Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 165 I didn’t expect you to be like this, Barbara!
"Oh Barbara - here's the orange juice you asked for -"

Five minutes later, Ethan came out of the kitchen with a tray. He poured the filtered freshly squeezed orange juice into a glass filled with standard ice cubes and handed it to Barbara.

"Thank you." Barbara took it with both hands and sipped it politely.

The next second, the wizard narrowed his eyes, "Oh! These are indeed the navel oranges you grew yourself! So sweet! The sugar content must be more than ten points, right? Better than the premium oranges on the market!"

"Barbara, your sense of taste is really sensitive." Ethan nodded with a smile, "When it comes to growing oranges, our family is very professional. The oranges grown by Thomas have an average sweetness of 12, and the highest can be 14. You can drink the juice directly without adding sugar or honey."

While talking, Ethan also sat on the sofa and made himself a cup. When the sweet taste occupied his taste buds and the icy and refreshing taste filled his mouth, the satisfying pleasure also calmed him down.

To be honest, a few minutes ago, after seeing Barbara through the cat's eye, Ethan's heart was beating very fast. There was no way, because this middle-aged lady had been very kind to him in the past few years. It was Barbara who solved the legal protection problem of his first work "Snake", and the chip patent problem that supported his control of hardware was also solved by Barbara. It was Barbara who helped him tear up the first court summons in his life. When those thorny legal problems were solved one by one under her manipulation, if Barbara lost her job because of him, then...

"That would be very embarrassing for me."

Ethan leaned forward, his elbows resting on his thighs, and kept turning the cup in his hand. "Barbara, I called your office a few days ago. I wanted to apologize to you because my remarks may have had some adverse effects on you, but your secretary told me that you were on vacation..."

"Were you nervous?" Barbara looked at Ethan with a playful look.

"Of course." Ethan said without hesitation: "I even had a few thousand words of essay popping up in my mind in an instant. I thought that you took the initiative to leave because of work pressure, but in fact you were forced to leave because of public opinion issues. Maybe it won't be long before you take the initiative to submit your resignation. Then, I will see you in school again next semester, and then I may be beaten to death by the angry Evelin."

"Have you decided where to put your tombstone?" Barbara folded her arms and leaned back on the sofa.

"I can't make the decision on this kind of thing, right?" Ethan spread his hands and said, "If Evelyn chops me up and feeds me to the dogs, I might have to wander around the world."

As he spoke, he sighed dejectedly.

"Ugh--"

“Hahahaha——” Barbara laughed out loud at the funny look. She clapped her hands and shook her head, saying, “Oh Ethan—you are indeed a creator. You have a really rich imagination!” After sighing, she added, “But don’t worry, what you think will never happen, because there is nothing wrong with your previous remarks. It has no effect on me.”

"Really?" Ethan's eyes lit up.

"Why would I lie to you?" Barbara leaned forward and took the initiative to refill her glass of juice. She said, "Although your remarks are being wildly quoted by those conservatives, that is just a means of attacking Jimmy. The transfer of the canal is imperative. Now it is not a question of whether we are willing to transfer it, but a question of whether we must transfer it because we can no longer control it."

"Barbara, what do you mean?" Ethan didn't understand.

"Out of control?" He was very curious.

"Yeah~" Barbara nodded and said, "Due to the principle of confidentiality, I can't tell you the details, but I can tell you a story."

She cleared her throat and said, "There is a small town in the southwest of Virginia, on the border of Kentucky. A few decades ago, many people lived there because there were rich coal resources. But as the mines dried up, the population there has been decreasing since ten years ago. Until now, there are not many permanent residents, and the total number of households is only a few dozen."

"Because the town is too small, there are not many votes, so no one pays attention to it. But in such a small town that is almost forgotten, a big thing happened in recent years."

"It should be two years ago that the only suspension bridge used for traffic in the town collapsed, which had a great impact on the daily lives of local residents. They wanted to get a new bridge, but the state government was unwilling to spend money on such an unproductive project, so it ignored their request."

"Then they came up with a plan, which was to seek help from the CCP's embassy in Washington, hoping to get their assistance and let the wind of totalitarianism blow to the land of freedom."

Hearing this, Ethan's mouth opened wide.

"What?" He was a little surprised.

Barbara couldn't help laughing. "This is true. It happened recently. When the news spread in Washington, the Virginia government panicked. If nothing unexpected happens, the bridge construction should be passed unanimously in the near future."

"In this case, Virginia had to build the bridge."

"And we...were also forced to hand over the canal."

Although the story Barbara told was a bit absurd, Ethan still understood its meaning. The canal incident might not be that simple, and the other pole of the world must be involved.

And since the matter is so complicated, it means that his guess is correct. The most Warner will do is to disgust him with this kind of thing, and then investigate further?

Even if they were given a hundred courages, they would not dare to dig.

"Then I feel relieved." Ethan breathed a sigh of relief.

"Are you relieved now?" Barbara raised her voice.

Such words made Ethan stunned for a moment. The next second he straightened up, tried to open his eyes wide, and said in the most sincere tone possible: "Oh Barbara - when I say relieved, I mean that you are not affected by me. As for your sudden leave, I am still very concerned!"

Under Barbara's gaze, Ethan blinked his big, sparkling eyes.

"Puchi..." That artificial expression made Barbara lose her composure in a second.

"Ethan you really are..."

She waved her hand and said, "Okay, okay, I believe you care about me."

"So are you on vacation this time?" Ethan smiled and asked.

"Guess?" Barbara asked.

"I guess you came back to relax?" Ethan said bluntly. "Because I heard from Evelin that you are also very dissatisfied with this matter?" he asked tentatively.

Barbara shook her head at his cautious look. She stared at Ethan for a while, then smiled and said, "I'll assume you got one quarter of your answer right."

"So low?" Ethan didn't believe it.

"Of course, because I do take a break to relax, but more importantly, I want to come and see you."

"Look at me?" Ethan pointed at himself, a little surprised.

If he remembered correctly, the two had just met in July.

"Yes, I want to see you." Barbara smiled. "Do you know why I came here at this time? Because I want to talk to you alone. Of course, this doesn't mean that these contents need to be kept confidential. If you want to share with others, you can tell Evelyn, or your uncle Thomas, and aunt Linda later. Before that, I hope that our communication is private and independent, okay?"

Barbara's tone was very serious, which made Ethan put away his previous joking intention.

"Do we need to go to the study?" he asked.

"No need." Barbara shook her head and said, "We are not negotiating, we are just chatting."

"Okay, go ahead." Ethan's body softened and he leaned back on the sofa.

That relaxed posture made Barbara nod happily and lean back as well.

After the soft sofa wrapped her up, she squinted her eyes and asked Ethan her question, "Ethan, can you tell me what you think of our country?"

"Or, in other words, how do you view the Donkey and the Elephant parties?"

This question made Ethan frown slightly.

After thinking for a while, he replied: "Barbara, I am just a 22-year-old kid who graduated from high school and has not received higher education. Your question is a bit difficult for me..."

"Hahahaha—" Barbara laughed out loud at the reply that sounded like a repeater. "Okay, okay, okay." She pressed her hands down to signal to stop, "I should have expected you to answer like this."

After laughing, she continued in a steady tone, "Ethan, you should know that although my questions are meant to explore, I have no ill intentions. Since you said this question is difficult for you, why don't you listen to my story? If you are interested in anything, you can interrupt at any time, okay? This should be fair to you, right?"

"Oh Barbara - thank you -" Ethan smiled and nodded.

As he answered, Barbara also talked about the past.

"Ethan, I was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Arkansas and Maryland. The reason why I moved across states constantly when I was young was because my father was a lawyer with the qualification to practice in most states in the country, so he would travel around for work, and I had to follow him." "Although the life of traveling was hard, the scenery on the road was also beautiful. What impressed me most was that when I was very young, I saw my father carrying a briefcase and going out. He looked really cool in his well-tailored suit. Whenever he helped others win a lawsuit, the client came to thank him, which made me feel the joy of others. Therefore, from that time on, I had an idea in my mind, that is, when I grow up, I want to be as cool as him."

“Then, I became a lawyer.”

"Then you have fulfilled your dream," Ethan interrupted with a smile, "You are already one now."

"Yeah~ This is certainly a dream come true~" Barbara nodded.

The next second, she sighed again, "But when I entered Yale Law School, I realized that there was a huge gap between dreams and reality. I wanted to be as cool as my dad, but that path was too difficult. The year I enrolled, Yale Law School enrolled a total of 175 people, but there were only 13 women like me."

"When I graduated from Yale, passed the bar exam, and officially started working, I was even more surprised to learn that there were only three female practicing attorneys in the Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals where I worked."

"I don't know how you look at this, but I was thinking, there are so few women in this industry, and I wanted to do something if I could."

"At first, my idea was to become famous. As long as I took on major cases and appeared in public again and again, I would set an example for my sisters of the same gender. Then I could open my own law firm and preferentially hire the lawyers I wanted to hire and provide them with opportunities."

"So I went to Edward Williams's firm and learned from him in an attempt to get a chance to move up, but unfortunately, it didn't work. When the clients found out that their attorney was a woman, they would choose to change. They didn't trust us."

"When I found that this road was not feasible, I changed my idea. Since rich people want to buy the best service with money, they treat women as vassals from the bottom of their hearts. Then what about the general public? I can serve those who need legal aid. So I went to the District of Columbia to be an aid lawyer and got the position of director. I have the power to appoint and dismiss personnel, and I can provide opportunities for some companions who want to work in the legal field. But, I failed again..."

"Because ordinary people who need legal aid actually want to get out of prison more than rich people." Ethan sighed and said, "In this case, they will distrust female lawyers more than rich people, because they are afraid that female lawyers will act on impulse. For example, domestic violence, as long as they are a man, they will not really want to talk to female lawyers about these things. For example, drug crimes, those guys will not believe that a highly educated woman who graduated from law school will look at them straight in the eye."

"Oh Ethan, you're right, that's it..."

Barbara laughed, "So I failed again."

“After I failed twice in a row, I realized that there were so few female lawyers because society didn’t have enough awareness of them. So I wanted people to know the value of female lawyers in the legal profession. So I decided to become a teacher, and then I came to Stanford.”

“Then I wrote the casebook.”

“Now, I’m a well-known figure in the circle.”

"Of course, you also have a part to play in this."

“Because you bought a lot and donated a lot.”

"Hehehe——" Barbara's words made Ethan laugh, "Barbara, you don't have to praise me like this, I just did what ordinary people would do."

Ethan wasn't lying; when he bought the casebook and donated it, his biggest thought was giving back.

When Barbara helped him again and again, anyone with normal logical thinking and a little emotional intelligence would feel embarrassed. When Barbara did not charge any money in front of Vinton Cerf, helping her realize her dream was actually what a normal person would do.

"But you did make more people know me." Barbara smiled and said, "Although I have never appeared in court for you, many people in the university, technology, and business circles know me now. They know that I helped you deal with Motorola and Philips. When the most common and difficult infringement cases in business can be exempted from going to court, or even without settlement, because the infringed party can't find any reason to sue, I am a star in this field, right?"

"You deserve it." Ethan said with a smile, "I am the one who creates troubles, and you are the one who solves them, so in this respect, you are greater, right?"

"Okay, okay, okay, why should we be so polite?" Barbara waved her hand and said, "Let's not talk about this. What I want to say is that because your ability to stir up trouble is first-class in the country, you have helped me realize a dream that I had not realized before. Now many companies know that female lawyers are also capable."

"You understand what I mean, right?"

This question made Ethan stop smiling.

He looked at Barbara seriously.

He always felt that something big was coming.

Barbara continued: "Jimmy chose me because of my ability."

"When he invited me to work at the DoJ, I was very excited because I could prove to the female community that we are no less professional than men in the judicial profession."

"In the past six months since I started working, I have discovered that my previous thinking seems to be wrong. People do not trust women in the legal profession because lawyers have choices, but what about other professions? For example, what about judges in the legal profession?"

"If a woman becomes a judge, as long as she does not make mistakes of principle, she can always appear in front of the public. When she upholds justice for people time and time again, people will gradually accept the presence of women in the judiciary."

"When I told Jimmy about this idea..."

"Jimmy was very happy. He felt it was a symbol of equality."

"He was very supportive of my decision and asked me to recommend some women who might be suitable to be judges."

Barbara looked at Ethan with bright eyes.

And her words were like a thunder, exploding in Ethan's ears!

Ethan looked at the other party with a twitching mouth, and smiled awkwardly: "Barbara, this is a good thing, something worth celebrating, but I don't understand what this has to do with the Donkey and Elephant parties?"

Although Ethan said he didn't understand, he had his own thoughts in his mind.

He thought, could it be that Barbara came here to ask him to support Jimmy?
"Oh Ethan, where were you thinking?"

As soon as Ethan's thought came up, Barbara said, "My meaning is actually very simple. Although California is the base of the Elephant Party, the inclusive style of the Donkey Party is more suitable for you."

'? ? ? '

'WTF?'

"Are you here to arrest people?"

Ethan finally understood what Barbara meant. Then he was confused, "Barbara - if I remember correctly... you seem to be very dissatisfied with the handover of the canal?"

At this moment, Ethan suddenly felt as if he had discovered a logical error.

If Barbara was very dissatisfied with Jimmy's policies, why did she come to me at this critical moment? And she seemed to represent... the Donkey Party?
The next second, Barbara's words made him stunned.

The mage, who was leaning on the sofa with one hand on his chin, smiled and said, "Yes."

"I am indeed dissatisfied."

"I'm not against him doing this, because after we studied this matter, we found that this matter must be done."

“My beef is that he did it in his first year.”

"It will be a big blow to his term."

"You should understand what I mean, right, Ethan?"

boom!
Another thunderclap made Ethan dizzy!
Of course Ethan understood what Barbara meant!
Because the mage in front of him obviously wants more!
What she wanted was not the right to recommend for just one term, but for at least two terms!

And that...

He must be re-elected!
"Good fellow!"

"I didn't expect you to be this kind of Barbara!"

Ethan was shocked!

Note: ① The bizarre bridge-building story in the article is true. It was even reported on CBS’s national broadcast at the end of 1977. Jimmy repeatedly stated that they had a bridge-building plan long ago and it had nothing to do with Solvay. ② Barbara Babcock was the one who madly recommended female and minority judges to Jimmy in real life. Under her recommendation, Jimmy appointed more female and minority judges than all his predecessors combined. This is a real bug in reality. When she died, the American Bar Association described her as a pioneer of women in the legal profession. Ginsburg was just the highest-ranking person she recommended.

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(End of this chapter)