Darkstone Code

Lynch and Penny were chatting about the guests who had arrived, while the young maid and her little cousin were quietly discussing them behind.

"How much... would all this cost?"

The little cousin couldn’t help but exclaim in amazement. She was the young maid’s distant cousin, and news of the young maid "making it" in the big city had already spread in her hometown.

Being able to buy a house in a middle-class community in Bupen for several hundred thousand and drive a luxury car with a decent job had made a big impact on her hometown relatives.

People always said, "I knew she would achieve something great, you could see it from when she was small..." Of course, these people didn’t know that the young maid’s job actually didn’t require much brainwork; it just sometimes tested physical energy and emotional management.

When she got pregnant, Lynch prepared to hire another maid from the community. He was not short on money, and as a wealthy man, he didn’t find it interesting to exhaust a pregnant maid.

This also earned the young maid’s gratitude, so she introduced her cousin, who also yearned for life in the big city.

For the people of the Federation, certain concepts are very faint. Even though sleeping with the employer might sound a bit uncomfortable, in the end, it’s their freedom.

And with her young cousin there, sometimes it indeed helped her.

As a "successful person" in the eyes of her little cousin, the young maid sighed lightly, "At least forty to fifty thousand, maybe more."

The little cousin gasped; she was still earning a salary of over four hundred a month, according to Bupen’s industry standards from the community.

This wage was twice what she used to earn back at home—

The "Minimum Hourly Wage Law" is not the "Minimum Monthly Wage Law," meaning that capitalists pay workers based on the hours worked.

For some jobs that don’t require high-intensity sustained manual labor, workers often don’t need to work all the scheduled hours.

Sometimes they might work only six hours a day?

Maybe just four hours.

They won’t pay full-time wages; they pay based on the work done.

This is why, theoretically, the lowest average monthly salary according to the Federation’s wage level is at least three hundred dollars in the lowest-paying areas, yet some people only get two hundred dollars or even less.

According to the little cousin’s previous salary standard, a birthday party like this would deplete her savings of twenty to thirty years.

The extent of wealth and extravagance of the rich once again refreshed the little cousin’s worldview.

She couldn’t help but glance at her cousin next to her. She couldn’t quite understand how her cousin, whose salary (with her tenure) was just a bit higher than hers, managed to settle in this city.

She had already seen the bill for this villa once; the monthly expenses add up to about two thousand dollars, and the middle-class community her cousin lives in must at least have expenses of two hundred dollars, right?

Where did she get so much money?

Of course, she wouldn’t immediately ask but kept this matter in her heart.

Then she saw a group of very beautiful, impossibly tall girls getting out of the third car.

There were twenty to thirty of them, plus more than a dozen handsome young men.

These people had beautiful faces, perfect bodies, and gave off an impression of being "very high-class."

She didn’t know why she had such a feeling, why there was a sense of "high-class," but she did, making her feel like a stark contrast. She wasn’t that pretty, had freckles, looked country, and seemed low-class.

After receiving a briefing, these girls and boys started changing clothes and applying makeup, turning into beauties like movie stars on TV.

"What do these people do?", the little cousin couldn’t help but ask, not understanding.

The young maid sighed again, "They... how should I put it, they are like party companions."

"You know, at our gatherings, some people can’t really let go, and we need people who can help loosen up so the atmosphere can become lively. They are that part!"

Speaking of gatherings, the little cousin understood; in their countryside, they have gatherings during holidays, where some people are shy and just stand aside to watch.

Some, however, are very lively, becoming the center of attention, including the shy ones.

Everyone could get joy from them→this is a very straightforward sentence!

Lynch’s birthday party started in the afternoon. After a quick lunch and a short rest, by three or four in the afternoon, the guests started arriving.

At this time, many reporters had gathered outside the Half Mountain Villa District, and some capable journalists even managed to get in.

Of course, they all had authorization to enter, for instance, by getting permission from residents inside or because they had some connections.

In short, for the Half Mountain Villa District, it was another restless day!

Previously, residents of the Half Mountain Villa District united to pressure Lynch, hoping he’d hold his parties elsewhere because he often caused disturbances that ruined the peaceful ambiance of the district.

But after being strongly pushed back by Lynch, they fell silent, just like now.

No one would call the community service asking for Lynch to "quiet down."

When the first guest arrived, the flashlights from reporters never ceased.

A large number of celebrity politicians were attending Lynch’s birthday party today, which was quite an exceptional event, especially thanks to Penny; many believed that only celebrities who could attend Lynch’s party were truly high-class!

The high standard of the party said it all.

As more guests arrived, Lynch also got busy.

It was his birthday, and every invited guest was his guest, so he and Penny stood at the door to welcome them.

Almost every one of them he had seen on TV once or twice, and with the list Penny prepared, there were no jokes about recognizing the wrong people.

Yes, it would only be "funny" if people of lower status made such mistakes, but for someone as distinguished as Lynch, it would certainly be a "joke" in the sense of humor.

And purposely so because Lynch was known for being humoristic; everyone knew that...

After the directors and actors previously, some academic filmmakers started arriving, people who had been written into various film textbooks, which is why they still held casting authority despite being removed from practical film work.

In reality, investing in them to make a film now was likely to result in a box office flop because they had already been outpaced by society, though they wouldn’t admit it.

"Thank you for your invitation, Mr. Lynch. I was very surprised to receive it,"

"I couldn’t believe that someone like me, such an old relic, was still of interest, but here I am!"

"Just to thank you, for making me feel like I haven’t been left behind by the world!"

The old man in front of Lynch was over seventy years old, looking somewhat thin and frail, but he was full of vigor and in good health.

His humble demeanor almost made Penny unable to maintain her fake smile. You should know that this old man had strong connections in the film industry and was known as "the last hurdle to awards."

Many excellent works missed out on awards because their producers couldn’t curry favor with him!

In some rumors Penny had heard, some top actresses, to win an award, would bring their award-contending films to personally explain their content to the old man.

Often, it would take a week just to have a chance to convince him.

He was like a very tough barrier on the road to major awards.

But now, he humbled himself like an ordinary person.

Clinging tightly to Lynch’s arm, Penny received a glance from the old man, "Ms. Penny, I watched your film, it was very outstanding, you are the most excellent of the new generation of actresses!"

Penny’s lips quickly curled up; dealing with such small minds, there were plenty of ways.

Lynch brought up another subject, "I heard there are now over ten award ceremonies, big and small, in the Federation?"

The old man nodded, "That’s indeed the case. Aside from our guild and academy awards, some companies have also held private award ceremonies because their lousy films couldn’t win any awards from us, so they self-award..."

In fact, Fox Film Corporation also had its own award ceremony. But those academic types were hard to deal with; sometimes, money alone couldn’t solve the problem.

If money could solve all problems, then there would be no problems.

The current problem was that some people wanted to deeply engage with those big stars, but apart from those truly desperate for awards who could put aside certain dignities, who would serve these seventy to eighty-year-old men and women?

There wouldn’t be any, and those people were big stars and wouldn’t ride an old person or be ridden for an award.

If they couldn’t get the awards they sought, they’d simply award themselves, which was also a good way.

The audience didn’t care which awards were "authentic," they only cared if there were people they liked and if it was exciting enough!

This also led many small awards to gradually grow, putting heavy pressure on traditional awards.

After all, audiences want fair results instead of deception under the guise of "art."

With the popularity of commercial film models, people no longer often pay tribute to film pioneers in movies as they used to, making commercial films harder to win traditional major awards.

What Lynch said resonated with the old man, though he was powerless to change it. It was a trend, after all.

Until...

"I also love films and plan to set up a foundation to consolidate this area..."