Chapter 26
"Ah. I messed up as always," I sighed, sitting in a cozy armchair in the middle of the living room, waiting for Keqing to return.
No, Zhongli didn't refuse the proposed initiative and even promised to sway Cloud Retainer to our side. After all, our idea is exactly what he would want: for Liyue to be strong enough even without him. The only thing is, he pointed out three topics that will be forbidden for research.
1. Remains of dead gods. — Besides ethical concerns, the main reason is the peculiar miasma such remains emit, and it's not impossible that one could accidentally end up creating a true biological weapon from them, which we don't need.
2. Celestia. — Simple enough: anger Celestia, and even if all seven Archons gather together, it won't save us.
3. The Abyss. — The principle is basically the same, except the Abyss is like a cancer on the world, and if Liyue, like Khaenri'ah, becomes such a cancer, he would personally prefer to destroy his own creation before things go too far.
You'd think all the goals were achieved—one could even say with flying colors—so how did I mess up? Well, I obviously earned the Geo Archon's displeasure, and because of me, I already heard people whispering today that Zhongli was actually an adeptus in disguise. On top of that, he ordered us not to seek him out personally anymore. Yes, there are loopholes like reaching him through maidservants and the like, but… I still remember who Keqing really is—a closet fan of the Geo Archon—and I wouldn't want to disappoint her.
Meanwhile, while Yun Che was sighing over his mistake and wondering whether he should personally cook something for dinner, the Qixing meeting had concluded, and a fully satisfied Keqing and Ningguang, accompanied by Ganyu, were discussing the meeting's success.
As they expected, by providing everyone with the truth—albeit not the whole truth—that the Geo Archon's approval had not yet been obtained, almost everyone immediately refrained from participating in a project that could potentially incur divine wrath. Thus, almost all the profit would be concentrated in the hands of a small number of people most interested in developing the nation itself. And if you're acting for the common good, is it really bad that instead of becoming poorer, you grow richer? The only thing was that an unexpected variable slipped into the investors—someone initially planned as no more than an employee rather than a full partner.
"Yelan surprised me—I didn't think she'd risk her cover so openly," Keqing remarked.
"You underestimate her ambition. And her ability to find profit," Ningguang replied. "Our enterprise is extremely advantageous for her, especially if your husband's idea is realized. It will make her work much easier."
"Ordinary people don't need to know their calls will be monitored."
"Are you sure the Lord of Stone won't mind? Doesn't this seem a bit much?" Ganyu asked uncertainly. Without her, as the chief secretary, it would of course be impossible to bring such a project to life. "And I'm not sure I understand what kind of work Lady Yelan does?"
"As far as I recall, she's listed as an employee of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and I distinctly remember sending you a report that she's never at her desk all year."
"Ahem, in fact, she was the reason for your recent workload," Ningguang hinted.
"I see," the half-qilin frowned slightly before, adopting a somewhat anxious look, asking, "Could she learn about the qilin that was seen last night?"
"Hahaha," Ningguang laughed, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. "Truth be told, we can tell you about him as it is, though Keqing knows the most."
"Really?" Ganyu looked hopefully at Keqing, who had somehow acquired cat ears.
"He's my husband, Yun Che," the Yuheng replied with a slight chill in her tone, as if to say he was already taken.
"I… understand," the girl wilted, and a mysterious smile flickered across Ganyu's face, which she casually hid with her hand.
"All right, I'll head home. I need to find out how the talks with the Lord of Stone went," Keqing rose, seeing that the strangely intrigued Ganyu was in no hurry to say anything.
"Of course. Have a pleasant evening," Ningguang wished her, and then, waiting until the cat-eared girl had left, turned a conspiratorial smile on the downcast Ganyu.
"You know, if you're that interested in this Yun Che, I have an idea," Ningguang said, leaning toward the intrigued girl's ear and beginning to whisper. With each word, the half-qilin's face grew redder, and it seemed that a little more and steam would start to rise from her head.
About five minutes later, Ganyu left Ningguang's office with a very red face and a slightly dazed look, when suddenly the subject of their recent conversation appeared in her field of view. Keqing stood by her office door, double-checking she had taken all the necessary papers. Then, placing them into her Vision's storage space, she locked the office and headed for the exit. What she didn't know was that a pair of violet eyes was fixed on her gently swaying tail.
Ganyu, as if spellbound, followed behind, watching the tail swing first to the right, then to the left. Meanwhile, Ningguang's words replayed in her mind.
"If you want to win him for yourself, it's simple: you need to win over Keqing too." "Remember her cute tail? Imagine how nice it would be to touch it. And her adorable cat ears?" The half-qilin's gaze shifted for a moment to the cat ears, the same color as the girl's hair, then returned to the tail with a single thought: "Are they really real?"
Suddenly, Keqing's ears twitched, as if trying to warn their owner, but it was already too late. A woman's hand grabbed the tail, which had frozen for an instant and, because its owner hadn't stopped, was pulled taut—and a loud girlish shriek split the silence of the Jade Chamber.