Chapter 535: 0533 Picky Eater Man
This society is filled with many implications and rules that people don’t understand but must follow.
For example, the Federation’s social insurance system is extremely harsh. Once an individual graduates as an adult, if they cannot immediately join the workforce and consistently contribute a significant amount to social insurance over the years, they will have no support in their old age.
This makes job hopping, entrepreneurship, or any attempt to change one’s current work situation extremely risky, as one wrong move could cost them their entire life.
In such an environment, people become timid. Even when faced with certain issues, they only put up a symbolic struggle, not even amounting to resistance. Coupled with the Workers’ Union smoothing things over, people ultimately compromise.
When everyone compromises, it ceases to be a prominent social phenomenon. Add to that the sudden deaths of some dissidents becoming negative examples, the balance of struggle between the laborers and the capitalists has already begun to tip.
However, this rule also benefits a part of the population, namely those who obey the rules, are willing to accept exploitation, and pledge loyalty to their exploiters.
When they grow old, they can enjoy a generous pension without having to do anything, living off a considerable portion of it.
It is said that before the implementation of a comprehensive social insurance system, the Federation, along with capitalists, conducted a physical health survey targeting the working class. The results were worrying, which led to the capitalists and the Federation Government proposing the pension insurance system for the first time.
Apart from this, the capitalists’ methods are quite sophisticated.
They categorize workers into different levels, give them different milestone goals, present them with goals they believe are attainable through their efforts, give them reasons to accept exploitation, establish so-called role models, and they simply accept their fate.
This struggle between capital and labor, possibly lasting hundreds or even thousands of years, is slowly drawing to a close.
Capitalists sit on thrones built upon the corpses of laborers, looking down upon everything, while laborers consciously elevate their thrones higher and higher!
Self-worth, life goals...
Behind every seemingly beautiful and splendid word, there is an implication, a trap.
The best way to achieve self-worth is not by proving to more people what one can accomplish, but by telling everyone that one is serving a certain stratum of capitalist, which is a twisted social phenomenon.
When did this society, where laborers were honorable and capitalists were despicable, evolve into one where serving the big capitalists became honorable and worth boasting about?
When people begin to take pride in serving capitalists, when people start to admire achieving self-worth through accepting the exploitation of exploiters.
When people begin to admire corporate culture, admire "Viatim," they have essentially become a part of the entire new capitalist social system and an important member of maintaining that new capitalist system.
Think about it, when you intend to break free from a fate of exploitation, everyone around you—your parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, all friends—advise you, advise you to continue accepting exploitation, to abandon those unrealistic fantasies, you realize that there’s not much unresolved, intractable labor-capital struggle anymore?
Capitalists have spent countless years finally making people believe that wealth is the truth, and the whole society revolves around capitalists and capital. They have justifiably won this war!
This is why when Vera heard that the two female soldiers were Lynch’s employees, she was at ease, unless these female soldiers didn’t want to survive in this society and didn’t want to be ostracized, they best and most importantly, should obey Lynch’s orders.
Loyalty to Lynch, showcasing their abilities, achieving their value, and then receiving everyone’s admiration!
This is also why terms and phenomena like "sexual domination" exist in the corporate culture of the Federation Society.
People lack the courage to escape, lack the ability to escape. Constrained by societal values, they can only remain silent, endure quietly, and tell themselves that everything will be fine (this resonates with Mr. Jonathan’s daily self-encouragement in the previous Chapters, reflecting the fact that the internal struggle within capital is even more brutal).
While they were talking, Vera’s child suddenly interjected during a pause, "Uncle Lynch, will you live here in the future?"
Lynch looked at him curiously, trying to put on a cute smile, "I have my own room, and I don’t wet the bed. I’m not troublesome at all!"
The child’s words seemed unclear, but Lynch understood what he was trying to express. He was actually nervous, worrying that if Vera started a new relationship, he might become a burden.
The issues over the past year had made this child mature beyond his years. He looked at Lynch, trying to appear innocently adorable, not wanting to be sent to someone else’s home to live or to a boarding school.
Vera also understood her child’s meaning. She reached out and held the child’s hand, "Of course not, Uncle Lynch is just a good friend of mine. We are sometimes together, but we will not get married, you will always be with me!"
The child was a little surprised but not happy. After a while, he felt a bit dejected, "I might have said something I shouldn’t have."
Lynch instead laughed, ruffling the little boy’s hair, his deep brown hair exceptionally soft, "Have you been to Bupen before?"
The little boy looked up at Lynch, shaking his head, "No, Uncle Lynch."
"You will like it there!" Lynch said, withdrawing his hand, preparing a steak for himself, cutting it while saying, "Soon, you and your mother will move to live in Bupen, you will have a new home, a big house, with a swimming pool and a court, a small hill, and a huge garden."
"New school, new friends, new life, will you like it?"
The little boy nodded vigorously, "Yes, I will like it." He tried to show what he thought was a natural smile, baring his gums.
Lynch was amused by him, "Don’t worry, there will be no misfortune, the Goddess of Fortune and I are friends, she will protect you!"
He made a gesture popular in children’s television shows where one grabs something out of the air and then pretends to blow it into the palm...
With a modest appetite, the little boy soon carried his plate away and washed his hands and face himself. Lynch sighed a little, "A very mature little boy!"
Vera also sighed a bit, she turned her head to look at Lynch, "Do you like children?"
Lynch nodded, then shook his head, which puzzled Vera, but his subsequent explanation solved the confusion, "I like such sensible little boys, in those times when you need to satisfy a part of yourself..."
Seeing Vera’s increasingly strange gaze, Lynch laughed and explained, "You misunderstood, what I mean by need here is the impulse everyone has at some point to prove to oneself and others that they are kind and loving, liking children."
"But in reality, not everyone likes children. The more selfish someone is, the less willing they are to let others take their time. They/He/She don’t want to waste time on others, even if that ’other’ is their own child."
"However, they/He/She need to display these qualities, so they/He/She may occasionally show traits of liking children because it’s the mainstream trend in society."
"I like those children who won’t trouble me and allow me to complete my own life pursuits!", he also joked, "It’s even better if they’re girls!"
Vera understood, some things just are. Once the relationship breaks through a certain level, blatant flirting and slightly suggestive jokes become seasoning in their exchanges.
"What you said... is too complicated, I think I can’t understand it in the short term!" Ultimately, she made her judgment on Lynch’s statement, "But overall, you don’t particularly dislike children, is that it?"
Lynch nodded, but everyone could see that this nod didn’t necessarily mean agreement.
In his past life, he didn’t know if he had children; he was always striving when young, and when he got older, he had little mind to marry. A big star, a young wife, he had many women but never a particular favorite, until he entered that place.
And he wondered what if, after coming here, the other side of him is dead, would there suddenly be many filial sons and grandsons?
"You’re smiling, what’s going on?" Vera was a bit surprised, Lynch shook his head, not answering this question.
"It’s nothing, I thought of some funny little stories." Seeing Vera’s curious face, Lynch realized he needed to quickly come up with a story to satisfy this woman’s curiosity.
He could choose not to share, politely indicating his reluctance, but that would be unfriendly. He almost instantly recounted an interesting story.
"There was a group of fools..."
He put down his knife and fork, picked up a napkin to dab his lips, and eagerly shared, "You know, in Bupen, many fools are not only stupid but also quite wealthy."
"Recently, a swindler came out of nowhere with a blueprint, claiming he wants to build an artificial island near the coast of Bupen, and construct a small city on it, only accepting wealthy individuals with more than five million in wealth."
"Many people have invested in this project. I heard it’s already over ten million, which shows that the upper class is still quite affluent, and the economic downturn has only turned the lower society into a disaster area."
"People think it’s an interesting plan, they’re quite enthusiastic about it, and I also invested a bit!"
Vera immediately looked at him in surprise, "You just said that person is a swindler and others are foolish, then you..."
Lynch smiled slightly, not answering her question directly, "I’m not picky!"