The sun was shining brightly today.
Vehicles were driving on the road, and everyone felt a bit sluggish.
Especially Hu Tao, who was leaning back in the rear seat, looking as if she was truly going on vacation.
"Xavier, the roads on your Blue Star are too well-maintained, aren't they? We've been driving for so long, and it's all these excellent asphalt roads."
Hu Tao suddenly exclaimed, as such a situation was unheard of in Liyue.
This also made Xavier suddenly think of something and ask Hu Tao: "By the way, Hu Tao, how are Ningguang and her team doing with road construction?"
"You mentioning it almost made me forget. It seems like they're doing quite well, it's just that I haven't had time to go and see what's happening."
"Why don't you have time?"
"Oh, I'm either busy with Wangsheng Funeral Parlor matters all day or playing here with you. How could I have time to go look at roads?"
Xavier was a bit speechless; so that's what she meant by 'no time'.
However, if he thought about it, the roads there should be nearing completion, or at least have a rough outline by now.
It seemed he would have to make a trip to Liyue sometime soon to see how Ningguang and her team were doing and if they needed any help.
Xavier drove off the highway and arrived at the county town where his hometown was located, taking just over an hour.
"Wow, Xavier, is this your hometown? It looks quite nice."
Furina poked her head out and looked around, finding that although it wasn't as developed as Jiangcheng, it was still pretty good.
Xavier shrugged and said, "Of course not. This is the county town. My hometown is in the village."
"Oh, so it's in the countryside! I haven't seen what the Blue Star countryside looks like yet!"
Hearing that Xavier's hometown was in a village, Furina became even happier.
Xavier's memories of his hometown were relatively blurry, and he didn't feel that much nostalgia for it.
Because everything was inconvenient in the village, his memories were mostly of the broken muddy roads that would get his feet covered in mud every time it rained.
More importantly, the family atmosphere wasn't very good, so he didn't have many fond childhood memories.
After driving for about another 40 minutes, Xavier drove from the county town to the town below.
"Alright, you can get out now."
Xavier parked the car and called everyone else out.
"What do you mean? Isn't your home in the village? Why are we getting out here?" Hu Tao asked, utterly confused.
Xavier, however, gave a very legitimate and reasonable explanation: "Because wealth should not be exposed. I don't want to drive the car back to the village."
"Why, Xavier Gege? Those should all be your family members, right? Family members surely hope you're doing better!"
Klee was just a child; of course, she didn't understand these social intricacies.
Moreover, in her view, although everyone in the Knights of Favonius wasn't family, they were as good as family.
They took care of her meticulously.
Furina, however, sighed and said, "What family? In fact, many family members are just strangers with blood ties, and sometimes they are even worse than strangers!"
Hu Tao asked, "Furina, it sounds like you've had some relevant experiences. It sounds quite tragic."
"Hmm… not really, but anyway, when you're very powerful, everyone will fear you, but in reality, they secretly wish you would become weaker."
"But once you become weaker, they will try to exclude and bully you."
During her time as the Hydro Archon, Furina probably gained a lot of insights and relevant experience.
So she clearly understood how terrifying and dark human nature could be.
Hu Tao, of course, also had some experience with this, just not as much as Furina.
Moreover, Hu Tao always forgot things in a flash, filtering out bad things and only willing to remember the good ones.
This personality, which held no grudges and was not easily troubled, naturally created the innocent, lively, and even mischievous Hu Tao.
But similarly, Hu Tao also didn't dwell on the wickedness of the world.
"By the way, how are we going to get back to the countryside without a car? Are we going to walk? Is it far?"
Hu Tao remembered a very important question.
"Not far, not far, just under 20 kilometers."
Xavier said it casually, but it made Hu Tao angry.
"What? There's still 20 kilometers? I'm not walking! Do you want to exhaust this Hall Master to death?!"
Hu Tao truly meant it when she said she wouldn't walk, sitting directly on the curb.
"Hey, I was just joking. You don't have to be like this, do you? Of course, we're taking a ride!"
Xavier rubbed his forehead, knowing he shouldn't have brought Hu Tao along.
"Oh, you should have said so earlier! Actually, I was just joking with you too, hehe!"
Hu Tao, the master of changing faces, instantly switched her expression and was no longer angry.
However, since this was a small town, there weren't many cars available for rides.
Xavier finally only found a fuel-powered trishaw.
Sitting in the trishaw, feeling the bumpy road, Furina felt completely unwell.
"Xavier, what kind of vehicle is this? It's too noisy, and the road is so bad! I'm almost going to throw up!"
Furina complained loudly; if her voice was soft, others might not even hear her.
Xavier said awkwardly, "I haven't been back in a long time either…"
"We're here, young man. Are you from the Lin family?"
After getting out of the car, the driver greeted Xavier and chatted for a couple of sentences.
"Yes, it's been a long time since I've been back." Xavier nodded.
After all, the town was only so big, and there were only so many villages nearby.
Anyone who was a bit older understood the local situation quite well.
Although the current village was somewhat different from his memory, he could vaguely recognize the general layout, which hadn't changed.
"Let's go!"
Xavier took a deep breath. Was the feeling of homesickness really unavoidable?
"Ugh~"
But just as he was about to leave, he suddenly heard a retching sound.
He had thought Furina was joking when she said she was about to throw up, but he didn't expect her to actually throw up now!
"No, no, I'm never taking this vehicle again!"
Furina frantically waved her hands, accusing Xavier of why he had chosen this trishaw.
Fortunately, Xavier brought water, and Furina felt much better after taking a couple of sips.
"Wow, it's little chickens!"
However, while Furina was drinking water and rinsing her mouth, Klee had already run to the side.
The village was full of free-range chickens, and this immediately attracted Klee.
"Little chicken, little chicken, don't run away!"
Klee inexplicably wanted to catch these chickens when she saw them; perhaps all children have such a mentality…
But these chickens were winged creatures; even if Klee was fast, she couldn't stop the chicken from flapping its wings and flying over the fence.
"Ugh…"
Ultimately, Klee could only return in defeat, coming before Xavier.
She tugged at Xavier's sleeve and whined, "Xavier Gege, can Klee use bombs to blow up these chickens~"
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