"Uncle Burton, I heard that you bought this house yourself, not that you rent it, is that right?"
Lance glanced at the glass of water on the table, not planning to touch it. Mr. Burton was always expecting him to take a sip and then use "See, I was right, the tap water here has no odor and is still sweet" to prove his point.
He had to change the subject, and the first thing he said was something that Mr. Burton could not ignore.
The corner of Mr. Burton's mouth couldn't help but turn up, and the facial muscles that were originally meant to show emotion ended up unable to hold back and turned into a less serious smile. Even his attempt to get Lance to agree with him about the slightly sweet tap water was ignored.
"Jelal told you all this?"
"So it seems you are indeed very good friends!"
He took a deep breath, feeling a sense of "I've been found out, I have to admit it." "Yes, that's right, I bought this apartment."
"You may not know what I went through when I first arrived here, but in any case, I have grown up with this city, and it has given me back the best gifts."
"I bought a house, got married and divorced, have insurance, a work permit, and I don't need to worry about the emperor's soldiers dragging me out of bed in the middle of the night and giving me a gun that won't fire to make me do my duty to the royal family.
"The only thing I need to do is to give my labor and receive my reward!"
He couldn't help but laugh a few more times when he said this, "I'm not bragging, Lance, this is the Federation dream, it has come true in my life, and I hope you can become someone like me."
"Work hard, work hard, and be able to endure hardships, this society will reward you for everything, if it hasn't yet, it's just that it will come later, no matter how late, it will definitely come, this is the Federation!"
"Give and you shall receive!" His face was the pious and sacred look of a preacher trying to fool a country farmer, which made Lance feel a little sick.
"You are truly an amazing person!" Lance praised him against his will, which made Mr. Burton laugh even louder without restraint.
He likes to share his greatest successes with others, those things that he desperately wants to brag about, and now he has succeeded.
"You can do the same thing, buy a property here, have your own life, and get immigration status."
"As long as you're willing to work hard!"
He paused, wiping the white saliva from the corner of his mouth from talking too much, "I haven't asked, what kind of work are you doing, Lance?"
He gave Lance a top-down look, with an obvious "I'm sizing you up" and "I can tell you're wearing nice clothes" gesture, and took another look at Lance.
Lance maintained his politeness and smile, "I work for some local people, not in the traditional sense of the word. I handle some difficult matters for them, and they pay me for it."
Mr. Burton's face suddenly lost some of its original rich smile.
Most honest workers who actively cooperate with the exploitation and oppression of capitalists don't like the things Lance mentioned.
This represents instability and risk, which is not the same as the life he wants to live.
The atmosphere suddenly became a bit stiff. Mr. Burton could not be blamed for this. Most ordinary people are actually reluctant to get involved in gang affairs.
"That's good," he responded, already wanting to get Lance out of there, and with a big gesture, he looked at the clock hanging on the door leading to the bedroom.
Lance acted as if he hadn't noticed, "I've only been here for a short time, so I don't know much about Gold Harbor."
"Uncle Burton, you've lived here for a long time, so you must know a lot about it. I wonder if you could tell me about the lives of the Empire people here?"
Mr. Burton seemed a little hesitant, but considering that Lance might have joined a gang, in the end he was unable to refuse.
"There are about 30,000 Imperials in Gold Harbor City who have obtained identity cards, and the rest are...illegal immigrants."
"Those of us who have obtained identity cards as immigrant Imperials will gather at St. Naye Cathedral on weekends."
"I've heard that other people also have places to meet, but I've never participated."
He thought for a moment, "Seeing as you and Jeraal are good friends, I'll give you some advice: don't get involved with the Camille Gang."
When Lance pressed him on this 'Camille Gang,' Mr. Burton stopped talking.
At the same time, he said that it was getting late and he had work to do, so Lance had to get up and leave.
Although he didn't see Little Red Riding Hood, he got a better idea of the Imperial people living here.
As for the Camille Gang that Mr. Burton mentioned, Lance didn't quite know what it did, but he already had a guess in his mind—
the person who can stab you in the most fatal place is often the one you least expect.
People are always extremely vigilant and careful when dealing with their enemies, and only when facing their own people do they let their guard down, and then they get stabbed in the heart.
Fortunately, the weekend was just a day away, which gave Mr. Anderson just enough time to figure out whether or not to settle his debt.
In the afternoon Lance went to the company. He told Alvin that it was fine to sell Mr. Corti, but he still had to talk to the other party.
This time when he came to the company, everyone greeted him.
A capable person is welcome and valued everywhere. Even the little receptionist girl at the door, who was painting her toenails, looked up and said "hi" to Lance.
Fou T'S was not here, he had also gone out to work. Lance went straight to Mr. Corti's office, where he was on the phone.
In order not to be annoying, he did not enter Mr. Corti's office, but waited outside the door. When he heard a voice call out to him from inside, he went in.
"Sorry, the call took a little longer, it's almost the end of the month."
The second quarter is coming to an end and the third quarter is just around the corner. At this time, some companies will try to borrow money in order to look good on the books and fool investors and shareholders.
This is also a relatively busy time for finance companies and banks every quarter. Most of the business is overnight, three-day, five-day, or one-week.
The interest rates are very high. Alberto has just negotiated a short-term loan for one week. He will pay 200,000 yuan, and the other party will pay him 215,000 yuan with interest a week later.
It may seem that the interest rate is not very high, only 15,000 yuan, but in fact it is really not a small amount.
This company has a good reputation and sufficient collateral. They will sign a formal loan contract, which is legally binding.
Even at this point, Alberto was hoping that the other party would not pay or could not pay, so that he would be eligible to legally plunder the other party's property through judicial means.
He was in a good mood!
"Sit down. Anderson called me and said you did a very good job," he said, opening his cigarette case and turning it in a direction that allowed Lance to take a cigarette from it.
"On the phone, he swore worse than the nastiest woman I've ever met, and I'm a little angry now."
"I'm considering whether I should really recover the money or find a way to get even. Lance, what do you think?"
Having closed the first order and made Anderson take the initiative to call him, Lance's personal abilities have been fully demonstrated.
Alberto is curious to know what choice Lance would make.
Lance said without much hesitation, "No one will argue with money. If I were you, Mr. Corti, I would get back the money that belongs to me and then take my revenge."
Alberto slapped his hands together, very satisfied with Lance's answer, 'You're right, I won't argue with money...', he pondered for a while, 'Do you have any follow-up ideas?"
Lance didn't hide his thoughts either, 'Mr. Anderson cares a lot about his restaurant, so I plan to continue to work on the restaurant."