Chapter 1022: Mindset

This year, many people spent the New Year in Lanse's manor, and there were also many visitors.

In the past, Lanse was just a gang member; even until recently, people did not believe such a character could step into the spotlight.

But now, some subtle changes seem to have occurred.

The *Federal Post* is a very heavyweight newspaper; in a sense, it is like the mouthpiece of the federal government.

The news and content published in the *Post* often represent the "official attitude."

The last two issues of the newspaper both mentioned Lanse. "Reflections of an 'Invader'" looked at the matter of federal citizens investing in and developing Lapa from the perspective of Lanse and the federal government.

Later, an article titled "The People's Justice" was published, analyzing the gap between the Lapa government, anti-government armed forces, the concessions, and the federal citizens from the perspective of the Lapa people.

The second article did not frequently mention Lanse, but smart people could feel that the core of this article was still about Lanse and the concessions.

If the federal government is whitewashing the concessions, then they are truly being whitewashed.

Many people do not actually know what this represents, but they understand one thing: Lanse is taking a step that many people in their lifetime could never imagine, nor dare to imagine.

He is spreading his influence even further!

So many people came to visit him. He spent the entire day dealing with these visitors and the gifts they brought, and only later in the evening did he finally relax.

But it was not a complete relaxation, because a New Year's Eve party was to be held here later.

When a person clearly detaches from the underclass in terms of wealth, power, and status, the private time they possess will become less and less.

Lanse handed Ace, who had dirtied his collar with drool, to Patricia. There was a ruby ornament on his collar.

Ace might have mistaken it for some kind of sweet little snack and gnawed on the gem.

Lanse did not notice this at first, and by the time he did, his collar was covered in drool.

Fortunately, these ornaments were carefully maintained and contained no harmful ingredients.

"I need to go change my clothes." Lanse wrapped his arm around Patricia's waist, kissed her on the cheek, and then walked toward the second floor.

While Patricia's gaze was still on Lanse, Barbara walked over from the side. "Where is he going?"

When Patricia turned and saw Barbara, her expression was slightly strange. She found it difficult to maintain her normal expression because her cousin was about to take away her things again, just like when they were children.

What was taken away from her as a child might have been the praise of adults, or some small toys she liked very much, or small pebbles.

She could forgive Barbara; after all, these things were just things, not as important as the feelings between them.

But now, she wanted to take away her husband, which Patricia found somewhat hard to accept.

However, she quickly adjusted her mindset and handed Ace to a servant woman who had followed them from the farm.

This servant woman was only in her thirties, and when she walked, she gave people the feeling of a "bear standing up and learning to walk like a human."

Don't look at the fact that she was only a little over 1.6 meters tall; her weight reached over two hundred pounds, possessing full oppressive force.

She could not only take care of Ace but also fight as a "warrior" when necessary.

This guy, starting from her grandfather, their entire family had always been loyal to the farm and the Lawrence family to this day.

The servant woman carefully held Ace, then took him to the side, leaving space for Patricia and Barbara.

Perhaps they themselves didn't feel it yet, but some people on the farm could feel that there seemed to be some problems between the two sisters.

Patricia was looking Barbara up and down at this time. A tight-fitting floor-length dress, like silk fabric, completely highlighted her figure. The bright red color made her look like a "fire," the flame of desire!

The big wavy reddish-brown hair radiated amazing enthusiasm, and a touch of bright red lips made Patricia feel a bit whimsical.

She was slightly distracted, but quickly reacted. "His clothes were dirtied by Ace's drool, he went to change clothes."

Barbara looked at her younger sister. "You've been avoiding me lately."

Patricia originally wanted to say "no," but felt that saying so seemed a bit too passive. She took the initiative to raise her head and look directly into Barbara's eyes. "Why do you have such an illusion?"

"An illusion?" When she raised her hand, Patricia noticed that she was holding a lady's cigarette holder, which felt very modern, slender, and good-looking.

A lady's blended roasted tobacco was inserted in the front, which was much softer than raw tobacco.

This kind of aged roasted tobacco is gradually appearing more and more on the market, and its target sales population is mainly women and teenagers.

In the past few years, the Federal Tobacco Group has invested a lot of advertisements to promote this kind of blended roasted tobacco to be better accepted by the market, and it has also sponsored many movies.

After all, movies are the most mainstream civilian entertainment project in this period. According to statistics from some federal statistical agencies, basically every federal citizen goes to the cinema two and a half times a month, averaging once every twelve days.

Under such a huge market scale, more women and teenagers in movies have begun to consume new blended roasted tobacco.

Many old smokers are very disdainful of this. They think that the bland blended roasted tobacco is something that sissies would consume, but it does cater to the mainstream female and teenage market.

In the movies Barbara participated in, several of the characters she played had the habit of smoking, for which she also won endorsement contracts from two tobacco groups.

At first, she didn't like smoking very much, but as some things developed, she gradually began to smoke.

Patricia looked at her smoking movements, which had a kind of pleasing beauty, which also made her more or less... not to say inferior, just felt that she was not excellent enough.

Barbara is the girl with the best appearance in the family, bar none!

Even when she is smoking, she is charming.

She was just about to look away, but when she thought of Barbara's ultimate goal, she widened her eyes and looked at her. "Isn't it an illusion?"

Barbara laughed twice. "I have never thought about taking him away from you."

Patricia pursed her lips and didn't speak, just staring at her.

Barbara shrugged, slightly turning her face, and the exposed shoulders and collarbone made Patricia feel very good-looking.

Under the gentle light of the room, it radiated a luster like warm jade, which was extremely good-looking!

"Sometimes I think, my dear."

"In the past twenty-plus years, I won against you countless times. I thought I would keep winning, but you gave me a heavy blow."

Just as Patricia's mouth began to turn up slightly, she heard Barbara say again, "I will most likely not get married in this life."

"Don't talk about finding a man more excellent than him, just finding one as excellent as him is almost impossible." "Maybe there is, but either they are too old or too ugly. You know, I don't like old and ugly ones."

"So I might spend my life alone. When Ace grows up, you will have your children, your family, and I, have nothing, just me alone."

Hearing Barbara say this, Patricia felt a bit sad again. Their relationship was really good.

If it wasn't really good, they wouldn't have played together for so long, but how could such a thing be compromised?

She didn't continue to talk about this topic, and Barbara didn't continue to speak either. Some things don't have results in one or two times. Anyway, she still has a lot of time.

After a while, Lanse came down from upstairs. He had changed into a new formal suit and a new set of accessories, but it was still ruby.

He was somewhat fond of rubies. Actually, sapphires were okay, and he liked emeralds very much too, but in this, he still preferred rubies.

The color like blood.

Enthusiastic, unrestrained, and dangerous.

Lanse, walking down the stairs, saw Barbara standing with Patricia. Although he was a bit curious about what they were talking about, he didn't ask.

He could imagine it; it was probably those things.

"We should go over."

Some guests had already arrived. As the organizer of this year's New Year's Eve theme night activity, it was obviously inappropriate for Lanse not to appear.

Barbara naturally took Lanse's arm. Patricia was a bit angry, but she just took Lanse's other arm.

Lanse didn't show anything too extreme about this, just smiled and took the two ladies into the largest restaurant in the manor together.

Many people had already gathered here. Seeing Lanse walk in from the gate, the gentlemen who had already gathered in the room swarmed up one after another.

Barbara naturally let go of Lanse's arm again and stayed at the door.

Patricia looked back at her, and she responded with a smile.

"Lanse, let me introduce you." Governor Terry's face was full of smiles. He had already placed his people in key positions in the state government. It could be said that he was now a governor in the true sense of the word.

Here, except for Lanse, he didn't need to care about anyone's emotions unless he wanted to.

Lanse took the initiative to look at the people around him, quite a few people.

"This is..."

Watching successful men who were clearly twenty or thirty years older than him, with various titles, take the initiative to bend over, with some fawning expressions on their faces as they reached out to Lanse, Patricia felt a bit dizzy.

In fact, she often couldn't feel Lanse's "power." She mostly understood his power from other people's mouths, but hadn't really come into contact with it.

Until this moment.

The governor was accompanying him on the side. Her hand holding Lanse's arm tightened a little, and her face showed some expressions that were not so natural, a bit stiff.

She was a bit unaccustomed to this environment.

Lanse shook hands, communicated, and exchanged business cards with these people introduced by Governor Terry.

After this group of people left, Lanse patted Patricia's hand, signaling that he wanted to talk to Governor Terry alone.

Patricia then left Lanse's side in a daze, which made her feel very insecure.

She was a very simple woman, and she seemed to have been very simple since she was a child. If she hadn't met Lanse, perhaps her life would have been as plain and simple as ever.

She subconsciously came to Barbara's side. Barbara was chatting with several noble ladies who seemed to know her.

When she saw Patricia walking over, she took the initiative to excuse herself, ended the conversation with them, and came to Patricia's side.

"You look a bit lost." She held the slender female cigarette holder in her hand, which had an indescribable charm.

Patricia looked back at Lanse, who was whispering to Governor Terry on the edge. "I don't know..."

"I feel... I seem to be a bit... unable to integrate here!" She deliberated several times before finding these phrases together.

The social occasion here was really too high-end, so high-end that she was a bit unaccustomed to it.

For example, just now, when those successful people gave Lanse business cards, in fact, as Lanse's female companion, and also a superior, Patricia should have taken the initiative to help Lanse take the business cards they handed over, but she didn't do so.

Although it didn't matter whether she did it or not.

She felt that she couldn't adapt to this place, the environment here, the characters, and their way of socializing.

She really wanted to go back to the farm now, simple, not so complicated, and able to make people feel at ease.

Listening to Patricia recount the annoyance in her heart, Barbara reached out and lifted her somewhat frustrated chin. "No one is born knowing everything, Pat."

"As long as you are willing to understand, accept, and learn, you will soon adapt to everything here."

"Now, I'll give you some advice!"

Patricia nodded and looked at this cousin seriously.

"Put away those terrible expressions on your face. Now you represent not just yourself, but Lanse, and even the Lawrence family."

"Feel the gazes around you that are curious, suspicious, malicious, or even hostile. This is a part of your future life, an indispensable part!"

Under Barbara's explanation, Patricia looked around with the corner of her eye. She saw many noble ladies who came to participate in tonight's social activities, looking at her with smiles that she couldn't distinguish whether they were kind or malicious.

This made her feel even more uncomfortable, and her face turned slightly pale.

Barbara took the initiative to walk to her side, took her arm, and said in a voice that was not loud but firm, "Chin up, my dear."

"The more you want to escape, the more they will chase you and humiliate you."

"Only when you punch them from the front will they be afraid of you!"

"Besides, these people are nothing to be afraid of. You have to know, you are the heroine today!"

"Come on, let's go say hello to them..." ===== CHAPTER 1023 =====