Time flowed, and the day of the Moonchase Festival had arrived.
Thanks to the story written by Lucian, this year's Moonchase Festival was far more grand than usual.
Many wanderers who had initially hesitated to return home now all came back to Liyue to reunite with their families.
Today, the streets of Liyue Harbor had undergone some changes.
Every household now displayed a small "Gouba statue."
Over the past few days, the tale of Gouba had spread by word of mouth among the people of Liyue, so even those who didn't read prophecy books had come to know of it.
With Gouba's sudden popularity, merchants naturally wouldn't let such a business opportunity slip by.
Thus, within just a few days, items like "Gouba statues" and "Gouba plushies" flooded the Liyue market.
Just like thousands of years ago, every household now had their own "God of the Stove."
It was as if Gouba had regained his divine power, splitting into countless little avatars to accompany the people of Liyue once more.
"Gouba is so adorable!" Furina hugged Gouba, rubbing her face against him, her stray hair often brushing against him—who knew if it tickled or not.
"I want a cute creature like this too."
Since Liyue was hosting the Moonchase Festival and Furina had wanted to come, Lucian simply brought everyone along to join in the fun—a perfect chance for a reunion.
"Lu lu~?" Gouba widened his eyes but didn't struggle.
Lucian had drawn illustrations of Gouba in his book, depicting both his god form and his smaller version.
However, it was clear that the illustrations couldn't capture Gouba's real-life squishiness—his texture was simply unbeatable.
"He's definitely better than Paimon," Lucian remarked.
Lucian had also petted Gouba before. Honestly, the feel was better than Paimon's—more bouncy, more elastic, delightfully chewy without sticking to teeth.
"How dare you! I'm clearly better than—" Paimon was about to retort but paused mid-sentence.
"...Huh? Wait, why am I comparing myself to Gouba?"
Lumine gasped. "Paimon's gotten smarter?"
What was going on? She'd considered enrolling Paimon in school, but classes hadn't even started yet—how had Paimon already grown wiser?
"I've always been smart!" Paimon protested.
The group played with Gouba outside Wanmin Restaurant, and passersby didn't find it strange—after all, they were all "familiar faces."
The Traveler, the Prophet—these were renowned figures. The girl in the blue "sailor outfit" was unfamiliar, but she surely wasn't an ordinary person either.
Inside Wanmin Restaurant, Xiangling was chatting with Cloud Retainer and Streetward Rambler.
"Master, you're so beautiful," Xiangling praised.
Streetward Rambler smiled warmly. "Xiangling's words are as sweet as ever, just like your junior sister Yaoyao."
As master and disciple exchanged pleasantries, Cloud Retainer interrupted.
"Enough, come taste the dishes made by this one's Automatic Cooking Divine Machine." Cloud Retainer produced a plate of Golden Shrimp Balls.
"Try it. This one has even entered the competition this time."
Now that she had descended into the mortal world, there was no reason not to participate in earthly contests.
Over the past few days, Cloud Retainer had already advanced through the preliminaries and reached the semifinals.
Before the two could take a bite, a voice came from outside. "Is that the scent of Golden Shrimp Balls?"
Keqing had arrived. Today was the Moonchase Festival, so her duties were lighter—she only needed to serve as a judge for the Cooking Showdown later.
Thus, they decided to seek out Lucian. His whereabouts weren't a secret, and their subordinates had reported he was at Wanmin Restaurant, so they came.
"Huh? Cloud Retainer? Madame Ping?" Ganyu was surprised—she hadn't expected to meet them here.
The subordinates reporting naturally wouldn't mention these two Adepti, as they didn't recognize them.
"This one is not Cloud Retainer!" Cloud Retainer refuted.
Keqing was right here—if her identity was exposed and she lost the competition, how embarrassing would that be?
For an Adeptus' magical tool to lose to a mortal's cooking in front of the Qixing—what a disgrace!
"..." Keqing fell silent. You're calling yourself "this one"—what else am I supposed to say?
"Golden Shrimp Balls... may I try some?" Keqing pretended not to hear Cloud Retainer's words.
"Of course." Cloud Retainer nodded. Since Keqing was a judge, getting her early feedback wouldn't hurt.
Unfortunately, Golden Shrimp Balls had a special effect on Keqing, making her evaluation somewhat biased.
At a table in the back of Wanmin Restaurant, Clorinde, Chiori, and Shenhe sat together.
The three of them weren't particularly interested in "playing with Gouba" or cooking, so they sat together to "chat" and bond.
Unfortunately, with these three together, not a single word was spoken for half the day.
After sitting there "talking" for a long while, they'd only managed to learn each other's names.
In truth, Shenhe, Chiori, and Clorinde weren't particularly cold people—they just seemed that way.
But without anyone skilled at breaking the ice, the silence persisted.
"Junior Sister, so you're here." Ganyu arrived—Cloud Retainer had told her Shenhe's location.
"Senior Sister." Shenhe nodded slightly, then said nothing more.
Ganyu glanced at the other two, then back at Shenhe, thinking, Junior Sister, aren't you going to introduce them...?
Sadly, Shenhe didn't catch the hint, leaving Clorinde and Chiori to introduce themselves.
And thus, the table of three silent figures became a table of four.
Now, onto the livelier crowd. At the Three Wishes tavern across from Wanmin Restaurant, Zhongli and Venti sat drinking together.
That's right—Venti had come all the way from Mondstadt to Liyue again, this time for the Moonchase Festival.
"This wine... is heavily watered down..." Venti sighed.
It barely tasted like alcohol anymore—just how much water had they added?
And here I am drinking with your Geo Archon—you'd water down his wine too? Talk about fairness...
The owner of Three Wishes pleaded innocence—it was just too crowded. Otherwise, he'd have served the Archon an unwatered cup.
Speaking of alcohol, the Alcor was bustling with activity.
On the day of the Moonchase Festival, they naturally wouldn't set sail. After reuniting with their families, they returned to the ship to drink with their crewmates.
The alcohol had been bought by Kazuha during his last visit to the harbor—though ironically, Kazuha himself didn't drink.
Hu Tao, Navia, and Xinyan were also on board. They'd wanted to tour the ship last time and finally got their chance now.
The crew drank and chatted, with Xinyan playing her guitar to liven the mood—only Kazuha and Hu Tao abstained.
One was underage, the other got drunk at the slightest sip.
"Need the services of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor?" Hu Tao grinned as she chatted with Kazuha.
Elsewhere, Guizhong and Havria were shopping, accompanied by Yanfei.
The two weren't familiar with the market and could easily be swindled, so Yanfei was there to help.
Notably, Guizhong was wearing new clothes—a gift from Lucian for the Moonchase Festival, designed by Chiori to resemble Luo Tianyi's outfit.
With her hair color, it'd be a shame not to cosplay as Luo Tianyi.
"Xiao." Lucian called softly.
"What do you need?" Xiao appeared before Lucian.
In truth, he'd been here all along. Ever since reading the book and realizing he'd failed to recognize the God of the Stove, he'd been burdened with guilt.
So whenever he had free time these past few days, he'd come to see Gouba, even asking Xiangling to make some spicy meat buns for him.
"Tomorrow, my new book releases—it's a story about you. Remember to read it." Lucian smiled.
"...Understood." With that, Xiao vanished.
Lucian sighed. No wonder Lumine had banned Xiao from using "Lemniscatic Wind Cycling" abruptly—appearing and disappearing like that was hard to get used to.
===✧✦✧===
Character Voiceline · Lucian: About the Moonchase Festival
"Amazing! So amazing! I ate my fill!
Though Keqing's sudden aggressive approach startled me—turns out it was about the Golden Shrimp Balls I owed her. I thought she was here for revenge! I was like, 'What'd I even do to her?'"