A Promising Future

After opening the caps, each of them held a bottle of beer.

Wang Ye did not speak right away, nor did Zhirinov. Instead, Zhirinov tilted his head back and took a huge gulp of beer.

The atmosphere in the room was somewhat gloomy.

Only after downing more than half the bottle in one go did Zhirinov heavily slam it onto the coffee table with a bang.

The veins stood out on the back of the hand gripping the bottle. It was clear he was using a lot of force...

"Misha, I might... retire."

Zhirinov spoke in a muffled voice, his head lowered.

Wang Ye was startled. Zhirinov was retiring?

How was that possible!

Leaving aside the fact that the old man was not all that old, only around sixty, perhaps. That was not considered old in the Duma.

Besides, there was no such thing as retirement for Duma deputies. The only possibility was failing to get elected during the next election cycle.

Otherwise, he would have to serve out his current term.

And according to the latest regulations, their current Duma term still had nearly four years left!

Of course, there was one other possibility: something had happened to Zhirinov, and he was being forced into retirement!

Frowning, he asked, "What happened? Is someone coming after you?"

Zhirinov gave a bitter smile and shook his head, seemingly wanting to say something but holding it back.

After a long while, he let out a sigh and explained, "How should I put it? I just feel a little tired. I don't want to keep doing this anymore. Sigh, it's meaningless!"

Naturally, Wang Ye did not believe that. The old man usually seemed full of energy, the kind who practically had wind at his heels when he walked.

He loved his work and