Darkstone Code

"Have you been spending time with the President lately?"

When certain things become routine, voices that should be filled with emotion turn flat.

Sitting in front of the dressing table, looking at herself in the mirror, Mrs. Chris plans to touch up her makeup before dinner. Through the reflection, she looks at her husband, "Not recently, why?"

Without waiting for her husband’s response, she continues to focus on herself in the mirror, begins to touch up her makeup, and directly says, "I’ve already mentioned your matter, he said it will have to wait until after his re-election."

"He can kick out people that some supporters have placed into positions, which will create more vacancies to arrange his own people. You’ll be given a decent position then."

"I’m not too familiar with this aspect, but at most it will just be a year."

This year is the President’s third year since winning, and it’s not long until the New Year.

Next year will be the fourth year, and also an election year.

Given the current public support, Mr. President basically has no obstacles for re-election.

If the first victory required the President to rely on more capital and external forces, then during re-election, with enough public support, he doesn’t need as many supporters.

Having a few core supporters is enough to ensure he can get re-elected.

The benefit of this is that he can move out the first batch of people his supporters placed into positions and replace them with real "his own people," or arrange people by other means.

This is a political reward; why do Federation Presidents appear foolish during their first term?

Because the policies they must release, or some ideas, are often disrupted by external factors.

Along with the capitalists needing rewards, Mr. President must first satisfy these people’s needs before he can consider what he wants to do and what he can do.

Only after re-election does Mr. President’s control over the Federation Government see a huge boost, with every department and important position filled with his people, and the core capitalist team bonding their interests with his, this is when the President’s control over the Federation becomes unprecedentedly strong!

It’s like the current Mr. President, wanting to arrange someone in the Ministry of Justice requires considering multiple relationships.

But after he is re-elected, he only needs to sign a paper.

Whoever opposes him, whoever can get lost!

Chris is not very clear about the relationships here, nor does her husband know much.

In her view, what her husband intends to talk about is just this kind of matter, as it always has been.

"I want to learn under... the Professor, but he doesn’t seem keen to choose me..."

"I want to start directly as a Judge, but my mentor has different opinions..."

"I want a promotion, but my superior seems unconcerned about my thoughts..."

He always has various problems needing her to solve. Sometimes Chris also reflects, thinking whether she’s... a bit too dumb, or... like his mother who has to care about everything?

But such thoughts quickly disappear from her mind, because now, this is her and her life, she shouldn’t question them.

Questioning them means the greatest denial of her past, which is what she fears the most.

Having come this far, she can’t tell herself that everything she did before was wrong, can she?

Her husband doesn’t need this; he hesitated for a while, considering how to speak.

"You know, I’ve encountered a thing myself..."

He briefly explained the situation with that gang family, but he somewhat beautified his role in the whole situation. He didn’t tell his wife that he assured that woman he could definitely help her.

Nor did he tell his wife about the delicate relationship he had developed with that young woman.

In fact, the relationship between Mrs. Chris and her husband is quite odd, or even twisted.

Through sleeping with different roles, she helps her husband achieve unprecedented success in academic and career terms. Without her, her husband wouldn’t have reached the position of State Court Chief Justice.

She has slept with many men, yet her husband has maintained a high level of "purity" throughout their marriage, simply put, neither considers Chris’s actions as "infidelity," or as "betrayal" of the marriage; it’s just a means to pursue more practical value.

Therefore, their marital relationship hasn’t collapsed, and nobody has committed infidelity or betrayal. He loves her deeply, and she loves him deeply. This is why they’re able to maintain this life and the core of this way.

But if someone indeed committed adultery in the true sense, this relationship would collapse.

He knows this, so he didn’t mention how many times he had been in bed with that young woman, only talked about the money issue.

At first, the other party only wired him tens of thousands, hoping he could maneuver around and think of a way with the case itself.

However, later unbeknownst to him, they wired more money, and now they threaten to expose him if he can’t handle it.

In the Federation, job-related crimes are very serious offenses.

Maybe job-related crimes don’t carry long sentences; they don’t start like murder with decades, but it doesn’t mean they aren’t severe crimes.

Most who are tried and sentenced for job-related crimes find it difficult to get suitable jobs after release; this is the collective will of society.

Especially the middle and lower class, they are extremely averse to money-power transactions, not realizing this is just routine in upper society.

But they resent this behavior, unwilling to give those who may have persecuted the lower-class populace any opportunity; they can only work in the lowest jobs, thus making it a form of punishment.

If Chris’s husband were exposed, his life would be over.

She stared at her husband in the mirror with a gaping mouth, and only after a while did she ask, "Don’t we have money?"

Working in the State Court, how he makes money is no different from here in Bupen, whether through investments, holding certain stocks, or starting a small company with a patent for acquisition.

They might not be as wealthy as the big capitalists like Lynch, but compared to ordinary people, they are considered rich.

Besides various real estates, they have seventy to eighty thousand in savings; and with both having their own jobs, they don’t need to touch this money, so they are not short on funds.

She truly couldn’t understand why her husband was stupid enough to do such a thing.

You clearly can’t accomplish that, yet you make promises, leading to a dreadful situation now.

The man maintained silence, while Chris couldn’t sit still, "Return the money to those people, clarify things well..."

She shook her husband, fiercely reprimanding him.

But only got silence in return.

After an outburst of emotions, the room returned to peace.

"Sir, Madam, dinner is ready..."

The voice of the maid outside made Chris feel utterly exhausted. She couldn’t say she’s always been running around for her husband’s affairs, at least she hasn’t spoken less about it with Mr. President.

Every conversation on this subject is not easy and also requires playing bowling with Mr. President.

The higher one’s position, sometimes they... she doesn’t know if this qualifies as perversion, but it increasingly feels disturbing.

Yet she held back all these feelings, and just as everything seemed better, he pulled such a stunt, nearly driving Chris to a breakdown!

She definitely can’t beg Mr. President to release a bunch of criminals, right?

That’s simply impossible, even if she’s had some relationships surpassing those between bowling buddies with Mr. President, she clearly understands her position; she can’t make excessive demands nor can she receive such approvals.

"Let’s eat first..." the man said.

The couple had a tasteless dinner, quickly ending it, then gave the maid a day off and returned to the bedroom.

After a long silence, the man said, "Actually, I have a way to solve the current trouble, but it requires your cooperation."

Chris looked at her husband with utter disgust, eyes filled with anger, blame, sighs, and even some loathing, "Go on, this time who do I have to sleep with?"

She feels certain if something can resolve this issue, without doubt, it must be the "traditional way."

The man shook his head, "You know the Duncan Clan?"

Chris shook her head, "Not sure, I might’ve heard someone mention it."

The man explained some basic facts about the Duncan Clan and then said, "They’ve encountered some trouble recently, related to Mr. President, they promised if I can get photos of you sleeping with Mr. President, they not only help solve my trouble but also assist me in taking the lifetime Chief Justice position..."

Chris looked at her husband incredulously, "Is it you who’s mad or me?"

"Do you realize I’m your wife?"

"I’m not a tool for you!"

The man frowned, "How is this different from before?"

"No, it isn’t."

"Honestly, I’m extremely dissatisfied with the old man’s attitude of fobbing us off; think about it yourself, has he ever promised something and achieved it in the past two years?"

"No!"

"He never gives us a definite answer, only finds you when he needs to vent, we should’ve long parted ways with him."

"Now there’s a good opportunity, and the other party is very sincere, directly promising us a lifetime Chief Justice position."

"By then, you’d be the wife of a lifetime Chief Justice, we achieve the best we can, isn’t that better than getting fobbed off by the old man now?"

This might be the man’s internal dissatisfaction, the President’s perpetual uncertainty in responding being a key factor in prompting his decision.

Chris also fell into silence. From certain perspectives, the man wasn’t wrong...

Whenever she broaches this issue, Mr. President never gives her a definite answer.

For a moment, she suddenly isn’t quite so discontent as before...