Chapter 37: Chapter 37 Conservative Hardliner

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On a weekend morning, the Carter siblings collectively set out to repair the fence in their yard.

Mrs. Wood from across the street came over with her wheelbarrow, stopped in front of the gate, and said, "Last night, I saw Scott being picked up by a car."

Elena smiled, "Great, he won't come to bother us."

Mrs. Wood, being a kind neighbor, reminded them, "You can't do it without him."

Elena nodded, "He'll be fine."

Mrs. Wood pushed her cart, slowly walking back across the street.

Martin came out of the house carrying a toolbox, looked at the slightly worn wood, and began to give random orders, "Hol, take your shovel and dig a hole. Harris, grab a ruler and measure the height. Lily, give me a hand."

He found a handsaw and started sawing the wood.

Suddenly someone blocked the sun.

Martin looked up to find it was Lily, "Idiot, what are you doing?"

Lily extended her hand, "As dumb as a stupid pig, hand me the saw quickly."

Martin remembered Elena mentioning that Lily from the Carter family was the best at crafts, handed over the saw, and asked, "Can you handle it?"

Lily began sawing the wood with skill, while her mouth didn't rest, "I can make it look just like you!"

But Martin didn't let her stop talking, instead he said, "I have a craft to make." Then, remembering Lily's age, "Forget it, you're not suitable."

Lily raised her voice, "Watch how I saw this piece of wood into your likeness!"

"You better not be bluffing, idiot." Martin decided to find James a companion, "If you can't do it, I will dig a hole in the backyard and bury you."

Lily blinked, "And then listen to you and Elena every night?"

Whoosh, Elena threw a broken rope, which hit Lily on the head.

Lily quickly shut her mouth and settled down to the craft work.

Martin grabbed a shovel to help Hol dig the hole.

His body seemed to have muscle memory, making the work particularly smooth.

Digging a hole to bury a person didn't seem hard.

After busying themselves for most of the morning, they erected a wooden fence to replace the missing part of the wire mesh in the yard.

All the wooden materials had odd shapes, standing in the dirt bed, as if dealing with the earth itself.

Lily Carter's masterpiece.

Martin and Elena then used ropes to tie it together, connecting it with the wire mesh. It wasn't very pretty, but it was functional.

Mainly, it wasn't afraid of thieves.

The worthless scraps of wood probably wouldn't interest Scott.

Martin washed his hands, drove out the car, and said, "Idiots, lunch is on me."

The four of them got into the car, and Martin drove to a nearby fried chicken and burger joint. On average, five or six US dollars per person was enough to make Lily and Hol, the two idiots, stuff themselves until their eyes rolled back and they were almost vomiting.

After eating, Harris bought some old magazines from a nearby bookstore.

Back at the Carter's, Martin sat on the sofa, casually picked up a magazine, and said to Elena, "You figure out the rent."

Then, he turned his head to Lily, "Idiot, shut up!"

Lily's words got stuck in her throat, and she started coughing from holding back, forcing out a defense, "I didn't say anything."

Elena went to find the ledger.

Martin flipped through the magazine, and the one he picked up randomly happened to be an astronomy magazine. The page he turned to was introducing a newly discovered star.

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It seems like a lot of new stars are discovered every year, doesn't it?

Martin picked up a magazine and waved it at Harris, "Ever studied astronomy?"

Harris, intensely reading a book, didn't lift his head, "Forgot? I'm a member of the astronomy club. Don't get me started on introducing stars, I was in public high school."

Elena came out of the bedroom with a notebook, flipping through it as she said, "I don't know how Emma negotiated with Jack, half a year's rent for 1000 US dollars."

Martin thought to himself that it must have been settled in bed and said, "I'll transfer it to you on Monday."

Just like a poker game, Elena never held back with Martin, immediately glaring at him, "Idiot, you want to learn from that jerk Jack and duck out on the bill? This is due at the end of March, and it's almost June!"

Lily finally seized the opportunity, "Because dodging the bill, it makes him feel even better when he's screwing around."

The astronomy magazine was thrown out, hitting Lily in the face, as Martin said bluntly, "I'll give you 2000 US dollars."

Elena was magnanimous, "I'll let go of the interest."

"I have plans with a friend this afternoon, you guys carry on," Martin said as he got up to leave.

Elena grabbed the basket of clothes and followed Martin next door, picking up the clothes Martin had changed out of. Searᴄh the NôᴠeFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

The washing machine here had been sold years ago, and Martin's dirty clothes were always taken to Elena's place to be washed.

Martin was used to it, didn't utter a word, got in his car, and headed to downtown Atlanta, arriving at the cafe they visited last time.

A reporter from The Atlanta Interstellar News named Buckley had been waiting there, and when he saw Martin, he said, "I've dug up some information."

Martin pulled out the 200 US dollars he had prepared and pushed it toward Buckley, "This is for you."

Last time, Martin had asked Monica, a freelance journalist friend, and this was the going rate for information gathering and buying material from a journalist.

Buckley pocketed the money and said, "In a few days, a director of the Atlanta Methodist Association named Milton will attend a large-scale skill training press conference; he is one of the staunchest conservative opinion leaders of the Methodist Association."

He opened his bag, took out the collected information, and handed it to Martin, "The remarks that triggered the Freedom Association's protest—that women are mere dependents of the family and must follow the will of the family—were publicly made by him."

Martin browsed quickly, "Has this guy made even tougher remarks in the past?"

Buckley nodded, "Yes, he belongs to the die-hard faction within the conservatives."

Martin went on to look at Milton's information, naturally, what Buckley provided wasn't any secret; it was mostly what a journalist could find out.

One section caught Martin's attention: of Milton's three marriages, two failures were due to the women's infidelity, and when the women filed for divorce, they accepted interviews with the media, claiming Milton was incompetent.

After thinking for a while, Martin said, "Buckley, my friend, I might need you to do me a little favor in a few days."

Buckley looked at the money, then at Martin's very civilized clothes, and without any hesitation, "We're friends, of course I'll help out. Whenever you need me, just give me a call, I'll be there."

Martin made a phone gesture, "Wait for my call."

Buckley put away the money given by a civilized person and left the coffee shop in good spirits.

After all, he was used to making up stories for the tabloids; it's all about making money, nothing demeaning about it.

Martin went to the club, looking for Vincent in the office, "Boss, I've been carefully checking Atlanta's various newspapers these past few days, and the media no longer mentions the House of Beast. This isn't good for the club's further expansion of its reputation."

Vincent, who had benefited practically from the reputation, cared a lot about this, "We can't really sue the Methodist Association; civil litigation takes a long time and costs a lot. It's not worth it."

The last press conference had Martin making a lot of noise, but in reality, only a lawyer's letter was issued.

Martin said, "Boss, last time it was the Methodist Association that provoked us, why can't we take the initiative to trouble them? We go find the Methodist Association jerks to protest, then call the media reporters."

"To have the media stir things up again?" Vincent thought it was feasible, "Are you confident?"

Martin added, "Last time, I saved Kelly Gray, a director of the Freedom Association; Mrs. Gray hired me as a part-time social investigator for the Freedom Association; we can use the Freedom Association's name."

Vincent, considering Martin's key role during the club's crisis, agreed, "Okay, the personnel expenses will be calculated by the hour."

Martin thought to himself, the ones who came knocking were indeed worthless.