Empire of Shadows

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“You mean Jack?” Patricia looked at Lance. “I remember you met last time, at Barbara’s birthday party.”

Speaking of Barbara’s birthday party, Patricia showed a hint of envy.

Barbara’s life was what she yearned for. Perhaps this was a thought most good girls have had.

They longed to wear the long dresses that church schools didn’t allow girls to wear, didn’t permit them to dress up extravagantly, and didn’t allow them to laugh or cry loudly.

The gradual exit of church schools from the stage of history was not only a change brought about by the rise in women’s status but more of a social awakening, an awakening of human nature.

As a kind of disciplinary school that deprived at least some people of their humanity, it no longer fit the development of the times and the liberation of thought.

What people pursued now was individuality and freedom, not dresses that reached the instep, half-sleeved shirts that didn’t go past the elbow, and being as unsmiling as a nun.

Lance drove the car away from the curb. “That’s him. Do you have his phone number?”“Of course, do you need to see him for something?”

Lance nodded, “Some work matters.” Although this excuse wasn’t very good, Patricia didn’t seem to realize that there was no environment for Lance and Jack to have contact in their work.

She didn’t think of these things, nor would she think in this direction.

The seaside sun shone lazily on people. When you are with the person you like, the whole world sparkles.

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

Actually, from Lance’s perspective, these stories were not that interesting, very ordinary, but he still showed a side of being interested in them.

This was of course not to deceive Patricia, but to respect her, because this “narrow” and not even very interesting world she described was her everything!

The two did not go back immediately. Lance first took Patricia to a cake shop in the city center and bought her a single serving of a small fruitcake.

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

Then they called Emily, saying that Lance would also be coming back with them for the evening. This made Emily complain about them not saying so earlier, while also telling them to play outside a little longer.

She needed to prepare ingredients.

William was full of passion and energy these days, which made Emily feel like she was young again!

When he was still working at City Hall, sometimes when she had needs, William would just end it perfunctorily, which once made her suspect whether William had some kind of illness that most middle-aged men have.

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

Now he was like when he was young, even like a male dog in heat at the drop of a hat, at any time, in any place!

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

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

This also included sexual life between husband and wife. They respected each other, so they wouldn’t say those dirty words. No one needed to teach them this; they understood this principle after they became adults.

At that time, hearing William say some dirty or lewd words, Emily didn’t even feel uncomfortable, but instead found it very exciting!

A brand-new experience, and brand-new passion, so she was very grateful to Lance. These were all changes that had happened after Lance came here.

“My mom wants us to play outside a little longer. She’s going to buy food for dinner now.”

The girl’s eyes darted around; she rarely came to the city center.

Emily and William didn’t have time, and she and her colleagues… couldn’t really come out.

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

She never wore clothes that were too trendy, always so “conservative.” This made those young, beautiful girls who liked to pursue fashion actually not very willing to hang out with her.

Lance held 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 show for a while.

Patricia would smile simply because of the delicious food, and would also show an expression of disbelief at those street magic tricks with obvious flaws…

In the evening, around seven o’clock, the two drove back to the Priliccia District. When they pushed open the door, William and Emily were both busy in the kitchen.

Hearing the door open, William leaned back from the kitchen, sticking out his head and upper body. He was wearing a red and blue plaid apron and looked very busy.

“It will be ready in fifteen minutes. You can sit for a while first.”

Emily also stuck out half of her body, her nimble fingers playing the piano in the air as she greeted Lance, “Hey, there’s cut fruit on the coffee table. You guys rest first, it’ll be ready soon.”

The two quickly returned to the kitchen, followed by a clatter of kitchen utensils.

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

A copy of the “International News.”

Speaking of this “International News,” it was actually a bit interesting. The Federation’s economy was in a stage of rapid development during this period. Although people didn’t notice the workers at the bottom, the remuneration they received from labor could not support the life they wanted.

But the rapid progress in the financial sector made some financial professionals shout slogans like “the best decade has arrived,” inflating the blind and foolish self-confidence of the Federation’s people to an incomprehensible level!

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

A country is composed of people, and people are composed of cells. They will all give birth to a collective consciousness based on the collective consciousness.

So the Federation had developed quite well in recent years, like a poor relative from the countryside suddenly becoming rich. This led them to be eager to share with the international community and gain its recognition.

Many middle-class people were no longer satisfied with paying attention to domestic news. They also began to discuss international affairs, as if the Federation played a very important role in the entire international community.

If you walked on the streets of those cities dominated by finance, and you weren’t holding a copy of the “International News” or “Financial News,” many people might think you were a poor boy from the countryside!

Lance didn’t know much about this newspaper, nor did he trust it much—in this era of backward communication, where the methods and speed of information dissemination were equally backward, you couldn’t confirm whether an event that happened thousands or tens of thousands of kilometers away was really as it was reported.

The channels through which people obtained information were singular and unverifiable. This was one of the reasons why scammers were very successful in this period.

Opening the newspaper, the headline on the front page read, “Situation in the Empire Changes Again, Tyrant Emperor May Lose His Life!”

The thick, large exclamation mark attracted people’s attention. Although Lance had heard from Mador (the leader of the veterans who had smuggled over from the Empire) that His Majesty the Emperor was actually doing very well right now.

He just used “who will be the next emperor” as bait to make the several rebel armies that had pushed him to the brink start killing each other first.

They didn’t even care if the emperor had already escaped the encirclement, because they felt that if they could surround His Majesty the Emperor once, they could definitely do it a second time.

But in fact, Mador and the others were deeply uneasy about His Majesty the Emperor’s breakout this time. It would be almost impossible to create such a good opportunity next time.

Because of the infighting among the rebel armies, it would be difficult for them to encircle the imperial army from multiple sides again. This might be the last glorious moment of the rebel armies.

And the stance of some nobles and big capitalists within the Empire had also begun to waver—not that they didn’t support the rebel armies, but that this group of people were truly useless!

Once these people who could truly decide the direction of this war began to waver, then it was very likely that this uprising would, like countless previous uprisings, become a not-so-glorious page in the history of the Empire.

But this newspaper and its writer did not think so. They believed that the rebel armies were just “integrating” now. After the integration was over, the emperor would give up his crown and scepter.

The reporter wrote as if he had witnessed it with his own eyes, saying that the emperor was now trembling under a velvet quilt, completely forgetting that his big butt exposed outside was facing the rebel armies…

The report did its utmost to uglify the image of the Empire’s emperor, making him look both cruel and stupid.

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

However afraid they were then, that’s how much they hated this emperor now, who might not have much military ability but was definitely a master politician.

So no one would read reports describing his wisdom and martial prowess, but if it said how stupid and bad he was, readers would be willing to pay five cents for it.

The second page described the military friction and conflicts between several countries on the Tanfit continent this year, as well as possible developing trends.

It has to be said, if it weren’t for the latter part of this newspaper, about one-fifth of the content describing the gossip 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 publication!

“Dinner is ready, come on over, Lance!”

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

Perhaps men didn’t have the habit or idea of hugging.

Patricia also came out of her room. She had even taken a shower and changed her clothes.

The table was full of a sumptuous dinner, but it was clear that Patricia probably couldn’t eat much today. “We ate something in the city center.”

She was a little embarrassed because this was carefully prepared by William and Emily. Emily seemed quite indifferent, “There’s a cake shop over there, the taste is very good. I hope you didn’t miss it when you passed by.”

The flow of this kind of family dinner was often like this, starting with a simple, daily topic, and then gradually going 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.”

“No, we get along very well.”

William smiled, “You just said you wanted to contact Jack?”

Lance nodded, “I need him to provide me with some intelligence.”

Emily suddenly became interested, “Are you planning to do smuggling business?”

Smuggling was also a good business, with considerable profits.

Under the control of capitalists, the Federation government, in order to protect the domestic market, would impose higher tariffs, protectionist tariffs, on some cheap goods from abroad that had a clear advantage.

To put it simply, in the Federation, the price of a fedora might be three to five dollars, referring to the hats sold in ordinary shops to ordinary people.

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

The journey from Yalan to the Federation was not long, and sea transport was developed. The landed price of these hats after arriving in the Federation would not exceed one dollar and ten cents each.

This would cause a devastating blow to the domestic enterprises that produced fedoras because the production costs in the Federation were higher.

Those small vendors could sell them back for one dollar and fifty cents, and then sell them for two dollars, which could crush the Federation’s domestic fedora enterprises.

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

They could import goods whose final selling price would be lower than the domestic production cost because they were more competitive, and competitiveness in the early stages was reflected in sales volume and profit.

So the Federation’s capitalists, in order to ensure their interests were not crushed by cheap imported goods, would impose protectionist tariffs on these listed goods.

A one-dollar hat, after being reported, would have a two hundred percent tariff imposed, which was clearly telling these people not to even think about making money from these hats.

The end sellers got the hats at a cost of more than three dollars. They couldn’t possibly sell them for one or two dollars, so they couldn’t impact the local enterprises.

There were actually quite a few of these kinds of goods. As the Federation’s on-paper economy continued to develop, the costs of Federation goods also continued to rise, so as long as you could avoid the tariffs and get things in, you could definitely make money.

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

The Federation’s middle class, like other classes, was not that reverent of the law. Otherwise, Emily would not have asked such a question directly.

But Lance shook his head and denied it, “For now, we have no plans to do smuggling, liquor doesn’t count.”

He paused, “I’m looking for Jack because the Liji Group plans to tear up the contract signed with me, which will cost me at least hundreds of thousands.”

“My God, so much?” Emily showed a look of astonishment, “You should sue them.”

William, however, had a different opinion at this time, “The Liji Group’s net profit the year before last was over a hundred million. Ordinary people have no chance of winning a lawsuit against them.”

He turned to look at Lance, “What do you plan to do?”

Lance put down his knife and fork, “For those who do bulk agricultural product trade like them, they must have a lot of warehouses and containers at the docks…”

As he said this, he picked up his knife and fork again, slightly rose from his seat to take a piece of steak from the middle of the table and place it on his plate, then cut a strip, “Tastes good!”

Introducing Jack to Lance did not make William and Emily feel it was inappropriate, because the world was like this.

Everyone was trying to make money. If you made a lot, they would 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 could finally talk about more serious topics.

“Are you planning to ship their stuff away?” Lance didn’t say what he planned to do at the dinner table, which made William a little curious. He wanted to know the outcome.

Lance tasted the coffee William made. The aroma of the oils was very rich, slightly bitter, but the bitterness was just right, the taste was very thick. He didn’t dislike it.

“Although I am… in the eyes of others, the leader of a criminal group, this doesn’t mean we have to retaliate against them through inefficient crime.”

“I can find people to set up a company, then order some goods from them, then find a way to make them breach the contract, and then claim compensation.”

“There are lawyers who like this kind of business.”

Not only did lawyers like it, but also their competitors, and some mid-level enterprises that wanted to squeeze into the top tier.

And Lance’s methods were not limited to this, including shipping their goods away.

He didn’t plan to talk too much on this topic, because there was no point. “The day before yesterday, I met with Mr. Jobav. The mayor wants him to run for the Empire District councilman, so we have our first competitor.”

William, who was not so nervous before, frowned upon hearing this news.

He had of course heard of this “generous” Empire banker, but it was precisely because he had some understanding that he knew this opponent was very troublesome.

He had a certain status and great influence in the hearts of the Empire people. If he participated in the competition, William, a candidate who was clearly not at an advantage, would find it difficult to get more support.

You know, the birth of a city councilman, besides party nomination and running on one’s own, the most important thing is the voters’ votes.

“What are your thoughts?” After thinking about it, William decided to throw the problem back to Lance.

Lance took another sip of coffee, “I talked to him, told him to give up, but he refused.”

“He believes this is the first time since he came to the Federation that he has encountered a real opportunity for him to squeeze into high society. He is unwilling to give it up easily.”

“So, William, you don’t have to worry. The moment he refused me, it was destined that we would be on opposing sides.”

Lance’s statement made William breathe a sigh of relief. If even Lance didn’t support him, then he was doomed to lose!

It wasn’t that he couldn’t run in other districts, but there wasn’t much chance there either. Only the Empire District had a better chance.

***

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