A few days after payday, Lance’s several bars in the Empire District had begun operations.
Cheap sparkling wine and tropical fruit wine became new choices for people outside of beer and cheap whiskey. Moreover, the bars also offered an “upgrade” service.
This meant adding higher-proof alcohol to the drinks, at a price of fifteen cents per ounce.
It didn’t seem cheap, but with the landed cost of potato liquor being less than a dollar, just by using it as a supplement to increase the alcohol content, each bottle could be sold for about three dollars and fifty cents.
A profit of nearly double.
In reality, Lance could have charged more because the prices at other bars were not cheap, but right now was the stage of seizing the market, so he wouldn’t raise the prices.
And the concept of a “common man’s bar,” under his promotion, gradually began to spread among the drunks.
“Let everyone have a drink after work” was the slogan of these unnamed bars.
However, everyone knew who they belonged to and was very grateful to Mr. Lance for making the price of alcohol so low.
Even if it was just five cents cheaper, it was already enough to be irresistible for many drunks.
Not to mention, here, girls got in free, and every girl could get a free glass of tropical fruit wine.
Plus, Lance had told the girls that they didn’t have to worry about danger when spending time here. As long as they felt unsafe, they just had to tell the bartender or any bar staff, and they could spend the night in the bar.
Or the bar would arrange for someone to escort them to a location they designated.
This move was welcomed by many progressive girls who wanted to explore the nightlife. With more girls in the bars, it naturally followed that there would be more male customers.
This was a mutually reinforcing positive effect.
In the afternoon, he returned to the Empire of Night nightclub. No matter what, he was still the manager here. Before he even entered, he saw some people directing others to take away the gambling tables.
Lance was not involved in the matter of the gambling tables. The mayor probably felt that a small character like him was not yet qualified to negotiate with the Keda family and had entrusted Lawyer Orson with it all along.
It seemed the result of the negotiations was not very pleasant. The Kodak family was perhaps not afraid of the mayor, this “outsider.”
Lance watched the excitement for a while. After seeing them load the gambling tables and equipment onto a truck and drive away, he returned to his office and made a call to Lawyer Orson.
“This is the Grand Golden Port Law Firm, how may I help you?” a sweet girl’s voice came from the receiver, a very sweet one.
If one had to describe how sweet it was…
It was probably as sweet as the voice of a girl with golden hair in pigtails, a pretty face, a hot body, wearing a horizontally striped pink and white short t-shirt, sitting at a desk, saying it while biting on a lollipop.
Everyone loves a blonde girl!
“I’m looking for Lawyer Orson. This is Lance.”
The girl seemed to know who he was. “One moment, please don’t hang up.”
She pressed a hold button on the high-end telephone. This button would not let the operator mistake that the call had ended. While keeping the line connected, it prevented Lance from hearing any sound and didn’t stop her from continuing to use the phone.
She pressed another colored button, and the call connected quickly. Internal calls were always that fast.
“Mr. Orson, Mr. Lance would like to speak with you. He’s on line seven.”
“Got it, thank you. I’ll take his call.”
After hanging up, the girl went back to her own work. She didn’t need to do anything else. Lawyer Orson just had to connect to line seven to continue the call with Lance.
“Is something the matter?”
Soon, Lawyer Orson’s voice came through Lance’s receiver. “When I came in just now, I saw what looked like people from the Kodak family moving the gambling tables away. Should we stop them?”
Lawyer Orson leaned back. The back of his chair gave way noticeably, making it more comfortable for him to lean against.
“No, you don’t need to do anything. Let them take the things away.”
Lance fanned the flames, “Is there a law here that says we must get the Kodak family’s consent to open a casino?”
Hearing this, Lawyer Orson laughed a couple of times. “No… alright, Lance, I know you’re a bit dissatisfied with Eric’s decision.”
“It’s not just you who dislikes him, I dislike him too. But what can we do?”
“Just do your own job, and I’ll have Kailu give you a little compensation.”
“If there’s nothing else, then that’s all.”
“Alright, goodbye, Mr. Orson.”
“Goodbye, Lance.”
Soon, a staff member came over and asked Lance what to do with the emptied space. Lance told them to set up some private booths.
The Empire of Night nightclub also provided oral sex services, but the prices here were not cheap.
If a typical strip club represented the market mainstream, where a thirty-minute lap dance plus a final oral service cost around ten dollars, then here, the price started at fifteen and had no upper limit.
The quality of the girls here was better. Before this job, they would perform on stage as actors.
If a customer took a liking to one of them, they could ask a waiter if she could provide extra services.
If she didn’t object, she could go with the customer to a separate private booth.
Among these girls, immigrant descendants accounted for only about thirty percent; the rest were native Federation girls and local indigenous people.
In a society constantly being corroded by capital and vanity, many concepts were quietly changing. For example, Federation citizens used to hear about co-ed schools as if it were the most terrifying thing.
But now, it was the church-run all-girls schools that were becoming fewer and fewer.
Of course, after all that has been said, the core issue was still poverty.
Making money lying down was really the best choice for many girls who were unwilling to work and had no job opportunities.
As for the indigenous people, they had no choice but to do so.
The Federation government did not allow them to farm, to mine, to work legitimate jobs, or even to freely enter and exit the reservations.
The Federation people had many ways to force them, and the reason was ridiculous: it was for the sake of respect, and to ensure that the indigenous traditions would not be disturbed by civilization.
On one side was a hunting life no different from ancient times, and on the other was a bustling metropolis.
Almost all young indigenous people had no opportunity for education, which also meant they couldn’t possibly have good job opportunities.
Coupled with various manipulations, they seemed to have no way out.
Participating in criminal activities and selling their bodies became one of the few ways for young indigenous people to survive in the big cities, and to survive quite well at that.
People who are used to eating fine grains always want to gnaw on a few mouthfuls of coarse grains.
The ancestors stepped on their corpses and spat on them, and now the Federation’s customers ride on them and spit on them too, thick and viscous.
Elvin pushed open the door and saw Lance staring out the window. He walked over curiously and took a look as well. The gambling tables had all been moved away, and the other gambling equipment was still being loaded onto the truck.
“If the nightclub loses these few gambling tables, its income will take a big hit.”
Elvin had managed it for a period of time, so he knew very well that the nightclub’s income mainly came from two parts: drinks and the casino.
In the past, when drink prices were not high, the income mainly came from the casino and the girls, but now that drink prices had increased, the girls’ profitability had weakened a bit.
After losing the gambling tables, next month’s income might barely exceed ten thousand, at most around twelve or thirteen thousand.
Lance agreed with Elvin’s assessment. “That’s too little.”
Elvin didn’t react for a moment. “What?”
Lance watched as a few men picked up some scattered chips from the ground and threw them onto the truck. He turned around, sat back in his chair, “The drop in income is too little.”
“Our bars will definitely have a huge impact on their bars, but it’s impossible to steal all their customers in a short time.”
“This month, the bars plus the nightclub provided the mayor with an income of at least forty to fifty thousand.”
“Even if the casino is gone and alcohol sales decrease, cut it by half, he still has an income of over twenty thousand a month.”
“It looks like it’s been halved, but he still has this much, so I say, it’s too little.”
“We need to find a way to make his income even lower.”
Elvin looked at Lance with a blank expression, seemingly not understanding his reasons for doing so. Lance explained, “If the income from the Empire District remains high, he will keep his eyes on the business here.”
“Only by making him feel that there’s no money to be made here will he look away.”
“Besides, if the income doesn’t decrease, Eric will come to collect money every month, and there will be money every time. That way, we can’t get him into trouble.”
Elvin gradually began to understand. “You mean…”
Regardless of whether he had truly grasped it, Lance tilted his chin slightly, “We need to help him chase that actress or whatever, find a way to make him spend more money, and then get him to reopen the casino.”
“I remember Kent still had some gambling tables and equipment confiscated by the police department, right?”
Kent was Will’s younger brother, the unlucky guy who was “stuffed to death.” His casino still had several gambling tables and corresponding equipment.
After Kent’s death was discovered, this equipment was naturally confiscated.
He didn’t have a license, so it was considered illegal business property. Those things should still be piled up in the police station.
Elvin nodded, “I think so.”
Lance took out his cigarette case, tossed one to Elvin, and lit one for himself. “Go to the old tailor’s, get a few decent suits for Morris, and have him find a way to investigate Eric’s behavior recently.”
“See if there’s a chance to create a conflict between him and his other competitors, or find a way to help him spend more money.”
“This kind of guy, who’s clearly not very bright, should be easy to deal with!”
Elvin stood up, “I’ll get right on it.”
After he left, Lance picked up the phone and dialed the number for the Empire District Police Precinct Chief’s office. Precinct Chief Bruce answered, “This is Bruce at the Empire District Precinct…”
People who could call his desk directly were either his superiors, whom he couldn’t afford to offend.
Or they were his “benefactors,” whom he had to serve carefully, so he kept his attitude very humble.
“It’s Lance, Bruce.”
“You scared me, Lance. I thought some big shot was dissatisfied with me.”
Lance picked up on something. “What happened?”
Bruce seemed to have an urge to vent. “Sigh, how should I put it?”
“A group of more powerful masters came over to do some public opinion poll. City Hall demanded that we make the streets look prettier and also pay attention to preventing any criminal activities.”
“Thanks to you, Lance, otherwise we would definitely be swamped. But even so, out of the more than three hundred people in the entire precinct, only less than twenty were left behind. The rest were all sent out on patrol!”
“These damn bureaucrats, they have no idea how much pressure and expense this adds for us!”
Policing has always had its costs, but many people either didn’t seem to know this or simply ignored it.
As Bruce complained, Lance roughly understood the cause of the matter. The Likalai State Socialist Party representatives were going to conduct a public opinion survey in Golden Port during this period.
This was what the federal political parties loved to do. After all, for politicians, “public opinion” and “approval ratings” were as important as their two balls. If they couldn’t feel them anytime, anywhere, they would feel severely anxious!
For a minor character like Precinct Chief Bruce, his party affiliation wasn’t actually that important to him.
“By the way, after all this talk, was there something you called about?”
After venting his emotions, Precinct Chief Bruce felt that his relationship with Lance had grown closer. After all, Lance had patiently listened to him complain. You have to know, in the Federation, apart from psychologists, other people would tell you to shut up the moment you opened your mouth.
“In the Kent case, a batch of gambling tables and equipment was seized by your precinct. Are these items still there?”
“Wait a moment…” The sound of Chief Bruce covering the mouthpiece followed by a roar, and some rustling noises, came from the receiver.
After about four or five minutes, the slightly harsh “pop” sound from his palm leaving the mouthpiece due to the pressure change ended, and the voice returned to normal.
“The things are still here. It seems this case hasn’t been closed yet. Do you need these things?”
Selling off evidence was a tradition in the federal police departments. Let alone a few gambling tables, they even dared to sell contraband by the kilogram to those bad guys!
Hearing that the items were still there, Lance smiled a little more.
It might seem easy to open a casino, but in reality, it wasn’t simple. The two most troublesome things were the dealers and the gambling tables and equipment.
Dealers could be found from out of town, but getting gambling equipment and tables from out of town would also be very troublesome.
And the local casinos were almost all monitored by the Kodak family. Occasionally, there were some small-time operations, but as long as they didn’t blatantly challenge them and didn’t scale up, they would also turn a blind eye.
Some said that the Kodak family had a stake in the local gambling table and equipment business, so buying from them meant exposing yourself.
“Of course. Keep them for me. Actually, you don’t have to worry too much about this case, because the person who reported it is also dead.”
Bruce didn’t react at first. “What?”
“Well, that’s terrible. Who reported the case?”
“Will.”
“…”
“Alright, that is indeed the case,” he paused. “When are you coming to get them?”
“End of the month, into next month.”
Lance once again mentioned the Empire District Precinct’s dart competition, which made Bruce’s mood soar. “I have an idea. Besides our dart competition, could we perhaps organize a city-wide police get-together or something?”
“You take the lead.”
Originally, Precinct Chief Bruce didn’t want to answer, but when Lance suggested he take the lead, he felt it wasn’t impossible.
“I’ll think about it. This involves over ten thousand police officers in the entire city.”
“No problem. You can also discuss it with others. Those big shots never show consideration for us little characters.”
“No one will care about us except ourselves.”
“I’ll wait for your good news!”
After hanging up, Precinct Chief Bruce knew what Lance meant. He wanted to get to know more police officers in Golden Port.
Logically, he shouldn’t stand in the way, as it was Lance’s business. But he also knew that once Lance got to know more police officers, he might not be as valued as he was now.
He also had his own selfish motives. A stable extra income of a thousand dollars a month, plus being valued—who would be willing to give that up.
But if he were to take the lead in this matter, the meaning would be different. Everyone who benefited from it would owe him a favor, and this would definitely be a huge help for his promotion.
But… if he really took the lead, he would have to face Chief Charlie’s wrath. After all, the Hound of the Bay Area was just old, not dead.
Given his status in the eyes of those big shots in high society, Bruce felt he might not be able to withstand it.
But… if he gave up, he would feel somewhat unwilling. He was very conflicted.
Just as Precinct Chief Bruce was conflicted about whether to risk offending Chief Charlie to gain the support of the majority of the police officers, or to give up this opportunity, William (Patricia’s father) could no longer sit still.
“I want to resign!” He placed his resignation letter on his supervisor’s desk.
As a civil servant, resigning on one’s own initiative was also a very incredible thing in the Federation, and William was a member of the City Hall office.
This almost meant that in his position as a low-level civil servant, he had reached an upper-middle level.
Going any higher was no longer achievable through personal ability alone. He had absolutely no reason to resign.
After his supervisor finished reading the resignation letter, he was a bit… surprised. “You’re going to run for city councilman?”
Running for city councilman was something that would be exposed sooner or later. Hiding it was not as good as openly revealing it; it would actually build momentum.
He nodded, “I’ve been in the office for twenty years, and lately I’ve wanted to get out. I’m not young anymore, and while I still have the strength, I want to give it a try.”
The supervisor did not try to keep him. He put the resignation letter in the drawer, because when William decided to run for city councilman, it meant he must have received backing.
Trying to keep him at this time would not make William think well of him; instead, it would make him look like a clown.
“When you need me, give me a call. We’ve been colleagues for so many years, I will support you.”
Before the results were out, the supervisor didn’t mind saying a few nice words. What if he succeeded?
The situation with the Socialist Party was a bit delicate right now. Voters in some places were turning against them. William might not be without a chance.
“Which district are you planning to run in?”
“The Empire District!”
(End of this chapter)