"Ryou-sama!"
"Ryou-sama!"
The moment the Ministry of Civil Affairs staff saw Ryou arrive, they all called out to him.
Ryou stepped into the office, noticed Yanfei, and immediately guessed part of what this was about. "Get back to work. I have something to arrange in a bit."
"Yes!" Huixin and the others answered at once.
"Ryou, I need to talk to you about something important," Yanfei said.
"Alright. Come to my office." Ryou turned and headed inside.
Once they were in the office, Ryou set the paperwork aside, took out a teapot, and brewed a pot of adepti tea.
The fragrance alone made him feel noticeably better. Then he released two streams of cooling breath that spread through the Ministry before pouring Yanfei a cup.
"Yanfei, what is it you wanted to discuss?" Ryou asked.
He hadn't caused any new trouble lately, and Yanfei clearly didn't like him. Since she never came to him without a reason, her suddenly showing up here was obviously suspicious.
"Ryou, last night I saw a hand, a pair of eyes, and... a pair of ears moving around Liyue Harbor. They fought Signora and even destroyed a building."
Yanfei fixed him with a stare.
Ryou immediately remembered that Hand, Eye, and Ear had taken leave last night, so he hurriedly checked the records.
When he saw that Eye had gone from Laser Eyes to Demolition Eyes after entering Darkened Mode, he was taken aback.
What the hell happened last night?
He took a sip of tea and used Eye to look back over what had happened.
At first, the scene looked normal enough.
Then he saw Hand steal the Gnosis.
And actually succeed.
But what came next left Ryou stunned.
Why was Hand being so damn restless?
Why was it groping Signora all over?
By the time he got to the later part, Ryou could feel the heat rising in him. The sensation and the scene were far too stimulating.
"Ahem—" He got too worked up and choked on his tea.
"Ryou, you don't want what happened last night getting out, do you?" Yanfei finally showed her real hand.
Pfft!
The moment Ryou heard that, he sprayed a mouthful of tea straight out—
right into Yanfei's face.
"Ryou!" Yanfei clenched her law book and hurled it at him.
"Ow!" Ryou failed to react in time and took the hit cleanly.
"Yanfei, are you trying to murder me?" Ryou snapped, tossing the law book into his pocket world before striding over to her in annoyance.
Yanfei showed no fear at all, even with him standing right in front of her.
"What was that supposed to mean, spraying me in the face like that?" she said angrily. "Ryou, do you believe I won't expose every filthy thing you've done?"
"You're a petty man who abuses his authority, and you—mmph!"
Before she could keep going, Ryou clamped a hand over her mouth and shoved her back against the wall.
Yanfei instantly felt the pressure of a man closing in on her.
Especially when she felt that part of him against her.
Her whole face flushed red.
Ryou pinned her in place and stared at her. "Yanfei, there may be misunderstandings between us, but there's no need for you to take it this far."
"You..." Yanfei glared at him, panic and anger mixing together. "Let go of me. I... I won't say anything."
Ryou released her and stepped back. "Yanfei, is there anything else?"
"You... hmph! Give me back my law book!" Yanfei glared at him.
"You threw it at me. I'm keeping it for a few days." Ryou glanced at her and took another sip of tea.
"Yanfei, you're always accusing me of breaking the law. But what about you? You came to the Ministry to threaten me with this. Do you really think that's appropriate?"
"I..." Yanfei had no answer.
But the moment she thought back to what had just happened, the anger surged right back up, and she could only glare at him in silence.
"Don't look at me like that. You came here because you want me to lower the difficulty of the legal advisor exam, didn't you? I can't help you with that."
"Besides, the requirements have already been issued. What's done is done. Threatening me won't change anything." Ryou poured her another cup of tea.
Yanfei shot him a look, picked up the cup, and took a few sips before finally calming down a little.
"Hmph. You really are a terrible man! Fine... I won't ask you to change the exam anymore!"
She drained the cup in one go.
"But even putting that aside, your Ministry is planning to go to Mondstadt for fun. That clearly violates work regulations!"
"And one more thing—give me back my law book. If you don't, I'll go outside and tell everyone you seduced me... and that I'm even carrying your child!"
Ryou's face turned dark.
"You call yourself a legal advisor? This is just shameless blackmail!"
"Then answer me—are you giving it back or not?" Yanfei tugged her clothes open a little more and glared at him. "When the time comes, who do you think they'll believe—me or you? I... w-what are you doing?!"
Before she could finish, Ryou grabbed her thigh and pulled her leg apart.
Yanfei felt a sudden chill. Her face burned red on the spot, and fury rushed straight to her head.
She lunged forward and bit down hard on his arm.
"Hey—Yanfei, you... ah!" Ryou tried to struggle free, but in the next instant Yanfei sank her teeth in even harder.
"Let go!" Ryou shouted.
"You... you actually dared to grope me there!" Yanfei had just felt him smack and squeeze her backside, and the sensation made her even madder.
She refused to let go of his arm, clearly determined to bite a chunk out of him.
"Hiss—you've lost your mind!" Ryou winced in pain.
Lumine and Keqing both bit hard enough, but Yanfei was biting like she genuinely wanted blood.
She kept hitting and hammering at him while she bit down, and the pain only got worse.
In the end, Ryou had no choice but to go lower.
Sure enough, Yanfei finally let go.
But the look in her eyes was so furious it was practically spitting fire.
"Ryou, I'm going to kill you!" Yanfei looked ready to murder him on the spot. This bastard had gone straight for her lower body. He had gone way too far.
"Stop!" Ryou quickly backed off and put some distance between them. "I'll give you the law book back, alright?"
"Give it back!" Yanfei snapped.
Ryou took it out and handed it over, rubbing his arm as he did. The bite looked so deep it felt like she had almost torn the flesh off.
"Are you insane?"
"You deserved it! Who told you to touch me? And then you even..." The more Yanfei talked, the angrier she got. She genuinely wanted to kill him.
"How is that all my fault?" Ryou backed up farther and pointed toward the door. "If you're done here, leave. I... I'm not keeping you any longer."
"You think I wanted to stay in your office?" Yanfei angrily yanked the door open—
and the moment she stepped out, she found a number of Ministry staff already looking over.
Then she stormed off in a rage.
Huixin stared in shock and said quietly, "Zhongli... do you think they...?"
A woman nearby lowered her voice and said, "Did you hear what was going on just now? Yanfei came out with her clothes all messed up. Something definitely happened in there."
"Damn... that was wild."
"Look at Ryou-sama' arm... good grief, that bite is huge!"
"That's brutal..."
...
Ryou didn't notice any of it. He went straight to Bubu Pharmacy.
"Ryou... what happened? Did a dog bite you?" Baizhu asked.
"Can you talk like a normal person?" Ryou shot him a glare, then added darkly, "A crazy woman bit me."
"I don't think it was just one woman," Changsheng said. "At least three. The bite marks are different, and so are the locations."
"Changsheng, shut up!" Ryou snapped.
Baizhu coughed awkwardly and started applying medicine. "Ryou, you should still be a little more careful."
"Thanks." Ryou nodded.
After paying Mora, Ryou glanced outside and got up to head back to the Ministry to arrange things.
But when he returned, he found Ningguang and Baiwen already there.
"What happened?" Ryou asked.
"Yanfei took the matter to Yuehai Pavilion," Ningguang said, glancing at him and noticing the bandages on his arm. "You may still go to Mondstadt, but the rest of the Ministry staff may not."
At that, the expressions of the Ministry staff all darkened. But none of them could say much, so they lowered their heads instead.
"That woman..." Ryou thought of Yanfei and immediately felt his temper rise. He looked around at the others. "Sit down. We'll talk."
"No." Ningguang shook her head and explained, "This time, Yanfei raised the matter with me on behalf of the public, and her reasoning and evidence are both solid."
"And there's more. She accused you of acting lawlessly and abusing your authority. Even if you remain in the Ministry, you can no longer stay on as its head."
"What?!"
One of the Ministry staff shot to his feet.
"Ningguang-sama, Ryou-sama is the one holding this whole place together!"
"So is everyone else!" Huixin said at once.
"Ningguang-sama, Ryou-sama has been diligent and serious in his work. He hasn't done anything wrong. Miss Yanfei is clearly slandering him on purpose!"
...
One after another, the Ministry staff all started speaking up for him.
Ningguang was genuinely surprised.
She hadn't expected so many people in the Ministry to trust Ryou this deeply, let alone speak up for him so readily.
And she could tell it was sincere.
That alone was impressive enough to make even her feel a little admiration.
After all, this kind of loyalty couldn't be bought with Mora alone.
It took real effort to build something like that.
Even she herself had paid a heavy price to achieve it.
Ryou looked over the Ministry staff and said, "There's no need to get worked up. Even if I can't stay on as the Ministry's head, the Ministry still listens to me, doesn't it?"
"If this matter gets blown up any further, it'll hurt the Ministry too. As for this trip, we'll just find another chance."
"Don't worry. Once Zhongli and I return to Liyue Harbor, I'll bring every one of you a gift."
"And you don't need to worry about me leaving either."
"Now get back to work. Ningguang, let's talk inside."
"Alright."
Ningguang nodded and followed Ryou into the Ministry office.
The moment they stepped inside, she shut the door, wrapped her arms around him from behind, and gently touched his wound.
"Does it still hurt?"
[End of chapter]
[200 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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