Yes, Lady Funina!

"If I could say it, I would have said it already!" Funina said, her face flushed. She was certain that Richard understood, just like before.

Even though he never says anything, he always seems to know what she means. Sometimes, Funina even suspects that he understands her better than she does herself.

Richard, having teased his superior enough, stopped trying to provoke him further.

He deliberately put on a troubled expression, looking at the tempting and delicious little cakes in front of him, and said, "But then again, cakes are good, but even the most delicious things can feel a bit cloying if you eat too much at once, even with black tea to cut through the richness. And eating too many afternoon tea desserts can also affect your appetite for dinner."

"But it would be a waste not to eat it, and waste is not good. It's a real headache."

Funina perked up immediately. She hadn't had any desserts today, and she could do her part. After all, avoiding waste is a form of saving!

"Yes, waste is not a good thing."

“In that case, I’ll eat it. It’s okay to eat a little more now and then. Consider it as following Lady Funina’s ‘frugal’ philosophy.” Richard changed the subject, picked up his fork, and prepared to take a bite of Fou’s little cake.

"Wait!" Seeing Richard's fork about to hit the cake, Funina became even more anxious. This was not what was agreed upon!

Under normal circumstances, shouldn't Richard have given me the cake after I said that wasting food is not a good thing?

Why not play by the rules?

"What is it now, Lady Funina?" Richard stopped eating and looked at Funina with an innocent expression, as if he really didn't know why Funina had called him.

Funina knew Richard was doing it on purpose, but she couldn't do anything about it. After racking her brains for a while, she finally came up with a barely reasonable excuse: "I... I also want to put the concept of 'thrift' into practice."

The subtext is: I also want to eat a small cake.

Richard gestured towards the glass of water in front of her and said, "Aren't you already putting it into practice?"

“I…” Funina was speechless.

Whether Richard did it on purpose or not, he waved his fork above the cake, seemingly trying to find the right angle to cut, but he just wouldn't put the fork down.

Seeing Richard's fork bobbing up and down, making her little cake increasingly dangerous, Furness immediately stopped caring about anything else.

"Okay, okay, I admit it, I just want to eat cake. Everyone else has some, but I don't. That's not fair!" Funina confessed, admitting that she was just craving the cake Richard was holding.

Ultimately, the cake was originally hers, but Richard used persuasive tactics to put her in a difficult position before afternoon tea began, and she couldn't very well contradict herself in front of Lynette and Clorinde.

Now that Lynette and Claude have left, it's just her and Richard. There's no need for her to put on airs anymore. After all, Richard knows her deepest secrets, so there's nothing to hide from him.

"But Lady Funina said..."

"That's for later. Right now, it's just a proposal, isn't it? It hasn't even been implemented yet, so why should I be deprived of my right to enjoy the cake!"

To describe Funina's current situation in one sentence: "The moment she thought of giving up, she suddenly felt a sense of boundless freedom."

"That being said, according to Lady Funina, it seems that afternoon tea time at Momang Palace will definitely be reduced or even abolished in the future, right?"

"We'll talk about the rest later!" Fu Ningna only had eyes for the little cake.

Richard brandished his fork as if to cut down, startling Funina, who quickly said, "I did have that idea, but we're discussing it with you all right now..."

Let's talk this out. First, put down the fork on the cake. We can discuss anything!

It really did feel like a hostage situation.

Lady Funina, you don't want me to eat your little cake, do you?

Richard brandished the 'weapon' in his hand, while Funina stared intently at the hostage in Richard's arms, creating a delicate balance in the office.

"So, in the end, Lady Funina probably feels that the current practices of the City Hall and even the entire Momang Palace are too extravagant. Office equipment, entertainment facilities, private office staff, typewriters... these are the things you really want to address, right?"

“Yes…that’s exactly what I wanted to say.” Fu Ningna hadn’t really thought that much about it; she just wanted to save money. As for why she started with afternoon tea, it was simply because afternoon tea was the thing she was most familiar with at Mo Mang Palace.

As for the office equipment Richard mentioned, like typewriters and the like, she had never used any of them...

Even when issuing documents, it was just the simplest paper and pen, along with some seals symbolizing her identity.

"But there's still one problem."

"I knew it……"

"If these benefits are cut, and those at the top continue to enjoy the comfort and convenience they bring without sharing them with those below, it will inevitably cause strong dissatisfaction, just like how you are now dissatisfied with not being able to eat the small cake."

After all, a major cause of conflict throughout history has been the unequal distribution of resources, where others have what we do not.

If Funina wants to implement such reforms, she will definitely face this situation.

"You're making me sound like I'm a glutton!" Funina said, blushing. "Besides, I haven't cut any benefits for my subordinates."

“That would be even worse. The people at the top have put in so much effort and sacrifice, working their way up from the bottom, and now they’re being told that their treatment has to be on par with those below. Would you feel good in that situation?” Richard actually had something else he hadn’t told Funina.

That is, those above control far more resources, wealth, and connections than those below, and the influence and destructive power they can cause are naturally far greater than the influence brought by those below. Even if Funina is the water goddess, she cannot ignore it.

The fear is that even if Furness wins in the end, the price she pays will far outweigh what she gains...

“If there were a leader who could set a good example, wouldn’t the impact be much smaller?” Funina wasn’t stupid, so she naturally understood what Richard meant.

Richard brandished his knife and fork, then pointed to the small cake on the table, the meaning of which was self-evident.

Do you think you can serve as a role model? Miss Funina, who loves cake.

Hmm... Her performance just now was still fresh in her mind, and now Funina no longer had the confidence to say 'I can do it'.

"But I didn't just reduce the benefits for the upper class; I didn't neglect those below either. I treated everyone equally."

"So you've offended both of these troublesome groups?" Richard retorted.

When other people implement policies, they usually win over one group of people while suppressing another.

But with Funina, it's a different story. She advocates for equality for all, saying everyone gets a hit, and nobody can complain...

It's only because you're the God of Water that you're in charge. If it were a normal, newly appointed administrative minister, and they dared to do this, they wouldn't even be able to implement the policy. They'd probably be fired the very next day because their left foot stepped into the office first.

Treating everyone equally is not how you use it, my naive Lady Funina.

"So it just won't work no matter what?" Funina finally realized this, and she looked distressed. Why is it so hard to save money?

“It’s not that it won’t work, but we need to be careful about the methods. But before that, I want to ask you a question…” Richard said. In fact, he knew there was a lot of shady stuff going on here, but this was a common problem for any large corporation, and it could only treat the symptoms, not the root cause.

What intrigued Richard even more was why Funina suddenly wanted to cut back on spending.

Fu Ningna explained, "Because I want to buy Qunyu Pavilion."

Richard: ?

"Buy the Jade Pavilion? Why?" Richard never imagined that Funina's 'savings campaign' to cut spending was actually aimed at saving Mora to buy the Jade Pavilion.

“You see, in the past, Mo Mang Palace would pay a large sum of research funds to the Academy of Sciences every year to study ways to deal with the flood crisis.”

"The Academy of Sciences has provided many answers, among which the most likely to succeed is the Edwin launch experiment project, which just exploded not long ago."

"As you know, the Sky City was never built; instead, they took two-thirds of the Fontaine Academy of Sciences with them."

"Now that Liyue has a successful case, I'm thinking, instead of throwing money down the drain at the Academy of Sciences, why not just buy Qunyu Pavilion directly?"

"Even if we can't buy the main body of the Jade Pavilion, buying the technology and building it ourselves is also a viable option."

Frynn's idea was understandable. Although the initiative was in Liyue's hands, Fontaine would be in a very passive position once negotiations began. However, the most urgent task at hand was to deal with the potential flood crisis, and everything else could be put aside.

As long as the crisis can be averted in the end, or even if some casualties are reduced, then all the sacrifices will be worthwhile.

Volume 1: Chapter 99 Richard and Funina Reach an Agreement Once Again

Richard never expected that Funina's reason for saving money would be so simple and unpretentious.

However, it must be said that Funina's method does have some feasibility, because compared to Fontaine's immature and unstable anti-gravity technology, the Jade Pavilion, which is based on the Floating Life Stone and combined with immortal magic, seems to be more reliable.

Furthermore, Frynn knew that the Jade Pavilion was being expanded every year, gradually growing from a small house into the large complex that could house the daily offices of the Liyue Septim, which was enough to prove its potential to become a floating city.

It is certainly much better than the Fontainebleau Academy of Sciences, which has already "ascended to heaven" on a physical level before it has even gone into space.

"But Lady Frynn, how can you be sure that Liyue will be willing to sell?"

"Because as far as I know, the owner of the Jade Pavilion, Tianquan Star of the Liyue Seven Stars, is a very pure businessman. As long as Mora offers enough and the reasons are sufficient, I think she will sell the Jade Pavilion to me." As early as when she learned that there was such a building as the Jade Pavilion in Liyue, Funina had already arranged for someone to inquire about it.

Naturally, they had learned some information about Ningguang. If the intelligence was correct, then although it might be difficult to purchase Qunyuge from the other party, it was at least not without hope.

"Besides, wasn't the Jade Pavilion mostly destroyed because of the Demon God's rampage? If we want to rebuild it, it will definitely cost a lot of Mora. So even if Ningguang doesn't plan to sell the Jade Pavilion, it's quite possible that she could sell the relevant technology to make up for the funds needed for reconstruction, right?"

Frynn's deduction is not without merit. Given Ningguang's attitude towards Mora and the extremely positive reasons, the possibility of reaching this deal is indeed quite high.

However, having the skills alone is not enough. Although Richard didn't know much about immortal magic, he did know about the main materials that allowed the Jade Pavilion to take off.

“Lady Funina, even if you acquire the necessary technology, there’s no way to guarantee that you’ll collect enough Floating Stones before the prophecy comes true,” Richard said.

Before it is activated, the Floating Stone will not float in the air. Only after it is activated by a secret method will it break free from the constraints of gravity and rise into the sky. This material is also the main material that forms the foundation of the Jade Pavilion.

Floating Stone is actually not uncommon in Liyue; the lanterns used in the Lantern Festival are made from this material.

Although rare, finding a giant floating stone capable of supporting an entire city is still extremely difficult.

The Qunyu Pavilion uses a sufficiently large floating stone as its core, and then uses other smaller floating stones to gradually expand outward from the largest floating stone.

Given the current reserves of Floating Stones in Liyue's market, even if Fontaine were to acquire them all, they could probably only rebuild one Jade Pavilion at most.

As for the floating city, that's a distant dream. Even if Liyue works overtime to increase production capacity and mine floating stones, building a floating city would still take at least ten years as the basic unit.

Given Fontaine's current situation, can it hold out until the floating city is completed?

All indications suggest that the time of the prophecy is not far off.

In three to five years, a flood crisis will inevitably occur, at which point Fontaine will be submerged, leaving only the water god sitting on his throne, weeping.

“But that’s all we can do now…” Funina knew all too well that the floating city couldn’t be built overnight, but she didn’t have any better options right now, did she?

"That's a considerable amount of Mora. To support a project of this scale, the amount of Mora needed can't be saved by simply cutting back."

Even if all the daily benefits of the civil servants of the Momo Palace were cut, the Mora saved each year would probably only be enough to build a toilet in the sky.

Moreover, it's impossible for Funina to cut all the daily benefits, so the idea of ​​saving up to create an enlarged version of the 'Qunyu Pavilion' is nothing short of a pipe dream.

Funina's idea was also to save money wherever possible, so she nodded in agreement when she heard Richard's words.

"So we still need to focus on open source." Funina figured it out.

Since saving money is difficult, let's find a way to make money.

But then again, just how big of a business would it take to earn such a large sum of Mora?

As we all know, making money is much harder than saving money, not to mention that what Funina is trying to earn is no small amount of money.

"Do you have any good ideas?" Funina looked at Richard expectantly, while reaching for the small cake in front of Richard.

Now that she's decided to focus on open source, the discussion on cost-cutting can be postponed, and she can legitimately enjoy this hard-won afternoon tea.

Then we saw Richard's knife and fork fall directly down, cutting off a small piece of cake.

Furninna: !!!

Funina's almond-shaped eyes widened as she looked at Richard in disbelief, pointing to the small cake that had already been cut off, her gaze shifting back and forth between the cake and Richard.

"You, you, you..." Funina was so anxious she couldn't speak.

Richard found Funina quite amusing. He pushed the piece of cake he had cut forward and easily stuffed it into Funina's mouth.

"Mmm..." Funina subconsciously put the cake in her mouth, the familiar sweetness exploding on her taste buds, silencing all the words she wanted to say.

So delicious...

Even though she eats this cake about once a week, Funina always feels that today's cake tastes especially good, with a flavor she can't quite describe.

She guessed that the reason it tasted so delicious was probably because the cake was hard to come by, just like someone who had been thirsty for a long time and finally got home to drink a sip of Fontainebleau.

But soon Funina realized a problem: had Richard fed her?

In an instant, Funina's face flushed. She quickly snatched the fork from Richard's hand and stammered, "I...I can do it myself..."

As she spoke, she took the cake from in front of Richard and placed it in front of herself. Without saying a word, she cut off a piece and stuffed it into her mouth. Her expression seemed a little tense, and there was a faint mist on her head.

It was steaming, they said.

However, what puzzled Fulina was that although this bite of cake tasted delicious, it didn't feel as good as the previous bite.

This reminded Fulina of a saying that circulated widely in Fontaine: a bottle of Fontaine costs 300 Mora, and the first sip is worth 200 Mora.

Perhaps... the same principle applies to cakes?

It couldn't be because Richard fed him that bite before, could it?

After calming down her somewhat agitated emotions, Funina's pretty face still had a slight blush, but her speech became fluent again.

"Actually, I just thought of another idea." Funina unconsciously poked at the cake with her fork, her eyes inexplicably drifting away, avoiding Richard's gaze.

"tell me the story."

“Since Momang Palace has no money, then let’s collect this money from the rich.” Fu Ningna said, pointing to the house outside the window.