Empire of Shadows

It had been a while since they last met, almost two months, and a subtle sense of unfamiliarity had grown between them.

Patricia had been looking forward to seeing Lance again, even thinking about what to say when they met, but now that he was standing right in front of her, she felt a little lost.

Emily, however, was very welcoming. "Sit anywhere. Wait for me a moment, and you must tell me all those thrilling stories when we eat!"

She seemed quite excited. "William, come to the kitchen, I need you!"

Lance understood this excitement. A figure usually only seen in newspapers and news reports was suddenly standing beside her, and Lance currently had a good reputation.

Apart from his methods in dealing with Camilla's gang, which made some people gasp, he had gained the approval of most people in managing the Imperial District.

In nearly two months, with their family background, it was easy to find out some things that didn't involve the higher echelons.

The rumors they heard described Lance as a gang leader who was not violent, but rather a gentleman, a man of compassion.

His image fit some people's imagination of "romantic violence," which was why some were interested in him, rather than afraid.

The people of the Federation were fascinated by romance, and the image of a gang leader who was ruthless to enemies but tolerant to ordinary people perfectly matched their understanding of "romance."

Of course, the people here referred to the lower and lower-middle classes of society, mainly the lower class, with fewer from the middle class.

William put down the newspaper and went to the dining room.

Only Lance and Patricia were left in the living room. Lance took the initiative to sit next to the girl, taking her hand and placing it in his palm.

Perhaps the warmth from Lance's palm dispelled some of the unfamiliarity, and she seemed a little more natural than before.

"I was a little worried about you," she finally said the line she had been preparing for days, her voice a little soft, her head lowered.

Lance played with the girl's fingers, slender, very white, with a healthy pink hue.

He suddenly laughed.

The laughter made Patricia a little curious, after she felt a little shy.

"What are you laughing at?" she asked, a little puzzled, looking at her attire, then at her hands and sleeves. She couldn't find anything funny about herself.

Lance raised his head and looked at her. "I thought of a book."

"A book?" Perhaps entering a conversational rhythm, the unfamiliarity lessened considerably. "I hope it's a normal book!"

Lance leaned back naturally on the sofa, but he didn't put his arm around the girl's shoulders.

Many virgins make a mistake here. They watch too many movies or read too much literature and art, thinking that putting their arm around the girl's shoulders at this time is a good opportunity, but it's not.

Firstly, being hugged by the shoulders is not very comfortable from a physical perspective.

If someone taller and stronger than you puts their arm around your shoulders, you will only feel pressure, especially when there is still some unfamiliarity and lack of intimacy between you.

Moreover, the girl hadn't completely dispelled that sense of unfamiliarity with Lance, and excessive contact would provoke a negative reaction, so he simply leaned back on the sofa. "A very serious book, you definitely haven't read it."

Patricia began to feel curious. "If it's a serious book, how do you know I haven't read it? What book is it?"

Lance took her hand, rolled up a small section of her sleeve, revealing her delicate wrist and a small section of her arm, then turned it over, palm facing up.

"Do you see these fine hairs?"

Patricia focused her attention on the tiny hairs that were freely spreading on her forearm. She nodded. "Yes, I see them. What about them?"

"It means you're healthy!" Lance's tone was very certain, as if he could be 100% sure.

This made Patricia even more curious. "How can you tell?"

The smile on Lance's face grew wider. "I said just now, I read a book, right?"

Patricia nodded. "Yes."

"That book told me that pink skin and these hairs symbolize health."

"It's called 'How to Pick a Healthy Piglet'."

"Haha!"

Patricia was initially annoyed at being teased, but quickly laughed along. It wasn't an excessive joke, and she found it quite amusing.

The unfamiliarity, tension, and discomfort quickly disappeared!

"You're really interesting, Lance. Do you have these hairs too?"

Lance smiled knowingly. "This isn't the right place. I'm not in the habit of taking off my clothes in other people's living rooms."

When the atmosphere is right, some harmless little hints can quickly close the distance.

The girl's face was a little flushed, and she rolled her eyes. "People say you're a gang boss, but you don't look anything like those rumors!"

When she started saying these things, it meant that everything was back to the way it was, and the atmosphere became more relaxed.

There was no restraint, no distance, and the unfamiliarity had lessened a lot.

"So what do you think I should be like?" Lance asked rhetorically, but didn't let her answer. "I am who I am, and I won't change because of my work."

Patricia was also very interested in this topic. "Do you think the gang is a job?"

Lance reached out and took two slices of fruit from the plate on the coffee table, putting one in his mouth and giving the other to the girl. "It's a job."

"We also work every day, making money, but I have to say it makes a lot more money than ordinary jobs!"

The girl seemed to have endless curiosity and "whys." She moved a little closer to Lance. "How much, ten thousand, that much, really?"

Lance nodded. "Yes, but even more than that!"

The girl showed a surprised expression, thinking it was incredible!

The Federation's civil servants have good benefits. If those benefits were converted into "cash," Patricia, even though she was a low-level civil servant, would earn about ninety dollars a month.

Sometimes it might be a little more.

She found it hard to imagine what it meant to have more than ten thousand!

She came back to her senses and asked, "Then what do you make money from?"

Lance said a lot, such as the law firm, which currently had the most legitimate income. As Wanli Labor's scale grew larger, it occasionally advertised in newspapers. Plus, the Lance family had already taken care of most of the Imperial District.

Lance currently controlled about four thousand seven or eight hundred work cards, with nearly eight thousand illegal immigrants working for him.

Each month, he could earn a net profit of at least six thousand five hundred to seven thousand dollars from these work cards.

Sounds like very little?

You need to know that this is the net profit after deducting all other costs, and it is very clean money, taxed and deposited in the bank.

The income of Lance Financial Services Company can be taxed because it meets the requirements of federal law and is not usurious.

As for the service fee being expensive?

If you talk to a lawyer for a while, they will charge dozens of dollars in service fees. If the service fee is unreasonably expensive, then obviously the lawyers' income is even more unreasonable!

This aspect brings in a little over ten thousand a month, sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes only six or seven thousand.

The rest is managing those five bars and the Imperial Nights nightclub for the mayor, but the first batch of money won't be available until next month.

So he didn't really know how much it was. The mayor, or rather, Olsen, had arranged their own people in all positions related to money, and even Lance didn't know how much the nightclub earned each day, let alone how much money he could get.

Listening to Lance's rough description of these incomes and sources of income, the girl was a little incredulous. "Don't you have any other... sorry, not saying criminal income or anything like that?"

Lance shook his head. "If you mean selling alcohol, soon I'll have our own family's bar."

"But if you're talking about criminal income, like kidnapping, extortion, or blackmail, then I'm sorry, I don't plan to run those for now!"

Patricia's last bit of unease also disappeared.

The two young people chatted happily on the sofa in the living room, and William showed some smiles after seeing it.

Emily nudged him with her elbow. She knew her husband very well, otherwise she wouldn't have married him and wouldn't have stayed together until today.

"You don't seem to object so much now."

The two young people were chatting in the living room, while the two old people were chatting in the kitchen.

William was skillfully making steak. He was very good at eating meat and cooking meat-related dishes.

"Patricia is already a big girl, and she will eventually marry someone else," he said, flipping the steak, "and I never said she wasn't allowed to date anyone. I just said she can't simply give away her most precious thing."

Emily could feel some changes in her husband. "So Lance isn't just a simple gang leader?"

William shook his head. "He has at least eight or nine thousand legal votes in his hand. You know, those votes account for almost one-fifteenth of the votes in King's Port City."

"From the perspective of those big shots, he already has some qualifications to stand in the room."

"And some time ago, when I went there to attend the party congress, they were very supportive of my proposal to run for city council."

He cut a small piece of steak, looked at the color, and put it back. "Lance is a good guy. He doesn't make money by hurting others."

Emily seemed to be nitpicking. "I heard he killed a lot of people."

The housewives of the middle-class community also had their own social circles, and their information was very well-informed.

William shook his head slightly, "If someone were to take a gun and try to break into my house and hurt you, I would do even worse to him."

Emily put down the kitchen utensils in her hand, turning her wrist outward to prevent the oil stains on her hands from dirtying William's clothes. She kissed William on the face, "Oh, darling, you are such a brave man."

William shrugged, "Everyone has something they want to protect, so I don't think he's a bad person."

"And I've been observing him. I heard he refused to take over Red High Heels, which I told you about before."

The middle class is full of curiosity about the upper class. They collect all the information they can, including some big shots' dog-shit-like fetishes.

Naturally, they have heard more or less about Red High Heels.

William continued to prepare the ingredients, "Moreover, you see, the stability of Goldport City today is not due to Charlie's efforts."

"The only thing that old dog is good at is being a thug for the rich. He can't manage security well."

"If it weren't for the five major families, there wouldn't be the stable life we have now."

"So this may not be a bad path, and he has already taken the first successful step."

William looked down on Chief Charlie. When Chief Charlie was the branch director in the Bay Area, he secretly helped those rich people, celebrities, and politicians, and did a lot of dirty things.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to sit in the position of police chief until retirement, and he even had a nickname called "Bay Area Bloodhound" before.

For the real rulers of this city, they don't care whether the city's management has the ability or not. They only care whether the management can listen to them, that's all!

He tried it again, and the steak was just right, almost well-done. While plating it, he said, "If others can do it, I think I can do it too. I want to try it too."

Emily didn't say anything, just gave him a firm look.

From the time he got married until now, for more than twenty years, William had been… without any ups and downs, working every day as if he was just doing a job, and even his life was very passive.

He never talked about things in the office, and rarely talked about work matters, because there was nothing worth him saying.

This is also why he had to go on a business trip when his cousin Patricia's aunt Barbara had a birthday and the whole family gathered together.

There was nothing to say, the dead life had no waves, it was not despair, but it was gray, without any color.

This man once had passion and ambition in his heart, but his work had worn away all his impulses towards the world.

Until recently.

From their sex life at night, Emily could feel that William was changing. He was releasing his desires more powerfully and proactively!

This is a positive sign!

As a wife, she would support William in this black-and-white society, this era.

Soon, a rich dinner was brought to the table. Lance led Patricia's hand and walked over, already without those initial bad feelings, and became intimate again.

The four of them sat down separately. As the hostess, Emily was more suitable to speak first at the family dinner, so that the atmosphere of the family dinner would not be too serious.

"I hope you enjoy today's dinner. I heard you laughing very loudly just now. Is there anything funny you would like to share with us?"

The girl briefly said something, which amused the couple. Harmless jokes are indeed a good helper for socializing.

Most of Emily's questions were the same as Patricia's, revolving around the real gang life and work.

But everyone avoided some of the more negative aspects as much as possible, and they were all more ordinary things.

It can be seen that she is indeed very curious about these things.

After dinner, Lance was quite full. During this period, capitalists were still making money from meat and eggs, so they always advocated eating eggs, drinking milk, and eating beef, and advocated eating enough.

Only by eating enough can they make more money, so sumptuous dinners are often seen at this time.

After dinner, William "snatched" Lance away, on the grounds that Patricia and Emily had taken up too much of his time, and he also needed to talk to Lance.

The two went to his study. William made a cup of black tea. The two men sat in the quiet study, and as the fragrance of black tea filled the room, the whole world seemed to be quiet for a moment.

Outside the window was heavy snow, and inside the house was a warm room and warm black tea.

William closed the curtains and sat behind the desk, "I'm probably going to resign soon."

He held the teacup and took a small sip.

"Although the election for city councilor is a little more troublesome than the election for other government officials, the preparation time is longer."

"I am unfamiliar with the Empire District. I must do something for them so that they know me. Only then can I succeed in the election."

He looked at Lance, "I know you can also mobilize some votes, but we have to make people speechless!"

He paused, feeling a little emotional, "So…"

Lance asked, "How much do you need?"

William took out a piece of paper from the drawer, which was filled with writing. He handed it over, "This is what I compiled in my spare time."

"I need at least three assistants to work for me, and these people must have experience working in government agencies, otherwise, just sending documents will make them confused."

"I inquired, it's about one hundred and twenty dollars per person, three people is three hundred and sixty dollars…"

A civil servant like Patricia would not be hired by similar election organizations, because she is the kind of low-level civil servant who muddles through the day.

She knows nothing except what she is responsible for.

What William was talking about were those who worked in the city hall office and were unwilling to be lonely.

These people know the municipal system very well, and they also know the operation of the government and the structure of various departments. They also have their own connections.

Although these connections may not be high enough, they are enough for William at the moment.

Lance nodded, but he took out a pen and changed the number to five hundred dollars.

"I don't care how much money you give them. I'll give you five hundred dollars. You can hire one more person, or you can give them more money to mobilize their enthusiasm."

William nodded repeatedly, "You are very thorough."

In fact, he had also thought about it, but it was just not easy to say, after all, Lance had not yet married his daughter.

"Then I need an office in Princia. It's closer to City Hall and various government departments, and it's not far from the Empire District."

"I found an office that requires a monthly rent of twenty-five dollars, payable for three months, which is three hundred dollars a year."

Lance asked him, "How many square meters is it?"

William scratched his head, "About seventy square meters. It can be separated into a separate office and can also fit four desks…"

Lance crossed out this line again, "Go find one that is at least two hundred square meters. Now you are only running for city councilor, but in the future, maybe we will be running for mayor."

"It's best to find a place in the city center, which will help you promote your image. People will think you are very capable!"