The first time he came here, the more well-off Imperial immigrants merely watched Lance from a distance, commenting on the arrival of a stranger.
The second time he came, people still didn’t recognize him, but seeing that Mr. Jobav would chat with him, some people would smile and nod in greeting.
The third time he came, some people could already call out his name, mainly due to Mr. Bolton’s publicity.
A new immigrant driving a car could give him a sense of comfort, like “this is my friend, so respecting him is respecting me.”
Until now, people had begun calling him “Mr. Lance,” even though his age was similar to that of their children in the eyes of these middle-aged people.
But they were so respectful, even with a hint of awe.
They hadn’t heard any bad rumors about Lance. The stories of him helping peers earn money and taking care of some illegal immigrants had spread throughout the Imperial immigrant community.
The impact of Will’s death might be evident here—
His death made more people curious about Lance, wanting to understand him.
The more they understood, the more they would discover that he was an upright, excellent, and virtuous Imperial citizen, which was why people respected him so much.
After dealing with many Imperial immigrants who proactively came to greet him and chat, Lance finally noticed Mr. Jobav, who was standing nearby chatting with others, and his expressionless assistant.
Perhaps because neither of them left a negative impression on their last meeting, Mr. Jobav proactively walked over and shook his hand.
As they shook hands, Mr. Jobav stepped slightly forward, leaning in and speaking in a low voice only audible to the two of them, “Remarkable deeds, I heard about Will’s matter.”
Lance simply smiled, neither admitting nor denying it.
If he were to deny to ordinary people that he didn’t do it, they might become suspicious, doubting Lance was lying while also doubting he wasn’t.
This cause and phenomenon occurred because ordinary people had limited access to information, and they couldn’t synthesize information obtained through multiple channels for comprehensive analysis.
In a situation with a single channel, unless they were 100% certain, they would inevitably lose their judgment.
But Mr. Jobav was different; he had many channels to know what happened that night, so Lance didn’t directly deny it, but he also didn’t admit it.
Never admit to having done anything wrong was also one of his experiences.
Seeing Lance rising like a new sun, Mr. Jobav felt a sigh of his own aging within!
“I heard you’re doing well at the docks.”
Lance looked at his eyes with some surprise. An immigrant banker shouldn’t really be paying attention to matters at the docks; it was a bit strange.
It was like the presidents of large banks, who would only discuss recent financial issues with you, instead of telling you that the factory assembly line’s belt was a bit loose lately.
Lance didn’t know what he wanted to do, so he could only start with something uninformative and insubstantial. “Actually, it’s not that easy to do.”
“You’re too modest, Lance. We’ve all seen what you’ve done. You’re a very special young man.”
“What are your plans next?”
Lance thought for two seconds. “I plan to resolve a portion of the debt package you gave me first.”
This answer was unexpected by Mr. Jobav. He paused for a moment. “Indeed, that’s also a serious matter.”
He suddenly didn’t know how to talk to Lance. In fact, his presence here was also for some tasks.
To gain a higher position in the mayor’s faction, he had to demonstrate more value than others.
He heard that Lance was doing well at the docks, and many dockworkers were associating with him. He had also provided uniform work clothes for the Imperial immigrants.
This might seem like nothing special to others, but for Mr. Jobav now, his mindset had begun to change.
These workers, their influence, and the most crucial port link in Golden Port City—this was political power!
And what he lacked now was political power.
How to make Lance’s power his own was a bit tricky for Mr. Jobav, because this was not an ordinary young man.
Of course, he also didn’t think this was harming Lance; after all, his “boss” above him was the city’s biggest “chief.”
Recruiting Lance would only benefit him, not harm him.
As for whether Lance would be willing?
He thought Lance would definitely be willing; he had only obtained this kind of opportunity after paying hundreds of thousands.
And now Lance could get it without paying anything.
Mr. Jobav quickly changed his approach to open the conversation. “They all say workers are hard to manage, but I see you seem to handle them very easily. Do you have any tricks?”
If Lance hadn’t been vigilant, this would have been an ordinary conversation, but he was vigilant. No matter what Mr. Jobav said, he felt the other party had ulterior motives.
When you question a person or a matter, unless that person dies or that matter completely falls apart, it’s hard not to keep suspecting them.
Lance smiled and replied, “You treat them as people, not as mules, and they’re easy to manage.”
“But if you only treat them as mules, then they’ll be the worst-tempered mules.”
Mr. Jobav also sensed Lance’s defensiveness. Although he didn’t understand why, he knew that it wasn’t appropriate to continue discussing these topics at that moment.
He proactively ended the topic. “It sounds ordinary, but it’s very wise words, worth our consideration…”
Lance changed the subject. “What’s wrong with your assistant?”
“Every time I see him, he always seems very happy. This is the first time he’s looked so serious today.”
Mr. Jobav offered Lance a cigarette, signaling them to move to the edge of the crowd to talk.
The two walked out of the crowd, lit their cigarettes, and Mr. Jobav said, “His nephew was killed.”
Lance was a bit surprised. Although Mr. Jobav was very cowardly, he was still a rich man.
“Was he robbed?”
“And then he didn’t give the other party his wallet, so he was accidentally killed?”
This was the only thing he could think of, but Mr. Jobav shook his head. “It’s a long story. In short, he ran into some trouble, offended some people, and then was retaliated against.”
Lance looked back into his eyes. “Didn’t you report it to the police?”
“I know Officer Lukar from the City Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Unit. He’s a very responsible person. If the investigating officer isn’t very clever, you can go to him and say I introduced you; he’ll do his best to help you.”
Lance was quite happy to give his watchful old friend something to do.
However, Mr. Jobav’s next words made him realize that this matter was not simple, and he didn’t want to discuss it further.
“This matter ends here. Everything is in the past. We don’t want any more complications.”
Lance didn’t reply, just sighed.
The two stood together in silence for more than ten seconds. Lance then pointed towards the younger crowd. “Help me tell him that I hope he can bear his grief. I’m going over there now.”
Mr. Jobav glanced at where the young people were gathered and immediately stepped aside. “Of course, thank you for your condolences. I’ll tell him.”
He extended his hand and shook Lance’s. “See you next week.”
“See you next week!”
After leaving Mr. Jobav, he returned to the younger group. Rob and Selena seemed to be arguing again, away from the crowd, while Ennio and Morris were surrounded by others.
They were wearing the custom-made clothes Lance had provided, which were highly recognizable. Coupled with their slicked-back hair and hats, they looked very spirited and had an undefinable aura about them.
They were all curious about Ennio and their current lives. After all, they were the first group of people to “work” with Lance, and everyone wanted to know how much money Ennio and the others were making and what kind of work they were doing.
But regardless, just the clothes they were wearing already made many people envious.
Gerard’s cousin, Nancy, saw Lance approaching and actively walked up to him. “Where’s Gerard?” Gerard had told Lance that Mr. Bolton’s family were not good people. Mr. Bolton always demanded to manage the money he earned as an uncle.
Rob (Gerard’s cousin, Mr. Bolton’s son) constantly borrowed money from Gerard and never repaid it.
Nancy sometimes borrowed money too, but more often she would order Gerard to do chores around the house, making him do everything.
The family seemed to have found a servant who earned them money and was obedient.
Now that Gerard had suddenly left, the family, who had grown accustomed to that comfortable life, was a little unsettled.
Especially Nancy; she hadn’t done housework herself for months, and now that Gerard was gone, all the chores piled up on her, and she couldn’t stand it.
“He didn’t come.”
“Why didn’t he come?” Nancy’s gaze fell on Lance, finding him exceptionally handsome today.
“Because he doesn’t like you!” Now he wasn’t so handsome.
She looked at Lance angrily. Lance bypassed her and walked into the middle of the young people, who all greeted Lance very actively and enthusiastically.
If the enthusiasm of the middle-aged people for Lance was still limited to “he can help us solve some problems,” then the enthusiasm of the young people for Lance came entirely from “we can also become one of them.”
Ennio and Morris, and their group, were all examples.
What kind of life did they live in the past?
Ennio relied on helping young people, and even some younger ones, retaliate against those who bullied them, gaining some… financial assistance.
Morris ran around all day, buying things for the gamblers at the casino, making a little money to spend.
His father was a pure gambling addict; he wouldn’t leave much money for him at home.
The others were pretty much the same.
But look now, every one of them is wearing expensive clothes, smoking forty-nine-cent packs of cigarettes, and even carrying paper money in their pockets!
This was the damn Federation dream!
For these young people, nothing was more appealing than this!
“Lance, I want to follow you too!” someone proactively said what was on their mind, and others echoed.
Lance smiled and raised his hand to quiet them. Nancy, though angry, also stood at the edge of the crowd.
Rob and Selena’s argument stopped due to Lance’s arrival. They moved slightly closer, wanting to hear what Lance would say.
“I’m not against you coming to start a business with me, but are you really prepared, and is this truly the path you should take?”
“We need to think it through before making a decision, rather than making impulsive decisions that will lead to inevitable regret.”
He walked over to Ennio, pointed to his arm, and said, “Last month his arm was broken and hasn’t healed yet. It still hurts, and it hurts more when it rains.”
“You only saw him wearing nice clothes and feeling a bit distant from you, but you didn’t think about what he paid for it.”
“We are all the same; if we are unlucky, we will be beaten, injured, lose hands and feet. Are you prepared for that?”
These words made the eagerly signing up teenagers fall silent.
Lance looked at them and continued, “If you really want to follow me and don’t mind the danger, then we still need to consider one thing: Is this the most suitable method?”
“Some of you are still in school, in high school. If you can study hard and go to college, not only can you bring about changes in your own lives and destinies, but you can also provide me with more help.”
“Become a lawyer, become a doctor, or even become a judge!”
Someone suddenly said, “But we don’t have money for college!”
Lance looked at the speaker, who was short, a bit thin, and wearing glasses. He stood at the edge of the crowd. “If you can get into college, I’ll lend you the tuition. You can work for me to pay off this debt after you graduate!”
The short man with glasses suddenly showed a surprised expression, but at the same time, he was somewhat uncertain. “College costs a lot of money!”
Tuition fees for college during this period were three hundred and fifty dollars, which might not sound like a lot?
But judging by the current average family income in the Federation, saving fifteen dollars a month was already considered living frugally.
Three hundred and fifty dollars, nearly two years of savings, it was unlikely for ordinary people to be able to afford that much money.
Moreover, this was just tuition fees. There were also various textbook fees, teaching material fees, extracurricular material fees… these all had to be purchased by the students themselves, and this part of the expenditure was far higher than the tuition fees.
Although publishers in the Federation at this time had not yet pushed for legislation to restrict college students from buying or renting textbooks and various books from others, many students couldn’t afford them when faced with elementary books costing several dollars and intermediate to advanced books costing dozens or even hundreds of dollars.
The Federal government and society had always praised their education as being world-leading, citing how many world-shocking inventions they had, but for those being educated, it was not a good experience.
When a student who already needed loans to go to college arrived at school, their mentor would tell them they also needed to spend dozens of dollars to buy various textbooks and supplementary materials, which was a heavy blow for most students who relied on loans to attend school!
Even renting cost twenty to thirty dollars per semester, totaling sixty to seventy dollars a year.
And as the grade level increased, this expense would increase even more.
This short guy clearly knew the heavy costs of college. Lance pointed at him, “All expenses are on me, but only for law, chemistry, and medicine majors.”
“If you can get into a prestigious Alliance university, no matter what your major is, all expenses will be covered by me, and there will be additional financial support!”
The short guy was overjoyed. “Are you a man of your word?”
Lance took off his hat and tidied his hair. “No one is more of a man than I am!”
This news quickly spread through the crowd. Among the middle-aged people, Mr. Jobav was stunned when he heard it. Why hadn’t he thought of this before?
Sponsor more Imperial immigrants to go to college, to good colleges, and use them to weave a closer network of relationships.
Especially Alliance universities; they would become alumni with descendants of Federal celebrities, naturally possessing more advantages.
And these advantages could all be used by him!
He glanced at Lance, who was in high spirits among the young people, and his perception of him changed once again.
If before he still somewhat thought, “This is an interesting young man,” now, Lance was an equal in his eyes.
Both socially and psychologically, he could no longer look down on him.
And what made him feel a bit troubled was that he couldn’t, even in the short term, say the same words!
This would make people think he was doing it for ulterior motives or trying to curry favor.
Only after some time could he do this through other methods, such as establishing a scholarship program.
Lance didn’t know that so much content had passed through Mr. Jobav’s mind in such a short time, otherwise he would have been curious why he could think so much and still lose so badly.
After solving the short guy’s problem, many people looked at him with fervent eyes. For some, there was hope for college; the biggest obstacle, poverty, had been kicked away by Lance.
Another group, seeing Lance’s demeanor, genuinely thought he was cool and wanted to become his friend, brother, or family.
As they were leaving, Mr. Bolton, using the excuse of “sending Lance off,” actively stayed by his side.
Coincidentally, Lance really needed him at this moment.
“Mr. Bolton, I happen to have something that needs your help,” Lance called out to him after leaving the St. Nayer Cathedral lawn and reaching the parking lot.
Mr. Bolton seemed very happy, holding his hat in both hands. “I’m willing to serve you, Lance, so what should I do?”
Lance gave him a cigarette. “Help me spread the word in more Imperial communities that if their children can go to college, I’ll cover the tuition. If they can get into an Alliance institution, there will be additional financial support.”
He pulled twenty dollars from his pocket, holding it between his index and middle fingers.
Mr. Bolton’s breathing paused for a few seconds when he saw it. He tried to pull it, but it didn’t budge.
He immediately realized that what he needed was a statement of intent!
“Of course, no problem, Lance…”
“Mr. Lance!” Lance corrected him.
Mr. Bolton didn’t hesitate at all. “Of course, no problem at all, Mr. Lance, I guarantee that the most people will know about this in the shortest amount of time!”
Hearing his declaration, which was at least 120% out of 100%, Lance pulled out another ten dollars, and together with the twenty dollars, put them into his chest pocket. Lance even thoughtfully flattened the pocket for him: “I’ll be waiting for your good news, Mr. Bolton!”