In Guo, the word "party"... was actually pretty tacky.
Generally speaking, only lowlifes throwing rustic ragers called it a party.
The classy kind was called a cocktail reception.
At a cocktail reception, wine cups clinked and people flowed back and forth.
This reception was hosted by the Alfonso Corporation to back a new city councilman and build momentum for him. Clearly, the Alfonso Corporation thought highly of this new councilman and hoped to use him to secure the corporation's upper-tier interests in Nie's City's political landscape. Thus, this reception could be considered a broad invitation to heroes from all quarters.
Those coming and going were either wealthy or even wealthier. This was a fine place for rich people to divide up interests and exchange intelligence.
The unquestionable center of the entire reception was its host: Sir Neumann, the current head of the Alfonso family, chairman and general manager of the corporation. Then there was Nie's City's newly appointed councilman, Mr. Blade.
Blade looked to be in his forties, in the prime of life, tall and straight, with graceful bearing. Guo-style jokes rolled effortlessly off his tongue, and he kept the atmosphere around him firmly under control. This councilman looked less like a politician than some top traffic star launched through a talent show, one who knew exactly how to craft an image.
Where there was a center, there were naturally edges.
Every circle had its outsiders, and the capital circle was no exception.
As early as the era of the Great Yin Empire, European high society had already formed a chain of contempt: nobles looked down on "new money."
New money was ordinarily translated as "the newly rich." A more faithful and elegant rendering was "upstarts."
Guo had inherited the ancestral system of the Great Yin Empire. Though this place