Yanfei hesitated for a moment, then lowered her hand. The Millelith were all around them. If she actually hit Ryou and hurt him, it would only bring her more trouble.
Still, the more she thought about that man, the angrier she got. He had seen her naked, shown no remorse, provoked her again and again, and used his authority to bully her.
Yanfei ground her teeth. If Ryou couldn't give her a proper explanation today, she was going to smash his head open with her law book.
Following him to Yujing Terrace, Yanfei kept quiet. Too many people were staring at her strangely along the way.
Ever since she had been dragged away from the terrace outside Bubu Pharmacy last time, rumors had started spreading. Now that she and a whole group of people were being taken back to Yujing Terrace together, it was hard not to imagine what others might think.
Ryou led Yanfei and the others into the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
"Ryou-sama!"
"Ryou-sama!"
"Ryou-sama!"
Everyone in the office called out at once.
With all the various boosts Ryou brought to the place, the Ministry staff were in excellent spirits, and their work moved at remarkable speed.
It was nearly noon already. They had almost finished everything, so most of them were sitting around chatting and drinking tea.
Compared to the other departments around Yujing Terrace, this office had it easy. The place stayed cool and comfortable, and not a single person wanted to leave.
"What's going on here?"
Zhongli looked over when he saw Ryou come back with a whole group behind him, along with stacks of files being carried inside. He could already tell something had happened.
"These are every case file from Yanfei's office over the past year." Ryou rapped one of the folders against the table, then turned to face the room. "From this moment on, all of you will help me review them."
"If you find anything suspicious, report it to me immediately. I'll be standing right here the whole time, watching. Let's not have Yanfei think we sit around taking public pay for nothing. Understood?"
"Yes!"
"We'll inspect them properly!"
The Ministry staff immediately split the files among themselves. With around seventy people going through them together, the pace was astonishing. Every page they turned got their full attention.
Yanfei stood by a table with her arms folded and said nothing.
She had heard the way they emphasized inspect properly just now. It was obvious they wanted to use this chance to settle old scores.
Fine. She wanted to see what Ryou's people could actually dig up.
"What happened here?"
A voice came from outside.
It was Ganyu. She had finally finished the work that had kept her busy, and she had brought Shenhe over with her.
The two of them looked around and saw the entire Ministry hard at work.
Ryou was sitting to the side, calmly drinking tea.
Yanfei was standing beside him with her arms folded, staring at him coldly.
Ganyu was thoroughly confused.
"I received a report saying there were problems with some of Yanfei's case files," Ryou said after taking a sip of tea and setting the cup down. "Yanfei wouldn't cooperate with our investigation, so I had no choice but to invite her here to the Ministry."
Then he looked at them. "What about you two? What brings you here?"
"I brought Shenhe over, and while I was here..." Ganyu hesitated. She had wanted to ask Ryou about what Shenhe said earlier, but now clearly wasn't the right time. "No, it's nothing."
Ryou looked at her, but when she said nothing more, he let it go.
"I'd like some tea," Shenhe said as she walked over and sat beside Ryou.
"Sure." Ryou poured her a cup.
"Hmph. You dragged us here by force. You'd better give me an explanation for this," Yanfei snapped. "And if you can't find anything—"
Her glare was so fierce it looked like she wanted to bite a chunk out of him.
Huixin suddenly lifted a file. "Director Ryou, I found something wrong here..."
"Yanfei, what was that just now?" Ryou set the teapot down and laughed. "Could you say it louder? My hearing isn't very good."
"You—" Yanfei clenched her fists. If not for everyone watching, she really would have smashed his head in with her law book.
"Huixin, come on. Bring it here and let me see." Ryou beckoned her over.
"Look here. This case record has been tampered with. Part of it was altered."
"I remember this one clearly because I ran into it while helping Ganyu with some work before. It also involves my father..." Huixin placed the file in Ryou's hands.
Ryou flipped through it. It turned out to be the case involving Uncle Tian's poisoning, and several parts of the record didn't match the facts.
"Ganyu, come take a look at this one."
"Alright." Ganyu nodded and walked over.
The moment Ryou said that, Yanfei's expression changed. She suddenly remembered which case it was and turned to the middle-aged woman beside her.
"I had you write the report for this case. Are you sure there wasn't a problem with it?"
"S-Sister... Yanfei, I..." The woman went pale, clearly panicking.
Yanfei said nothing, but her face darkened. She knew something was wrong.
"These records have issues," Ganyu said after reading through them. "They don't match the actual case. Some sections were altered."
"If someone used these papers to secure a release, they might actually be able to take the prisoner out."
She set the file down on the table and looked at Ryou. "Send someone to the prison and confirm the person is still there. If he's already been taken out, this will be serious."
"Zhongli, go check whether anyone has already taken him away," Ryou said at once.
"Understood. I'll go now." Zhongli glanced at the case report and left immediately.
Ryou put the file down and looked at Yanfei. "There's a problem with someone in your office. We'll take her into Ministry custody and handle it from here."
"Fine." Yanfei nodded and said nothing more.
A Millelith soldier quickly escorted the woman away, while two Ministry staff followed to deal with the matter.
About ten minutes later, the rest of the inspection was done.
The results did not disappoint.
Almost every file on the table had some kind of issue.
Looking at the stack after stack of problem cases, Ryou turned to Yanfei. "We'll know the full result once Zhongli comes back. If that prisoner was nearly released because of your records, then you'll have to take responsibility for this."
"Ryou..." Ganyu couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.
"Ganyu, we trusted Yanfei, so we handed these cases over to her," Ryou said seriously. "Because we trusted her, no one bothered checking the records again."
"Under normal circumstances, maybe that wouldn't become a major problem. But in a situation like this... if something really had happened, would you take responsibility for it?"
Ganyu fell silent.
After a while, Zhongli hurried back.
"Well?" Ryou asked.
"The prisoner is still being held in the prison," Zhongli replied. "But the person in charge did say someone tried to take him away a few days ago."
"The Millelith asked that person to produce the proper paperwork. They couldn't, so they left."
Zhongli explained the situation to Ryou and Ganyu.
Hearing that, Ryou looked back at Yanfei. "Good thing this didn't blow up into something worse. But now you can't say I wronged you, can you?"
"Since there was a genuine problem, punishment is unavoidable. Fortunately, it didn't result in a major disaster. I'll fine you one million Mora so you remember this lesson. That isn't unfair, is it?"
"It isn't." Yanfei glanced at him and accepted it. She knew this had been serious.
She knew exactly who Uncle Tian was, and it was obvious now that the middle-aged woman had been bribed. Since Ryou had uncovered it, Yanfei had nothing to say in her defense.
Ryou watched Yanfei leave, then drained the rest of his tea in one gulp and headed back to his office.
When he got there, he found Shenhe already inside.
Click.
She shut the door behind them.
For a split second, Ryou saw Ningguang's shadow in that move.
What was with these women? Why did they all like pulling this routine?
"Open the door," Ryou said irritably.
"No. I need to talk to you," Shenhe said.
Ryou shot her a glare. "Where exactly do you think I'm going to run? And besides, if we stay shut up together in an office like this, how do you think my wife is supposed to react?"
"I wouldn't overthink it," Shenhe said.
Ryou rolled his eyes. "Stop fooling around. There are still people outside. If something happens, neither of us will be able to explain it."
"Why would we need to explain?" Shenhe looked at him steadily. "Do you know that in the future, we have a child together? He looks a lot like you. I only saw his face, so I don't know what his name was."
Thinking of that image again, Shenhe took a few steps forward and sat directly in Ryou's lap.
"I wasn't lying to you. I really did see that scene. That future was real."
"You're not exactly a good man, which means I still have a chance."
"But I don't care about any of that. As long as I can be with you, that's enough for me."
"I..." Ryou was left speechless.
None of this had happened yet.
And besides, he was obviously a good man, so how had he somehow become a scumbag in every woman's eyes?
"Shenhe, you—mmph!"
Before he could finish, Shenhe leaned in and kissed him.
Both her hands cupped his face, and he could feel adeptal energy rising off her as it wrapped around him and pinned him in place.
Ryou stared at Shenhe in disbelief. His strength surged all at once, but even with his body pushed to one hundred and forty percent, he still couldn't break free of the restraint.
He wanted to cry.
Was Shenhe really this strong?
And if someone walked in right now, how was he supposed to explain this?
Then, in the next instant, he heard footsteps outside.
Ryou panicked.
Don't tell me it's really that unlucky.
Did Keqing come back to the Ministry?
[End of chapter]
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