Chapter 36

Mr. White is one of the typical Federation middle-aged men with a somewhat gloomy temperament.

His skin is very white, so his eye bags and dark circles are very obvious; his golden-brown hair is unkempt and scattered on his head; he is wearing a short-sleeved white shirt, washed a bit yellow.

He is wearing a pair of light blue pants, and there are traces of sewing on the edges and corners.

His wife, Mrs. White, looks like she is sick, and is very... maybe timid, maybe uneasy; she doesn't dare to raise her head to look at Lans and the two police officers beside him, always bowing her head.

Even when Officer Braden asked them some questions, they were all answered by Mr. White.

"This gentleman said he has a vague memory that he was lost when he was five or six years old; someone took him to a carriage and then pressed him with straw."

"He was sold to an ordinary family and worked for this family for free."

"Recently his adoptive father died of illness, so he hopes to find his biological parents; I was moved by his spirit of wanting to go home, so I flipped through the missing case files in New Jincheng during that period."

"Among them was your report information; I compared your... looks, and they look somewhat similar."

Mr. White's eyes, which seemed a bit unable to open, looked up and down at Lans, then nodded, "Yes, it does look somewhat similar to me when I was young, but this cannot confirm that he must be Steven."

"And... as a father, although I don't want to admit this, I believe my child may have been killed."

Speaking of his child being killed, Mr. White was not very sad; maybe sadness had been filled in countless sadnesses in the past.

He said very calmly what he thought was the real situation, but Officer Braden didn't want to listen to this.

"Mr. White, I know that you might suddenly have an extra family member that will make you unable to bear it, but I have to say that this child inherited a sum of money from his adoptive father..."

This sentence made Mrs. White suddenly look up at Lans; her appearance was relatively ordinary, but her face was very pale.

For three or four seconds, she bowed her head again.

Mr. White's expression also changed slightly, "Sorry, may I ask... how much money did you inherit from your adoptive father?"

"Two hundred dollars."

To say how much two hundred dollars is, actually not necessarily; after all, calculated from the surface, the actual income of ordinary people is thirty-five to forty dollars, two hundred dollars is half a year's income for them.

But if you consider that they not only have to pay taxes but also deduct all daily expenses, being able to save ten dollars a month might be the proof of their hard life.

Two hundred dollars, twenty months, two years of savings.

This money may not be anything to rich people, but for a poor family, the change it can bring is too great.

"I want to talk to Mr. White alone.", Lans took the initiative to make this request; Mr. White considered it and agreed.

The two walked to the side of the house; this is a detached house with a "C"-shaped courtyard, front yard, side yard, and backyard.

Some dwarf shrubs are planted in the backyard, looking very lush, and some rose-red small flowers; Lans is not very clear about this, and doesn't know what flowers they are.

But the yard is very clean, with no fallen leaves; it can be seen that they take good care of it.

There is a swing set in the side yard, which looks like it has been there for some years; even if he didn't sit on it, he could imagine the creaking friction sound of those rusted metal parts when someone was swinging on it.

But because this is the suburbs, even a detached house with a garden is actually not worth much money.

"You can see that I am an Imperial person.", Lans said his purpose very directly; this is a transaction, and it should just be a transaction.

Mr. White nodded, "Yes, so I know you are not Steven; he is not an Imperial person."

Lans took out a box of cigarettes, boxed cigarettes with filters; not all cigarettes in the Federation have filters now.

Tobacco companies refuse to admit that cigarettes are the main cause of lung disease and have found some "witnesses" from all walks of life; these people suffering from lung disease do not smoke, but they all have serious lung disease.

This overturned some medical institutions' view that "smoking is the main cause of lung disease"; of course, in order to reduce people's anxiety, they started to add filters to cigarettes.

The filter at this time is actually very simple, and maybe it has no use at all; inside is some compressed cotton, and it is a bit laborious to smoke.

But it cannot be denied that when people finish smoking and take out the cotton to look at it, they will feel that this thing is really effective.

Cigarettes with filters are generally much more expensive than those without filters.

"Do you want one?", Lans took one out; Mr. White thought about it for a few seconds and finally took it.

Lans took out a lighter and lit the cigarette for him; he noticed that Mr. White's hand holding the cigarette was shaking slightly when he was smoking.

"It's no different from what we roll ourselves.", he commented, "The taste is very light."

Lans smiled and didn't speak, "We just said that I am an Imperial person, and your son Steven is a Federation person."

Mr. White nodded, "Yes."

"I don't have a legal identity now; I can't register a company or do what I want to do, and things that require a legal identity."

"Mr. White, I am very sorry and sad about everything Steven encountered, but life is always moving forward, and we also need to look forward."

Mr. White raised his hand, "Just say what you want to say; my brain is not very good, sometimes I can't understand your...", he gestured up and down with his hand, "... communication style of rich people."

Lans didn't get angry and said with a smile, "I want to borrow Steven's identity to register a legal Federation identity."

Mr. White took a deep breath of smoke; he started to adapt to this, thought for a while and said, "The price is two hundred dollars."

Lans was afraid that he had something to consider, and added, "At most two years, at that time I will break away from the identity of Steven; it was the police who made a mistake, so Steven's identity information is still his, and I also got what I wanted."

First confirm that he is a Federation person; as for who he really is, if Lans doesn't want to know, the police don't want to know either.

Mr. White took another deep breath of smoke, and his slightly trembling hand stabilized a bit, "Four hundred dollars."

Lans shook his head, "Officer Braden found more than seventy families that meet the age conditions; there will always be people interested in two hundred dollars, right?"

Mr. White still wanted to fight for more, "My wife is sick, and my daughter also needs money."

"Give you twenty more."

Mr. White took the last puff of smoke, threw the cigarette butt on the ground, and shook hands with Lans hard, "Deal!"

His hands are very rough; it must be someone who often does farm work.

"We go to tell Officer Braden, and then there are some procedures that may need you to go to the police station with me; is there any problem?"

Mr. White's expression looked much more relaxed, "For two hundred and twenty dollars, I think I have no problem!"

The two returned to the front yard; from Lans's face, it could be seen that this matter was negotiated; Officer Braden was overjoyed; after the two exchanged simple eyes, he began to fulfill his duties.

"Mr. White, you need to go to the branch with me to make a registration, and then confirm your previous report record, sign two names, and then everything is over."

"I have no problem."

"Neither do I."

Along the way, Officer Braden stepped on the accelerator to the end, arrived at the police station in the shortest time, and had already prepared the report record of the White couple that year, and then filled out the withdrawal form.

In fact, no one cares about this thing; in Officer Braden's words, who the hell cares whether the report record of a bottom person in the past is withdrawn or closed.

But Lans cares, and Lans told him that customer experience is very important; he kept it in his heart.

After getting everything done, Mr. White left with two hundred and twenty dollars; Officer Braden told Lans that in no more than a month, he would be able to get his identity information, social security number, and the like.

But after Lans gave another fifty dollars, this time was shortened to within a week!

"Lans, if it's someone you introduced, I will only charge half of their handling fee; this is my thanks to you!"

Thank you for your fucking thanks!

Of course, Lans didn't say this sentence; he shook hands with Officer Braden, "You solved a big trouble for the President!"

Officer Braden was stunned for a moment, then laughed loudly, "I hope he doesn't send me to prison because of this!"

"Okay, I have other things to do; if you encounter trouble in my patrol area, you can call the radio at any time; I will arrive immediately!"

Coming out of the branch, Lans took a deep breath; the few clouds in the sky moved slowly, just like people's mood at this time.

Lazy, peaceful, no waves.