One look at the cigar in Lance’s hand and you knew it wasn’t cheap. The metal case made it clear to anyone at a glance that it was expensive.
At the very least, those cigars that cost a few dollars wouldn’t necessarily come with a separate metal, and possibly gold-plated, tube, but this one did.
Carl had never smoked a cigar before. He nodded with some interest, “Of course, sir.”
Lance opened the cigar tube, took out a cutter, and trimmed it in front of him, explaining why he was doing so.
Next, he took out a special lighter, toasted the foot of the cigar for a while, and then handed it to Carl. “Give it a try, small puffs first.”
Carl was a little excited. Young men are always very excited about things they have never experienced but longed for, and that are now in their hands, because those were their former dreams, the life they pursued.
Just like the girl lying in bed wrapped in a sheet telling you she won’t go out at night, or the cigar in his hand that represented status and position.
His hand was trembling slightly. After taking the cigar, the smile on his face couldn’t be stopped. He took a small puff, and then felt like someone had punched him!
He coughed violently. He had tried to inhale the smoke from the cigar into his lungs.
The excessive nicotine had given his throat a hard punch!
Just one puff, and his voice was hoarse!
He coughed violently, unable to straighten his back.
After a while, he was obviously a little better. The moisture in his eyes let Lance know that he had not been at ease just now.
“Cigars are not meant to be inhaled. Let the smoke swirl in your mouth for a while, use your tongue to move it around.”
“You can feel some unique flavors gradually filling your mouth, changing slowly, and then spit it all out!”
“Just like this!” While he was coughing, Lance had also lit a cigar for himself. He took a puff and gave a demonstration.
Then he exhaled it very easily, looking extremely elegant!
“This is my first time smoking a cigar, Mr. Lance,” Carl explained, his voice still a little hoarse. He looked at the cigar with some trepidation and took another small puff.
This time he did not inhale it into his lungs, but learned from Lance’s example, letting more smoke swirl in his mouth, clinging to the oral mucosa.
He gradually felt a very interesting sensation. First, a clear nutty flavor appeared in his mouth, along with a hint of milk, but it quickly transformed into a flavor he couldn’t name, but it was obviously something like a certain fruit, and there was also a hint of whiskey.
It was magical!
He learned from Lance and slowly exhaled, making himself look a little more elegant.
And his actions made Lance unable to help but laugh out loud, because at this moment, Carl looked like a little monkey who was learning human behavior!
“Did I do something wrong?” Carl was a little at a loss. He didn’t know why Lance would laugh out loud.
Lance shook his head. “No, you didn’t do anything wrong. I just find it very interesting. I saw something stronger in you than in Boni.”
“The desire for a better life, the pursuit of wealth and power.”
Lance paused for a moment. “You don’t have to finish the cigar all at once. When you feel you’ve had enough, you can put it out and put it in this tube to save it.”
“The next time you need it, take it out and light it again.”
Lance handed over the original metal cigar tube, along with some other things.
“Do you know how much a cigar in your hand costs?” he asked.
To stimulate a person’s ambition and desire, the best way is to first let them touch some of it.
This is like a woman. If a woman does not give a man any color, the man will not let his imagination run wild.
But if she winks, or even gives a little benefit, then the man will have an illusion that this woman likes me.
Power is the same. If you don’t let a person who has never enjoyed it enjoy the pleasure of power and wealth, they will not be so desperate to want to have these things!
Carl shook his head. “I don’t know, Mr. Lance.”
“Fifteen dollars, Carl.”
Carl’s eyes widened. He looked down at the cigar in his hand, unable to imagine that its price was so high!
So high that a local worker in the Federation, after working hard for a month, could only afford three!
“This one puff of mine… how much money did I just blow away?”
He was shocked by the luxury of Lance’s life. He took another taste. The experience, which was completely different from smoking a cigarette, intoxicated him.
The stronger nicotine was absorbed faster through the mucous membrane and entered the circulatory system to take effect. He was a little dizzy, but he didn’t hate this feeling. On the contrary, he liked it very much.
After Lance helped him extinguish the cigar, he tightened the cigar tube and threw it to him. “Put it away. Our break time is over. Now you can continue to tell your story.”
If before this, Carl might have had a trace of hesitation in his heart, then at this moment, he had no hesitation at all.
This was the life he wanted, with a cigar that cost a dozen or so dollars casually placed in a drawer, instead of working hard all day with his ass in the air, only to earn a few dozen cents of so-called hard-earned money that could put his mind at ease.
He didn’t want that kind of life!
“Mr. Lance, it’s like this…”
He recounted everything that had happened yesterday in detail. Lance was a little surprised by this Mr. Hope’s ambition and execution ability.
He was thinking, thinking about whether he could get anything from this matter, or if he might lose anything.
After Carl finished speaking, he closed his mouth and sat quietly. He even slowed down his breathing, for fear of disturbing Lance’s thoughts.
After a long while, there was a slight change in Lance’s expression. He looked at Carl with a smile. “You are different from Boni.”
“There wasn’t any of this in his story.”
Carl nodded. “Boni thinks Hope is a good person. Everything he did was to make people like us, the refugees, live a better life.”
Lance asked, “And you?”
This was actually a relatively complex and important question. Carl also had a faint feeling in his heart that if he could answer this question well, he could go further.
More than ten seconds later, his heart was pounding violently. He tried his best to make himself look normal. “Mr. Lance, if I were richer than him, then I would definitely be able to do better than him.”
“I can personally go and help more refugees, without asking for anything in return. I will help others more cleanly than him, not with a purpose!”
Lance was a little surprised by Carl’s very spiritual answer. He thought for a moment and nodded. “You’ve given me a new understanding of you. I’m starting to look forward to your future.”
“Carl, the road of life is always tortuous, full of bumps, hardships, traps, everything that wants you to stop, to hinder you.”
“A difficulty is not necessarily to make you fall. Overcoming a difficulty is not necessarily as simple as getting up after you fall.”
“It will appear in various ways on the road to your ideal. Everything that makes you stop is your difficulty, and you have to overcome it.”
“Boni is a good kid. His demands on himself are the difficulty on his path to his ideal.”
“The bad thing is, he couldn’t overcome the difficulty, so he stayed there, stayed on the road to his ideal.”
“It’s a pity that I can’t see him at the final station of the ideal, but I hope you will be there.”
Lance raised his chin slightly. “From now on, you will replace Boni’s position.”
“In the future, you will be the boss of your group. And if you have any problems, you can come to me, and I will also give you support.”
“As for Boni…”
Lance shook his head. “He fell, and he can’t get up. And we can’t help him. Just let him stay there.”
“Don’t be affected by him, and don’t disturb him.”
As Lance spoke, he began to give him a new task. “You can help me find out about Hope’s matter, where he lives and the like, but you don’t need to interfere too much.”
“Because you have a new job!”
Carl became serious. He firmly remembered Lance’s words in his mind. “You may speak.”
“I hear that many of your women over there are working as prostitutes?”
This question made Carl a little embarrassed, but he still nodded. “Yes, it’s a common phenomenon.”
“Prostitution has no technical threshold, and it makes money quickly.”
Lance’s fingers tapped gently on the table. “The naval base over there will soon welcome the naval soldiers. You know, they are all young men like you. Most of them are stronger than you and older.”
“Their demand for sex is very strong. This is a big business.”
“I plan to leave it to you.”
Carl was stunned for a moment, but he quickly agreed. “No problem, Boss.”
He tentatively called out “Boss.” Lance did not object, as if he had not heard.
But this also made Carl very happy. He felt that he had been accepted.
“Don’t force those poor women. You go and tell them the real situation. The soldiers of the Federation need them. Each time they can get at least one dollar.”
“No one will bully them, no one will not pay. If there is trouble, I will solve it.”
“We temporarily need…” he thought for a moment, “five hundred people.”
“Can you help me solve this problem?”
“Carl?”
Carl clenched his fists. “Just watch me!”
Lance was very satisfied with his drive. He might lack some of Boni’s noble qualities, but he would definitely be able to go further than Boni.
Because even if he fell, he could quickly get up, instead of lying there and not being able to get up.
“Go to Mr. Mello’s side to get the funds for this work. Can you use a handgun?”
Carl quickly nodded. “I know a little.”
“Go and get another handgun. Protect your own safety.”
“Carl, remember what I said.”
“I hope to see you again at the end of your ideal!”
(End of a Chapter)