After Li Ye and the others arrived at the banquet venue, the Kamaz staff responsible for receiving guests noticed that their vehicle bore embassy plates, then hurried off to report to Sumonkov.
Li Ye and the others paid no attention to that and simply led the two interpreters into the banquet hall.
He then discovered that everyone in the delegation had gathered together in silence, watching Sophia's classmate named "Cindy" stand on the stage and ramble on.
Li Ye moved closer and asked Sun Xianjin in a low voice, "What's going on?"
Sun Xianjin replied quietly, "Nothing. We're watching a monkey show!"
"..."
Li Ye froze for a moment. Then, after listening carefully to Cindy's English, tinged with a faint curry flavor, he finally understood what was happening.
This Cindy was delivering an impassioned "speech." Its content was simple enough: he kept harping on about how powerful White Elephant was, stressing that White Elephant had become the most, most important force shaping the current world order.
The reason Sun Xianjin called it a monkey show was that nobody had ever seen such an exaggerated style of public speaking. Those who could not understand English found it funny, while those who could understand English found it even funnier.
Because Cindy was explaining why White Elephant was so important: they were the heirs of The Sun Never Sets Empire, and all the glory Britain had once possessed in Asia ought to be inherited by White Elephant.
Back in the day, Britain had been the world's number one power, even stronger than the United States. Since White Elephant had inherited the mantle of the world's greatest power, wasn't it only natural for them to be a little stronger?
He even vaguely mentioned the war in '62, implying that if his side had not