Keqing's Office Romance Plan

Though they were merely dull, basic movements, in the girl's hands, they carried an indescribable smoothness and elegance, pleasing to the eye.

The chilly morning breeze tousled the girl's clothes and cherry-pink hair, yet she showed no impatience at all. Every movement was meticulous, and her amber eyes were calm and profound, like a cold pool deep in the mountains.

His pace unconsciously slowed. Watching the girl practice swordsmanship, Ye Ming found himself entranced for a moment.

"What's wrong?"

Fu Hua, who had been running beside Ye Ming, saw him stop and raised her head in confusion. When she saw his expression, she was startled.

"Ye Zi, y-you're crying?"

"Crying?"

Startled awake by Fu Hua's voice, Ye Ming realized in astonishment that his eyes felt sore. He reached up to touch them and found tears on his hand.

"I..."

Ye Ming opened his mouth, but did not know what to say.

Looking again at the pink-haired girl practicing sword swings, her posture and movements remained as graceful and beautiful as ever. Yet that inexplicable flutter and nostalgia from before had vanished completely. As the morning breeze swept past, everything that had just happened seemed like nothing more than an illusion.

"I just think she looks a little familiar."

Ye Ming offered a casual explanation, his gaze still fixed on the pink-haired girl practicing with her sword.

Just familiar?

For that brief instant, Ye Ming had suddenly felt an urge to practice sword swings together with her.

It was an impulse, yet so vague it felt like an illusion. At the same time, it was as ordinary and natural as eating or drinking, as though he had once repeated the same exercises with her countless times.

The feeling vanished in an instant. Ye Ming had never had any contact with Japanese kendo. In the past, he would surely have assumed that he had merely been captivated by the girl's beauty and bearing, leading to a false impression. But ever since meeting Laffey, over the past few days, he had found himself thinking far more than before.

"That pink-haired girl."

Ye Ming pointed at the pink-haired girl practicing sword swings in the open space. "She's the girl who was in the living room last night, right? Who is she? What's her name?"

Following the direction Ye Ming pointed, Fu Hua saw the pink-haired girl practicing sword swings and was startled again.

With her keen instincts, she had somehow failed to sense the girl's existence during their run. Even now, she could clearly see a girl practicing sword swings with a single glance, but the moment she stopped relying on sight, the open space ahead remained completely empty to Fu Hua's senses. It was as though the sword-practicing girl had no physical body at all, merely an illusory reflection.

This was the extraordinary realm of Clear Mirror, Still Water. A swordsman at this level, even an ordinary person with a frail body and no supernatural power, would be someone anyone had to treat cautiously as long as she held a sword.

This person...

For the first time, Fu Hua had directly witnessed the realm of the pink-haired girl's swordsmanship. She was both shocked and surprised, remaining silent for quite a while before introducing her. "She's Yae Sakura's friend. She's temporarily living with Yae Sakura at the moment. As for her name, I think it was Okita Souji."

"Okita Souji?"

Ye Ming was startled. He immediately thought of the three Servants who had vanished from his Chaldea last night—Okita Souji, Jeanne Alter, and Scáthach.

Could it be her?

Ye Ming looked at the pink-haired girl's exquisite features and vaguely had a premonition. The girl practicing swordsmanship was very likely the Miss Okita from his Chaldea.

But...

Why did a girl from a game give him such a feeling of familiarity, as though they had spent a long time together before?

Ye Ming did not understand.

He had not felt any inexplicable flutter when it came to Laffey. Only during the time he spent with Laffey had he clearly felt the little girl's deep, weighty feelings for him.

Ye Ming did not understand. He watched Okita Souji practice her swordsmanship. The girl seemed to have noticed him and Fu Hua standing by the roadside, but she showed no intention of coming over to greet them and continued practicing sword swings.

Seeing that, Ye Ming did not feel it was appropriate to go up and strike up a conversation directly. He could only wait until he came home from work that evening and find a chance to test the waters.

After finishing their morning run, Ye Ming went back, took a shower, went downstairs to grab some breakfast, then got on the subway and headed to work.

He first went to the company to clock in. Then, amid Sister Wang's enthusiastic, "For the time being, just focus on maintaining your relationship with Liyue International. You don't need to come here to clock in," Ye Ming was pushed out of the company again. Sister Wang even sent her own driver to take him to the Liyue International office building.

The moment he got out of the car, Ye Ming saw Keqing's little secretary, Zhou Keke, standing foolishly downstairs and playing on her phone with a bored expression.

"Secretary Zhou?"

Ye Ming hesitantly greeted her.

"Huh? M-Mr. Ye!?"

Seeing Ye Ming, Zhou Keke, who had been idly playing with her phone, shuddered in fright. It was like looking up halfway through playing on her phone in class, only to meet the homeroom teacher's deadly stare. Even her voice trembled. "I-I, President Keqing told me to wait for you here. I-I've been waiting for half an hour. I was so bored that I-I just..."

"I understand, I understand. We're all working people. I won't tattle to your boss."

Ye Ming smiled and comforted the frightened girl, silently sighing to himself.

Just from the girl's reaction, Ye Ming knew that she definitely knew about him and Keqing.

"Take me upstairs."

Following Zhou Keke to the top floor, Ye Ming pushed open the office door. Behind the desk, Keqing, dressed in a silver professional skirt suit, sat with her hands clasped beneath her chin, smiling at him.

Ye Ming closed the door and let out a soft breath.

The legendary office romance would begin today.

Keqing's Office Romance Plan

Though she was a rookie secretary who had just graduated and lacked work experience, Zhou Keke at least had enough awareness to read the room.

The moment Zhou Keke saw the way the man and woman in the office looked at each other, she sensibly slipped out in secret. Even after leaving, she did not forget to carefully shut the office door tight.

What would happen in there?

The moment that curious thought arose, countless images of lewd entanglement instantly popped into Zhou Keke's mind, making her face flush crimson with embarrassment.

Zhou Keke, Zhou Keke, you're so dirty. President Keqing is such a beautiful and outstanding girl. How could she possibly do something so indecent in an office!

Recently, her head had been full of strange plots. She had to read fewer Korean comics from now on, lest she ruin her brain.

Zhou Keke silently made up her mind and returned to her workstation.

The boss could flirt during work hours, but as a wage earner, she still had to work properly.

Inside the office.

Ye Ming swept his gaze around the office and discovered that a new desk and chair had been added diagonally opposite Keqing's desk. A desktop computer sat on it, complete with an enormous curved monitor. The case beside the display looked cool as well, and it came with a mouse and keyboard. Judging by the style, however, it looked less like office equipment and more like something for gaming.

Seeing Ye Ming's gaze land on the computer, Keqing rose from her seat and walked behind him with a smile. She pushed him into the chair behind the desk, pressed the power button, then moved behind the chair, resting her hands on its back and placing her chin on Ye Ming's shoulder.

"I remember you used to really like playing games, so I had Coco get someone to put together a top-of-the-line computer for you. Hurry and see whether you like it. If you don't, I'll have someone replace it."

Ye Ming looked at their reflection on the screen. The girl's chin rested on his shoulder, their faces so close they were almost touching. As she spoke, a few strands of her hair fell loose and brushed against his cheek, making it itch. There was not the slightest office atmosphere in this scene. Instead, it felt more like a young married couple flirting in their bedroom at home.

"I haven't played games in a long time."

Looking at the game icons that had already been downloaded onto the computer, Ye Ming felt a little sentimental. "When I had just graduated, I was too busy with work and didn't have the time or means to play. Later, after I quit my job and came to this city, I had the time, but I no longer had the energy I did right after graduation. At first, I still played games, but later on, at most, I just watched other people's streams and fanfiction."

As he spoke, Ye Ming turned his head slightly, looked at Keqing's exquisite profile, and smiled. "Besides, girls generally wouldn't want their boyfriends to get addicted to games, would they?"

"Not boyfriend. Husband."

Keqing very seriously corrected Ye Ming's mistake. "It's fine even if you get addicted to games. As long as I can be with you, even if I'm just watching you play games beside you, I'll feel safe and happy."

Keqing boldly recited the sweet words she had collected online. "I'm already very rich. It actually doesn't matter if you don't work. I'm yours, so of course my money is your money too. Compared to being hardworking and ambitious or whatever, I'd rather you do things that interest you."

"Because..."

Keqing's tone was gentle. "If you're happy, I'm happy. If you're happy in life, I'm happy in life."

"Wouldn't that make me a kept man?" Ye Ming laughed. "Do you really want to keep me that badly?"

"How is that being a kept man?"

Keqing argued confidently. "Without you, there wouldn't be the me I am now. I came to this world because of you. Because of my connection to you, I can remain in this world and freely use powers that do not belong to this world. That's how Liyue International came to exist. If you really think about it, all of this originally belonged to you."

"If that makes you uncomfortable..."

Keqing tilted her head and thought for a moment. Then her eyes lit up as she came up with a good idea.

"Then I'll transfer Liyue International into your name and give all my money to you, keeping nothing for myself. If I need money in the future, I'll ask you for it. Wouldn't that make you the one keeping me?"

Good lord, that was an incredibly hardcore solution.

Ye Ming was amused by Keqing's words and laughed. "They say men turn bad when they have money. Aren't you afraid I'll use the money to find a beautiful female secretary?"

"There's nothing I could do about that, I suppose."

Keqing hugged Ye Ming from behind, resting her head on his shoulder with a resentful tone. "Because I like you, because I can't leave you, even if you find a beautiful female secretary with a youthful face and huge breasts, even if you two really do something in the office, I could only pretend not to know. I'd hide outside the office door alone, listen to what you were doing, lean against the door, cover my mouth, and silently cry."

What kind of palace-drama plot was this?

Ye Ming was stunned. Why was this Keqing so different from the Keqing in the game?

He had a feeling that even stranger plots would emerge if they continued talking, so Ye Ming did not dare go on. He hurriedly changed the subject. "Since we're already together, is there still any need to continue this project?"

This project had originally been Keqing's method of getting close to Ye Ming. Now that they were together, Ye Ming naturally did not want his wife wasting money like this.

"Of course we have to continue."

How could Keqing let go of such a perfect chance to have an office romance? She immediately refuted him, then explained, "You were indeed a factor at the beginning of this project, but the cooperation itself is normal cooperation. There's no preferential treatment or loss involved. This project was originally part of the company's strategic plans. The cooperation benefits both sides, so there's no reason to end it."