Ryou had already buffed the Ministry of Civil Affairs staff, so being away for an hour or so shouldn't cause any problems.
More importantly, he didn't want Yanfei asking too many questions. The moment he looked at her, certain images came back to mind, and the fire in his chest refused to die down.
I might as well use this chance to go handle something and keep her from pressing me any further.
"I'll go investigate it for you!" Ryou threw that line over his shoulder and hurried off.
Yanfei stood there in the office, stunned.
It took her a while to come back to herself. Then she rushed after him, only to reach the entrance to Yujing Terrace and find that Ryou was already gone.
"What's with him running that fast? What, am I a tiger? Do I look like I'm going to eat him alive?" Yanfei was furious. "He's obviously guilty. Just as I thought... it was him. Him! H-He actually did something like that!"
Before, she had wanted nothing more than to kill the creep who had spied on her.
Who would have thought it would lead back to Ryou in the end?
And that shameless man had gone way too far.
After all, that [Hand] and those [Eyes] had both done some outrageous things to her.
Yanfei really wanted to smash Ryou over the head with her law codex. But the moment she thought of those embarrassing scenes, her whole face felt like it was on fire, and there was no putting it out.
Then she remembered what she had seen at the Ministry of Civil Affairs the night before. Instead of heading back to her legal office, she turned and went to Ganyu's office instead.
When she arrived outside, she saw Ganyu sitting at her desk, working through official documents.
There was a bottle of juice beside her, and the fragrance drifting from it was impossible to ignore.
That made Yanfei remember how, some time ago, someone had come to plead Ryou's case to her and left behind a bottle of juice.
She had tried it afterward and loved the taste.
But later, after Ryou had thrown her into prison, she had been so angry that her relationship with that person had become awkward too.
That was why she'd never felt comfortable asking for more.
"Yanfei? What are you doing here?" Huixin came over from outside, carrying a stack of paperwork in her arms.
"Ah... Huixin? Didn't you transfer to the Ministry of Civil Affairs? Are you here to see Ganyu?" Yanfei asked, a little flustered.
She really had not expected to see Huixin here.
After all, she had heard plenty of people wanted to transfer into the Ministry, yet so far only one person had actually managed it.
That person was Huixin.
"I'm here to deliver paperwork to Ganyu." Huixin adjusted the stack in her arms and held it up a little higher.
Yanfei looked at the pile in surprise.
She had just been at the Ministry, and only a portion of the paperwork there had been handled by that point.
It had only been ten minutes or so.
How was there already this much finished?
"This... has all been processed already?" Yanfei asked.
"Yes. Everyone's incredibly fired up today. In under ten minutes, they got through nearly a fifth of the backlog," Huixin said. "They're way ahead of expectations, so everyone's pretty pleased."
Yanfei sucked in a breath. "A fifth in ten minutes? Can they really work that fast without messing anything up?"
"They're being overseen by Zhongli-sensei, so there's no need to worry about mistakes," Ganyu said as she came out of the office and took the paperwork from Huixin.
Huixin left soon after.
"That's insane. The people at the Ministry have gone completely mad," Yanfei said, then looked at Ganyu. "If you think about it that way..."
Ganyu's face darkened a little. Thinking of the secretaries at Yuehai Pavilion, she said, "If they can finish this much in ten minutes, then even our most experienced secretaries here at Yujing Terrace would still need at least an hour and a half to get through the same amount."
She paused, then added, "Ever since Ryou took over the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the whole place has been running like it's been revived. They process paperwork at absurd speed now, and with Zhongli-sensei watching over things, the number of problems has dropped dramatically. There are barely any mistakes left at all."
"I see..." Yanfei thought back to the kind of authority Ryou had shown at the Ministry earlier, and she had to admit she was impressed.
"Yanfei, you came to see me about something, didn't you?" Ganyu asked as she set the documents down and turned to face her.
"Mm... I just came by to see you." Yanfei sighed. "I didn't realize you had to handle this much work every day. And you still have time to date, too."
"D-Date?" Ganyu panicked the moment she heard that.
What did Yanfei mean by that?
Why bring up a boyfriend out of nowhere?
The certainty in her tone made it obvious—Yanfei already believed she had one.
Ganyu and Yanfei knew each other fairly well, but they were not so close that Yanfei should have known something like this.
And especially not when the man in question was Keqing's husband.
Then Ganyu understood.
The person who had seen them last night...was Yanfei.
Ganyu's whole face went hot. She instantly started to panic.
She... she didn't see that man was Ryou too, did she?
"Don't be nervous, Ganyu." Yanfei leaned closer and asked, "I'm just curious. What kind of man could possibly make you fall for him?"
Yanfei had always thought highly of Ganyu.
In her eyes, Ganyu was almost like an older sister—someone who had devoted thousands of years to Liyue Harbor and earned nothing but admiration.
Ganyu was different from someone like her.
She was a true adeptus.
And she had lived for thousands of years.
A person like that had seen too much, lived too long, and naturally had higher standards in every way. Ordinary men simply would not catch her eye.
That was exactly why Yanfei was so curious.
Who could have won Ganyu's heart?
The question made Ganyu blush even harder. In a panic, she grabbed her teacup and took a sip.
But she also knew Yanfei was not the sort of person to stir up trouble for no reason. Since Yanfei had already seen them, denying it now would be pointless.
As for Ryou...That absolutely could not come out.
Yanfei might not be the type to chase down every evil in the world, but there was no way she would accept something like this.
Ganyu could practically hear it already:
"Ganyu, that's illegal."
The thought made her scalp tingle.
"Ganyu, come on, tell me a little," Yanfei said, hugging her arm.
"A-Alright... but you can't tell anyone else." Ganyu felt as though her whole face had been fed into a furnace. The heat only kept climbing.
"I promise. I won't say a word," Yanfei said immediately.
"O-Okay... I can't tell you who he is. But he's excellent. Very capable. He may be human, and he can be a little lazy sometimes, but he's a very good person. He's sincere with me, and we're very close. Though... I was the one who took the initiative to go after him."
Ganyu had nearly let the truth slip, and once she caught Yanfei staring at her, she grew even more flustered.
Yanfei, meanwhile, was thinking hard.
Taking the initiative?
Ganyu's character was well known to everyone. She would never go after a married man.
So I must be overthinking it.
Still, Yanfei was dying to know who this person was. Ganyu was praising him so highly she was practically sending him into the heavens.
And when had someone like that appeared in Liyue Harbor?
Ryou could be ruled out immediately.
He was already married.
And Keqing and Ganyu were extremely close—best friends, even.
So that was impossible.
As for Xingqiu and the others, they did not have much contact with Ganyu either.
So if it wasn't them, then who was it?
Yanfei held onto Ganyu and pressed again, "Can you at least give me a hint who it is?"
"No." Ganyu shook her head.
"Then tell me this—he's from Liyue, right? Or at least works in Liyue Harbor?" Yanfei asked, her eyes darting about as she tried another angle.
"Uh... yes. But don't ask any more than that. I'm not ready to make it public yet." Ganyu looked straight at her. "And you promised you wouldn't tell anyone."
"Alright, alright, I got it." Seeing Ganyu guard the secret so tightly only made Yanfei even more curious.
Just what kind of man could make Ganyu care this much?
She really wanted to meet him.
...
Near Third-Round Knockout, Ryou noticed countless eyes turning toward him.
Every gaze was burning with emotion, and many people were so worked up their faces had gone red.
He did not pay it much mind and headed straight for Wanmin Restaurant.
"Ryou-sama!"
"It's Ryou-sama!"
"Ryou-sama!"
...
Everyone started calling out at once.
"Please, calm down. I'm just here to ask about something," Ryou said, hoping to use the chance to ask Chef Mao a few questions.
"Ryou? Did you need something from my dad?" Xiangling came hurrying out from inside, wiping her hands.
"Xiangling, you're alright?" Ryou asked immediately.
"Oh, I got hurt a little, but I was treated already. What's going on?" Xiangling looked puzzled.
But seeing Ryou check on her like that made her heart warm, and for some reason, it trembled faintly on its own.
That strange sense of familiarity rose up in her again.
"Actually, Yanfei asked me to help find someone. She said one of her junior sisters had gone missing," Ryou explained. "I remembered you call her senior sister too, so I came to ask you first."
"Oh... right, she is my senior sister," Xiangling said. "But if we're talking about one of her junior sisters, there really aren't many possibilities. Shinobu is in Inazuma, so it can't be her. Could it be Yaoyao?"
The moment Xiangling said Yaoyao's name, she started to panic.
"I suspected it might be her too. I came here first so I wouldn't go searching in the wrong place," Ryou said.
"Then I-I'll take you to Yaoyao's house. Hurry, come with me!" Xiangling shoved her apron into her father's hands and rushed outside.
Fortunately, with [Feet], Ryou could cover several steps in one. He quickly caught up to her.
"Xiangling, I'll take you there. Just tell me where it is." He grabbed her by the arm and flew forward.
The moment Xiangling realized she was in the air, her eyes went wide with disbelief.
She had seen him fly during the battle against the gods, yes.
But experiencing it herself was completely different.
Only now did she truly understand how shocking it felt.
Looking down at the empty space below, Xiangling panicked.
She grabbed Ryou tightly at once, clinging to him with all four limbs. Even her voice began to shake.
"R-Ryou... h-hold me tighter, I'm scared!"
"Yaoyao's house is just ahead, at the next turn. Go left, then fifteen more steps!"
Feeling Xiangling cling to him like an octopus gave Ryou a headache.
Was this really fear?
Why did it feel more like she was tempting him on purpose?
And with the way she was pressing against him, he could feel something becoming very hard to ignore.
A strange sensation surged through Ryou's body.
He sucked in a sharp breath, then immediately changed direction and flew down toward a deserted spot below.
The moment Xiangling saw that, she panicked.
What was he trying to do?
H-He wasn't about to do something bad to her, was he?
[End of chapter]
[200 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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