New Gods of North America.

Chapter 561 The Mill
Wayne, carrying his plate, found a relatively quiet corner and slowly ate while observing how others passed the time.
Attending a ball once in a while is quite fun, but with so many balls going on in recent days, Wayne is starting to feel a bit tired. He doesn't know how people in high society manage to keep it up year after year.

Interestingly, Inessa wasn't particularly enthusiastic about ballroom socializing. While she wasn't exactly aloof, she was generally a "retaliation type," accepting all comers but letting go of those who left. She wasn't likely to actively seek out people for conversation.
However, she seemed to be quite popular among the ladies, especially the young ladies. Wayne would occasionally glance at her and would see people gathered around her talking to her. The atmosphere always seemed to resemble a peaceful and harmonious still life painting, as if the painter had carefully designed every detail of the composition.

Lina has a very versatile personality and temperament, but her appearance is generally a flamboyant style with a touch of aggression. She's the type that makes people feel like she can automatically attract the audience's attention just by standing on stage. To put it nicely, she's "like a star," but to put it bluntly, she's a "vixen."
With a little tweaking, the evaluation might become "a vixen with a actually decent personality" or "not as superficial as she seems," but overall, it still seems to be somewhat "mixed."
The young female fans are absolutely in love with her, and it's said that many ladies will even take the initiative to ask her for advice on dressing. She can quickly become the center of attention and liveliness wherever she goes. However, there are still some ladies who will quietly avoid her, as if getting close would cause them to get sunburned—especially when the gentlemen invite dance partners.

The long table was laden with a dazzling array of food, and guests could help themselves at any time, so Wayne followed the "eat small meals frequently" approach, not taking too much at once.
However, seeing Pastor Beaton, who holds the "father" position in the three generations of the Beaton family, approach again, Wayne regretted that he hadn't taken enough this time.

Is it really necessary? I haven't even had a proper rest yet.

Could you please just let your own son socialize? Stop taking advantage of innocent people like me...

Fortunately, Pastor Beeton seemed to be taking a break this time as well. After coming over, he didn't continue urging Wayne to invite a dance partner. Instead, he held his glass and looked out the window, as if admiring the night view—this was his house, what hadn't he seen before?
Wayne felt a little relieved and took the initiative to chat with him to avoid appearing too aloof: "The moon is quite nice tonight. It looks like it shouldn't rain for the next couple of days."

Pastor Beeton took a sip of his drink, not continuing the conversation. "I'm actually a little curious, what were you doing, Wayne, the night those 'rebellious' priests got into trouble?"

Well?
Having introduced quite a few people to him that night, Wayne now owes Pastor Beeton a small favor, so revealing a little information isn't unreasonable.
But to be honest, Wayne slept like a log that night... Only Lina, worried that the base had been raided, ran back and got into a minor fight, but nothing serious happened.
It's nothing compared to something that makes the front page of the newspaper the very next day.

After finishing his sentence, Pastor Beeton added, "That night, I was stationed at the Union Army camp near Richmond."

Army barracks?

Wayne thought for a moment, then quickly realized what was going on.
So your family was involved in what happened that night... and the scale of the incident was larger than Wayne imagined. Since it involved the political world and the Federal Army, it couldn't have been just a one-sided action by the cathedral.

Unfortunately, Wayne had no inside information to provide on this matter. "At the time, we had just finished investigating Tom Hagen's assassination. I was resting in a restaurant that night and had no other tasks."

Pastor Beeton glanced at Wayne. "I heard that your men got into a fight in Georgeburg that night?"

Wayne nodded. "A group of attackers, their identities unknown, and we didn't investigate further. At the time, George Berg's exorcism department seemed to be under martial law, and it was probably handed over to David Mills there afterwards."

After listening, Pastor Bitton didn't continue asking questions, but instead brought up a new topic: "It seems you guys have some new moves lately? When I was at the ball last night, I heard that Olivia from the Fisk family was promoting a new product for you, but I don't understand what it means."

“Haha, our detective agency is just exploring a new market. That stuff is a relatively inexpensive meat substitute, and it's convenient to eat. It might not be popular in high society, but it should sell well in places like the docks. I plan to promote it there first.” “The docks…” Pastor Beeton pondered for a moment, then chuckled. “There’s been an interesting rumor going around there lately. They say there are evil spirits causing trouble, and all the victims are gangsters. Some believers say that because the bishop passed away, the souls of those who died unjustly didn’t receive guidance and return to the Holy Spirit in time, so they’ve lingered in the world and are taking revenge on those people.”

Wayne quickly clarified, "This matter has absolutely nothing to do with our detective agency."

“Of course.” Pastor Beaton nodded slightly, then seemed to remember something, “When are you planning to officially launch your ‘luncheon meat’?”

"It will probably take some more time. I've only just managed to get the equipment sorted out in the last few days. Even if we can use local raw materials initially, we still need to find a suitable place to set up production. Ideally, we could find an existing windmill or watermill that we can modify slightly to start using it."

"Windmills...aren't you considering using steam engines?"

"The current steam engines are still too large, and the investment required for purchase and maintenance is not low, which does not fit the cheap strategy of 'luncheon meat'. At least in the short term, we probably won't need steam engines; we need to see how the market reacts first."

“Considering costs first is a good habit.” Pastor Beeton raised his hand and pointed to the distance outside the window. “How about that kind of mill?”

I don't want to work at your house... Otherwise, you'll just drag me into every dance party.
However, Wayne still took a closer look and said, "That's probably what I'm looking for. Since it can grind wheat, it should be fine for mincing meat after some modifications."

"This is easy to handle."

Pastor Beeton waved without turning his head, and soon a man who looked like a butler came over. He instructed the butler, "See if we have a suitable windmill in the plantations near Richmond. Once we've chosen one, clear out a space around it for Wayne and the others to use."

After saying that, Pastor Bitton turned back. "You don't have to refuse. I just want to see as soon as possible what happens after this thing is rolled out in the dock area. If needed, it will be easier for you to stop production or build another workshop."

Wayne didn't actually refuse at all. Although he was quite optimistic about the prospects of luncheon meat, in the early stages of a startup, one shouldn't waste any opportunity to get something for free.
As for the issue of personal relationships, the "cooperation" that Mr. Bucks had previously discussed with Wayne was actually more complicated... If the cost of using the mill were converted into rent, the actual "hush money" would definitely be more than that.

Wayne rubbed his hands together slightly, accepted the gift with ease, and said, "You're so generous."

(End of this chapter)