It wasn't what Baiwen thought?
A body pillow of Lin Yi had appeared in Lady Ningguang's room. Anyone who knew, knew.
Having served her for years, Baiwen naturally knew that her mistress could be a little coy about her feelings.
Since her mistress had spoken, she had to listen as her secretary. Having offended her today, she naturally had to accept responsibility.
"Yes, Lady Ningguang. I didn't see anything. I'll leave as soon as I finish tidying up."
Ningguang seemed to realize that she had been too harsh on her subordinate. After all, it was her own little secret that had been exposed; she shouldn't have taken it out on someone else.
She began to regret treating Baiwen that way.
Both women stared at the little body pillow on the floor.
After a brief silence, Ningguang huffed in frustration, raised a shapely leg, and kicked it away, sending it deep into a corner.
"A child in the city made this for me. I didn't have time to deal with it last night, so I left it on the bed for a moment."
"Although I'm deducting thirty percent of your monthly pay, you've performed well this quarter, so your monthly pay will be doubled. Don't forget to collect it."
A smack followed by a sweet reward-she trusted that Baiwen would be more careful in her work.
Still, her secretaries were all her trusted confidantes. There was little she needed to hide from them.
After Baiwen left, Ningguang locked the door.
Sitting on the bed, she found her heart beginning to race.
She patted her heaving chest to steady her breathing.
Ningguang looked toward the little body pillow she had kicked aside.
They said a brief separation made a reunion sweeter than a honeymoon.
Theirs was indeed a political marriage, but she had decided that she would have only one marriage and one lover in her lifetime.
She was also doing her best to embrace her role as a wife. She couldn't let her life be filled with regrets.
To say she hadn't missed Lin Yi while he was away would have been a lie.
One day, while sipping wine and feeling sentimental, she had made this little body pillow and personally painted Lin Yi's likeness on it.
Naturally, her claim that someone else had given it to her had been a lie.
Almost no one besides Ningguang could have rendered his likeness in such detail.
Without realizing it, Ningguang had already picked up the pillow.
"That wretched man! Look how long it's been, and he still hasn't come back. There's so much to do in Liyue. He must be out there fooling around and slacking off!"
Ningguang pummeled the Lin Yi body pillow.
Her mouth was full of curses for him.
Yet her tone held the cloying sweetness and petulance of a young wife.
"Achoo! Who's bad-mouthing me?"
Lin Yi had gathered his party and was preparing to return the way they had come.
The incentive policy documents had been sent ahead. He was confident that Ningguang would understand his intentions with a single glance.
She would be able to publicize and implement the incentive policy flawlessly.
"By the time we get home, the policy should pretty much be underway. We can't sit idle either. Since we're no longer traveling with the caravan, this is a good chance for everyone to explore deeper into the Guili Plains."
Besides Keqing and Xiangling, Yun Jin had now joined Lin Yi's party.
For certain reasons, Xiao needed to leave with Zhongli for a while. None of them knew what the two were going to do.
Their four-person party consisted of one unpopular standard-banner five-star, two three-stars, and Lin Yi, who had no star rating and wasn't particularly high-level either. If they ran into a high-level monster, they really might have trouble dealing with it.
"By the way, Keqing, what do the Statues of the Seven do?"
Lin Yi asked despite already knowing the answer.
Teyvat had indeed undergone many changes since his arrival. Who knew what the Statues of the Seven did now?
Keqing thought for a moment. The Statues of the Seven were clearly facilities that Vision holders, adventurers, and others used frequently, yet her memories of them felt somewhat hazy.
"The Statues of the Seven allow offerings, blessings, and elemental conversion. Offering materials builds up their energy, and afterward, you can receive blessings that restore stamina and elemental energy."
Under certain special circumstances, they could also convert one type of elemental energy into another. However, supposedly only one blond in the entire continent could do that now. In the past, even gods hadn't been able to switch elements easily.
Hearing this, Lin Yi rubbed his chin in thought.
It seemed that, because of his arrival, the Statues of the Seven had lost their map-revealing and teleport waypoint functions.
That was undoubtedly a major blow to travel and exploration between regions.
But hearing Keqing mention the blond...
Reminded Lin Yi of that sibling duo who could be commissioned to slay a god for just 60 Primogems.
Aether and Lumine, summoned by the Heavenly Principles and cast down into Teyvat...
Looks like those two original protagonists still entered this continent, and they most likely have Paimon, one of the seventy-two demon gods, with them.
He still didn't know how far the blond had progressed. As things stood, Lin Yi's path had yet to intersect with that of the blond siblings.
But Lin Yi could sense that once he made contact and spoke with Aether and Lumine, something unexpected might happen-something beyond either side's control.
Stay alert even in times of peace. Best to prepare before trouble comes. I should sort out what's in front of me first. After all, I'm the Geo Archon. In a sense, I'm an NPC those two blonds, Aether and Lumine, will encounter on their journey.
If the siblings could use the Statues of the Seven to teleport, could Lin Yi exploit that trait to transform the statues into creations anyone could use for teleportation?
"Watch out! Monster incoming!"
Keqing and the others had only just gone on alert.
Lin Yi seemed to be developing a distaste for having his train of thought interrupted.
He looked disdainfully at the enormous Khaenri'ah Ruin Guard charging toward him and raised his Geo-Forged Pistol, now fitted with a suppressor.
Bang, bang, bang!
Pure Geo energy, mighty as a mountain, erupted from the tiny muzzle.
The resulting force tore a fan-shaped swath through the ground.
The three bullets even had a thirty-percent lock-on capability, piercing straight through the Khaenri'ah Ruin Guard's vital mechanisms.
Crash!
The great hunk of metal toppled over, sending up a stunning blast of wind and dust!
"W-what kind of power was that? My heavens!"
Xiangling had watched her master calmly raise the unfamiliar weapon in his hand and give it a couple of taps.
He had dealt with that Ruin Guard so effortlessly. It was simply unbelievable!
"M-Master, how exactly did you do that?"
Lin Yi blew across the muzzle, looking just like the victorious cowboy in a western shootout.
"It's simple. One bang, one smack, and the fight's over!"
Of course, showing off came at a price.
In his moment of irritation, he had wasted the three compressed Geo bullets he had painstakingly condensed and crafted.
Yun Jin remained composed and offered a few simple words of praise, while Keqing looked thoughtful, silently committing Lin Yi's weapon to memory.
While collecting the loot from the Khaenri'ah Ruin Guard...
Lin Yi hit the jackpot and obtained one of the Land-Creating Machine's key components!
Just then, a decidedly unfriendly voice came from a short distance away.
"You lot over there, get lost! That Khaenri'ah Ruin Guard is our merchant association's spoils!"
Lin Yi frowned at those words. At last, he had run into some grandstanding idiots with a death wish!
Interesting!
Before you continue