Empire of Shadows

"You know how to brew wine?"

Nick nodded, not thinking there was anything to brag about. "We used to brew some wine for ourselves. They say that since my grandfather's grandfather, my family has been brewing wine."

The Imperials also have a tradition of brewing wine. Who could refuse a sip of their own brewed wine with a meal?

Grains, fruits, anything with a little starch will do.

Brewing wine is actually something that people in many regions do. Lance himself had heard the elders in another family talk about it.

Grains, wine yeast, and such.

He could even talk to you about distillation and condensation.

But if he really had to do it, he might not actually be able to.

Brewing wine is something that's easy to get started with, but difficult to do well. Lance had been considering whether to find a few winemakers, but Nick, who suddenly came to his door and owed him a favor, wasn't he the best candidate?

Of course, before that, he had to taste the wine that Nick and his family brewed themselves to see if it met his requirements.

"Is it still here?" Lance looked at Elvin, who nodded, "I put it in your office."

The group returned to Lance's office. Lance asked someone at the door to bring some food to go with the wine. When Elvin took out two bottles of wine from the cabinet, Lance whistled.

They were wrapped in a thin layer of butter paper, and you could see the shape of the wine bottles inside.

Lance gestured for Elvin to give him the wine. He peeled off the outer yellow greaseproof paper, revealing the bottles inside.

Pure white glass bottles, the color inside was slightly dark, rose red.

"Wine." When Lance looked at Nick, Nick explained, "Because grapes become very cheap towards the end of the grape season."

"At this time, our cost of winemaking is very low, and winemaking is not that complicated."

He gave a brief explanation. Lance looked at the bottom of the bottle. There were some sediments, mostly unfiltered pulp.

"Can we drink it now?"

"Of course."

Elvin brought the glasses. Lance pushed the cork of the bottle, squinting slightly. He still had some psychological burden, but fortunately, there wasn't too much gas inside.

With a "pop," the bottle cap was pushed out, and then the sweet aroma of wine began to fill the room.

It's just wine, not dry red or dry white, so… it's more like grape juice with an alcoholic flavor after fermentation!

But for alcoholics, they don't care if you're grape juice or wheat juice, as long as there's alcohol.

Lance poured a little into the glass, smelled it. The taste wasn't as strong as he had imagined, but it was still good. There was no rotten or decayed smell, so it should be drinkable.

He took a small sip. After a slightly sweet and sour taste, he could clearly taste the aroma and alcoholic taste produced by fermentation, which was not very strong.

But I have to say, the taste is actually not bad, considering this product as grape juice.

"What's its alcohol content?"

Nick also poured himself half a glass, took a sip, "About twelve degrees. It doesn't have a spicy taste, but anyone who underestimates it will pay the price!"

Sweet and sour wine with an alcohol content of twelve degrees, then this thing can definitely be called a girl killer.

The sweet and sour taste will make many young girls, including boys, unknowingly drink too much, causing them to overestimate their alcohol tolerance and pay the price.

Lance put down his glass, "Nick, I haven't asked yet, what do you do for a living?"

Nick seemed a little… embarrassed to open his mouth, "I'm an insurance salesman…"

Lance showed some surprise. Nick's embarrassment quickly turned into awkwardness, because insurance salesman is not a good job in the Federation.

Of course, it is also divided into two levels. If you can reach a higher level, such as a claims manager, then you can definitely make money, and according to the type of insurance you are responsible for, you can earn different amounts of commission.

Almost all insurance companies in the Federation are implementing a "rejection priority rule," that is, regardless of whether the insurance company needs to compensate the insured for insurance money, it is mainly based on rejection, even if you go to court.

If a claims manager successfully rejects a case worth 10,000 yuan in compensation, then he can receive about 500 to 1,500 yuan in rewards.

And the insurance company will increase his base salary according to the number of rejections he makes, and transfer him to more important insurance types to serve as a claims manager.

In the end, their destination is the company's senior partner, or even a board member.

But this does not include insurance salesmen. They are the bottom of the insurance company, doing the dirtiest and most tiring work, and still not making any money.

And, after the insurance company successfully rejects the claim, most policyholders do not directly go to the claims manager or the insurance company, but to the person who helped them buy insurance.

They earn the least money, but bear the most risk. Sometimes, if things get out of hand, the insurance company directly fires them, even cutting off the direct connection with the policyholder, so as to throw the trouble to the insurance salesman.

Lance felt a little surprised, "This is not a good job!"

Nick smiled, but said very helplessly, "I am an Imperial."

After hearing this, Lance restrained the faint smile on his face and nodded noncommittally, "Terrible society."

He paused, "Do you or your family members know how to brew beer or spirits?"

Nick thought for a while, "My father does."

He seemed to realize something, "Mr. Lance, do you… need us to help you brew wine?"

Lance did not deny it, "The price of alcohol is very high now, and it will only get higher and higher."

Nick was a little worried, "But now brewing wine…"

Lance smiled and spread his hands, "Do you think we're afraid?"

Thinking about what these people had done, Nick also smiled relaxedly.

This was a very interesting thing. Clearly, these people had just killed people and beaten those young people, but Nick wasn't afraid of Lance and Elvin, or anyone here at all.

He had a kind of inexplicable, from-the-inside-out sense of intimacy with the people here!

He didn't know why, maybe it was because they had helped himself, who urgently needed fairness and justice, or maybe it was because they never harmed ordinary people and innocent people.

Speaking of which, he had indeed never heard of them harming any innocent people, which was why he wasn't afraid.

"I'm not very good at brewing beer and spirits, but my father is. He will definitely be happy to serve you, Mr. Lance."

"But it has to wait until he recovers…"

Lance didn't force the old man to get up and work immediately, "Of course, health is more important than work, and we have plenty of time."

He said, looking at Nick, "Insurance salesman is not a good job, quit it. We will build some underground distilleries and hand them over to you to manage."

"You don't have to worry too much about the police, because every penny we earn, they have a share…"

Nick quickly took the news to the hospital. On his way, the matter of Lance helping Nick seek justice had already begun to spread widely.

Everyone felt that Lance and the Lance family were great, and this feeling was the first time it had arisen among them.

Although some people may still be hesitant and disbelieving, time will prove everything.

This action of the Lance family immediately shocked the vicious crimes in the Imperial District, and the remaining four idiots were also thrown to the gate of the police station—

A truck suddenly stopped at the entrance of the branch, and then they threw the four people out of the car.

It could be seen that these four people had suffered very painful lessons, and everyone was beaten with bruises and swollen faces.

When several policemen rushed out with weapons, the van was almost out of sight, and the four "victims" were happily vying to "surrender."

This credit that was delivered to his door made Bureau Chief Blue feel Lance's "goodwill." That afternoon, Bureau Chief Blue wrote a report on the "five people looting the store and shooting one person," and sent it to the city police bureau.

Chief Charlie also called him, praising him for doing a very good job in this matter. As for the gunman who accidentally died in a firefight with other gangs?

It doesn't really matter whether he died or not. What's important is that he "was caught," and they seized the gun used to injure people at the scene.

The public's fear was alleviated. Chief Charlie then embellished the report and sent it to the newspaper.

As a result, the news appeared on the front page of the City Life section of the third edition of the Golden Port Today the next day—

"Chief Charlie Personally Supervises, and the Branch Quickly Solves the Armed Robbery Case"

In this report, Chief Charlie issued a death order in a fit of rage, demanding that the branch quickly detect and arrest all suspects, appease the people in the jurisdiction, and give the people an explanation.

Bureau Chief Blue organized the elite forces as soon as possible, and joined forces with Detective Hunter, an expert from the city bureau's criminal investigation team, and completely solved the case in less than thirty-six hours.

And arrested all the suspects…

All the participants looked at the newspaper with smiles. Although it was only a small area, it was on the front page of the sub-edition and had their names on it.

After a few days of "actual combat," the newly joined rookies had begun to get used to their work and life.

Every day, they wore the same uniforms and roamed the streets. If they found someone committing a crime, they would rush over to stop the crime, arrest the suspect, and hand them over to the police.

This method of close cooperation between the police and the public was even known to the mayor. After understanding Lance's approach, he suddenly had some… attention towards this young man.

Because he was different from others!

For traditional gangs or families, if someone caused trouble on their territory and was caught, they would either be beaten up and released, or simply made to disappear, to deter those who tried to offend the gang or family.

Only by making them realize the cost was heavy would they be afraid.

But they would never cooperate with the police. Sending someone to the police station after a beating like this had never happened before.

Moreover, after passing through the hands of the Lance family, criminal suspects invariably obeyed and quickly confessed, accepting punishment.

This approach not only deterred random criminal behavior but also reduced the unstable factors circulating in society.

It had a more positive impact on society than simply beating them up or making them disappear!

He's an interesting and thoughtful young man.

But for the mayor, it was just a passing thought.

In just a few days, the residents of the Imperial District had become accustomed to these people with black clothes and red armbands and felt a sense of security.

After some small gangs and neighborhood families quieted down, Lance arranged for Elvin to take over the Camilla gang's businesses.

He himself came to the slightly decaying office.

Heller's office was long, or rather deep, with the length more than twice the width. A row of windows along the wall faced south. When the weather was good, sunlight would shine in through the rows of windows, illuminating half the room, giving the entire office a special atmosphere.

It had been almost half a month since anyone had cleaned here. The smell of dust, the stuffy air, and the scent of decaying wood mixed together, creating a sense of time settling.

He walked behind Heller's desk, sat in the fully enclosed chair, and spun around.

This would become his new office. As he was thinking about how to renovate it, footsteps sounded from outside the door. He looked towards the door and saw four people.

One was a young man of about twenty, but from his bearing, it was clear that he had a different status.

Of the other three, two were wearing suits with law firm badges on their collars. The other was a woman, also wearing a badge, but different from the two lawyers.

Some senior employees of law firms liked to wear their firm's badge on their collars to show their uniqueness.

This habit mainly appeared in some large firms, but not all of them.

"Mr. Lance, I am Olsen from Shengda Law Firm. This is my client, Mr. Eric."

"This is my colleague, and this lady will be the accountant of the Imperial Nightclub for the next period of time."

Lance got up to shake hands with this "Mr. Eric," but the other party turned around and went to the window to look at the scenery, not intending to save Lance any face.

Eric was the mayor's nephew, but some said he was actually the mayor's illegitimate son, born to his cousin's wife.

As for what the truth was, no one knew, and those who knew couldn't speak carelessly.

In this city, Eric had become a "lucky one." He could always take advantage, and with his special background and rumors, he had a natural arrogance.

He didn't even have the desire to talk to small characters like Lance. Perhaps only the leaders of the five major families and some well-known large gangs and families could make him more proactive.

Lawyer Olsen seemed to be used to this kind of scene and didn't care whether Lance was uncomfortable, because he knew that no matter who the other party was, in this city, as long as their status was not higher than the mayor, even if they were uncomfortable, they had to pretend to be comfortable.

Lawyer Olsen acted as if he hadn't seen anything, walked to the desk, took out some documents, and handed them to Lance, "My client acquired the property rights of these businesses through judicial auction, including this building and everything in it…"

Lance opened one of the documents and glanced at it. Sure enough, it had a strong federal flavor!

This young Mr. Eric bought this building, worth at least 50,000, and everything in it for twenty dollars.

Lance couldn't help but laugh and said, "The documents are very standard. It can be seen that they are legal and protected by law."

Lawyer Olsen knew what Lance was saying and didn't care at all. He even showed some arrogant smiles, "No one competed with us, so we won."

Who the hell would compete with the mayor?

Maybe someone would do that in a hundred years, but not now.

Lawyer Olsen took out a few other documents, "Here are some employee contracts that have been finalized for the Imperial Nightclub, including this lady next to me."

"Mr. Eric has hired you as the manager of the Imperial Nightclub and will give you a base salary of one dollar per month, plus 30% of the net profit."

"You only have the power to control people other than these employees. You cannot fire them or transfer them to other positions."

"If you think their professional skills do not meet your requirements for running the Imperial Nightclub, you can raise it with me, and I will consider whether to agree with some of your ideas."

"You can arrange about forty employees here, but before you do these things, I need a list of their identity information and how much money they can take away from here."

"A reminder, too much is not allowed!"

Lawyer Olsen took out the last letter of appointment, placed it on the table, and took out a beautiful pen, pointing to the signature column at the end and said, "Mr. Lance, sign here and you will become the manager here. This is a rare opportunity!"

When he said this, he gave Lance the feeling that this was his condescending reward.

Lance glanced at him, picked up the pen, and signed his name in the signature column. It wasn't time yet.

A few more smiles appeared on his face, "When do we start working?"

Olsen had seen many similar scenes, but rarely one where someone entered the "state" so quickly like Lance.

Most people were very reluctant and had to be forced to be honest after they used some means.

But this was also good, at least it showed that everything was under control.

"The weather in January is too cold, and there are no guests, so our idea is to complete its renovation before March 1st and then reopen."

Lance nodded slightly, "Then how much start-up capital do I have?"

Lawyer Olsen suddenly laughed, "Sorry."

He paused, "Your start-up capital depends on how much money you have…"

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The office’s general