"Keqing, you've got the wrong idea. Let's go upstairs and talk this through." Ryou tried to pull Keqing into his arms, but she dodged him and grabbed both of his arms instead.
"Talk!" Keqing shot him a glare.
"...Alright." Ryou gave in and explained, "I went to see Tabibito because I wanted to ask about Madame Ping. I went to see Shenhe because I wanted to ask about Cloud Retainer."
A lot of the suspicion in Keqing's heart faded after hearing that. "Mm... that makes sense. In that short amount of time, you probably wouldn't have had time to do anything anyway."
"If you'd come back half an hour later, I would've chopped it off."
Ryou sucked in a breath and hurried to soothe her. "Keqing, don't say things like that. If it was gone, you'd be the one suffering too."
"Hmph. I'd have a lot more peace and quiet without it." Keqing glared at him, then grabbed his clothes and sniffed them.
"You two definitely got close. The scent is way too strong. If you dare fool around outside, I..."
"I won't. How could I ever betray you?" Ryou pulled her into his arms and coaxed her for a good while before finally calming her down.
Then Keqing asked, "What did you want from Madame Ping?"
"Madame Ping... mm, do you really want to know?" Ryou asked after a moment.
"Yes." She nodded.
"Then I'll tell you. But you can't tell anyone else." Ryou leaned in close, said that much, and then kissed her under her curious gaze.
Keqing was caught completely off guard.
Wasn't he supposed to be talking about Madame Ping?
Why was he kissing her all of a sudden?
And after that... she didn't even know how to describe it. He just kept bullying her like he was getting back at her for something.
...
At dawn the next morning, Keqing opened her eyes and found Ryou still holding her. She glared at him and bit his arm.
"Keqing, what was that for?" Ryou immediately felt something was wrong.
"Hmph! You still haven't told me about Madame Ping. All you did last night was bully me!" Keqing pinched the soft flesh at his waist and puffed up in annoyance. "Talk. What exactly was going on?"
"You really are that curious, huh?" Ryou rubbed her head and leaned in closer.
Her eyes were already watery, as if she were about to cry. Her pretty face had gone from pale to flushed red, and even her breathing had turned heavy.
Then Ryou asked, "Do you know what Yanfei's relationship with Madame Ping is?"
"Mm... she's her grandmother, isn't she?" Keqing said.
"Haven't you figured it out yet?" Ryou smiled.
"What... ah—don't move, I feel awful!" Keqing immediately twisted her waist and tried to pull back.
"Then talk!" she snapped.
Ryou leaned in a little closer and only spoke after she let out a startled cry. "Madame Ping is Yanfei's grandmother. That makes her an adeptus too."
"As far as I know, Xiangling and Yaoyao are both her disciples. When she was younger, she was apparently very beautiful too—ow!"
Ryou broke off when Keqing pinched him again.
"I only said it in passing. You're jealous over that too?" Ryou caught her hand and whispered by her ear, "Feeling upset?"
Keqing turned her face away and refused to say a word.
Ryou smiled. "Actually, Madame Ping is one of the adepti too. Mm... Keqing, do you know the title Streetward Rambler?"
"Mm... I've heard of that. That's one of Liyue's adepti," Keqing said, her voice already trembling.
Ryou stroked her head and continued, "I heard Streetward Rambler has the ability to create a pocket world."
"I wasn't sure whether Cloud Retainer could do the same, so I wanted to ask about it."
He gently ran a hand over her skin as he explained, "Tabibito once told me Madame Ping had a teapot that was basically her home."
"That's when I realized what it might be, so I went to ask."
"As for why I went to see Shenhe yesterday, it was because I'd already planned to ask her about Cloud Retainer."
"But since she left with you yesterday, I just..." Ryou froze halfway through his sentence.
Keqing had kissed him.
He looked at her and saw her glaring fiercely, one hand pressed against his mouth.
The morning sunlight seemed to grow hotter. Outside, the streets were already waking up, loud and lively, though beneath that noise there were a few sounds inside the room that were even harder to ignore.
...
[ Ding. Keqing's weapon has been upgraded! ]
[ Ding. Lion's Roar has been upgraded to Splendor of Tranquil Waters! ]
Ryou went completely still when he heard the notification.
What was that supposed to mean?
Wasn't that weapon supposed to come from somewhere else? Why had Lion's Roar suddenly turned into this?
By the time Ryou and Keqing got out of bed, quite a while had passed. The sunlight had only risen a little earlier, but now the whole window was flooded with bright light.
"Keqing," Ryou called out.
"What is it?" Keqing was still fixing her hair.
"Take out your weapon. Let me have a look."
"What is there to look at?" Keqing pulled Lion's Roar out without much thought. Then she paused. "Hm? This sword... why is there such a long pattern on it now?"
She stared at Lion's Roar in confusion.
She had been using it for ages. She knew that sword better than anyone, yet now it had suddenly become something else entirely.
Keqing lifted her head and looked at Ryou. "What happened to it?"
"Surprised?" Ryou asked.
"Surprised, my foot. It's prettier, sure, but... it feels kind of strange to use," Keqing said honestly.
"It's fine. You'll get used to it after a while."
"Mm... I still feel like you're hiding something from me." Keqing looked at him suspiciously.
"Keqing. What could I possibly hide from you?" Ryou rubbed her head.
"Stop that. You've messed my hair up again." Keqing shot him a glare and went back to fixing it.
Ryou smiled and glanced outside. "Once we've had breakfast, we can go find Xingqiu. I still don't know how things are going on his side."
"Even though Uncle said the lottery would definitely be popular in Mondstadt, I'm still not completely at ease."
"Your uncle has been running the Feiyun Commerce Guild for years. His eye for business won't be wrong. You don't need to worry," Keqing said as she finally finished fixing her hair.
After leaving the room and eating breakfast, Ryou noticed that neither Shenhe nor Lumine was in their rooms. They had apparently gone out already.
"That's your fault. They probably got tired of waiting for you." Keqing rolled her eyes at him.
"Hmph." She shot him another glare.
After walking around for a while, Ryou soon found Xingqiu's shop.
"Ryou, Keqing, you're here." Xingqiu lit up the moment he saw Ryou and Keqing and quickly ushered them inside.
The shop was packed. Several employees were busy selling tickets to Mondstadters, and mixed in with the noise were excited shouts and plenty of bitter groans.
The upper floor was a little quieter, but not by much. It was still noisy, and still full of people.
"Business is doing well," Keqing said.
"It's more or less what I expected. Mondstadt people can accept this kind of thing, so... business is booming." Xingqiu explained, "Since opening the shop here, I've already sold fifty thousand tickets."
Keqing sucked in a breath. "That's five million Mora already?"
"Mm." Xingqiu nodded.
Then he noticed that Ryou didn't look very pleased, as if something was weighing on his mind. "Ryou, is there a problem?"
"There is." Ryou nodded.
Keqing turned to look at him, but stayed quiet.
"Ryou, tell me what you think. I can use it as a reference."
"You should put up a notice telling people to buy rationally," Ryou said. "What happens if someone bankrupts themselves over lottery tickets?"
The moment Xingqiu heard that, he nodded seriously. "You're right. I overlooked that. I'll arrange it right away."
Keqing felt a genuine sense of admiration for Ryou.
If it were anyone else, they would probably have been dazzled by the profits already.
If that ended in disaster, by the time they realized it, it would already be too late.
But Ryou could still think of that in the middle of all this money.
That alone was impressive.
"And when we operate in Mondstadt, after taxes, take another five to ten percent and use it to help poor families there." Ryou thought for a moment, then added, "That way, if people start talking, we'll have an answer."
"That's a great idea." Xingqiu's eyes lit up. "I'll contact the Knights of Favonius later."
He truly approved of Ryou's plan.
And more than that, Xingqiu realized he had not considered any of this himself. The gap between him and Ryou was still quite large. He really needed to learn more from him.
"That's a very good approach," Keqing said. "It avoids a lot of trouble. Even if something really does happen, we won't be stuck on the back foot."
"Let's get those things in place first." Ryou glanced downstairs.
But the moment he noticed someone in the crowd, his expression changed.
Why was she here?
"Who?" Keqing stood up and looked down as well.
"Yanfei."
That voice reached Yanfei below. She lifted her head and immediately spotted Keqing and Ryou upstairs.
"Talk about bad luck," Ryou muttered.
"Ryou," Keqing called out.
"Let's go down. Since we've run into them, we can't just pretend we didn't." Keqing still felt a little unhappy with Yanfei, especially after how badly she had bitten her husband.
"Alright." Ryou nodded.
When they came downstairs, Yanfei was not alone.
There were several people with her.
Two of them were familiar faces—Kuki Shinobu and Arataki Itto.
The other two were Eula and Amber.
"Yanfei, I didn't expect to run into you here," Keqing said with a smile as she walked over.
"We meet again," Ryou added.
"Hmph. I didn't want to run into you either." Just thinking about what happened yesterday was enough to make Yanfei angry again. Then she turned to Keqing and said, "Keqing, what I did about the Ministry was for Liyue Harbor's sake. I hope you can understand that."
"It's alright." Keqing shook her head.
"Keqing, we meet again." Amber smiled. "The last time we met was during the Stormterror incident. I've been buried in work lately."
"We meet again." Keqing smiled back.
"I'm Eula. It's a pleasure to meet you, Keqing," Eula said.
Ryou glanced at Eula and found that she looked even better in person than he remembered.
She was tall, striking, and carried herself with a sharp, heroic sort of grace, while still having a certain softness to her figure.
She wasn't like Ningguang, whose appeal came from those lush, full curves.
Eula's body had a firmer kind of softness instead—tight, toned, and the kind that would probably feel just as good in an entirely different way.
[End of chapter]
[200 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
[Check out my Patreon to read 20+ chapters ahead]
[[email protected]/BellAshelia]
[Thanks for your support!]