Chapter 327: All Showing Off

The fact that Charlie was going to run for municipal councilor did indeed exceed Lan Si's expectations, but thinking about it carefully, perhaps this was his way of regaining control over Jincheng's police system through another method.

If he were to control the entire police system just as an ordinary old man, there would always be some people expressing dissatisfaction with this.

But a municipal councilor intervening in the work of the police system, although perhaps not so appropriate, could at least be justified, and the law supported him in doing so.

Hunter cooperated with Charlie inside the police station, and they could control Jincheng's largest law enforcement agency.

"It seems the Bay Area Hounds need to change their name; 'Bay Area Fox' might be more suitable for him!"

Lan Si commented, "Besides this matter?"

Sub-bureau Chief Bulu organized his thoughts. "There is one more thing, which is the gathering I'm going to attend in a moment. Charlie has expressed his stance before that he hopes we won't intervene in this... game between us and the mayor and the others."

He had a clear pause in the last half of the sentence, obviously thinking about how to phrase it to better express his attitude.

Using "you guys" was too distancing, which would make Lan Si think he wasn't on Lan Si's side.

So he used the word "we," which could express that he still stood on Lan Si's side!

"Don't move...", Lan Si frowned slightly, although his and Councilor Wei De's original intention was also to let things blow up, then force higher-level forces to intervene, making everything stable again.

But the chaos they created and the chaos that Charlie and Hunter were letting intensify were actually not the same thing!

To give the simplest example, this is like someone begging on the side of the road; to get some change from passersby, it's definitely the more pitiful, the better.

But this doesn't mean he has to stab himself a few times; that's not being pitiful, that's courting death!

Charlie's approach was just like that. Lan Si could even imagine that when the entire city fell into chaos and the police were most needed to maintain order, the police might also go on strike.

When everyone felt despair about public security, Charlie, the "resigned" chief who had the most influence on Jincheng's police system in the last twenty years, would take the initiative to stand up, take on the responsibility of pacifying the police, let them resume work, and let the city's order return to its supposedly normal level.

And he, in turn, could use this incident to stage a political show and leap into becoming a political figure!

Lan Si had even thought of the campaign slogan for him: "Besides your parents, the person who can protect your safety is Charlie."

Just hearing it could make people feel his reliability!

Then a municipal councilor seat definitely wouldn't escape him.

At Charlie's age, he could work for at least another ten-plus years. Even though he was no longer police chief, he could still continue to control this system for another ten-plus years. Perhaps this was his ambition and political appeal!

After thinking about this, Lan Si looked at Sub-bureau Chief Bulu with some lack of understanding. He didn't believe they couldn't see these things. "Is there no one among you who opposes him?"

Sub-bureau Chief Bulu shook his head. "There is, but what's the use of that?"

"He represents the interests of the Bay Area. We are all guessing whether there is an instruction from the Bay Area behind it. Opposing him is equivalent to opposing the decisions of those lords in the Bay Area."

"Now with the mayor suppressing it, they might have to keep a low profile, but the mayor will eventually leave."

"Once he leaves here, the people from the Bay Area will retaliate. We are just police sub-bureau chiefs, Lan Si; we don't have the ability to resist."

"Including me, if he asks me to state my position, I will definitely stand up and tell everyone loudly that I support his decision, because I don't want to be served on the dinner table by him after everything ends during this period!"

Lan Si nodded slightly. "I understand."

From his face, Sub-bureau Chief Bulu saw what he wanted. He had been a bit emotional just now, and suddenly felt a bit embarrassed.

Showing such a side in front of a young man, a young man not much older than his own son, was indeed a bit shameful.

He straightened his clothes and sat back down. "So I think I should tell you, lest things happen too suddenly and catch you off guard."

"Of course, the Imperial District doesn't really need us to maintain public security. Now everyone in the city knows that our sub-bureau is the most relaxed!"

Many people envied him; the Imperial District sub-bureau had no pressure at all, and the public security rate was the best among all sub-bureaus.

It was because the people of the Lan Si family took the initiative to maintain order on the streets. These people maintaining order was different from the police maintaining order.

Police maintaining order needed to act according to rules and regulations; if there were things they could manage, then the problem could be solved.

But there were things they couldn't manage, or were not easy to manage, so they couldn't handle them.

On the contrary, the people of the Lan Si family were different. No matter whether they could manage it or not, as long as they felt you were wrong and told you to stop, and you didn't stop.

Then fine, a beating was unavoidable. If you still resisted or even made an attacking move, it might be many beatings, or even being thrown into Angel Lake!

Getting paid without having to work in danger, who wouldn't want such a life?

"I won't manage things in other areas, but on the Imperial District side, you guys should do what you should do."

"You verbally agree to all of Charlie's demands, and when he holds you accountable, push it to me, saying that I am the actual controller of the sub-bureau."

As he spoke, Lan Si pulled open a drawer, took out a few checks, and placed them in order; they were all one-thousand-dollar checks.

Then he pushed the checks over with his hand. "Contact some sub-bureau chiefs who have a good relationship with you; you guys form a small circle first."

"Don't expose it yet; you will have more important things to do in the future."

When Sub-bureau Chief Bulu took these checks, he revealed a thoughtful look, but he didn't think too deeply, because the timing wasn't right now.

However, he knew that his goal of finding trouble for Charlie and the others had been achieved.

Originally, Lan Si said he might not have no chance to stabilize the position of police chief, but now, with Charlie and Hunter messing things up, if he didn't make some changes, that position would have nothing to do with him for the rest of his life.

Not only did he have no guilt, but he also had an indescribable pleasure.

Charlie had been police chief for so long and still didn't want to give up the position; he was really too excessive!

"I understand, I will contact them."

Lan Si nodded slightly. "Okay, go, be careful on the road."

After watching Sub-bureau Chief Bulu leave, Lan Si thought about some things.

Everyone was pursuing the maximization of their own interests.

The mayor was like this; it seemed he was a bit at a disadvantage, letting Councilor Wei De get the nomination for governor, while he himself could only get the nomination for Speaker of the House.

He promised various interests, went out, but couldn't stay in this city for too long and would soon leave.

No matter how you looked at it, he was the one who lost.

But in reality, he was the final big winner, because even if he left, he was leaving with a full harvest.

He traded the original interests of this city as bargaining chips; it seemed he got nothing, but in reality, he got intangible assets countless times more valuable than tangible assets!

Councilor Williams was also like this; in order to let power continue to be passed down, he would rather sacrifice the public security and stability of this city, even facing the possibility of the northern port rising, than let his own power suffer the slightest loss.

Sub-bureau Chief Bulu was even more so; he thought Lan Si couldn't understand, but in fact, he finished saying what he wanted to express, and Lan Si knew his thoughts.

His thoughts were nothing more than wanting Lan Si to resolve these methods of Charlie's, giving himself a chance to sit in that important position.

Everyone was thinking of ways, seeking the greatest interests, including himself.

Interest was the only eternal truth in this world.

If someone said there was something else that was also like this, then they must be lying!

He wouldn't let Charlie succeed. Once Charlie mastered the entire police system as a "politician," he would become a newly risen mountain force.

Jincheng, in the future, could not, and would not allow such an unreasonable force to exist.

He could take down one police chief, and he could take down another!

There was a mocking sneer at the corner of his mouth, but soon this sneer turned into a pain in the balls.

Because he was late.

"Sorry, I'm a bit late." He looked at Patricia. They had agreed to meet at one-thirty, and now it was almost two o'clock.

However, girls in this period weren't that unreasonable yet. Patricia still hugged Lan Si's arm with a smile on her face, leaning against his side. "It's okay, as long as you can come."

"I asked the ticket seller; they said they could exchange the movie tickets for the next showing for us, and it's about to start."

Lan Si kissed her head, then the two bought some drinks and popcorn and walked into the screening hall.

They were watching a movie starring Jielaer, and both were full of anticipation.

Lan Si fully invested in this movie; investing in movies in this period was almost a sure-win.

A large number of illiterates who "couldn't understand" movies before no longer worried about not understanding the subtitles. Although those slightly distorted sounds sounded a bit awkward, at least they could understand them.

In an era where half the people were illiterate, this brought a huge increase to the box office.

Lan Si was still considering investing in a second, a third, and more.

The two whispered to each other, waiting for the cinema to go completely dark. Not long after, the opening appeared on the screen. After watching it, Lan Si frowned.

This was different from what Jielaer said when he called, because the opening should be the Wanli Production logo, not this water bottle image.

As the movie unfolded, he was even more convinced of this point, because the male and female leads were not people he had seen; Jielaer didn't even appear. They must have gotten something wrong.

Lan Si found the movie ticket and took a look by the faint light. The name was correct.

Patricia hadn't seen Jielaer; she thought the male lead in the movie was Jielaer. When she saw halfway, she even talked to Lan Si, saying she felt the male lead wasn't as good-looking as Lan Si described.

Lan Si just smiled. "This isn't the movie I invested in, but the name is correct. I'll have to ask what's going on later."

"But this movie looks okay too, don't you think?"

He didn't want to ruin the current atmosphere. The girl was soon attracted by his words and nodded repeatedly. "Yes, it's very interesting."

From Lan Si's perspective, how could there be anything "very interesting"?

This was a very ordinary movie product of this era: terrible script, terrible actors, terrible filming techniques, but because it rode the trend of sound movies, even if everything was terrible, ordinary moviegoers would feel it was okay because of the novelty!

The movie eventually ended in tragedy. Tragedy could sublimate the plot, which was also the reason why opera had many tragedies.

Those nobles who once sat in golden carriages and silver carriages liked to watch the tragedies of commoners while shedding tears, but once they turned their heads, they would only more harshly exploit and oppress the commoners.

The power of tragedy was stronger than the power of comedy, and it could also make people remember it more deeply.

After all, happiness is easy to forget, but scars might stay for a lifetime.

After the movie ended, Lan Si took Patricia for a few turns in the city center. It was especially quiet these past few days; for two or three hours, not a single gunshot was heard, which made Lan Si a bit unaccustomed.

They ate delicious food together, Lan Si even bought a few sets of clothes for Patricia, and then drove her home.

The Lawrence couple had long expected Lan Si's visit; after all, Patricia had been preparing since the morning, so it definitely wasn't an ordinary date.

Emily asked very casually, "Are you staying overnight tonight?"

"After last time, I helped you prepare a toothbrush and personal items; they are in Patricia's room."

This question made Lan Si feel a bit embarrassed. He glanced at Patricia; Patricia looked away, but it was very clear that she wanted Lan Si to stay.

"Yes, I will stay here tonight..."

Emily smiled and said, "It's not that hard, is it?"

She was referring to Lan Si generously saying he would stay. Lan Si nodded in agreement.

Dinner was still a very sumptuous dinner. William had started to get used to Lan Si's appearance and staying overnight, although this was only the second time.

After dinner, the men naturally sat on the sofa chatting about some recent things. "The city has been abnormally quiet recently; is something big about to happen?"

He had been busy with the election, and he also noticed these changes, but compared to working at the City Hall before, where news was exceptionally well-informed, he was now a bit more blocked in terms of news.

Lan Si nodded. "The decisive battle between locals and outsiders might be about to begin. I hope it is a decisive battle; at least after this matter ends, we can all gain a period of stable development opportunities."

William couldn't help but gasp when he heard these words. "What exactly happened?"

Lan Si briefly explained the matter. William was a bit silent after hearing it. "The public is innocent."

He was waiting for Lan Si to follow his words, but Lan Si didn't catch this sentence, which forced him to ask actively, "What do you think?"

"How do you want me to think?"

William shook his head and said, "Your real thoughts."

"I think this is actually a good thing, at least it can make this city stable again for a period of time."

"But after this period of time, the next chaos will come."

"No matter who is sitting in that position, whether it's Sidney, or Williams, or someone else, it will always be like this here."

"Someone gains, someone loses; those who lose don't want to be losers, so they will challenge those who gain."

"If they succeed, they become the gainers; those who lose, after waiting for a period of time, launch a challenge against them."

"If they fail, then they will continue to accumulate strength..."

"William, there is no true fairness in this world. As long as true fairness doesn't exist, then this will always just be a cycle!"

"Unless there is one person who can end all this!"

This was a very profound topic that required William to think about.

After eight o'clock, when the federal people were resting, Lan Si naturally slept in Patricia's bed, with her.

This time, it was obviously much more comfortable than the last time, although she was a bit shy and reluctant, after all, the Lawrence couple were both here, but she couldn't resist Lan Si's request and her own desire.

Sometimes girls want this more than their partners.

The two tossed and turned several times throughout the night before falling asleep. The next morning, the girl was obviously a bit embarrassed, but looking at the calm expressions of the Lawrence couple, she eventually felt relieved.

Patricia didn't sleep well last night, so today she planned to go nowhere, while Lan Si still had some things to do, so he soon said goodbye.

William hitched a ride in his car.

"I forgot to tell you yesterday; there's something that might need your help."

In the car, the two lit a cigarette. They didn't smoke at home; this was respect for women, and of course, respect for the family.

With a deep drag of the cigarette, the whole person seemed much more comfortable. For a time, neither spoke, immersed in the happiness brought by nicotine.

After the third or fourth drag, William said, "Isn't it about the Balz Investment Bank?"

"Barbara borrowed some money from outside to buy products from her company. Now Balz Investment Bank has run away with the money, and the financial company that lent her the money is pursuing the debt."

"Her father said the other party might have gang background and is also demanding high interest from them."

"My brother is communicating with them. I feel the direction of this matter might not be what we want to see; at that time, I might still need your help."

Lan Si nodded. "Small matter."

Then he dropped William off by the campaign office in the city center. Lan Si returned directly to the company, and then he made a call to Jielaer, asking about the movie.

"I went to the cinema last night to watch your movie. The ticket I bought was yours, but what was played wasn't yours. What's going on?" ===== CHAPTER 328 =====