuggling group made millions a year.

The middle class in the Federation, like other classes, doesn't really have that much respect for the law, otherwise Emily wouldn't have asked such a question directly.

However, Lance shook his head in denial. "We don't have any plans to smuggle for the time being, wine doesn't count."

He paused. "I'm contacting Jack because the Ligee Group intends to tear up the contract they signed with me, which will cost me at least hundreds of thousands."

"My God, that much?" Emily looked surprised. "You should sue them."

William, however, had a different opinion at this time. "Ligee Group's net profit was over 100 million two years ago. Ordinary people have no chance of winning a lawsuit against them."

He turned to look at Lance. "What are you planning to do?"

Lance put down his knife and fork. "Since they do bulk agricultural trade, they must have a lot of warehouses and containers on the docks…"

As he said this, he picked up the knife and fork again, leaned slightly forward, took a piece of steak from the middle of the table, and put it back on his plate, then cut a piece. "Not bad!"

Introducing Jack to Lance wouldn't make William and Emily feel uncomfortable, because that's just the way things are.

Everyone is trying to make money. If you make more, they will only envy you, not look down on you.

After dinner, Lance and William went to William's study.

After William personally made a pot of coffee, the two of them could finally talk about more serious topics.

"You're planning to move their stuff?" Lance didn't say what he was planning to do at the dinner table, which made William a little itchy. He wanted to know the result.

Lance tasted the coffee William made. The oily aroma was very strong, slightly bitter, but the bitterness was just right, and the taste was very rich. He didn't dislike it.

"Although I am… in the eyes of some, the leader of a criminal group, that doesn't mean we have to retaliate against them through inefficient crime."

"I can find someone to set up a company, then order some goods from them, and then find a way to get them to breach the contract and demand compensation."

"There are lawyers who like this kind of business."

It's not just lawyers who like it, but also their competitors, and some mid-level companies who want to squeeze into the top tier.

And Lance's approach is not limited to this, including moving their goods.

He didn't intend to talk too much about this topic, because it was meaningless. "The day before yesterday, I met with Mr. Chobaf. The mayor is having him run for Empire District councilman, so we have our first competitor."

William, who wasn't so nervous at first, frowned after hearing this news.

Of course, he had heard of this "generous" Empire banker, but it was precisely because he knew a little about him that he knew this opponent was very troublesome.

He has a certain status and great influence in the minds of the people of the Empire. If he participates in the competition, it will be difficult for William, a candidate who is obviously at a disadvantage, to get more support.

You must know that the birth of a municipal councilor, in addition to party nominations and self-election, the most important thing is the votes of the voters.

"What are your thoughts?" After thinking about it, William decided to throw the question back to Lance.

Lance took another sip of coffee. "I talked to him and asked him to give up, but he refused."

"He believes that this is the first time he has encountered a real opportunity to squeeze into the upper class after coming to the Federation, and he is unwilling to give up easily."

"So, William, you don't have to worry. The moment he refused me, it was destined that we would stand on opposite sides."

Lance's statement relieved William. If even Lance didn't support him, then he was doomed!

It's not impossible to run in other districts, but there is no chance. Only the Empire District has a better chance.