"Guizhong—the God of Dust, right? What about her?" Lin Mo had heard of her, of course.
Back then, Guizhong had been one of his closest friends.
Seeing that Lin Mo knew of Guizhong, Ningguang's gaze grew complicated.
To outsiders, she was the iron-handed Tianquan of Liyue, dignified and aloof, someone who inspired respect and distance in equal measure. That very image meant that, for all these years, the grievances, fragility, and loneliness in her heart had nowhere to go.
More than once, Ningguang had thought about confiding in Ganyu.
But she couldn't.
Because the source of her grievance, her bitterness, her unwillingness, all traced back to that era—to a god named Guizhong.
And Ganyu, too, came from that same age.
How could Ganyu bear to hear someone speak ill—behind closed doors—of a great god from that time?
Now, Ningguang looked at Lin Mo's face.
His carefree, irreverent demeanor was nothing like the reverent distance others kept from her.
That made him a rare confidant.
"If something's weighing on you, tell me," Lin Mo said softly, putting aside his usual roguish air. "All right?"
Already on the verge of opening up, Ningguang's gaze drifted, and she spoke in a low voice.
"Actually… what I still can't be sure about, even now, is this…"
"Back then, when the Tianquan was reselected at Yujing Terrace…"
"Did the Rex Lapis choose me because of my ability…"
"…or because of my face?"
Lin Mo frowned slightly.
To Ningguang, that frown looked like incomprehension. She gave a bitter smile and continued.
"It's said that when the Rex Lapis met Guizhong at Guili Plains, there was once a fateful encounter between them."
"When Ganyu first met me, she told me that I resemble Guizhong… quite a lot."
Lin Mo nodded slowly. "So you think the Rex Lapis chose you as Tianquan—and granted you a Geo Vision—because he missed an old friend?"
Ningguang bit her lower lip, her beautiful eyes reddening as she nodded.
That delicate, vulnerable expression was dangerously captivating.
This was Ningguang—the goddess in the hearts of countless people in Liyue.
Noble heirs, wealthy merchants, even foreign tycoons had spared no expense just to earn a single smile from her.
Whether in the original Genshin storyline or in the current invitation quest, Ningguang was undeniably the number one goddess among ordinary people of Teyvat.
Seeing her like this—biting her lip, eyes trembling—Lin Mo almost couldn't stop himself from stepping forward and pulling her into his arms.
But he knew this wasn't the moment for impulse.
He needed to understand what she had truly suffered.
"Putting aside whether the Rex Lapis favored you because of Guizhong," Lin Mo said gently, "even if that were the case… it doesn't really affect you, does it?"
"At first, I thought the same."
Ningguang smiled bitterly. "That's why I wanted to prove myself."
"I wanted to tell the Rex Lapis, tell the adepti…"
"Even if I was chosen as Tianquan because of Guizhong…"
"…I wouldn't let them down."
As she spoke, she brushed her fingers over the golden smoking pipe beside her.
"To prove myself, the simplest way was to lead Liyue toward prosperity."
"Prosperity—the most direct proof—is wealth."
At that moment, Lin Mo finally understood.
Ningguang didn't love wealth for its own sake.
She loved it because wealth was the most direct way to prove her own capability.
Her gaze drifted out the window, toward the floating Jade Chamber, and beyond it, to the direction of Mt. Hulao and Mt. Aocang—where the adepti dwelled.
"Did the Rex Lapis and the adepti acknowledge you?" Lin Mo asked.
In truth, he already knew the answer.
If they had, she wouldn't look this dejected.
Ningguang slowly closed her eyes, her thoughts returning to the past.
"Three years ago, after the Rite of Descension, I reported that Liyue's development had reached a bottleneck."
"The Rex Lapis gave no comment at all."
"Instead, he turned his gaze toward Guili Plains."
"The adepti followed his line of sight, all looking north."
"And what Cloud Retainer said at the time—I still remember it clearly."
"She said: 'If Guizhong were still here, she'd probably have already thought of a way to break through this impasse.'"
Lin Mo's fist clenched hard.
You foolish crane!
If you don't know how to speak, couldn't you just stay quiet?!
The Rex Lapis didn't care whether Liyue was rich or not.
He only turned his gaze to Guili Plains because Ningguang reminded him of an old friend.
"It's fine. Didn't you solve Liyue's problems in the end?" Lin Mo hurriedly said with a smile.
"Doesn't that prove that even if Guizhong were reborn, your achievements wouldn't fall short of hers?"
"These past few years, having you by my side has taken a lot of pressure off me," Ningguang said softly, smiling as she nodded.
"Thank you, Lin Mo."
"Ahem. Just doing my job," Lin Mo replied modestly, then quickly asked, "Then why are you upset again this time?"
"Yesterday… was the Rite of Descension," Ningguang said calmly.
"Uh… did they say something again?" Lin Mo asked awkwardly.
"That shouldn't be the case. We've done pretty well these past few years, haven't we?"
"I thought so too."
The bitterness returned to Ningguang's eyes. "But when I reported the results of this massive formation to the Rex Lapis and the adepti…"
"He only nodded and said, 'Not bad.'"
"Well… that's pretty good, isn't it?" Lin Mo laughed.
"The Rex Lapis looks like the quiet type. Don't tell me you're upset just because he didn't praise you?"
"Of course not. I'm not a child anymore."
Ningguang shook her head with a wry smile. "It's just that… Cloud Retainer said something then…"
"'Ningguang~ the Rex Lapis doesn't care much about wealth.'"
"'In the future, you don't need to specially report money-making matters to him.'"
"'Oh, right—lately I've seen him fiddling with the Dust of Purification. He seems interested in mechanical arts again.'"
"'Back then, Guizhong used her extraordinary wisdom to let mortals borrow the power of machinery to fight gods.'"
"'If you're so inclined, why not have your subordinates research mechanical arts as well?'"
Lin Mo: …
At that moment, Lin Mo could only cover his forehead in helplessness.
Cloud Retainer, Cloud Retainer…
If only you didn't know how to speak.
Lin Mo knew she hadn't meant any harm.
She was simply the type to say whatever came to mind.
And she wasn't wrong.
The Rex Lapis didn't care how wealthy Liyue was, as long as the people lived in peace.
As for his interest in mechanical arts—it was probably just because he wanted to unravel the secrets of the Dust of Purification.
But Lin Mo could understand that.
Ningguang couldn't.
From the very beginning, she had suspected that everything traced back to the name "Guizhong."
In her eyes, among the adepti, she was nothing more than a substitute.
From start to finish, she had been compared to someone long gone.
"Well… that foolish crane doesn't really think about other people's feelings," Lin Mo said as gently as he could.
Tears slipped from the corners of Ningguang's eyes.
"She doesn't have to consider my feelings," Ningguang said softly, looking at Lin Mo.
"But she can't deny the efforts we've made these past three years…"
Only then did Lin Mo truly understand the real reason behind Ningguang's pain.
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T/N:
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