Chapter 1 Summer Wind
LOS City is also known as the City of Angels.
The world's third largest port, with the largest daily throughput in the northern hemisphere, this city has so many good reputations! It is like a blessing from God to the world. Bathed in God's glory, everything is perfect...The people of the Federation like to call it the City of Angels, but in the eyes of others, it is not much different from hell. For example, this is what Lance was thinking at this moment.
The City of Angels is too dangerous. There are several shootings, even dozens, in this city almost every day. Sometimes when there is a gang fight, the people who died in the fight need to be taken away by trucks.
Along with the rapid development of the local economy, it also brought about a large number of criminals and criminal groups. City officials corrupted by capital and black money looked down on the entire city. They only care about how much the numbers in their accounts can increase every month, not whether those at the bottom of society will starve to death or get into trouble. What people always need is the economic myths it constantly creates. Not many people care whether there are people struggling to survive behind those glamorous cities.
They don't want to know, and they don't allow anyone to know. After all, this is the City of Angels, the engine of the federal economy!
Lance looked at the girl on the street in a daze. The moment this warm breeze from the last century blew into people's hearts, it seemed as if the whole world was wearing a natural old filter. It seemed as if the whole world was dim, and occasionally there were spots in some places due to overexposure. The obviously wrong sound from the record player poured out from the speakers, adding a touch of flavour to this retro world.
The summer light warms the city and also warms the hearts of the girls. Two young girls wearing sleeveless shirts, short skirts and small round hats passed by the bakery. Their energetic and joyful smiles made this city, which looked like an old photo, suddenly brighten up.
With a "slap", Lance, who was slapped, turned his gaze away from the kitchen window. The owner of the bakery was standing behind him, staring at him viciously.
"I asked you to come here to work, not to lie on the counter and look at girls!"
He clapped his hands so hard that they made a crackling sound. "Move, move, you damn lazy bastard who's about to get maggots. Don't let me see you slacking off again. I paid you to come here!"
Lance scratched his head, picked up the rag and began to wipe the window.
Business is average today. A bakery like this is not located in a busy neighborhood or in the city center. It seems like a bun shop outside a community in another world.
They do daily business for the surrounding residents, and their main business hours are before 9:30 in the morning and after get off work in the afternoon.
The rest of the time, there are basically no people.
The bakery owner has the typical characteristics of a primary capitalist. He oppresses himself, exploits his employees, and tries to control them at the same time.
In addition to Lance, there is another apprentice in the bakery. Not only does he not receive any salary every month, but he also has to pay ten dollars to the bakery owner as tuition for learning the craft.
He has been here for more than half a year, but up to now, he doesn't know anything except kneading dough.
The owner of the bakery is very fat, about two hundred and thirty to two hundred and forty pounds, and has a very skilled skill in making bread.
The residents around here are all his loyal customers. The main product produced here is whole wheat bread, which has a very strong sense of fullness and is less likely to cause hunger.
Lance secretly watched and saw that the bitch added some extra bran to the bread, which made it drier, harder, and more solid, and more popular with the poor.
Because it can fill your stomach better and make you less likely to feel hungry.
Poor people don't care what they put in their stomachs, they only care how much they can resist hunger.
He doesn't like the boss because he is mean and stingy.
Lance's monthly salary is fifteen dollars. The current average salary in the City of Angels is about sixty dollars. It is said that in order to achieve this average, a new subject called "Statistics" has been added to the university.
In fact, most workers only earn forty-five to fifty yuan a month.
Lance's salary was one-third of his actual salary. He was actually not willing to take such a small salary and do endless work.
But there is no good way, he is an illegal resident.
I somehow came to a ship, and then the ship docked here.
According to the people on the boat, they all paid enough money to smuggle into the Federation.
The rapidly developing federal economy lacks a large labor force. Even today when mechanization is being promoted everywhere, one can still see people and cattle and horses working together in many factories.
In fact, sometimes you can't really tell them apart clearly, who is a human and who is a beast.
The gap between humans and cattle and horses is actually not as big as imagined.
The economy is growing rapidly, but there is always a huge gap in the labor force. The President is pushing for the "Law to Legalize Irregular Immigrants."
To put it bluntly, it means giving illegal immigrants a legal citizenship that allows them to vote.
This move was supported by many undocumented illegal immigrants and made the use of illegal workers more common. Everyone seemed to have realized something but just didn't say it out loud.
It is precisely because he has no legal identity that he can only work here and receive a salary that is half less than others.
This kind of situation is very common in Jingang City. Everyone likes to use black households. If you are obedient, these budding novice capitalists will reduce their salary by another two yuan next month.
If you are not obedient enough, they will call the police and say they are being harassed by you.
This method is very effective against illegal households.
A fellow villager who came with Lance now has a free lunch.
He was busy in the bakery all afternoon.
The smell of baking bread had tempted his hunger over time, but now was not the time.
Only after get off work would he have the chance to eat the unsold bread.
This cheap bread from the bakery owner cannot be kept overnight. After that, it becomes as hard as a brick. Although it can be eaten after being toasted, it is ultimately not as good as fresh bread, so it becomes their food.
Starting a little after six o'clock, work in the bakery became busy. The fat boss stood at the counter and was responsible for collecting bills, while his daughter was responsible for packing bread for the customers.
The apprentices cannot rest for a moment before putting the prepared bread dough into the oven and continuing to knead the dough.
Lance, on the other hand, is responsible for various miscellaneous tasks.
Although the boss's daughter is not very pretty, she is plump and has a good looks.
A... rotten smell. If the smell on her wasn't so strong, Lance might have gritted his teeth and become a family with the bakery owner.
But the smell was so strong that he just couldn't bear it.
The busy work finally ended after 8:30. Lance dragged his tired body to clean the bakery. He was not allowed to enter the kitchen at will, so his main work place was in the front hall.
The fat boss sat at the dining table and counted today's income, and he couldn't suppress the smile on his face.
It is hard to imagine that a sarcastic person can actually reveal such a soft and gentle smile. Perhaps this is the power of money.
After Lance cleaned the last area and put all the tools in order to make sure nothing was left out, he walked over to the fat boss.
The feeling of oppression when someone approached him made the fat boss raise his head and look at Lance with some vigilance, "What are you going to do?"
Lance forced a smile, "It's been a month, Boss, my salary..."
The fat boss, who was originally somewhat alert, almost jumped up as if someone stepped on his tail. "Salary?"
"What salary?"
"It rained heavily the other day. Didn't you get a fever from the rain?"
"You don't have a fever, what nonsense are you talking about?"
"What salary can you get?"
Looking at the fat boss who was jumping up and down as if someone had stabbed him in the ass, Lance was a little confused. "We agreed before, fifteen dollars a month."
The fat boss stared at Lance with his eyes wide open. "Yes, that's right, but have you ever thought about it? You live with me every day and eat my bread. Have you ever calculated how much money you have spent on me this month?"
He sat back down and turned a page in his notebook. "The cheapest hotel nearby costs 25 cents a day. If you stay at the hotel, I'll give you 20 cents."
"Thirty-one days in a month like this..."
"It's February, Boss."
"Shut up and listen to me!"
"Thirty-one days, twenty minutes a day is..."
Lance looked at the fat boss who had just frozen his computer and reminded him quietly, "Six dollars and two cents, Boss."
The fat boss nodded and said, "You are right, six dollars and a half, and then you will have a portion of my bread every morning and evening."
"You know, I'll sell each loaf of bread for fifteen cents, and that's it..." He looked at Lance, waiting for Lance to give him a standard answer.
Lance did not disappoint him, "Nine dollars and three cents, Boss."
The fat boss added another number on his notebook, "Yes, nine dollars and a half, plus the cost of your accommodation, six dollars and a half, you will cost me... ten... eighteen dollars a month."
"But your salary is only fifteen, kid, so I ask you, what qualifications do you have to ask me for a salary?"
"You owe me three dollars now, to be deducted from next month's pay, if you have any."
Lance found it a little hard to believe. After all, such things only happened in "storybooks" and "history". Even though a month had passed, he still had no actual sense of "participation".
To him, he is like a passer-by in the long river of history. He may marvel at the world, but he will not have too much attachment to it.
Until this moment——
"Are you... sure you're not kidding?", he asked.