Wayne found a relatively quiet corner with his plate, slowly eating while observing the crowd to pass the time.
Dances like this were interesting if you only attended them occasionally, but with the continuous string of them over the past few days, Wayne felt a bit weary. He wondered how people in high society managed to keep it up year-round.
Interestingly, Inessa wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about social dances. It wasn't that she “kept people at arm’s length,” but she generally adopted a “counter-attacking” approach, neither rejecting nor holding onto anyone. She rarely took the initiative to approach people for conversation.
Yet, she seemed quite popular among the ladies, especially the young misses. When Wayne occasionally glanced over, he almost always saw people gathered around her, conversing. The atmosphere always looked somewhat like a peaceful yet harmonious still life, as if a painter had meticulously designed every detail of its composition.
Lina’s personality and temperament were highly adaptable, but her appearance generally had a naturally aggressive and flamboyant style. She was the type who would make people feel that she “could automatically draw the audience’s attention just by standing on stage.” Positively, she was “like a star”; negatively, she was a “vixen.”
With a slight adjustment, the evaluation might become “a vixen who actually has a good personality” or “a pretty face who isn’t as shallow as she looks,” but overall, it still seemed to elicit “mixed reviews.”
Her little fan girls seemed to adore her, and it was said that many ladies would actively ask her for fashion advice. Wherever she went, she quickly became the center of attention and livened things up. However, there were still some ladies and young misses who would quietly steer clear of her, as if getting too close would cause them to get burned—especially when the gentlemen invited dance partners.
The long table was laden with a dazzling array of delicacies, and guests could help themselves at any time. So Wayne also adopted the “eat less, more often” approach, never taking too much at once.
However, seeing Pastor Beaton, who held the “father” position among the three generations of the Beaton Family, approach again, Wayne regretted that he seemed to have taken too little this time.
“Seriously? I haven’t rested for long.”
“Can’t you just ask your son to socialize? Don’t drag innocent people like me into it…”
Fortunately, Pastor Beaton seemed to be hiding to slack off this time as well. After walking over, he didn’t continue to encourage 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 home, what could he possibly not have seen before?
Wayne felt a little relieved and took the initiative to chat with him to avoid appearing too aloof: “The moonlight tonight is quite nice. It looks like it won’t rain for the next couple of days.”
Pastor Beaton took a sip of wine and didn’t continue the topic. “I’m actually a bit curious, Wayne, what were you doing on the night those ‘society rebellion’ Pastors had their accident?”
“Hmm?”
Having helped introduce many people throughout the evening, Wayne now owed Pastor Beaton a small favor. It wasn’t excessive to reveal a bit of information.
But to be honest, Wayne had slept soundly that night… It was only Lina who was worried about their base being raided, so she ran back once and had a small fight with someone, but it didn’t cause much of a stir.
At least, it couldn’t compare to the events that made headlines the next day.
After Pastor Beaton finished speaking, he added, “That night, I was stationed at the Federal Army barracks near Richmond.”
“Army barracks?”
Wayne pondered for a moment and quickly understood.
“So your family was also involved in what happened that night… And the scale of the incident was larger than Wayne had imagined. Since it involved both the political sphere and the Federal Army, it wouldn’t have been a unilateral action by the Cathedral alone.”
Unfortunately, Wayne truly had no inside information to offer on this matter. “At that time, we had just finished investigating Tom Hagen’s assassination. That night, I was resting at a restaurant, with no other assignments.”
Pastor Beaton looked at Wayne. “I heard that your people had a fight with someone in Georgeberg that night?”
Wayne nodded. “A group of attackers, identity unknown, and we didn’t investigate in detail. The Exorcism Department in Georgeberg seemed to be under martial law at the time, and the follow-up should have been handed over to David Mills there.”
After listening, Pastor Beaton didn’t press further but brought up a new topic: “It seems you have new developments recently? Last night, when I was at the dance, I heard that Olivia of the Fisk Family was helping you promote a new product, but I couldn’t figure out its significance.”
“Haha, our Detective Agency is just planning to open up a new market. That thing is a relatively cheap meat substitute, and it’s convenient to eat. It might not be popular in high society, but in places like the Dock Area, it should still find a market. I plan to promote it there first.”
“Dock Area…” Pastor Beaton pondered for a moment and couldn’t help but smile. “There’s an interesting rumor circulating there recently, saying that a Demon is at work, and all the victims are gang members. Some believers are spreading rumors that because the Bishop passed away, the souls of the unjustly dead couldn’t receive guidance or return to the embrace of the Holy Spirit in time, so they temporarily remained in the world and sought revenge on those people.”
Wayne quickly clarified, “This matter is completely unrelated to our Detective Agency.”
“Of course.” Pastor Beaton nodded slightly, then seemed to recall something. “When do you plan to officially launch your ‘luncheon meat’?”
“It will probably still take some time. I’ve only just begun to solve the equipment issues these past few days. Even if we can use local raw materials initially, we still need to find a suitable location for production. Ideally, we could find an existing windmill or watermill that could be slightly modified and put into use.”
“Windmill… Are you not considering using a steam engine?”
“Current steam engines are still too large, and the investment required for purchase and maintenance is not low, which doesn’t align with the cheap route of ‘luncheon meat.’ At least in the short term, we probably won’t use steam engines; we need to see the market reaction first.”
“Considering costs first is a good habit.” Pastor Beaton raised his hand and pointed into the distance outside the window. “Do you think a mill like that would work?”
“I don’t want to come to your house to work… Wouldn’t I be easily conscripted by you for every dance then?”
However, Wayne still took a serious look. “That’s roughly what I’m looking for. Since it can grind wheat, it should be fine for grinding meat after a slight modification.”
“That’s easy.”
Pastor Beaton waved his hand without turning around, and soon someone who looked like a butler walked over. He instructed the butler, “See if we have a suitable windmill in our Plantation near Richmond. After selecting one, also clear out an area around it for Wayne and his people to use.”
After speaking, Pastor Beaton turned back. “You don’t have to refuse. I just want to quickly see what happens after this thing is promoted in the Dock Area. If needed, it will be more convenient for you to stop production or build another workshop then.”
Wayne actually had no intention of refusing at all. Although he was quite optimistic about the prospects of luncheon meat, during the initial stages of a startup, one shouldn’t waste anything that can be obtained for free.
As for the issue of favors, Old Mr. Backus’s previous “cooperation” with Wayne was actually more insider… If the cost of using the mill were converted into rent, then a proper “hush money” would certainly be more than that price.
So Wayne rubbed his hands slightly and accepted it calmly, “You are truly too generous.”
