Darkstone Code

Chapter 1076 - 1074: Good Deeds Deserve Recognition

"We have already sponsored over 400 children, and possibly there are even more city-wide!"

Catherine sat behind her desk working on these statistics. Today, she visited Sabin City’s Wooden Barrel Middle School with Lynch, marking her first step into politics.

Lynch established a scholarship fund, which is not part of Darkstone Insurance.

In strict terms, the insurance company has demands and requires returns, while this scholarship fund has no profit mechanism or capability.

It relies entirely on donations from kind-hearted individuals from all walks of life, providing help to those in need without charge, mainly addressing financial issues that allow them to complete their education.

Currently, there is only one donor, which is Lynch, and the main person in charge of this Foundation is Catherine.

She can decide who to sponsor or not, and at present, the Angel Scholarship Fund can only help the dropout youths within Sabin City, supporting them up to high school at most.

In fact, the Angel Scholarship Fund has some follow-up plans, such as business connections for high school graduates who might attend college.

They can discuss directly with Darkstone Insurance for a student loan, securing a long-term installment loan so they don’t worry about tuition fees.

But that’s for later. For now, the task is to find the right people and spend money.

All this is for Catherine’s next plan, which is to become a city council member of Sabin City. Before becoming a council member, she has to accomplish some things.

"We have five months before the election starts. We don’t have much time, but it should be enough!" Lynch flipped through the lists casually spread on the table.

Today, deciding to sponsor these 400 people would cost him about eighty thousand dollars, which is equivalent to... He didn’t know how to calculate it, but it was an amount he could earn back in a short while.

Even if the number expands to four thousand, it’s still not too much money for him.

That’s just for him. In reality, for a typical foundation, this amount is not easily extricable.

Especially for some small foundations with few donations, only sustained by a wealthy individual or a few people, they might only manage to sponsor dozens of children in a whole year, not this many!

Catherine must make her first political move a splendid one.

She had spent some time with Mrs. Tricia engaging in feminist movements nationwide, gaining enough media exposure. Now, associating with student sponsorship, at least the media can’t smear her.

Then, through some political deals, it will be easy for her to become a city council member.

This year is the second year of the President’s term. Starting mid-year, some institutions within the city will re-elect leaders, such as the mayor, city council members, etc.

The nominations of these people are selected by local citizens’ votes, plus some behind-the-scenes operations, making Catherine’s election virtually unquestionable.

What they are doing now is just to make the whole process of her becoming a council member appear clean, nothing more!

Catherine put down her work and looked at Lynch, "I’m a bit worried, afraid I can’t do these things well." She glanced down at the list on the table and the more complex situations, feeling clueless on where to start.

Only by getting involved can one realize how complex these matters are. Sponsoring students isn’t just about spending money.

You have to consider transportation, lunch issues, and many other problems.

There are also obstacles from some people in society. Even when doing good deeds, there are antagonists who might just want to extract some benefits from this.

But when they can’t achieve that, they become manic and eventually start attacking!

If they can’t get it, they destroy it. Some people simply don’t have the brains for it.

Moreover, after becoming a city council member, her work will become complicated and indefinite.

Federation city council members don’t have designated committees or permanent tasks like a Member of Parliament.

Their work mainly comes from complaint letters and grievances. For instance, some might think a factory’s sewage disposal is the main cause of their hair loss, and once a council member receives such a letter, they can decide whether to investigate it.

Or they can ignore it.

Alternatively, if someone feels that the city’s roads are not convenient, after a thorough investigation, the council member can discuss with the mayor and other officials in the city council whether to build new roads.

They don’t have a clear division of duties, unlike the Police Director, who has fixed daily tasks.

This also means they will face a lot of nerve-wracking challenges, full of traps and hidden pitfalls. If not careful, they might find themselves opposed to either the citizens or the capitalists.

There’s a common understanding in the Federation that it’s harder for city council members to do well than a Member of Parliament.

The Member of Parliament can afford to do neither good nor bad by often abstaining. They don’t even need to do anything substantial.

But city council members can’t. If they do the worst or do things wrong, they face direct citizen protests, which is why most city council members don’t last long.

By protecting some people’s interests, you inevitably offend others!

Lynch walked to his side and pressed her shoulders, "You just need to do what you want to do. You don’t need to consider the capitalists’ thoughts. If they have objections, let them talk to me!"

Catherine didn’t quite understand what he meant by ’domineering’, but after Lynch spoke, she felt much relieved. She held Lynch’s hand and rubbed her cheek against it, "Maybe I’ll make a lot of enemies for you."

"This barren market can’t support my enemies, so do what you want!"

His response was reassuring, and his words weren’t boastful either.

It’s not exaggerating to say that it would take more than a billionaire capitalist or enterprise to shake Lynch’s position now. Without billions, tens of billions in scale, and without close connections with the Federation Government’s upper echelons, don’t dream of challenging Lynch’s power.

Honestly, he could even ignore the Governor—just an example. In reality, he wouldn’t do it.

The Federation’s laws give governors the same power as a state king. They can even ignore the Federation Government and the President’s demands. Their destructive power, when feeling unbearable, is not much lower than that of upper echelons of the Federation Government.

They might not be able to fight against those big capitalists, but at least they can make them roll out of their territory!

The next day, at another school, Lynch and Catherine sat in the principal’s office.

The principal didn’t have any objections to what Lynch and Catherine were doing. If they were willing to spend money, it was their business. Principals are never troubled by children attending school.

They are only troubled by having no students!

"We’ve roughly calculated that about three hundred children can’t attend school due to tuition fees," the principal handed over a list.

Lynch didn’t take it. He is now just a "follower," the lead is Catherine.

Catherine took the list and glanced at it, slightly frowning, "Is it all because of this snowstorm?"

The principal nodded, "Not entirely, but most of it is like this. Right now, many factories in Sabin City have halted. We are just a small city."

"When the factories stop, many families lose security, and City Hall has started issuing food vouchers again..."

The issuance of food coupons means the problems within the city have reached an unavoidable point. If relief food is not distributed, people will starve!

This is no small matter, proving the disaster this snowstorm brought to Sabin City is devastating.

The room fell temporarily quiet, with everyone seemingly lamenting the bad news.

"The situation in the North seems even worse...", the principal joked about the worse situation, accentuating that Sabin City isn’t too bad.

Catherine doesn’t have much of a concept of the North, but Lynch nodded in acknowledgment.

This year’s cold winter was unlike any before, with sudden quick cooling from the end of November and heavy snow starting in early December, lasting for over a month without stop now.

All transport to the North stopped, which also halted any progress in Mariluo.

Supplies couldn’t get through, nor could the newly recruited rookies, which, however, gave them more time and opportunity for training.

Temperatures worldwide seem to be dropping, with Nagariel creating its lowest recorded temperatures ever. For instance, Nabari recently dropped below twenty degrees.

Many in Nagariel fell ill due to the "cold" weather...

After a brief pause, the topic ended, and the principal asked, "Would you like to see the children? They are eager to talk with you."

Catherine collected her thoughts and nodded, "Yes, we definitely need to meet and talk with them. A reporter will be coming at that time, is that convenient for the school?"

"Of course, we’re fully cooperative."

Knowing what those words meant, the principal understood that the money isn’t freely given. Catherine needed returns, not in money but in prestige, in public admiration!

When the media focuses, preparations must be made in advance, letting articulate children be interviewed and letting those less articulate settle as the background.

Catherine stood up, shook hands with the principal, "We will transfer the money to the school’s account after we finish reviewing the list. If there are any issues, we’ll get in touch!"

With a beaming smile, the principal saw them off. The principal had no discomfort with what they were doing.

The school gains thousands in tuition, students get their education, and Lynch and Catherine gain prestige. Everyone wins!