He fiercely criticized the Manchu scholar clique and the twelve emperors of the Qing Dynasty.

Inside the live stream room.

Zhao Shuyao sat at his desk, watching the indicator light on microphone number one flash wildly.

"Why shouldn't I participate?" Zhao Shuyao placed his mug on the table with a soft thud.

Leaning back in his chair, he interlaced his fingers and said, "Hey, you friend with microphone number one, you're putting on a rather grandiose label. Let me correct a basic point of your logic."

Zhao Shuyao looked at the screen: "I, Zhao Shuyao, am twenty-three years old this year. I am a third-year graduate student in the History Department of Dongda University and will graduate soon. I am not some CEO of a listed company with a net worth of over 100 million. The balance in my bank account is not even enough to buy a toilet in Suzhou."

Then he spread his hands: "I'm just an ordinary person. You want me to run some kind of massive charity fundraising project? How much ability do you think I have to fill that hole?"

The voice from microphone number one immediately came through, filled with impatient questioning: "You may not have money, but you have influence! You're practically a public figure now. If you participate in their charity events, even if you can't donate much yourself, you can still encourage people to donate online. That's contributing! Everyone's doing it, what's wrong with that?"

The No. 2 and No. 4 microphones also chimed in.

"Yes, there is strength in numbers, and calling on everyone to donate is also a good deed."

"Didn't you become famous because of netizens? What, now that we're asking you to use your influence to do something good, you're making excuses?"

Zhao Shuyao listened to the siege playing in his headphones.

This rhetoric is too standard; it's a typical example of public intellectuals using moral blackmail.

He raised his hand and tapped his index finger in the air.

"stop."

The live stream room fell silent.

"Mic number one." Zhao Shuyao slowed his speech. "The logic you're using sounds very touching at first glance, but I only have one question for you."

Zhao Shuyao stared at the camera: "If I have a hundred yuan, I will do a hundred yuan's worth of work. I will put in as much effort as I eat a few bowls of rice."

He leaned forward, his gaze sharp: "If I went online and loudly appealed to you all to donate money from your own meal plans, and the media reported it as 'Zhao Shuyao's fundraising campaign was successful,' what would that be called?"

Zhao Shuyao tapped the table: "This is called using your money to enhance my reputation."

"That's called being generous with other people's money."

"That's called getting something for nothing."

Zhao Shuyao's tone turned cold: "I, Zhao Shuyao, would never do something like this without any investment; it would be too shameful."

The die-hard fans who were still observing in the comment section were instantly awakened by these extremely straightforward words.

"Holy crap, a logical genius!"

"That's the truth. Why should we be expected to donate money every time a celebrity makes a call for donations, only to have them reap all the good reputation?"

"Taking our money to set up a facade of virtue—this guy's got it all figured out!"

McCollum number one is stuck.

He clearly did not expect Zhao Shuyao to approach the issue from the extremely tricky yet irrefutable angle of "attribution of fame".

"You...you're just spouting sophistry!" The voice on microphone number one was exasperated. "The Tianyin Foundation is going to remote areas to provide free medical care and build schools. These are important acts of charity. If you don't call on them, what will happen to those people?"

Zhao Shuyao smiled.

His laughter carried the sarcastic edge typical of intellectuals.

"My friend, you don't need to use those big words to pressure me. I don't advocate for it because I don't believe in their methods."

Zhao Shuyao picked up his water glass and took a sip: "I also hate those grand narratives that cover a wide range and cast a wide net, like free clinics in remote areas or sending warmth to the countryside. They sound exciting, but I'm not smart enough to do math."

Number One microphone was stunned: "Settle accounts? Settle what accounts?"

"Let's calculate how much this kind of activity actually cost." Zhao Shuyao put down his cup and held up one finger. "A medical team, accompanied by media and a large amount of supplies, going to the countryside—how much were the travel expenses, the accommodation fees, the transportation costs for the accompanying reporters, and the cost of purchasing press releases?"

Zhao Shuyao asked four questions in a row, his tone extremely calm.

"This money is all for management costs. Where does this money come from? It comes from the donations you make."

Zhao Shuyao stared at the screen: "My understanding of charity is that it is directed at a specific person or an organization that only deals with one disease. If I transfer 10,000 yuan, I can clearly see whether that 10,000 yuan is used to buy medicine or to perform surgery, rather than becoming a vague public relations invoice or a bill for a celebration banquet."

There was absolutely no sound from the microphone.

All the attack rhetoric prepared by the online trolls was shattered by this realistic logic, which is as precise as a financial audit.

After a brief silence, the indicator light on microphone number three lit up.

The voice sounded much calmer, even carrying a hint of persuasion.

"Teacher Zhao, what you said does have some basis in reality. So, according to your standards, if there were an institution that perfectly met your requirements, specializing in treating one type of disease, with transparent accounting, and they approached you, would you go there?"

Zhao Shuyao leaned back in his chair, a smile playing on his lips.

"Of course I will." Zhao Shuyao nodded. "Not only will I, I will wholeheartedly support it, but I have a condition."

"What's the premise?" Microphone number three pressed.

"I will patiently check their operations," Zhao Shuyao said, crossing his arms. "I'll see if every penny is being invested in the right things, and check if they have any unreasonable expenditures."

Microphone number three continued, "So, what do you consider to be unreasonable spending?"

Zhao Shuyao's eyes swept across the barrage of comments, and he saw several comments questioning his "troublesome" behavior.

Look back.

"It's simple, look at the hardware first." Zhao Shuyao held up two fingers. "Go take a look at their offices. If they buy top-of-the-line Apple computers that cost more than 20,000 yuan each and use ergonomic chairs that cost several thousand yuan each, that's unreasonable spending. Using charitable funds to enjoy life is not charity, it's improving one's life."

"Look at the software, and see the proportion of their total expenditure on publicity. Doing charity is about saving people in a down-to-earth way, not about buying trending topics and space every day. If publicity costs exceed 10%, this organization is most likely a shell company."

Zhao Shuyao lowered his hand.

Finally, look at the salaries of the managers.

Microphone number three seemed to have found a pretext and immediately raised its voice: "That's right, the managers need to eat too. Does doing charity mean they deserve to go hungry?"

"Don't label me. I never said that doing charity means you have to go hungry." Zhao Shuyao interrupted him. "I studied history. I don't believe in anything about generating electricity purely out of love. People need to eat, that's only natural."

Zhao Shuyao tapped the table: "So I will calculate based on the current income level in society. For example, if the management of this organization is an overseas returnee who graduated from an Ivy League university, or an expert who has been deeply involved in this field for many years, according to the current market in Suzhou, I can accept paying him a salary of 20,000 or even 30,000 yuan a month. This is called respecting talent."

"For ordinary administrative or financial staff, the monthly salary is between six thousand and ten thousand, which is in line with the current market price. This is called distribution according to work."

Zhao Shuyao looked at the screen: "As long as their salary level is not higher than the market average in the same industry, and as long as their money is spent on the beneficiaries while maintaining normal operations."

Zhao Shuyao's tone became serious.

"No problem. If they meet all the requirements, as long as they come to me, I, Zhao Shuyao, will never refuse. I will not only use my account to promote them, but I am even willing to give them a large portion of my monthly income."

The comments section was quiet for a few seconds, then erupted.

"Damn, this standard is so realistic!"

"I wonder which foundation would dare to use this standard to compete!"

"These are the people who get things done! They calculate the costs and benefits in real money!"

Microphone number three fell silent.

Seeing that the other party remained silent, Zhao Shuyao's tone became relaxed, carrying the nonchalant air of a cultured person.

"But," Zhao Shuyao spread his hands, "if they come to me, they're all the kind of organizations that don't even dare to make their accounts public and just use 'boundless love' to fool people every day."

Zhao Shuyao pointed to the white wall of the Hanting Hotel behind him.

"I'm sorry, but it's not easy for me, Zhao Shuyao, to earn money. I'd rather withdraw this money as cash and take it back to my hometown in northern Jiangsu, to our village."

"Buy some rice and oil, and give them to the elderly people living alone in our village. I will personally hand them out to them, and I can hear them praise me a bit."

Zhao Shuyao stared at the camera, his eyes extremely clear.

"At least I know that the money I earned actually turned into a hot meal and went into the stomachs of the poor. That's enough. Don't you think so?"

The six people on the live stream completely fell silent.

In the background chat list, a large number of IDs with a rhythmic tone began to quietly leave.

This is completely unacceptable. They can't exactly say that it's wrong to take the money back to their hometown and give it to the poor, can they?

In just five minutes, Zhao Shuyao laid out a set of extremely down-to-earth and extremely rigorous "standards for grassroots charity" on the table.

Not only did it respond to the doubts, it also established a rule that no one dared to easily break across the entire internet.

Some of the remaining stubborn online trolls could only offer sporadic questions in the live chat.

"That sounds nice, but if they really came to your door, you'd just make up excuses again."

"Exactly, there's no perfect institution like that anyway, so you can say whatever you want."