Chapter 591: Engagement

There are more and more refugees in the city, all of whom fled to the Federation during the war. They are distributed in different regions, and even Gold State has appeared quite a few refugees.

The appearance of refugees is a heavy blow to small cities without any development potential.

In order to solve some problems, the President recognized the legality of refugee work, which means that hiring refugees doesn't need them to have work cards or prove that they are legal immigrants. As long as they tell the people who hire them that they are refugees, it is enough.

And this also happens to make quite a few illegal immigrants become members of refugees at this moment. No one knows where the next footprint of the Federal government will fall.

Maybe... they agreed to let refugees who are unwilling to return home become Federal citizens?

A large number of cheap labor forces impact the entire Federation's labor market. As long as there are cities with refugees, they become visibly depressed.

There are more and more people wearing shabby clothes on the street, fewer and fewer consumers in roadside shops, and the entire country seems to have fallen into a strange "disease."

As the newspaper with the largest circulation in the Likalai State region, "Tide News" rarely didn't print those girls who didn't wear clothes in early July, but used a serious title like "The Black Death is Devouring the Life of the Federation."

Of course, "Black Death" is in double quotation marks.

The front-page headline, where two big breasts should have appeared, appeared a photo bird's-eye view of the city from a high place, and there was a clearly black spot eroding this city.

The second page was photos with more details about these black spots. They were black spots composed of individuals.

When the lens continued to advance, it finally made people see a little bit—those people were all refugees.

"Tide News" compared refugees to the Black Death that is eroding the life of the Federation. Some people think their metaphor is very vivid, because the influx of these large numbers of refugees has made everything worse.

Work, life, everything!

But there are also some moralists who think this is a very immoral behavior. They are uglifying and smearing the refugee group by using such a bad metaphor.

But it cannot be denied that they succeeded.

People dislike these refugees even more, just like they didn't like those illegal immigrants before, and even dislike these refugees more than they disliked illegal immigrants.

At least illegal immigrants don't have the right to work. If they want to survive, they still need to rely on Americans to some extent.

They use Americans' work cards to work, and the money earned has to be shared with Americans for a considerable part.

But refugees are different. They have the right to work, which means that for every refugee who finds a job, one American loses their rice bowl.

The Federation is becoming bad, and people's lives have no guarantee!

Too many refugees have come, and the Federal government is negotiating with another group of people, so they cannot drive all these refugees out.

Adult refugees will try to find ways to survive themselves, selling hard labor, or selling their bodies, but not everyone can find a way to live.

So they will let some children go into Federal cities to find some opportunities to survive, opportunities to eat.

The side of the trash can is where they often appear, and they have become the biggest enemy of the homeless.

Especially those teenagers, they appear in the city in groups. Many people are worried that they will trigger public security problems.

On the street, Lan Si's motorcade stopped beside the St. Naye Cathedral in people's eyes. Quite a few refugee children rushed over. They stretched out their dirty hands and looked at the people who got out of the car.

After living here for a period of time, they finally recognized the reality, knowing what kind of people can be begged from excessively, and what kind of people can only be watched from afar.

Lan Si glanced at Elvin, who took out a large handful of coins from the car and threw them toward the children.

Those children bent their waists one after another to happily pick up the coins on the ground. At the same time, he also noticed that there was a child who didn't bend his waist. He stood in the group of children who were bending their waists or even kneeling to pick up coins, looking particularly conspicuous.

He looked at Lan Si, and Lan Si also looked at him. After the two looked at each other for a few seconds, Lan Si turned his head.

Lan Si tilted his head and whispered a few words to Halam. Halam nodded and also glanced at that teenager. Then Lan Si turned around and walked into the St. Naye Cathedral, which had already taken on a new look, with a smile on his face.

Of course, it wasn't entering the building, but entering the periphery of the cathedral. There was an iron fence here, completely separating the inside and outside of the cathedral.

Lan Si spent quite a bit of money on the renovation and expansion of the cathedral. Whoever spends the money listens to whoever has always been the fine tradition of human beings. It is three or four times larger than in the past, with more open space and more magnificent buildings, looking full of divine radiance!

There were already quite a few people on the lawn. Today is Lan Si's engagement ceremony. Basically, everyone who doesn't have a conflict with Lan Si and can come will appear here.

As soon as he entered the door, he saw the priest chatting with Luo Jiefu. The Imperial Chamber of Commerce is doing better and better now, and the batch of grain they hoarded still has great room for appreciation.

Especially with so many refugees pouring in, and the Federal government not having come up with any specific and effective management methods, it has led to an increase in the demand for food.

As a free market behavior, the price of food will naturally increase.

As long as these grains are still in the warehouse, the price will keep increasing.

Luo Jiefu, who was originally just an ordinary small businessman, is now also a person with a face and status in the Imperial District.

The moment the two saw Lan Si enter, they stopped their conversation and walked toward Lan Si.

The priest performed the rite without the slightest hesitation, not caring at all that the statue of God hanging on his chest was swaying back and forth.

He might have been a devout believer in the past, but after meeting Lan Si, he became a believer of the first President!

"The new cathedral is very beautiful. There will be a perfect ceremony today," Lan Si praised him twice.

The priest revealed a little smile, "It is my honor that you can choose St. Naye Cathedral!"

Lan Si smiled and looked at Luo Jiefu. Luo Jiefu also said a few congratulatory words that fit the scene, and then walked to the side with him.

The priest wanted to follow, but in the end, he didn't follow. After all, he didn't belong to their circle.

"Recently, someone contacted me wanting that batch of grain and that batch of medicine."

Lan Si took out a cigarette. Luo Jiefu immediately took out the lighter, covered the flame with one hand to let Lan Si light the cigarette, and then nodded, "The price they gave is very suitable."

However, Lan Si didn't agree. He had always known some inside information, "Tell them, the purpose of our hoarding these materials is for self-use."

"Self-use..." Luo Jiefu looked surprised and blank, as if he had encountered something unbelievable.

Lan Si smiled and said, "An excuse to perfunctory them. Now is not the time when the value of those materials can truly be reflected. Don't sell them cheaply."

"This time we can rely on these things to make a big profit!"

He patted Luo Jiefu's arm and walked toward the next person...

Many people came to participate in Lan Si's engagement ceremony, and they were proud to be able to come.

As time got closer, William's car finally arrived at the scene. The moment he held Patricia's hand and got out of the car, everyone exclaimed at Patricia's beauty!

Lan Si, led by the priest, came to the scene of the engagement ceremony, and the guests also sat in their seats one after another.

After William brought Patricia here, she came to Lan Si's side.

"I am very grateful to everyone for being able to come here today to witness the engagement ceremony between me and Patricia. After the ceremony ends, everyone, please don't leave. Lunch has already been prepared behind."

He paused while saying this, "I met Patricia three years ago in the summer, the tail of summer. That day I went to the Commercial Service Bureau to register the company, and the girl who received me happened to be my beloved girl."

"The first time I saw her, I understood where the harbor that could let me anchor for a lifetime was."

"Patricia is a..."

Lan Si chatted about his understanding of Patricia, and the process of knowing her, falling in love, and walking to this step.

Sometimes Patricia would also remind him of something. The whole process was very gentle, and the atmosphere was also very relaxed.

There were many people who came to participate in the engagement ceremony. Before, everyone was standing scattered, so it might not be very clear who all came.

But as everyone sat down, people's eyes also began to be attracted by the people in the first few rows.

The more they looked, the more shocking they felt!

Sitting in the first row on the left were James and Arthur.

One is the eldest son who will inevitably inherit all the power of the Williams family, and the other is the youngest son whom Congressman Williams likes the most. The appearance of the two at the same time means the degree of their importance to Lan Si is definitely more than just general importance.

Beside them are some other city councilors or their representatives, and then some capitalists of enterprises.

From the perspective of some people who don't know the whole thing so well, Lan Si's wedding actually came with so many high-ranking and powerful people, which is indeed an incredible thing.

No matter how well he does, he is just a gang leader. Why can he let so many people come to participate in his engagement ceremony?

As for the right side, it is relatively ordinary. They are all people with status and identity in the Lan Si family.

They were also wearing very decent formal wear today and sitting there. Even Halam didn't keep swinging his hair, much less picking his nose in public.

In this environment, mainly under the influence of these people, everyone attached great importance to this engagement ceremony.

As Lan Si and Patricia's "sentiments" were declared over, after the priest conducted some Q&A with standard answers, he confirmed that their engagement was recognized and blessed by God!

Amidst the blessings of relatives and friends, they exchanged rings, engagement rings, not wedding rings,

Originally, the priest had also arranged for a choir to come and sing, but Lanse had vetoed it all; there was no need for that!

When he kissed Patricia after exchanging rings with her, people stood up one after another and began to applaud.

This was a very important matter, whether for the people of the Lanse family or for the local interest group led by Councilor Williams.

Lanse becoming engaged to a girl from the Lawrence family and confirming the wedding date meant that he had completely taken root in New Jincheng.

No errors in the content, read it all!

In the past, they might have still felt that Lanse was not a local in the true sense, and would consider whether he might leave this place, or whether he had a sense of belonging here, and whether he could find recognition among them.

Now, these questions no longer needed to be considered, because Lanse was a pure local.

Once he and Patricia had children, they would be even more at ease, binding together into an even more solid interest group.

For the people of the Lanse family, Lanse's engagement ceremony represented his acceptance by the local interest group in this city, and their control over the city would also become smoother.

Therefore, most people were applauding sincerely, happy for the union of the two from the bottom of their hearts!

After the engagement ceremony ended, there was a lunch on the lawn behind the church, in the form of a cold buffet, but with hot dishes.

The chefs Lanse had hired from the Anderson restaurant all brought out their signature dishes, filling the church grounds with laughter and joy.

If God's gaze could truly see this place and look upon the people on the lawn here, he would surely be very gratified!

At least at this moment, under his glory, these people were happy and blissful.

A young man watched calmly as those "upper-class people" on the lawn ate delicious food with faces full of smiles; they wore high-end clothes and expensive jewelry, and every one of them exuded a noble temperament just like those people in storybooks.

And he, a refugee, a refugee like a beggar, he and this place, these people, were simply not people of the same world.

He did not understand why that most dazzling gentleman wanted to see him, but his instinct told him that this was an opportunity to change his fate.

After Lanse had socialized among the crowd for quite a long time, and after the banquet ended and people began to disperse, Lanse finally walked over.

He was full and had had enough to drink, so he sat on a chair and lit a cigarette, "Where are you from?"

"Lisa."

A place name Lanse had never heard of. Perhaps seeing Lanse's confusion at the name, he explained, "It's in the Slavrafra Province."

Lanse nodded slightly; he actually only knew Slav, but didn't know where that Slavrafra was, let alone where Lisa was.

"I heard you hadn't already reached the border of Dantela?"

"Why did you flee here?"

The young man was silent for two seconds, "I don't know how to say it. The people of Dantela counterattacked very quickly; they said the flames of war had already burned back into our country."

"And...", as if thinking of some terrifying thing, a trace of fear remained on his face, "they said the Dantela people launched a bloody retaliation in the occupied areas, and many civilians were killed."

"We were afraid they would reach our city, so many people fled from there."

In reality, they were slaughtering the civilians of Slav; only in this way could they ensure those people had no courage to organize and resist.

Likewise, in fact, the Slav people had also killed many Dantela civilians. War is war; when the guns of war sound, there is no such thing as justice or evil, only the advancement for political or military goals.

It was just that because the relationship between the federal government and Slav was better, the guy in front of Lanse appeared here and spoke of the terrible things in his hometown, which was why it made people sympathetic.

And the refugees from Dantela had gone to places further east; perhaps there, too, someone would ask them, and they would also tell of everything the Slav people had done in their homeland!

No one likes war, but sometimes, some problems can only be solved by war.

Lanse nodded slightly and looked him up and down, "There was a lot of money on the ground at the entrance just now; why didn't you pick it up? Was it because it was too little?"

The young man shook his head, "No."

Although the coins thrown out were all two-cent, five-cent, and a small amount of ten-cent coins, the purchasing power of these coins was not weak right now!

If he could pick up three or five cents, at least he wouldn't go hungry for the day!

But he didn't pick them up, just stood there, which made Lanse feel a bit curious.

"Would they give the money to you?", he asked. This was a guess of his; perhaps those younger children were his "subordinates."

The coins they picked up would all be handed over to him.

The young man shook his head again, "That's not it either. I was just watching to make sure they weren't bullied by others."

"You know, sir, sometimes people will lay hands on us for no reason."

Indeed, the public's hatred for refugees was constantly rising.

His successive denials made Lanse very curious, and he didn't intend to keep guessing, "Then what kept you from picking up the money on the ground?"

The young man appeared a bit nervous, "I... my father told me that one must keep one's spine straight at all times."

Lanse was surprised to hear this, but then he smiled, "Where is he?"

The young man was silent for a while, "He died on the front lines."

The smile on Lanse's face gradually faded; he had thought the man who told him to keep his spine straight had brought them to "flee."

But he hadn't expected that the man had died on the front lines.

"Do you have younger brothers or sisters?"

The young man nodded, and Lanse understood a bit.

He felt a connection to this young man, "Are you willing to work for me?"

The young man's expression was first one of bewildered confusion, but then it became shocked, and finally, he opened his mouth wide in disbelief; even his speech became intermittent.

"Sir, is what you said true?"

"Can I work for you?"

Lanse nodded, "There is something about you that I find interesting. How far you can go depends entirely on your future choices, but at this moment, I think I can give you an opportunity."

"The food on the table over there hasn't been cleared away yet; you can ask them for a paper bag and then pack some food to take back to your family."

"Tomorrow morning... come to this place, and I will find something for you to do."

Lanse gave him a business card, "Can you read?"

"Of course, sir, of course!", he excitedly wiped his hands on his back again and again before carefully taking Lanse's business card with both hands, a flush appearing on his face, "How much food can I take?"

Lanse glanced at the table that was already empty of people, "As much as you can carry!"

(End of chapter)