[Chapter 938: The Secret of Longevity]
The next morning's newspaper didn't have anyone criticizing his outfit after all. In this country, a nation that worshipped strength, if you wore a top hat and carried a civilized cane, people would think you had style.
As for his casual clothes, the media spun it as being down-to-earth. You couldn't really argue against that.
Who could say he wasn't approachable?
Look, not only did he donate a lot to nursing homes, he also organized a group of employees to perform.
Watching the scenes on TV, politicians from this country and America were both a bit stunned.
For the sake of a little profit, the two countries had practically torn their relationship apart. But what was William White doing?
Right, you say this country is targeting American companies, but what about Legendary World and Viking Comics?
Nonsense. Those are practically domestic companies here; we just can't say it publicly. For the sake of those two companies, William White almost dismantled the Department of Justice.
Actually, the politicians here were slapping themselves in the face too. Look at this move--calling for society to pay more attention to the elderly living alone--that's a noble initiative. If they promoted it more...
"Ma'am, how old are you?"
When William White saw an elderly lady, he was startled. Judging by her appearance, even ninety would have been an underestimate.
Tsk tsk, she was even wearing lipstick.
To avoid awkwardness, William White pretended to chat. He couldn't exactly say, "What kind of creature are you?" although that's exactly what he thought.
Ahem, there were cameras around; saying that would have been too rude.
"103 years old."
"My goodness, are you serious? That's incredible!" William White was shocked. He knew she was old but over one hundred was unimaginable.
"Hello, would you mind sharing the secret to your longevity? You know, reaching a hundred is quite difficult."
"I have a lot of money."
Cough, cough--William White couldn't hold it in. Damn, were you sent by monkeys to make me laugh? Well, you succeeded.
He gave a thumbs-up in admiration and agreed with the explanation. Well, as long as you have money, you can live a bit longer.
It's not strange for a Westerner to speak Japanese. Plenty of these people live here, some descendants of American soldiers. Their Japanese is fluent, but their English is pretty bad. So, frankly, those people aren't very useful.
William White was different. Even if his Japanese was poor, people deliberately interpreted him.
Look, our culture is quite impressive--the richest people in the world want to learn from it. Of course, people selectively forgot that William White was fluent in Chinese.
William White had a great time chatting with the centenarian, and the viewers at home enjoyed it too. Gotta say, charisma is charisma. Two strangers ended up having a very joyful conversation.
"Damn, that rascal is giving poor Pentagon Don a headache. What William White is doing, Little Bush across the ocean is no stranger to--that's a required course."
"This guy, if he wasn't such a player, could definitely run for president."
"Dad, don't even think about it. No way. He once said the worst job in the world was president. You have to get up earlier than a rooster, sleep later than a dog, eat worse than a pig, and work harder than a mule.
Most importantly, from an economic point of view, if he took office, it would definitely be a terrible investment."
"True. I'm curious though--people from the White family seem so decent. Old White was like that, his dad too.
But how did it all change with him?"
"Ahem, Dad, he did say something."
Old Bush was curious; he wanted to hear how this prodigy evaluated himself.
"Dad, according to him, you should marry someone far away. If too close, there might be a risk of close relatives. His mother is Asian, so it's far enough."
"Far enough? Haha, he doesn't know how tough it really is. Forget it. Say you want someone far away--that's easy to say, but where do you find so many suitable partners?"
People of similar social class only marry within that class. Although there are exceptions, they are not mainstream. As for so-called free love, if you're willing to give up your inheritance, that's another story.
Most people laughed off the old lady's words. But there's truth to it--she was describing a fact.
If you don't have money, how could you live in such a nice nursing home? Without money, how could you get the best medical care?
If you get it, prepare to save up some cash. If not, you can think of this as a show or comedy.
People here had no idea that the trusted eldercare system would soon collapse. You'd need to pay more, retire later--everything was pointing that way.
Nobody at companies liked old workers. With a small raise every year, if you worked thirty years at a company, even as a regular employee, you might earn more than a junior manager. For middle managers, it was even higher.
So, you lose your job.
To reduce costs, no one wanted to give old folks a chance. If layoffs happen, older, higher-paid employees become primary targets.
Lifetime employment was the slogan of all companies during the bubble economy period. Having 100 million middle-class citizens was the government's ultimate goal.
Now it seems laughable, like a local version of the American Dream. Hoover wanted to do the same and hoped America would have 100 million middle-class citizens.
But he failed--the Great Depression's terrifying consequences sent shivers down everyone's spine.
As for this country, they still held unrealistic fantasies. At least, the financial moguls and trading companies thought so. They believed the economy had bottomed out, and with the right chance, it would rise again.
That chance seemed to rest on the big rabbit.
They'd seen the big rabbit's spending power. The only regret was that the country was still somewhat poor. But that wasn't a problem--what's there to fear without money? Our cash was just rotting in banks.
Since the 1980s, this country had steadily increased investments. Some said the rabbit gave up reparations, and we are just compensating.
Ahem, think too much. They were just copying the Marshall Plan. Why is Europe so dependent on America? Because of the Marshall Plan.
No money to rebuild?
No problem; here's a loan, with low or even zero interest. Oh, but US dollars are the only international currency; no objections, right?
With these loans, you have to buy some US products, right?
Faced with a devastated country, no one had the guts to refuse.
World War II caused heavy losses for America too. But thanks to the Marshall Plan, they recovered quickly. Production lines that had stopped started running around the clock again.
Learning technology and production, perhaps this country did well.
Learning the Marshall Plan?
Ahem, save your energy. Do you really think the big rabbits are fools?
After years of grudges and conflict, it's not easy to forget. Weren't you humble when you learned from us back then?
Haha, if we praise you any more, buddy, that could be dangerous. Loans are okay, but we want dollars. You see, there are many things you won't sell either.
Or, you could bring the technology here instead--just take some money? Doesn't make much sense.
*****
https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.