Morax is dead, Liyue will fall into my hands.

He nodded very calmly and said, "If Mr. Li Ye really has such a method, Xingqiu would also very much like to learn it. I wonder how you can prove that you do indeed possess such an ability?"

"I believe you'll see it within a year. Before that, let's get the newspaper up and running." Li Ye didn't expect to fool the two of them. He just wanted to plant a seed in their minds first, and when the time was right, the seed would naturally take root and sprout.

As for the claim that Xingqiu, being the son of a merchant, would certainly not join this business, that's true in most cases, but there are always exceptions.

After all, one of the pioneers of this industry was born into a capitalist family and even had aristocratic lineage. What difference does it make whether one's background is high or low, as long as one possesses sufficient awareness?

Chapter 42: A Coincidence Leads to a Misunderstanding

Li Ye personally saw Qiu and Chongyun off as they left Jiaxuan Teahouse. Just as he waved goodbye to them, he discovered that Xiao had returned sometime earlier.

His expression was somewhat cold, but considering that Xiao usually had a "keep away" look, it wasn't much different.

When Xiao went to Yuehai Pavilion today, Ningguang happened to be away, so he asked Ningguang's follower Baiwen to help investigate whether there was anything wrong with Cairanfang. He also mentioned that the owner of Cairanfang was involved in a big secret.

Having met Xiao, who was an immortal, with Ningguang, Baiwen naturally dared not be negligent in the slightest. He immediately retrieved and reviewed all the recorded information about Cairanfang since its establishment.

The investigation revealed that Xiu'er, the owner of the dye shop, suddenly became rich during her most destitute period. Not only did she suddenly acquire a fortune of unknown origin, but even the heartless man who abandoned her suddenly suffered retribution. Clearly, she had the help of a powerful figure behind her!

As a result, the mastermind behind this seemed to have vanished into thin air, and no matter how much they investigated, they could not find any other clues.

In fact, Ningguang's help to Xiuer was just a spur-of-the-moment thing, and she never contacted Xiuer again afterward.

Xiuer herself probably doesn't even know who helped her back then. She only knows that the person said before leaving: If you ever need her in the future, you need to cooperate unconditionally.

Xiuer, who was desperate at the time, readily agreed. However, several years later, her benefactor seemed to have vanished into thin air and never reappeared.

Ningguang handled this matter casually and naturally wouldn't tell anyone; it would be a miracle if anyone found out the truth.

Since that's the case, Xiao is already quite satisfied. After all, Baiwen is just a mortal, while Cairanfang is backed by Li Ye, a guy that even Lord Zhongli has to treat with caution.

It's already quite good that we've found this far. At least it proves that Cai Ran Fang does have problems. Moreover, the expert who helped Cai Ran Fang back then was very likely Li Ye's accomplice. As for the rest, I'll have to find the answers myself!

"Where have you been? Why are you back so late?" Li Ye was relieved to see Xiao return, at least he didn't have to bother Qianyan Army to look for him.

Xiao Leng didn't answer or explain. There was no need!

Li Ye had no choice but to pull out a "Mora Phone" from his pocket and walk up to Xiao: "Take this. As long as you're within Liyue, you can use it for instant communication. You can also use it to chat with Mr. Zhongli, but only if Mr. Zhongli has time."

Xiao was clearly seeing this kind of "magical artifact" for the first time. He was initially a little dismissive, but when he heard that he could contact Mr. Zhongli at any time, he immediately put away his contempt and began to study it seriously.

But... when Xiao saw the crane with its head raised on the back of the phone, it looked familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.

Xiao's learning ability was surprisingly strong. After Li Ye explained and demonstrated it once, he immediately learned how to use the mobile phone correctly.

Li Ye then pulled him into the chat group.

*******

Li Ye invited "the energetic young man" to join the group.

"Who in the world doesn't know Ye?": Welcome new member! "Spirited young man," from now on we are companions. I hope we can help each other.

"Guest of the Hall of Rebirth": From a general theoretical point of view, they should indeed be welcomed.

"Liyue Rich Woman": Welcome new member.

Zhongli and Ningguang knew Xiao's identity and immediately spoke up to welcome him.

The others either didn't see it or remained silent, and didn't continue to speak.

Xiao was thrilled when he saw the message from Zhongli. He was about to say something, but then he felt that chatting on the phone might not be safe, so he decided to wait until he met with Lord Zhongli to discuss it.

So the chat group, which had been starting to get going, fell silent again...

Li Ye stared at the screen, which hadn't received any new messages for a long time, and his lips twitched. Sure enough, he was still not used to the local culture; chat groups just weren't suitable for Liyue.

By the way, shouldn't we also send Qiu and Chongyun a phone and add them to the chat group? Maybe that would make it more lively.

No!

Li Ye quickly dismissed the idea.

Xingqiu and Chongyun are not like Ji Laoban and Kuaiyu, who are their own people, nor are they like Zhongli, who lacks reverence for the Liyue Seven Stars and even dares to openly criticize the Geo Archon.

Especially Xingqiu, who is the second young master of the Feiyun Chamber of Commerce. It is said that the president of the Feiyun Chamber of Commerce has a close relationship with Tianquan Ningguang. If they are brought in rashly, it could be a fatal blow to the entire team.

Or should we create a second-level group later?

Should we gather the absolutely trustworthy members into one group, and those still under evaluation into a second group? But that's for the future; for now, let's focus on getting the newspaper and the bank up and running.

With this thought in mind, Li Ye decided to go home as it got dark, and told Gan Yu about what had happened in the past two days.

Xiao originally planned to go home with Li Ye, but Li Ye refused.

Xiao felt that Li Ye didn't fully believe in himself yet, nor was he persisting.

As for secretly following Li Ye, Xiao had considered it, but considering that Li Ye might be pretending to be weak while actually being strong, and that following him rashly would easily expose his identity, he had no choice but to give up.

Li Ye's residence was not far from Jiaxuan Teahouse; it was only a half-hour jog, and even faster by carriage or horseback.

Gan Yu, who was having an intense conversation with Ke Qing on her phone while sitting in the living room, instinctively put her phone away when she saw Li Ye push the door open and enter.

Li Ye was a little confused. Why did Gan Yu look like she had been caught stealing a phone by her parents?

"Chatting?"

"Yeah, with Kuaiyu." Ganyu responded, but didn't mention that in order to gain Kuaiyu's trust, she kept attacking Liyue Qixing during the conversation.

The key is that no one understands the Liyue Seven Stars better than Gan Yu, which makes Gan Yu's attacks on the Liyue Seven Stars often reasonable, well-founded, and convincing.

On the other side, Keqing saw Ganyu's continuous attacks and thought that only a veteran Liyue Seven Stars critic could explain the shortcomings and flaws of the Liyue Seven Stars so clearly and thoroughly.

Ke Qing felt that someone like Wang Xiaomei would only deepen Li Ye's aversion to Li Yue Qi Xing, and she had to find a way to restrict her.

At the same time, in order to gain Gan Yu's trust, Ke Qing also told Gan Yu about her various grievances against the other members of the Liyue Seven.

After seeing this, Gan Yu was certain that Kuai Yu indeed wanted to join forces with Li Ye to overthrow the hated Li Yue Seven Stars.

She felt that while the Liyue Sept had its flaws, Quick Rain was a bit cynical and she had to find a way to bring her back on track!

When the two of them secretly made up their minds, they never imagined that one day this misunderstanding would lead to their social death...

Chapter 43: A Different Kind of Newspaper

As the young master of the Luoyu Merchant Guild, Zhuang Chi neither engages in hunting and debauchery nor bullies men and women and harms the local area. Of course, this is also thanks to the security of Liyue Harbor.

My only hobby is visiting Jiaxuan Teahouse to see if there are any new songs to listen to.

Today, Jiaxuan Teahouse is still telling the story of "Journey to the West," specifically the line "Tang Sanzang is in trouble at Huangfeng Ridge, and Pigsy rushes to the front halfway up the mountain."

While alterations are not about making things up, and retelling stories is not about making things up, it's definitely not feasible to simply transplant "Journey to the West" to Liyue without any changes, since there are no Bodhisattvas in Liyue.

So Li Ye simply replaced all the gods and bodhisattvas with immortals, and changed the fate of some monsters from being taken away by immortals and bodhisattvas to being beaten to death by Sun Wukong.

It has less depth but more enjoyment.

Storytelling is meant to be a form of entertainment, not a book that can be read and analyzed repeatedly. To pursue too much depth is simply a sign of a problem with one's mind.

Today, the storyteller told the story in one breath, from the time Lingji Immortal used the Flying Dragon Spear to restrain the Yellow-Haired Monster's magic weapon, to how Sun Wukong, with his own martial arts skills, defeated the Yellow-Haired Monster without any chance to fight back, and finally killed him with his staff. Only then did the customers clap and cheer with satisfaction.

Seeing that it was already noon, Zhuang Chi had no interest in listening to the new songs in the afternoon, so he got up to leave.

Before he could even set off, he saw several waiters carrying a large stack of papers, distributing them to customers at each seat.

At this moment, Li Ye, who came from behind, strode to the front of the stage and looked at the puzzled customers. He explained, "This is a newspaper jointly published by Jiaxuan Teahouse and the Liyue Daily."

It's currently in its trial operation phase. Distinguished guests are welcome to take a look. If you're interested, you can subscribe at Jiaxuan Teahouse later.

Aside from disputes occurring in teahouses, Li Ye rarely makes public appearances.

When everyone saw Li Ye suddenly appear, they immediately realized that this mysterious boss must have come to promote the newspaper.

At this moment, someone immediately started to jeer, saying, "Mr. Li, we're all here to listen to storytelling. We're not interested in business news or Liyue politics. This newspaper is going to be a waste of your efforts."

Li Ye smiled upon hearing this: "You all might as well take a look at the contents of the newspaper in your hands, and perhaps you will have some new ideas."

Upon hearing this, Zhuang Chi immediately picked up the newspaper in his hand. In addition to the dense text, there was also a portrait illustration of a man.

According to the words below the illustration, Zhuang Chi learned that the man in the illustration was named Qiao Feng, a peerless hero.

Who is Qiao Feng? I've never heard of him. Why is he considered a great hero?

Looking at the words next to it with curiosity, I understood: it's a martial arts novel!

Zhuang Chi was stunned. This newspaper wasn't publishing about the changes in Liyue, nor was it about important business secrets. It was actually a novel? And the author was the team from Jiaxuan Teahouse?

Is Mr. Li planning to publish a novel in the newspaper?

It must be said that Mr. Li is truly a remarkable person; he certainly doesn't like to take the conventional path.

我喜欢！

Zhuang Chi, who originally had no interest in newspapers and even felt somewhat resistant to them, suddenly became interested and sat down to read them seriously.

The newspaper story was short, only about a chapter long, but it was enough for Zhuang Chi to recognize Qiao Feng's magnanimity and to look forward to the story's future development.

After finishing reading, Zhuang Chi glanced at the other pages and found they were all unrelated to the martial arts novel. Holding the newspaper, he looked at Li Ye and couldn't help but ask, "What's next?! Mr. Li, is that all?!"

This question also voiced the thoughts of the readers who were still engrossed in the story: What happens next? Why is there only so little?

Even now, when novels are published, many are published in volumes. At least at the end of a volume, the story comes to a brief conclusion, unlike the stories in the newspapers, which just pique people's interest before disappearing without a trace.

Li Ye showed no embarrassment whatsoever. He explained calmly, "The rest of the story will naturally be published in future newspapers."

Just like storytelling in a teahouse, with one segment today and another tomorrow, the stories in the newspaper are the same; one chapter is published today, and the next chapter is published tomorrow.

And to be honest, this story isn't actually finished yet, but I wanted everyone to see it as soon as possible, so I used this method. If you're interested, you can wait for tomorrow's newspaper.

"What..."

Zhuang Chi wanted to curse, "What utter bullshit! I wish I could see the rest of the story today!" but he quickly suppressed the thought.

Jiaxuan Teahouse made its fortune through storytelling. In the beginning, there were even cases where VIPs wanted to continue listening and would block the storyteller from leaving.

As a result, no matter how much the storyteller argued or threatened, he would not stay to tell another story. It is said that this was a rule set by the owner of Jiaxuan Teahouse.

Reject 007, never work overtime!

If storytellers are this confident, then the person standing in front of them now is the young owner of Jiaxuan Teahouse.

Everyone knows that Li Ye may look kind and gentle, but he was a tough guy who fought his way from Nantianmen all the way to Yaoguangtan.

If you offend him, you're in for a world of hurt.

Zhuang Chi knew that neither coercion nor bribery would work, but he still couldn't help but complain, "Boss Li, can't you be kind and let us read a couple more chapters?"

Alright... we know the rules of Jiaxuan Teahouse!