“Hopefully I’m not late?” Jiang Chen smiled apologetically.

“No, there are still two minutes before the dinner starts. Please, come this way.” Zhang Yaping gestured toward the venue behind him and then led Jiang Chen inside.

The dinner started on time.

After the main courses, there were desserts, cold drinks, champagne, and red wine. As the rhythm of the symphony gradually became more melodious, it marked the start of the ball. The waiter took away the empty plates and placed bottles of champagne on the long tables.

The guests left their seats one after another and went after their target. Whether it was just for a dance, or for a contract worth tens of millions or even hundreds of millions, or a chance to reach their dream, or just a one night stand…

All the needs of the upper class could be fulfilled here.

At the center of the venue, Jiang Chen looked at Ayesha, who was on his left, with a gentle smile. She was moving the cherry on top of the ice cream with a silver spoon in boredom.

Although the dance had already begun, he did not intend to go mingle. For one, he was not interested in being surrounded by a large group of people, and for two, in his position, it was no longer necessary to deliberately make friends.

He had two purposes for attending today’s event.

One, to agree on the deal with Yerif, and two, to appear here.

Now, he achieved both of these goals.

Just then, a white man in a suit sat down on his right-hand side, took a glass full of wine, and said.

“Can I sit here?”

“Of course.” Jiang Chen looked at Kerry with some surprise.

He remembered that just a month ago, the secretary of state was someone else. He didn’t expect this guy to renege from Hill’s camp and participate in the party’s primaries, but now, he once again returned to Hill’s camp.

Although Jiang Chen did not have a lot of goodwill toward the UA government, he felt highly about the ability of the secretary of state.

“You are very surprised?”

“Of course,” Jiang Chen smiled. “I didn’t expect you to return to the position of secretary of state immediately, instead of being sent to somewhere for retirement.”

“That’s because you don’t know the Capitol.” Kerry took a sip of the wine and seemingly hinted at something.

“Is that so?” Jiang Chen shrugged. “Maybe. Just like you have never known us.”

Kerry smiled and placed the glass on the table.

After a pause, he looked at Jiang Chen and lowered his voice.

“When did you get on the same boat as the B City Consortium?”

“As early as two years ago. We had extensive cooperation in the freshwater business. They also helped Future Bank go public in the UA.” Jiang Chen laughed.

“Don’t pull this on me, you know what I mean.” Kerry’s lowered voice was mixed with a trace of hoarseness, and the hoarseness revealed a hint of reluctance and unacceptance, but he cleverly hid all of this behind an indifferent expression, “To be honest, if you didn’t help, we wouldn’t have even considered that little guy as a contender…”

“Is it really good to talk about your candidate on this particular occasion? Mr. Secretary of State?” Jiang Chen laughed and said innocently, “And what do you mean, did my hacker hack your voting machine? Or did you outsource the election to my company without me knowing?”

“Don’t act stupid.” Kerry shook his head. “Do you know what you got yourself into? You are against a giant interest group, a military-industry complex that was established before the outbreak of World War One—”

“Giant?” Jiang Chen also picked up the glass and smiled slyly when he heard what Kerry just said. “Is it bigger than Rothschild and his Freemasonry?”

Kerry opened his mouth, but no words came out.

“My attitude has always been clear. If you are willing to cooperate, we are happy to open the door, just as we have worked with the Rothschild family before.” Jiang Chen shook the red wine in the glass and stared at the bloody red liquid before he whispered, “But if you still think that you are the center of the world, hold the belief that everyone must surrender to you, and you wish to continue to go down the wrong path…”

With one hand holding her delicate and beautiful chin, Ayesha, who was stilling playing with the cherry out of boredom, stopped. Kerry sensed the sudden change in the atmosphere and quickly glanced the girl on the other side before he swallowed his words.

The wine in his hand tilted slightly as if it made some kind of announcement, then Jiang Chen said softly.

“We’ll just get rid of it.”

…

“…a creamy ice cream made from twenty types of cocoa is surrounded a thin layer of delicate curd. Small pieces of truffle chocolate are sprinkled on top and the entire thing is placed in a fine crystal cup. I once tried it in a high-end restaurant in New York, but that one was slightly smaller compared to this. The cost was about 17,000 dollars, and I needed to book two days in advance… Do you not want to try this?” With a charming smile on his face, the man in a white suit revealed his white teeth and courteously spoke to the woman next to him.

A beautiful woman with an oriental face stood facing him. She was in a pale yellow evening gown, dignified yet elegant, and the soft ribbon gently wrapped in front of her waist added a touch of brightness to the fullness in front of her chest.

Although the standards of beauty remained different between the West and the East, some things remained the same.

However, the beauty who stood there showed a glimpse of impatience or repulsion.

“Sorry, I have no appetite,” Liu Yao shook her head and said.

“No appetite? That is a big problem,” Felix smiled and gracefully extended his right hand. “Maybe you need some exercise, like dancing with the rhythm of the music. Beautiful lady, do I have the pleasure to be your partner?”

“No need,” Liu Yao refused.

The graceful smile froze on his face, and a hint of anger appeared but also disappeared quickly in Felix’s eyes. His emotions were hidden behind his dark green pupil.

“I haven’t introduced myself yet. That’s my mistake.”

Felix retracted his hand, took out a business card, and placed it between his two fingers.

“I hope you can think about it again. This is my business card. I’m the manager of Warner Bros. Asia. I’ve been focusing on the South Asia market, hoping to discover some promising talents for the parent company.” Felix passed the card in front of Liu Yao and smiled. “If you are interested, I can take you to Hollywood. You have the ability to become famous around the world.”

He understood female stars too well, especially Asian actresses.

Hollywood movies had been doing all they could to enter the Chinese market, but the second and third-tier stars, or even premium stars, had been desperately trying to get into Hollywood, even just for two seconds on the red carpet.

Countless women packaged themselves to his bed for this opportunity.

However, Liu Yao simply felt angry and thought it was comical when she saw the name on the card.

Just as her lips formed a curvature, and she was ready to take his business card and toss it into the trash can, a woman in a black evening gown walked in their direction.

When Felix saw the person, his eyes narrowed.