Didn't you go to Teyvat to earn money to support me?

“Hard labor miners are different from ordinary miners. They have no safety measures and their working conditions are extremely painful,” Ke Qing said coldly. “Even seeking death is not an easy thing. For a thug with countless murders on his hands, simply killing him would be too easy!”

"And what about me?" Shen Liang pointed to himself.

Chapter Twelve: All Beautiful Girls Have the Same Focus

“Mr. You can rest assured about what I'm saying.” Ke Qing glanced at the fierce-looking Shen He, puffed out her chest proudly, “Given that the other party is a vicious highway robber, the General Affairs Department believes that it is impossible for a hero to determine the strength of such thugs. Even if he used excessive force, it would be reasonable. This is a chivalrous act that should be encouraged, so you will not only not be held accountable, but you will also receive a banner from the General Affairs Department.”

"Thank you."

"See, I told you I would take care of this for you, but no matter what, if you kill someone and use your hands, you have to accept legal questioning and go through the judicial process." Ke Qing glanced at Shen He again and snorted somewhat defiantly. "This society is supposed to operate according to rules. You can't just recklessly break the rules and pretend to be an immortal who is untouched by worldly affairs."

Shen He didn't understand Ke Qing's coded message. He simply tossed his long hair and glanced at her indifferently: "Ke Qing, the cat."

"Hey, why do you guys always call me a cat?! This is a hairstyle, not cat ears, not cat ears!"

"Whether it's a cat or not, I also want to ask why you call me Mr. Young Dragon." Shen Liang said helplessly, "Such a silly title coming from your mouth... is weird."

"If you don't call me Cat, I won't call you Mr. Young Dragon." (Cat crossed her arms.)

Shen Liang was about to say, "Okay, then we're friends. You can just call me Liangzi," when he suddenly remembered that this address, which he was already used to, always sounded a bit effeminate. He subconsciously stopped, and suddenly felt that Mr. Youlong wasn't such a big deal. After all, if you didn't listen carefully, it sounded like he was describing Zhuge Liang.

Moreover, calling Ke Qing "Miss Cat" is unquestionable; no matter what, we must call her that, no matter the cost.

However, now that things have come to this, it's time to part ways. They can eat at Crescent Moon Pavilion later, but Shen Liang still has many tasks ahead of him, such as meeting up with the women from the Emmanuel Group who have arrived in Liyue beforehand.

According to the previous plan, Ayaka and her companions should have arrived in Liyue Harbor by ship several days ago. They are all daughters of high-ranking officials and dignitaries from Inazuma, and their visit to Liyue could even be considered a diplomatic event. Theoretically, the Liyue Foreign Affairs Office, responsible for diplomacy, should have already received them, and even Keqing should be aware of it.

As expected, Keqing only pondered for a moment before saying, "Is it the Inatsuma caravan that arrived five days ago? They carried official documents from the shogunate, but they didn't engage in any diplomatic activities; it's more like they're here for tourism."

--------

“I say,” Hiiragi Senri sat on the grand steps in front of the entrance to the “White Horse Inn” at the Liyue Harbor dock, staring at Kamisato Ayaka, “you summoned us to wait for Ryoko-sama to come over, so why are we sitting here in this square, bored and suffering under the scorching sun?”

“The telegram from the General Affairs Department says a boy named Shen Liang has arrived and is looking for us. He’s unfamiliar with this place, so it’s easier to meet at the dock.” Ayaka Kamisato gently fanned herself, feeling the slightly scorching summer sea breeze. “I’m too small a target on my own, and there are too many people here, so it’s more noticeable when we come out together. You’ll get used to it. Speaking of which, telegrams are such a convenient new technology. They can communicate across countless distances. Luckily, we specially imported this equipment from Fontainebleau, otherwise it would probably have taken us several more days to meet up with Ryoko.”

"No, the telegraph was actually invented by Inazuma, a large group of girls sitting on the steps. It seems that Inazuma already had the prototype of the telegraph 500 years ago. It was invented by General Mikoto Chiyo himself, although it was only in recent years that it was put into use in various countries. Oh, my ex-boyfriend told me this. His family was in the telegraph business on a remote island."

"The telegraph made by our Inazuma five hundred years ago?" Ayaka Kamisato was slightly taken aback. In her memory, Inazuma five hundred years ago was suffering from the turmoil of the Kanria War, and the people were living in misery. Inazuma was not a country known for its technological advancement. This kind of scientific research technology was more likely to be created by Fontaine Sumeru or the open Liyue.

But after thinking about it, she understood.

“Perhaps the calamity war five hundred years ago made telegraphs a necessary means of communication. At that time, it was probably used for wartime communication, so it didn’t develop much after the war until recent years when maritime transport in various countries has become more prosperous, and telegraphs have become practical.” Ayaka Kamisato nodded. “In fact, the ‘telegraph’ is a product with very obvious traces of wartime technology. If an ordinary person were to study such a thing, they wouldn’t study encryption methods first. However, for the Inazuma’s domestic war, the geographical area was not large and the fighting was not intense, so the expensive telegraph had no value. We could rely on human communication alone.”

"Oh, really? Miss Company Magistrate knows so much, but this is so boring, we don't want to hear any of this." The girl who had spoken earlier said with a grin, "What we want to hear is about your life behind the scenes with that little wolf-dog prince, really, is this how you got Ryoko-sama?"

Ayaka Kamisato's face flushed red instantly. She hurriedly covered her face with her fan and forced herself to say, "No...no private life! We...we haven't gone that far yet...Ryoko only sees me as an older sister...yes, an older sister!"

She herself didn't believe what she was saying.

"How innocent, hehehe. It seems that this is only Miss Shabu-no-Kage's first love. She's so naive and cute. She's so beautiful. I thought you had at least a whole company of men before you were with Lady Ryoko." The girl chuckled.

At this moment, Hiiragi Chisato stood up unhappily, hands on her hips, "What do you know? All you know is that trivial stuff between men and women. Ayaka attracted Ryoko because of her erudition, knowledge, and ability. Women like you who are good for nothing but looks and have no ex-boyfriends, Ryoko-sama wouldn't even give you a second glance!"

"Hey—why is Miss Kansei starting to stand up for others first? What's with that? So arrogant, talking like having a few ex-boyfriends is some heinous crime." The girl pouted. "I oppose gender discrimination! Gender equality!"

Someone immediately teased, "But you haven't even broken up with your boyfriend yet, and you're already in a hurry to get on Ryoko-sama's ship. Isn't it a bit much to talk about your ex-boyfriend now..."

"Miss Senri hasn't broken up with Kujo Kamaji either, and she's on the ship right now, so why are you only looking at me?!"

Hiiragi Senri was furious, "I'm going back to get married someday!"

"Hey hey hey——"

"Enough!" Ayaka Kamisato finally couldn't stand the increasingly heated and distorted discussion anymore, clenching her small fists. "Shut up, all of you!"

"Good~"

Ayaka Kamisato helplessly covered her face. Sure enough, when girls get together, they become completely lawless. All those so-called hierarchies, social classes, and strengths and weaknesses mean absolutely nothing. These girls even dared to flirt with someone as infamous as Shen Liang, so they had no respect whatsoever for her, the so-called "club magistrate's daughter."

She felt a little nostalgic for the time when she was still that aloof beauty revered by countless people... But after thinking about it carefully, Ayaka Kamisato chuckled softly.

But I still think the days of freedom and ease are the best.

However, Ayaka Kamisato also noticed that most of the girls in the Emmanuel Group were still innocent and shy. In the conversation just now, most of the girls were just eager to participate in the chat, but in reality, many of the young ladies of this age did not have boyfriends and did not understand anything about love. So while they were teasing each other, their ears were red, which was very cute.

Shrine maidens like Inashiro Hotaru and Ayumi were too shy to speak in this atmosphere, and could only look down at their toes in their wooden clogs from outside the crowd.

Ayaka Kamisato understood why Shen Liang had left for a few days; he definitely couldn't stand spending every day on the ship with a group of girls. Women tend to change when more than three gather together; they become bolder and their reserve drops drastically. While Shen Liang was no longer an innocent boy, he was still essentially a pretty young man easily teased by women.

No man would tolerate being teased by idle girls every day for several days in a row; that's just not manly.

“Speaking of which, are we going to stay at this inn called ‘White Horse Inn’ all the time? Since we need to develop anyway, how about we buy some land first, and find a manor or something to use as a base?” someone else said at this moment.

"Yes, there are dozens of us. We can't stay in the inn forever. Although the inn is quite comfortable, it costs a lot of money. It's better to have our own place when we're just starting out."

"Most importantly, I want to open a shop with Ryoko-sama! I'm already itching to try!"

Ayaka Kamisato sighed, "Everyone, do you know how much it costs to stay at the inn for one night?"

"Eh?"

“There are a total of 67 people in total, with two people sharing a room, taking up 34 rooms. Even so, with the discount, it's only 900,000 Mora per day, and there are even more discounts for long-term rentals.” Ayaka Kamisato sighed, “But if we were to consider buying a house to live in, assuming it's still two people sharing a room…”

All the girls pricked up their ears to listen, and Ayaka Kamisato sighed again.

“Even if you two suddenly stop being so pampered, can tolerate the stressful life, and give up your spoiled princess ways, and still end up like this, buying only a 30-square-meter house for the two of you,” she said with a wry smile. “Based on the land prices here, a house would cost 100 million Mora, and we would need 3.4 billion Mora together.”

"Three billion...!" The girls were all stunned.

Living in an extremely cramped 30-square-meter space for two people is already outrageous enough, but what's even more outrageous is that this kind of life costs 3.4 billion Mora.

To put 3.4 billion Mora into perspective, the cost of the entire mansion built by the Kanjo Magistrate on the outlying island was only about that much! The Kamisato Mansion on the other side of Mount Kage probably didn't even cost 3.4 billion!

The girls have never understood the phrase "every inch of land in Liyue Harbor is worth its weight in gold" better than they do now. Thinking about it this way, staying in the inn is not only not a waste of money, but it even saves money. It only costs 900,000 Mora a day, and at least the facilities are comfortable. But if they were to buy it, it would cost 3.4 billion, which is enough for all of them to live in the inn for ten years.

It's obvious that none of these young ladies have any real-life experience. For example, if Shen Liang were here, he would tell them that there's no need for so many people to stay in an inn; it would probably be cheaper to rent out a manor. In a city like Liyue Harbor where land prices are skyrocketing, the rent-to-price ratio could even reach 40 to 1, meaning that 3.4 billion gold could potentially be enough for them to live there for 40 years.

But wealthy people don't understand what renting a house means; staying in a guesthouse is already a reluctant compromise for them.

“This matter must be resolved as a priority. We need a place to stay, and not just a place to stay, but also a store for the Emmanuel Group in the future. These are all major expenses.” Ayaka Kamisato frowned.

"Then..." one of the girls tentatively suggested, "How about we chip in and pay for it?"

These words resonated with many girls. In fact, they had wanted to invest in the Emmanuel Group, or rather, in Shen Liang, even before coming to Liyue. To put it simply, rather than Shen Liang supporting them through his work—for example, they would actually be happy to support him—it's just that Shen Liang never really needed money.

And now it's here.

"But we didn't expect a shortfall of hundreds of millions right from the start," Hiiragi Chisato said, somewhat stunned. "Can we... scrape together enough?"

The entire room fell silent. Indeed, although everyone there was wealthy—even the high-ranking officials and nobles of Inazuma could probably scrape together hundreds of millions—they were here with Shen Liang to earn money and broaden their horizons. Why would they ask their families for money before even seeing the world? The Inazuma people couldn't possibly be wealthier than the Liyue people; this amount of Mora was enough to cripple an entire family!

Are you kidding me? These girls know that if they dare to ask, their parents will definitely say, "Then quit and go home."

"No, Ryoko won't allow it, it's too embarrassing." Ayaka Kamisato sighed for the umpteenth time today. "We can only wait and see what Ryoko has to do."

At times like this, one can only place their hopes on the leader, even though this leader suddenly slipped away halfway through the journey, saying she sensed the aura of an immortal, leaving her to manage the whole situation alone—she's really unreliable.

Just then, she looked up and saw a blue-haired girl standing beside her for a long time. She was wearing a moon-white cheongsam with gold patterns, over which she wore a tight-fitting backless bodysuit. Her black stockings and bodysuit complemented each other perfectly, but this subtle charm did not detract from her dignified and graceful appearance.

Her long blue hair was tied back into a long ponytail, and two small black and red unicorn horns confirmed her "non-human" identity. She stood there holding a file folder, her figure slender and petite, beautiful as if she were a celestial being descended to earth. Or perhaps she was already beautiful, but the black bodysuit and those adorable horns made her beauty even more outrageous.

“Miss Gan Yu.” Ayaka Kamisato stared at her horn before asking in confusion, “What brings you here?”

Gan Yu was also watching Ayaka Kamisato's slender legs, which were encased in white stockings that reached past her knees, beneath her elegant dress. It seemed that this was also the first time she had seen such Earth clothing. As beautiful girls, the two of them paid close attention to each other's outfits, so they were focusing on the same thing.

Chapter Thirteen: Young wolves have never been morals.

Ayaka Kamisato only met Gan Yu yesterday. This seemingly confused blue-haired girl actually has an astonishing identity; she is the superior of the Liyue General Affairs Department and the secretary-general of the Moonlit Pavilion. To put it more practically, she is the secretary of the most powerful Seven Stars in Liyue.

Unlike Inazuma, Liyue's power structure is not intertwined with military and political power. It is primarily comprised of seven major merchants at the pinnacle of the nation, known as the Liyue Seven Stars. For example, Keqing, the Yuheng Star, is Liyue's largest real estate tycoon. They are responsible for formulating national policies without violating the Geo Archon's annual basic policies, and they wield control over the Thousand Rock Armies second only to the Geo Archon himself.

The Seven Stars form the highest decision-making body, below which is the General Affairs Department, the administrative body. The General Affairs Department is divided into eight sections, responsible for matters including people's livelihood, welfare, commerce, port affairs, and taxation. For example, there's the Huishan Office related to mining, and the Heji Office related to diplomacy. The General Affairs Department's personnel are located throughout Liyue, serving the people of Liyue.

Yuehaiting was the organization that Gan Yu and his subordinates served the Seven Stars, mainly responsible for assisting in communication between higher and lower levels.

This secretary's position might seem unimportant, but Ayaka Kamisato knew all too well that anyone who could become a Seven-Star Secretary was no ordinary person... and unlike her appearance, Gan Yu, though seemingly a young girl, was actually three thousand years old. Ayaka Kamisato was well aware that she was an even more enigmatic being than the High Priest of her own country; just think how unpredictable the Eighth Divine Child was?

Gan Yu glanced cautiously at the group of elegant and beautiful young ladies, and said gently in a voice as clear as a thawing stream, "Everyone, the business registration for 'Emmanuel' has been approved. You can now use this name to conduct business activities in Liyue and the Seven Kingdoms. I'm here to deliver the license to you."

"I'll trouble Miss Gan Yu to make the trip. It's fine if you have your subordinates handle it." Ayaka Kamisato accepted the offer, responding tactfully.

“No trouble at all, it just so happens to be on the way.” Gan Yu smiled slightly. “After all, you are practically a diplomatic tour group from the Shogunate, with distinguished status. It would be impolite to entrust the reception to the Wah-Chi-Tai (a government agency). It would be better if I personally received you.”

Ayaka Kamisato glanced at her horn again.

Gan Yu also noticed her gaze. "This is due to my bloodline, which makes me different from ordinary people. However, even if Miss Linghua wants to touch it, you can't."

"Miss Gan Yu, you mean it's on the way?"

"Coincidentally, Seven Stars is also very interested in Lord Shen Liang, who can take a group of elites from the Shogunate across the ocean and make you all abandon your wealthy families to do business in Liyue." Gan Yu smiled gently. "Gan Yu also wants to see what kind of demeanor Lord Shen Liang has and what advice he has for you in Liyue."

Upon hearing this, Ayaka Kamisato's expression shifted from sunny to cloudy.

She knows her own family best. As for the so-called elite generation going to Liyue, these girls were clearly just attracted by Shen Liang's family background, wealth and good looks, so he recruited them to his ship as the first batch of investors for his business!

What makes them so elite? Ayaka Kamisato knows that at least 50% of them are there because their families invested in Shen Liang, while the other 50% are probably just attracted to his looks!

As her current girlfriend, Ayaka Kamisato was all too aware of the allure of her little wolf at this moment. A boy with amazing strength and a rebellious style, but with an incredibly cute and charming appearance, was simply the perfect catch for these young ladies! They weren't elites at all; they were just a bunch of little she-wolves who were eyeing her boyfriend!

Their eyes are all green!

However, Little Egret took it all in stride. She didn't really care what these girls were up to; as long as they were willing to work and obeyed, they were the best employees. What more could you ask for than a group of pampered young ladies working for you? Ayaka Kamisato understood this perfectly, and she also understood that to unite these girls and get them to work together, she had to offer them a valuable share of the profits.

This dividend is certainly not limited to Emmanuel's shares.