The gentlemen seated here did not care much about William’s business. As for an auction room, the only ones that truly made money were auction rooms aimed at the upper class.

Ten thousand ordinary people together could not create the astonishing returns of one rich man. Ordinary people thought for a very long time before buying anything. The moment the price rose even slightly beyond what they could bear, they would give it up decisively.

The rich were different. They spoke only of whether they liked something or disliked it, and never considered the actual value of an auction item. For things they liked, most of them would say there was no ceiling.

The topic soon moved away from William’s business, or anyone else’s business, and returned to the Financial markets. Everyone exchanged little pieces of inside news, reliable or otherwise.

In reality, none of it was reliable, because the truly reliable inside news would never circulate. It would be confined to a handful of people, not spread so widely that people far from the Federation’s financial center could trade it back and forth until all the world knew.

From another angle, the information they spoke of was all information they could not verify for themselves. Most of it came from their Stock brokers, and those brokers… were not, in truth, all good men.

A social card game ended amid everyone’s idle conversation. William’s luck was not very good. He lost a little over ten dollars. The others each had their wins and losses, but none of the figures were large.

That was what a social card gathering was. No one was there for gambling itself. It was merely to get acquainted, deepen understanding, grasp one another’s political positions, commercial attitudes, and so on, in order to judge whether they could become good friends.

After the card game ended, two gentlemen lingered behind. They warmly invited William to attend the small gatherings they held, attended by residents of the community and some friends from society.

This was the core of middle-class community culture. But this kind of community culture would soon grow colder with the development of the times. After experiencing certain social changes and epochal events, people would begin refusing to share opportunities.

This might not be the best age, but it was absolutely not the worst.

Watching the others leave, William made a phone call and had the community’s supporting Service Company come over to clean up the aftermath for him…

For several days, William passed his time in various social events. He also began paying attention to the Financial markets. He discovered that, across the three social events he had attended over the past few days, the core of people’s conversations was always how much money they had earned lying down in the Financial markets.

When everyone was making money, it meant risk was growing greater and disaster was drawing near. The reason was simple. If someone was making money, then someone else had to be losing money. Profit could not be born from nothing, though that loss might not happen immediately. It might be delayed.

One morning, William was watching television. On the screen, the politicians were still boasting of the astonishing achievements of the Federation’s economic development, as if all of it had been the result of His Excellency the President’s and their own brilliant strategizing. Just then, the telephone suddenly rang.

William lowered the television volume while picking up the receiver. “It’s me…”

Sometimes these seemingly unrelated celebrity interviews and talk shows also revealed details people failed to notice. For example, when this politician talked about his own achievements, he mentioned a few things that interested William.

“William, my friend, it’s me, Fox. Can you come to my place? We need to talk!”

This call came a little later than William had expected. He had thought Fox would run into trouble earlier, but now was not too late either. He agreed, tidied himself up briefly, and went out.

He was considering buying a better car. A luxury car would make him look more like a successful man. In the little room, he had once encountered just such a fellow.

That man himself could be said to have had no money at all. He had taken the money from selling his house and rented a top-tier luxury car, put together a decent outfit, and used a few little tools to composite himself into photos with certain leaders. Somehow, he had successfully swindled quite a lot of money.

What was even more interesting was that the man was caught because he turned himself in. If he had not surrendered, he would never have appeared before anyone again for the rest of his life.

People were always warning themselves not to become shallow creatures who judged only by appearances, yet every one of them kept making the same mistake.

When he arrived at Gatnau Finance Company, the number of people queuing there had not decreased by much compared to before. While the middle class, including the upper class, were still discussing the dividends brought by financial investment, they had not noticed that enormous problems had already appeared at the bottom of society.

After William reached the office, Mr. Fox received him warmly. “Do you have anything at noon? If not, how about lunch together?”

Only after receiving William’s affirmative answer did the old man begin speaking of the matter he found troublesome. “We have always been good friends, and our cooperation has been very pleasant. I won’t circle around with you. I’ve run into a problem.”

William nodded once. “I’m listening…”

“It’s like this. As the agreements come due, the rights to some of the collateral have already transferred. You know, these things have become mine now. But my trouble is that I can’t efficiently turn them into cash!”

When William had first designed the method of using forfeited pledges as high interest for Mr. Fox, Mr. Fox had been very pleased. It was a huge business, and he was guaranteed to profit. He simply had not expected it to be so difficult to turn the goods into money.

From a fine set of tableware to an unused oven, even if these things were brand new, even if they only cost half their original price, they were now very hard to sell.

People with money were unwilling to use things others had used before. A kind of inexplicable cleanliness would be born in them, and the cause of that cleanliness was simply that they still had a little money.

Those without money might want these things, but they had no money to buy them. And the people Mr. Fox dealt with were often the very people bringing items in to pledge for loans. They were even less likely to buy things from him.

The goods were hard to sell and took up far too much space. Mr. Fox had already rented more than ten warehouses in the suburbs to store them, and it was simply unbearable.

More troublesome still, he had to pay interest to the bank. Bank loans also required interest. After William’s negotiations with Jorgreman, and with certain policies issued by the Federation government, the loan interest rate had been moderately lowered, but Mr. Fox still had to pay interest.

He could avoid repaying principal for the moment, but he could not avoid paying interest. The money in his hands was swelling rapidly like a snowball, at least judging from the debt-settlement mortgage agreements. He had thrown the overwhelming majority of his money into the business of using money to roll more money, leaving only a small amount for emergencies.

If he ended some agreements now, his losses would become very large. Especially with those compound-interest lending relationships, after paying the bank’s interest, what he could actually earn was not much. So he was unwilling to terminate those agreements early, and could only call in “clever William” to discuss it. He also believed that William would certainly have a way.

After hearing Mr. Fox’s request, William shrugged and very casually took a fine-wrapper cigar from the iron box on his desk. “You can sell those pledged goods. Someone will need them.”

Mr. Fox said nothing. Little Fox, standing behind him, continued, “We considered that method, but…” He shook his head. “The effect was very poor. Yesterday, in the entire day, we sold fewer than twenty items, and all of them were cheap little things. This road won’t work.”

William unhurriedly cut both ends of the fine-wrapper cigar, opened the blowtorch, lit one end, drew in a mouthful, and slowly exhaled. “Mr. Fox, and little Mr. Fox, you think these things are hard to sell because you aren’t professional enough.”

“I have a very valuable maxim, Leave professional matters to the professionals. You aren’t professional, so you can’t do it. But others can.”

Mr. Fox’s eyes turned, and he looked at William. He paused for a few seconds. “Then who is professional, and what must I pay?”

William smiled and shook his head. He crossed one leg over the other and flicked the ash. “If you don’t mind, Mr. Fox, we can discuss our next cooperation.”

Mr. Fox could not help laughing. “I always have the feeling I’ve been cheated. Is that normal?”

William answered with practiced elegance. “People feel that same unreality when facing happiness. They cannot believe happiness can come so simply. That suits your present situation perfectly.”

“You are a talent, William, my friend!” Mr. Fox sighed from the heart. He had already realized he had taken the bait, but he did not regret it.

William answered with a smiling expression, “Thank you for the compliment, Mr. Fox!”

The two of them walked through the Warehouse District, where goods were piled like mountains. Looking at all those things filling every available space, Mr. Fox was both pleased and somewhat troubled.

These things could not be stacked together. They were not made to a single specification. If they were to be stacked, supports would have to be built first, meaning an outer frame for each item, to ensure it would not be crushed under weight.

That would require no small sum of money, followed by labor costs, equipment costs, and once everything was stacked together, taking one item out from among them would become another enormous undertaking.

In the end, they could only be spread out flat across the vast warehouse space as they were now. At most, some small things could be placed atop items sturdy enough to bear weight.

From tables and chairs to certain artworks, oil paintings and the like, the things here covered almost everything an ordinary person might need over a lifetime. William even saw a set of combined silver tableware.

The smooth white ivory handles, paired with pure silver frames, six complete sets of knives, forks, plates, and bowls arranged inside a large box, gave a very pleasing impression.

Perhaps noticing William’s gaze, Mr. Fox smiled and said, “That was brought in by an old woman. She said it was a gift from her son when she retired, but this year her son’s business ran into some trouble and urgently needed money, so…”

William nodded. Not because he understood, but because he knew everyone who came here was now desperately short of money. No matter what reasons they gave, their purpose in coming here was the same.

“I gave her seventeen hundred dollars for this tableware. If you like it, you can take it home…” He could tell William seemed rather taken with the set. Since one or two thousand dollars did not matter much to him anyway, he made a rare gesture of generosity.

William shook his head. “You offered too much. Ivory isn’t valuable. Silver isn’t valuable either. Put two worthless things together, and they still won’t become valuable.”

The landmass of this world was broader, and there were still many uninhabited regions untouched by mankind and technology, places where nature retained its most primitive face.

Ivory, something whose transport and sale were strictly forbidden in another world, might here simply be a common material among the middle and high classes. It did not count as scarce.

Mr. Fox did not quite understand. He had seen similar ivory and pure silver tableware in certain shops, priced casually at two or three thousand dollars, even three to five thousand, enough to make one click one’s tongue. For a six-set ivory and silver service like this, he had already felt faintly guilty offering only a little over a thousand dollars. He had not expected William to think he had offered too much.

“That old woman you mentioned must have gone to an antique shop first, before she came to you…” William lifted his foot and continued walking. As he walked, he said, “Mr. Fox, I don’t know whether you have any other views about your work, but to me, work is work. Personal sentiment is a private matter. The two cannot be mixed.”

“You have the right to sympathize with others, to pity them. But we cannot convert that sympathy and pity into a priced amount and then use it as economic value to fill our business. That will make many people bear trouble because of it!”

Many people in higher positions were not mature enough when they first climbed upward. Their conduct still carried a certain childishness. They could not distinguish what was acceptable to express and what was not.

For Mr. Fox, perhaps he had merely pitied an old woman and overvalued the collateral she brought in. But that mortgage agreement might fail bank approval as a result, thereby cutting off a one-thousand-dollar loan, and in turn affecting roughly one hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars of William’s income.

If that money were then rolled forward, the loss would be even greater. At the same time, Mr. Fox himself would lose a great deal of money. And the cause of all that would be nothing more than one overflow of sympathy.

“Little Mr. Fox seems to have a different opinion…” William noticed the disapproving expression on Mr. Fox’s son’s face and asked casually.

Mr. Fox looked toward his son. Little Fox pressed his lips together. “We sympathized with and helped an old woman. I’m not ashamed of that. I’m proud of it.”

Mr. Fox’s eyes brightened faintly, and he nodded in satisfaction. In truth, men like him, who walked the gray margins, often carried a very strange psychology.

They desperately hoped their children would be stronger than they were, more ruthless, more merciless, without any weaknesses and afraid of no challenge. Yet at the same time, they also hoped their children would be kind, friendly, like angels.

Perhaps that was the complexity of human nature. Hearing what his son said, Mr. Fox turned back to William in satisfaction.

There was no provocation in it. He was simply very curious how William would answer, and was guessing at it himself.

William smiled. “I respect your attitude toward the world, but first we must understand whether the world is truly as we see it.”

“First, a household capable of producing tableware like this, if it has run into trouble, would absolutely not solve that trouble merely by pledging one set of ivory and silver tableware. If one or two thousand dollars were enough to solve their problem, they would not need to go through a finance company at all.”

The moment he said this, Mr. Fox and his son both froze. They had overlooked that small point. A household that could afford several thousand dollars’ worth of tableware, if it had already reached the point of needing to pledge possessions to get through a crisis, would not find one or two thousand dollars of any real use.

It was just like the cooperation between Mr. Fox and William. Earlier, he had not been optimistic about working with William, largely because William could not produce enough money. They knew William likely had around one hundred thousand dollars in hand, but that sum meant nothing to Mr. Fox.

Once William said this, both men’s expressions changed at once.

William then raised two fingers. “Second, it seems you didn’t find anyone to verify whether it is genuine or not…” Mr. Fox and Little Fox both became awkwardly speechless. In the end, it was Mr. Fox who nodded.

They had been extremely busy recently, with no time at all to deal with these questions. And for father and son, whose assets were swelling by the day, even if it truly were fake, the loss would not be large. It could scarcely even count as a loss.

At the very least, from the act of helping an old woman, they had gained a certain spiritual satisfaction. Their character and souls had been elevated. Even if the money could not be recovered and the thing was fake, it did not really matter.

The problem was that William had punctured it. At once there was a sense of helpless embarrassment, like a child mistakenly believing he had done something good only to produce a bad result.

They were not children, but grown men, so what they felt was only embarrassment.

William continued, “A pitiful old woman, a pledged item whose authenticity we still don’t know, a story full of holes once you listen closely…” There was a trace of mockery now in his smile, and his gaze turned toward Little Fox. “Do you still feel proud of what you did?”

A brief quiet settled among the three of them. Little Fox lowered his head. Mr. Fox also sank into thought. William gave them some time to think it through before sighing. “All of that is from the standpoint of business and work. If we encounter someone who needs help, and if we have the ability, then we should indeed help them.”

“But remember this. We help only those who truly need help, not swindlers. Over the next period of time, I believe many swindlers will try to bring worthless things here. You had best find a few people who know the trade as soon as possible, otherwise the bank loans may very well fail to go through.”

“As for anything you cannot determine to be real or fake, handle it all as fake…” As he spoke, he continued walking forward. “Where were we?”

The Fox father and son hurried to catch up. “We were talking about handling the things in the warehouses…”

William had come to the Warehouse District precisely to deal with the things in these warehouses. And this was not even all of them. Mr. Fox’s other warehouses were likewise packed full of various goods. Sometimes the collateral in a single mortgage agreement was not one item, but many.

He walked in front, while Mr. Fox and his son followed behind him. One ahead, two behind, they moved forward.

“I understand your trouble very clearly now. I can solve these problems…” He slowed his steps slightly, letting Mr. Fox more or less walk beside him. “You can entrust these things to me for sale. I have a company that can handle what you have here…” He casually gestured across the approximate range. “All of it.”

Mr. Fox’s expression froze slightly. He had thought William would have some other method of handling it, perhaps packaging the goods and passing them to someone else. He had not expected William to intend to do it himself. That sobered Mr. Fox a little from the myth of his ever-expanding wealth.

His wealth was doubling at a speed he would once never have dared imagine. And William, in a manner and at a speed even harder for him to imagine, was moving forward, swelling, multiplying.

Mr. Fox had spent half his life running gray businesses, living every day in fear, before he had everything he had now. But look at this young man before him. Half a month ago, he had still been an ordinary unemployed man.

And now, his wealth might already be countless times what it had been before, yet he had taken less than a month to complete that myth of wealth.

More terrifying still, every one of William’s earnings was completely legal, and taxed.

Mr. Fox was swelling. William was too, faster, and more discreetly.

He dazed out for only an instant before returning to himself. Thought moved very quickly, so quickly that before William even realized what Mr. Fox had been thinking, Mr. Fox had already regained control of his body.

“Mm…” After a brief murmur of thought, Mr. Fox asked in a tone tinged with admiration, “Then this time, what do I need to pay?”

William was not entirely sure what had caused Mr. Fox to undergo such a drastic change in such a short time, drastic enough that even part of his bearing had shifted, but it was a good sign. He did not mind.

“That depends on your choice.”

“First option, subtract thirty percent from the collateral price listed in the agreements, and I’ll buy these things outright. Whether they rot in my hands later, or sell for a higher price, it will have nothing to do with you.”

“Profit or loss, all of it will be mine alone.”

“Second option, my company helps you sell these things. You need to give me two prices, the lowest price you can accept, and the price you hope for.”

“I will charge based on the midpoint. Whether the goods sell or not, you must pay me a ten percent fee. I cannot guarantee when they will sell, or what the final transaction price will be.”

As William spoke, he stopped. He looked at father and son, the smile on his face as bright as it had been when they first met.

There was worry on Mr. Fox’s face. He discussed it quietly with his son for a while, and both felt the choice was difficult.

In truth, they both knew very well that the collateral values in the mortgage agreements had already been pressed very low. Something originally worth one hundred dollars was counted at only forty or fifty dollars with them. There would absolutely be people willing to spend forty or fifty dollars, fifty or sixty dollars, or even more to buy such things. They were far cheaper than they had been when displayed in store cabinets.

But at the same time, they hesitated. Over the past two days, they had also tried selling these things, and the results had been unsatisfactory. Not everyone was interested in them. In two days, they had recovered only a little over one thousand dollars.

If they wanted to turn all of it into cash, it would probably not be easy. Nor would it be quick. It would take a long time, and in that process there would be warehouse fees, management fees, labor costs, and possible accidental losses, for instance, if something broke.

Their actual value would shrink. In fact, they were already shrinking now. Every cent spent on them meant value draining away.

If they gave them to William at seventy percent of the agreement price, honestly, they felt that was too low. Something worth one hundred dollars would be taken by William for only thirty or forty dollars. That felt… a little too much like bullying, did it not?

But choosing the second method also worried them. If William deliberately slowed the sales speed, the ten percent fee alone would be enough to make them suffer, never mind that their greatest problem now was their urgent need for a portion of cash to deal with the bank’s interest harvest.

William had clearly given them two choices, but in their eyes, there was really only one.

Just as they were about to make their decision, William suddenly interrupted what they were about to say. “Think a little more carefully, gentlemen.”

“This is business, so we handle it as business. Do not let any personal sentiment interfere with your judgment, and please do not assume that because of my relationship with you, I must be a good man. In truth, I am also a businessman. Do you know what ordinary people in society call businessmen?”

Without waiting for the Fox father and son to answer, William smiled and answered for them. “They call businessmen greedy devils. That is the essence of business, the pursuit of greater profit. I may not necessarily think on your behalf, but I will certainly do my utmost to satisfy my own interests.”

As he spoke, he lowered his voice. “But outside of business, from a personal perspective, I think the second method is more suitable. Of course, as far as I personally am concerned, whichever you choose is the same.”

William’s blunt words dissolved the small displeasure in father and son’s hearts beneath the “honesty” he had constructed. At this moment, looking at the matter as William said, without personal emotion, William’s demand was not actually excessive.

What they were bearing now, and what they were about to become unable to bear, would all be transferred to William. They would not need to pay another cent for it, and could still receive money from William.

William was doing work, not picking money off the ground. Added to his words, Mr. Fox sighed as well. “Then we’ll choose the first option.”

“Have you thought it through?” William asked with a half-smile.

“I have!” Mr. Fox’s answer was not loud, but it was firm. “When I was young, my father told me not to look only at how glorious a thief seems when he spends money lavishly, but also to think about what he looks like when he fails, when he is beaten, when the police catch him and send him to prison, even when he is killed out in the wild.”

His tone carried a trace of feeling. “Everything has a glittering side, and a side we do not want to see. This is your ability to make money. I don’t have that ability, so I shouldn’t envy you.”

He shrugged. “Likewise, the way I make money is something you cannot use, and I believe you won’t envy me either, right?”

William showed a somewhat exaggerated expression of approval. “That is a remark full of life philosophy and wisdom, Mr. Fox. You are a wise man!”

Mr. Fox burst into laughter. “This is the first time in my life someone has called me a clever man. You should know, people always like to call me an idiot, or a fool!”

He reached out and put an arm around William’s shoulder. “Then it’s decided. When will you come move these things away?”

“That depends on when you have time.”

During this period, William had been moving back and forth between Mr. Fox and Golden Exchange Bank, helping them turn cash over, and he himself had gained no small benefit from it. It was enough to handle the goods here. In truth, he could have done worse, but he was in a good mood now and did not intend to.

Everything was getting onto the right track. It would only get better and better. There was no need to take unnecessary risks.

Very soon, William arranged a warehouse and rehired Richard and the others who had been temporarily unemployed. What came next would be a great undertaking, or rather, the birth of a new myth of wealth.

That morning, Richard sat uneasily in an office that still carried the smell of fresh paint.

The spotless, bright windows held back not a single thread of sunlight, leaving the entire room brilliantly lit.

Some time ago, when the matter between William and Michael had first come out, the Federation FBI and the IRS had found Richard almost at the same time.

As one of William’s important “claws,” Richard was bound to hold an important position in the combination between William and Fox. Only the Federation FBI and the IRS had both guessed wrong. He was nothing more than a poor bastard who did not even count as outer circle.

After being put through round after round of law enforcement by the two great Establishments, he was released after paying a sum of bail. In the end, William proved himself innocent, but Richard’s bail money had no further word attached to it.

If you thought that journey, which had nearly scared Richard’s soul out of his body, made him give up cooperating with William, then you would be wrong.

The stimulation brought by enormous profit had already bred in Richard the courage to trample the law. So long as the profit was rich enough, there was nothing he would not dare try.

He had also tried going to the employment center to find a new job. But every time he saw those jobs with guaranteed hours plus extra hourly wages, and the pitiful income they offered, he did not even have the desire to try.

Burying his head in work like a rotten piece of wood, only to receive each month a wage barely enough to keep himself alive, that was not work. That was laboring hard to murder himself, to murder his own life.

Just as he was wondering whether he should take a reckless gamble, William called him. In an instant, he felt that light had returned to the earth.

The next morning, Richard arrived at William’s warehouse half an hour early. Seeing that this boss had changed into far more High-Class clothes, Richard very humbly expressed his confidence in William’s return, and his courage to continue working under him.

Once a man grew used to making quick money, no one would be willing to bend his back again. This was also one reason many criminals found it difficult to break away from crime. They grew used to destruction, violence, and money arriving fast. Asking them to obediently work while others ordered them about?

“Seeing you is like seeing the sun, driving away the darkness and the black clouds, boss!” Richard had a clever mouth and a nimble mind. That was why William had chosen him.

Of course, he was also bold enough. At the very least, when he received William’s call, he had not said “sorry” and hung up at once like certain people had. Instead, he had come early to meet William.

William patted him on the shoulder. “Work well. We will have a future full of light. A few more people will be coming later. You’ll be half a teacher to them, help me lead them for a while.”

Richard behaved with great humility. When William spoke, he lowered his head slightly, giving the impression of listening with all his ears, nodding from time to time to acknowledge or agree with William’s words. In short, his performance satisfied William.

“Could you tell me in advance what we’ll be doing next, so I can prepare?” When he asked this, Richard’s blood began to surge and his heartbeat quickened. He was terribly afraid William would name a job that failed to satisfy him.

Fortunately, William could see straight through this young man and the greed hidden deep inside him, so he gave him an answer very readily. “A new job without base pay, but this time your commission will be much higher. So long as you have enough ability, you can earn far more than before.”

The moment money was mentioned, Richard became wholly engaged. He patted his chest and guaranteed that he would complete William’s instructions and work hard to do his job as well as possible.

Before half past ten in the morning, the people William had been waiting for had more or less all arrived.

Among them was a group of half-grown children. The oldest were only thirteen or fourteen, the younger ones twelve or thirteen. They were the children the boss had left behind.

With William’s financial aid, they did not need to worry about sitting idle until the money ran out and their guardians took them away, throwing them into a new devil’s den to have their value squeezed out again. They cherished this opportunity especially. Other than William, no one was willing to give them suitable work, and a suitable wage.

These children had changed into clean old clothes. On certain remote streets in Sabine City, there were many street stalls selling used clothes, and most of the stall owners were people who did not look especially comfortable to be around.

Those clothes were often stolen from all over the city and then sold here at low prices.

At first, there had only been two or three small stalls. Now there were more and more, and not only clothes. Some furniture had begun appearing among them as well.

Last year, the Sabine City Police Department had issued a notice that burglary was becoming more and more common. Those people were no longer merely stealing money. They would not even spare furniture and appliances.

The police department reminded all residents of the city to lock their doors before leaving home and take proper protective measures.

Richard stood in the middle like a proud little rooster, and also the most independent one. On the other side of him were more than twenty young people. These were also employees William had asked the employment center to help him find.

William glanced at his watch and gestured for one child to close the door. Then he began speaking to these people about their future work.

“I know some of you here must still have doubts, doubts about what our work is going to be…” As he said this, the children, including Richard, all looked toward the group of “new employees.”

That made the new employees inexplicably nervous, as though… their group was different from the others. It also made their attention begin to concentrate.

“In truth, it’s very simple. What I want you to do is sales. I have many goods here…” He beckoned several children over and had them hand out booklets to everyone. “The things in the booklet are the things you need to sell.”

Though called a booklet, it was in fact more like a photo album. On the first page, one could see four color photographs, with descriptions of the items beside them, as well as their sale prices in shopping malls.

These prices had all been collected by the children running all over the city during this time. They had contributed a large part of the work.

Richard was also reading carefully. He did not quite understand, but he knew how to maintain the dignity of someone in a higher position. He did not ask. Instead, he put on a look of, so that’s how it is, I understand.

“I want you to go door to door, knock, tell them why you’re there, then show them the goods in the booklet and tell them how good these things are…”

“I know some of you will think this is something difficult to accomplish, but believe me, it is much simpler than you imagine!”

“The floor price for every item is forty percent of its original price. Anything above that, we split half and half.”

In an instant, everyone drew in a cold breath. Those who had originally been thinking of leaving now showed surprise as well. In all of Sabine City, even the entire state, even the whole Federation, there was no commission at this level.

Even those who thought this could never be achieved now began to have certain thoughts. Why not try?

After waiting a moment for them to absorb this information, William continued, “If you think this job isn’t so easy to do, that doesn’t matter. I have another job here that I can give you.”

“Every Saturday afternoon, a the Secondhand Auction will be held here. At that time, a large number of secondhand goods will be auctioned here. I will give each of you one hundred seats. Your job is to find people and fill them.”

“For any transactions produced from your seats, each of you can receive a commission of five percent of the total transaction amount. Take note, Gentlemen, as long as the person you bring makes a transaction, you have income.”

“I have millions of dollars’ worth of goods here waiting to find buyers, and these goods will only become more numerous. Don’t worry that I won’t have anything to put up.”

“I can even give you a guarantee. Every month, here, at least three people will earn more than ten thousand dollars. If no one earns more than ten thousand dollars, I will personally make up the difference for him.”

“For the top three in sales performance, if I cannot make their monthly income reach more than ten thousand dollars, I will make up the money myself. This applies to everyone!”

In that instant, even Richard’s breathing went out of rhythm…

They did not need to do especially well. They only needed to do better than most people. In an age when the average monthly wage was two or three hundred dollars, the temptation of earning over ten thousand a month was simply too great!

Those who had wanted to leave and those who had not all stayed. So far, the idea of earning more than ten thousand dollars a month still existed only among the middle and upper classes. Even among the middle class, anyone who was not a company partner might not have the ability to earn that much.

So in this age, what did earning more than ten thousand a month mean?

Very simple. It meant earning in one month the wages another person would need four years to make without eating, drinking, or spending a cent. One month. Calculated by the day, each day’s gain would exceed another person’s monthly income.

What was more, Sabine City’s economic situation was not good. The Employment rate kept rising, and on the streets one could always see people with their heads lowered, running into walls everywhere as they searched for work. Getting a good job was truly too difficult.

Whether they wanted to compete for that ten-thousand-dollar monthly income, or merely stay to witness whether William was a fraud, these people all remained.

So long as they stayed, there was a very high chance they would join William’s team. There had once been such a profession, one that provided food and lodging and even free instruction, yet still could not find anyone willing to come.

Those organizers had even considered kidnapping people to make them study. For certain industries, people themselves were wealth, enormous wealth.

But William’s method was different from theirs. He would not be so crude. What you begged others to accept, they might not even deign to look at. Only what others begged you for, even begged without dignity, would they regard as treasure.

What followed was a rather simple exchange of new practical experience. Most of these young people did not have long work histories. More importantly, they had not been in society for very long. Around twenty-one years old, they had already gained a hazy awareness of society’s grim coldness, yet still retained splendid fantasies.

The reason they were splendid was that, in the end, all such fantasies would rot.

Over more than two hours, William told them how to knock open other people’s doors, how to make those people sit quietly on the sofa and listen to their nonsense, and how to make them willing to come to the Warehouse District on Saturday afternoon to attend an auction destined to be written into history.

William said a great deal, but the core was simple, still wealth, interest, and pursuit.

“When you meet elderly people living alone, sell them children’s toys. Tell them how attractive those toys are to children…”

“The needs of the elderly are actually very simple. They only want children to spend a little time with them. So these old people will not mind spending money to buy a little humble happiness to fill their easily satisfied hearts.”

“When children see toys they like at their homes, they will think of them later, and may even bring up going there on their own.”

“Even if they do not, when they play with those toys, perhaps by accident they will think of those old bones.”

“When you meet adults still living with their parents, talk to them about freedom. Used cars, used houses, those will become their first choices…”

“The difference in understanding between young people and their elders, the generation gap, will make them need a space of their own. If they cannot afford a house, then a used car they can afford is what they need most.”

“A car may not be large, but it can become their paradise for escaping reality.”

“When you meet women, introduce more fashionable things, new hair dryers, new curling irons. There will always be something they need…”

“When you meet men, strong liquor, cigarettes, ties, watches, even certain…” William lowered his head and looked over the booklet again and again. “…certain intimate products.”

“Someone once told me that sales is about creating demand. But if you create for a poor man a demand he cannot afford, you will not get a cent of commission in your whole life.”

“Sales is not creating demand. It is discovering demand, then stimulating it.” He changed his sitting posture. The young people around him surrounded him like students, taking notes seriously.

“Those who give you time to display the goods are not letting you create the impulse to consume in a short time. They are using the opportunity you have to persuade them as a way to persuade themselves, to persuade themselves they do not need a certain product.”

“If you can discover what they need, and then tell them that now is the most suitable time to buy those things, then you have mastered this world!”

Even Richard was taking notes very seriously. He could not resist asking, “Mr. Carter, how do I find someone else’s need? I believe he won’t tell me.”

William pointed at his own eyes. “Observation. From the first moment you enter the door, guess the household’s approximate income and standard of living through the clothing of the person who opens the door.”

“People with money like silk house clothes. It is summer now, and they want to maintain their dignity and appearance. Expensive silk is their favorite thing.”

“Poorer people, people like us, most of them wear clothes at home similar to what you wear at home. Some may even wear work clothes.”

“As for those who are not wearing clothes at all, if it is a man, I suggest you tell him directly that you have cheap liquor.”

“If it is a woman…” A look appeared on William’s face that all the men understood and the children half understood. “Look at the time, and the date. Not every day, and not every hour, is equally safe!”

The atmosphere at the scene was relaxed. Through the simplest methods, William made these people understand, in the shortest possible time, the targets to whom they would be selling goods, then offer things slightly above the level their current living standard could bear, and finally give them a price they would find hard to refuse.

It was like a man who liked cars and wanted a better one. Usually, he would almost never go to the used-car market on his own initiative, perhaps would not even pay much attention to such things, but that need truly existed.

So long as the right moment came, and the right person offered him terms he could not refuse, his need would be ignited, then become impossible to control.

Discover, then stimulate them. That was what William was teaching these young men.

At noon, William treated everyone to a meal together, nineteen-dollar steaks. This left everyone feeling flattered beyond measure.

Nineteen-dollar steaks were not something everyone could afford. Many of them might never before have tasted what such a steak was like. Whether they stayed in the future or not, at least they felt they had not lost out now.

As William continued, subtly and imperceptibly, to pour certain business and commercial knowledge into these young friends, someone was also watching him.

The matter of Michael gradually subsided, and he too received the outcome he deserved. But that did not mean the problem between the Federation FBI, the IRS, and William had vanished like smoke.

No matter what role William had played in the affair, he remained the man who had caused the Federation FBI and the IRS to lose face.

Perhaps the two major bureaus would not investigate William by means of active attack, but they could watch him. As long as he made a mistake, he might be dragged down from his horse.

This was also why people often said an individual could not fight a state agency. Those people spent money to do things aimed at you. That was not their willfulness. That was their job.

And even among the young men William had recruited, there was a Federation FBI Undercover Agent, a young Undercover Agent who had only recently graduated from the police academy, been selected into the Federation FBI because of his outstanding results, and carried a full heart of justice and mission.

Wood, a name so ordinary that if you shouted it in the street, at least four or five men would turn to look.

The young man undercover at William’s side had just such a name, one that seemed to carry the style of a previous age. Simple, crude, with a faint scent of its time.

Of course, the name might look somewhat old-fashioned, but it was far better than names like Dick or Pussy. Far, far better.

After lunch, William left first with the newsboys. Before leaving, he wrote a check to Richard and told Richard to help the men find their rhythm a little.

Wood immediately slipped into his role. “Richard, it seems the boss has something to handle. Do you need our help?” The bright, faintly ingratiating expression on his face made him rather pleasant to look at, and he even deliberately showed off his muscles.

Richard merely glanced at him, then looked back down at the check in his hand. He did not like muscular men. If one wanted muscles, every shirtless worker in the factories had plenty of them.

This was no longer an age when one judged a man’s future potential by his muscles. Only farmers and workers of the past had treated muscle as something remarkable.

In this new age, a mind that could make money, and wealth itself, were the important measures of a man’s value in society, not those stiff muscles.

Though, at times, he did feel a little envy.

“Doing your own work well is far more important than meddling in things that don’t concern you. What’s your name?” Richard put away the check. William had given him a sum of money and told him to take these young fellows to have two sets of uniform clothing made, two short-sleeved shirts with the company name on the chest, two pairs of trousers, thirty genuine leather briefcases, and one thousand belts.

Those belts had great use. Richard had already given up thinking about what use they could possibly have. In his view, a belt was a belt, and cheap belts like these did not sell especially well.

Not everything would have a good market just because it was cheap. The only things that sold that way were necessities of life. Belts were not.

Those who did not care, who were not particular, could solve the problem with a piece of rope. Those who were particular would not buy cheap belts. He did not know what William wanted them for. For his head, it was too difficult.

He was working hard to move closer to William. He was learning, tireless in learning, serious in learning. He did not believe he would spend his whole life as some little figure working for others. One day, he too would become a boss.

Richard looked at Wood, a little eager to try something. William had given him a position second only to William himself. That meant in this little group, he was the one most worthy of trust.

William’s trust, along with his own sense of responsibility and mission, bred something he had never experienced before, something beautiful. Power.

“Wood. Impressive…” He patted Wood’s solid arm. It really was like patting a block of stone, entirely different from the slight rebound he felt when patting himself. “You’ve got spirit. Then do me a favor…”

A moment later, Wood received a very suitable physical job, while Richard himself began telling the remaining people how he had come to know William.

No glorious future could compare to facts that had already happened. No matter how well William talked, there would always be people half believing and half doubting. After Richard directly stated his own identity, he began speaking about his previous cooperation with William.

In his view, it was cooperation. Of course, one could also say he had been hired, but he preferred the former, relatively equal phrasing.

“You have no idea how mad that period was. I made around two or three hundred dollars every day. It was the best job I’d ever found since the day I was born!”

The gasps from the surrounding newcomers satisfied Richard greatly. He revealed the brand-new watch on his wrist. “See this? I only used one week to buy this watch, one I originally had no intention of buying at all. And now I have a new goal.”

This watch was worth two thousand dollars. It was merely an entry-level luxury watch, and within the entire series, it could only be considered the lowest-end product.

Perhaps because of its entry-level status and corresponding cheapness, many people’s first luxury-brand watch was this very model. Gradually, people began calling this thing, which in the eyes of the truly wealthy was no different from rubbish, a “classic model,” and pursued it avidly.

This also created an interesting phenomenon. Luxury brands and certain models widely circulated among the lower and middle strata of society were not popular at all in the true top tier of upper society, much less those so-called “classic models” and “best-selling models.” Those were nothing more than sales tactics used to satisfy the frightening vanity of the middle and lower classes.

If one insisted on tracing what clothes and accessories the great figures of the top upper class actually wore, they might give you the name of a designer, or the name of some handcraft worker you had never heard of.

But to the lower strata of society, the significance of this “classic model” was very obvious. When Richard revealed the watch on his wrist, people’s eyes could not move away from it.

Based on the current average wage in Sabine City, a young unmarried man, after deducting everyday expenses for food and drink, would need to save frugally for two or three years to afford such a watch.

A good watch mattered a great deal to a man’s image. Leather shoes, belt, watch, tie clip, and tie, many people observed a man through these things, and their effect was considerable.

If these people had believed only thirty percent of what Richard said before, now they believed seventy percent.

Just as Richard was feeling very satisfied with their reaction, Wood, who had returned from outside carrying two stacks of food boxes, suddenly pressed him with a question. “If it really made that much money, why don’t we keep doing the work you did before, instead of doing these things we don’t understand?”

Richard glanced at him. Everyone else was watching him too. He shook his head. “You would know if you read the papers.”

Previously, the two major bureaus had swept through Sabine City’s underground finance companies, arrested a group of criminals suspected of money laundering, and destroyed some newly emerging coin exchange businesses.

The atmosphere in the warehouse became somewhat heavy. After half a minute, Richard clapped his hands and told the boy who was always making trouble for him to bring the coffee over. Then he continued talking to everyone about how to settle smoothly into the job.

That evening, Wood returned to the place where he lived alone. Just as he was about to take out his key and open the door, his pupils contracted slightly.

Before leaving, he had prepared a small trick, pulling out a hair and stuffing it into the keyhole. If someone tried to open the lock, as long as a key was inserted, the hair would certainly be pulled out when it was removed.

Now the hair was gone. That meant someone had touched his door lock.

Whether one was undercover inside a criminal group or at the side of someone like William, one had to make every possible preparation. Vigilance was the only guarantee of survival.

At that very moment, a familiar voice came from inside the door. “Come in. It’s me…”

It was his superior. He opened the door and entered the room, rolling his eyes in displeasure. “You nearly scared me to death!”

His superior smiled and explained, “I didn’t know when you’d be back. If I kept showing up around here, someone might notice, so I came straight in.”

He quickly ended the previous topic. “How was it today? Did you see William?”

Wood nodded. “I saw William, and his business partner, Richard…”

“Richard?” Wood’s superior frowned. “As far as I know, that Richard is something that doesn’t even count as outer circle. Are you sure he’s William’s business partner?”

Wood shrugged, walked into the kitchen, poured himself a glass of water, and took a large drink. “All I can do is pass the intelligence to you. Analyzing intelligence isn’t my job!”

Wood’s superior fell silent for a moment. He wrote that line down in his notebook, then pressed further. “Was there anything else special? Tell me everything that happened today…”

That telling lasted more than an hour. The two of them stared at each other, both feeling something hard to describe.

The superior’s brows were tightly drawn together. In an uncertain tone, he asked, “You’re sure… he said the top three could earn over ten thousand?”

“He said it. Whether it can actually be reached, I don’t know. I’ll try…”

The superior quickly made his decision. “When the time comes, we’ll support you. This can let you get closer to William, make him treat you as one of his own, and thereby get close to evidence of his crimes. Be careful and protect yourself!”

Just as young undercover Wood was full of anticipation for the new day, elsewhere, William drove to the edge of a very well-situated middle-class community.

After waiting for roughly ten minutes, a mature woman with light makeup walked out through the community gate, carrying a fashionable handbag.

William immediately got out of the car, waved to the Lady, and showed a smile. He even opened the rear door for her.

It was a very gentlemanly gesture. The front passenger seat might have felt somewhat more intimate, and not everyone would like such a presumptuous act. Before there was absolute certainty, dealings between a man and a woman were best kept free of awkwardness, especially within a relatively sealed space.

“Thank you…” Vera smiled at William as she got into the car.

That afternoon, William had called her and invited her out to dinner, and to talk a little about work along the way.

Vera, who had been locked in a cold war with her husband during this period, felt she did indeed need to go out and clear her head. She had even put on makeup, a rare thing for her.

Women wearing makeup had only become popular in the last few years. In the past, women in the Federation and even across the world had basically not worn makeup. Only women with “skills” used heavy paint and powder to conceal their real faces, and only they used perfume to cover the smell of dead hormones coming off their bodies.

But as the grand women’s rights movement won victory after victory, the act of using cosmetics was thoroughly freed from prejudice. Of course, some sociologists also believed this was a conspiracy by those women with “skills.”

In the past, people only had to see their faces and smell the heavy scent on them to know what kind of work they did. Naturally, those people would also be discriminated against by all society.

Now, people had no way to distinguish who among them was who. They had successfully hidden themselves.

Women’s rights organizations, however, believed such claims were nothing but sensationalism. Beauty, and the pursuit of beauty, was everyone’s freedom. Men always regarded women’s behavior as abnormal, and that in itself was discrimination against women.

The success of the women’s rights movement over these years had indeed changed many things. Even some men had begun experimenting with makeup. Another point was that perfume had entered people’s lives in full force.

The Federation was a carnivorous society. From morning until night, most people ate meat. Some people ate a small amount of vegetables, but overall, meat was still dominant.

This also gave some Federation people rather serious body odor. In the past, beyond bathing frequently, they had few methods to deal with it. Now, everyone had begun using perfume.

Although social attitudes were changing, middle and upper-class women, especially women of high society, did not often take the initiative to wear makeup. Many older women, even today, still maintained the old traditions, no makeup, no perfume.

Because of this, in certain situations and on certain occasions, people associated cosmetics, especially lipstick, with intimate products.

For Vera to come out wearing light makeup was already a kind of breakthrough. One had to know that there were still countless women who only wore makeup at home, adding a little spark to the feelings between husband and wife. They rarely wore makeup when going out.

William nodded once to show he had received Vera’s thanks. After returning to the driver’s seat, he started the car and drove toward the restaurant he had reserved.

The restaurant he had booked was not far from where Vera lived. Residential areas and commercial districts always complemented each other. Absolutely no one would invest in building a superstore selling top luxury goods in the slums of a third-tier city, nor would anyone operate a dollar store outside a High-Class community.

After a little over ten minutes, the car slowly stopped outside a restaurant. The greeter was just about to come forward and open Vera’s door when William smiled from inside the car and asked, “Could you leave that opportunity to me?”

Vera was a little surprised, and of course a little pleased as well. The greeter smiled and stepped aside.

William got out of the car, walked to the rear door, and opened it. With one hand he shielded the top of the doorframe, and with the other, palm down, he extended a loosely clenched fist so Vera would have somewhere to steady herself.

Vera again thanked William for his grace and gentlemanly conduct. William, meanwhile, bent his right arm and looked at her.

William was younger than Vera. Women were sometimes foolish, sometimes shrewd, and more terrifying still, when they were shrewd, if necessary, they could deceive even themselves. So facing William’s conduct at this moment, Vera merely took it as a “little brother’s” joke.

She took William’s arm. This was already a relatively intimate action, a form of repayment for William’s gentlemanliness.

The two entered. William gave his name, and the floor manager… well, in this society, managers were everywhere. As the floor manager led them to their reserved seats, William lowered his voice and spoke by Vera’s ear.

His voice was not loud. The breath he exhaled carried something strange, making a person’s thoughts sink into a certain sticky state. He said, “I heard an interesting little joke outside. Will you be angry?”

Vera shook her head.

William smiled and said, “Do you know why I’m standing on your left?”

She tilted her head and thought about it, then shook her head again.

“Because this way, I’m closer to your heart…” After saying it, he could not help laughing, which made a line full of sweetness and ambiguity truly seem like a joke.

It was not abrupt, not stiff, but relaxed, while still preserving the certain feeling the words carried.

Vera laughed along with him. She did not feel offended or awkward, and even returned the strike. “The person who taught you that joke must not be a good man.”

“I feel exactly the same.”

As they spoke, the two had already reached the table. William pulled out the chair for her. After thanking him again, she sat down, and the topics that followed became less “awkward.”

“I recently established a new company and have already sent a letter to the Law Firm. This may disturb your holiday…” An auction room also needed an accountant. Although City Hall had granted William certain policy-based tax reductions, he would still file his taxes seriously.

Ever since Sabine City’s economy began sliding, City Hall had been encouraging entrepreneurship and encouraging business owners to shoulder more social responsibility by providing more Jobs to society.

It was just that this approach had little damn use.

Funds that should have been used in the real economy were taken by people and thrown into the Financial markets. The real economy shrank further. Forget providing more Jobs, even maintaining the existing Jobs was already an extremely difficult thing.

Under such circumstances, William was willing to establish a service-type enterprise centered on the secondhand trade and auctions, and promised to immediately provide no fewer than twenty Jobs, and no fewer than one hundred Jobs in the future. That had already deeply moved the clerk at the social service district.

After the clerk sensed William’s responsibility toward society and his burning passion, he voluntarily helped him fill out a form and apply for a rather good preferential policy.

For two years, his auction company would enjoy a half-tax policy. In the two years after that, so long as annual profit did not exceed the second bracket of taxable indicators, they could still enjoy tax reduction policies.

Good policies also required complete books. From the very beginning, William had never counted on the IRS letting him go. Even if his “relationship” with Director Johnson was good, the other side was unlikely to truly let him go.

Taking every step properly was crucial to him now. And he truly had no interest in the small gains from tax evasion, much less in bearing greater risk for them.

Complete books and tax payments were not meant to prove how flawless he was, but to give his enemies no opportunity.

If one wished to be invincible in the world, one first had to make oneself strong.

It was a dinner that looked somewhat romantic.

The restaurant was elegant, and people spoke in low voices. Throughout the entire room, aside from the piano music, there was only the faint sound of cutlery brushing against plates. So long as one ate here, one always had to cut something with utensils. That sound could not be avoided, though everyone was doing their best to avoid it.

Even seated in the main hall, this kind of environment naturally gave people the feeling that each table was separated from the others.

Every table was its own small space, large enough only for the people seated around it.

The petals on the table, the red tablecloth, and the exquisite tableware made the atmosphere feel somewhat romantic, even though William had not made any especially deliberate arrangements.

Perhaps because of the petals, perhaps because of the setting, most of the diners here were pairs of young men and women.

While the chef had not yet finished heating their food, William talked a little about work.

Sometimes women seemed easy to speak to, but in their hearts they still had certain lines they held to. At the same time, there was always something impossible to grasp, something even they themselves did not know the reason for, why this way, or why that way.

So the core theme could not be abandoned. William had invited Vera to dinner, and the subject was work. If he did not talk about these things, Vera would feel uneasy and start thinking wildly. But once he did, everything else would become ornamentation for a lovely dinner.

“You know, recently I’ve been busy with the new work…” William shook open the napkin and smiled. When handsome people smiled, they were always pleasing to look at, just as beautiful people were always captivating when they smiled.

William was a handsome man. His handsomeness was his most important pass. In truth, for him, being handsome or ugly was not an obstacle to reaching the summit, but being handsome could make the process a little simpler.

Just like now. A handsome young man had invited a married woman currently in a cold war with her husband to dinner. The atmosphere was somewhat ambiguous, and this woman might enjoy that slightly dangerous sweetness with a faint flush on her face.

But if William had been an ugly wretch, forget ambiguity, she might not even have taken his call.

Vera looked at William’s face and nodded. “You told me before. You had plans for some new companies.”

“Yes, I did…” His voice seemed to carry a kind of magic, letting people sense the pleasure in his heart through his voice. It was a very particular technique.

Expression, gaze, and voice together could release enough misleading signals to make people feel he was happy. People instinctively lowered their guard before beautiful things. Not only people, animals were the same.

“I plan to establish a large company covering the entire state. At the latest, by the second half of this year or the beginning of next year, the company will be fully assembled.”

William had only spoken halfway when a waiter stepped to the side of the table with an apologetic bow, and William stopped what he was saying.

The waiter held a bottle of red wine on a tray and bowed. “Forgive me, the Lady, sir, this is the wine you selected.” He displayed the label. “Shall I open it now?”

Vera touched her cheek and smiled without reproach. “I didn’t know you ordered red wine.”

“If you don’t like it, we can drink something else. Juice, or perhaps a soft drink?” William changed the choice decisively, which instead made Vera too embarrassed to refuse. She merely said it was fine, tacitly accepting that the evening’s drink would contain alcohol.

Of course, she also trusted William. She did not believe William would do anything excessive to her. Sometimes having a handsome face truly made others envious.

After smelling the oak cork, looking at the legs on the glass, and feeling the changes in aroma and astringency, William accepted the bottle of red wine that had been cellared for ten years.

Only after the waiter had walked away did he smile and say, “Actually, I don’t much like drinking red wine. Its taste…” He shrugged, and that made Vera laugh instead.

“If you don’t like it, why did you order a bottle of red wine?” Vera perhaps did not even know why she had asked such a question, nor what answer she wanted.

William picked up the bottle and poured some wine into Vera’s glass. He took over what should have been the waiter’s task, and as he poured, he said, “I thought you might like it. I’ve read some books. The books said the Ladies like red wine, don’t they?”

The angle of his answer was surprising, directly blocking Vera’s intention to continue pressing. If she asked why he had read such books, the answer might make everyone awkward.

But while she did not press, and William did not give a definite answer, she would think wildly. Even if she did not show it, once the alcohol began taking effect after the meal, she would still think wildly.

Why would a handsome young man try to please her? She would give herself a forcibly reasonable explanation according to her own needs, then secretly delight in it while enjoying the atmosphere.

She might even tell herself that pursuing her was William’s decision, but she would not accept him, so that did not count as betrayal or an affair. She could hardly stop another person’s freedom because of her own thoughts, even if perhaps all this was nothing like the truth.

Sometimes women’s thoughts were contradictory in just that way. Of course, men were sometimes even more contradictory.

The light makeup on Vera’s face could no longer conceal the heat rising in her cheeks. That faint, heart-stirring flush gave her a hazy beauty, and even her bearing became more fragrant.

“…This company I’m forming will have a dedicated accounting department. I don’t feel comfortable trusting other people, so I hope you can be responsible for that department.” William placed the red wine into a wine bucket with some ice inside. The temperature was too high now, and the restaurant had prepared a special wine bucket.

The water from the melting ice would not directly touch the wine bottle, and the body of the bottle would not directly touch the ice either. This meant the bottle’s temperature would not fall too low, maintaining a very suitable drinking temperature.

Once the conversation returned to work, Vera’s expression grew more serious. She looked somewhat lacking in confidence. “I’ve never done that kind of work before. Perhaps you should find someone sufficiently professional to do it. I can assist him, her, or it.”

William looked into her eyes and shook his head. “I don’t trust anyone else. I only trust you.”

Being needed was absolutely a happy thing. Vera’s gaze softened a little more, and her voice became gentler than before. “I’ll help you keep an eye on it…”

“I insist!” William looked at her. “I’m not afraid of you making mistakes. I’m not afraid of any loss. This department is yours. Let’s settle it that way.”

She nodded somewhat helplessly. “I’ll do my best. If I mess something up, don’t blame me.”

William smiled and said nothing. He paused for roughly ten seconds, giving Vera enough time to understand, accept, and store that information, before continuing. “The new work may be rather busy. I’ll have multiple companies to coordinate with, and it may take some of your extra time. If…”

Vera pressed her lips together and interrupted him. “I’ll help you. Don’t worry.”

Once people gained a sense of responsibility and mission, a strange force born from nowhere would pour into their bodies, giving them something called fighting spirit. That thing could create many miracles.

After that, William began discussing certain details of the work. The chefs finally finished preparing their dinner as well and sent it out.

A sumptuous dinner, exquisite tableware, an elegant setting, and red wine beneath warm lights. No wonder people always yearned for wealth, because true happiness was hidden inside it.

The meal lasted for some time. A little after nine that night, William drove Vera back to the entrance outside the community where she lived. Originally, he had wanted to drive Vera home, but in the end he stopped outside the community.

William’s explanation was that if her husband saw his wife returning in the car of a young man of the opposite sex, he might grow angry over it and affect the feelings between them.

So kind-hearted William only stopped the car outside the community gate, and even said this would let Vera walk off some of the smell of alcohol.

Faced with such considerate, thoughtful William, Vera felt deeply moved. After saying goodbye to William, she carried her handbag and walked toward home in a cheerful mood.