On the next day, Saturday morning, Ferrari returned to the warehouse district again, bringing along some items needed for setting up the exhibition.
Some large promotional posters and materials that could link the auction with the City Hall and the Mayor’s policies.
More surprisingly, local newspapers had included content about this second-hand goods auction, all related to the Mayor. For instance, this second-hand goods auction was organized and hosted by Lynch and "others" under the Mayor’s promotion.
Though it seemed like just a few sentences, in reality, the Mayor had taken all the credit, even setting up a backup plan—that is, Lynch and others, but exactly who those others were remained unclear.
Perhaps there would be three to five people or maybe only Lynch alone; this was necessary for Lynch to secure subsidies or policy favor.
Even though the system seemed somewhat backward, it was unexpectedly transparent; some things couldn’t be hidden, and since they couldn’t be hidden, they had to appear more compliant to the rules.
"Next Tuesday at noon, the Mayor has forty minutes, you can have lunch together," Ferrari spoke about this event while watching the City Hall workers handling those poster banners on-site.
He glanced at Lynch and did not see any displeasure or negative emotions on Lynch’s face.
In Bail Federal, dinner is the most important meal out of the three meals a day; most times, people would try to compress time for breakfast and lunch, minimizing content to save time for other activities.
This gives dinner a special meaning, such as being formal, grand, rich, and so on.
In general, if a meeting is justified with a meal together, choosing lunch might make people feel that the other party is belittling the meeting.
Ferrari initially thought Lynch would be upset, feeling disrespected.
He understood this feeling very well; most young people, especially remarkable young people, rarely face setbacks. Except for those unavoidable natural factors, any failure due to human interference makes them angry.
The more successful the young person is, the angrier they would be in such situations. Ferrari didn’t know if Lynch was deeply hiding his anger or if he was truly as calm as he appeared.
As the bridge between Lynch and the Mayor, Ferrari dutifully explained, "Originally, the Mayor intended to arrange dinner to meet with you, but his itinerary is booked for over a month, so..."
He shrugged, hoping Lynch could understand how packed the schedule of a politician at this level is and how complex changing it could be.
"I understand," Lynch nodded without explaining that he truly didn’t mind having lunch with a "minor figure" like a Mayor.
Before the crossing, most people he dined with daily represented an era, and a Mayor from another world... well, that’s that; he respected the Mayor but wasn’t in awe.
Lynch didn’t want to say much, and naturally, Ferrari wouldn’t say much either, as he began habitually entering his new identity.
To be honest, before he got off work yesterday, he had various discontent, confusion, and self-blame.
But this morning, watching the bank transfer 5,000 bucks into his account, he suddenly became relaxed. Five thousand bucks is not a small amount, even for someone like Ferrari.
It might not compare to the 75,000 bucks simultaneously transferred into the Mayor’s political contribution account, but this money, these five thousand bucks, belonged to him, not to the office or the Mayor.
Having accepted this identity and the convenience it brought, Ferrari found Lynch to be a decent young man. He might be the first small capitalist extending a hand of friendship to him, and he was considering whether to be more "intimate" with Lynch.
Mayoral staff like Ferrari typically contact many capitalists; they become channels for communication between power and wealth, but they don’t possess power themselves or easily obtain wealth.
Capitalists precisely allocate money to those who hold the scepter; people like Ferrari, at most, gain some negligible extra income in life and work.
Do capitalists not worry about offending aides by not greasing them, causing the aides to bad-mouth them to the powerholders and spoil their affairs?
Not really, because there’s a special group of "channels" here called "brokers."
Most of these people come from the upper social class, including social elites and former politicians; they have deep connections in both political and financial circles. When capitalists need to convince certain people, they don’t have to go through aides; they will let professional political brokers handle all the necessary persuading.
This is another drawback of a personal attendant like Ferrari; their glory and power are mere illusions displayed in front of people. When those behind them make a decision, their opinions and ideas become unimportant.
Unless they perform exceptionally or their politician is in the Federation’s upper or top echelon, it’s hard for capitalists to heavily invest in aides like themselves.
The Mayor isn’t considered mid-to-upper level in the Federation’s power structure, so naturally, up until now, Ferrari has only become familiar with local merchants.
Soon, people reorganized the venue, completing it in less than forty minutes; they were very professional and knew how to make it look more suitable to the Mayor’s requirements.
There were two large stand-up posters on both sides of the platform, and the Mayor was smiling brightly in the center of the poster, giving two thumbs up. Surrounding were various products and discounts; this scene seemed familiar.
A bit exaggerated, but it well conveyed the Mayor’s role here. For the lower class, they won’t analyze things with more significance; to make them understand eggs are laid by chickens, the simplest way is to show them a chicken laying an egg, not describe it.
"That’s fine, let everyone get ready..." Lynch nodded, gesturing to watch the Blue Vests transport items from the warehouse.
Things often went missing in the warehouse district, so careful watch over these people was necessary. Admittedly, the majority of Blue Vests were good, but a few individuals dragged down the entire group’s image.
Ferrari didn’t immediately return but intended to wait here until the auction ended before going back; he wanted to get firsthand information to analyze with other staff officers and then decide whether to invest more time and energy into Lynch.
At noon, the two of them briefly ate something, and by the time it was almost two in the afternoon, slightly past half-past one, people had already arrived at the site.
These people had posters in their hands, asking around if they could exchange a belt here using the posters; it was evident that Lynch’s strategy was very successful, free item collection hadn’t been tried before, and society hadn’t yet developed resistance to it.
The staff, mainly Richard and these people, immediately stepped up and began distributing the guests coming to participate in the auction.
Actually, each poster was different, and if someone were attentive enough, they would notice a distinct color block on the top left corner of the poster’s backside—some were red, some were yellow, some were purple, some were blue, various colors.
These color blocks represented their "salesperson," for instance, Richard’s poster’s top left corner was gold-foiled, a touch he paid extra for, to showcase his uniqueness.
These guests would be arranged at seats belonging to them, and the transaction amounts in this auction would be separately calculated, ensuring the accuracy of the salespeople’s income as much as possible.
Meanwhile, this also provided a more intuitive understanding; sometimes bringing more people isn’t useful, they must also have purchasing power!