Morax is dead, Liyue will fall into my hands.

To avoid being recognized by Li Ye, Ke Qing deliberately changed her voice and took the initiative to extend her hand, saying, "I have long admired Mr. Li's name. Meeting you today, I can confirm that your reputation is well-deserved. I am Ke Qing, the Jade Balance of the Seven Stars."

Seeing this, Li Ye tactfully reached out and lightly touched Ke Qing's fingertip, then immediately withdrew his hand and said, "It's truly an honor to be remembered by Miss Ke Qing. Besides, we should have met before, right?"

Although Keqing was wearing a mask and her voice was different, Li Ye was almost certain that he had seen this Yuheng Star somewhere before.

After all, Li Ye hadn't interacted with Ningguang that many times, so his feelings for her were very vague, and he even thought he might be overthinking it. But he had spent almost as much time with Ke Qing as he had with Gan Yu, and they often discussed and planned projects until late at night, so they were practically inseparable.

So when Li Ye saw Ke Qing, that familiar feeling immediately welled up in his heart, but he couldn't remember where he had seen her before.

Hearing Li Ye's almost certain tone, Ke Qing felt a little panicked but also secretly pleased.

Hmph, even though you changed your clothes, hairstyle, voice, and wore a mask, if you, Li Ye, have absolutely no recollection of me like in those novels, then you're really doomed tonight!

Ke Qing thought to herself, but didn't deny it outright like Ning Guang, because that would seem too fake: "Perhaps, maybe we really have met somewhere."

After all, many people in Liyue Harbor have seen my true face; they just don't know that person is Yuheng Star.

Upon hearing Ke Qing's reply, Li Ye nodded as expected and said, "So I have had the honor of meeting Miss Ke Qing before? No wonder we are so familiar."

After hearing this, Ke Qing couldn't help but tease him, saying, "Then, Mr. Li, would you like to take off my mask and see my true face?"

Chapter 109: Keqing's Trick

Upon hearing Ke Qing's suggestion, Li Ye rejected it without hesitation: "No, no, no need. Miss Ke Qing, please remove your mask whenever the time is right, and I will then be able to see your beautiful face."

Li Ye's answer surprised Keqing slightly, but she could understand it, knowing that he didn't want to get too involved with the Liyue Seven Stars.

"If that's the case, then it's truly a bit of a shame."

Ke Qing didn't delve deeper into the topic. In her view, it was just a minor incident, and she didn't take it to heart.

I came to meet Li Ye this time partly out of a mischievous mood, and partly to get closer to him.

After nearly a year of working together, Ke Qing has developed a rather favorable impression of Li Ye.

I used to think that this person was crazy because he was always thinking about overthrowing the Liyue Seven Stars and seizing Liyue. But after spending more time with him, I found that, putting aside his stance, Li Ye's abilities, ambitions, behavior, and attitude, all combined, are almost the type that Keqing admires the most.

Furthermore, considering that there is a high possibility of traitors among the current Liyue Seven Stars and the Three-Eyed Five Manifestations, my stance and Li Ye's stance may not be completely opposed.

Therefore, Ke Qing hoped that, in addition to Kuai Yu's identity, Yu Heng Xing could at least leave a good impression on Li Ye so that they could continue to cooperate after his identity was exposed.

Li Ye breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Ke Qing didn't continue.

He discovered that this Keqing was different from Ningguang; her words were always a veiled attack, and she would try to kill him at the slightest provocation.

Do you really think I, Li Ye, am some clueless newbie who doesn't know the rules?

What more do you want? To see your true face?

You Liyue Seven Stars are no different from bandits; I'd be dead if I saw your face!

As expected, none of the women of the Liyue Seven Stars are easy to deal with.

No, I have to remind everyone in the chat group later that if they have the opportunity to deal with the Liyue Sept, they must think twice before acting.

Seeing that Li Ye didn't speak, Ke Qing continued to try to find a topic, saying, "Speaking of which, the idea of ​​providing subsidies for charity was actually proposed by Boss Li, right?"

Holy crap! Don't tell anyone!

Thank goodness no one was eavesdropping, or I would have been killed!

Li Ye quickly denied it, saying, "Miss Ke Qing, what are you talking about? What charity subsidy? Do you mean there are subsidies for doing charity?"

Pretending? Keep pretending.

Ke Qing looked at Li Ye's reaction, her lips under the mask curving slightly upwards: "Isn't that right? But Young Master Xingqiu said it was Boss Li who said it, didn't he?"

Li Ye was shocked and furious. "Xing Qiu, you dare to betray me?!"

When I finish writing the novel and show it to you again, I'll show you chapters that are interrupted every day at the climax!

"Ahem, perhaps Young Master Xingqiu got some inspiration during our casual chat?"

Ke Qing always felt particularly pleased watching Li Ye rack his brains to find an excuse.

There's no way around it; Li Ye usually handles everything with ease, making it hard not to look forward to seeing what he'll do when he messes up.

However, Ke Qing knew that too much of a good thing could be bad, so she didn't continue to tease Li Ye: "Mr. Li, I fully support the charity foundation's plan to build a canteen and a school. If there is any need in the future, we can discuss cooperation."

I'm still really looking forward to working with Mr. Li; after all, he always manages to bring us all sorts of surprises.

Is this for real?

Could there be some kind of conspiracy involved?

Li Ye was a little flustered.

But this time he didn't refuse; after all, such a promise was good for using as leverage.

In other words, there are no stocks in Teyvat yet. Otherwise, based on Yuheng Star's cooperation proposal, wouldn't Li Ye's stocks have immediately hit the daily limit?

Three days later, they harvested the leeks and sold the stocks; the speed at which they made money was faster than printing money.

Li Ye: "Then I will thank Miss Keqing on behalf of the impoverished people of Liyue who have benefited from this."

Ningguang, who was not far away, saw Li Ye and Keqing chatting happily and couldn't help but feel heartbroken: You are the organizer of the anti-Liyue Seven Stars team, how can you talk and laugh with Yuheng Star of Liyue Seven Stars?

Ningguang then inappropriately gestured for Baiwen to step onto the makeshift stage.

This banquet was hosted by Ningguang. According to past practice, when the banquet officially begins, the host's representative should give a speech and explain the theme of the banquet.

If it's a birthday party, then after everyone wishes the person celebrating their birthday, they will present gifts; then, after everyone has said what needs to be said and given what needs to be given, everyone can start eating, drinking, and socializing.

So when Baiwen walked onto the stage, all the guests who were still chatting immediately stopped talking and turned their attention to her, including Keqing and Li Ye.

Most people know the purpose of Ningguang's banquet: to support the public welfare and charity foundation established by Li Ye, which can be considered a fundraising event in a sense.

Because the fundraising targets individuals rather than chambers of commerce, the amount donated is usually not large; the main purpose is to express one's stance and attitude, which is particularly important.

This wasn't Baiwen's first time hosting, so he wasn't nervous at all. Plus, the script was prepared well in advance, so everything went smoothly.

After Baiwen finished his opening remarks, Ningguang walked to the stage and, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, said calmly and gracefully: "You have all heard of the public welfare and charity foundation. It was founded by Boss Li Ye."

It is still in its early stages and is bound to have many shortcomings.

However, as a Liyue merchant, Ningguang is very happy to see that he is willing to do good deeds and help more Liyue people in need, and hopes to do her part as one of the Seven Stars.

The purpose of holding this banquet today is twofold: firstly, to promote Mr. Li Ye's charitable foundation, and secondly, to personally donate one million Mora to the foundation to support Mr. Li Ye's philanthropic endeavors.

Furthermore, Ningguang's merchant guild will allocate 100 million Mora, primarily for improving the lives of ordinary people in Liyue, hoping to make our Liyue a better place.

As soon as Ningguang finished speaking, a round of applause erupted in the banquet hall.

One hundred million Mora is probably only about one-thousandth of the income of Ningguang's merchant guild, but it mainly represents an attitude!

Previously, neither individuals nor chambers of commerce had ever donated money for charity.

However, with the emergence of the "Wanmin Newspaper" and the "Public Welfare and Charity Foundation," charity is bound to take center stage.

Although this concept is still in its infancy and very immature, it is more like a major trend that has become unstoppable once it appears.

Because this is what those Liyue merchants who make a fortune off the lower-class Liyue people should be doing!

Chapter 110: "Wait a moment, I need to take this call."

After Ningguang made her statement, Keqing, as one of only two Stars present, also announced that she would donate one million Mora to the "Charity Foundation".

The other five representatives of the Seven Stars also subsequently announced that they would donate one million Mora to support Li Ye's public welfare and charity work.

After the Liyue Seven Stars finished expressing their opinions, some of the guests who came to participate naturally did not want to be left behind. Depending on their status, they each took out tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of Mora.

Li Ye realized that the amount of funding was also based on seniority; if you didn't have a certain status, you couldn't give more money even if you wanted to.

For example, a seven-star level person would donate one million Mora, while Xingxia, as the future president of the "Feiyun Chamber of Commerce", would donate 500,000 Mora.

Others of lower status than Xingxia donated between 100,000 and 200,000 Moira, while the presidents and representatives of even lower-status chambers of commerce only donated tens of thousands of Moira as a token of their goodwill.

Even if Li Ye's newly acquired admirers wanted to spend money to support him, they wouldn't be in a position to ask for it at this point.

It looks a bit like giving money as a wedding gift, or giving a present on a birthday.

Li Ye guessed that since none of them had ever attended a charity gala before, the event would proceed in the same manner as the usual banquets.

Ultimately, this is still a show. If you don't have the status, you don't even have the right to spend money to put on a show. Conversely, if you don't have the status, you don't need to put on a show.

If you truly want to do charity, you'll do it in the name of a chamber of commerce, just like Ningguang did.

Because, apart from Ningguang, whose situation is rather special, everyone else is a parasite on the Chamber of Commerce.

For ordinary people, they may know about large business associations such as "Feiyun" and "Wangli," but few people know or care who the president of these associations is.

If Pantalone does engage in charity work in the future, it will certainly be under the name of "Northern Bank".

Li Ye estimated that after the banquet, the "Charity Foundation" received about 15 million Mora, which was enough to do something practical, so the trip wasn't a complete waste.

After all the donors had expressed their opinions, Baiwen, who was in charge of the event, turned his attention to Li Ye: "I'm sure Mr. Li Ye has something to say to everyone right now, right? Why not take this opportunity to talk to everyone about his thoughts and original intentions in doing charity?"

Li Ye knew this situation was bound to happen. He checked the time and it was already past eight o'clock. He was more concerned about when Manager Zhang would call, wondering if he could catch this once-in-a-lifetime publicity opportunity. If he missed it, he would never get another chance.

Under the spotlight, Li Ye stepped onto the makeshift stage, showing no signs of nervousness but rather appearing spirited and confident.

The guests, recalling how well Li Ye had dominated the banquet earlier, were even more excited and eager to hear what he would say.

Li Ye glanced around at everyone, a barely perceptible wicked smile appearing on his lips.

Everyone here is really looking forward to it, right?

Alright, as long as Manager Zhang doesn't call tonight, I'll stick with you guys until dawn for this speech!

Since you dare to die, then I dare to bury you!

Li Ye was incredibly skilled at giving speeches without notes. It was fortunate that he was sent to Teyvat before graduating, otherwise Earth would have gained another top-notch lecturer.

Li Ye coughed lightly and began his speech: "I, Li Ye, established the 'Charity Foundation' in Liyue Harbor for only three things: responsibility, responsibility, and damn responsibility!"

Everyone says we are wealthy merchants of Liyue, the epitome of success in Liyue. They say we merchants have earned Liyue's money through the hard work of the people of Liyue so that we can live a good life. Therefore, they call us bastards, beasts, animals, and parasites!

However, I disagree. I believe that Liyue has achieved its current prosperity precisely because of us merchants who facilitate trade. Therefore, we merchants are not only not bastards, beasts, animals, or parasites, but also great heroes of Liyue!

I think we Liyue merchants shouldn't always be misunderstood. We need to make money, but we also need to build a good reputation. Only fools and parasites make choices; we Liyue merchants want it all.

Moreover, how many business people have a smooth journey without encountering setbacks?

They only see the thief eating meat, but they don't see the thief getting beaten.

Think about it, everyone here. Imagine you're enjoying hot pot and singing karaoke, and suddenly you lose everything in a business deal. Is that even possible? Absolutely!

At that time, even if you kneel on the roadside begging for food, no one will give you alms, and you will be pointed at and cursed by people saying that evil people will be punished by heaven.