New Gods of North America.

Chapter 738 "Shareholders"

Honestly, Wayne has been spending a lot of time in the dock area lately.

However, apart from necessary business dealings, Wayne had virtually no interaction with Richmond's high society during this period.

This is partly because the detective agency needs to keep a low profile in its operations in the dock area to avoid attracting too much attention.
However, on the other hand, there was nothing else that came up to him.

When that cousin arrived, Wayne felt as if "the village had suddenly gotten internet access."
He had just seen off Warren Leitcher, the new treasurer of the cathedral, and was writing a letter to the mayor to discuss the transportation of cows or calves, as well as the settlement of funds—these days there were so many types of cash, and many state banks couldn't even exchange money directly between each other. Minimizing the "losses" of large-scale exchanges was sometimes a technical task, and transporting gold coins directly would be even more troublesome.

Then, just as one letter was beginning, Doug came knocking on the door with more matters to discuss, and not just "one" matter.

"These three are invitations to balls or banquets, one of which is tonight. They were all sent over this morning."

Doug didn't bother him every time something came up; it seemed he was trying to gather all the non-urgent matters together for his reports.

As Wayne picked up the invitation to tonight's banquet and was looking at it, Doug's report continued: "A housekeeper from the Auster family came downstairs and said that her young lady will be visiting later."

"What is she coming here for?" The name on the invitation was "George Randolph," which was a little unfamiliar to Wayne, but the Randolph family itself was very famous. Back in the colonial period of America, the first president of the Continental Congress was from their family.

"They only said they were coming to visit, but didn't answer any specific questions." Doug seemed slightly hesitant. "The manager also brought several bodyguards and maids, saying they were going to conduct necessary pre-opening cleaning and security checks on the temporary base..."

Wayne was slightly surprised, then he understood what Doug meant: "This place is currently being used by our detective agency. Unless the mission ends or the city hall sends someone to take it back, we will be in charge of its management for the time being—even if the other party is my cousin, he can only be considered a 'guest,' and you are the housekeeper of our detective agency."

Doug seemed to immediately regain his confidence: "Yes! I understand."

Ugh,
Sometimes, even distant relatives can be troublesome. It's difficult for outsiders to judge whether someone is "a very important part of the family" or "just a casual acquaintance." This makes it even harder to strike a balance.

For example, both Miss Olivia and Miss Olivia come from prestigious families, but when Miss Olivia brings her to visit, Doug doesn't consider such details; he simply respects and cooperates with her.

Wayne kept his letters to the mayor as brief as possible, omitting details of messages that Connor had already verbally conveyed, simply using phrases like "a deal has been reached with the cheese supplier," even if outsiders wouldn't understand the implied meanings.
Unfortunately, Inessa and Lina are both out right now, and Doug can't keep track of his partners. He only knows their general whereabouts and doesn't know when they'll be back. He even has to ask the agents whether they should attend the banquet together tonight.

The Randolph family is somewhat politically connected. Although they have declined somewhat in recent years, they still come from a background of large plantation owners, and many family members have long held state government positions or served as legislators. Occasionally, members of the family will even become members of the federal Congress, making them quite influential.

Moreover, their family is most famous for its particular fondness for marriage alliances with various powerful families. Although the exact value of these relationships is debatable, they truly have "relatives everywhere."

Inessa wasn't particularly keen on socializing, so whether she went or not was irrelevant to her. But it was a different story for Lina. If she went and made some connections, she might be able to develop some strange new information channels for the intelligence team...

Sometimes it really is true that "speak of the devil and he appears." Wayne had just stepped out of his office while pondering these things when he heard Lina's voice: "Who are you people? Why are you stopping us here?"

Looking towards the stairwell, I saw Lina carrying a brown paper bag, being stopped at the bottom of the stairs on this floor. Behind her was Miss Harley from the Quinn Tax Collector's household.
The person who stopped Lina was an unfamiliar middle-aged maid, and next to her were two other young maids who looked like they were cleaning—incidentally, apart from the office where Wayne had just been, all the doors to the other rooms on this floor were now open, as if they were preparing for a "thorough cleaning".

Lina didn't seem bothered at all; her questions were more curious than surprised. After asking, she even reached into the brown paper bag, took something out, and popped it into her mouth, crunching away. She seemed quite relaxed.
Instead, the middle-aged maid seemed slightly tense: "We are Miss Anne's servants. She is a direct descendant of the Auster family and a cousin of the founder of this detective agency."

"Oh." Lina dodged slightly, nimbly passing by the middle-aged maid. "Then I'm a partner in the detective agency, one of the owners here."

This almost dismissive and relaxed attitude seemed to provoke the other party. The middle-aged maid wanted to stop her again, but before she could even speak, Lina shoved something into her mouth.
The middle-aged maid's thoughts were forced to take a sharp turn. She quickly spat what was in her mouth onto her hand, her face showing disbelief: "What is this?!"

Lina only showed her her back and continued walking forward, snapping photos. This time, even Miss Harley followed. Considering that ordinary maids couldn't withstand Lina's attention, Wayne had to act as the peacemaker.

He first raised his hand to signal to the middle-aged maid that "Lina is safe and there's no need to stop her"—thankfully, she seemed to recognize Wayne's face and didn't try to stop him either—then he told Lina not to mind, and then curiously leaned closer: "What are you eating?"

"Parker made these fried pork rinds." Lina generously held out the paper bag, a little surprised. "Didn't you tell Parker that these scraps could be turned into Western cuisine?"

Well……

Wayne then picked up a piece and started snapping it up. The pork skin was cut into strips, marinated, dried, deep-fried, puffed, and then sprinkled with flour. If done well, it could even taste better than French fries. The chef's skills were trustworthy.

He seemed to have mentioned it to Chef Parker, and they even discussed various ways to cook offal, but he never said these things were "Western cuisine"...

Miss Harley, standing nearby, had already subtly begun her "origin declaration": "Actually, this way of eating has existed in the South for a long time. It was originally brought over by the Frankish colonists. The plantation owners pursued 'eating from head to toe,' which led to the creation of all sorts of dishes."

Wayne was torn between agreeing and disagreeing. While eating livestock "from head to toe" was indeed a Southern dietary philosophy, limited by preservation technology, plantation owners often couldn't even finish the good meat, let alone pay attention to offal and scraps.
At most, they might occasionally prepare some exquisite specialties, but the rest would be given to the slaves as "meat rations."

But these are all minor matters.
Wayne originally wanted to talk to Lina about the "wise sage," but with Miss Harley present, it might not be convenient. So he opted to talk about the invitation he had just received: "The Randolph family is hosting a banquet tonight and has invited several partners from our detective agency. Are you free to go?"

Lena seems to be using Miss Halle as a search engine lately. She casually turned her head, and before she could even ask a question, Miss Halle began answering:

"The Randolph family has many in-law relationships and is very sociable, so they often organize balls or banquets. However, when they invite people, they usually look at the name on the invitation. If it is signed by Mr. George, it means that the attendees are generally of higher status. Otherwise, it may just be an ordinary entertainment gathering."

I never expected there to be such intricacies involved. It's true that without a local to guide you, outsiders would have no way of knowing many of these details.
The three of them chatted and ate as they entered the office. After reading the invitation, Lina was both eager to try it out and reluctant to make herself known to a lot of people, so she was a little conflicted.

The person who truly changed her mind was Wayne's cousin.

This young lady seemed to have already tacitly accepted that the detective agency was an affiliated company indirectly controlled by the Auster family. Upon arrival, she acted as if she were conducting a "shareholder inspection." Not only did Lina seem to become the person she was evaluating, but Miss Harley was also innocently dragged along and questioned.

Wayne had initially thought he'd see Lina, the queen of the kids, "brutally beat up the brats," but Lina seemed to be in a good mood today, playing the "pretending to be weak while actually being strong" card.

The paper bag of fried pork rinds wasn't much, but Lina kept it in her hand or placed it close to her, eating and chatting without treating the other person as her superior. She even fed Miss Harley every now and then, and even Wayne got a couple of bites from her.
Not only did Lina not let Anne Auster get a single bite, but she also ignored Anne's explicit and implicit statements about "even if you can attend social events, it doesn't mean you can truly enter high society." She even acted like a brainless sweetheart, saying, "What a coincidence, you also received an invitation. I was just thinking of going to see it, so it's good to have someone to go with."

If it weren't for the constraints of cultural literacy and personal image, I feel that the young lady would probably have exploded on the spot.

How to describe it...

Watching a haughty young lady put on airs and get humiliated in front of a bunch of cotton can actually be quite amusing in a way.

Unfortunately, Wayne's smile quickly faded after Anne Auster finished her tour of the detective agency and left.
The shrewdness that Lina had hidden was quickly returned to her face:
"Based on my intuition, I guess she or one of her elders might want her to marry you, using you as a stepping stone for them to take over the family business. She herself may not be happy about it, but she may have to accept reality, which is why she seems like this. She's probably examining you as a potential fiancé."

Ok? !

Then why were you feeding me right in front of her? Were you trying to torment her or me?
Are you trying to manually create a chaotic scene for me?
(End of this chapter)