At the judges' table, Su Bai's brows had been furrowed ever since Shenhe left his side. Damn it. Someone actually dared to attack Cloud Retainer in broad daylight? How bold could they be?
Forget it. No use dwelling on it. With Shenhe and Ganyu around, that person probably wouldn't get away. Right now, he needed to figure out how to slip away under Cloud Retainer's watchful eye. He did not want to experience food poisoning again.
"Su Bai, are you hiding something? Your director noticed your expression was off earlier."
"Though Wangsheng's employee benefits do include a free box and other perks, your director hasn't prepared one for you, an adeptus. Let me think about your symptoms. Hmm, looks like excessive indulgence."
"Don't worry, Su Bai. Your director won't tell anyone. Once the cooking competition is over, I'll buy you some tonics from Baizhu."
Hu Tao, sitting beside Su Bai, expressed her concern. Her choice of words gave Su Bai a headache. Sensing the strange looks from the people around him, he quickly explained.
"Hu Tao, don't let your imagination run wild. I'm perfectly healthy. I just remembered some bad memories and realized I'm about to relive them. That's all."
"Huh?"
Hu Tao was baffled. What was he talking about? She couldn't make heads or tails of it. How strange.
Uncle Tian glanced at Su Bai's not-particularly-robust frame and nodded knowingly. If he remembered correctly, he still had some high-quality tonics confiscated from the Fatui at home. Ningguang had told him to keep them, but an old man like him had no use for them. He'd have someone deliver them to Wangsheng later.
...
On a viewing platform for Liyue's higher-ups, Ganyu had come to cheer for Cloud Retainer. She hadn't come empty-handed. Behind her, she dragged a tightly bound "unknown object."
At first, Ningguang didn't pay much attention to what Ganyu had brought. She assumed it was ingredients for Cloud Retainer. But after a while, when Ganyu still hadn't handed it over, Ningguang took a closer look.
"Cough, Yelan? Why did Ganyu tie you up?"
"Did you get caught peeping on Ganyu?"
The more Ningguang looked, the more familiar the bound figure seemed. After some thought, she recognized Yelan from the clues peeking out of the ropes. Her first thought wasn't to have Yelan untied, but to wonder why the ever-kind Ganyu had bound her up.
"Mmph mmph mmph!"
"This is... Ganyu, what did Yelan do to make you this angry?"
"If Yelan truly did something to wrong you, I'll punish her severely."
Hearing Ningguang's words, Ganyu puffed up with anger. She tossed Yelan into Ningguang's arms and said indignantly:
"Miss Yelan is simply out of control! She just mistook Cloud Retainer for an ordinary crane and tried to shoot her down with an arrow! If I hadn't frozen her Hydro arrow with my Cryo arrow in time, Cloud Retainer would have been ambushed!"
After hearing Ganyu's explanation, Ningguang's eye twitched. This... Yelan, it's not that I don't want to save you, but you went too far. Keqing only mouthed off to an adeptus. You actually tried to attack one.
"Fortunately, I subdued Miss Yelan. Otherwise, if my junior sister Shenhe had sensed something wrong and found her, Miss Yelan would be lucky to escape with only a few broken bones."
"Anyway, I'll leave Miss Yelan to you. Please educate her properly. Not all adepti are as good-tempered as Cloud Retainer."
Ganyu let out a tired sigh and turned to leave. She needed to explain things to Shenhe and still had a mountain of work to do. She had no time to waste here, and she didn't particularly enjoy crowded places.
"Haha, then I'll thank you on Yelan's behalf, Ganyu."
After watching Ganyu leave, Ningguang immediately untied Yelan. Aside from a large bump on her head, Yelan seemed uninjured. Ningguang breathed a sigh of relief. Ganyu had been gentle. Rather than punishing Yelan, she had been protecting her from Shenhe.
"Ow... Secretary Ganyu's swing really hurt. If I remember correctly, isn't her weapon a greatsword? How is she so skilled at knocking people out with a club? And I saw an unknown object gathering Anemo energy, so I acted. I didn't know it was an adeptus."
Yelan rubbed the bump on her head. She never thought she'd be on the receiving end of a sneak attack. How embarrassing. It seemed she couldn't let her guard down even in Liyue Harbor.
"If there's nothing else, I'll head back to investigate The Chasm. Next time, don't call me back unless it's urgent. I've only been back a few days and already got knocked out."
"Heh, that's your own fault. Drawing a bow on an adeptus? Ganyu only gave you one knock. That's already very kind of her."
Yelan huffed but said nothing more. Ningguang smiled slightly and handed her a phone. Seeing the metallic gleam in the sunlight, Yelan's eyes lit up. She snatched it from Ningguang's hand.
"I didn't expect you to give away something this nice."
"It's just a phone. Compared to our relationship, it's nothing."
Ningguang's casual attitude made her three secretaries look at her with anticipation. They wanted one of these amazing phones too. With them, they could help Ningguang complete her tasks more efficiently.
"By the way, I found something strange while investigating The Chasm."
"At some point, a lot of signs of violent destruction appeared in The Chasm. There's also a very dense concentration of Geo energy. It's spread over a wide area, even reaching the Nail of Frost."
Yelan toyed with the phone. If the Geo energy hadn't been so strong, she might have been interested in investigating. But as things stood, the density of that energy made her not want to go anywhere near it. She valued her life.
"Dense Geo energy? It seems quite a few people have sneaked into The Chasm. Yelan, please check the seals I set up. If anything goes wrong with them, contact me immediately."
"Fine. I'm off. Next time you need someone interrogated, find someone else. I prefer dealing with tough nuts to crack."