Chapter 32: Blatant

Sheffield felt that Lord Buddha's judgment wasn't entirely accurate. His father hadn't completely failed to inherit some of the Sheffield family's merits—like in terms of being despicable and shameless, he was positively influenced, though he applied it to women.

Slowly sitting down, he felt something unusual beneath him. Reaching underneath, he pulled out a high-end material pair of panties. The father and son maintained their previous positions, staring at each other.

"You know, the French are romantic; Paris leads world fashion, and these years have seen a clothing revolution," Harry Sheffield calmly took the panties from his son's hand and explained incessantly, "This kind of underwear is easy to wear. If promoted in the Union, it should quickly capture the market."

"Father, even while in Paris, you don't forget domestic business, which is quite admirable." Seeing his so-called father put the panties into his pocket, Sheffield nodded listlessly, seemingly in deep agreement.

Indeed, ladies' panties first appeared in France. Romantic French people always seemed to innovate such things.

"The hardships here naturally go without saying!" Harry Sheffield assumed an expression as if everyone knew this and changed to another face, "What pleases me most is that you can now handle things independently. As a father, seeing your child grow up is the happiest thing. Since coming to Paris, it's also for expanding connections, participating in various social events, and meeting many noblewomen."

The more Sheffield listened, the more he felt that his father didn't express any sense of relief. In just a few sentences, the conversation turned vulgar, forcing him to interject, "Apart from getting to know noblewomen?"

"My child, you should realize the importance of connections!" Harry Sheffield emphasized this point by wagging his finger.

"But I don't plan to stay in Paris like you!" Sheffield didn't dare agree. Even though European countries were currently the center of the world with great influence, their potential was limited. The current European imperialist countries were visibly strong, but the Union was invisibly strong.

According to a theory emerging before and after WWI, so-called Britain, France, and Germany (excluding Russia) were merely frameworks of middle powers. There's no need to imagine how powerful these countries will be in the future; their strongest period is now, and people have already witnessed it.

Colonies are colonies, not homelands. Control is always one level weaker and cannot be as precise as moving one's limbs. It's not homeland territory, and later on, it will be lost. A great power remains a great power; temporary setbacks are not the historical norm.

Just like the current Union, later the Soviet Union, and then the Republic, once they explode, it's immeasurable.

This strength is reflected in the ability to break through barriers. Early comers will inevitably set up barriers for latecomers. Not all latecomers have the ability to break through these barriers. Before the Republic, Japan also encountered the Union's barriers. In fact, even without considering the issue of U.S. troops stationed in Japan, breaking through these barriers with Japan's own strength alone would be extremely difficult.

Japan itself lacks sufficient domestic demand support, much like a hemophiliac patient who bleeds uncontrollably from a small cut. Factors such as land area and population differences are crucial. If the Union wanted to strangle Japan, it would only be a matter of time.

Not wanting to dwell endlessly on vulgar topics, Sheffield directly said, "Father, actually, I'm representing the family this time to come to Europe for investigation, to gain beneficial experience, and to restructure the family's industry."

"I know, isn't it always ongoing? But what about now? France's situation is different from before. Is the family's export encountering difficulties?" Harry Sheffield slapped his thigh, sinking his whole body into the sofa, weakly saying, "It's hard, very hard. France is now vigorously supporting agriculture."

France has excellent natural climatic conditions suitable for growing various crops. It is the largest agricultural producer in Europe. Since the Franco-Prussian War or even earlier when it was still at odds with Britain, France followed the path of a European agricultural empire.

In fact, this was the Southern Democratic Party's route before the Civil War. At that time, the Democrats envisioned a super agricultural empire. Of course, industry was important, but who couldn't develop industry? There were many industrial powerhouses in Europe. Instead, using industry as a supplement to build a large agricultural empire, essentially following the Republican Party's English route. According to the Democrats' thinking, the Union wouldn't become a loser like Brazil or Argentina but would become a stronger version of France.

England was the world hegemon, and France was not weak either. In Sheffield's view, who came first or second wouldn't affect the final outcome. Regardless of whether agriculture or industry was stronger, it would drive the other field. The problem was that the Southern states were robbed.

Harry Sheffield's meaning wasn't difficult to understand. For countries like England, grain exports from the Union weren't a problem. France's agriculture was already strong, making it difficult to increase exports initially.

"Father, you misunderstand. My visit has nothing to do with grain exports. There are so many countries in Europe; missing France doesn't matter." Sheffield counted on his fingers. Though he didn't turn around, he heard footsteps on the stairs, tick-tocking downward, though he paid no attention. "This trip to Europe, the family hopes to obtain European patent authorization to set up factories. We're not Yankee thieves; we can't always rely on copying to get by."

Standardization would eventually be completed. In trendy terms, this was a crucial step to becoming bigger and stronger, not remaining big but weak. However, in Sheffield's view, using patent sticks to crush small workshops had greater short-term significance in freeing up markets.

Our family couldn't do it alone, but we could collaborate with other companies to complete this task, setting up barriers. How to divide the pie could be discussed later, but the premise was ensuring no new pie-dividers could join.

"Patent authorization?" Admittedly, Harry Sheffield had knowledge blind spots, but he couldn't show weakness in front of his child. He pretended to flip through the phone book attentively, muttering, "I remember Alice's father works in the judiciary."

Sheffield glanced over and saw the page his cheap father was flipping through was densely filled with contact information. Just looking at a few pages revealed hundreds of contacts.

Julie smiled at Sheffield and whispered to Harry, who was flipping through the phone book. Sheffield personally witnessed a scene of panties being transferred.

"Could you be any more blatant?" Sheffield thought to himself, turning his head away. He saw the camera in the corner of the living room. What was this thing doing in the house?

(End of Chapter)