"From the way you're talking… you've already got someone in mind, don't you?" Ryou's mother asked the moment she saw Keqing come back. "Whose girl is it?"
Keqing hesitated for a moment, then said Ganyu's name anyway.
Ganyu wasn't just stunning—she was kind, steady, and capable. And she and Keqing were as close as sisters. If they became family for real, that would only make things easier.
The moment Ryou's mother heard "Ganyu," she clearly froze.
"Keqing… Ganyu's been working at Yujing Terrace for ages, sure, but she's an adeptus. With her background, that brat of mine doesn't deserve her."
"That's not true," Keqing said calmly. "Ganyu's outstanding in every way. If she helps me, it solves a lot of problems."
"If we pick someone else, we'd probably need more than one. But if it's Ganyu, one is enough. She's capable, and she has an adeptus's body—she can keep him in line."
Keqing watched her reaction and kept going, step by step.
"Mother, would you rather have a whole crowd of daughters-in-law fighting each other for power… or just two who treat you well?"
"Obviously the second," Ryou's mother said at once, frowning. "If I had a whole flock of daughters-in-law, I couldn't stand it either."
Keqing had clearly thought it through. After a beat, Ryou's mother nodded.
"Alright. If that's what you've decided, I'll go to Yujing Terrace later and see Ganyu. It's been a while. Back then, she even showed me around while I worked there."
She smiled as the thought landed.
"Thinking she might become my daughter-in-law someday… I'm happy. Ah—of course. Keqing, you're excellent too."
"Mother…" Keqing couldn't help calling out.
"Hey, I'm telling the truth." Ryou's mother quickly soothed her. "I'm just saying you're the one getting the short end of the stick."
"It's fine," Keqing said, then lowered her voice. "But we can't tell him about this yet. We wait until it's already done—then we talk."
Thinking of both Ryou and Ganyu's personalities, Keqing felt even more certain.
"Fair," Ryou's mother said, then seemed to remember something. After a moment, she said thoughtfully, "The Rite of Descension is coming up soon. Once that's over and things settle down, we find a chance to invite Ganyu to dinner."
She leaned in, eyes bright.
"If Ganyu gets drunk, doesn't that solve everything?"
Keqing went still.
"That… doesn't feel right," she said. "I was thinking more like… letting Ryou and Ganyu build some feelings first. If they actually like each other, the rest will happen naturally."
"Otherwise, if there's nothing there and they're forced together, something's bound to go wrong later."
"That makes sense," Ryou's mother agreed at once, nodding. "Then we'll do it your way."
She lifted her chin, suddenly fired up.
"With the two of us working together, getting Ganyu on our side will be easy!"
"Mother," Keqing said, laughing, "why do I feel like we're the villains here?"
Ryou's mother burst out laughing too.
"Villains, my ass. This is for that brat's own good. I raised him all the way up, and now he's married and I still have to help him from the side."
She poured Keqing a cup of tea, still amused.
"He really ought to thank us."
Keqing took the cup. "If anything, he's the one taking care of me."
"Mother, you have no idea. Ryou's brilliant when it comes to people's livelihood and city planning. Even the old masters respect him. And when I handle official work, it takes me an hour—he finishes in half that time."
"And it's not sloppy either. He wraps everything up cleanly. He's seriously impressive."
Ryou's mother's face lit up with pride.
"Oh? Is that so? Of course he is. That's my son. He didn't embarrass his father."
Once she started, she grew more talkative, and the tension between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law melted away without either of them noticing.
"Right," Ryou's mother said, suddenly remembering. "Do you know Tian? I heard from my husband that he's getting on in years, and he's been thinking about a successor."
"By rights, my husband's position should end up with that brat of mine. But he doesn't seem to want it. Before, we wanted him to go into business too—his second uncle could support him, and doing commerce is convenient."
"But now we don't need to think like that. He's already entered the Ministry of Civil Affairs. If that's the case, he should try for a seat among the Liyue Qixing."
"You talk him into it. And don't worry about Mora—his second uncle runs the Feiyun Commerce Guild. Do you think he'd ever be short on Mora?"
"Second uncle?" Keqing repeated. "Feiyun Commerce Guild?"
Her eyes widened as something clicked.
"Mother… are you saying…?"
She'd never heard this before. The family already held terrifying influence—if they were also tied to the Feiyun Commerce Guild…
Then in Liyue Harbor, the family was practically a giant.
[End of chapter]
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