Walking along the familiar, ancient streets of Liyue, Aether noticed that the land had changed a great deal during his absence. The harsh merchants who once openly berated their employees in broad daylight were gone. The hawking cries, once full of exaggeration and false advertising, had vanished. The social atmosphere had become less focused on quick profits and personal gain.
Aether knew the reason for such a great change in Liyue. His admiration for Yide grew even deeper.
After a half-hour journey, he finally reached the eastern part of the city. As far as he could see, he spotted Madame Ping standing in front of her stall.
Aether walked over slowly and said in a gentle tone, "Hello, Madame Ping. We were hoping to get some help from Yanfei."
Madame Ping responded with a smile, "Oh, you're here to see that girl. She'll be here soon, just wait a moment."
"That's great!" Paimon exclaimed excitedly.
Madame Ping asked curiously, "If you don't mind me asking, what specific matter do you need Yanfei for?"
Aether didn't hide anything and recounted the entire story in detail.
After hearing Aether's account, Madame Ping sighed softly. "It is in the nature of merchants to pursue profit, but to be this greedy is indeed a bit excessive."
Before long, a lightly dressed young woman approached with graceful steps. She wore a red legal coronet that elegantly tied back her coral-pink hair at her waist. Her face was picturesque, and her light green eyes sparkled with wisdom.
Madame Ping, with a kind smile, introduced her to Aether. "This is Yanfei, the one you're looking for."
"Hello, Traveler, and you, this adorable little companion." Yanfei greeted them enthusiastically. "I've read your case file with the Millelith before. To be honest, the way you handled things back then was quite inappropriate."
Aether scratched his head in embarrassment. "We were afraid of getting into trouble, so we ran. It ended up making us suspects instead."
Yanfei said confidently, "Let me reintroduce myself. My name is Yanfei, Liyue's most outstanding legal consultant. If you had come to me back then, I would have absolutely cleared your names."
Then, Aether explained his request to her.
"Oh, I see." Yanfei cupped her smooth chin with a jade-white hand, a thoughtful expression on her face. A moment later, she gently extended her hand, and a thick legal codex suddenly materialized in it. She then began to rapidly flip through the codex, oblivious to those around her.
Paimon watched her serious demeanor and couldn't help but exclaim, "She seems so professional."
"That's natural," Yanfei said, closing the thick codex. Her expression turned serious. "Traveler, from a legal standpoint, the actions of these greedy factory owners do not actually violate any laws."
Hearing this, Aether felt a bit disappointed. "Is there another way?"
Yanfei gave a confident and calm smile. "Although their pricing is legally sound, it doesn't mean they are completely clean in other aspects. The Tianquan... now the Chief Counsel, the laws she enacted are both complex and ever-changing. And I happen to know how to exploit the gaps between these legal articles."
Paimon praised her sincerely, "Wow! Yanfei, you're amazing."
Yanfei responded with a smile, "Thank you very much for the compliment. Oh, by the way, my consulting fee is typically 180,000 Mora per hour. But considering your past contributions to the peace of Liyue, I'll only charge you 100,000 Mora."
Hearing this, a flash of embarrassment crossed Aether's face. He had spent a large sum of Mora on card packs earlier and was now quite short on funds.
Yanfei keenly noticed his predicament and said considerately, "Actually, it's fine if you owe me for now. You can pay me when you have the money."
Aether hesitated slightly, then took out a stack of cards from his dimensional bag. "Some of these cards should be quite valuable." There was a hint of reluctance in his voice as he said this.
Yanfei took the cards and carefully looked through them one by one, giving her appraisal and market value for each.
"This 'Adept of Salvation' card, although the character is very cute and looks a lot like Qiqi, is very easy to pull, so it's not worth much."
"This 'Lingyuan' card is also just average. It's probably worth about five hundred Mora on the market."
"Hmm, this 'Moon Carver' card is pretty good. It's worth about twenty thousand Mora..."
"Wow, this is the 'Azhdaha' Demon God card! This one is really valuable. If you were to sell it, you could get at least a million Mora."
Yanfei assessed the value of each card and then returned them all to Aether. "Looking at your deck, you must really like this game. As for the consulting fee, there's really no rush. I'm not short on Mora."
"Thank you very much," Aether expressed his heartfelt gratitude.
"You're too kind," Yanfei waved her hand lightly. "But before you negotiate with those factory owners, I suggest you change your outfit."
"Change my clothes?" Aether asked, puzzled.
Yanfei nodded affirmatively. "Sometimes, even the law has trouble intimidating greed. That's when you need to use other methods."
She then took Aether to a clothing store and had a custom-made outfit tailored for him, one that resembled the uniform of the West Factory's guards.
...
A few days later, Aether, dressed in his custom outfit, went with Yanfei and Paimon to negotiate with the factory owners. He was surprised to find that whenever the owners saw his attire, a look of clear terror would cross their faces. Some of the more timid ones even agreed to the acquisition terms before Yanfei even had to use legal threats.
The entire negotiation process went much more smoothly than expected. In just two days, they had successfully completed all the negotiations.
As the sun set, the three of them walked leisurely down the street.
"I never thought those people would be so afraid of the West Factory," Paimon remarked. "These West Factory guards are really imposing."
Yanfei also said with deep feeling, "The name of the West Factory inspires even more fear than the law."
Just as she finished speaking, a youth in a green shirt suddenly appeared before them. "The name of the West Factory is indeed useful, but not for you to use."