Early the next morning.
Ryen, who woke up early, first took a comfortable bath with Ganyu to fully wake up.
Just like an ordinary household, after washing up, Ganyu went to prepare breakfast, while Ryen went to wake Klee and the others.
The furniture mod had only appeared for a single day. Logically speaking, nothing should have been researched to completion yet.
Fortunately, the furniture mod wasn't difficult. All the materials were already available; the only requirement was memorizing the crafting recipes.
At worst, the issue was that the furniture mod contained thousands of crafting recipes, far too many to memorize outright.
Even copying them all down couldn't be done in a single night.
Thus, after dinner the previous evening, with nothing else to do, Ryen had simply crafted a batch of furniture for everyone.
They could take it back and install it themselves, at the very least, daily life would become far more convenient.
And as Ryen had expected, once modern furniture appeared, it brought significant improvements to daily life.
The simplest example: after breakfast, Ganyu no longer needed to wash dishes.
She could just load them into the dishwasher.
After eating, Klee and Nahida ran off to play in the garden on the trampoline.
The night before, Ryen had taken some time to build a massive trampoline in the garden. Klee and Nahida bounced on it like little flower spirits, flying freely through the air.
Ryen lay sprawled in a rocking chair, listening to music playing from the nearby speakers, while Ganyu vacuumed the house.
This kind of life made Ryen feel as though he had returned to the modern, convenient lifestyle of his previous world.
It was still early, and Ningguang and Jean hadn't arrived yet.
After all, they were going to be away for a full seven days and hadn't received any official reports during that time.
So many matters had piled up, they would naturally need quite some time to arrange everything.
Ryen wasn't in a hurry.
There was still a week before the Sabzeruz Festival. During this week, there would be no major moves.
At most, they would study the furniture mod or continue refining Slash Blades and witchcraft.
Of course, if possible, Ryen hoped to find a wizard tower during this week.
If he could trade for a spellbook, even better.
As he pondered this, Ryen, eyes closed, suddenly sensed danger.
He snapped his eyes open and raised his hands.
In the next instant, Guizhong landed perfectly in his arms.
If he hadn't cushioned her fall, and if the rocking chair weren't sturdy, everything might have collapsed on the spot.
"Guizhong Unit! Emergency landing successful!"
Guizhong said cheerfully, her excitement impossible to hide.
If she weren't worried about Ganyu inside noticing, she would've shouted it out loud.
However…
Neither Guizhong nor Ryen noticed that inside the house, Ganyu, deeply engrossed in figuring out how to use the vacuum cleaner, had glanced over at them.
She shook her head helplessly and looked away.
Among so many people, others aside, at the very least Ryen's girlfriends all knew about what was going on between Guizhong and Ryen…
Ryen pinched Guizhong's cheek with mock annoyance.
"If my body weren't tough, that jump would've broken my ribs!"
"I'm not that heavy!"
Guizhong puffed up her cheeks in protest, then immediately leaned closer with a grin.
"Good morning! I want a loving kiss!"
Ryen chuckled and teased her.
"Did you brush your teeth?"
"???"
Guizhong froze.
After a moment, she glared at Ryen indignantly.
"You jerk! Even if I'm the God of Dust, I'm still a god! Pure inside and out, and how could I possibly, "
Before she could finish, Ryen gently wrapped an arm around her and silenced her with a kiss.
All of Guizhong's complaints vanished instantly. She closed her eyes in happiness and hugged Ryen's neck tightly.
This time, Ryen didn't touch her anywhere improper, it was simply a pure, gentle kiss.
Soft and delicate, enough to make Guizhong lose herself in it.
After a moment, Ryen pulled back slightly and rubbed the tip of her delicate nose.
"Good morning. I still like you very much today."
"T-That's so embarrassing, saying such cheesy things this early in the morning!"
Guizhong giggled, resting her head against his chest as she murmured softly,
"I'm very satisfied… I like you even more now…"
The rocking chair swayed gently.
Though it was the end of the year, Liyue Harbor hadn't seen any snow, and the weather wasn't cold.
A warm breeze drifted by. The rocking chair rocked lightly as Guizhong nestled into Ryen's arms, breathing in his familiar scent.
Neither of them thought about anything, simply enjoying this rare moment of peace.
After a week of intense fighting in the Twilight Forest, this calm was especially precious.
Even so, Ryen didn't stop paying attention to his surroundings.
For now, he didn't want to expose his relationship with Guizhong.
Not because it was bad,
Just because…
It was more fun this way.
"Why didn't you touch me just now?"
Guizhong looked at Ryen curiously, blinking as she teased,
"Did Ganyu drain you too thoroughly last night, so you're not in the mood anymore?"
"What nonsense."
Ryen glanced at her sideways and replied calmly,
"If I were that easy to empty out, do you think I could keep Ganyu, Ningguang, and the others all satisfied?"
"That's true…"
Guizhong nodded thoughtfully.
"If you feel uncomfortable, I can help satisfy you."
Ryen said it casually, then leaned back toward her again.
Guizhong rolled her eyes, she hadn't expected to dig her own grave like this.
But there was nothing about her that Ryen didn't already know, so it hardly mattered.
"In a few days, come with me to Guili Plains…"
Guizhong murmured softly.
"I want to see Guili Plains once more. I heard the Glaze Lilies are blooming, I want to see them again."
"After that… I won't have anything left to cling to. Then I'll belong to you completely."
Ryen kissed the top of her head gently and replied softly,
"Alright…"
His brows twitched. He withdrew his hand and patted her lightly.
"Get up. Someone's here."
Guizhong pouted in dissatisfaction, but obediently got up and tidied her clothes.
She sat to the side, propping her cheek up as she stared into space.
Not long after, the still-rough-looking Azhdaha walked in with Xiao and the others.
Zhongli and Moon Carver weren't present.
"Good morning, Mr. Ryen."
Azhdaha spoke in his deep, muffled voice. Ryen rocked lazily in his chair and smiled.
"Why is it just you guys? Where are Zhongli and the others?"
Xiao stepped forward quickly, using Ryen as cover to distance himself from the endlessly chattering Menogias.
Everyone had their own troubles.
For example, Moon Carver had been thrilled to revive Mountain Shaper, but afterward, Mountain Shaper made a habit of deliberately showing off his horns in front of him every day.
Moon Carver was sick of it.
As for Xiao…
Menogias wasn't nearly as obnoxious, but he acted like an overbearing old mother.
Every day, he nagged Xiao about wearing more clothes, eating more vegetables, and growing taller.
People's joys and sorrows differed, but their frustrations were the same.
Azhdaha scratched his head and replied,
"Morax went beneath the Chasm to look for Bosacius."
"Cloud Retainer and the others went to ancient battlefields and various domains to search for fragments of old friends' souls."
Ryen raised his brows and joked,
"Not easy. Retired Zhongli finally got moving."
Azhdaha chuckled awkwardly, recalling how the night before, when they drank and chatted at Zhongli's place, Zhongli had complained in eight out of ten sentences about Ryen dragging him back into hard labor.
For an old dragon enjoying retirement, that was simply cruel.
Not long after Azhdaha and the others sat down, Ningguang and her group finally arrived.
Judging from their exhausted expressions, they clearly hadn't rested at all the night before, likely working through the night.
Ryen felt a pang of sympathy and opened his arms toward Ningguang.
She didn't mind the crowd at all, stepping forward quickly and resting against Ryen.
Eyes half-closed, she murmured softly,
"Before I came, I had someone notify Albedo to come over. Dehya and Nilou also sent word to Sumeru last night."
"It shouldn't take more than three days for them to send over a batch of elite scholars."
Ryen gently patted Ningguang's back and said softly,
"You've worked hard. Rest for a bit."
Ningguang nodded faintly. In the blink of an eye, her breathing steadied, she had already fallen asleep.
Ryen sighed.
Since governance shifted to human administration, Ningguang and Keqing had been overwhelmed.
Things had only just eased up recently, and then a new mod affecting civilian life appeared.
Just the site selection, construction, and detailed planning for furniture cities had taken the two of them over two hours of discussion the night before.
Nearby, Jean, also visibly tired, glanced at Ningguang with a hint of envy.
They had both worked overnight handling affairs.
Yet Ningguang could rest directly in Ryen's arms, while Jean still had to force herself to stay alert.
She sighed inwardly and sat down, adjusting her state.
"Ehe~! Did you all try out the furniture mod properly last night?"
Venti looked around excitedly, grinning.
"It's really convenient. Once it's widely promoted, civilian living standards are going to skyrocket again."
Diluc nodded slowly and said seriously,
"Indeed. From every perspective, the furniture mod offers the greatest improvement to quality of life among all current mods."
"It's the most suitable mod so far to be promoted among ordinary citizens."
Ryen smiled lightly.
It was obvious from a single night's feedback that everyone rated the furniture mod highly.
That was entirely within his expectations.
Teyvat wasn't purely an ancient world, yet its technological level was baffling.
Call it advanced, yet there were no refrigerators or air conditioners, and even firearms were limited to Fatui-style muskets.
Call it backward,
And yet they could build Gundams.
This erratic technological state was oddly delicate.
For Teyvat's gods and Archons, however, aside from modern MC firearms, everything else felt more or less the same.
After all, the furniture mod existed purely to enhance quality of life.
Ryen didn't interfere in Teyvat's affairs, but once the modernized new city in the MC world was completed,
That fully modern city would become one of the greatest miracles across both worlds.
A future where the MC world thrived with life was finally within reach.
As he pondered this, Albedo arrived in a hurry with Sucrose.
Looking at Ryen, Albedo asked softly,
"Do you have something new for me to research again? I happen to not be very busy lately."
Ryen smiled knowingly.
"I was waiting for you to say that. Don't worry, you're about to get busy. We've opened a new mod."
At that, a sense of foreboding instantly rose in Albedo's heart.
Before he could say anything,
Ryen picked up Ningguang and led everyone straight toward the portal.
"We'll talk inside. Today, we officially begin researching the new mod."