Hearing that the King of Yue was preparing to lift the restrictions on the number of wives a man could have in Starry Sky City, Mei Peng was about to speak up, but the King waved a hand and said, "Third brother, do not be anxious; wait until I finish speaking. While we are lifting the limit on the number of wives a man can take, this is not without conditions. If a man marries only one wife, he will not incur any fees. If he takes a second wife, he will be fined five times his total annual income. If he takes a third, it will be ten times his total annual income, and so on. If he marries a fourth wife, he will owe twenty years of his total income, and for a fifth wife, forty years of his total income."

Liu Hui inquired, "From an economic standpoint, the gradient of these fines is quite reasonable. This allows people to choose for themselves whether they want many wives, as the quantity directly relates to their vested interests. However, I have one question: If a man marries a wife, immediately divorces her, marries a second, then divorces her, and marries a third—he would always remain in the state of having only one legal wife, thus avoiding all fines, while still maintaining relationships with all those women?"

The King of Yue laughed, "We naturally have countermeasures for that. Any man who remarries within five years of a divorce will be considered to have taken a second wife, even if he only marries one woman, and will be subject to the fine. If he does not marry this woman but maintains a de facto marital state with her, we will deem him married to her nonetheless, and he will still face the hefty fine if the preceding conditions are met. Of course, the prerequisite for this is diligent inspection and strict enforcement so that people cannot exploit loopholes."

Mei Peng was stunned speechless, staring at the King of Yue as if he had seen a ghost. He said, "Fourth brother, I didn't realize you were so ruthless! You speak of lifting the restrictions on the number of wives, but in reality, you are only drawing a beautiful but empty picture. Surely no man would be willing to pay the price of five years' total income or abstain from marriage for five years after a divorce just to take a second wife?" The King of Yue smiled, "Indeed. While this approach seemingly removes restrictions and might cause social turbulence, it is actually more conducive to family stability. In our plan, if a man divorces his wife without just cause, not only will he be fined heavily if he remarries within five years, counting it as a second wife, but he must also provide alimony to his ex-wife until she remarries or voluntarily waives the support. This increases the cost of divorce for men, forcing them to carefully consider the risks of divorce or taking multiple wives, thereby diligently maintaining their families and effectively protecting the status and interests of women."

"We will also stipulate that all a man's wives possess equal legal standing and enjoy the same rights. Furthermore, when a man takes the next wife, he must obtain the consent of all previously married wives. Given this, it is unlikely any woman would agree to share her husband with another person who holds equal rights to her."

After hearing the King of Yue, Mei Peng suddenly recalled an issue and asked, "If this man's income is very low, and he still wishes to take more wives, calculating the fines based on his very low total income, wouldn't he be able to achieve his goal by paying only a small fine?" The King of Yue chuckled, "You need not worry about that. Firstly, if a man's income is too low, he will not take several wives—because even if he wishes to, his original wife will not agree; after all, adding another person only worsens their living conditions, and no woman would willingly marry a man with such a low income. Secondly, when we established the fine standards, we set a minimum threshold for the penalty amount. That is to say, if a person's income is excessively low yet he takes multiple wives, he will not pay five years of his total income, but perhaps ten years or more. After calculating this, he will find it unprofitable and automatically abandon the notion of taking more wives."

Liu Hui laughed heartily upon hearing the King of Yue, "Fourth brother's thinking is excellent. We do not restrict the number of wives, but we impose rigorous hard limits. As long as we manage this properly, we will not see a situation where one man has a harem in society, and at the same time, we create a legal environment for consenting men and women who meet the conditions to be together. For instance..." Liu Hui intended to offer an example of men and women deeply in love but unable to unite, but he suddenly couldn't recall any man he knew who had two devoted wives; instead, he was reminded of his own tangled relationships with two women, causing him to abruptly stop, embarrassed.

Mei Peng noticed Liu Hui's embarrassment and deftly changed the subject, asking, "Fourth brother, besides this matter, are there any other issues you wish to bring up for discussion?" The King of Yue, also seeing Liu Hui's discomfort, picked up Mei Peng's thread, saying, "The other issue for discussion is whether commercial prostitution should be legalized in our Starry Sky City."

Mei Peng asked in surprise, "Do you mean allowing the sex industry to exist openly in our Starry Sky City?" The King of Yue replied, "Why should the sex industry not exist openly? It is one of humanity's oldest professions. From ancient times to the present, no dynasty has ever managed to truly ban it entirely. As long as humanity exists, I believe the sex industry will persist. Rather than legislating against it, we should incorporate it into our management system to standardize the industry. This would not only reduce social safety hazards and guarantee the rights of the ladies and patrons involved but also ease public tension and increase city revenue. Why wouldn't we? After all, the harm posed by the sex industry is not as significant as we often imagine."

Liu Hui stated, "When I was still in my home country, I witnessed the tragic fates of some ladies. Not only did they have to sell their bodies to please men for money, but they also suffered exploitation from underworld figures regarding their earnings. But that wasn't the worst part; they also had to endure scrutiny from the legitimate authorities, especially the police who held enforcement powers, who often treated arresting prostitutes and patrons as one of their safest means of revenue generation. Even more egregious were the extremely harsh working environments, frequently leading to various diseases that made their old age miserable. There were even cases where people specifically robbed and murdered these ladies for their money, yet the victims dared not report to the police due to their embarrassing status. Therefore, I believe they are a truly pitiable group."

The King of Yue affirmed, "Boss is right. If we choose to ignore their plight now instead of discussing it, Starry Sky City will inevitably see a large influx of illegal ladies in the future. Without a specific management system for them, they will continue to suffer the same tragic fate. That is why I proposed the complete legalization of the sex industry; the experience in Amsterdam, Holland, serves as a successful precedent."

"Under our unified management, these ladies can conduct business legally in Starry Sky City. They will pay taxes and various insurance premiums according to regulations, and they can even enjoy the same welfare benefits as our ordinary citizens upon retirement. In return, we provide them with safe transactional venues and protect their legal rights. We will conduct routine health checks weekly to ensure their well-being, eradicate the parasites who live off them, and allow them to live with dignity, just like workers in any other sector."

Mei Peng said, "But I still find it hard to accept our own countrywomen becoming prostitutes; I fear it will corrupt the social morality." Liu Hui laughed, "Everyone in Starry Sky City possesses comprehensive social security and welfare benefits, so their lives will never be so desperate as to force them into prostitution. You mentioned prostitution corrupting social morality; look at Amsterdam in Holland—do you think their social morality has collapsed?"

Mei Peng replied, "Perhaps the collapse of social morality has nothing to do with those ladies. Then, if our own compatriots are not the ones working as prostitutes, who will?" The King of Yue smiled mysteriously, "We absolutely will not allow our own sisters to engage in prostitution; if they did, it would be illegal and subject to our severe crackdown. As for who will fill the roles, do you think beautiful young women from other, relatively less affluent countries in the world might be interested in becoming prostitutes here?"

Mei Peng asked, "Inviting beautiful women from other, less affluent countries to be prostitutes in Starry Sky City? I doubt anyone would willingly come, as prostitution is hardly an honorable profession." The King of Yue smiled, "This will depend on how the Boss chooses to handle this special corps of foreign ladies."

Liu Hui immediately understood the King of Yue's meaning and laughed, "The future welfare benefits in Starry Sky City will be incredibly generous, benefits that citizens of those less affluent nations cannot even imagine. Once the people of those countries learn about our benefits, they will probably rush to immigrate to Starry Sky City. Our main task might soon become anti-smuggling. At that point, becoming a citizen of Starry Sky City will be the ultimate goal for the populace of those nations. We can then leverage the immigration qualification to entice those beautiful women who don't meet our standard immigration criteria. With such a clear pathway laid out, won't the beautiful women from those countries flock here, competing fiercely to work as prostitutes in Starry Sky City?"

The King of Yue nodded, "Exactly. If we establish a rule for these foreign ladies working in prostitution: once they have completed a ten-year term in Starry Sky City, they can choose to immigrate and become citizens, enjoying the same benefits as us. This way, while working as prostitutes, they gain significant financial reward and the bright future of immigration to Starry Sky City. Do you think they would refuse to come? I suspect they might even fight tooth and nail over the limited number of available positions!"

Liu Hui laughed, "In this way, the citizens of Starry Sky City will not only enjoy the allure of exotic foreign beauties, but after these women choose to join Starry Sky City, our citizens can also choose to marry them, thus improving the overall quality of our population. After all, the offspring of beautiful women are unlikely to be hideous freaks!"

The King of Yue also smiled, "However, we must strengthen inspections to ensure that no post-cosmetic surgery beauties, like certain women from that peninsula, enter Starry Sky City." Liu Hui and the King of Yue exchanged a knowing glance and smiled in unison.

Mei Peng looked at Liu Hui and the King of Yue, sighing, "You two, dressed impeccably in suits and ties, looking so respectable and proper, are actually discussing such a sordid scheme here. While the idea seems sordid, it appears to have a possibility of success, which frankly depresses me as a fine young man!"

Liu Hui laughed, "We are merely discussing a matter that achieves a win-win situation for all parties; there is no inherent sordidness to it. I just hope that in the future, you won't be caught by your wife in any such establishments." Liu Hui had hit Mei Peng's weak spot, leaving him speechless. Yet, in his mind, he couldn't help but imagine selecting beautiful women from all over the world in such establishments in the future.

The King of Yue continued, "Men have three great pastimes: Lust, Gambling, and Drugs. Drugs have been completely eliminated by our 'Starry Sky Detox Elixir' and are out of our consideration. Now that we have reached a consensus on 'Lust,' let's discuss the issue of 'Gambling'!"

Liu Hui stated, "The issue of 'Gambling' is indeed critical. If mishandled, it can also cause social unrest. Therefore, we must also lift restrictions on 'Gambling' and integrate it into our management system so that everything remains controllable."

Mei Peng asked, "But who among us Chinese doesn't enjoy a small card game or betting a little money? Usually, this small gambling occurs at home; how can you uniformly manage it?" The King of Yue replied, "There is actually a way to manage this uniformly. We only need to construct several large casinos in Starry Sky City and make these casinos sufficiently attractive. Then, those who gamble at home will shift their venue to our casinos. After all, gambling in a casino is safe, fair, and they can even enjoy pleasant amenities during the process. Why wouldn't they prefer it?"

"If they still refuse to come to the casinos, then we enact a law prohibiting gambling at home. If they want to gamble, they must come to the casinos. In the casinos, we will guarantee that their gambling occurs under fair conditions, and there will be no usury. Once their money is lost, they must leave. This way, it won't overly affect their lives, truly embodying the principle of 'small bets for light entertainment.' For this aspect, you only need to look at Macau; their citizens also gamble, but their venue is the casino, never at home. Moreover, they are restrained in their gambling and do not develop addictions." After hearing the King of Yue, Mei Peng couldn't find immediate counterarguments, though he felt something was slightly amiss internally.

Liu Hui said, "Previously, I partnered with the Ho family in Macau to establish the 'Starry Sky Grand Casino.' After this grand casino operated for over a year, no major problems arose with the gamblers inside. This suggests that if we enhance control over gambling, there shouldn't be major issues."

The King of Yue said, "Boss's foresight is truly admirable. However, we should establish several more large casinos to compete with the 'Starry Sky Grand Casino.' Only through healthy competition can we build a fair gambling environment, ensuring that everyone in Starry Sky City comes to the casinos to gamble, thus avoiding social conflicts arising from home gambling. Simultaneously, we can utilize the casinos as a significant tourism resource to attract global visitors." Liu Hui nodded, "Your suggestion is good; the Las Vegas of America is our future target."

The King of Yue then asked, "I heard the Boss specifically reserved one hundred square kilometers of land in Starry Sky City to build a Chinese History Museum. Is that correct?" Liu Hui replied, "Yes, I made that decision. However, Starry Sky City has not yet been fully constructed, so the decision to build the Chinese History Museum has been temporarily postponed. I believe that the people of the Stars must not only know their future lies in the cosmos but also remember where they came from. That is why I decided to allocate one hundred square kilometers for a super museum encompassing all of Chinese history. For example, regarding the Han Dynasty, we will construct an architectural complex exactly like a Han Dynasty city, populate it with statues of famous Han figures and their biographies, and display historical artifacts appropriate for that era. In short, I want every visitor to this museum to personally and closely experience the charm and truth of Chinese history."

The King of Yue mused, "The Boss's idea is sound; the architectural styles and statues of famous figures are manageable. But where will we source so many historical artifacts? Even domestically, we don't have a vast quantity; most of our artifacts reside in museums in other countries. Are we expected to spend fortunes to buy them all back?"

Today is Lunar New Year's Eve. Qian Yu sets sail and wishes everyone a Happy New Year, all your wishes fulfilled, and success in all your endeavors! Since I will be visiting relatives starting tomorrow, the daily update time will no longer be fixed at noon; updates might occur in the evening. Please forgive any inconvenience this causes to your reading schedule! Thanks to the readers Kèwǎng Zhèntiān and Xiǎoshuō Mì for their monthly ticket support!