Chapter 636: Supplier

After saying goodbye to Major General Chief Bulu, Lans went to Wei De's office.

The office was also rented by Lans, and since people knew the relationship between Wei De and Lans, no one stopped him along the way.

It wasn't until Lans pushed open the office door directly that Wei De's female secretary began to tidy up her skirt in a panic.

Wei De sat on his chair, somewhat at a loss. He looked at Lans, "I can explain."

Lans just frowned, then walked over to sit opposite him, signaling for the secretary to leave and to close the door.

"I can actually explain!" After the secretary left, Wei De emphasized once again that he could explain why his secretary was tidying her skirt in his office.

Lans rejected his idea of explaining, "I'm a man too. I have eyes. I know what you two were doing."

"I think the biggest problem right now isn't that you and she were flirting in the office, or going even further..."

Just as Wei De was about to "correct" Lans's words, Lans raised a finger to stop him, "I don't care if you're cheating, Wei De."

"But you need to be careful."

"It's me today, but what if it were someone else?"

"People know that a New Jincheng municipal councilor is messing around with his secretary in the office; your life will end right here."

"I have invested a lot in you, and what the Lawrence family has invested in you will all go down the drain."

"That is your biggest problem!"

"Next time, lock the door, or change to a different place."

"Don't let me catch you messing around in the office again!"

Emily was already showing; her belly had gradually grown larger. Because she was not young, the doctor advised against any sexual activity, even during the safe period.

In the event of an accidental miscarriage, it wouldn't just be the child in her belly that suffered, but she herself as well.

The Federation is one of the countries with the most advanced medical technology in the world, but even so, difficult births and accidental miscarriages still claim many lives every year.

At first, Emily would help Wei De resolve things with her hands or other methods, but she put a stop to this game, which involved watching others enjoy themselves while she gained no pleasure and felt uneasy.

Power is the most potent aphrodisiac in this world. Wei De had endless energy every day. He was already over forty; he couldn't rely on doing it himself at this age.

The secretary in the office had been teasing him constantly. Previously, with Emily helping him resolve his desires, he might not have been so sensitive.

But as his desires accumulated step by step, he now needed an outlet, and he began to notice small details he usually wouldn't.

From Wei De's perspective, his secretary was like a female dog in heat, sticking her butt out and wagging her tail. No matter the time or place, he only needed to stand in the right position.

Wei De felt his face heat up; after all, Lans was his son-in-law, but he didn't have the temper to lash out after being told this by Lans.

He could only nod, feeling somewhat depressed, "I won't mess around with her again."

Lans didn't seem to buy it, "So you plan to visit a prostitute?"

"If you're caught messing around with your secretary, people will only think you couldn't resist temptation."

"But if you're caught visiting a prostitute, not only do you have a moral problem, but you've also broken the law."

"Remember what I said: you can do what you want, but don't mess up your job and your image."

"If you lose those, you'll be worthless!"

As he spoke, Lans thought for a moment and gave him a number, "If you must spend money to resolve it, call this number. They will arrange everything for you."

Although the Lans family doesn't operate an escort business, some spontaneously formed escort companies are under their protection.

This era is like this, or rather, every era is like this: money is the standard for measuring everything.

Even if a woman stands up and becomes wealthy relying on her ability to take off her clothes, when she puts them back on, people might still have images of her naked in their minds, but at the very least, they will respectfully call her "Lady" to her face.

But for those women without money, no matter how noble their morals, there will still be people viciously calling them "bitches."

The reason truth is truth is that it never changes, no matter when.

Some people are willing to work twelve hours a day in Lans's factory, covered in sweat, earning forty-two dollars a month.

But there are also those who, without being forced, lie on a bed and spread their legs, earning forty-two dollars a day. This is their choice; Lans respects their choice and also protects them from being harmed.

The people responsible for managing this part will handle it well for Wei De; they also have high-end escorts.

Those young, beautiful girls will meet at an agreed-upon secret room; she will be blindfolded, or even wear a hood.

There is no communication during this process, and she cannot see who that person is.

After everything is over, the "agent" will take her away, and everything ends there.

It can't be said to be absolutely safe, but at least it's much safer than in the office.

Wei De put away the card. Although he said on the surface that he wouldn't do that, Lans was certain he would.

Some things only have zero times and countless times.

This is different from the socializing he did at the City Hall before; this is him taking the initiative.

Wei De had never felt time pass so slowly, or so agonizingly.

Even when he was sitting on the bench at City Hall before, he had never felt this painful.

Various methods of explanation and plans to deal with potential follow-up problems kept emerging in his mind, but they were shattered one by one, because he had indeed done some things he shouldn't have.

Lans looked at him and shook his head slightly, "Regarding this matter, one last piece of advice: don't let her get pregnant, and definitely don't let her try to give birth to the child."

"If she tries to do that, I will have people sink her into Angel Lake."

"You know, none of us will let your career path have an accident. If someone tries to destroy you, we will destroy them before they can destroy you."

This was his final warning. Once there is a child, many things will become complicated and irreversible.

Wei De nodded repeatedly; he knew how to handle it.

After moving past this embarrassing topic, Lans talked about some matters regarding the Lawrence Farm.

The Lawrence Farm is a relatively large farm in the entire Laizhou state. Coupled with the crops produced by the surrounding farms, which are also entrusted to the Lawrence Farm for sale, Lans has more advantages in material supply than others doing this.

Directly from the farm to the military camp, with no middleman to earn the price difference.

However, Wei De didn't know much about this, so he gave Lans a phone number—the number of his younger brother, Dean.

The "General Manager" of Lawrence Farm, specifically responsible for selling crops to surrounding cities and regions.

The two made an appointment to meet that evening.

The Harvest Festival is coming up soon, which is also the harvest season of the year. A large amount of crops will soon start to be harvested, and he must sell these crops as soon as possible.

Every day they sit in storage, the cost increases by a fraction. Selling them a day early not only avoids some storage risks but also earns a lot of money.

Afterwards, Lans didn't linger and left directly.

He actually didn't think this was a bad thing. Just as he told Wei De, what made him feel this was a "trouble" was that Wei De was so careless.

He hoped he could learn a lesson from this incident.

Later that evening, at Lans's villa, he met Dean.

After the two shook hands, they sat in the living room. After coffee was brought in, only the two of them remained.

Dean inevitably asked about Lans and Sai Lin Na's wedding plans. Actually, July or August is a good time for a wedding, but the end of the year isn't bad either.

The overall plan hasn't changed; in November or December, Lans will marry Sai Lin Na.

"I didn't really intend to hold a grand wedding, but it seems that's not possible," Lans said, feeling a bit helpless.

The Lawrence family alone is a large group of people; a "friends and family group" of over a hundred people will only make the scale of the wedding even larger.

If others aren't invited, those who aren't invited will feel a bit uncomfortable.

But if you invite one, you must invite another, to the point where this wedding might be the largest wedding in New Jincheng in recent years, bar none.

Dean was very interested in this. The grander the wedding between Lans and Sai Lin Na, the more positive the impact on the Lawrence family.

He asked curiously, "How many guests do you plan to invite?"

Lans wasn't quite sure for a moment and could only give a rough number, "Maybe one or two hundred people?"

"I don't know; this will need to be calculated when the time comes."

Dean sighed, "That must be an enviable wedding."

As long as one is human and lives in this society, one will be vain. Vanity is not an unforgivable sin; what cannot be forgiven are the worse things that arise because of vanity.

Chatting about family matters for a while dissipated much of the unfamiliarity between the two, and Lans also turned the topic to business.

"Have you heard about the garrison?"

Dean nodded, "Yes, I went to watch when the warships entered the port. It was spectacular!"

He picked up his coffee and took a sip, then sighed, "When I saw those giant cannons and warships, my mind went blank!"

"I simply don't know who could defeat such a powerful us. I feel proud to be a citizen of the Federation!"

Very good. A pure-blooded, non-extremist conservative landlord class heir—this is part of the mainstream group of the Federation, and his thoughts also represent the thoughts of the mainstream group.

That sense of pride emerged from his body without needing careful observation; it was everywhere.

Lans nodded, "Nearly one hundred thousand or even more naval personnel will live here. Their consumption of daily necessities is an astonishing figure."

Dean keenly captured the meaning in Lans's words, "You mean... their material supply?"

"Sorry, I don't know much about this. Shouldn't their supplies be provided by the Ministry of Defense?"

Lans nodded, "Military ordnance and ammunition are provided by the Ministry of Defense, but food and daily necessities are purchased locally."

"This is a big business!"

Dean also nodded in agreement, "Yes, at least a big business of millions every month!" His gaze was fixed on Lans, and Lans met his gaze.

After the two stared at each other for a while, Dean smiled and said, "Come on, Lans, we're our own people. Is there some good news waiting for me?"

"You know, you make me feel uneasy like this. I really want to know if that's what I want!"

Lans laughed, "Yes, I just talked to the naval garrison commander, and he plans to hand this part over to me."

"My God!" Dean was stunned!

As the general manager of the farm, he certainly knew how astonishing the profits from such official bulk procurement were. It could be said that by taking on this business, the scale and grade of Lawrence Farm could immediately be raised by a level!

"How did you do it?!"

He was still somewhat skeptical; Lanse did not tell him the truth, as the fewer people who knew about these things, the better. "In any case, I have taken on this matter. Can our farm handle the supply of these ingredients?"

Dean calmed down from his excitement. "I need to see their material requirements."

Lanse gave him a simple list containing the approximate supplies needed for each period, and he read through it very carefully.

"Basically, we have everything they need, and what we don't have ourselves, the surrounding farms also grow."

"I see their meal standard is ninety cents per person per day?"

His tone carried a sense of surprise; honestly, this meal standard was very high!

"If this meal standard gets out, many people will be even more interested in enlisting!"

Currently, the main group joining the military are illegal immigrants and refugees who want to obtain legal federal status, but if they knew the Navy's food was this good, it would certainly make their already high spirits even more fervent!

Lanse shook his head. "You can't look at it that way. You have to lower the standard to around fifty to sixty cents, not ninety."

He had done similar work in another world; if you don't give kickbacks, how can you get such a large order?

Of the ninety-cent standard meal for a soldier, only a little over half can actually be used on the soldier, and the rest is the benefit for General Miles.

But even so, fifty-five to sixty cents is still enough to let those people eat very well.

For example, the regulations state that every Navy soldier needs at least one pound of beef and two eggs every day, as well as a liter of milk.

A large amount of protein can help them maintain better physical condition during daily training.

Currently, the price of a pound of whole-cut steak is about twenty-five to thirty cents a pound; because of the war, the prices of all food are rising.

But the price of ground beef is only five or six cents a pound.

Beef patties made from ground beef are beef.

Whole-cut steak is also beef, but the price difference is ten to twenty cents.

Whole wheat bread is bread.

Refined wheat bread is also bread, and there is a difference of several cents here too.

Added to other things, there is still a very large profit margin in this.

In fact, besides food, soldiers' supplies also include candy, cigarettes, chocolate, chewing gum, and so on, but these already have unified suppliers, and Lanse cannot get his hands in.

The only thing he can get involved in is fresh ingredients.

Listening to Lanse's explanation, Dean frowned and calculated. "If calculated this way, our profit is only about ten to fifteen percent."

Lanse set a tone for him. "No more than ten percent. After all, they are right next to us; if any soldiers feel these are too terrible, we will have more trouble."

Dean nodded. "In that case... I don't think there's any problem."

"I need to go back and make a more specific cost estimate. Do I need to submit the cost estimate in the name of the company?"

The Procurement Act has methods regarding local procurement by the federal government and the military. To avoid power-for-money deals, every procurement requires at least one or more companies to participate in the bidding.

However, capitalists and politicians will not truly build a cage to lock power inside.

The Procurement Act stipulates that all bidding methods are conducted as blind bids; in other words, after they prepare the cost estimate, they seal it and submit it to the procurement department.

Then the procurement department announces whose price is more reasonable, as well as their final choice—yes, their choice, not the lowest price choice.

The department responsible for procurement has the final decision-making power. If the bidding enterprise is dissatisfied with the result, it can appeal to a higher department or even to Congress, but this is just a facade.

Enterprises that really need the Procurement Act don't even have a chance for fair competition, and for those enterprises regulated within the scope of the Procurement Act, it actually doesn't matter whether they exist or not.

From the very beginning, who can win the bid and who cannot has already been decided.

When it comes to corruption, the federal government's methods and innovations in corruption are absolutely world-class.

Lanse was a bit uncertain. He made a temporary call to Major General Chief Bulu, and the latter told him that it didn't need to be so troublesome.

Next month, the President will announce the entry into a pre-war state, and at that time, another set of special period regulations will be adopted, and the military will have decision-making power itself in some procurements.

So General Miles will directly designate Lanse or Lawrence Farm as the supplier to collectively supply ingredients for the entire Navy.

Dean attaches great importance to this business; the monthly sales are about 1.8 million, with a gross profit margin of eighteen percent, which is over 300,000.

It doesn't look like much, but what is precious is not this part of the profit, but the qualification!

The "qualification" and "experience" generated by supplying materials to the military are very important for bulk raw material suppliers!

Some enterprises are even willing to supply goods at zero profit just to obtain such a title.

With such a qualification, Lawrence Farm can participate more in government procurement activities in the future, which is something money cannot buy.

He drove back to the farm overnight. This Lawrence Farm is very loyal, and soon they had a complete plan to ensure the freshness and health of the food while also ensuring the price would not be outrageous.