Tintin insinuates himself into the crowd around Shanghai. This is not that difficult; he is very small, and willing to slither between people as intimately as is necessary.

He looks around. Probably he does not want to talk to the actual leader - who is anyway preoccupied with the crying freshman in his lap - hmmm that gentleman looks like an asshole, that other gentleman looks like only marginally less of an asshole - oh thank God a maintenance boy, the only people more concerned with social strata than indies are maintenance.

He stands at a polite distance from the maintenance boy and asks "Excuse me, do you have a moment to speak?"