Ganyu returned to Yujing Terrace.
After Cloud Retainer and Shenhe talked her through it, she'd steadied herself a lot.
The secretaries were relieved to see her back. Yujing Terrace had an endless amount of official work to process, so there were plenty of secretaries on paper—but in reality, most of them existed to support Ganyu. The bulk of that mountain of paperwork was handled by her.
If you dumped it on them, they'd spend three days and three nights and still not have it sorted.
"Ganyu-sama is finally back," a middle-aged secretary said, wiping sweat off his brow. He glanced toward the inner room. "Without Ganyu-sama, we'd be stuck grinding for days at minimum."
"Tell me about it," a younger secretary said. "Without Ganyu-sama, we're finished. Honestly, I'm jealous of Keqing-sama over at the Ministry. I heard Keqing-sama doesn't even go to the Ministry anymore—Ryou handles all the work now."
"Jealous of what?" a chubby secretary muttered. "That's her husband. And I heard that Ryou-san gets everything done perfectly. Even Ganyu-sama and Ningguang-sama respect him."
"So what? I heard he only needed half an hour," someone else said. "The Ministry's workload is enormous—half an hour. Ryou-sama's basically a miracle worker. If he came to Yujing Terrace, he'd take a huge load off Ganyu-sama."
"You think we should apply to have Ryou-sama transferred to Yujing Terrace?"
"Are you insane? You think Keqing-sama would agree? Stop talking and get back to work!"
…
By evening, Xingqiu was getting impatient.
He'd asked Captain Beidou for a favor and made it back from Inazuma ahead of schedule. Now he was standing outside Liuli Pavilion, keeping watch.
"Xu, what's going on?" Xingqiu frowned at the street. "It's already this late. Why hasn't my cousin shown up?"
They were basically at the agreed time. Not seeing him made Xingqiu restless.
His cousin had helped him more than once before. Even his father had said he planned to focus on training him, which had taken a lot of pressure off Xingqiu. So when he went out on a business voyage, he'd taken the chance to swing by Yae Publishing House.
Then he returned to Liyue Harbor and heard the news—
His cousin had gotten married?
And on top of that, he'd joined the Ministry?
Xingqiu's stress shot right back up. He'd also missed the wedding entirely, so of course he needed to make it up to his cousin.
Xu said helplessly, "Xingqiu-sama, I already informed Ryou-sama."
"Then go inform him again," Xingqiu said, still frowning.
"Yes, Xingqiu-sama. I'll go right away!" Xu hurried off.
After Xu left, Xingqiu stayed by the door, lost in thought.
His father had mentioned his cousin married into a prominent family, but hadn't said which one. Still… with his cousin's family situation, marrying the woman he truly wanted couldn't have been easy. Political marriages between houses were far too common.
He couldn't help wondering which family his cousin's wife came from.
"Xingqiu! Why're you standing outside Liuli Pavilion all by yourself?"
A girl bounced up in front of him.
She was lively and pretty, wearing a distinctive hat perched on her head. In Liyue Harbor, there was no one who didn't know her.
It was Hu Tao, Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
Two more girls were with her. One was Xiangling—she and Hu Tao and Xingqiu had grown up together, close since they were kids, and still just as tight now. The last two were Lumine and Paimon.
"Oh—Director, and Xiangling," Xingqiu said. He knew them well enough, but the girl beside them and the floating companion were unfamiliar. "And these two are…?"
"That's Tabibito," Hu Tao said with a grin, nodding at Lumine. "You've heard of her, right?"
"So you're the famous Tabibito," Xingqiu said, forcing a laugh. Lately, all his attention had been on novels and business with Inazuma—this was honestly the first time he'd heard the name. "I've heard a lot about you. I'm Xingqiu."
Lumine could tell he didn't actually recognize her, so she didn't press it. She just smiled. "Hi, Xingqiu. I'm the Tabibito."
"I'm Paimon!" Paimon said.
Xiangling didn't push the point either. She just asked curiously, "So what are you doing here, Xingqiu?"
"Xiangling," Xingqiu said, "we're close, so there's no harm telling you. My cousin got married not long ago, right? I was still in Inazuma back then, so now that I'm back, I wanted to make it up to him. And also celebrate him joining the Ministry…"
Since he was on good terms with Xiangling and the others, he figured he might as well say it.
The moment the words left his mouth, Xiangling, Hu Tao, and Lumine all lit up.
Because recently, there'd only been one person who joined the Ministry.
Ryou.
Wait—
Ryou was Xingqiu's cousin??
[End of chapter]
[[email protected]/BellAshelia]