Chapter 1023: Unaccustomed, Breakfast and Family Business

Governor Terry stood by Lanse's side, the two of them as close as ordinary friends.

He took the initiative to take out a cigarette and hand it to Lanse, and also thoughtfully took out a lighter to light the cigarette for Lanse.

This scene fell into the eyes of many people, and the look they looked at Lanse underwent some more subtle changes.

In the federal political system, the governor has actually reached... strictly speaking, it is also a kind of peak role.

According to the federal constitution and laws, the governor and the president are of the same rank. Within a state, the governor's political power and status are higher than the federal president.

So when Governor Terry, who is already at the top of the political scene, wants to light a fire for Lanse, people have to re-evaluate the importance they attach to Lanse.

Governor Terry actually knows what it will bring to do this in public, but he is unswerving, because he also knows one thing clearly.

That is, Lanse's status is actually higher than his.

With some of the things Lanse is doing now, even if Governor Terry has caught some evidence of Lanse's crimes, he has no way to punish Lanse.

On one hand, he can't do it. The bigger Lanse's business is, the bigger his base is, and the more benefits he transports to Congress.

Under these circumstances, Senator Cleveland and his political group will not allow Lanse to have problems.

Because once Lanse has problems, it is not just that their interests will be less, but more importantly, it is possible to implicate some of them, or even all of them.

So no matter what, they will protect Lanse to the death, even if they collide head-on with the governor.

On the other hand, he dare not do so either.

Although everyone knows that in political struggles, everyone should maintain the principle of not being the first to use violent means to eliminate competitors from the physical level.

But there is no rule that can force people to absolutely abide by it. This rule is only based on... a situation where everyone is unwilling to have greater destruction.

If he takes action against Lanse, Lanse's ending will definitely not be good, so why should he abide by such a rule?

At that time, Pang Da's Lawrence family will launch a bloody revenge on him, his family, and his family, and he simply cannot withstand such pressure.

Plus, he is actually still relying on Lanse's influence in all aspects, so he doesn't mind letting people know that he and Lanse are good friends, the kind without superior or subordinate levels!

"This time I recruited some people. They are very interested in our ideas and are willing to join us and spontaneously maintain our interests."

He was talking about the people he just introduced to Lanse, "Next, I might make some adjustments to some policies, such as special taxes, and also promulgate some new local policy regulations."

Lanse glanced at him. "Have you completely settled the State Assembly?"

Governor Terry nodded. "I talked to the Speaker of the Senate and the Speaker of the House. They are willing to support me, and they are also willing to join us."

The two speakers also had no way to refuse such a big temptation.

As long as the interests are big enough, there is nothing impossible in this world.

However, these things cannot be discussed here. Governor Terry talked about some things that happened recently, and next is to use his power as governor to promulgate local policies to make this interest group more cohesive.

Such things are not uncommon in the federation. Some administrators promote various preferential policies for enterprises close to them, and some almost write the company's name into the regulations.

Under such operations, the capital side of the entire interest group will receive the greatest preferential treatment, taxes will be greatly reduced, and at the same time, more financial subsidies will be obtained.

For example, everyone is producing a stick, the cost is one dollar, of which forty-five cents is the enterprise's various taxes, and the rest is the enterprise's profit.

But with the governor's support, their enterprise tax may be reduced to fifteen cents, and at the same time, the state government will subsidize the enterprise with ten cents or more for various reasons to achieve the possibility of actual tax exemption or even exceeding the tax exemption and obtaining extra profits.

On one side, it is necessary to pay nearly half of the taxes, and on the other side, it is not only not necessary to pay taxes but also can get subsidies from the government.

Two enterprises manufacturing the same product without technical generation gaps start to compete. Who can win and who cannot win is clear at a glance.

These enterprises that have won the final victory will gain absolute ruling status in this state, as well as the core key to monopoly—pricing power.

Of course, in this constantly evolving world and era, the means of federal capitalists will not be so rough. They will not let only one enterprise in the local area monopolize this industry. They will continue to operate one or two or more enterprises, still giving society and the market a feeling of "fierce competition."

Even there may be seventy or eighty different brands of goods on the market, but behind them are the same company, the same group of people.

But in fact, this is just an illusion.

This is like the federal oil giants, steel giants, split and split, it seems that they are not monopolized, but in fact, they are still monopolized.

The two discussed briefly for a while. Lanse did not have any rebuttal to some of the policies he proposed in general, and he took the initiative to end the conversation.

Because there are still many people waiting, waiting to meet Lanse.

The moment Governor Terry left his side, several people immediately tidied up their attire and walked toward this side.

They seemed to have discovered each other in this process. They looked at each other, and one of the gentlemen who seemed to have a higher status obtained the right to talk to Lanse first.

He walked over with his head held high, reached out his hand from a distance, and until he walked to Lanse, he lowered his head. "Mr. White, hello..."

Lanse reached out and shook hands with him simply and then let go. "Hello."

William in the corner looked at everything that happened here, and had a dreamlike feeling. Everything was so unreal!

Countless times in his dreams he dreamed of today, everything that happened here, but every time when the sun shone on his face, he would wake up from the dream.

Until he met Lanse.

"Is it Mayor Lawrence?" Just when he was a bit distracted, suddenly an unfamiliar inquiry sounded in his ear. He turned his head and looked over there. It was someone he didn't know.

However, he quickly shook hands with the other party, his face full of reserved smiles. "Yes, who are you?"

The two quickly chatted, just like old friends who hadn't seen each other for many years, harmonious and natural.

Everything that happened in the manor is just like everything that is happening in some corners of the world. If someone doesn't know what the upper class is, then when they see everything that happened here, perhaps they will have a relatively clear understanding of the upper class in their hearts.

At 11:59:59 PM, when Lanse stood on the steps and raised the wine glass in his hand, the guests who were already a bit tipsy seemed to finally forget their reserve and status at this moment, and all raised their wine glasses high.

"Happy New Year!"

Lanse didn't know if the New Year was happy or not, but it was definitely a headache.

He drank a lot of wine in the evening. Even if he only drank a small sip each time, there were too many people who wanted to have a drink with him.

He rubbed his face and looked to his side. Patricia also opened her eyes slowly.

"Sorry, I woke you up." Lanse touched her cheek. "Was last night pleasant?"

Patricia stretched, then supported her body and sat up, turned and got out of bed, took off her pajamas, and walked toward the washroom naked.

"Want to hear the truth?"

After she tied her hair, she put on a shower cap and turned on the shower switch in the washroom. Suddenly, the sound of splashing water came from inside.

Lanse walked over, stood by the door, and looked at her.

"Of course."

Patricia shook her head while starting to wash. "The truth is it wasn't very good. Those women gave me a bad feeling. I always wonder if they will speak ill of me behind my back."

"And I always feel that the way they look at me is not right."

She turned her head and wiped the water off her face, looking at Lanse outside the shower room.

The entire shower room adopted Lanse's design. This is a very spacious shower room, and the entire ceiling is a huge shower head.

When one of the switches is turned on, hot water will fall from the entire ceiling, and there is also a violent mode.

It's like a storm is coming, the bean-sized water droplets patter down, and it feels quite interesting.

When standing inside for the first time, there will be a subconscious feeling of suffocation, but he rarely uses it. Most of the time, it is this kind of shower that looks like heavy rain.

Lanse also took off his pajamas and walked in. He hugged Patricia from behind, feeling the sense of security brought by each other's hot skin. Patricia leaned back into Lanse's arms.

"I have a feeling of wanting to run away. I don't like such occasions, and I don't like those people with fake smiles on their faces."

Lanse buried his head in her neck. Actually, he couldn't smell the fragrance she emitted here, because the "rain" was really too big.

"I'm a bit uneasy, Lanse."

She still closed her eyes, her eyelashes constantly attacked by water droplets, constantly jumping repeatedly. "I have a feeling that I'm not worthy of you."

She said, turning around and hugging Lanse tightly.

Last night, she actually gave herself a score of zero. She was completely led by Barbara to clash with these noble ladies.

These noble ladies seemed to respect her very much, and everyone had a smile on their faces, but she could always see something from their smiles and eyes.

Disdain for herself?

Maybe.

They seemed to be "measuring" her, wanting to know what she had that was excellent enough to attract Lanse.

Or some other gazes.

These scrutinizing gazes, hypocritical smiles, insincere words, and the malice or kindness she couldn't distinguish behind them made her a bit hate such occasions.

She couldn't deal with these people with ease. On the contrary, Barbara, such an occasion was like a game to her.

So relaxed, comfortable.

Lanse hugged her with a smile on his face. "You are my wife, my dear. No one can hurt you except me."

"If you feel that anyone has shown malice toward you, tell me her name, and I will let her apologize to you in person and beg for your forgiveness."

Patricia hummed twice. "That's not what I meant, it's just that I'm a bit unaccustomed to such occasions, I'm not used to such a way of socializing."

Whether it was Barbara or her mother Emily, they were very relaxed in dealing with these noble ladies. She didn't understand why this was so difficult for her.

Lanse just hugged her, then turned off the shower and picked up the shower gel. "Forget these terrible things first. If you don't like it, we will invite fewer people next time."

Originally she wanted to say something else, but at this time, she could only answer with "um."

She actually wanted to say that next time Lanse could take Barbara. This cousin was too powerful. She compared herself with her, and she was completely not an opponent.

The scenery in the bathroom was beautiful. The bath that could have been finished quickly dragged on for half an hour before it was completely finished.

The doctor said that taking a hot bath is beneficial to physical health, and it seems to be true. When the two came out, their bodies and faces were red, looking very healthy.

In the new year, the guests in the manor had already left, and it was much quieter. When Lanse and Patricia came to the restaurant, William and Emily were already here.

Seeing Lanse and Patricia come in, the two took the initiative to stand up, hugged each other, and then sat down separately.

Lanse noticed that there was an extra set of tableware. He glanced at the butler, and the butler bowed slightly. "Miss Luo Lin hasn't come down yet."

Luo Lin is Lanse's nominal younger sister and the last person with the bloodline of the "White" surname.

Lanse has been sponsoring her to go to school. Although she may not necessarily become a great person, at least she has experienced it.

Usually, she doesn't return to the manor or the villa, she lives at school. Even during the New Year or holidays, she rarely comes back.

Maybe it's because she's a bit unfamiliar with Lanse, or maybe it's for other reasons.

For example, Mr. White?

Strictly speaking, Lanse is the murderer, so they might feel a bit distant.

"Do you need me to call Miss Luo Lin down?" the butler asked.

Lanse nodded. "Go ask, if she is willing to come down, let her come as soon as possible. If she is not willing to come down, don't force it, just have someone send some food over."

The butler left quickly, and Lanse explained the relationship between Luo Lin and him.

As Lanse's closest people and the couple with the most solid relationship, they know some of Lanse's small secrets that are not secrets.

Lanse originally thought that Luo Lin might not come to participate in such a breakfast that is similar to a family breakfast. Speaking of which, it is a bit awkward. After all, Lanse and Patricia, as well as William and Emily, they are a family in the true sense.

And Luo Lin obviously doesn't count, she might not come down.

But what Lanse didn't expect was that Luo Lin actually came down.

Hearing her footsteps, Lanse turned to look at her and looked her up and down. "You look much better than before."

School life made her much more cheerful. Of course, the key is not school, but wealth and status.

When people know that Luo Lin is Lanse's sister, whether it is teachers, principals, or her classmates, they all start to revolve around her.

She is like the center of the universe, in her studies and life.

In such an environment, it is impossible for a person not to become confident!

This is the most intuitive benefit brought by money and status!

"Brother!" Luo Lin greeted Lanse first. She took the initiative to walk over and hug him, then looked at Patricia. She called Patricia's name directly.

Then she greeted William and Emily, and then sat in her own seat.

"I have been very busy these two years, and I haven't spent much time in the federation. I haven't had time to ask you about your life. Have you encountered any trouble?"

Luo Lin shook her head while eating the small sweet soup prepared for breakfast. "No, brother, everyone is very good to me, no one yells at me, and there are people you arranged to protect me."

"Now my life is like living in heaven to me, I am very satisfied!"

Lanse nodded. "As long as you are satisfied, if you have any problems, you can contact me. If you can't contact me, you can call the butler or call the company, and they will handle it."

Luo Lin behaved very well. "I know, brother."

Lanse nodded slightly, and everyone started to eat.

While eating, William said, "The family wants to set up a logistics company, we have too many goods to transport."

"Ordinary crops, wheat, rice, and many other vegetables, potatoes, and so on."

"Livestock and meat also need to be transported, and the most important thing, alcohol."

"Some places have train networks, which is quite convenient, but in some places, trains are not easy to transport, we can only use trains to walk on interstate highways."

"Now our cargo transportation is handled by a transportation company. I discussed it with them. Almost every year, the cost we spend on transportation is about two or three hundred thousand."

"Half of this is profit. The old people's meaning is that our scale is getting bigger and bigger, why not set up a transportation company ourselves?"

"I think there is actually no problem with doing this, so I want to ask for your opinion."

Lanse nodded while eating. "I think there is no problem. Ask the transportation company we are cooperating with if they are willing to sell their company."

"If they are willing to sell, buy it, and then we do it ourselves."

"If they are not willing..." Lanse swallowed the food in his mouth and looked at William. "Then we do it ourselves."

Acquiring this transportation company that has been cooperating is a relatively gentle expression. After all, the acquisition must be a premium, which can be considered a good ending.

Although they lost the company, they also got a large sum of money!

They can completely rely on this money to re-invest, or simply lie flat.

But if they are not willing to accept the Lawrence family's kindness, then the next step is the hell competition mode.

"If you finally decide to set up a company yourself, I will say hello to Terry, give you some subsidies, and then give you some government orders and orders from enterprises related to us."

William's face showed a smile. He had actually inquired that if he could achieve the scale Lanse said, the annual profit would also be over one million.

"Thank you..." he said sincerely.

After all, except for Lanse, it is impossible for anyone else to give you such a large sum of money for no reason.

Lanse waved his hand and put a few pieces of beef into Patricia's plate. ===== CHAPTER 1024 =====