Alberto crossed his legs and lit a cigarette. He lowered his head, and when the first puff of smoke was inhaled into his lungs due to the lit cigarette butt, he raised his head and exhaled.
"so..."
Lance continued with what he was saying, "So I'm going to find some locals with legal status, homeless or whatever, give them a few bucks, and have them eat at Mr. Anderson's restaurant."
"Then I will find reporters to promote them, for example... the most popular restaurant among civilians or homeless people?"
Alberto was stunned for a while after hearing this, and then nodded in agreement, "Your idea is excellent, Lance."
"No one likes to dine in the same restaurant with a bunch of smelly homeless people. It won't be long before his restaurant becomes notorious."
He tapped the table happily, "How about using our people?"
Lance didn't agree. "Mr. Coty, it's not that I don't want to find something for them to do. I believe Mr. Anderson will call the police. If we use our own people, it might be a bit troublesome."
Alberto thought about it seriously and a smile appeared on his face. "You are absolutely right, Lance. This is what I admire most about you."
"You are much more mature than your appearance!"
He opened the drawer, counted out two hundred yuan, put it on the table, and pushed it over, along with a business card. "I don't have the habit of letting others spend their own money to do things for me. This is your new funding."
"Also, the guy on this business card has some cooperation with us. You can try to contact him."
"My only request is to make him extremely angry, but without any way to deal with it. I want him to call me and beg me!"
Lance glanced at the money on the table and said with a smile, "You will see that he is frustrated and cautious, Mr. Coty..."
The next morning, Lance appeared at the Cathedral of Saint-Neuer. There were quite a few people on the lawn outside the church. If the people inside the church were included, there were at least four or five hundred people.
Four or five hundred people may be far from the "30,000" mentioned by Mr. Bolton, but these four or five hundred people represent at least two hundred families, and there may be thousands of families radiating from these two hundred families, which already accounts for a quarter or even a fifth of the legal immigrants.
So although the number of people is small, the influence is not small, and most of the people who can participate in such gatherings are those who are doing well.
Bolton also saw Lance. He originally didn't intend to talk to Lance because he didn't like these gang members. But when he saw Lance driving over, he changed his mind.
He took the initiative to walk over and greeted Lance enthusiastically in a voice slightly louder than the people around him, "Lance, is your car parked?"
Lance, who was just about to find a way to open up the situation, looked back in confusion and saw the car was parked in the parking space, with nothing unusual.
But he soon reacted and responded with the same enthusiastic greeting, "Uncle Bolton, I made sure it was locked."
Mr. Bolton was very satisfied with Lance's reaction. Someone approached him and said, "Bolton, why don't you introduce this young man to us... where are you from?"
"Balmain County!" Lance took the initiative to walk over and shook hands with the man next to Bolton, who was about fifty years old.
Mr. Bolton immediately responded, "This is Lance, a young man who just came to the Federation and currently has a very free job."
He then introduced the man next to Lance, "This is Mr. Jobaf, known as the pride of the people of LOS City Empire!"
"If you have extra money and want to find a place to keep it, and want to earn higher interest than the Federal Bank, Mr. Jobaf is your best choice!"
"More than 40% of the people in the Empire keep their money with him!"
Listening to Mr. Bolton's introduction, Lance took the initiative to reach out and shook the hand that Mr. Jobaf extended, and shook it enthusiastically a few times, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Jobaf, are you a banker?"
Jobaf laughed, took a cigar from the hand of the person next to him, took a puff, and exhaled slowly, "I'm not a banker, I just want to do what I can for our compatriots."
"You don't need a federal immigration certificate to deposit money with me, nor do you need any documents such as a residence permit or work card. As long as you are an imperial citizen, you can deposit your money with me."
He glanced calmly at the car in the parking lot outside the church and quickly made a judgment.
Although the car is old and may be worth only four or five hundred yuan at a used car dealer, he can drive the car as soon as he arrived here and wear clothes that cost only a dozen yuan a set. This means he is a young person with potential.
For young people with potential, who wouldn't want to expand their network?
After the two chatted for a few more words, Mr. Jobaf took the initiative to withdraw from the circle, "It can be seen that there are other people who also want to meet our new friend, so I won't waste your time."
He shook hands with Lance again and left. Sure enough, new friends soon came to say hello and got to know Lance through Uncle Bolton.
In the empire, they might not actively want to get to know someone just because of who is richer.
However, after living in the Federation for such a long time, these imperial immigrants who are still at the bottom of society are eager to find a ladder to climb up and escape their current situation at the bottom of society.
Although the car didn't look very new, at least they came by car, while they either rode a bicycle or took the bus. That's the difference.
Those who came here to meet Lance were all adults in their thirties, and they had all worked in the Federation for at least seven or eight years.
Although some people may be hesitant about Lance's job, most people still leave their contact information or business cards with each other.
It took more than half an hour to deal with these people. Lance couldn't help but ask, "Is Gerald here today?"
He just didn't want to continue to be Mr. Bolton's tool for "showing off". In essence, this kind of showing off was quite childish. "I have a great friend" and "my friend is like this and like that" were both equally hopeless, but some people just couldn't help but do it.
Mr. Bolton also had a good time today. "Of course, young people don't like to be with us old guys. They are on the side. Do you want me to take you over?"
Lance quickly refused and trotted to the side of St. Nathaniel's ("nats") Cathedral, which was indeed a gathering place for young people.
About forty young men and women were gathered together chatting, and when Lance came over, Gerard saw him the first time.
There was no way around it, Lance took good care of them when they were on the boat.
Because Gerard looks like a girl, he is often subjected to malicious verbal attacks and even bullying by some people - asking him to work and do things for others.
Lance helped him out with some troubles, which must have been an impressive person for gerald.
"Lance!" He jumped and waved his arms, which attracted more people's attention.
"Is this the good brother you were talking about?" Gerald's cousin commented as he looked at Lance who was walking over. "You are dressed too old-fashioned. You don't have the vitality that we young people should have at all."
Of course, he couldn't hide the jealousy in his words. Most of the young people here wore clothes that cost only two or three yuan a set, and at most four or five yuan a set.
But the clothes that Lance was wearing, which cost only a dozen dollars, immediately made them look inferior.
And at their age, who doesn't want to look more mature?
gerald ran over and gave Lance a warm hug, but Lance felt weird because gellard was so handsome.
Fortunately, the hug soon ended, and Gerard took Lance aside to introduce his friends.
"This is my cousin, Rob..."
"This is my cousin, Nancy..."
"This is my cousin's girlfriend, Selina..."
Lance greeted each of them in a friendly manner and shook hands, and some others also kept their eyes on this side.
His temperament is different from those of these people, with an indescribable "hardness".
"Lance, do you have family here?" Rob asked first. His girlfriend Selena kept looking at Lance, which made him feel a little jealous.
Lance didn't notice this, "No, I'm the only one here."
Rob's face smiled a little more, "So you haven't obtained permanent citizenship yet?"
"Yes, I haven't got it yet." He didn't lie and admitted it directly.
Originally Nancy was also observing Lance, but when her brother asked this question and Lance answered so honestly, she suddenly became less interested in Lance.
There is a huge difference between having this card or not.
They have seen many peers who do not have cards, work more than ten hours a day, but can only earn a dozen or twenty yuan a month.
But those of them who hold federal citizenship enjoy various legal protections, their working hours will not exceed eleven hours a day, and they also enjoy two days off a week, as well as other welfare benefits and insurance guarantees.
They are already not young anymore, and if they date at this time, it is for the purpose of getting married.
It is unlikely that Nancy would fall in love with someone who does not have federal citizenship, let alone get married. A relationship that is doomed to end in failure is not what she wants.
Rob felt that his girlfriend seemed to have lost some interest in the guy in front of him, and his emotions finally stabilized, even with a hint of superiority.
"So what do you do now?"
Lance didn't intend to beat around the bush with these young people, and told the truth directly, "I work for a company, they send me orders, and I get paid according to the amount of the orders after I complete them."
Rob thought he understood and said with a smile, "So that's the salesman?"
"almost!"
He became excited again, "What are you selling? Maybe we can help you get more commission."
Lance smiled but didn't say anything. Rob thought he was embarrassed to say it, so he continued to dig deeper into what he thought was a pain point, "Does your job make you money?"
Some sales jobs do not require work cards. They only need to bring customers to the company or store, pay money and place an order, and they can get commissions.
The purpose of doing this is for capitalists to avoid unnecessary expenses, and it also explains why Lance is dressed so decently.
Maybe he rented a set of clothes for work!
"I made 200 yuan on a recent order."
Rob, who was about to say something, suddenly fell silent. Instead, gellard exclaimed, "So much money?"
"Is that a lot?" Lance shook his head, "It's just a small order, when you've seen much bigger ones."
Rob's emotions became a little... complicated, just like his expression, "Listen, if you don't make any money, no one will laugh at you."
"But if you just wanted to attract our attention and made up this lie, I don't think it's funny at all!"
"Do you think an illegal immigrant who has just arrived in the federation and does not have legal status can make so much money in one deal?"
"You should keep your feet on the ground..."
Rob wanted to say something, but Selena pulled him away from the crowd. After walking a few steps, she pushed Rob and asked, "What's wrong with you?"
"Almost everyone can see that you're targeting Lance!"
Rob took a few steps back and forth. "I just can't stand his self-righteous attitude. He is just an illegal immigrant without any documents. Don't you realize it?"
"He told a lie, and he meant to deceive you, you, and Nancy."
"I'm your boyfriend, and instead of speaking up for me, you're defending him?"
Selina found it hard to understand. Rob was actually a nice person under normal circumstances. Although he inherited some of Mr. Bolton's arrogance, he was very good at hiding it, and was a little mean and had a sharp tongue.
But this can also be seen as a kind of self-protection, but she really couldn't stand Rob's performance today. He was as sharp and vicious as a mean woman!
She shook her hand and said, "You really should reflect on this." She was about to leave. Rob's performance today made her lose face.
Rob would definitely not let her leave, so he ran over and grabbed her hand, and the two of them ran a long way while playing and fighting.
After Rob left, more people gathered around...