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Two years have passed since the death of Rex Lapis, and now Liyue is in a stable state. Everything has returned to normal, and today marks the first day of the Lantern Rite festival. In comparison to last year's event, the Liyue Qixing have decided to expand Liyue's cultural influence to other nations. As part of this initiative, they have invited a reporter from Fontaine to cover this year's Lantern Rite activities for the newspaper.
Keqing strolled along the bustling streets of Liyue Harbor, accompanied by a representative from the Steambird newspaper, Charlotte. With the city's vibrant Lantern Rite festivities in full swing, she took the opportunity to elucidate the significance of this year's theme and delve into the rich tapestry of Liyue's cultural heritage. As lanterns adorned the surroundings, Keqing's words painted a vivid picture, weaving together tradition and celebration against the backdrop of the bustling harbor. The Steambird reporter scribbled notes, capturing the essence of Liyue's charm through Keqing's insightful explanations.
As they walked past the area designated for the grand lantern, they unexpectedly crossed paths with the traveler. Amidst their brief encounter, a couple of matters arose, prompting Keqing to accompany Charlotte on the journey back to her residence. There, she intended to share with Charlotte her grandfather's ancient script concerning kite-making.
Arrive at her house, Keqing says, "I'm home." Unexpectedly, someone responded, "Welcome back. It's rare for you to return home at this hour." and she can hear someone approaching
"Ganyu? I can say the same thing to you." Keqing replied as she began to take off her shoes.
When Ganyu appeared, she seemed a little surprised to see Keqing with a guest. "Let me introduce you to her. She's Charlotte, a reporter from the Steambird. I invite her to come to show her some scripts about kite making."
"Hello Charlotte, I'm Ganyu. Nice to meet you." Ganyu says politely.
"Hello, Ganyu. Nice to meet you!" Charlotte said excitedly, her gaze fixed on Ganyu's horn with intrigue.
Charlotte couldn't hold herself back any longer, so she asked excitedly, not realizing how close she had come to Ganyu. "Can I ask about your horns!? Are you what they call Adeptus? Can I touch them, or maybe could you explain their texture to me?" Charlotte fired off her questions quickly, without wasting any time.
Hearing this, Ganyu is surprised and tries to pull herself away from her while covering her horns, afraid Charlotte will touch it. On the other hand, seeing her girlfriend quivering in afraid, Keqing steps in between them, shielding her from Charlotte.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you about that. But if you want to hear about something else, I'll try my best to answer it," Keqing said politely and professionally.
Lucky for them, when Charlotte heard Keqing's businesslike tone, she snapped back to reality, fearing that Keqing might change her mind about showing the old kite scripts. So she decided to stop asking about Ganyu and offered her apology. "Hahaha, I'm sorry. I got a little too excited because it's the first time I've seen someone like you. But if you change your mind, you can call me anytime," Charlotte said with a wide smile as if nothing had happened.
After everything calmed down, Keqing asked, "Do you want to go out?"
"Oh, yes. I just stopped by to grab some clothes before heading back to Yuehai Pavilion. I will be working overtime because tomorrow I promised Cloud Retainer I would attend her kite-making lesson, and I need to finish tomorrow's portion of work. So I will not be coming home tonight," Ganyu replied as she put on her shoes.
Hearing that Ganyu would be working overtime and not coming home, Keqing frowned, but she couldn't say anything to stop her because she knew she needed to do it in order to give herself a day off tomorrow. "Okay then. Take care and don't push yourself too hard," Keqing said, bidding farewell. Absentmindedly, she gripped her hands and gave Ganyu a kiss on the lips out of habit, momentarily forgetting about Charlotte beside her. Meanwhile, Charlotte made an 'O' gesture with her lips, surprised but intrigued by what she had just witnessed.
"I-I'm off." Ganyu said and then she hastily go out of the house with red face.
Seeing this, Keqing tilted her head to the side, confused by Ganyu's reaction. But within a few seconds, she realized that Charlotte was still standing beside her. Clearing her throat and pretending as if nothing had happened, she said, "Let me show you the way." Keqing then led Charlotte into the house and to her working room. Without her noticing it, Charlotte made a little memo on the side about what she saw, thinking someday it might be useful as her writing materials.
In Keqing's working room, Charlotte sat on the sofa, facing a table with a little pot, waiting for Keqing to bring the script over. "Sorry to keep you waiting. Here's the script," Keqing said, placing around five scrolls on the table. "Feel free to look around first. I'll bring some tea." Without waiting for a response, Keqing walked out of the room to the kitchen to prepare tea.
"She's exactly as the rumor described her, wasting no time at all."
Five minutes later, Keqing returned with a tray holding a pot of tea and two glasses. She placed it on the table and began pouring the tea. "Thank you," Charlotte said, glancing in Keqing's direction before returning to her reading of the scrolls.
Keqing sat beside her, observing which scroll Charlotte chose to read first. "So, do you have any questions or something that piques your interest?" she asked.
"Oh yes, actually could you explain more about this?" Charlotte asked, pointing to a sentence about kites' function in the military after Morax established The Millelith Brigade.
"It happened 3,710 years ago, 10 years after our Archon Rex Lapis first built Liyue Harbor and established The Millelith Brigade. They found it hard to communicate when monsters came to the harbor and needed a way to relay that information. So they used kites for that purpose."
"I thought that Rex Lapis made a contract with the Adepti to protect Liyue?"
"Yes, but at that time, all of Teyvat was still in the middle of the Archon War, so they couldn't always be there to protect them. Compared to other regions, the Archon War in Liyue was more intense because there were more than one god who came here. So..." Keqing started explaining all of Liyue's history enthusiastically.
By the time Keqing finished explaining Liyue's history, it was already 8 p.m. "Sorry, Charlotte. I got too excited back there," Keqing said, feeling ashamed that she had become overly enthusiastic about the history.
"It's fine! Rather, I should thank you for explaining all of that. It's precious information that I couldn't get except by reading many books at the bookstore, and you summarized it and explained it to me in an easy-to-understand way!" Charlotte said happily, looking at her notes that were almost full of memos about Liyue's history.
"Still, let me treat you to dinner tonight. I feel bad for taking up so much of your time."
"If you insist, then I will gladly accept. Thank you, Keqing."
After that, they arrived at Wanmin Restaurant and ordered some food. They chatted a little more about tomorrow's agenda while eating their food. In the middle of their conversation, Keqing started to worry about Ganyu. She wondered if Ganyu had already eaten her dinner or not, knowing that Ganyu often gets too focused on work to remember anything else. So Keqing decided to order a dish for Ganyu. By the time they finished eating and said their farewells, Keqing was half-running to Yuehai Pavilion.
Keqing knocked on Ganyu's office door and waited for her response, but it seemed like Ganyu was too focused on her work and didn't hear it. So Keqing decided to invite herself in, and as she had guessed, Ganyu was buried in stacks of paper.
"Did you already eat?" Keqing said with a gentle smile, while Ganyu looked at her in surprise, not expecting Keqing to be there.
Ganyu blinked, momentarily taken aback by Keqing's unexpected appearance. "Oh, Keqing! No, I haven't eaten yet." she admitted with a sheepish smile.
With a gentle smile, Keqing approached Ganyu's desk and placed the dish she had ordered earlier in front of her. "Well, now you have something to eat," she said warmly, her eyes reflecting concern. "And I won't leave until I see you finish your food."
Hearing this, Ganyu chuckled a little and held herself back from teasing Keqing about making an excuse to be together with her. But she held herself back because, truth be told, she needed to recharge her 'Keqing's power' for the day. "Okay," Ganyu said while smiling from ear to ear, happy to be together, albeit not for long.
While Ganyu ate her food, Keqing waited on the sofa, engaging in mindless small talk with her while gazing at Ganyu and admiring her features. It had been a while since she had looked at her properly like this. No matter how tired or disheveled Ganyu appeared, she remained Keqing's cute and beautiful Qilin. Observing her in this way somehow intensified Keqing's desire to touch her horns and do more for her.
Keqing realized why she didn't often take the time to admire Ganyu. Whenever she did, the urge to touch her grew stronger and stronger. Like now, she could feel her body heating up just at the thought of Ganyu's expression when she touched her horns or caress her slender back. Before she delved too deeply into her fantasies, Keqing shook her head to regain focus and pushed thoughts of Ganyu aside.
Seeing Keqing's face turn a little red, Ganyu asked, "Are you okay?" Unaware of Keqing's thoughts.
"Yes, I'm fine. Just feeling a little hot." Keqing replied, waving her hand in front of her face as if to cool down, pretending it was due to the weather.
"If you say so..." Although Ganyu didn't fully believe what Keqing said because it was almost midnight and it seemed impossible to feel hot, she didn't dwell on it too much. After all, Keqing didn't appear sick when she entered her office.
But no matter how hard Keqing tried to push those dirty thoughts away, they always came back. Fortunately for her, not long after that, Ganyu finished her food. "I think I should go now. I don't want to disturb your work any longer." Keqing said, standing up and eager to leave before her imagination ran wild again.
Although Ganyu didn't want her to leave, she knew she must let her go so she could finish everything today and take two days off without feeling guilty about it. Ganyu stood up too, closing her eyes, waiting for their usual thing.
Keqing gave Ganyu a little peck on her temple and bid her farewell. "Good night, Ganyu."
Although a little disappointed that Keqing didn't kiss her on the lips, Ganyu didn't say anything and continued her work.
Two days passed quickly after the incident at Ganyu's office. Despite living in the same house, they didn't meet at all during this time. Initially, Ganyu mentioned that she would be attending Cloud Retainer's kite-making lesson and might return later at night. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, she received a message stating that she would be staying overnight at her house until the Lantern Rite night.
Because of this, Keqing started thinking that she had made a mistake and upset Ganyu that night. She had been gloomy for the past two days and didn't know what to do because she didn't know how to find Cloud Retainer's house at Liyue Harbor, and it was unethical to snoop around legal documents about Liyue's citizens for personal interests.
Today is the day of the Lantern Rite. All of the lanterns have been released, and Gaming has already showcased his unpredictable performance of lion dance, leaping around the roofs accompanied by fireworks. But even now, she still hasn't met Ganyu. Keqing tries her best to appear normal because she's in the city accompanying Charlotte, as today's event is her main scoop in Liyue.
"Wow, it's something spectacular that I believe many people in Fontaine would like to see too! It sure is the best scoop!" Charlotte exclaimed while looking at all the photos she had taken tonight.
"I'm glad you like tonight's show," Keqing said with a forced smile. Of course, she was happy that her guest was enjoying her time and liked today's main show. But still, she couldn't deny feeling sad that she couldn't spend this year's Lantern Rite with Ganyu. Not to mention, she still hadn't met her until now.
Charlotte, being Charlotte, was already lost in thought, pondering the title of her news article, already forgetting about Keqing's presence. "What should I name this piece, hm..."
Thinking Charlotte was already lost in her mind palace, Keqing leaned on the rail while looking at the night sky, where all the lanterns flew into the distance.
As Keqing gazed at the lanterns, she sensed someone approaching. Turning slightly, she saw Ganyu standing there in a fancy blue and black dress, similar to her own attire. Ganyu looked at the ground, her face flushed red, appearing shy and unprepared for any potential comments from Keqing about her appearance tonight.
Keqing's mind raced as she struggled to process the sight before her. Although Ganyu's usual outfit was already provocative enough, tonight's attire took it to another level. It left Keqing stunned, her thoughts swirling with confusion and longing. She couldn't tear her gaze away from Ganyu's exposed legs, feeling a rush of desire.
Because she didn't hear Keqing say anything, Ganyu started feeling uneasy. Ganyu braced herself and glanced up, meeting Keqing's gaze with a nervous smile. "What do you think?"
"I..." Before Keqing could continue her words, her body moved on its own, and she started kissing Ganyu longingly, unable to hold back her desire any longer.
Caught off guard by Keqing's sudden action, Ganyu initially froze, her mind racing with surprise and confusion. But as the kiss deepened, she found herself melting into it, her heart pounding with exhilaration. Time seemed to stand still as they shared this intimate moment amidst the backdrop of the Lantern Rite festivities.
Before Ganyu could say anything, Keqing already scooped her up bridal style and ran as fast as she could back to their house. Unbeknownst to them, Charlotte stood beside them, smiling widely and grateful for what she had witnessed tonight.
The day after, as they walked—or more accurately, as Keqing helped Ganyu walk—to Yuehai Pavilion, they noticed everyone's gaze upon them. When their eyes met the onlookers', the observers quickly averted their gazes, their faces flushed red. Keqing furrowed her brows but didn't say anything.
After accompanying Ganyu to her office, Keqing entered her own workspace and began reviewing the reports she needed to work on that day. However, she noticed an unsealed envelope atop the pile. Intrigued, she opened it and found a photo of herself and Ganyu locked in a passionate kiss, with lanterns floating in the background, adding an intimate and romantic touch to the image.
Upon seeing the photo, Keqing's heart raced, and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. She couldn't believe she had forgotten about Charlotte's presence, yet again. Judging from everyone's reactions, they must have already seen this photo. She felt a mix of embarrassment and discomfort knowing that their intimate moment had been exposed to others.
She just hoped everyone would quickly forget what they had seen for their sake. Before she put the photo back into the envelope, she found another piece of paper inside. It was a letter from Charlotte.
"To Keqing,
I want to express my gratitude once again for your company over the past few days and for sharing valuable information with me. It has been incredibly enlightening. I believe this scoop will be the biggest one for the first quarter of this year! Oh, and you don't need to worry about that photo. It's just a little souvenir from me. I won't publish it anywhere, I promise!
Happy Lantern Rite!
P.S. Both of you look cute together.
From Charlotte"
Keqing sighed in relief upon reading Charlotte's assurance that she wouldn't write anything about them. She glanced at the photo once more, smiling as she reminisced about the events of that night. She resolved to treasure this photo as one of their cherished memories together.