Fujin looked around the massive internet café.
Rows upon rows of computers hummed together, the sight surprisingly grand.
Cloud Retainer led her over to greet old acquaintances.
"Greetings, Rex Lapis."
Zhongli looked up briefly, nodded calmly.
"Mhm. Long time no see. Come to the school sometime for tea."
"Oh. Alright."
He lowered his head and continued fighting his in-game team battle.
…Rex Lapis's vibe felt a little strange these days.
"Adeptus Xiao, thank you again for delivering that item last time. I never properly thanked you."
"It was nothing. I was escorting Kirara to Fontaine anyway. It was on the way."
"It still deserves thanks."
"Okay."
Xiao nodded faintly and kept gaming, barely bothered.
…Had he grown a little taller since their last meeting?
After that, Fujin greeted the rest of the group members.
Including Xia Ci, who posted more messages than anyone else.
Ping stayed close, quiet but looking mostly normal again.
Finally, Cloud Retainer and Ping returned to their seats, booting up another computer for Fujin beside them.
Fujin had used a phone before, so she adapted to a computer quickly.
Then came a night of pure gaming bliss.
Before she knew it, morning in the dream world had arrived.
Fujin reluctantly prepared to leave.
Right before exiting, driven by a pulse of emotion she couldn't fully explain, she turned to look at Mr. Xia one more time.
Just one glance.
And somehow, it soothed something inside her.
She didn't know what was happening to her at all.
---
Beneath the surface of a quiet pool in Chenyu Vale, Fujin slowly opened her eyes.
She stretched languidly, her whole body relaxed.
Gaming was so much fun.
No wonder even the stoic Rex Lapis enjoyed it.
Her own mechanics were terrible, though—
Good thing that teammate named Cream Puff was a complete monster at the game.
As support, Fujin just clung to her and racked up assists while being carried.
She'd definitely go back tonight.
With that thought, Fujin leapt out of the water and landed lightly on the old tea tree's trunk.
The sun was rising behind a distant mountain.
A breathtaking sight.
She pulled out her phone, snapped a few photos, and posted them to her Moments:
[Another beautiful day begins]
She dropped the photos into the group chat too.
But it was still early, and no one else was awake yet.
Hardly anyone replied.
She set her phone down and rested her chin on her hand, watching the sunrise.
Suddenly, she felt a soft pang in her chest.
The image of Mr. Xia playing the guqin drifted through her mind.
It had sounded… wonderful.
And thinking about him inevitably made her think of Cloud Retainer's relationship with him.
That strange heaviness stirred again.
A little… sour.
At that moment, from a nearby mountaintop, a refined suanni beast appeared once more.
She spotted the graceful figure sitting on the tea tree and froze, eyes wide.
"Fujin?!"
A clear feminine voice rang from the suanni's mouth.
Fujin turned at the sound, smiling warmly. "Lingyuan, I've been waiting for you."
The beast vanished in a flash and reappeared beneath the tea tree.
She looked up at her old friend, legs swinging from the branch.
"How did you get out?"
Fujin laughed lightly. "I just walked out."
"You weren't able to leave the water."
"I was badly injured before, so I couldn't. Now I'm healed."
"Healed?"
"Mhm. Cloud Retainer brought me some spiritual medicine. It cured me."
"…Cloud Retainer, huh."
Fujin hopped down from the tree and took out a teapot.
Ping had given it to her long ago.
She and Herblord had once planned to use it to travel Liyue Harbor together…
but they never managed to make that trip.
Fujin extended her hand toward the water; a stream of clear liquid flowed into the teapot.
Then she beckoned to the ancient tea tree, and a few leaves drifted down.
"Old friends meeting again—have some tea."
"You know I don't like tea."
"Just one cup? For me? It's really good!"
"…."
The suanni hesitated—then shifted into her human form and sat at the stone table beneath the tree.
"…Fine."
----
The rising sun turned the water's surface into a sheet of soft gold.
Lingyuan lifted the teacup and took a sip of the steaming brew, her brows pinching almost instantly.
She still wasn't used to the taste of tea.
But she swallowed it anyway, saying nothing.
She glanced at Fujin.
Fujin held her cup with both hands, sipping in tiny mouthfuls, her whole face softened in pure enjoyment.
Lingyuan truly couldn't understand why anyone liked drinking this bitter stuff…
People around here were the same.
They filled every hillside with these bitter leaves, even exported them across Teyvat for others to drink.
What was so good about this stuff anyway…
But a tsundere was a tsundere. Even if she hated it, she'd already agreed earlier, so she forced herself to finish the entire cup out of sheer stubborn pride.
After finally draining it, Lingyuan set the cup down like she'd been released from torment.
Fujin watched her eagerly. "Want another cup?"
Lingyuan shook her head immediately. "No."
"What a pity."
Lingyuan hesitated, then asked, "You said earlier that Cloud Retainer came looking for you a few days ago?"
"It wasn't her."
"Hm?"
"It was the Conqueror of Demons."
"Oh, that explains it…"
If it had been that yaksha, then of course she wouldn't have sensed him trespassing on her territory.
There were so many things Lingyuan wanted to talk about.
Even if she wasn't actually confined to this place, she'd lived alone for centuries. Loneliness weighed on her.
Seeing an old friend again made her genuinely happy.
But she was a tsundere by nature, quiet and blunt.
Starting conversations on her own… wasn't her thing.
She stared down at the empty cup in front of her, sinking into silence.
Fujin smiled. "Lingyuan, you're still exactly the same."
"What do you mean?"
"Everything."
"…"
"You haven't gone out at all these years?"
"Out?"
"Outside Chenyu Vale. To Fontaine, or Liyue Harbor."
"No."
"Not even once?"
"No."
"Why don't you go explore?"
"Why should I?"
"For fun? Chenyu Vale is beautiful, but don't you get tired of seeing the same scenery?"
"I don't."
"…"
Fujin stared at her, speechless.
You're really committed to being this stubborn, huh.
Just like some countryside recluse clutching her tiny mountain, refusing to take even one step outside…
Fujin lifted her gaze to the tea tree above them.
"Thank you for taking care of my tea tree all these years."
"I didn't take care of it!"
Lingyuan said immediately, her tone prickly.
"It just happened to be on my mountain, so I sheltered it a little."
"Alright, alright."
Fujin laughed softly and sipped her tea.
"But I should still thank you."
"No need."
"When are you ever going to fix this tsundere personality of yours?"
"Tsundere?"
"Forget it. Talking to someone as stubborn as you is pointless. You never listen anyway."
"!"
Lingyuan stared at her, feeling like Fujin was insulting her with words she didn't understand.
A distant, ringing melody drifted across the mountains.
Fujin looked up. A hillside covered in tea trees stretched into the distance.
Though spring had passed and summer was here, Chenyu Vale's unique climate meant fresh leaves could still be picked.
Tea pickers from Qiaoying Village were already at work in the early morning, baskets on their backs.
Men on one side, women on the other.
To pass the time, or perhaps to shout out their affection, the young men and women sang mountain songs to one another.
Fujin found it interesting and listened carefully.
Lingyuan, however, scowled. "Those people have nothing better to do. Always shouting back and forth."
"It sounds nice to me."
"What's nice about it! They've been singing the same old songs for years. Every morning! On my mountain! It's so loud! I have to put up a barrier just to sleep!"
Fujin's lips curled in amusement.
She could hear it clearly.
Half of Lingyuan's complaint was old resentment about Fujin planting a tea tree on her mountain long ago.
The other half was her explanation for why she didn't notice Fujin's aura earlier.
She'd been sleeping inside a barrier.
This girl… was actually kinda cute…
Fujin thought for a moment. "Want me to put on something nice?"
"Nice?"
"Mm. Ping sent me a recording of a guqin piece."
"Ping? Streetward Rambler? Recording?"
Lingyuan looked confused.
Fujin pulled out a small device and tapped it.
Beautiful guqin music flowed out.
It really was lovely.
But the mountain songs in the distance were annoying.
Lingyuan raised a hand and set up a barrier around them, blocking the noise.
Instant silence.
Now she could finally listen properly.
When the piece ended, Lingyuan said, "Streetward Rambler's guqin playing has improved."
"That wasn't Ping."
"Eh?"
"That was Mr. Xia."
"Mr. Xia? Who is that?"
"Well… he's basically Cloud Retainer's husband."
"What?!"
Lingyuan's eyes widened in shock.
"Cloud Retainer got married? When? Why don't I know?!"
"You're always sleeping in a cave. How would you?"
"…"
"But she's not actually married. She just found him two months ago."
"…"
"Want to know how she found him?"
"…How?"
Of course she did.
Even someone as quiet and tsundere as Lingyuan couldn't resist gossip.
And she was good at keeping secrets, which made her a perfect listener.
"Cloud Retainer was testing a new mechanism, blew herself back into her original form, and got picked up by Mr. Xia. He healed her wing injuries too…"
Fujin paused.
Wait…
Cloud Retainer's situation is… exactly the same as mine.
After that war, I was nearly forced back to my original form too, and stuck living in water.
So why didn't I meet Mr. Xia?!
Lingyuan leaned forward. "Then what happened?"
"Afterward, Cloud Retainer sent Mr. Xia to Liyue Harbor, then went back to Jueyun Karst. She had her new disciple Shenhe go take care of him while she went into seclusion."
Lingyuan nodded. "Cloud Retainer does repay kindness…"
"And then her disciple got together with Mr. Xia."
"Ah?!!"
Lingyuan's eyes flew wide again.
This…
That…
What…?!
She had never left Chenyu Vale in her life. She'd never seen the world outside, and absolutely could not handle this level of scandal.
Her cheeks reddened. She lowered her voice. "Then what?"
"Then Mr. Xia went to Jueyun Karst, helped Cloud Retainer regain her human form, and she got together with him too…"
"I see…"
"What do you think, Lingyuan?"
"A life-saving debt repaid with devotion… it makes sense."
"So, if you were in Cloud Retainer's position, would you?"
"…I think so."
"Oh…"
Fujin looked thoughtful.
Lingyuan stared at her. "Why are you asking me this?"
"To tell you the truth, the medicine Cloud Retainer gave me… was actually from Mr. Xia."
"?"
"So technically, he saved my life too."
"!"
"I've been wondering how to repay him… and by your logic, I should also offer myself?"
"No! I was talking nonsense!"
"But I think it makes a lot of sense."
"…"
Lingyuan froze, completely stunned, before stammering out a reply.
"But he… Mr. Xia… already has Cloud Retainer and her disciple… that's already two people…"
"Actually, not two. Three."
"Three?"
"You know the other disciple. Ganyu."
"Ganyu!!!"
Lingyuan, of course, knew Ganyu.
A qilin. A fellow divine beast.
Before the Archon War they'd even played together several times.
But Ganyu went on to become the general secretary of the Qixing, working nonstop, too busy to ever visit.
And Lingyuan stayed in Chenyu Vale, unwilling to leave.
They lost contact.
Who would've thought her old playmate already had a man?!
But thinking of Ganyu's personality, Lingyuan started doubting again. She stared at Fujin.
"You're not lying to me, right?"
"Why would I lie?"
"You lied to me before!"
"…"
"I don't believe Ganyu would do that."
"Suit yourself."
"You haven't even left the water before this. How do you know all this?"
"Ping told me."
"Streetward Rambler came here?"
"We talked on the phone."
"Phone?"
"This thing."
Fujin raised the little device again.
Lingyuan eyed it suspiciously, still half-convinced.
Fujin sighed. "Fine, don't believe me. I'm done explaining."
She had originally wanted to talk to Lingyuan about her feelings.
But judging from this… Lingyuan was too much of a hermit to understand anything.
Asking her was pointless.
Might as well go to the group chat.
Fujin lowered her head and scrolled through her messages.
She didn't know most people there.
Only a few adepti.
But she couldn't talk about this with Mountain Shaper or Moon Carver.
Cloud Retainer herself was involved, so that was impossible.
Ping… Fujin thought of the things Ping had said last night, and the way they'd both looked back at Mr. Xia at the same time in the dream.
Ping was clearly a rival.
No way she'd discuss this with her.
That left…
No one?
Wait.
Her finger stopped on an adorable cartoon avatar.
[Cream Puff]
That was the mysterious carry who'd demolished the enemy team last night.
Her identity was a complete mystery.
Fujin had asked Ping and Cloud Retainer, but neither of them knew who she really was.
Apparently only Mr. Xia knew.
Judging from the username, she was likely one of his cousins.
Fujin wondered whether she should message her.
Last night, when Fujin had cheered her, the girl had seemed happy.
And she was one of the two main posters in the entire group, able to rival Xia Ci.
She clearly had free time to chat.
Plus, the mystery helped.
Fujin could speak freely without worrying about embarrassment.
Most importantly—Cream Puff posted long, confident lectures about love all the time.
She was definitely an expert.
Fujin hesitated, then sent her a message.
[Good morning]
----
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