America's Road to Wealth

At night, outside the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in the center of Lower Manhattan, New York.

Luxury cars drove by slowly.

All these vehicles stopped at the entrance of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel for a while.

But they won't stay here long.

They just need to be here, leaving their master behind.

Let their owners calmly enter this top hotel in New York, which was built at the same time as the Empire State Building.

Then they and the driver driving them will find a place to park on their own.

Waiting until their owners need them, they will walk through the streets of Manhattan to greet their owners.

Tonight's charity auction is organized by the New York Branch of Texas Commerce Bank and major newspapers in New York.

Such a banquet naturally involves the participation of some celebrities and celebrities.

And because the leader was a senior executive of a large bank, there were naturally some big figures in the financial and business circles participating.

Wherever there are celebrities, there are paparazzi.

Where there are business elites, there are financial journalists.

Especially tonight's protagonist, it is said that there are also several bosses of major newspapers.

Reporters and paparazzi want to film their own bosses, or the bosses of other competing companies.

Naturally, I am more energetic and focused.

The flashlights were so bright that they seemed to illuminate the entrance of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel into daylight.

Abel wore a slim-fitting black suit tonight, with a dark red bow tie, leather shoes as bright as a mirror, a royal oak watch, and his hair combed like an adult.

After getting out of the car, Abel narrowed his eyes slightly due to the flash of light.

This is different from the last Hilton family banquet I attended.

Hilton time, Barry Hilton was not enough to attract so much media attention.

There were no reporters at the door.

This time it was so lively mainly because the bosses of several major New York newspapers participated.

He shook his head slightly, turned around and stood sideways, reaching slightly into the car.

Inside is a beautiful and elegant Ikana in a red dress, revealing a hollow back.

Ikana smiled generously, held Abel's hand, and stepped out of the car gracefully.

Abel held her catkin, and the two stood on the red carpet together.

These handsome men and beauties, one is tall and handsome, the other is tall and beautiful, a pair of beautiful people.

It immediately attracted the attention of all reporters, and the flash lights were as bright as day.

Abel was not used to this kind of scene, mainly he didn't like those flashing lights.

Ikana is much better, she seems to be born for this kind of scene.

It was clear that Abel's eyes were a little painful from the light, but she could open her beautiful eyes wide.

It was as if these flashing lights were just the light of fireflies.

With an elegant and sweet smile on her face, she waved from time to time to reporters who recognized her identity and shouted her name.

Ikana is relatively famous in New York and the United States.

Who knows that her father loves to show off, and he is also a relatively successful TV businessman.

Ikana was sixteen years old, even in college.

She has already served as the Miss Universe USA selection, and is also the host of Miss Teen USA.

Coupled with the increased aura of "entrepreneurship", she has become quite a celebrity in the United States.

In contrast, Abel, the Wolf of Wall Street.

It is also well-known in some financial media and here in Manhattan.

For ordinary people, not many people really know him.

After all, until now, except for a few elite media.

He has also been reported on by the New York Times and the New York Observer.

The New York Times report was only on page three, and it was six months ago.

People who have seen it after so long have probably forgotten about him.

The New York Observer did boast about its boss.

But it only sold tens of thousands of copies, and its readers were generally New York elites.

Very few ordinary people know about him.

Under such circumstances, the number of reporters who know him is naturally not many.

After all, reporters only pay attention to those people, things, and things that readers like to read about.

They don't care about the rest.

He now appears at the same time as Ikana, and it is naturally Ikana who attracts more attention.

He is the main person who came forward to invite Ikana to come over. Only with him can Ikana be qualified to participate in today's banquet.

Instead, it became secondary.

Fortunately, his appearance is also very photogenic, and standing next to Ikana, his aura is not inferior to hers at all.

There is a feeling that his status is above Ikana.

This made reporters very curious about him.

It was obviously not an interview session, but people who didn't know his identity were already asking loudly about Ikana and him.

Someone asked him if he was Ikana's boyfriend.

Someone asked him if he was a relative of Ikana.

I asked him directly who he was.

There are all kinds of messy problems.

Ikana and Abel ignored it, and they walked onto the red carpet together.

Abel put one hand in his pocket and held the other hand slightly for Ikana to hold, his face expressionless.

Ikana cooperated with the reporter who kept shouting and took a few photos, always smiling sweetly and generously, and then walked quickly into the hotel with him.

The two came to the banquet hall. At this time, many so-called celebrities had already arrived.

But it's not much, maybe a quarter or a third.

At this time, most people were walking around casually, some two, some three or four, chatting together.

From time to time, someone could be seen smiling and nodding towards him and Ikana.

Most of them were unknown to Abel.

"Are these friends you know? I don't know them."

Abel whispered to Ikana.

"I don't know many of them, but I know a few." Ikana responded to those people with a smile:

"But this kind of situation is like this. Maybe a nod can promote cooperation."

Abel nodded, understanding.

It just means that they look familiar.

The banquet hall has been completely decorated.

The main body is a wide rostrum with round dining tables underneath.

In the middle of each dining table is a large bouquet of pink flowers.

Wearing white shirts, black vests and bows, waiters, almost all handsome men and beautiful women, were constantly shuttling among the crowd delivering champagne and red wine.

Abel also noticed.

These round dining tables, and the chairs beside them, are engraved with gold text.

If you look carefully, you can find that these letters are actually names one by one.

Ikana said that these were the names of the guests participating in the banquet tonight.

To put it simply, after the banquet officially begins.

The guests have to be seated one after another. How to arrange the seats?

As for the seats, the organizer has already assigned them to you in advance!

The names on the words composed of these golden letters are the seats.

These seat allocations are very strict, with clear distinctions and serious class concepts.

Today's charity dinner, although the leader is Texas Commerce Bank.

Not enough status in New York.

But among the co-organizers are newspaper giants such as Dow Jones and the New York Times Company.

In this way, the level of this charity banquet was also improved.

It's an upscale, relatively public social gathering, even in Manhattan.

There are only a dozen shows every year, and any guest present is a symbol of identity and status.

This kind of occasion is the fame and fortune circle of New York's upper class, and the level of snobbery far exceeds that of the entertainment circle.

The scene is full of warmth and warmth of human nature and the warmth of the world. With red top and white.

on such occasions.

Rich people and celebrities will happily compete for family background, wealth, and female companions. This is collectively called the ball court culture.

This is like a social arena.

There are a group of famous ball queens in the United States, the so-called socialites who must go to every ball and are keen to attend parties.

In parallel time and space, Paris will be one of these Ball Queens in two years' time.

Over in Hollywood, the women in the Kardashian family are all such ball queens.

The meaning of their lives is to show off in the ball field, to compete with each other in terms of clothing, looks, jewelry, sexiness, grandpa, father, and husband.

In the future, there will be a popular Internet term called "C position", which has already taken shape in this era.

Being an outsider and coming from a place like rural Texas that doesn't pay that much attention to that kind of thing.

Abel knew nothing about these things.

Different from last time.

The last time he attended the Hilton family's banquet, he arrived late.

When he went there, similar seats had already been arranged.

Plus as soon as he arrived, David went to look for him.

There were many financial giants present at that time, so Abel did not realize this scope at all.

This time he came with Ikana and came earlier.

Many other guests hadn't arrived yet, which he immediately noticed.

Fortunately, Ikana beside him is very familiar with this so-called ball court culture.

Ikana's father, whether he was young or now, has always been the King of Ball.

From a relatively young age, Ikana often followed her father to attend such occasions.

She is very familiar with this kind of ball court culture and is also a master of it.

"There is such a thing."

The two communicated in low voices. Abel couldn't help but be a little amazed after listening to some interesting things about ball field culture introduced by Ikana.

Ikana always had that generous and decent smile on her face, with only a slight expression telling Abel that she was in a happier mood now.

She whispered: "I didn't expect you didn't know this."

"My family runs a farm. I'm more familiar with how to harness horses and wool sheep. Oh, and how to breed mares or cows in heat." Abel shrugged.

After saying that, he noticed Ikana's somewhat surprised expression.

This made Abel realize that his last sentence seemed inappropriate to say in this situation.

He started to explain: "What I mean by breeding mares and cows is that after you see that they are in estrus in the pasture, you can bring them to the stalls and stalls' sheds and let them mate."

"You also need to carry out pedigree selection, so that good mares and cows can give birth to good pedigree ponies and calves."

"." Ikana didn't know how to respond.

She could only whisper, "That sounds really interesting. I've ridden horses and I like drinking milk, but I don't know that."

"If I have a chance, I'll let you take a look later." Abel said.

"Uh~ Okay." Ikana was helpless.

"Also, Ikana. Tell me some more things about the so-called ball court culture. They sound really interesting."

Abel knew that this topic was what interested her.

So he quickly brought the topic back to this topic.

Ikana nodded, obviously happy to help Abelcop.

"Take this banquet as an example." She said softly.

"Generally speaking, this kind of banquet is hierarchical. Guests cannot sit wherever they want. Everyone has their own place."

"The first level is the organizer's summit stage. It has the most expensive status. Almost all the people who can sit there are the top richest people in the city."

"Here~" She stretched out her white and delicate fingers and pointed in the direction of the podium.

"There are only about five or six tables around the first row there, which are the first-class tables."

"Understood." Abel nodded.

It's a bit like attending a concert hosted by a celebrity.

The closer you are to the stars, the closer you are to the concert stage.

The higher the ticket price, the higher the ticket price, the more respectable one will be on the field.

They are all people who are not short of money, or loyal fans.

"The second class is located next to the tables scattered around the first row in front." Ikana said.

She didn't say that most banquets in New York City were of this level, or slightly inferior.

Even her father is often not qualified to sit in this waiting table.

Before Xianyu turned around, her father really had a low status in New York.

Otherwise, he wouldn't be reduced to a banquet. He was used as a joke by Obama to lighten the atmosphere of the party.

“The third class is very far away from the rostrum, they are all marginal figures, and they are also the mainstream participants in the banquet.

Like the several Hollywood superstars who arrived tonight, their locations are usually right here. "

Ikana said.

In fact, there is another kind of platform at the door. Sitting in this position means you will be the worst.

Once placed in this position, many guests will leave early to avoid being ridiculed by snobbish people.

But the Texas Commerce Bank, which hosted the banquet tonight, also had several major newspapers.

He is a good person and probably doesn't want to offend others.

Tonight's charity dinner has freed up the door area and not arranged a single seat.

Speaking of which, Ikana finally added:

"So, organizing such a super ball may seem simple, but in fact, it is often very labor-intensive. Especially arranging the stage and arranging seats. Who sits in which position needs to be carefully weighed."

Abel nodded and drew inferences from one example. He already understood the so-called ball court culture.

He felt that in many cases such occasions involved more than just weighing class status.

We even have to consider whether there is any personal grudge between the guests or if the organizer is careless.

If two enemies are placed on the same seat, the organizer will easily offend both guests at the same time.

After all, the so-called upper class society is ultimately composed of people.

Since we are human beings, there is no way to avoid human nature.

"Okay." Abel looked at more and more people entering the venue, and he couldn't help but said:

"I see, it sounds interesting. But... Ikana, where do you think we should do? Or should I say, where am I assigned to sit?"

On the invitation, there will be no seating information.

If this was written on it, many people might simply stop coming.

Usually it’s now time to find it yourself.

Or just ask the waiter to take you there.

"I guess." Ikana said uncertainly: "It should be in the second class."