Chapter 594: I Don’t Want to Work

"How can you even ask that? Do you have that little faith in the country? How could they possibly ignore it?"

Roman Rhodes glanced up at the door to the hospital room. After making sure no one was outside, he lowered his voice and said to Melody Summers, "Actually, the authorities have known about this place for a while. They’ve already begun investigating... And it’s not just this place. There are many other illegal, underground entertainment venues. They’re all going to be shut down. Not a single one will get away."

The turmoil of the past few years has bred many shady establishments hidden in the dark, all engaged in illegal activities. They might not be on the same scale as The Crestview Hotel, but they’re rife with vice, gambling, and drugs. The threat they pose can’t be underestimated. The authorities had been preoccupied with handling the insurgents, so they didn’t have the time to deal with these dens of iniquity.

Now that the insurgents have been eliminated and the greatest danger is resolved, the next step is to gradually investigate and shut down these unlawful establishments that were taking advantage of the chaos.

Hearing Roman Rhodes say this, Melody Summers could finally rest easy.

After a moment of silence, Roman Rhodes changed the subject and asked with some hesitation, "...Yesterday... did Mr. Rhodes find you for a chat?"

"Huh? Mr. Rhodes?" Melody Summers didn’t immediately register what he was saying. "Who do you mean?"

Roman Rhodes was speechless.

Seeing Roman Rhodes’s awkward, hesitant expression, Melody Summers suddenly recalled last night’s little episode. "Oh! Right!" she said, the memory flooding back. "Your father did chat with me for a minute last night..."

The situation had probably been too awkward, because Melody Summers really didn’t want to dwell on the memory. The ridiculous part, however, was that she’d actually had a dream about it last night...

In the dream, she had inexplicably received a check for two billion. As anyone who dreams frequently knows, people and events in dreams defy logic. Upon receiving the check, she had happily taken her ID to the bank, ready to exchange it for cash.

But the bank in her dream was packed with people. She was jostled back and forth by the crowd, and in the chaos, she somehow lost the check. And just like that, she was jolted awake...

As Melody Summers recalled the dream with a touch of regret, she heard Roman Rhodes ask tentatively, "...He didn’t say anything... inappropriate, did he?..."

Mr. Rhodes was now in a great hurry to move Roman and Winnie Summers’s wedding along. He had been pressuring Roman to figure out a way to get their marriage license before the end of the year. Roman was worried his father would get impatient, go to Melody Summers, and say something out of line.

"...Inappropriate?" Melody Summers was a little confused. What did he mean by "inappropriate"?

’Is Roman trying to ask if Mr. Rhodes gave me a check?’

With this thought, Melody Summers replied, "No, nothing like that. We just made some small talk..."

Hearing Melody Summers say that, Roman Rhodes breathed a sigh of relief.

He fell silent for a moment before asking, "By the way, I heard from your mother that you’re not busy with anything at the moment... Would you be interested in working at Rhodes?"

The words were barely out of Roman Rhodes’s mouth when Melody Summers blurted, "Not at all!"

Roman Rhodes, seeing how decisively she answered, couldn’t help but chuckle. "That was a quick no."

Melody Summers nodded and said with a serious expression, "Rhodes is a great company, but I don’t want to work there... I don’t want to be an employee. I don’t want capitalists exploiting my surplus value."

’In Melody Summers’s mind, working for someone else was impossible. She would never work for someone else in this lifetime.’

She had graduated from a prestigious university and had an edge in the job market. If she’d wanted a conventional job, she would have gotten one right after graduation. But she preferred to go home, help with the family’s fruit trees and fish ponds, and do business with her mother rather than be an employee.

Some people love struggling in the corporate world, enriching their lives and finding their purpose. Others are born with a deep-seated aversion to it, a natural rejection of that kind of work. Melody Summers was one of the latter. To each their own; you can’t force it.

Melody Summers thought to herself, ’If it weren’t for this cataclysm, if Simon Lancaster hadn’t recognized me and taken me back to the Lancaster family, I probably would have stuck to my original plan: take the money from the land contract buyout and start a small business with my mother.’

"Where did you get that idea? Who said anything about exploiting your surplus value?" Roman Rhodes shook his head with a laugh. "What I mean is, if you’re interested, you could join Rhodes to learn about corporate management."

"Huh?" Now Melody Summers was even more confused. She asked, completely baffled, "Why would I learn corporate management?"

’It’s not like I have any plans to start a company!’

Roman Rhodes’s smile faded, and his expression turned serious. "Your mother and I had a long talk last night. She said that you’re her only child and that she doesn’t plan on having any more. I feel the same way she does on that matter..."

"Which means, after she and I get married, everything we have will be left to you sooner or later. That includes a portion of my shares in the Rhodes corporation."

"Rhodes has always been a family business. If you’re interested in management, you can join the company. I can arrange for someone to mentor you and help you get acclimated ahead of time."

It wasn’t just Roman Rhodes who thought this way; Mr. Rhodes was of the same opinion.

After hearing what Roman Rhodes said, Melody Summers was momentarily stunned.

She looked at Roman Rhodes in astonishment and asked uncertainly, "...You... you really agree with my mom’s decision not to have more children?... But don’t wealthy families like yours place a huge importance on carrying on the family line...?"

Hearing her say that, Roman Rhodes chuckled, a resigned look on his face. "I’m surprised. For someone so young, you have some pretty old-fashioned ideas. That’s not good... Your mom and I are in our forties. We already have you, so why on earth would we go out of our way to have another kid?"

"Never mind that we’re already a bit old to have children. Even if we did, by the time the kid is in kindergarten and we’re at parent-teacher conferences, all the other parents will be in their twenties and thirties. How are we, in our fifties, supposed to relate to them?"

There was another reason Roman Rhodes didn’t mention. In middle age, you realize you only have so many days left. He just wanted to spend the rest of his journey with Winnie Summers, to be with her until the very end. He didn’t want a crying, wailing child complicating their lives.

Raising a child is a massive, long-term project. All the patience and energy he had in his entire life was just enough to raise Ronan Rhodes; he couldn’t possibly do it all over again for a second child.

Besides, having a child is like opening a blind box. Winnie Summers had already gotten the super-rare chase figure, so why would he risk planting a landmine for himself just for the sake of carrying on the family line?

Listening to Roman Rhodes, Melody’s impression of him began to change for the first time. She suddenly realized that maybe, just maybe, Winnie Summers hadn’t picked the wrong man this time.

She lowered her gaze, hiding the complex emotions in her eyes. "I... I think I’ll pass," she replied. "I’m not really interested in managing a company..."

Compared to working at a company, Melody Summers was far more interested in planting crops and mining in her space. There were still so many unexplored regions in the Arcadian Space, and she had only recently discovered that the ship-shaped structure at Odyssey Station could actually be used for long-distance voyages.

Melody Summers planned to embark on a great voyage once the cataclysm ended. She wanted to visit the Farstar Civilizations she traded with and see for herself just how advanced the planet that created the Far Sea Secret Medicine truly was.

Thinking of this, Melody Summers looked up at Roman Rhodes and said, "Whether it’s working a job or managing a company, I’m not interested in any of it!"

The words had barely left Melody Summers’s lips, and before Roman Rhodes could reply, a voice suddenly called out from the doorway, "Then why don’t you come work at our police station!"