"Miss Anya," Kaja, her bodyguard and driver, said expressionlessly as she parked the car. "I’ll be waiting for you right by the entrance."
"Thank you, Auntie Kaja." Anya took the opportunity to link her arm with Li Wei’s, feeling his firm arm muscles. "I’ll call you when the event is wrapping up."
As she watched the rcedes S680 slowly pull away, Anya’s icy expression quickly lted, and she reverted to the lively girl Li Wei had first t.
"Whew," she sighed in relief. "I always have to act so prim and proper whenever Auntie Kaja is around."
Even through two layers of cloth, he could feel the warmth of her arm and catch the faint, subtle scent of her perfu.
"Is she a relative or sothing?" he asked, keeping his tone casual. "I noticed she kept looking at ."
"She’s an auntie who’s watched grow up," Anya said, walking ahead while still holding his arm. "She was assigned to protect back when I was in elentary school."
"Protect you?" Li Wei watched as Anya pulled an invitation from her small purse. "From what?"
"You know how it is in Russia. People tend to be more... direct," Anya explained. "So it’s not just ; several of my friends also have bodyguards they’ve had since childhood."
"So you’re an oligarch’s daughter?" Li Wei raised an eyebrow. "No wonder you’re so loaded."
"My father prefers the term ’entrepreneur’," Anya giggled. "Alright, we can talk more about later. First, I need to take so notes on their procedures and learn how to organize an exhibition."
Anya pulled her phone out of her bag and led Li Wei on a slow walk along the edge of the exhibition hall, her eyes darting between the guests and the staff.
Watching her diligently take notes, Li Wei saw that the things she was jotting down on her phone were surprisingly practical:
Things like crowd control at the entrance, the angle of the lighting, the need to choose bite-sized hors d’oeuvres, the 1:1 ratio of champagne to water on the serving trays, the music volu... the list went on.
After writing well over a thousand words, Anya finally stopped. She reviewed her notes one more ti and nodded in satisfaction.
"And here I thought you actually brought here to see the exhibition," Li Wei said, gesturing to the antiques and artworks around them. "I didn’t realize you ca to steal their trade secrets."
"...What?" Anya froze, then sputtered, "N-No, I wasn’t! I was definitely admiring the artwork, too."
She paused, then leaned closer to Li Wei and whispered sheepishly, "Was it really that obvious?"
"Not really," Li Wei said. "It’s just that it seems like no one here is very interested in the artwork anyway."
Anya scoffed. "That’s because this museum is just the llon Family’s way of flaunting their history and influence. For instance, look at this—"
She pointed to a painting. "Do you know what this is depicting?"
"It looks like a typical 19th-century realist oil painting." Li Wei glanced at the plaque beside the fra, which read *Dawn in Pennsylvania*. "The composition is grand, and the use of light and shadow has a religious quality to it. I can’t make out anything else."
"Realism? Hmm... I suppose you could call it that." Anya raised an eyebrow and traced a shape in the air with a slender finger. "Look at the silhouette of this blast furnace. See how the lines form an ’M’?"
Li Wei leaned in for a closer look, and sure enough, it did.
"This painting was a gift to Andrew llon from a friend in the 1920s, back when he was the United States Secretary of the Treasury," Anya said. "Artists are masters of this sort of insinuation. This painting used to hang in his office at the United States Departnt of the Treasury. When you combine that with the title, isn’t it just a subliminal ssage telling everyone that the llon Family brought the dawn to Pennsylvania?"
"Whoa," Li Wei looked at her in surprise. "You really know your stuff."
Internally, Anya was so proud she felt like she could fly, but she just waved a hand dismissively, feigning indifference.
"To be honest, I couldn’t care less about any of this," she said with a pout. "I have zero interest in history, art, or this hypocritical socializing. I just want to be shopping in Paris and gambling in Monaco every day, not standing here analyzing whether the canapés are the perfect size to be eaten in one bite."
"Then why don’t you?" Li Wei remarked noncommittally. "Since you have the capital for it, why not just coast?"
"Peer pressure, and the expectations of everyone around you," Anya said, her grip on Li Wei’s arm tightening as her tone grew more earnest. "A child is a father’s most conspicuous asset. If my social circle, academic achievents, or career can’t asure up to my peers, my father will naturally feel like he’s lost face. I don’t want him to look like a failure in front of his friends because of ."
"Since you’re that wealthy," Li Wei asked, "can’t you just buy your way in? You should be able to get into anywhere you want, right?"
"Do you really think people in the sa social class wouldn’t find out?" Anya looked up at Li Wei. "Even if I had my father pull so strings and buy my way in, there’s no such thing as a secret that lasts forever."
"Sotis I feel like my status is a pair of golden handcuffs," she sighed. "I wish I could just give it all up and do what I really want to do."
"How much money do you get a month?" Li Wei asked out of the blue.
"I don’t get a monthly allowance," Anya said, montarily stunned. "I get dividends from an overseas trust fund each quarter. It’s around two million USD, give or take. Whatever I don’t spend, I just keep in a private bank."
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