Darkstone Code

Chapter 1268 - 1267: Unless

When Mrs. Klein came out of the private room, her expression was a little dazed.

Ever since she and her husband had gone bankrupt after losing everything speculating on silver, staying alive and keeping life going had become their only task.

Before they went bankrupt, they had never imagined that even buying enough food just to stay alive could be this difficult.

They had also tried to borrow some money from their relatives, but...

The social structure of the Federation is very peculiar: everyone talks about "family," yet in this family there is no place for the elderly.

Whether it’s celebrities or politicians—anyone who often appears in the media—if you pay attention to the side of themselves they show the public, you’ll notice that there are no old people in it.

Family and the elderly hardly ever appear together in the same photograph.

Once the children grow up and leave home, that "family" is considered dead.

The children’s new households are the real new families, the ones that carry new hope; aside from the occasional contact, there is almost no daily interaction between the old and the young.

Take Lynch, for example.

After he left his family, he rarely contacted Nell or Serra; if he hadn’t become rich, that interaction would have been even less.

Some people think this is a society that is cold to the elderly, but after all, it has operated like this for so many years, and will continue to do so.

If there really were a problem with it, someone would have changed it a long time ago.

The fact that no one is even discussing these issues now shows how accepting Federation citizens are of it.

In essence, this too is a manifestation of selfishness.

They are clearly family, yet as time goes by, they gradually become like strangers.

Perhaps only when that old person—who once shielded them from the wind and rain, taught them how to drive, and gave them the first car of their life—quietly passes away someday, will people feel a stab of sadness.

The sadness comes violently, and leaves just as quickly; maybe this is the benefit of distance and indifference—people are not so easily trapped in long-term grief!

After contacting their relatives, the Kleins only managed to borrow a small amount, and as for any thought of moving in with them—that was something that shouldn’t even be mentioned!

Now they were renting in the worst cheap apartment building in the city, and every month, just to keep living in that dilapidated building reeking of excrement and fishy stench from top to bottom, Mrs. Klein had to spend a night with the Administrator.

She had originally wanted to look for her personal trainer; she had previously given her personal trainer some money so that he might have a chance to realize his dream of starting a business.

Back then they were on very good terms, and that personal trainer had been very obedient. If she could get those tens of thousands back...

It wouldn’t solve all their problems, but at least their standard of living could be improved.

Only she hadn’t expected that her personal trainer would refuse to give the money back, insisting that the money was a "gift," not a "loan," which meant he had no intention of returning it.

To make it worse, back when she had been so very rich, Mrs. Klein hadn’t made him sign any IOU or other proof; that money was simply gone.

Fate works in such strange ways: although the personal trainer never returned the money to Mrs. Klein, he did give her a job.

There are too many people in this world to count; you can’t always look at people with the same old eyes.

In the past, those people playing finance pretty much made manufacturing and real industry completely lose their shine, and then one financial tsunami later, the blood splattered by people jumping off buildings was heavier than a rainstorm in Bupen!

Those who did real industry and lost so much they were on the brink of bankruptcy, yet had almost no debt—of course they had no debt, because in the best years of finance the banks and finance companies looked down on industry altogether and would never lend money to anyone doing real industry.

And now this very group of people has suddenly risen again.

Everyone’s lot is different. Some who used to be stuck on the bottom rung have, under the flood of the times, clawed their way up a little.

Among these people, there are always some whose tastes are rather peculiar.

For example, they don’t like young, pretty female trainers; instead, they particularly like the aura unique to Middle Class women, and in this regard, Mrs. Klein has a major advantage.

She has already signed three clients and sold over a hundred sessions in total.

She personally can get a commission of a bit more than two thousand.

Most of this money—aside from the part that barely keeps them alive—goes into the judicial account to pay off their debts.

Because this was personal bankruptcy, some debts had been written off, but certain private debts had been kept.

They had to repay the money, using the hard-earned income from her labor.

If her trainer Level inside You’Er Mei were a bit higher, she could get a larger cut.

Just now, one of her clients said he was very satisfied with her teaching process—especially the post-workout relaxation—and that once this package of sessions was finished, he would buy some more.

In the past she had despised people who did this kind of work, yet now, she had become one of them herself.

She was even considering whether to scrape together some money to upgrade her trainer Level, so she could earn more.

This... dog-shit fate!

Seeing the personal trainer, Mrs. Klein stopped at the doorway. She was now an employee of this gym, while that personal trainer was one of the store managers here, holding considerable power.

The reversal of their roles left her deeply embarrassed and in pain, yet she had absolutely no way around it.

"Perfect, come to my office for a bit, I have something to tell you." The former personal trainer glanced at Mrs. Klein, then walked toward his office.

Mrs. Klein didn’t refuse; she wasn’t in any position to refuse.

After going bankrupt, Mr. Klein was completely crushed. What got crushed, besides his Wealth, was his body and his mind.

Now he soaked himself in cheap high-proof liquor every day and couldn’t pull himself out. His severe alcoholism left Mrs. Klein unsure whether he might suddenly leave this world at any moment.

There was nothing she could persuade him to do; all she could do was keep things as they were. The only stroke of luck was that they had no children, otherwise this would really be a catastrophe.

After entering the former personal trainer’s office, Mrs. Klein started taking off her clothes, which put a bit of a smile on the former fitness trainer’s face, but he stopped her.

At the beginning, he really enjoyed doing this. Back then he was the one being trampled under this woman’s heel.

He still remembered once when Mrs. Klein had just finished exercising; she took off her socks and, without even washing, stepped right on his face, and he still had to keep smiling.

All that humiliating past had been buried in his heart. Now, he had let it go, because what he was doing now might be even more excessive—but who cared?

Thanks to You’Er Mei!

"This branch got four spots for the centralized training from our side. You know, these things are in high demand now..."

The centralized training was to give some personal trainers a chance to move up. Only by constantly upgrading themselves, becoming gold coaches, champion coaches, could they get a bigger cut.

After You’Er Mei rolled out this whole system, tons of people went crazy over it, and franchise gyms opened one after another.

That also made chances for centralized training fewer. Even though headquarters increased the number of sessions, for those desperate to change their lives, it was still far from enough.

This was a marketing tactic. Whether it was centralized training, or gold coach, champion coach—at the end of the day it was just an internal standard set by You’Er Mei.

As long as they recognized it, whether these coaches really mastered any special techniques or not, nobody cared.

For most consumers, they were complete laymen. What was tested wasn’t the coach’s professional skills, but their way of serving and their service attitude.

Cutting down the number of training spots meant slowing the coaches’ promotion speed. It looked like it hurt You’Er Mei, but in fact it only fueled the frenzy.

Then by tweaking the number of sessions and spots in different regions, not a cent of the money that should be made would be lost, and they could even gain a decent reputation.

This time, it was this gym’s turn to get some spots.

Mrs. Klein’s eyes lit up. She’d been thinking about this lately, and now the spots had appeared at just the right time.

She looked at her former personal trainer with a hint of pleading. After throwing out the bait, he pondered for a moment.

He waited until the timing and mood felt right before continuing, "To be honest, your conditions aren’t very good..."

Mrs. Klein wanted to say something, but he stopped her. "Don’t argue with me, just listen."

"You’re not young anymore. That itself is a big disadvantage in this line of work. And sometimes you can’t let go."

"Jenny, who came later than you, has already locked in ten clients. One of these spots is for her."

"And your professional skills don’t pass the bar. Honestly, there are a lot of people we could give these slots to, but you’re not on that list."

Mrs. Klein felt a bit of despair. She stayed silent, head lowered.

Making money was too hard...

Seeing that the timing was about right, the former personal trainer changed tack...

"Unless..."

Unless.

There was still a way out. Mrs. Klein jerked her head up to look at him, her eyes full of surprise.

If it was the same contract, before she could get a bit over two thousand. Now she might have a chance at two thousand five or six hundred. Don’t underestimate that change—that was already a lot.

And it was also the necessary promotion path. In the end, she might even be able to split fifty-fifty.

"Unless what?"

"Unless you help me entertain a client..."

Some people are just like that. Some like them young; some prefer women in their thirties. What can you do about it?

After a psychological struggle that was anything but easy, Mrs. Klein agreed.

After sending Mrs. Klein away, the former personal trainer started going through some documents and reports. This gym’s development was much better than he’d imagined.

After squeezing out the two original founders with some not-so-clean little tricks, he had already taken forty percent of the shares of this gym.

As long as he pushed a bit harder, he could get more; fully owning it wasn’t just a dream.

But squeezing out the original founders wasn’t easy; he needed someone to help.

And the person willing to help him had a bit of an interest in Mrs. Klein.