Dinner

A luxury limousine pulled up in front of the Hilton Hotel on Fifth Avenue in New York. Tonight, a banquet would be held here, primarily to build momentum for the 40th presidential election of America.

[Remember this site's domain name for a massive collection of Taiwanese novels at Easy Read]

Wang Xiuyuan didn't know much about the results of the American presidential elections before 1980; he only remembered the names of some particularly famous presidents. However, he was crystal clear about the list of every president from 1980 onwards.

Barring any surprises, this term would see a final showdown between the incumbent president, Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, and the Republican candidate, former Governor of California, Ronald Reagan.

But due to factors such as the Iran Hostage Crisis and the continuous deterioration of America's domestic economy, the incumbent American president, Jimmy Carter, would suffer a crushing defeat to Ronald Reagan by an extremely wide margin of votes.

Before the final election results came out, no one expected the incumbent president to win only six states and seven electoral districts in the capital, the District of Columbia, for a total of forty-nine electoral votes, while Ronald Reagan won forty-four states and a total of four hundred and eighty-nine electoral votes.

This ridiculous defeat couldn't be blamed on Jimmy Carter's lack of effort; it was simply that this term's American president was too unlucky. Most of the internal and external problems accumulated by America since the end of World War II erupted one after another during these few years.

The American people, who considered themselves the center of the world and the lighthouse of cosmic civilization, didn't care about any of that. With their intelligence, they couldn't understand these matters anyway; they only knew that if their lives were difficult, it was the responsibility of the president and the government. Thus, Jimmy Carter became the scapegoat.

But to be fair and objective, in the eyes of many, Jimmy Carter did a very good job as president. At the very least, he made a huge contribution to world peace.

He proposed 'Human Rights Diplomacy' and the 'Carter Doctrine' to the world, presided over the signing of the Panama Canal Treaty and the Camp David Accords, led the completion of diplomatic relations between China and America during his term, and signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty with the Soviet Union.

If not for Jimmy Carter's efforts, the world might have been even more chaotic than imagined.

However, the efforts Jimmy Carter made during his tenure gradually showed their intended effects after he stepped down as president. He was the only one among so many American presidents whose reputation continued to rise.

And as time went on and the lives of the American people became increasingly bitter, Jimmy Carter actually went from being one of the lowest-rated presidents in American history to one of the highest-rated.

Dressed in a high-end, handmade flannel suit, Wang Xiuyuan entered the banquet hall. The reason he was able to receive an invitation to the banquet was purely because he was now far too wealthy.

What do American elections compete on?

One of the decisive factors is money—U.S. Dollars.

Wang Xiuyuan was well aware of the organizers' purpose for inviting him, and he didn't mind.

Because this was America, and those were the rules of the game here. Every wealthy person in this country had thousands of ties to politics and the White House.

The Chinese ancestors had long ago given a clear hint with the term 'Fu Gui' (Wealth and Nobility). Once a person has money, they are merely a 'Fu' (wealthy) person, but those with power in their hands are called 'Gui' (noble) people. To achieve true 'Fu Gui,' one must possess both money and power at the same time.

And what was the ticket to power in America? Votes built up from stacks of green dollar bills.

Every American presidential election is a gluttonous feast for the redistribution of American power and wealth.

The winners eat the meat and drink the soup, while the losers give up part of their interests and go back to secretly accumulate strength, waiting for the next round of the distribution game to restart.

Since transmigrating here, Wang Xiuyuan had continuously tried to make connections and build a network through various channels, but the results were mediocre.

This wasn't because his social skills were poor; to a large extent, he was limited by his skin color and bloodline. This directly led to many big shots being unwilling to have too much contact with him, making it difficult to develop relationships deeply once they reached a certain level.

Even though he now held nearly ten billion dollars in cash, it was the same. This deep-seated racial discrimination and instinctive rejection were hard to reverse.

"Mr. Howard, I am aware of the difficulties the New York Police Department is facing. How about this?"

"I will donate a batch of police cars to the NYPD, tentatively fifty of them. You can handle the modification procedures and such within the department yourselves."

"I will also donate an additional two million dollars in cash. This money will be specifically used for the post-operative recovery and rehabilitation of officers injured or disabled in the line of duty, as well as for subsidies for the families of fallen officers."

"What do you think of this arrangement?"

"That is truly wonderful! On behalf of the forty-five thousand officers of the New York City Police Department, I thank you for your kindness. We will serve the citizens of New York with even greater dedication."

After Wang Xiuyuan expressed his intention to donate cars and money to the NYPD, Director Howard of the New York City Police Department was all smiles.

In order to make more connections, Wang Xiuyuan arrived at the Hilton Hotel very early tonight. Shortly after he entered the banquet hall, the Director found him.

First came over ten minutes of flattery. In the Director's mouth, Wang Xiuyuan was a super financier who could outmatch J.P. Morgan and every past Chairman of The Federal Reserve.

These extremely exaggerated words made Wang Xiuyuan, the subject of them, blush. A damn sense of shame welled up in him.

Just as Wang Xiuyuan couldn't take it anymore and wanted to flee, Director Howard suddenly changed the subject and began to pour out his grievances to Wang Xiuyuan.

Stories of police cars emitting black smoke the moment the gas was pressed, cars clattering over every pothole on the road, injured officers having no money for rehabilitation, and families of fallen officers ending up on the streets flowed from his mouth.

If you really wanted to get serious, the Director was willing to take you on a field visit. Such things could definitely be found, and they weren't isolated cases.

Wang Xiuyuan naturally saw through Director Howard's little tricks at a glance. However, everyone was a person of status; even if they were well aware, they wouldn't be so foolish as to expose it to his face.

Besides, it was very necessary to maintain good relations with the police department in America. This was a law enforcement agency that held the 'truth.' Once a good relationship was established, a whole basket of benefits was waiting to be unlocked.

Ordinary people aren't allowed to have automatic weapon permits?

As long as Wang Xiuyuan wanted one, the NYPD would find him someone who had an automatic weapon permit. He could just pay some money to buy it from them, and that person would definitely sell it to Wang Xiuyuan.

Definitely.

There were many other ways besides that, such as directly approving a gun permit for Wang Xiuyuan. The police department would help him find a good reason and handle the approvals from the city government and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

They could also hire Wang Xiuyuan as an auxiliary law enforcement officer for the NYPD. Who said auxiliary personnel were a Chinese specialty? America had them too.

Anyway, they wouldn't have to pay Wang Xiuyuan a salary. It was perfectly reasonable for an officer to have an automatic weapon permit, right? Once he got the permit, Wang Xiuyuan could quit and go home without ever working a single day.

There were many similar invisible conveniences after donating. Various forms of biased law enforcement were simply beyond ridiculous.

In any case, from then on, it would be impossible for Wang Xiuyuan to encounter a clueless officer in New York who would stop and check his car. Even if they knew he was driving drunk, there would be a New York policeman to thoughtfully escort him home, or even act as a temporary driver to drive his car home for him.

This was the significance of Wang Xiuyuan donating this money to the New York City Police Department.

In America, the power of money can be magnified many times over.

Otherwise, why would most of the wealthy people in the world run to America? Do you really think others are idiots?

Wealthy people might be bad, but they aren't stupid.

Of course, poor people are another matter. Who told them they don't have money?

Director Howard, who had secured a large donation from Wang Xiuyuan, was very happy. Although this donation had a clear purpose and requirements, there were still many areas in the middle that could be manipulated. In short, he wouldn't get any less than his share of benefits.

America, like China, is a society based on personal connections, and in some ways, it is even more particular about social favors than China.

Since Director Howard had received a large donation from Wang Xiuyuan, he naturally had to return the favor and give Wang Xiuyuan some positive feedback.

So, under Director Howard's introduction, Wang Xiuyuan met many political figures in New York. Especially when these politicians learned that Wang Xiuyuan had donated a large amount of money and materials to the NYPD, their attitude toward him became much warmer.

Because Wang Xiuyuan had used practical actions to prove to everyone that he had learned to play this game by their rules, and Director Howard's help in introducing him was actually using his own status to endorse Wang Xiuyuan.

Without Director Howard's help, Wang Xiuyuan still wouldn't have gained much tonight.

Although these people still had a bit of a barrier and estrangement toward Wang Xiuyuan, the treatment was worlds apart compared to before.

Returning from the restroom, Wang Xiuyuan noticed a familiar figure in the banquet hall.

Although the distance was far, after repeated identification, Wang Xiuyuan was certain that this person was Wang Lie, the eldest son of the computer king Wang An, who had once hired people to teach him a lesson and humiliate him.

In his spare time, Wang Xiuyuan had examined his own heart many times. He found that he didn't have any feelings of resentment or hostility toward the father and son, Wang An and Wang Lie.

He was an outsider; he had only accidentally occupied this body. As for resentment and dissatisfaction, those were matters between the original host and the Wang father and son. What did it have to do with him?

For Wang Xiuyuan, he might even have to thank Wang Lie.

If not for what Wang Lie had done, whether he could have transmigrated here would be one thing, let alone the fact that Wang Lie had most generously paid him a ten-million-dollar buyout fee.

Was this an enemy? This was practically a God of Wealth.

These days, for a few tens of thousands of dollars, a bunch of people would scramble to take out Wang Xiuyuan, and it would be impossible to find out who did it.

Later, when Wang Xiuyuan reviewed the cause and effect of this matter, he was surprised to find that this ten million dollars was very likely a result agreed upon by both Wang An and Wang Lie. Otherwise, there was no way to explain that ten million dollars; Wang Lie alone couldn't have produced that much cash.

Speaking of which, for Wang An and Wang Lie to handle their relationship with the original host this way was already considered doing everything humanly possible; it was just that the method wasn't pretty.

"What are you looking at?"

Hearing someone call him from behind, Wang Xiuyuan had just turned around when he smelled a waft of fragrance. The seductive scent made his mind wander for a moment.

"Oh, it's you, Mars. It's been a while. How have you been lately?"

"Hehehehe~" Mars laughed happily; she had clearly been doing very well lately.

"Quite well. After our last conversation, I went home and then used the method you taught us to ask my family for a sum of startup capital."

"What? You used the method I taught to get startup capital from your family?"

Before Mars could finish, she was interrupted by Wang Xiuyuan. This news truly surprised him.

"That's right, I did indeed get a sum of money from my family. Are you surprised?"

Seeing Wang Xiuyuan's surprised look, the smile on Mars's face became even more brilliant.

"Actually, I didn't expect this result either. After all, I'm a woman. Sooner or later, I'll be married off as a pawn in a family alliance. No matter how much money I make, it will have nothing to do with the Mars Family."

"I just wasn't reconciled, so I put the fact that I would be an alliance tool in the future on the table and negotiated with the family. I treated it like a last resort and gave it a try, and I didn't expect those old fogies in the family to actually agree."

"Perhaps it's a form of compensation for my future fate."

Wang Xiuyuan was speechless at this point: "Well, now I can understand this incredible result. It's nothing more than hoping you'll be obedient when you're married off as an alliance tool."

"Yeah, that's the goal of those in power in the family."

"So this money should be considered hush money they gave me, to make me a well-behaved tool."

Mars was a very clear-headed woman; she knew why this unusual result happened. That was also why the Mars Family was willing to give her a sum of startup capital.

If Mars had completely copied the method Wang Xiuyuan taught those male Second-generation rich kids to negotiate with their families, it would be a miracle if she got any money.

The phrase 'equality between men and women,' whether in the East or the West, will forever only be a slogan that stays on people's lips.

Everyone can shout it when they have nothing better to do, but don't ever take it seriously.

In the inheritance system of a normal family, no matter how pampered a daughter is, she will not be included in the scope of heir selection.

If Mars had used bargaining chips she didn't even have to negotiate with the family, the family's power holders would only have looked at her as a fool.

"Has the alliance partner been confirmed? When is the grand wedding expected? I need to prepare an exquisite gift for you in advance."

"They wouldn't confirm an alliance partner for me so quickly. After all, I just graduated this year. Families like ours usually wait until we've worked for a few years before confirming a partner."

"Because the family also needs time to observe our abilities, so as to avoid the situation where high-quality goods are sold off at a low price."

When these words came out of Mars's mouth, she couldn't help but laugh herself. The smile on her face was exceptionally complex; it was unclear whether she was mocking the phenomenon or laughing at the fate she was about to face.

"Hahaha, no wonder your Mars Family could grow from a small family workshop into a world sugar giant in just a few decades."

"Just looking at your case, your Mars Family deserves this achievement."

Wang Xiuyuan naturally noticed that Mars's mood wasn't great right now, but what could he say? He could only respect their fate.

Everyone has their own fate; many things are predestined, and no one can change them.

Those things that seem to be what we fought desperately for through various efforts might just be predestined results.

From the moment she was born, Mars possessed an affluent life that ordinary people could never have in a lifetime of hard work, and after reaching adulthood, she could marry a husband with an equally wealthy family background. This was where she was lucky.

She might never have to worry about basic necessities in her life, enjoying a high-quality lifestyle and living every day freely and leisurely.

But she also had to pay a price, which was the problem almost all daughters of wealthy families face: family alliance.

Since you have enjoyed the affluent life brought by the family, then after reaching adulthood, you must make contributions within your power to the family's continued growth.

As for whether they were happy after marriage, it was never within the scope of consideration for either family. As long as the two of them obediently completed the process of getting married and having children, it was fine.

In a way, this was also a manifestation of fairness.

If Mars was lucky, maybe she would meet a reliable husband.