Ren listened to Yanfei's question, his gaze drifting from her curious, intelligent face to the sprawling, golden city below. He thought for a long, quiet moment, not because he didn't know the answer, but because the answer was so simple, so fundamental to his entire existence in this new world, that it was sometimes hard to put into words.
"When I first woke up in this world," he began, his voice a soft, simple, and utterly sincere, murmur, "I had nothing. I was alone, on a cold mountain, with clothes that were too big and a past I couldn't remember. And then, my Master, Cloud Retainer, she found me. She gave me a home. She gave me safety. She gave me… a family."
He then looked at Yanfei, a small, warm, and deeply grateful, smile on his face. "And then, I met my big sister, Ganyu. On one of our first days in the Harbor, she gave me a pouch full of mora. A lot of it. And she told me, 'If you ever need more, all you have to do is ask, and I will give it to you'."
He looked down at his own, small hands, a simple truth in his eyes. "So, you see," he said, "I have never, not for a single second since coming to Liyue, had to worry about money. I have a home. I have a family that loves me. I have everything I could ever possibly need. To ask for more… it would just feel… greedy."
Yanfei was silent, her usual, sharp, and slightly cynical, lawyer's mind completely disarmed by the pure, unadulterated, and utterly, wonderfully, simple, sincerity of his answer.
"And as for the fame," Ren continued, a new, more thoughtful, and slightly more strategic, note entering his voice, "well, the Qixing has never officially, publicly, announced that I am the 'inventor'. Yes, there are rumors. The people in the city, and even the Fatui, they are aware that I am… involved. That I am a part of the process."
He shrugged, a small, simple, and surprisingly, wise, gesture. "But I think most people, especially the ones who might want to cause trouble, will just assume that these are all Master Xianyun's projects. That she is the true, adeptal genius behind it all, and I am just… her little helper. The one who hands her the tools, or comes up with a small, clever idea every now and then."
He looked at Yanfei, and his glowing azure eyes held a flicker of the same, profound and sometimes chilling, strategic intelligence that she had seen in the eyes of the Tianquan herself.
"And that," he finished, his voice a quiet, almost conspiratorial, whisper, "is perfectly fine with me. In fact, it's better that way. It keeps me out of the spotlight. It keeps me out of the eyes of those who might think of hurting me, or of trying to use me, and my ideas, for their own, evil things."