Morax is dead, Liyue will fall into my hands.

As Li Ye led Zhong Li backstage, he gently tapped the tea table next to him with his fingers: "These rough men who make a living by the sea are not the pampered young masters who spend their days walking birds and listening to operas. They work hard at the docks to earn money every day, and they don't have any holidays all year round."

I only take a day off when I'm really too tired, or on special holidays.

Zhongli nodded. Li Ye was right. Jiaxuan Teahouse offered free music and even tea and snacks, but they couldn't possibly ask for a salary.

For these rough men, no income meant that their wives and children would starve the next day, something they would never do.

As for whether there will be people who come to the teahouse every day of the year to freeload? Perhaps there will be, but there certainly won't be many, because such scoundrels wouldn't be doing hard labor at the docks all year round.

But... spending all day walking birds and listening to opera, what sounds so jarring?

Is this a subtle dig at someone?

"It is said that brothers should not forget each other if they become rich and powerful, but according to general theory, the first thing people do after becoming rich and powerful is to redefine the concept of brotherhood."

Zhongli paused for a moment, and after a long while, he said, "I just don't know if Boss Li really does come one day and completely master the Seven Stars and Eight Gates of Liyue, will he still be as kind as he is today, inviting the poor and lowly of Liyue to continue to listen to music and drink tea for free?"

Upon hearing this question, Li Ye replied decisively, "Of course not!"

At this moment, his gaze was sharp as he looked at Zhongli, who was standing beside him in astonishment, with a hint of unspoken mockery in his expression: "As citizens of Liyue, these rough men endure the most difficult hardships and do the most tiring jobs in Liyue all year round, from morning till night, yet the Mora they earn cannot even afford a cup of tea in Liyue. Is that fair?!"

If I ever gain control of Liyue, I will never let this happen again!

Chapter 3: The Business Doesn't Match the Job

Is this fair? To the people of Liyue, or at least to the merchants of Liyue, it is fair.

The employers who hired these lowly laborers did not withhold or delay wages, nor did they tamper with the contracts. The amount of labor they put in and the amount of Mora they received were clearly written in black and white. What is unfair about that?

But is it really fair?

The laborers at the bottom of society work from dawn till dusk every day, and their annual income is still not enough to pay for a single meal at Liuli Pavilion.

Is it because the lower-class laborers are greedy, lazy, and extravagant? Or is it because, as peasants, they are only entitled to earn this little bit of money?

Zhongli actually knew how to explain this phenomenon, but unfortunately, things often don't go as planned. Even as the Geo Archon, Zhongli couldn't guide the thoughts of every Liyue resident.

Furthermore, the pursuit of profit is inherent in the nature of businessmen, so it's understandable that Liyue has become what it is today, though perhaps unexpected.

Looking at Li Ye, who was in his prime and full of vigor, Zhong Li was somewhat dazed. The young man seemed to have gained an inexplicable aura, and even his figure had become much more imposing, making him seem like a completely different person from before.

Seeing that Zhongli was impressed by his few words, Li Ye felt smug and began to pontificate: "Mr. Zhongli, these so-called presidents of the Liyue Merchant Guild, if you arrest ten and kill ten of them, they might be innocent, but if you kill nine, there will definitely be some who escape!"

"Once I become the new Emperor of Liyue, all those like Ningguang of Tianquan and Keqing of Yuheng will hang themselves under the streetlights!"

Li Ye became more and more excited as he spoke, and seeing that no one was around, he even opened up to Zhongli and said what was on his mind: "To be honest, Mr. Zhongli, in my opinion, apart from the Seven Stars of Liyue, Morax is also an old senile person who is out of touch with the times."

Fortunately, he died in time; otherwise, decades later, he might have also lost his reputation.

I dare not say these things to anyone else. There's no way around it; after all, there are too many fools in Liyue, and too few clear-headed people like you, sir.

Zhong Li: "..."

He felt it was necessary to retract his earlier assessment of Li Ye. Besides, the fact that this guy had survived until today without being hacked to death was simply the greatest miracle in Liyue!

After much deliberation, Zhong Li decided to join the team first and observe from the shadows.

It's not that I want to help Li Ye, but I want to be the first to know when he gets sacked, filled with cement, and sinks to the bottom of Liyue Harbor to feed the fish and shrimp.

This makes it easier to notify Master Hu to send someone to retrieve the corpse from below Liyue Harbor, since this falls within the scope of the Rebirth Hall's expanded business.

Thinking of this, Zhong Li touched the Mora phone in his pocket and said, "To be honest, Mr. Li, I don't plan to leave the Hall of Rebirth for the time being..."

Seeing that Zhongli seemed to be about to take out the 'Mora phone' to return it to him, Li Ye quickly interrupted Zhongli's next words: "It's alright, it's alright, sir, we can talk about it whenever you feel it's appropriate."

Besides, it's getting late, and I have an appointment to meet the landlady of Wangshu Inn, so I won't stay with you for now.

If you have any questions, sir, you can contact me via the Mora mobile phone.

Li Ye wasn't lying; he did indeed make an appointment with the proprietress behind Wangshu Inn.

Since this was Li Ye's first meeting after their collaboration, a grand ceremony was necessary, so the location was chosen to be the Crescent Moon Pavilion in Liyue City.

With lunchtime fast approaching, Li Ye, as the one who invited him, naturally couldn't be late.

Li Ye left in a hurry, and accidentally bumped into a passerby as he went out.

The passerby was also short-tempered, and immediately said: "Are you walking so fast, in a hurry to be reincarnated?"

For some reason, Zhongli felt that the statement was incredibly apt.

Zhong Li took out the Mora phone and examined it for a moment, feeling that Li Ye had still contacted the wrong person.

He shouldn't have approached me. I'm a guest elder of the Hall of Rebirth, mainly responsible for giving lectures. Sending people to their final rest is Master Hu's business.

......

Inside an elegant pavilion in Crescent Moon Pavilion, Ningguang, the proprietress behind Wangshu Inn and one of the Seven Stars of Liyue, had been waiting for a long time.

Since Ningguang used the Jade Pavilion as a trump card, severely injuring and sealing the Vortex Demon God Oser at the cost of her own life, she temporarily moved back to the Jade Capital Terrace with her team.

The distance from Yujingtai to Xinyuexuan was not far. After finishing her work, Ningguang came alone. In order to conceal her identity, she had specially changed her appearance in a short period of time using some special methods.

No matter how she disguised herself, it was still difficult to conceal her elegant and noble unique temperament.

Especially her beautiful ruby-like eyes; any normal man would be captivated by them at first glance and unable to extricate himself.

Unfortunately, Li Ye couldn't be associated with anything normal. Compared to Ningguang's irresistible charm, he was clearly more interested in her talent and knowledge.

Women only affect how fast I make money, but smart women don't!

Unlike Zhongli's situation, it wasn't Li Ye who actively sought out Ningguang; on the contrary, it was Ningguang who actively approached Li Ye.

During last year's ritual to invite immortals, the Rock King Emperor was assassinated. Enraged, the Three-Eyed Five Manifestations Immortal pressed forward relentlessly, while the Foolish Clan's executor, Prince Dadalia, secretly harbored ambitions.

In response to the dire situation, Ningguang dispatched a large number of people to gather intelligence. Anything that might threaten Liyue's safety was presented to her desk in great detail, including a piece of intelligence related to Li Ye.

At that time, Li Ye was working as a dockworker, and on the side, he did some accounting work.

While everyone was gripped by fear and anxiety over the news of the Geo Archon's death, Li Ye spread rumors that the Geo Archon's death was an opportunity for Liyue to transform.

Although this statement was quickly drowned out by the Liyue people's criticism, Ningguang keenly noticed that Li Ye possessed extraordinary insight.

Considering that even the best pawn cannot be used for one's own purposes until one has grasped Li Ye's weaknesses, Ningguang, after dealing with the assassination attempt on the Rock King Emperor, decided to try to contact Li Ye.

The two first met through the chess game "Liyue Millennium," a game that left an indelible impression on Ningguang.

In the middle of the game, Ningguang had a significant advantage with her "dragon on the face," but in a great mood, she habitually changed the rules of the game.

In the past, because Ningguang had the final right to interpret the "Liyue Millennium", even if the rules were changed temporarily, the other party in the game could only accept it.

However, Ningguang was hiding her identity when she met Li Ye. You, a mere proprietress of Wangshu Inn, can change the rules at will. As the owner of Jiaxuan Teahouse, why can't I change them?

That's ridiculous!

Li Ye then launched a desperate counterattack, and made Ningguang fully experience what it means to "bring your IQ down to his level and then defeat you with rich experience".

Chapter Four: Li Ye is a good guy! He's someone you can get along with!

Ningguang wasn't sure just how high Li Ye's IQ was.

All she remembered was that day, starting with Li Ye changing the rules, a torrent of analyses and technical terms flowed out like a surging river, or the Yellow River overflowing its banks, becoming unstoppable.

At first, Ningguang could keep up with Li Ye's explanation of Sibid, but the explanation became more and more profound and mysterious as it went on.

From the economic base determining the superstructure, to liberating and developing productive forces, eliminating exploitation, and ultimately achieving common prosperity;

From the inevitable demise of capitalism to the inevitable realization of the Internationale;

From the idea that the value of culture lies in the economy, to that the economy is the foundation, politics is the concentrated expression of the economy, and culture is a reflection of both the economy and politics...

Ningguang was completely bewildered by what she heard, and her only thought was: "Hearing your words is like hearing a lecture!"

However, Ningguang did not come away empty-handed from this exchange. At least from the parts of what she could understand, she could tell that Li Ye was probably very good at making money, or at the very least, he knew how to do business.

As it turned out, Ningguang was right. Li Ye's first move transformed the previously loss-making restaurant into the lucrative Jiaxuan Teahouse.

There are many teahouses in Liyue City, and it is said that the biggest competitive advantage of Jiaxuan Teahouse is its new music tracks, but Ningguang does not think so.

The stories told at Jiaxuan Teahouse, such as "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Journey to the West," are quite good and have attracted a number of customers to the teahouse. However, when it comes to storytelling, if one place can tell a story, another place can too.

Many of the people who go to Jiaxuan Teahouse every day to listen to storytelling are storytellers from other teahouses.

While Liyue has copyright protection for books, storytelling does not. This morning, Jiaxuan Teahouse told the story of the Monkey King causing havoc in the Heavenly Palace, and this afternoon you can hear the exact same story in other teahouses, or even stories polished by writers at great expense.

Furthermore, Jiaxuan Teahouse has never prohibited other teahouses from copying its books and seeking knowledge from it; even if they recognize it, it treats them as ordinary customers.

In Liyue, where competitors are often rivals, this kind of counterintuitive behavior is tantamount to digging one's own grave.

The key is that Jiaxuan Teahouse's service is not the best, far inferior to the service of several established teahouses in Liyue City, but its prices are only higher.

Jiaxuan Teahouse charges 500 Moira for a morning's tea service, while other teahouses only dare to charge around 200-300 Moira per day. Storytellers on the street might only charge a few Moira or a dozen Moira.

Logically speaking, Jiaxuan Teahouse should be doing all the work for others while it can only starve. However, in reality, Jiaxuan Teahouse is fully booked every day, and tickets must be reserved in advance.

If you book too late and can't get a ticket, you can only ask around to see which teahouse is also talking about this, and then, while cursing your bad luck, spend less money to go to a teahouse with better service to make up for it.

The next day, they again sent their servants early to try and grab tickets.

To Ningguang, a Tianquan Star who came from a merchant background, this situation was utterly outrageous!

If Ningguang hadn't sent someone to investigate Jiaxuan Teahouse in person, she would have even suspected that Li Ye might have added ingredients to the tea and pastries.

Since Ningguang was certain that there was nothing wrong with Jiaxuan Teahouse, she couldn't understand what magic it possessed that made these foolish, rich guys desperately try to get inside.

It wasn't until she secretly sent people to conduct a detailed survey of the regulars at Jiaxuan Teahouse that she finally realized she had inadvertently overlooked a very crucial point.

circle!

Liyue City has no shortage of wealthy merchants, powerful families, noble clans, and aristocrats, and naturally, it also has no shortage of rich young masters.

With so many sons of high-ranking officials, cliques will naturally form!

When everyone gets together, they chat about all sorts of things, mostly about eating, drinking, and having fun.

When it comes to entertainment, the recent storytelling performances of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Journey to the West" are definitely topics that cannot be avoided.

If someone were to ask which teahouse everyone had heard it at, and then say that they wanted to form a group to go out and have fun, all you would hear at that moment would be the name "Jiaxuan Teahouse".

Five hundred, one thousand, and two hundred moras made little difference to the young master. They provided him with the "authentic" and "first-hand" Jiaxuan Restaurant, allowing him to choose from other "pirated" and "second-hand" off-brand restaurants. This choice truly affected the young master's reputation.

Furthermore, since the young masters and nobles of Liyue City only choose Jiaxuan Restaurant, those who want to elevate their own status or hope to have contact with the young masters also begin to flock to Jiaxuan Tea House.

In addition, the quality of the songs performed at Jiaxuan Teahouse is undoubtedly excellent, but even the best wine needs a good location to be appreciated. Even the high-quality storytelling on the theme of Lord Yan, which was popular in the past, needs time to develop its appeal.

But Jiaxuan Teahouse was different. Its storytelling program swept through the entire Liyue City in just a few days, so fast that people couldn't react in time.

Ningguang immediately thought of Jiaxuan Teahouse's practice of never prohibiting other teahouses from coming to learn from it. It can only be said that this seemingly outrageous move has become the biggest help for Jiaxuan Teahouse's popularity in Liyue.