novelnext Chapter 163 Dance
Chapter 163 Dance
Chapter 163 Dance (Bonus Chapter for Monthly Tickets, 7/12)
For the next two hours, Leo was like a decoration in the hall.
He sat on that high-backed sofa, surrounded by an invisible barrier.
The well-dressed guests walked past him, their eyes naturally darting away the moment they met his gaze.
He was perfectly isolated.
Leo didn't feel awkward; he just watched quietly.
He watched Evelyn St. Cloud move through the crowd like a queen, presiding over the auction and announcing where the proceeds would go. Her composure and unspoken authority made the entire hall revolve around her rhythm.
He saw politicians who were usually so arrogant on television now bowing their heads respectfully to listen to her; financiers who wielded power in Pennsylvania now vying to raise placards for her charitable projects.
This is a silent form of domination.
This pervasive sense of superiority, built on money and lineage, made Leo feel suffocated.
Sitting here is not much easier than confronting Morganfield at a tense negotiating table. The suffocating feeling of being excluded from the inner circle is more unbearable than any direct attack.
But he has to adapt.
Because this is the other side of power.
If what he saw on the streets of Pittsburgh was the muscles of power, then here he saw the skeleton of power.
Without understanding how the skeleton is connected, he will never be able to truly control that enormous body.
It's almost time.
Leo casually placed the empty champagne glass on a passing waiter's tray and walked towards a floor-to-ceiling glass door on the side of the hall.
Pushing open the door, a blast of cold air rushed into my collar.
This is a semi-open terrace smoking room.
Huge stone pillars support the dome, below which lies a dark private garden, with only a few dim wall lamps emitting a faint glow.
There's no one here.
The respectable guests were busy exchanging business cards and fake smiles in the warm lobby.
Leo walked to the stone railing and took a deep breath of the cold air.
The stinging pain in his lungs brought him back to his senses and also dissipated much of the pent-up frustration he had accumulated in the lobby.
"Click".
The crisp sound of a lighter came from behind me.
Leo turned around.
Evelyn St. Cloud stood in the shadows.
She held a slender cigarette between her fingers, the red embers flickering in the darkness.
She was still wearing that minimalist black evening gown, but in the dim light, she seemed to blend into the night.
She took a drag of her cigarette, her movements elegant and composed.
The smoke slowly escaped, blurring her delicate yet indifferent face.
"Leo Wallace".
Evelyn spoke up.
Her voice was even colder than when she had rejected the fat banker, but it carried less weariness and more scrutiny.
"That barbarian who won Aston Monroe by stealing votes."
Leo stood still, showing no humility despite the other party's status.
"I won by law, Miss Saint-Cloud."
Leo looked at her.
"If you invited me here just to humiliate me to my face, then you've succeeded. But I believe that the head of the St. Cloud family should value his time more than that."
Evelyn looked at Leo.
She emerged from the shadows, her high heels clicking on the marble floor.
She walked up to Leo, the two of them less than a meter apart.
"No."
Evelyn flicked her cigarette ash.
"I invited you here because I was very surprised."
"Aston Monroe, the golden boy who was pampered by Philadelphia's elite, used the administrative resources of the entire state, but in the end he lost to those few thousand pieces of paper that should have been discarded."
A glint flashed in Evelyn's eyes.
"I'm not interested in justice, and I'm not interested in procedure."
"But I'm very interested in efficiency."
"Using minimal resources to leverage maximum power and achieve the impossible. In business, that's called a miracle; in politics, it's called skill."
"You showed me a long-lost, wild vitality."
Leo shrugged.
"Thank you for the compliment. However, if it's just to praise me, you could send an email."
"I'm not contacting you for idle chatter."
Evelyn stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray on the railing.
She turned around, leaned against the railing, and looked at the crowd of people clinking glasses in the banquet hall.
"How's the design of your regional credit closed-loop system coming along?"
Leo's pupils contracted sharply.
This is top secret.
The idea of establishing an independent settlement system among the seven industrial cities and issuing "alliance credit notes" currently remains only in the conference room of that five-star hotel.
Only he, Ethan, and a few economists and lawyers who had signed confidentiality agreements knew about it.
How did Evelyn Saint-Cloud know?
"take it easy."
Evelyn seemed to have seen through Leo's wariness.
"The St. Cloud family has been operating in Pennsylvania for two hundred years. Two of the Wharton professors you contacted are advisors to my foundation."
Leo quickly regained his composure.
Now that the other party has already revealed their hand, it would be petty to try to hide it any longer.
"Now that you know, you should also know that the system is still in the design phase."
Leo readily admitted it.
"The general direction has been determined, and the logic is sound, but we have indeed encountered some problems at the execution level."
"It's not just troublesome, is it?"
Evelyn turned her head and looked at Leo.
"You're stuck."
"You want to have the supply chain of seven cities circulate through bills of exchange. This is an extremely dangerous financial experiment."
"It's feasible at the state level, but your team can't do it."
Evelyn's words hit the nail on the head.
"The people you've found understand theory and models, but they don't understand real financial engineering."
"The systems they designed either cannot circumvent state banking laws or cannot address the risk of default when liquidity runs out."
"What you need to build is a miniature central banking system, involving the pricing of underlying assets, the clearing of bills, and the hedging of risks."
"This is a very professional and complex large-scale project."
"It's not something you can do by just hiring a few bookworms and having a few cups of coffee in a hotel."
Leo fell silent.
She's right.
For some time now, Ethan and the experts have indeed reached a stalemate.
Leo has urged him several times, but he just can't come up with a perfect solution.
How can we ensure that Yili's steel mills will accept this paper? How can we ensure that Scranton's cement plant believes this paper can be exchanged for bread?
This requires an extremely rigorous, stress-tested financial structure.
This is precisely what Leo's hastily assembled team could not accomplish in a short period of time.
"so what?"
Leo looked at Evelyn.
Are you here to laugh at my overestimation of my abilities?
"I'm here to discuss cooperation."
Evelyn said.
"I can give you everything you want."
"The Saint-Cloud family has a top-notch financial team with a century of experience operating trust funds and underground clearing networks."
"We can help you design this system."
"We can help you set up that clearing center."
"We can even provide some liquidity support for your credit notes, making them look more like real money."
This is a huge temptation.
With the technical support and credit endorsement of the Saint-Cloud family, the "credit loop" that was originally just on paper will become a reality overnight.
But this made Leo even more wary.
There is no free lunch.
Especially in this calculating world of fame and fortune.
Why?
Leo asked the most crucial question.
Why are you helping me?
"You are the old money of Philadelphia, the behind-the-scenes financiers of the establishment, and Monroe is one of your men."
"Logically speaking, you should want to strangle me."
"You knew all along. If you really wanted to be involved, why did you wait until now to come to me?"
Evelyn smiled.
That was the first time she smiled that night.
"Because before, you were a dead man."
Evelyn was outspoken.
"Before the party primaries are over, before that 0.4 percent miracle happens."
"In everyone's eyes, you, Leo Wallace, are nothing more than a political shooting star about to be purged."
"If Monroe wins, you will die."
"No matter how good a business idea is, it has no investment value for a dead person."
"We will not bet on a ship that is destined to sink."
Evelyn approached Leo; her perfume was faint yet carried an aggressive scent.
"But now, you've survived."
"Not only did you survive, you also put Murphy on the Senate nomination list."
"You have proven that you have the ability to turn the tide in desperate situations, and that you have the ability to manage chaos."
"You passed the test."
"So, now we can talk business."
Leo looked at the woman.
Extreme rationality, extreme realism.
She doesn't care about party affiliation or stance; she only cares about the winner.
This reminded him of Morganfield, but Evelyn was a higher class than Morganfield.
Morganfield wanted a specific port, specific land, while what she seemed to want was something more abstract.
"What do you want from this system?" Leo asked. "Transaction fees? Or control?"
"What I want is the future."
Evelyn turned around and looked at the lights of Philadelphia in the distance.
"Leo, do you think you're just solving Pittsburgh's financial crisis?"
"You are doing something that could change the structure of the American economy."
"The credit of the federal government is declining. Washington has printed too much money, and inflation is eating up everyone's wealth."
"The future trend is decentralization."
"It's a regional economic self-rescue effort."
"The regional credit loop you proposed, although it seems crude now, is in line with the idea of a new federalism."
"To enable local areas to have independent financial resources and allow supply chains to circulate within the region."
"This is not just an emergency measure, but also the prototype of a new financial order."
Evelyn turned her head, her deep gray eyes flashing with ambition.
"The Saint-Cloud family wants to be the architects of this new order."
"We need a testing ground."
"Pittsburgh, and your industrial alliance, are the best testing ground."
"If you succeed, this model can be replicated throughout Pennsylvania, and even the entire United States."
"At that time, the person who masters the core algorithm and clearing rules of this system will have more power than Wall Street bankers."
Leo felt a chill run down his spine.
He thought he had seen far ahead, but this woman saw even further.
He was thinking about how to pay the workers' wages, while she was thinking about how to reshape the financial order.
Leo was a little unsure.
"Mr. President," Leo called out in his mind, "what do you think?"
Roosevelt's voice carried a hint of solemnity.
"She's a genius, Leo."
"She saw the real potential behind your plan."
"The RFC was like that back then, transforming from an emergency relief agency into a behemoth that controls the nation's economic lifeline."
"She wants to be that animal trainer."
"Work with her?" Leo asked.
"cooperate."
Roosevelt gave an affirmative answer.
You have no other choice.
"Your team really can't handle such a complex system. If you try to do it yourself, it's very likely to collapse due to technical vulnerabilities."
"You need her technology, you need her funding."
"As for who will control whom in the future—"
Roosevelt gave a cold laugh.
"Let's get the system up and running first."
"As long as that switch is in the hands of the executive branch, as long as you are the mayor."
"You'll always have the power to flip the table."
Leo looked at Evelyn.
"That sounds very tempting."
"Leo said."
"However, I have one condition."
"explain."
"Control of the system must be in the hands of the Pittsburgh Regeneration Executive Office."
"All liquidation data must be made transparent to the municipal government."
"I cannot allow this system to become the private property of your family."
Evelyn nodded.
"Reasonable."
"We only provide technical services and liquidity support; we do not infringe upon administrative sovereignty."
"This is the bottom line, I understand."
She reached out her hand.
That hand was fair and slender, adorned with a black gemstone ring.
"So, deal?"
Leo grasped that hand.
Cold, but powerful.
"make a deal."
Just as their hands clasped together, a melodious piano tune filled the banquet hall.
"Let's go, Mr. Mayor."
Evelyn did not let go.
She looked at Leo, a slight smile playing on her lips.
"The business deal is done."
"Now, it's time to fulfill my duties as a guest."
"Dance with me."
"Let those people inside who are still waiting to see you fail take a good look."
"Whose side is the current mayor of Pittsburgh on?"
Leo paused for a moment, then looked at Evelyn.
This is a political display.
She was telling everyone: the St. Cloud family has placed their bet.
Leo straightened his tie.
"It would be my great honor."
He took Evelyn's hand and pushed open the glass door leading to the hall.
The lights shone on them again.
The conductor saw the lady of the manor walking toward the center of the dance floor, and with a gentle wave of his baton, the orchestra's originally soothing background music instantly switched to a waltz by Strauss.
The pace is brisk, yet it carries a sense of oppression.
Leo took Evelyn's hand and stepped into the smooth, mirror-like dance floor.
The crowd that had been whispering around them automatically stepped back, making way for a large open space.
All eyes were now focused on the two of them.
Leo felt a slightly cool touch on his palm.
Unlike typical dance partners who obediently follow Leo's guidance, she tried to control the rhythm of the spins through subtle movements.
"You jumped well."
Leo placed one hand on Evelyn's slender waist, feeling the taut muscle lines beneath her black evening gown.
He spun her around half a circle in time with the music.
"You learned it in the bars in the South District?" Evelyn's voice was right next to my ear, clear and calm.
“I learned it in the city hall office,” Leo retorted. “The footwork required to dodge bureaucrats who want to use that as an excuse to ask for money is much more complicated than that.”
Evelyn's lips curled up slightly.
The two twirled in the center of the dance floor.
The black tuxedo and the dark blue suit intertwined, like two black holes locked in a struggle.
You seem to really like black.
Leo looked at the face so close to his.
Under this close observation, her cold and aggressive nature became even more apparent.
All the women in the room seemed to want to wear rainbows to attract attention, but she stood out like a black blade stuck in a flowerbed.
"This reminds me of some solemn funerals, or—" Leo paused, then joked in a lighthearted tone, "or the set of some vampire movie."
"Black absorbs the entire spectrum."
Evelyn answered quickly, completely ignoring Leo's joke.
Her gaze passed over Leo's shoulder, seemingly examining the layout of the entire banquet hall, yet also seemingly not looking at anything at all.
"It doesn't need to reflect light to please others; it exists in itself."
She looked away and refocused her gaze on Leo's face.
"Moreover, this can improve efficiency."
"Efficiency?" Leo was somewhat surprised by the answer.
“I have three identical black dresses in my wardrobe,” Evelyn said calmly. “Every morning when I wake up, I don’t need to waste a single second thinking about what to wear or whether the color scheme is appropriate. I just reach for one, put it on, and then focus my energy on what really matters.”
"For decision-makers, trivial matters like choosing what to wear are a waste of energy."
Leo looked into her deep gray eyes.
"Impressive self-discipline," Leo commented. "It sounds a bit like monastic asceticism, or a robot's programming."
"It's the ultimate rationality," Evelyn corrected him.
The dance music reached its climax, and the tempo quickened.
Leo had to tighten his arms, bringing their bodies even closer together.
"About what happened in the lobby just now."
Evelyn suddenly changed the subject.
Her voice remained steady, without any emotional fluctuation.
I apologize to you.
Although it was an apology, there was no trace of remorse in the tone; it sounded more like a statement of an objective fact.
"Leaving you standing in the lobby for two hours without even glancing at you is certainly not in line with the Saint-Cloud family's hospitality."
Leo raised an eyebrow.
He didn't expect this arrogant woman to bring this up on her own initiative.
“It’s alright,” Leo said casually. “The sofas there were quite comfortable, and it gave me a chance to observe the ecosystem of Philadelphia’s high society. It was very interesting, especially the banker who kept trying to make you laugh; his antics were worth the ticket price.”
"That was a test."
Evelyn ignored Leo's sarcasm.
"test?"
"Yes, stress test."
Evelyn retreated with Leo's dance steps, her high heels clicking crisply on the floor.
"There are too many rumors about you, Leo Wallace. Some say you're a genius, some say you're a madman, some say you're the next Roosevelt, and some say you're just a lucky opportunist."
"Two years ago you were a student who couldn't even afford rent, but now you're sitting in the position of mayor of Pittsburgh, and you even pushed that nice guy Murphy to the senator's seat. This kind of rise violates the basic common sense of political mechanics."
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Evelyn's eyes sharpened.
"I need to verify the veracity of these rumors, but I don't have time to observe them slowly, nor am I interested in reading those PR-embellished reports. I need the fastest and most direct way."
"humiliation."
Leo picked up the conversation.
"You want to see how I react after being humiliated. Will I storm off like a nouveau riche, or will I cower in a corner like a coward?"
"That's a very low tactic, Miss Saint-Cloud."
During a lull in the spinning, Leo leaned close to her ear and whispered something.
"This doesn't seem like the behavior of a head of a large family; it's more like a small group of high school girls engaging in bullying on campus."
Evelyn remained unmoved by Leo's taunts.
"As long as it works."
Evelyn raised her head and looked directly into Leo's eyes.
"You sat there, finished your champagne, and watched the entire boring auction. Not only did you endure the humiliation, but you also used this time of being ignored to observe your surroundings. You demonstrated remarkable mental resilience and a strong sense of purpose."
"You passed the test."
"This proves that those rumors were at least half true; you do indeed possess the mental fortitude to survive in this arena. You are qualified to sit across from me at the table and discuss the next business deal."
As the dance music drew to a close, alarm bells blared wildly in his mind.
This woman is dangerous.
Extremely dangerous.
In her eyes, there is no dignity, no emotion, not even good or evil.
There is only efficiency, only input-output ratio, only purpose and means.
"It seems I should feel honored," Leo teased, "to be a worthy asset in Miss Saint-Cloud's eyes."
You should feel fortunate.
Evelyn corrected her.
"Because it means you've earned a ticket to the very heart of power."
The music stopped.
The two stood frozen in the center of the dance floor.
Polite and enthusiastic applause rang out from the crowd.
Evelyn released her hand from Leo's shoulder, took a half step back, and resumed her aloof posture.