Empire of Shadows

The second day of the Harvest Festival, Governor Terry left early in the morning by car. He still had a lot of things to do and couldn’t stay here for too long.

However, he and the three old men had already agreed on one thing—

He would adopt a beautiful filly, and raise it here.

The reason it was a beautiful ”filly” was that if it were a colt, he couldn’t raise it from a young age. If he tried to ride it halfway, it might cause some danger.

Horses are very intelligent animals. Scientists say these horses have the same IQ as a small child.

Of course, their IQ is not like a child’s, used to understand society, or even to learn how to read and write. Their IQ just gives them a mischievous mindset similar to a child’s.

Maybe you are riding just fine, and it suddenly feels that you look a bit annoying, and directly throws you off.

If the person riding the horse was just an ordinary person, then falling off is just falling off. Maybe he is not even as valuable as the colt under him.

But Terry is a governor. If a governor falls from a horse and is seriously injured, this is a political incident!

A filly doesn’t have so many worries. Docility is always a characteristic of a filly. Lance’s horse is also a filly. He can’t ride a colt, nor can he be a real knight.In short, the Harvest Festival celebration at the Lawrence Farm had left a deep impression on Governor Terry. He had come to like this place, with its simple and honest folk customs.

Perhaps the more complex a person is, the more they like simple things. He said that if he had time, he would come here again as a guest, to ride horses, to hunt, and to kill some time.

Mayor Williams and James had left a day later. During this time, Mayor Williams had actually taken James to do farm work!

This was simply unimaginable, and it had made Mayor Williams extremely tired!

However, his spirits were very good. Doing farm work, as if it had filled his spirit, he was even burping.

His face was full of smiles, and it wasn’t hypocritical, just that kind of smile from the bottom of his heart.

As he worked on the farm, the mayor chatted with James about his childhood on the family’s few remaining plots of land. He reminisced about things like fighting a calf for milk—“God must have been watching over me,” he said with a laugh. “Plenty of folks got sick and went to meet Him early after drinking raw milk.”

James, however, didn’t share the smile. By the time he was born, the Williams family had long been urbanized. He’d grown up in a wealthy district, in a manor surrounded by gardens rather than fields. He had never so much as stepped foot in the countryside, let alone done farm work.

So seeing him now—dressed in denim overalls and rubber boots, trudging through a pasture full of cow dung—was almost comical.

What made it worse was when he slipped. He wasn’t sure whether the stuff smeared on his clothes and tangled in his hair was crushed fodder or cow dung—and at that point, he no longer cared. He’d had enough.

Fortunately, Mayor Williams hadn’t truly come to work. He was simply taking the chance to revisit his youth, to feel once more the rhythm of those days on the farm.

The self who had once been so full of vigor and energy, so young.

As people grow older, they always like to look back—not because the past holds anything truly unforgettable, but because they long for the version of themselves that once lived there. The self that hadn’t yet been wounded by time, that still burned with passion and grace.

Soon after, William departed. Lake City might have been small, and its daily affairs few, but he was still the mayor.

If he didn’t appear before the public often enough, the citizens—the voters—would start to wonder what their votes had actually gotten them.

It was, perhaps, the unavoidable dilemma faced by every grassroots politician: they were always the ones standing on the front line before the people. And when the government’s actions failed to satisfy the crowd, it was their faces that the anger and curses found first.

...

The Harvest Festival celebration had lasted until the 31st. Lance would be leaving here on November 1st.

In the evening, he was lying in bed, and Patricia was lying in his arms. The two had just, through some exchange of body fluids, completed their most primitive desire.

Whether Patricia had entered a post-coital refractory period, he didn’t know, but Lance had already entered a period of idleness.

His mind was now full of all kinds of matters and problems, and he couldn’t care less about his body’s desires.

At this time, Patricia was no longer his wife, but his good brother!

”Did you notice Barbara?” she suddenly asked. Lance didn’t react at first.

After about five or six seconds, he finally reacted. ”What’s wrong?”

He hadn’t paid any attention to Barbara’s situation. There were too many people on the farm.

With the rise of the Lawrence family, some of the branch family members had also returned to the family. For example, the son of Herbert’s father’s, that is, William’s grandfather’s, brother’s daughter, and their descendants.

If you were to calculate by ”how much Lawrence family blood,” this would be more common and easier to understand. Then these people might only have one-eighth or one-sixteenth, or even one-thirty-second of the Lawrence family’s blood.

In the past, these people would not have come here at all. The main reason was that although this place was not poor, it had no relationship with being rich. They couldn’t get anything by coming here.

But now, almost all of them had come. They were also looking for opportunities here. Maybe there would be a project that they could cooperate on.

There were too many people, and Lance’s attention was all on Governor Terry and Mayor Williams, and also the topics they were talking about, so he had not paid any attention to Barbara.

”What’s wrong with her?” he asked again.

He was clear about some of Barbara’s thoughts in his heart, but he hadn’t paid attention to these things yet.

Patricia looked up at Lance. ”She had a chat with me.”

Lance frowned slightly. ”What did you talk about?”

”A lot.”

Then Patricia added, ”She was drunk.”

Lance didn’t speak, but just continued to look at her. She smiled. ”Alright.”

”She said some things I had never thought of. She said she likes you very much, and also doesn’t plan to destroy our marriage. Although she and I often fought over some things when we were young, this time, she doesn’t plan to fight with me, and also knows that she is not my match.”

Barbara was a little older than Patricia. Patricia had become the little princess of the farm.

Humans and animals have many similarities. For example, when an animal is a cub, it will often appear very cute, and it is the same for humans.

Patricia, who was a little younger than Barbara, was very good-looking. Of course, Barbara was also very beautiful, but she was younger, which had given her some special effects, and people liked her more.

This had made Barbara feel that it was Patricia who had stolen her limelight and people’s affection. Although it couldn’t be said to be hatred or hostility, in their childhood, they did indeed often fight over all kinds of things. It wasn’t until after they had grown up, and were not often together, that this relationship had ended.

Listening to Patricia’s words, Lance did not have any other thoughts. He stated very directly, ”I’ve only ever slept with you.”

Patricia was stunned for a moment, and then she laughed. ”Me too!”

But she quickly said, ”Actually, this is not what I wanted to talk about. I just feel that she’s a bit pitiful.”

Lance was a little confused, but he didn’t mind making these complicated matters simpler. ”So you want me to sleep with her?”

Patricia had not expected Lance to be so direct. For a moment, she didn’t know how to answer. ”I just feel that she’s very pitiful.”

Lance shook his head slightly. ”As a man, your husband, I don’t have any resistance to the matter of sleeping with a woman who is not you, as long as you are willing.”

”So what you are trying to express now should not be to persuade me, but to persuade yourself, or to confirm your own heart.”

As he spoke, he had changed his position to hold Patricia. She had been resting her head on his arm for a while, which had made Lance feel that his arm was not his own.

”Alright, let’s sleep.”

He closed his eyes as he spoke. Just as he had said, to sleep with other women would not increase his sense of guilt.

In another world, he had played all kinds of tricks. When a person has tasted the strongest wine, the wine of a dozen or so degrees is just like plain water to him.

So his craving for carnal desire was not strong. So much so that sometimes he would rather just jack off to save time.

Lance soon fell into a dream. He was a person who was very good at sleeping. As long as his head hit the pillow, and he counted to ten, he could enter his dreams.

But Patricia was not asleep. She couldn’t sleep.

Barbara, after she had gotten drunk, had been crying. First, she had cried about the money she had been cheated out of, and then she had cried about how, from childhood to adulthood, although on the surface she had often ”won,” she knew that the grandfathers and uncles on the farm had liked Patricia the most, not her, who was so competitive.

Whether it was in her career, her love life, or anything else, she felt that she was a failure, which had made her very sad.

Patricia was a kind girl. Her relationship with Barbara was actually very good, so this had made her have some messy thoughts.

Although the federal government did indeed have a law against polygamy, its weight was under religious freedom.

According to the federal judicial interpretation, when the law and the constitution are in conflict, the constitution is the standard, not the federal law.

Religious freedom and respect for faith are written into the constitution. In the Federation, there are many religions that support polygamy or polyandry. As long as you casually pay a little money and get the title of a ”fellow believer,” then the law will allow you to have multiple wives or multiple husbands. This is a right given to the people by the constitution!

Moreover, in a rural place, some things will become simpler, and also more chaotic.

Like the matter of an uncle and his niece, an aunt and her nephew, would often happen in a rural place. Once you have left the city, you belong to God. This is the Federation!

She had not slept well for a whole night. She had thought about many things, but in the end, she had still not made a decision. She still found it very difficult to share Lance with others.

...

On the morning of the 1st, Lance had breakfast with everyone. The three old men had expressed a little bit of reluctance for his impending departure, but just a little.

They also knew that Lance still had many important things to do, so they had not asked him to stay.

The carriage that had been sent to take Governor Terry back had already returned. Lance had directly boarded this very short train, had entered the Federation’s railway line, and he had not directly returned to Golden Port City, but had gone to Red Stone City (the capital) of Indeno State.

He was going to meet with Governor Wade, and by the way, to talk to Elvin about the subsequent development plans.

At this time, Red Stone City was already in a state of ”chaos.” On the streets, from time to time, you could see some of the panicked gangs, in their cars, leaving the city. Of course, there were also some gangs who had stayed, or were actively contacting the Lance Family.

The entire pattern of Indeno State had undergone a huge change because of the results of this gubernatorial election.

After Governor Wade had come to power, people had immediately realized that the gangs that had previously been fighting against the Lance Family had already lost their soil for survival here.

The politicians, the police, who had previously been on their side, had now all stood on the side of Governor Wade, and the Lance Family.

It couldn’t be said that their previous confrontation was that intense, but the subsequent retaliation would definitely be fierce. So before the storm had arrived, these people had all packed their things and had left early.

Although the city had experienced a brief period of chaos, everyone could see that a stable public security situation was about to come, just like in Likalai State.

Although in some cities, there were still problems of gang firefights, but in the larger cities, the firefights between the gangs, and that kind of vicious crime, were basically rarely seen.

Everything would be managed in an orderly manner by the Lance Family. This was perhaps one of the funniest things people felt.

Or rather, this result had confirmed that the federal government’s previous idea of ”gangs assisting the federal government in managing public security” was valid.

Lance did not stop in New Birmingham to meet with Elvin. On the one hand, he was a little tight on time, and on the other hand, he would still be passing through here when he left.

When he was leaving, he could just talk to Elvin then.

Sitting in the car, he headed for the State Government’s office building. On the road, there were still many places where the gubernatorial election posters had remained, and had not been cleared away.

They had used a relatively strong glue, which had made it very difficult to be completely peeled off. You could still see many of the slightly creepy smiles of Governor Wade, who was missing half of his face.

There were also no processions or demonstrations on the street. It could be seen that the voters of Indeno State were still very much in approval, and were happy, that the Mayor Wade they had chosen had won and had become the governor.

They just hoped that Governor Wade as he had promised could get the economy of Indeno State in good shape, to reduce the unemployment rate, and to increase the number of jobs!

The vehicle soon stopped outside the state government. Governor Wade’s aide was already waiting at the foot of the steps for Lance. He had even taken the initiative to open the car door for Lance. ”The governor is a bit busy, and can’t get away for the moment. He has asked me to receive you, Mr. White.”

”Please come with me...” he was very polite, courteous, and cautious.

They had met before at Mayor Wade’s villa, but his impression was not very deep. At that time, he had not spoken much, and it was hard to attract people’s attention.

Now was the busiest time for the state government. There were people constantly going up and down. Their curious gazes had all fallen on Lance.

This was not Likalai State. Not so many people knew him. People were just purely curious, who could make the governor’s aide greet him like this.

The group of people had soon entered the state government office building, and in the governor’s office, they had seen Governor Wade.

His hair was rubbed with a lot of pomade, and was tilted back. It would give people a feeling of being very powerful.

When he saw Lance, he had taken the initiative to stand up, had walked around his large desk, and had come to the entrance, and had given Lance a hug.

This time, he had been able to win the election, and Lance had also helped a lot. Not to mention the campaign funds, just the fact that Lance had helped him to deal with some of the so-called ”representatives of the people” had been a great help to him.

Those old stubborn fools had been firmly opposed to him becoming the governor, so there was no way. They could only be made to shut up first.

Elvin had also handled it very skillfully. He had not directly arranged for someone to run in front of these people and then to take out a weapon and shoot. He had very carefully created three accidents.

A car accident, a drowning, and also an electric shock. It had looked as if it were really some kind of an accident.

Even if his competitors had had their doubts about these three cases, there was no way to directly accuse him of having had someone do such a thing.

If, during an election, people could freely slander and frame others without any evidence or bottom line, the federal election system would have collapsed long ago.

Unable to produce any solid evidence, he could only resort to insinuation, suggesting to the public that the deaths were suspicious.

Governor Wade, in contrast, responded with calm and decisiveness. His willingness to address the issue openly earned him greater respect from the voters—after all, people always favor those who dare to face reality.

And there was indeed no evidence to prove that these three accidents were definitely man-made. In the end, it had come to nothing.

The lieutenant governor had lost the election, which was equivalent to losing everything. The rest would depend on whether Governor Wade had any thoughts of dealing with him.

In short, this stage was perfect!

Governor Wade while pulling Lance’s arm, had him sit on the sofa. He tell his aide to get some drinks and pastries. Then he had asked, ”You’ve come in such a hurry this time. It must be for something.”

Now was not a good time to ”meet.” Because Governor Wade still had a lot of work to deal with. Now was also the busiest time for the various state governments.

At a time like this, for him to visit, Governor Wade also couldn’t take out too much time to receive him, so he could see that Lance’s visit was purposeful.

Lance did not hide it, and had directly stated the reason, ”We want to get a greater development, so we need to centralize and to deal with the resources and the forces of Likalai State.”

Governor Wade, after listening, had given Lance a very meaningful look. ”Are you going to integrate the power in your own hands?”

Lance nodded. ”This is not just my own idea.”

Governor Wade took a deep breath. ”Actually, I personally don’t support you doing this. Congress has been ’de-localizing.’ At a time like this, for you to integrate your resources and to engage in internal unification, there is a high probability that you will be targeted by Congress.”

“Those old, established families—the states they control—there’s no easy way to deal with them. But Likalai State is still young, and its ideology isn’t yet unified. There might be problems down the road.”