New Gods of North America

Arriving at Mr. Russell's estate, Wayne felt that Mr. Russell's emphasis on the "First Office" seemed to have reached a new level.

Having been here a few times before, and having been treated with relative "courtesy" by Mr. Russell, the butler gave Wayne a "preemptive warning" while preparing to announce his arrival.

He led Wayne directly to the waiting room while explaining that Mr. Russell was currently discussing important matters with someone and might need to wait a while before meeting him.

However, before Wayne could even take two sips of hot tea, Mr. Russell had already come down.

It was almost as if Mr. Russell had dropped everything else as soon as he heard the butler's announcement to meet Wayne first.

Mr. Russell was clearly quite satisfied with the work of the "First Office."

He said that according to the information he received from the steam train operating company, the detective agency's office had apprehended quite a few robbers and had records of repelling bandit gangs on the spot. The loss rate of steam trains encountering robberies on the corresponding sections of the route had greatly decreased, and the effect was better than expected. Driven by publicity, even the stock price had risen a bit.

Wayne couldn't help but feel a little proud, but also felt that Mr. Russell's words seemed a bit exaggerated.

His overall attitude was still humble. After talking about the latest situation brought back by Ryan, he also talked about the personnel transfer plan of the First Office, and didn't forget to ask how to contact the bounty hunters Mr. Russell had found before.

Mr. Russell quickly summoned the butler and asked him to give Wayne the corresponding contact information later.

Then, he chatted with Wayne about his personal life, "I heard that you have recently been assigned to Richmond by the Bishop to investigate the assassination of Tom Hagen?"

Wayne told the truth, "That's right. We just searched the killer's residence yesterday, and we will probably investigate his past experiences in the next few days."

"Have you found out who instigated him?" Mr. Russell then asked.

Why do even you suspect that there is a real culprit behind this?

Wayne pondered slightly and chose to "retreat to advance," "Mr. Russell, what do you think of this case?"

Mr. Russell didn't seem to hide anything:

"Tom Hagen is the treasurer of the cathedral and has a special status. He himself is a clergyman of commoner origin, which is relatively unconventional in the South. After the incident, many people speculated that this might be a conspiracy against the church."

Then Mr. Russell changed the subject, "What does the Bishop think of this matter?"

Wayne pondered for a while, filtering out the parts that seemed inappropriate to say:

"The Bishop did not express a specific attitude, but before he left, he instructed Pastor Tyrrell and our detective agency to be responsible for investigating this case."

The investigation of the case is estimated to involve many people, and it is probably no longer a secret locally. Some things should be able to find out who is investigating with a little inquiry.

As for Bishop Corleone's itinerary, such a large ship, those who are interested should have known it long ago, but it is better not to say the specific destination.

Unfortunately, Mr. Russell didn't seem to be among the so-called "interested people." After hearing this, he raised his eyebrows, "The Bishop has already left Richmond? Pastor Tyrrell is also responsible for the investigation?"

Um...

Wayne was a little suspicious of whether he had said something wrong, and nodded with slight hesitation.

Fortunately, Mr. Russell also seemed to be caught in doubt at the same time. His eyes narrowed slightly, as if judging the truth of Wayne's words, and as if conducting deep thinking.

After a while, Mr. Russell opened his mouth again, "Wayne, your detective agency seems to be quite large now. What are your plans next?"

Speaking of this, Wayne was no longer sleepy.

The detective agency's preparation for the "Second Office" should have been mentioned to Mr. Russell in the first place, but considering that the new sugar daddy is likely to be Mr. Russell's business competitor, Wayne is still looking for a relatively "calm and breezy" time, so it's a good time to say it now.

In addition, there is also the matter of opening a fast food restaurant. Although there is no follow-up to the matter of tinkering with cheese with the church monastery, the detective agency's current idle funds can already start doing it alone. Even if the cost cannot reach the ideal level for a while, at least in theory, it will not be a loss.

Mr. Russell obviously did not expect Wayne to have such a messy plan. He even considered purchasing goods from the Canques state to reduce costs for the fast food restaurant, and planned to conduct further in-depth cooperation with the church.

He listened to Wayne's commercial vision with some dumbfoundedness, and then, not knowing what he thought of, he suddenly became quite interested:

"Wayne, your idea sounds good and feels very promising. I don't know if you have enough funds on hand. I have always been looking for some high-quality projects to invest in. If you need it, I can consider investing in a part. Of course, I may not have the energy to participate in its daily management, and the operation may still have to rely on you."

This was an unexpected proposal for Wayne. The advantage of doing it alone is that the dominance will not fall by the wayside, while the benefit of a joint venture is that the cost is lower and the risk is more controllable. Thinking about the current situation in America, foreigners often need the participation of "local snakes" or "middlemen" if they want to run a business locally.

Wayne didn't know if this was Mr. Russell, a local, wanting to "get involved," but since a local tycoon was willing to pay to share the cost of Wayne's sudden whim, Wayne proposed a plan that could be both offensive and defensive:

"For the time being, I don't have too distant plans. If Mr. Russell is interested, then the investment should be limited to the new store opened in Richmond. If profits can be earned, then the dividends will be distributed according to the actual investment ratio of both parties. If it goes bankrupt, it will also be liquidated according to the ratio."

Mr. Russell originally seemed to be just saying it casually. After Wayne mentioned it, his businessman instinct reacted instead:

"If it's only limited to Richmond, will the scale be too small? Your plan sounds like the type where the larger the scale, the higher the profit, otherwise the transportation cost of purchasing meat from Canques will not be reduced much."

"However, your concerns make sense. The initial new store can only be opened in Richmond, but if there are new stores that need investment within the scope of Virginia in the future, I require to have the priority to participate under the same conditions."

Wayne was still hesitating whether to agree, but Mr. Russell had already asked the butler to call his lawyer from the study. According to his meaning, in addition to the actual investment, Mr. Russell also planned to pick out a place from his idle properties in Richmond for Wayne to use as the address of the new store for free.

This can save a lot of costs. If this is the case, even if the fast food restaurant loses everything in the end, Wayne's side will at most have to put in some more time and labor costs. So Wayne quickly chose to kneel in the face of the erosion of money. The intention was initially reached, and the rest was to haggle with the lawyer.