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

Luxury cars drove by slowly.

All of these vehicles stopped in front of the Waldorf Astoria Tower for a while.

But they won't stay here for long.

They just need to be here, to drop their owners.

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

Then they, along with the driver who drives them, will find a place to park themselves.

They wait until their owners need them before they walk through the streets of Manhattan to greet their owners.

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

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

And because the leader is the senior management of a large bank, there are naturally some big figures in the financial and business circles who participate.

Where 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 large newspapers.

Journalists and paparazzi have to photograph their own bosses, or the bosses of other competing companies.

Nature is more energetic and more focused.

So much so that the flashing lights shone so brightly that it seemed to illuminate the entrance of the Waldorf Astoria Tower as if it were daytime.

Able wore a slim black suit tonight, with a crimson bow tie, leather shoes as bright as mirrors, a watch of a royal oak tree, and hair combed like an adult.

Stepping out of the car, Abel squinted slightly at the flashing lights.

It's not the same as the last Hilton family banquet I attended.

Hilton's Barry Hilton was not enough to attract so much media attention.

There were no reporters at the door.

This time, it was mainly the owners of several major New York newspapers who participated.

He shook his head slightly, turned to the side, and stretched out his hand slightly into the carriage.

Inside is a red dress, glamorous and generous, revealing Ikanna with a hollow back.

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

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

This handsome man and beautiful woman, one is tall and handsome, and the other is tall and beautiful.

Immediately attracted the lenses of all the reporters, and the flash was as bright as day.

Abel was a little unaccustomed to this kind of scene, and mainly didn't like the flashes.

Ikana, on the other hand, was much better, she seemed to have been born for this kind of scene.

Obviously, Abel's eyes are a little painful, but she can open her beautiful eyes wide.

It's as if these flashing lights are just the light of fireflies.

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

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

Who calls her dad more dazzling, and he is a relatively successful TV businessman.

Ikana was sixteen years old, even when she was in college.

has already been the Miss Universe American divisional selection, that is, the host of Miss American Youth.

Coupled with the increased aura of "entrepreneurship", she is already a big celebrity in the United States.

In contrast, Abel, the wolf of Wall Street.

It is also in some financial media, and it is more famous in Manhattan.

If you are an ordinary person, not many people really know him.

After all, until now, except for those elite media.

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

The New York Times report is only in its third edition, and it was half a year ago.

After so long, people who have seen him have probably forgotten him.

"The New York Observer" has boasted about his boss.

But it sold only tens of thousands of copies, and its readers were mostly New York's elite.

Few ordinary people really know about him.

In this case, the number of reporters who know about him is naturally not many.

After all, journalists have always focused only on the people, things, and things that readers love to watch.

For the rest, they don't bother to pay attention.

He is now appearing at the same time as Ikana, and the one who is getting more attention is naturally Ikana.

He, the main person who came forward to invite Ikanna over, is qualified to participate in today's banquet with him.

Instead, it became secondary.

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

There was a feeling that his position was above Ikana.

This made the reporters very curious about him.

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

I asked him if he was Ikana's boyfriend.

He was asked 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 each other, and the two walked on the red carpet together.

Abel held his pocket with one hand, and held it slightly with the other hand to hold Ikana, his face expressionless.

Ikana, on the other hand, took a few photos with the shouting reporters, smiling sweetly and generously all the time, before walking briskly into the hotel with him.

The two came to the banquet hall, and at this time there were already many so-called celebrities.

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

At this time, most people were shuttling around at will, some were two people, some were three or four people chatting together.

From time to time, people could be seen smiling and nodding at him and Ikana.

Most of them were unknown to Abel.

"Is this a friend you know? I don't know them. ”

Abel whispered to Ikana.

"I don't know a lot of them, but I know a small number." Ikana responded to the men with a smile:

"But that's the way it is. Maybe a nod can promote a cooperation. ”

Able nodded, understood.

It's just a familiar face.

The ballroom is completely furnished.

The main body is a wide rostrum, and below it is a round dining table.

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

Dressed in white shirts and black vests with bows, almost all handsome men and beautiful waiters are constantly shuttling through the crowd to deliver champagne and red wine.

Abel also noted.

These round tables, as well as the chairs next to them, are engraved with gold lettering.

If you look closely, you can see that these letters are actually names one by one.

Ikana said that this was the name of the guests who attended the banquet tonight.

Simply put, after the banquet officially begins.

Guests are going to be seated one after another, how to arrange the seats?

Seating is on board, so the organizer has allocated it to you in advance!

These golden letters are made up of the text, and the names on them are the seats.

The distribution of these seats is very strict, clear-cut, and has a serious class concept.

Today's charity dinner, though led by the Mercancion of Texas.

Under-status in New York.

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

In this way, the level of this charity banquet has been raised.

This kind of high-end and relatively public social gatherings, even in Manhattan.

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

On this occasion, it is the fame and fortune circle of New York's high society, and the degree of snobbery far exceeds that of the entertainment industry.

The field is full of warmth and coldness, and the world is hot and cold. With red top white.

On such occasions.

The rich and famous will be happy to compete for family background, wealth, and female companions, collectively known as Ball court culture.

It's like the Colosseum of the social world.

There is a group of famous Ball queens in the United States, who are the so-called celebrities who must come to the Ball, and are keen to participate in parties.

In parallel time and space, Paris in two years is one of such Ball queens.

On the Hollywood side, the women of the Kardashian family later were all such Ball queens.

The meaning of their life is to show off in the ball field, compared to clothing, looks, jewelry, sexy, grandfather, dad, and husband.

In the future, there is a popular term on the Internet, called 'C-bit', which has already taken shape in this era.

As an outsider, or from a place like rural Texas that doesn't pay much attention to this kind of thing.

Abel can be said to know nothing about this.

It's different from last time.

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

By the time he went, a similar seat had already been arranged.

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

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

This time he came with Ikana, and he came early.

Many of the other guests hadn't arrived yet, which made him aware of it right away.

Fortunately, Ikana, who is beside him, can be said to be familiar with this so-called ball court culture.

Ikana's father, young and present, has always been a Ball King.

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

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

"And this kind of thing."

The two exchanged words in a whisper, and Abel couldn't help but be a little amazed after listening to some interesting facts about the Ball court culture introduced by Ikana.

Ikana's face had always been that generous and decent smile, and only a micro-expression told Abel that she was in a better mood now.

She whispered, "I didn't expect you to know this." ”

"My family runs a farm. I'm more familiar with how to harness horses and wool sheep. Oh, and how to breed a mare or cow in heat. Abel said with a shrug.

With that, he noticed Ikana's surprised expression.

This made Abel realize that his last sentence seemed inappropriate for such an occasion.

He explained: "When I mean breeding mares and cows, I mean that in the pasture, when you see that they are in heat, you can get them to the stallion and cow breeding shed, and let them mate. ”

"It is also necessary to carry out bloodline selection, so that good mares and cows can give birth to good ponies and calves with bloodlines."

“.” Ikana didn't know how to respond.

She had to whisper, "That sounds so funny." I've ridden horses and like to drink milk, but I don't know that. ”

"If you have a chance, let you see it later." Abel said.

"Uh~Okay." Ikana was helpless.

"Also, Ikana. Tell me a few more things about the so-called ball culture, they sound weird and interesting. ”

Abel knew that this topic was what she was interested in.

So he quickly brought the conversation back to this one.

Ikana nodded, clearly happy to serve Aberco.

"Let's take this banquet for example." She whispered.

"Generally speaking, this kind of banquet is hierarchical. Guests can't sit casually, everyone has their own place. ”

"The first class is the summit stage of the organizer, which is the most expensive, and almost all the people who can sit there are the top richest people in the city."

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

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

"Understood." Abel nodded.

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

The closer you are to the star, the closer you are to the stage.

The higher the ticket price, the higher the ticket price, relatively speaking, on the field, the more face-saving it is.

They are all people who don't have a lot of money, or loyal fans.

"The second class is the dining tables that are located next to it, scattered around the first row in front." Ikana said.

She didn't say that most of the New York City were of this class, or a little less classy.

Even if it's her father, many times this waiting seat is not qualified to sit in.

Before Salted Fish turned over, her father really didn't have a high status in New York.

Otherwise, it will not be reduced to a banquet. It was taken out by Oba Donkey and teased, and it was a laughing coffee to adjust the atmosphere of the banquet.

"The third class is very far away from the rostrum, and they all belong to the marginal figures, and they are also the mainstream who participate in the banquet.

Like the few Hollywood superstars who arrived on the scene tonight, their locations are usually here. ”

Ikana said.

In fact, there is also a doorway, and sitting in this position means that the worst mix.

Once placed in this position, many guests will leave the venue early, so as not to be ridiculed and ridiculed by snobs.

However, the Commercial Bank of Texas, which is hosting this banquet tonight, also has several major newspapers.

belongs to the kind of person who is more good at life, and may not want to offend people.

Tonight's charity dinner freed up the entrance area without arranging a single seat.

Speaking of which, Ikana finally added:

"So, to organize such a super ball. It looks very simple, but in fact, many times, it is very painstaking. Especially for arranging the table and arranging the seats, who sits in which position needs to be carefully weighed. ”

Abel nodded, drawing inferences from one another, he already understood this so-called ball court culture.

He feels that many times such occasions are not only about balancing class identity.

It is even necessary to consider whether there is a personal vendetta between the guests, and if the organizer is careless.

Arrange the two enemies in one seat, then the organizer will offend the two guests at the same time without much effort.

After all, the so-called upper class society, the ultimate constituent is still people.

Since it is human, there is no way to avoid human nature.

"Okay." Abel saw that there were more and more people entering, and he couldn't help but say:

"I see, it sounds weirdly interesting. But. Ikana, where do you think we should do it? Or should I say, where am I being seated? ”

On the invitation, there is no seating or anything.

If you put this kind of thing on it, there will probably be a lot of people who won't come at all.

Generally, it is now that I find it myself.

Or just let the waiter take you to find it.

"I guess." Ikana said uncertainly, "I guess it's in the second class." ”

(End of chapter)