Ryou saw the surrounding crowd fall silent. One by one, they stared at him without speaking, clearly stunned.
After a while, a woman on the left finally said, "Good! Excellent! Scum like Degui deserves to be arrested!"
A young woman beside her quickly added, "Ryou-sama, I know another shop with problems!"
"Lead the way."
Ryou walked over to her.
"All right, follow me!" The woman walked ahead.
After that, Ryou followed her to investigate. Along the way, several more people came forward to report other shops.
By the time Ryou returned to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Degui was no longer the only person beside him. There were fifteen of them.
When he arrived, many people stared blankly, frozen at the entrance and unable to speak.
Ryou entered the Ministry of Civil Affairs and said, "Zhongli, arrange people to interrogate them later. Get this matter settled as quickly as possible."
"Yes, understood," Zhongli said with a nod before leaving.
Watching the arrested men being taken away one after another, Ryou saw Lumine come to his side. She asked, "Can we still buy Third-Round Knockout after this? Degui looks like he wants to kill you."
"No rush. Once the interrogation is done, he'll behave. I'll arrange things then," Ryou said.
"All right." Lumine nodded.
Ryou was just about to say something else to Lumine when Baiwen hurried over.
Baiwen said, "Ryou-sama, Ningguang-sama invites you to dinner at the Jade Chamber tonight."
"All right. I understand," Ryou said.
"Then I'll take my leave." Baiwen nodded and left.
Ryou pulled Lumine toward the office.
Click.
The door closed behind them. Lumine lowered her head, bit her lip, and shut her eyes.
…
"Ganyu-nee, come to my house for dinner tonight. I want to have a small gathering," Keqing said.
"All right," Ganyu agreed.
Although Ryou had not been gone for very long, Ganyu had missed him badly.
In terms of work, even without Ryou's buffs, the staff at Xingluo Office were now handling official duties much faster than before.
But without Ryou there, something still felt missing. When Ganyu heard that he had returned, she immediately wanted to go see him.
Unfortunately, just as she reached the entrance, Keqing arrived.
Compared to Ryou, Ganyu did not miss Keqing quite as much, because she felt Keqing had changed.
Keqing kept talking about strange things, and those topics always made Ganyu blush.
She was completely different from the Keqing Ganyu remembered.
Ganyu could barely handle it. She could not help wondering if everyone became like this after getting married.
Some topics were so embarrassing that she did not even dare keep listening.
While Ganyu was lost in thought, a Yujing Terrace staff member hurried over.
"Ganyu-sama, an official has arrived."
"Did something happen?" Ganyu asked.
"This… I'm not sure!" The staff member was about to explain when a middle-aged man walked in.
When he saw someone else in the room, his expression changed slightly. "So Keqing is here too. Sorry to disturb you."
"But this matter has caused quite a stir. I had to come and speak about it."
"Did something happen?" Ganyu asked.
The man before her was one of the Liyue Qixing, someone who had returned from the Jade Chamber.
Seeing his ugly expression, Ganyu assumed something serious had happened.
"Ryou. Ryou has gone too far!" the middle-aged man said.
"What did my husband do?" Keqing asked.
"Hmph. Keqing, you are one of the Liyue Qixing, so there are some things I should not say too harshly. But Ryou is only an ordinary staff member of the Ministry of Civil Affairs."
"Do you know what he did? He openly led people out and arrested more than ten people."
"And he even paraded them through the streets before bringing them back to the Ministry. Do you have any idea how many people are discussing the Ministry of Civil Affairs now?" the middle-aged man snapped.
"Explain? What exactly do you want me to explain?" Keqing looked at him coldly. "My husband went to arrest Degui. Everyone in Liyue knows what kind of place his tavern is."
"You're so worked up over this. Don't tell me you were secretly backing Degui? If you ask me… you should be arrested too!"
"What did you say?" The middle-aged man pointed at Keqing. "Do you understand what you're saying?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Keqing slammed the table. "You came here running your mouth without even understanding the situation. A Liyue Qixing like you has no reason to exist."
"If my husband arrested someone, he naturally had his reasons. You found out nothing, yet you came straight to Ganyu."
"What? Are you trying to bury this matter?"
"Arrest him."
"You…" The middle-aged man tried to say something.
The next moment, his eyes widened, because several shadows appeared behind Keqing.
More kept emerging, and they forcibly seized him on the spot.
Ganyu stared at the scene in shock.
What was going on?
Where had these people come from?
"Take him away," Keqing said.
The shadow warriors said nothing as they dragged the man out.
The middle-aged man's curses grew fainter and fainter. The staff member did not dare say a word. She lowered her head, left the office, and even closed the door behind her.
After a while, Ganyu finally came back to her senses. "What… just happened?"
"He slandered my husband, so I arrested him. That's all," Keqing said.
"He came straight to you over this. That alone proves there's a problem."
"Let him cool his head in custody for now," Keqing told Ganyu.
Ganyu stared at Keqing for a long moment. "That's not what I meant. I meant… who were those people just now?"
"Oh, them?" Keqing said.
Then she explained, "After he teased me yesterday, I gained this ability. I can summon a lot of ninjas to help me handle things."
"So even though it looks like I'm standing here alone, in reality…"
Swish, swish, swish!
In an instant, dozens of people appeared inside the room, filling it completely.
All of them were dressed like ninjas, their bodies entirely black. Only their eyes looked eerie.
Some had normal eyes, while others glowed red.
Seeing so many people suddenly appear in the room, Ganyu fell silent for a moment before asking, "That really is amazing. But… you gain benefits after your husband teases you?"
"Dismissed." Keqing waved her hand.
All the shadow ninjas vanished.
Keqing sat beside Ganyu. "Yes. I only noticed it recently. Every time he teases me, my body changes."
"For one thing, my body has improved. My skin, figure, and everything else have all changed."
"I pay close attention to myself, so I can clearly feel the changes. And look at this sword…"
Ganyu stared at the Splendor of Tranquil Waters in silence. "I feel like I've seen this somewhere before, but I can't remember where right now."
"Ganyu-nee, I actually obtained this sword after he teased me," Keqing said.
"Mm… Could it be a surprise he prepared for you?" Ganyu asked.
"Impossible. If this sword was a surprise, then what about this?" Keqing raised her head, and several Hydro spheres instantly condensed in the air.
Ganyu looked at the scene and fell silent again. "H-Hydro elemental power? How can you control Hydro?"
"Because I obtained a Hydro Vision. I now possess two Visions." Keqing took out the Hydro Vision.
Ganyu fell silent once more, staring at the two Visions in front of her, unable to process it for a moment.
She said, "This… As far as I know, no one in Teyvat has ever possessed two Visions."
"Ganyu-nee, are you tempted?" Keqing asked.
Ganyu was silent for a while before saying, "If I said I wasn't, that would be a lie."
"If you are, then you can have this too!" Keqing finally revealed her true goal.
Ganyu looked at Keqing without saying anything.
She had understood what Keqing meant. Was Keqing trying to get her together with Ryou too?
Ganyu was not sure whether Keqing was being sincere or testing her.
"Ganyu-nee, if this had been before, I never would have brought this up to you," Keqing said, ready to persuade her with reason and emotion.
"No." Ganyu shook her head.
Keqing looked at Ganyu, suddenly relieved.
Ganyu said, "You mentioned this last time when you were testing me. And now you're bringing it up again?"
"Keqing, I'm very happy that you shared these things with me. We are good friends, but… I can't do that to you," Ganyu said seriously.
She still did not fully understand what Keqing meant.
But Ganyu was not in a hurry.
There were still four months until Lantern Rite. Four months from now, she was eighty percent confident that she could convince Keqing.
If she said it now, however, there might be risks.
Rather than take that risk, Ganyu chose to play it safe.
"I…" Keqing stared at Ganyu in shock. I already told you it's fine, and you turned around and said I was testing you?
Did I just feed all my sincerity to a dog?
And Ganyu's personality really was too good. As expected of my best friend. Wait… if she's like this, how are they ever supposed to get anywhere?
She could not possibly go to Lumine instead.
Aside from Ganyu, there was no one suitable. Before, Keqing might have considered one of her friends.
But now, Ryou and Yanfei were practically at each other's throats, so… Ganyu absolutely had to be won over.
"Keqing, that Liyue Qixing matter just now, and Degui's matter as well, are both serious. If they aren't handled properly, I'm worried something will happen," Ganyu said.
"A-All right." Keqing nodded helplessly.
She stood and returned to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, thinking that she had been so close just now, only for everything to swing back the other way.
Keqing arrived at the office door and was about to push it open when she saw Zhongli hurrying over.
When she turned back, she seemed to hear a few strange sounds.
Keqing looked toward the office. Lumine must have returned with her husband, so the two of them couldn't be… right?
[End of chapter]
[200 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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