"Take Lady Ganyu yourself, for example."
"Do you think the Yuehai Pavilion could continue operating normally without you?"
Bai Ge asked with a smile.
To him, it was just a casual analogy.
But for Ganyu, that final comparison struck straight at her heart.
"Without me… the Yuehai Pavilion couldn't function?"
She repeated the words blankly.
"Of course. Is that hard to understand?"
Bai Ge shrugged.
"Lady Ganyu has served as the Yuehai Pavilion's secretary for over three thousand years. You don't seriously believe someone could casually replace three millennia of experience, do you?"
For Liyue, the Qixing could rotate.
But Ganyu was irreplaceable.
Just like in the stories—when Ganyu once took leave, Ningguang's three secretaries had to fill in for her, and they nearly worked themselves to death from overtime.
However, Bai Ge didn't realize how massive an impact his words had on Ganyu.
"So… I'm important. Irreplaceable?"
She asked softly, as if hearing something unbelievable.
"Of course," Bai Ge said plainly.
"Liyue needs you. The people of Liyue need you, Lady Ganyu."
To Bai Ge, this was simply a fact—one verified by history, and by what he knew of the future.
But to Ganyu, it was anything but simple.
She stared deeply at Bai Ge's handsome face.
Objectively speaking, this human before her was very good-looking—among the countless years of her life, he easily ranked in the top five.
Yet to Ganyu, looks meant little.
What truly mattered was who Bai Ge was.
A human.
A citizen of Liyue.
Since ancient times, there had been a clear divide between adepti and mortals.
In Liyue, that divide was felt everywhere.
Take Shenhe, Ganyu's junior sister, for example.
Back then, when Shenhe—burdened by a fate of calamity—was taken in by Cloud Retainer, she was given a jade comb and underwent the Three Combs Ritual.
The first comb turned her black hair silver with frost.
The second split black and white evenly.
The third left her covered in snow-white hair, unrecognizable to the mortal world.
With three combs, her ties to the mundane were severed—adepti and mortals forever apart.
Ganyu, however, was different.
As a half-qilin, half-human being, she carried both adeptal blood and human lineage.
For thousands of years, she had been troubled by a quiet loneliness—never fully belonging among humans, yet no longer standing wholly among the adepti.
She constantly questioned whether she truly fit into the mortal world.
Deep down, Ganyu was like a Dendro Slime burrowing into the soil—burying herself in documents and reports to escape those thoughts.
Over the centuries, there were no shortage of Liyue citizens who tried to approach her, admire her, or express affection.
But they were either driven back by her cool demeanor, or lost on her due to her half-adeptus emotional dullness.
That, and Liyue's reserved way of expressing feelings.
Bai Ge, however, was different.
He was the first person to say it so simply and directly:
Liyue needs you.
The people of Liyue need you.
In an instant, a blazing flame ignited within Ganyu's jade-like heart.
At that moment, she keenly realized how different Bai Ge was from everyone else.
Though she appeared as a young maiden, Ganyu was over three thousand years old—one of Liyue's founding figures.
Yet outside, whether it was the Qixing, ordinary people, or even Keqing—whom Ganyu considered a friend—everyone treated her with a certain distance and reverence.
Some even called her "Granny Ganyu."
But Bai Ge didn't.
He called her "Lady Ganyu," yet never placed her on a lofty pedestal.
From the moment they walked together, Ganyu had noticed it—
Bai Ge wasn't intimidated by her adeptal aura.
He appreciated her beauty.
In Bai Ge's eyes, there was only Ganyu the person, not Ganyu the adeptus, not Ganyu the symbol.
In Liyue's hierarchy, above Ganyu stood Rex Lapis and the adepti; below her were the mortals of later generations.
She was stuck right in between.
And Bai Ge's attitude—so natural, so human—was exactly what had been missing in her long life.
His appearance quietly filled a void Ganyu herself hadn't known how to name.
Her affection toward Bai Ge surged.
At that moment, she finally understood why Keqing had pushed Bai Ge into the Yuehai Pavilion so decisively.
He really did have that kind of charm.
Ganyu almost wanted to discuss everything at once—Liyue, its people, and Bai Ge's view of her.
But thinking of work, she forcibly restrained herself.
"Let's continue our previous topic."
She shifted the conversation a little stiffly, recalling Bai Ge's earlier words.
"You said… the problem lies with people."
Now fully focused, Ganyu immediately grasped the key point.
"So what you mean is…"
"We should raise salaries and benefits, and attract more capable people?"