An hour later, the publishing house office was terrifyingly quiet.
Bai Qing watched as the hands of several seniors trembled while holding the manuscripts, and a strange feeling rose in her heart.
Thinking of the expressions of disbelief on their faces just moments ago, and seeing them now—on the verge of weeping, eyes brimming with tears—this strange feeling intensified.
She could somewhat understand; could it be that Fang Qiu wrote books with this kind of sadistic hobby in mind?
Not long after, Li Ling and the others put down the manuscripts one after another, their eyes teary.
"Let's go, let's get a drink."
"To Wanmin Restaurant?"
"Let's go to the tavern next to Wanmin Restaurant. I don't really feel like eating today."
"Mm."
...
Meanwhile, Fang Qiu and Hu Tao were sitting in Wanmin Restaurant.
"Xiangling, I want Boiled Fish with Shrimp Dumplings."
Hu Tao held the menu, eyes full of anticipation, and spoke.
"It's not like you haven't eaten it before, why are you so excited?"
Fang Qiu smiled and said.
"That's different. Today you're treating, and food bought by others tastes much better than what I buy myself."
Hu Tao chuckled, her eyes narrowing into slits.
"So food treated by others tastes better than food paid for with your own Mora, is that it?"
Fang Qiu leaned on the table with one hand and said.
"Although there is logic to that, what you treat is even more delicious."
Hu Tao said with a beaming smile.
As she spoke, she seemed to recall something and continued: "By the way, didn't you go to submit your manuscript today?"
"Yeah, I don't know if it will pass review."
Fang Qiu nodded.
"Don't worry, you'll definitely be fine. Hey, the food is here. Xiangling, you didn't put anything weird in it, right? By the way, is it still the wuxia genre? I actually quite liked the martial arts novels you wrote."
"It's not a martial arts novel."
"Eh, it's not?"
Hu Tao spoke while placing a piece of fish into Fang Qiu's bowl. "This is the fattiest, most delicious part of the fish. Eat more, look how thin you are..."
Hu Tao stopped halfway through her sentence, and Fang Qiu felt Hu Tao's gaze focus on her chest.
After a moment of silence, Hu Tao waved her hand.
"Xiangling, I want a portion of Vegetarian Noodles."
Hearing Hu Tao's order, Fang Qiu almost choked on her tea.
She finally understood why Hu Tao had asked what she usually ate while they were in the bathhouse...
So it was because of this?
For a moment, her chest felt a bit chilly under Hu Tao's stare.
However, Fang Qiu was also very curious herself.
Her body was clearly terribly weak—a sickly constitution that made her gasp for breath after running ten meters—yet her physical development was so graceful and voluptuous, full of allure.
She didn't know what was going on either.
Looking at it from a modern medical perspective, maybe it was a genetic issue.
Also known as being naturally beautiful.
Hu Tao didn't care about the awkwardness and continued chatting idly with Fang Qiu.
The two ate very slowly. By the time they finished the dishes on the table, the surrounding customers had mostly left.
Even Xiangling, who had been incredibly busy, had time to sit beside them and chat.
"I'm so full."
Hu Tao touched her slightly bulging belly and said with satisfaction.
Looking at the bowl of Vegetarian Noodles that Hu Tao had swept clean, Fang Qiu didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but seeing Hu Tao's expectant look, she didn't say much and silently stood up to pay the bill.
After returning to her room, Fang Qiu didn't rest immediately. Instead, she picked up the Vision at her waist.
Fang Qiu raised her hand and waved, and a burst of pale blue icy mist appeared.
Four sharp ice spikes condensed within the mist, hovering before her.
"It really has become a lot stronger," Fang Qiu muttered.
Just now at Wanmin Restaurant, she had felt the power of her Vision seem to strengthen a bit again.
During this past week, she had been observing the changes in her Vision.
However, she wrote for a full week and didn't feel her Vision get even slightly stronger.
So, she decisively ruled out the factor that writing novels could make her stronger.
Then, only two possibilities remained.
One: Others reading her novel can make her stronger.
Two... Both times she got stronger, she went to eat food made by Xiangling at Wanmin Restaurant...
"I'll know when the novel is officially published," Fang Qiu muttered.
Now she wanted to test the power of these condensed ice spikes.
One must know, Teyvat is different from her previous life; this place is filled with danger.
From the Overlord of the Vortex that nearly flooded Liyue Harbor a while ago, to the Hilichurls wandering the wilds of Liyue.
It's dangerous no matter how you think about it.
Even though Liyue Harbor is guarded by heavy troops and overseen by Adepti, having a certain amount of self-preservation ability is good after all.
Just as she was choosing a target, a sudden sensation of exhaustion swept over her.
Fang Qiu's body swayed twice, and she plopped down onto the bed, while the ice spikes hovering in the air lost control and fell to the floor.
It took a good while for Fang Qiu to recover from the state of exhaustion.
Her pretty face was pale, she covered her slightly throbbing forehead, and the corner of her mouth couldn't help but twitch into a bitter smile.
This...
Is too weak!
However, Fang Qiu had another thought.
Condensing ice spikes out of thin air and making them hover for nearly ten seconds—such a result shouldn't be considered too shameful among transmigrators, right?
Think about those light novels she read in her past life.
There was a transmigrator named Kazuma who went to a construction site to move bricks and swing a hoe after transmigrating.
Thinking about it this way, Fang Qiu felt much more balanced.
Although she was very weak, she wasn't completely powerless.
Moreover...
Fang Qiu cast her gaze toward the ice spikes scattered on the ground.
Generally speaking, ordinary ice spikes falling from a height of over a meter would have shattered long ago.
But the ice spikes she condensed were intact after hitting the ground.
"The future is promising," Fang Qiu's eyes lit up.
She seemed to see her future self raising a hand, causing a sky full of icy rain to rustle down.
Or condensing a mountain-like ice spike to nail the escaped Overlord of the Vortex back into the seabed.
At that time, maybe she could even run for a position in the Liyue Qixing.
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