Rise of the Argentine Empire

In mid-May, José was preparing some important academic papers for publication.

Elena had already graduated from the Physics Department of the University of Buenos Aires at the end of last year, earning her master's degree.

Today, she was keeping him company at home, studying alongside him.

José rarely went to the University of Buenos Aires library anymore, preferring to study at home.

This time, his study was arranged to be about 100 square meters, occupying half of the 6th floor, equipped with 8 large bookshelves, each capable of holding thousands of books.

José was now recharging at home, and books from special channels were also arranged to be brought in.

He found himself to be more efficient at home.

Elena sat at her desk, occasionally looking at José, as if she wanted to imprint the image of him studying diligently in her mind.

The phone in the study suddenly rang, and José stood up and picked up the phone on the wall.

"Cohen, are you home?"

It was the familiar voice of Professor Pukins.

"Yes, it's me, Professor."

"I've added your name to the list of graduates for the first half of the year. Start preparing for your thesis defense now. Submit your thesis to me in 10 days, the unified defense will be in 15 days, and graduation will be in 16 days."

Professor Pukins' tone was much faster than usual, and he seemed rather anxious.

16 days later, wouldn't that be June 1st?

Graduating on Children's Day, that's interesting.

Only after José hung up did he realize that graduation defense wasn't supposed to be until the second half of the year. It had been moved up by half a year. What was going on?

"Cohen, investigate whether Professor Pukins is facing any issues."

"Yes, boss."

After hanging up, José began preparing his graduation thesis. He had been preparing for this all along, so 10 days shouldn't be a problem.

He felt a bit dazed. It seemed he had indeed met the basic requirements for graduation, and had also published several academic papers, along with his experience studying at Harvard in the United States, basically meeting the graduation requirements.

Since he could graduate, he needed to notify the Radical Civic Union so as not to miss the opportunity.

Because he had relinquished his position in the Propaganda Department when he went to the United States last year, he no longer held a position in the Radical Civic Union, but his qualifications still existed, and he should be able to directly arrange for a branch leader position, which didn't require too high a level anyway.

"Cohen, you can graduate now?"

Elena, who was beside him, also asked.

"Oh, yes, I can graduate. I'll tell you later, let me make a call."

José replied, suddenly realizing that since he was graduating, he should arrange some things.

José looked through his phone book and found the number for the Radical Civic Union in Buenos Aires. He needed to dial an extension.

"Hello, this is José Cohen. Please connect me to Mr. Luis, the office director."

After a while,

"Hello, Cohen, what's the matter?"

Luis asked calmly.

"It's like this, I'm graduating in the second half of the year, can you help me arrange things?"

José didn't have much emotional fluctuation and spoke directly.

"Oh? Okay, congratulations. No problem. We've already selected a few members of the Radical Civic Union. Just perform well when the time comes. Oh, and it's best to get married. I heard you have a girlfriend. You can consider getting married directly. That's a good point for the election. Then I'll congratulate you in advance, Councilor."

Luis seemed to be in a good mood after hearing the news and even made a little joke.

"Okay, Mr. Luis, I'll take a look."

José hung up the phone and finally calmed down.

To be honest, studying for more than two years was indeed a big improvement, at least for him.

"Elena, what do you want to eat? I'll make it for you. I'll have Mrs. Anna help me buy groceries."

Anna was a cook hired by the Falcon Bureau to help him cook and take care of the household shopping. The refrigerator at home actually had some vegetables, which were relatively fresh and generally suited his taste. José also had her prepare some Chinese dishes.

"Um, anything is fine. By the way, Cohen, when are you coming to my house?"

"Elena, let's get engaged after I graduate."

José said in a firm tone.

Since he was going to get married, he might as well choose Elena. Their relationship could continue to develop, and there was no one more suitable than her.

José smiled and walked towards Elena, "Is that okay?"

He kissed her forehead.

"Huh? Um, okay."

Elena blushed and nodded.

"Do we need to meet in advance?"

"We can go out for dinner first."

"Okay, I'll take you home after dinner."

"Okay."

José instructed Mrs. Anna to buy some ingredients suitable for barbecue. He suddenly wanted to have a barbecue, and hot pot would be good too.

"Mrs. Anna, call Luke and have him go buy a barbecue grill and a hot pot stove. Let's all have a barbecue together."

Luke was his butler, responsible for managing his household affairs.

"What is a hot pot stove?"

Well, Argentina didn't seem to have that term.

"Just buy a pot. Also, have them clean the rooftop terrace."

The seventh floor rooftop was not a completely empty platform. There was also a shed built there, which was very suitable for having some beer and barbecue in the autumn.

"Sir, should we buy some beer?"

"Never mind, have them get a few cases of Mirinda soda from the warehouse and put them in the refrigerator to chill."

"Okay, sir."

José's household included servants, a butler, and the Falcon Bureau's Delta team stationed there.

They held a barbecue on the rooftop terrace on the seventh floor.

Looking at the grilled chicken legs, sprinkled with simple spices.

"Not bad, well grilled."

José praised.

"The grilled corn is also delicious."

"The pork belly is also good, paired with iced soda, it's really good."

"You all come over, eat together, grill together."

Luke arranged for four or five grills and "hot pot stoves."

Sliced lamb, beef tripe, grilled oysters, grilled bacon, grilled squid…

The barbecue dinner ended with laughter and joy.

After having the Delta team send Elena home, José began some planning,

…

With only a little over ten days left,

José diligently prepared and studied, and finally, after burning the midnight oil, he completed his graduation thesis of tens of thousands of words.

His graduation thesis also passed the defense smoothly. Only then did he learn that Professor Pukins had been appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Buenos Aires Province.

His term of office happened to begin at the end of June. Since no one would be able to help him in the law department in the future, he simply had José graduate half a year early.

Moreover, graduation required quite a few procedures, and being held up could take up a lot of time.

José couldn't afford to waste time; opportunities were easily missed, and time was precious before the real chaos began.

He was immensely grateful.

June 1st, graduation ceremony.

José, wearing his bachelor's gown, sat quietly in a corner, listening to the president's speech and shaking hands.

Elena sat next to him, wearing a light blue dress.

José's expression was calm. There weren't many graduates in this batch, only about 100 people.

José saw a few familiar faces.

Guevara, a graduate of the medical department? He looked somewhat familiar.

"Elena, is that Guevara?"

Without a thick beard and cigar, only a sun-tanned face, he was indeed handsome and looked very similar, and he was in the medical department.

"It seems to be Ernesto Guevara, from the Lynch family of Rosario. It should be him. My father used to have some contact with them. An old family, they used to be colonial governors."

"Oh, you know him."

"Of course, he's a popular figure in the medical department, almost as handsome as you. Like you, he's never at school all year round. Oh, it seems he took a year off, right? Well, you don't seem to count. Let me think, he seemed to return to Argentina last September, and you seemed to leave Argentina last August."

Damn, it really was Guevara. A perfect miss.

José also felt a bit excited to see the real person. This could be considered a cultural icon in later generations. Should he ask for an autograph?

"How do you know so much about him?"

José couldn't help but feel a little jealous.

"My cousin is his fangirl. Lilith is a senior in the business department at the University of Buenos Aires, always chattering away. It seems she's graduating too. Oh, her name is Delia Lilith…"

She's a senior. José was a little stunned. Could this Delia be the one he knew?

The University of Buenos Aires was really small…

"Okay, I really am at school too little."

"Our Cohen is liked by so many girls."

"莉莉丝, over here!"

Elena said playfully, waving her hand towards the back.

A girl wearing a black academic dress walked over; it was indeed the senior!

"No, no, I only love you, Elena."

Saint Hesser replied absentmindedly, hugging Elena to prevent her from seeing his expression, which would surely be embarrassing.

"Cousin, are you finally introducing your boyfriend?"

Delia walked over, the corners of her mouth slightly raised, pretending not to recognize Saint Hesser.

"Ah, actually, I didn't even know if we'd make it this far. Cohen is planning to marry me."

"Hahaha, I didn't expect that junior brother is going to become my brother-in-law…"

"So, you guys know each other? But isn't Cohen in the law department, and he's often not at school."

Elena was also a little confused.

To be honest, she rarely saw Saint Hesser at school. Even though he was famous at the school, he was like Che Guevara—only heard of, never seen.

"Ah, actually, I've known Senior Delia for almost two years."

This was like social media in later generations. You add a new friend and discover that he's appeared in the friend circles of several of your friends.

With only two to three million people in Buenos Aires, it seemed quite normal. Saint Hesser thought for a moment and felt there was nothing wrong with it.

He had stayed in two cities with populations of nearly twenty million in later generations. This wasn't that normal? Even his hometown, an 18th-tier city in his previous life, had four or five million people.

Moreover, he wasn't very familiar with Elena and hadn't seriously investigated her, but he vaguely felt that she was a rich woman, and her family seemed to be very powerful.

And she was indeed not bad; at least, it was very comfortable to be with her. Whether she was from a wealthy family or how powerful her family was didn't matter.

I, Saint Hesser Cohen, am a wealthy family myself.

In the end, he didn't go to Che Guevara's side. To be honest, Che Guevara had a great influence in Latin America in later generations, but for Argentina, it was a bit unpleasant. Argentina didn't have a Castro and naturally didn't need Che Guevara.

Moreover, it happened suddenly, and not many people knew that Saint Hesser had graduated.

Many people from the New Youth League came to congratulate him specifically, making a big splash and attracting everyone's attention.

Wolf, Eddie, Kim, Powell, Cicero, several familiar teachers, many members of the New Youth League, and many classmates from the class all came.

"Cohen, happy graduation."

Everyone said in unison, and then everyone gathered together to take a photo.

Saint Hesser and Delia, the two graduates, stood in the middle, with Elena standing next to him, along with others.

"Haha, happy, happy. Let's all have dinner together tonight. It's on me."

"Yay!"

Saint Hesser had people find a hotel nearby and had a simple meal there.

Amidst a chorus of farewell blessings, Saint Hesser also sighed with emotion. He had graduated.

… …

In June, Saint Hesser also learned about the city he would be running in.

He was to go to Bahía Blanca at the end of August to run for city councilor.

The name of this city means "White Bay."

An Argentine port city located on the northern shore of the Bahía Blanca, 900km from the port of Buenos Aires, bordering the southwestern side of the Atlantic Ocean, it is Argentina's largest wheat export port.

Founded in 1828, the port developed due to the rise of agriculture and animal husbandry in the late 19th century. It is a maritime center and railway hub in southern Argentina.

Last year, the population was only 150,000, similar to the upgraded Maria City, but its status was quite important.

Now that he knew the city he was going to, he needed to conduct preliminary research and prepare.

Saint Hesser convened a Falcon Bureau meeting and directly arranged for an action team to go to Bahía Blanca to gather intelligence.

Delta Security sent 50 people in advance to be placed in Bahía Blanca.

Pralle International had a branch there, and the Pralle fleet was also one of its home ports.

He also needed to prepare the engagement ring and engagement gifts properly.

This was his first proposal, and he had no experience. To be honest, he was a little nervous.

Moreover, he didn't have any elders or anything like that.

He simply sought advice from Aragon, who had been married for less than a year, and Lucien of the Cohen brothers, his young subordinates.

Because there were no suitable elders, Saint Hesser finally went to his hometown to find his maternal uncle and younger maternal uncle, which was barely enough.

Although Saint Hesser's parents had both passed away, his mother's side still had relatives. In fact, there were quite a few uncles and aunts, but the relationship was too bad, so he simply didn't call them.

His mother's side rarely contacted him, and his mother's Harley family seemed to be quite decent among the Italian descendant families.

Yes, Saint Hesser's mother was not a gaucho. Saint Hesser's bloodline was actually quite complicated. Since four years ago, Saint Hesser had basically not returned home.

This time, he didn't go back either. He only planned to go home and take a look after the engagement.

The Johann family on his mother's side could only be said to be a small family, but there were six or seven younger cousins.

In fact, families like Saint Hesser's were very rare among gauchos, after all, a family of three was very rare in the late 1930s, even in Argentina in the 1950s.

It's just that it was rare for someone like Saint Hesser to not return to his maternal grandparents' home for several years. It had something to do with gaucho customs, but the custom wasn't very prevalent in his maternal grandparents' home.

Perhaps the previous owner was also somewhat naturally unfeeling.

And Aragon almost never returned to his hometown. In the eyes of the gauchos, the little eagle should fly to the distance alone and should not be bound by family affection.

This time, Saint Hesser still let Aragon go. Time was tight, and he couldn't make it in time. The Johann family was in a small town. Saint Hesser often went there when he was a child, and he trusted Aragon to handle things.

… …

June 28th,

At 7 p.m., he drove his German-imported Mercedes-Benz, wearing a suit, with several cars following behind.

Aragon, Aragon's mother, Mrs. Dilut, two maternal uncles, John Lusev, John Cena, a total of five people went to the Sophia family.

Parked the car,

Arrived at Elena's house, a luxurious villa in the upper district of Buenos Aires, this was the official residence of the Sophia family,

And was led into the study. Elena's father, mother, and Elena's grandfather were waiting for him. Elena's family also had four or five siblings, as well as Elena's uncle, Senior Delia, cousin Joseph Nick, and many other juniors and relatives. According to Elena, if everyone came, there would be at least eighty people.

It is said that Elena also has 4 paternal uncles, 6 paternal aunts, 3 maternal uncles, 5 maternal aunts, a very large family… …

Senior Delia's surname follows her mother's, which is relatively rare in Argentina, after all, the awakening of women's rights in Argentina was only a few years ago.

Not too many family members came this time, and Saint Hesser still felt a little sweaty palms.

Fortunately, there were no surprises at this dinner, which was good news for Saint Hesser.

It was quickly coming to an end,

"Good evening,"

Saint Hesser stood up and said,

"I hope I'm not disturbing you, but there's something I must tell you."

He turned to Elena, his eyes looking at Grandpa Sophia, who was holding a cane, and said formally.

"I know this is a very old-fashioned approach, respected Mr. Sophia, I ask for your permission to propose to your granddaughter. I love Elena, and I firmly believe that she loves me too. If you can bless us, we will feel immense happiness."

Sophia IX, also Elena's grandfather, is currently the highest-ranking elder in Elena's family, and is over 70 years old.

Saint Hesser reached into his pocket and took out a foreign exchange deposit certificate from Barron Bank and placed it on the table in front of him.

"I plan to use 500,000 US dollars as an engagement gift. She will not need any money from you, but we need your blessing."

With the peso devaluing now, Saint Hesser didn't have many valuable things to take out.

As for company equity? Forget it, if Elena is really interested in managing it, he can just give her a company when the time comes.

Money is not lacking anyway, just right.

500,000 US dollars is not a small amount now, and he can barely afford it.

Saint Hesser took out a ring from his pocket, knelt on one knee,

"Elena, will you marry me?"