Then, Xiangling led everyone to find her 'Grandmaster', Streetward Rambler—Granny Ping.
Gecheng hadn't expected to make an appearance herself, and she certainly couldn't let Guizhong laugh at her!
[Guoba jumped and waved: "Lu~!"]
[Granny Ping glanced at Guoba and said with a smile: "Xiangling is here."]
The readers would never have imagined that the elderly woman described in the book, with white hair and a hunched back, had now transformed into a beautiful young woman with blue hair.
In the book, several people discussed the God of the Hearth with Granny Ping, and Guoba took the opportunity to run off, his figure gradually disappearing into the distance.
[Granny Ping: "To commemorate a friend, Rex Lapis combined various festivals with the term 'Moonchase'. By observing the heavens and earth, swearing by the moon, remembering the past and reflecting on the present, and celebrating reunion and joy, this is the 'Moonchase Festival'."]
["I guess, among these many festivals, the 'God of the Hearth Festival' is included."]
"Hmph, he's even more eloquent than this Adeptus.", Xianyun reluctantly praised.
"Old people just love to tell stories.", Gecheng said with a smile, seeming to fall back into Granny Ping's state.
In the book, Keqing was called away by Ningguang's people, and Granny Ping began to talk about the friend of the Archon she had just mentioned—the 'God of the Hearth'.
[Granny Ping: "The 'God of the Hearth' was also a good friend of mine. Unfortunately, for some reason, the 'God of the Hearth' is long gone and has also disappeared from people's memories."]
["However, Gods are immortal. We once made a promise that when the land recovers its vitality, the God of the Hearth might return to the human world in some form."]
Heuria and Guizhong looked at each other; they truly had returned to the human world in some form.
[Granny Ping: "Liyue is like my most precious bonsai. I've watched it become more and more beautiful, more and more prosperous, and in the blink of an eye, another generation has grown up... It's truly wonderful."]
["Only with new flowers on the branches can the tree remain eternally green."]
Hmm... it seems he's really better at chatting than Master?
Shenhe was puzzled; in her mind, her Master was indeed very good at chatting.
Guizhong sighed, Aping was still the most stable; Xiao and Xianyun were somewhat 'losing their integrity in old age', only Aping's performance remained consistently stable.
And as a 'new flower on the branches', Nahida was reading this sentence, and at this moment, he felt nothing.
He only felt that if it could make the 'tree' eternally green, sacrificing him would be fine, and the tree in his heart was Sumeru.
In the story, the mysterious giant rock cracked open a corner.
Everyone analyzed that it seemed to be because the lively, culinary, and reuniting atmosphere of the 'Moonchase Festival' had given Shitou some 'divine power'.
Several days passed in the book, and Xiangling passed the preliminary round without suspense.
He made many 'trial dishes' and wanted the Traveler to taste them.
The Traveler and Paimon said they had eaten too much and wouldn't be objective, so they should find someone else, and then they found Beidou.
At this time, Beidou and Xinyan were together, discussing Xinyan's plan to play on the ship.
Xinyan in reality was utterly bewildered; she never thought she would make an appearance.
In the book, several people discussed Xiangling's newly made dishes and incidentally complained about Ningguang's taste, who actually liked 'boiled cabbage'.
Both of them liked food that was heavily oiled, heavily salted, and a little spicy. For 'boiled cabbage', a high-class dish, they only felt it was bland and not exciting enough.
Xiangling in reality was taking notes; this saved her from even doing a public opinion survey.
"So that's it, it's missing a bit of that 'crackling' feeling.", Xiangling wrote something in her book, "Should I try adding some Electro Slime?"
After asking people with strong tastes, the characters in the book planned to ask those with light tastes, and yes, that was Conqueror of Demons.
The way they found Xiao was very simple: they just called his name directly.
Because Xiao had told them before that he would appear as long as they called his name.
[Paimon: "Xiao—!"]
There was no movement at all.
["I'll try again, Xiao—!"]
Still no movement at all.
[Lumine called: "Xiao, are you there?"]
[Xiao: "What is it?"]
["You called my name, didn't you?"]
In an instant, Xiao was already standing on the ship's mast.
"Oh, calling his name is that effective? This Hall Master will remember that.", Hu Tao mused.
"...", Lin Qiu had a bad feeling, why did it feel like he had tricked Xiao?
[Xiangling: "Hello, my name is Xiangling, and I'm a chef. I've been shortlisted for the Chef's Grand Prix, and before the competition, I made some dishes and wanted to invite diners of all tastes to try them."]
Xiangling was talking to Xiao, and Guoba was frantically jumping and waving.
[Xiao teleported down, "Diner? Do I count?"]
[Guoba stared at Xiao with wide eyes, but Xiao didn't notice Guoba.]
Guoba: Please, look at me properly.
At the Traveler's joint request, Xiao agreed to taste the dishes.
[Xiao: "...The taste is good."]
[Guoba jumped around Xiao, greeting him, but Xiao still didn't notice him.]
[Xiangling: "An Adeptus praised my dish as delicious, will Dad cry when he finds out..."]
"It wouldn't go that far...", Chef Mao secretly wiped away tears, but didn't admit it.
[Xiao: "You are skilled in this, which reminds me of a chef."]
["That person could make good dishes that nourished the soul, and so can you. Both of you are masters."]
At this time, everyone still thought the chef Xiao was referring to was Yanxiao.
After offering his suggestions, Xiao intended to leave, and upon hearing Xiao's plan to leave, Guoba was startled.
[Xiao: "See you."]
[Xiao instantly disappeared from the spot, and Guoba, with tears in his eyes, lowered his head dejectedly.]
Yanxiao scratched his head, so that short person was an Adeptus... Oh no, he had been disrespectful to an Adeptus.
"Conqueror of Demons didn't notice him...", Xianyun sighed.
"Perhaps he's not used to looking down at people.", Guizhong covered her mouth and chuckled.
Lin Qiu couldn't resist his flicking finger technique and gave Guizhong a tap.
Guizhong covered her head and remained silent, not angry, quite like Hu Tao.
Not only were their personalities similar, but their figures were also very alike, perhaps that's the kind of personality that looks very A at first glance?
Several more days passed in the story, and it came to the finals of the Chef's Grand Prix, hosted by Yanfei.
Yanfei in reality had just returned to Liyue, went to Yujing Terrace to find Granny Ping, but found that Granny Ping was not there, and was currently searching for her.
[Yanfei: "Standing on the left is this contestant, the seeded player selected from the Dihua Marsh competition area—'Fragrance from the Blade', the 'Swift-Blade Chef Hero', Yanxiao!"]
["Standing on the right is this contestant, the strong champion selected from the Liyue Harbor competition area—'Flame Like Rain', the 'Skillful Chef Girl', Xiangling!"]
["And her mysterious assistant partner, who knows who!"]
[Guoba cried sadly.]
Lumine noticed a problem: why didn't Cloud Retainer make it to the finals?
Ying looked at Xianyun, who noticed Ying's gaze and understood Ying's thoughts.
"Hmph, this Adeptus never wanted to participate in any mortal competition.", Xianyun snorted lightly, though it was unclear how much truth was in her words.
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Character Voice · Gecheng: About Liyue Harbor
"I have personally witnessed its prosperity, experienced the human interactions in the market alleys, I