Around noon, Li Fei was still fast asleep, only her brow furrowed, still chewing on an octopus tentacle in her mouth.
Evidently, this time she'd dreamed of being captured alive by the merfolk and carried off to become their collective bride.
Kalida, who had also stayed the night in the private room, smiled at the octopus girl with jet-black curls and a plump, voluptuous figure, rescued the tentacle from Miss Top Courtesan's cheek, and gently shook Li Fei's body:
"Time to get up."
"Don't bother Us, We wish to sleep."
Li Fei mumbled vaguely: "We did charity all night long; what's wrong with enjoying Ourselves a little..."
"If you get up now, you can still enjoy a proper breakfast, pick out a pretty dress, and calmly attend the first fundraising ceremony of the 'Sparkfire Charity Fund'... If you're absent, I think everyone's enthusiasm for donating will drop quite a bit."
At the mention of money, Li Fei shot upright from the waterbed and, glaring with bloodshot eyes, said:
"If it's for the public good, I won't utter even half a word of complaint even if I drop dead on the spot! Ssss..."
She suddenly drew a sharp breath, carefully pulled out two more soggy octopus tentacles, then rolled over and got out of bed, and with Lady Kalida's help got fully dressed, greeting the arrival of a new day with proper poise.
"Now you're really going to become a celebrity."
At the dining table, Kalida pushed several newspapers toward Li Fei.
The front-page headlines all revolved around Li Fei and the "Sparkfire Charity Organization," and were even printed with images of Li Fei holding a donation box and orc children offering their love.
"Let the World Be Filled with Love"
"A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire!"
"No Matter How Grave the Soul Damage, It Cannot Defeat a Kind and Resolute Spirit"
...
As expected, the news of Miss Spell Encyclopedia devoting herself to public welfare had already spread throughout the whole city.
Li Fei skimmed through the praise-laden reports ten lines at a glance, then casually spread the newspapers on the table, and very knowingly drew out two goldsmith's notes and handed them over, which happened to cover the innocent, guileless smiles of the orc children:
"Sister Kalida, in the name of the Sparkfire Charity Organization, I donate one hundred fifty thousand gold coins to City Hall's Wolf Den and the Viranean ecological project."
One note was for one hundred thousand, the other for fifty thousand; the former was, strikingly, the very one Kalida had dropped into the donation box the previous night.
The gentry takes the lead in donating, the common folk follow suit; afterward the gentry's money is returned in full, while the commoners' money is split seventy-thirty—Li Fei understood at least this much of the rules—except this time, Li Fei took the larger share.
"I'll use them where they ought to be used."
Kalida took the money casually, paused, and, gazing into Li Fei's eyes, said: "In a little while, I'll go over there together with you."
——What a good woman...
Li Fei, adept at reading the intentions of those above her, immediately understood the implication behind Kalida's words.
Last night, Kalida had simply happened to be there, and her donation had been more in a private capacity; but if, at the first fundraising ceremony, a key City Hall official deliberately attended, that would be tantamount to endorsing Li Fei in an official capacity.
For a newborn organization, this was a good thing; but at the same time, it was also a tactful reminder:
Don't go too far.
Kalida knew full well that Li Fei would, two hundred percent, tamper with the charity fund. That was nothing—she herself had done plenty of lining her own pockets at public expense.
But everything must have its measure—originally, Kalida had trusted that Li Fei wouldn't handle things in an ugly way, but judging by the fifty extra marks that had appeared on Miss Top Courtesan's belly this morning, the words "knowing when to stop" probably couldn't be found in her dictionary, and Kalida's confidence had begun to waver.
Fortunately, drawing on her experience of dealing with Bai Mengtian, Kalida had also gotten a firm read on Li Fei's way of doing things. She decisively bound her own political reputation to the Sparkfire Charity Organization. On the one hand this was support for Li Fei; on the other, even just for the sake of Kalida and Bai Mengtian's face, Li Fei's charity organization had to produce some results.
"Thank you, Sister Kalida, I won't let you down."
Li Fei said with a sweet smile.
Evidently, Kalida did still have some sense of responsibility, and she truly did have feelings for the city of Loxibrook. Though she occasionally donated some munitions and now and then received gifts like "lottery tickets that happened to win," when faced with the widely known and highly influential Sparkfire Charity Organization, she was willing to put her own prestige up as a "hostage" to keep Li Fei from crashing the charity organization.
But in fact, Lady Kalida was purely overthinking it this time. Having tasted the sweetness of a good reputation, Li Fei was hardly about to tear down her own Great Wall; the Sparkfire Charity Organization absolutely had to do some real work, otherwise who would donate money in the future?
An operation worth a few hundred thousand—even if she just absconded with the money outright—wouldn't be enough to carry Li Fei very far on the path of the Transcendent; it was worth even less than her status as a Gold-grade student at the Magic Academy. Embezzling these charitable funds, reducing herself to a rat that everyone wants to beat, and only able to live out her days in hiding, was a losing proposition.
But if she grew the organization large, Li Fei would gain an inexhaustible, ever-flowing money tree.
"Mm."
Kalida thoughtfully pinned on Li Fei the Honorary Citizen brooch and the brooches of the two great academies, and, examining the sickly-faced girl whose eyes nonetheless shone brilliantly, sincerely praised: "Truly beautiful."
"Of course."
Li Fei's brows and eyes curved, and she stepped forward to link her arm with Kalida's: "Shall we set off?"
"Mm."
Shoulder to shoulder, the two walked together toward No. 48 Canary Lane.
"To be honest, Miss Li Fei is clever, very clever."
Facing the reporters' interview, Yusura's expression was kindly; his slightly whitened beard and hair and his deep, tranquil gaze attested that this old orc had weathered countless hardships.
But when he mentioned Li Fei, his voice was both admiring and helpless: "But she really isn't a qualified businesswoman."
"Originally, the mines and the lumber mill had a great many prisoners undergoing labor reform, but at her insistence they were all sent away; not only to create more jobs, but also because she couldn't bear to exploit slaves."
"Later, she even pitied the workers for laboring so hard, and acquired a great deal of new equipment and tools—none of them cheap—just to make their work less strenuous..."
"On top of that, all the high-grade timber to be delivered to customers had to be checked over and over; with the slightest flaw it was thrown away and burned as firewood. The customers were satisfied, but what about the cost?"
"She even, over objections, pushed through many reward systems she'd worked out all on her own; as long as the workers labored hard, she just kept handing out bonuses and raising wages!"
"At the time I thought to myself, Miss Li Fei isn't doing business at all—she's practically doing charity!"
"Who'd have thought that in the blink of an eye, she really has thrown herself into charitable work."
To add persuasiveness, Yusura, while "complaining" in a tone of admiration about Li Fei's kind nature, slowly took out from a drawer a tax statement prepared overnight:
"Take a look."
"Ever since she took over the business, we haven't had to pay even a single cent of tax..."
...
Within the factory grounds, the production team leader personally appointed by Yusura set a pot of meat down on the table and, as always, began the ideological work:
"Brothers, a boss who provides meat at every single meal—have you ever heard of a second one anywhere in Loxibrook?"
"No!"
The orcs shouted in unison.
"What is our slogan?"
"Labor brings prosperity!"
"And what is our blessing?"
"Overtime, overtime, overtime!"
Such fervent enthusiasm left the reporters in awe.
...
In the Secret Garden, fairies frolicked, crates of fairy fruit were being carried inside, and blushing female reporters wove their way through.
Facing the newspaper editor's questions, Isabella's face filled with astonishment: "She's our pride—how could she possibly sell her body for money?"
At the villa's entrance, an adorable maid timidly answered: "Miss Li Fei is never extravagant, and she's extremely diligent; even when everyone has gone to sleep, the light in her room is always still on."
...
Canary Lane.
So many people came to offer their love after seeing the news that the office Yusura had hastily prepared simply couldn't hold them all.
Fortunately, Lady Kalida waved her fair hand, and City Hall staff, with astonishing efficiency, organized the plaza at the end of the street into the venue for the first fundraising event.
At this moment, an intellectual and elegant female editor sat upright across from Li Fei, launching an interview with her.
Staff from all the major newspapers formed a circle, pricking up their ears to listen to the exchange; magical devices were also at work, able to record the scene's images and sound onto processed Mana Crystals.
Further out, people pressed against people, countless gazes converging upon the indescribably beautiful philanthropist young lady.
"It's rather embarrassing to say."
Li Fei shook her head with a wry smile and put forward the line of reasoning Lady Kalida had provided her: "Ever since I mastered Summoning Magic, I can't help treating the fairies as my own daughters, and I can't bear for them to leave me... That's why I took out a loan to buy a big house, hoping to give them a better living environment... But to be honest, what I miss more is the time I spent working at Aunt Roslyn's shop, earning a wage of a few hundred copper coins; back then, I was busy yet fulfilled, simple and happy."
"But now, I owe this city too much kindness... Those who helped me taught me, through their actions, what it means that 'with great power comes great responsibility'... You could say that the founding of the Sparkfire Charity Organization was, for me, an inevitability."
"I sincerely hope everyone can give their utmost support to charitable causes, and offer a bit of love to those caught in hardship."
The onlookers nodded one after another, while the staff of the major newspapers bent over their desks recording.
"Now that we've finished with the Sparkfire Charity Organization, why don't we chat about Miss Spell Encyclopedia's private affairs?"
The female editor gazed at Li Fei, her eyes full of appreciation: "Many people are amazed by your talent—what's your own view? Do you consider yourself a genius?"
"Mm... how could I not be?"
Faced with such a question, Li Fei abandoned her earlier composure, smiling bashfully, modest yet not lacking in confidence.
This radiant, open-hearted side of the philanthropist young lady made the female editor lose herself for a moment, but with her excellent professionalism, she quickly regained control of her emotions and threw out one prepared question after another, only her tone grown gentler.
Li Fei, for her part, took back up her vocations of content-porter and stitch-monster, holding forth eloquently under everyone's gaze, appearing entirely at ease.
"Then, finally... what are Miss Spell Encyclopedia's criteria for choosing a partner?"
The moment the words left her mouth, the female editor sent over a slightly apologetic and helpless look.
In this interview about charity, she ought not to have brought up such a topic, but as the spokesperson chosen after negotiation among the major newspapers, some matters were not for her to decide.
And after this question was raised, everyone couldn't help holding their breath, awaiting the philanthropist young lady's answer.
"Mm... for now I don't have the energy to consider matters of romance."
Li Fei's face reddened a little, but in the end she answered "truthfully": "If I really had to say, nothing else matters—as long as our personalities are compatible."
"You don't even care about wealth or looks?"
Faced with this unexpected reply, the female editor said, taken aback.
"Mm."
Li Fei raised her head, her bright pupils flickering with longing for a pure and beautiful love: "I don't mind whether she's poor or rich; after all, I strive forward precisely so that, when I meet the one I fancy in the future, if she's fabulously wealthy, I won't feel I'm reaching above my station; and if she's penniless, we still won't be reduced to destitution."
"As for appearance... in my view, good-looking shells are all alike, while an interesting soul is one in a million."
This romantic and philosophical view of love brought the interview to a perfect close.
...
In a spotless wedding photo, two brides with smiles like blossoming flowers nestled against each other, their eyes brimming with deep, sweet affection.
But beneath the wedding photo, no more than a few dozen centimeters away, one of those brides was nestled in the embrace of yet another woman.
"Teacher Annie, how are the sales of 'Battle Through the Azure Sky' since release?"
Li Fei asked, cupping Lady Annie's somewhat sticky face.
If it were just sweat, it wouldn't have been this sticky.
"The first-day figures haven't been tallied yet, but..."
A smile bloomed on Lady Annie's face: "There were a lot of people coming to buy the book."
With a double harvest in love and career, this once miserable and withdrawn married woman radiated vigorous vitality from the inside out.
"The taste of success—pretty good, isn't it?"
Li Fei rubbed foreheads with her and said, beaming with delight: "Things are going very smoothly on my end too."
Over the course of one afternoon, another five hundred thousand in charitable donations was received, including the one hundred thousand gold coins donated by Lady Hathaway on behalf of the Thieves' Guild, and another one hundred thousand donated by Lady Leona on behalf of the Mercenary Guild.
To respond to this enthusiasm, Li Fei also made a promise: by the end of this month at the latest, she would have preliminarily established the organization's framework and publicly disclose its financial data; the various charitable works would also be rolled out one after another over the coming months, never disappointing public expectations, and making Loxibrook even more wonderful.
And the first step, of course, was to first reward herself with a Sequence 6 class.
The philanthropist young lady had emphasized that she would not embezzle so much as a needle or thread of the Sparkfire Charity Fund; but with so much money that couldn't be spent up anytime soon anyway, and given this young lady's such outstanding contributions to charitable causes, even if she temporarily borrowed a million or so and paid it back when it was needed later, surely everyone could completely understand?
This neither delays charity nor fails to provide the philanthropist young lady with just a teensy-weensy bit of convenience—only this counts as win-win. What does "he who gathers firewood for the masses must not be left to freeze to death in the wind and snow" mean, after all? Hands on hips.
Therefore, the "Sparkfire Charity Fund" could also be translated as "the Philanthropist Young Lady's Interest-Free Loan Fund."
The one fly in the ointment was that her Wealth Points didn't go up along with it.
You see, back when Li Fei sat on the news of the "charity auction" and refused to disclose it for the longest time, it wasn't merely for the sake of hype, but also to avoid the "auction proceeds" being judged as charitable donations by the System!
Earning the money first and then voluntarily donating it, versus making money directly under the banner of charity—for other people there's no difference, but for Li Fei, the difference is huge!
After all, the former can raise Wealth Points, while the latter doesn't, because those charitable funds don't belong to Li Fei at all.
Thus, under Miss System's judgment rules, even though the Sparkfire Charity Fund had raised over a million in charitable donations, Li Fei's Wealth Points still remained in the six digits.
That very night, the philanthropist young lady, who firmly believed in the principle that "good deeds are rewarded with good," used one hundred thousand Witch Points to knock upon the gate of Sequence 6, and, as she wished, glimpsed the gorgeous scenery beyond the door.
Sequence 6, the Twisted Witch.
____
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