Chapter 429: 431. Chapter 425: Councilor William

431. Chapter 425: Councilor William

"I heard that there was a little problem on your side."

William stood facing the floor-to-ceiling mirror, and Emily was helping him tidy up his clothes by his side.

These were clothes made by an old tailor himself, very fitting and suitable, although the old tailor didn't have much reputation in the Federation yet.

But he indeed had the ability, otherwise the nobility wouldn't wear the clothes he made.

William in the mirror looked a few years younger after careful dressing. He looked at Lans through the mirror.

Lans was also dressed very appropriately today. Today is the day of the municipal councilor election voting. William needs to appear on the scene to canvass for votes.

In fact, sometimes the election and environment of federal politicians are really sloppy. Municipal councilor elections like this are often chosen by the citizens in the constituency.

Quite a few people are actually not very keen on voting, especially the immigrant group. They always feel that federal politics has nothing to do with them.

But some people will care about this.

When some people who don't care but must go to vote stand in front of many ballot boxes with tickets, wanting to choose a ballot box they don't understand.

They are often very at a loss. They have heard the names of these people, but don't know who they are.

If the candidate takes the initiative to canvass for votes at this time, or even twists their buttocks on the spot, it is very likely that those voters who didn't intend to vote will have an idea and impulse to vote once.

Lans looked at William in the mirror and nodded. "Small problem, it has been solved."

William didn't speak because he heard that this small problem caused two people to die.

He didn't know if there was anything else behind this matter; he just knew that two people died.

This might be a link that must be experienced to move toward the upper class—

You are no longer so in awe of life!

Yes, not like in the past, maybe not respecting life, because you will scold people and scold them very badly, and you might also humiliate others' personality.

But you will be in awe of life, and you will not take the initiative to want to deprive others of the right to live.

But when you embark on this path and start to become different, you will realize that some things are not quite the same as in the past.

Lans didn't say much, and William naturally wouldn't continue to speak deeply. This was Lans's own business.

After Emily helped William tidy up the wrinkles on his tie, the two walked toward the election platform together.

It is called an election platform, but it is actually a simple platform built, about one meter high from the ground, with a long table in front, and a large ballot box on the table.

The ballot box not only had William's name but also his half-length portrait, and "Please vote for Mr. William" was printed around it.

Jincheng's municipal councilor election activities are arranged in various constituencies.

The location is decided by the City Hall. They will build such an environment and then arrange a ballot box.

People can get a ballot through their valid documents, then fill in the candidate's name, and stuff it into the ballot box.

The entire process is monitored by specially assigned people to ensure that things like stealing votes won't happen.

Although every region says they ensure the election is foolproof, federal elections have always been a farce.

Whether it is the municipal councilor election or the president's.

However, today's election won't be that "funny" because William has no competitors.

His only competitor, Mr. Chobaf, is lying in a coffin at this moment, slowly rotting and deteriorating.

So he has no other competitors. Even if someone wants to do it, for example, the Socialist Party wants to urgently nominate a candidate, it is actually too late.

The only competitor he needs to compete with now is the previous municipal councilor, a Liberal Party member, Mr. Russ.

Mr. Russ is not tall, with gray hair. He looks at William and can't squeeze out many smiles.

The Liberal Party didn't give him any political resource support this year, so his propaganda intensity in the election was much smaller than William's.

The Empire District here is not a high-quality political resource area. A large group of poor Empire immigrants simply cannot increase any political influence for the Liberal Party.

Secondly, political resources are valuable. These things are not priceless; you can give as much as you want.

You ask someone to stand for you, and you owe someone a favor. Some favors Russ himself can't pay back, only the Liberal Party can.

So before paying him resources, the Liberal Party considered it seriously and felt that this deal was not cost-effective.

And Jincheng, including Laizhou, is a very typical Socialist Party camp, so they didn't continue to tilt resources.

Councilor Russ didn't not work hard; he also tried his best, but his efforts were almost invisible under the influence of William and Mr. Chobaf.

It is impossible for him to really spend his own money to run for election. If someone is really stupid enough to spend their own money to run for election, then he must be for president, not for municipal councilor!

So at this moment, Russ knew he was going to lose, but he still couldn't show any smiles to William. He just pursed his lips, walked over, shook hands with William, and then stood back behind his box.

When the official voting started, the staff from the State Election Commission watched a large number of citizens line up to vote for William, while the number of people lining up behind Councilor Russ was only a few dozen.

They actually knew the result of this vote.

Councilor Russ couldn't help it when he saw this scene. He turned and left with an ugly face. His wife could only helplessly apologize to those voters and then chase after him.

The boos from the crowd almost made Councilor Russ fall, and the subsequent laughter also made his skin hot. He couldn't stand this place anymore and just wanted to leave!

William thanked people for voting for him while maintaining his demeanor. Emily's hand holding his arm was trembling!

Damn, she was about to become a "Councilor's Wife"!

Thinking of this, she became a bit excited!

In the socializing in the community, the core of those ladies' discussions is always their own men.

These women almost have no work and are all full-time housewives. What they can use to show off is only their husbands and children.

William was considered a civil servant before, not too bad, but not too good.

Although Emily tried her best to maintain her position in this social circle, the position was actually very awkward.

But it's good now. Her identity will be completely different from those women, and she can also participate in the gatherings and socializing held by Councilor Williams's wife.

Whether men or women, power is always the strongest stimulant!

In this era, people with the right to vote are a minority—just having a job and having your own house already screens out many people.

According to statistics from some institutions, by 1023 this year, the population with votes in the Federation is only more than 10%.

Some say 11%, and some institutions say it exceeds 17%, but how many specifically is not a number that is so easy to count.

Even if you find a compromise to calculate, 14%, this quantity is actually just a little more than the number of the middle class.

Although the population of the Empire District is large, there are not many voters who were born in the Federation and have a legal federal identity, have a stable job, and have a house of their own, and even fewer people are willing to participate in the election.

Today, the election can basically end!

There are also some "canvassing" activities on the scene. For example, voters who participated in the voting will randomly get a fried chicken coupon.

They can use this food coupon to get a fried chicken at a designated deli, but everyone can see that they only distribute coupons to those who vote for William.

Those who voted for Russ?

Sorry, they were unlucky and weren't randomly selected!

This kind of canvassing behavior that clearly exists but is legal is allowed, which also led to some people who intended to vote for Russ changing teams.

The queuing situation continued until close to noon, and the number of people coming to vote gradually decreased, and there was no queuing situation.

"It seems that the people who should vote have already voted."

William was suppressing his surprised emotions. He didn't let himself lose his composure because he was too happy.

Both husband and wife were enduring it. Lans nodded. "Yes, there are other votes that are hard to change the situation. Congratulations, William."

William hugged Lans. "I have to thank you for your efforts, Lans. If it weren't for you, I would still be a civil servant in the office!"

"At this moment, this life has nothing to do with me!"

The election committee staff on the side didn't stop them from celebrating in advance because they could also see that this Mr. William Lawrence could already be determined to be the municipal councilor of the Empire District.

The entire election needs to last for three days. This is to facilitate some people who are out of town, leaving them time to rush back to vote.

In fact, federalists who are unwilling to vote are as many as federalists who are actively voting. The federal government has also been encouraging people to join political activities more.

But the effect is not very good. Some people just don't want to vote.

The reason why the government encourages more people to come to vote is also because of the diversity of people. If a Socialist Party supporter votes, then there will always be only one Socialist Party vote.

But if ten people come to vote, there might be two or three Liberal Party votes, one or two Federal Party votes, and five or six Socialist Party votes.

Maybe because of the development of the party, some Socialist Party supporters will become supporters of the Liberal Party or the Federal Party.

In the afternoon, basically no one came to vote. At 3:30, the election committee staff proposed to close the ballot box, and today's voting was over.

Just after three o'clock, James made a phone call. He hoped to invite Lans and William to a small party, and they didn't refuse.

The three of them went to find Patricia together. Patricia asked for leave, went back to change clothes, and then participated in the party held by James together.

They didn't say what the name of this party was, but everyone who participated knew that this was a victory party—not to celebrate William's victory, but James's victory.

Of course, it could also be said to celebrate the victory of the entire faction!

Not calling it a "victory party" was purely to avoid some voters thinking too much, thinking that there might be some backroom deals in it, so they started celebrating before the election was counted.

Such federalists are always not in the minority. They are only willing to believe what they think. What they want is not the truth, but "stinging."

Those who came to James's party today were all people from Councilor Williams's faction. There were also several councilors among them, including people around Councilor Wade.

Jincheng has eleven administrative districts, which will give birth to eleven municipal councilors, and here, there were seven.

The remaining four were controlled by the Bay Area, including Chali.

No, after a few days, it should be called "Councilor Chali."

"I heard that William mentioned some improvement ideas about education in the election strategy."

Since it is a victory party, and since there are seven winning councilors here, they naturally want to discuss the development context of the city's future.

James was not very concerned about the election strategies of other councilors; what he was curious about, or rather, was William's side.

William nodded. Emily was interacting with other councilors' wives.

Women seem to have a kind of ability in this regard that men cannot understand. They can quickly find the right group in a completely strange environment and join it without any embarrassment.

Men might be a little worse in this regard. They need a gradual process.

William looked at Lans, and Lans replied, "I plan to build at least two high schools, private high schools."

"Its application conditions for admission will be relatively simple."

"Either the academic performance is very good, or you can bring some benefits to the school, or, they have a house in the Empire District."

James keenly grasped something. "Do you plan to invest in real estate?"

Lans shook his head, which made James a bit confused. "Then why do you have this third point?"

"Must they have a house in the Empire District?"

"I thought you planned to invest in real estate!"

This is the reasonable explanation he can think of at present. This will obviously increase the housing prices in the Empire District quite a bit.

High-quality educational resources are scarce at any time. As long as Lans's two high schools have strong enough teaching staff, people will find various relationships to enter his school and solve various problems.

Including buying a house in the Empire District.

"Real estate hasn't entered the stage of profiteering yet, and how many poor people do you think can afford houses now?"

This sentence made James fall into deep thought. At the current stage, it is indeed that most poor people cannot afford houses.

It seems that houses are very cheap. You can buy an apartment of dozens of square meters for more than 1,000 dollars, and you can buy a detached house for more than 2,000 dollars.

But you have to consider that people's income is only more than 40 dollars, and this is per capita, and the actual income is less than 40 dollars.

If a family has only one person working, they need to not eat or drink for nearly three or four years to buy an apartment.

If they eat, drink, have other consumption, and save 10 dollars a month, it will take more than ten years to afford this house.

During this period, they cannot have shopping desires beyond the plan, cannot have serious illnesses, and cannot have extra expenses.

Otherwise, they can only constantly postpone it.

When society is poor, investing in real estate is definitely not a smart decision.

"Then you do this..." James couldn't guess Lans's idea.

Lans smiled and said, "Actually, it's not as complicated as you think. The people in the Empire District support our work very much, so I also plan to repay them with some things."

This reason is very high-sounding, and it is also Lans's own idea.

When people are willing to take the initiative to buy houses in the Empire District, it can enhance the collective honor and pride of Empire immigrants.

They will become confident, so that they can go out later.

He has always believed that the division of administrative districts like "Empire District" and "Sumuli District" is a cage in itself.

It doesn't lock the people living here, but the hearts of the people living here!

What Lans wants to do is to break this cage, and this point, James, who comes from a family of great landlords and great slave owners, will never understand.

Maybe he hasn't thought that Lans would have these ideas that have nothing to do with crime or making money.

The party ended at nine or ten o'clock. William's excited emotions gradually subsided. Alcohol and equipment made him not chat more with Lans, and he went home directly.

And Lans also returned to his own side.

Before going to bed, Erwin told Lans that Ethan's "debut" would be staged at the end of the month.

During this time, Ethan has been practicing boxing hard, and he has great talent in this regard.

One is being able to withstand hits, and the other is that his fists are heavy enough and hard enough.

With these two talents, it shows that he is a person suitable for eating this bowl of rice.

The coach arranged a light heavyweight match for him, letting him feel the feeling on the ring!

This is Ethan's first official appearance on the field. Erwin asked Lans if they had time, and they could go to cheer.

Lans didn't refuse this point. This is the path he recommended Ethan to take, and he is increasingly firm in this idea.

Not everyone is suitable for walking all the way to the end on the road of gangs. Look at Mo Lisi; he was lucky and picked up a life, but not everyone can pick up a life every time.

He promised Erwin that everyone would go together when the time came, and by the way, it would be lively together. They hadn't had a collective activity for a long time.

Two days later, Luo Bu brought a message to Lans. Bandi made an appointment with the Five Great Families to talk, and what they talked about was stabilizing again.

Now the Koda family is the only family whose strength has not been damaged. Their strength and influence have clearly become stronger than everyone else.

Bandi and Gao Li's attitude at this small meeting was very tough, and the Keane family represented by Fegar now seems to have defected to the Koda family and stood on their side.

Luo Bu knows some of Lans's ambitions. If Bandi really lets Jincheng stabilize again this time, then the difficulty of wanting to do something will become greater.

In other words, Lans needs to make a response as soon as possible. ===== CHAPTER 430 =====