Guoba and Xiangling sat on one side, while Fang Qiu and Hu Tao sat on the other side of the table.
"Fang Qiu, what do you think? This shop is pretty decent, right? Does it look like the Mondstadt from your book?"
As soon as Hu Tao sat down, she rested her chin on her hands at the edge of the table, tilting her head and looking at Fang Qiu with a face seeking praise, asking in a whisper with a beaming smile.
"Mm, it actually looks quite similar."
Seeing Hu Tao's smiling face, Fang Qiu's beautiful eyes held a smile as she nodded.
They had only chatted for a short while before the drinks and cakes were brought out.
Unlike the instant noodles from a certain famous "Master" in her past life, where the images were strictly for reference and the actual product varied...
The pictures of that Master's instant noodles were printed with huge chunks of beef, paired with large slices of vegetables and bright red soup broth.
But in reality?
You open the package and soak it.
The rehydrated beef is only the size of a pinky nail—which one could forgive—but the vegetables are just tiny, broken scraps.
Even the soup isn't as red as the picture!
However, the actual product in this shop was basically identical to the cake in the pictures.
It was made very exquisitely.
It didn't look like a rush job done on the spot at all; it was likely prepared in advance.
Otherwise, it wouldn't have been this fast.
"Fang Qiu, hurry up and taste it, see if you like it," Hu Tao said expectantly.
"Mm."
Fang Qiu nodded, used her silver fork to cut a small piece, and put it in her mouth.
The three textures—smooth cream, refreshing fruit scent, and soft fragrant cake—instantly filled her entire mouth.
It made Fang Qiu's eyes light up involuntarily.
The taste was unexpectedly very good.
It was even much more delicious than the small cakes she ate in her previous life.
She didn't know if it was because Mondstadt's pastry chefs had superb skills and advanced methods, or if the small cakes she bought in her past life were just too cheap, so the taste was correspondingly much worse.
"How is it? Is it delicious?" Hu Tao asked curiously.
"The taste is quite nice, sweet and sour," Fang Qiu said.
"Really? Can I have a taste?" Hu Tao asked.
"Mm."
Fang Qiu nodded gently and lightly pushed the porcelain plate containing the cake towards Hu Tao.
Hu Tao gently cut a bite and put it into her small mouth. After exclaiming that it was delicious, she cut another piece from her own cake and then held it up to Fang Qiu's red lips.
"Eh?"
Fang Qiu dazed slightly, her red pupils contracting a little.
Hu Tao had just used that fork to eat her own cake, right?
And now she was cutting a piece to feed her.
Isn't this an indirect kiss? And it's even entering the mouth.
Fang Qiu looked at Hu Tao; she didn't seem to realize the issue of the indirect kiss.
Or perhaps, Liyue doesn't have the concept of an indirect kiss?
However, that wasn't important anymore.
Since Hu Tao had already brought the cake to her mouth, she couldn't very well refuse.
She could only gently open her mouth.
She allowed Hu Tao to feed the cake into her mouth.
Afterward, Fang Qiu pursed her red lips slightly. Hu Tao understood and gently withdrew the fork.
On the fork, there was still some cream that Fang Qiu hadn't licked clean.
"How is it? Is it tasty? Which of the two is better?" Hu Tao asked.
"They're both quite tasty. For me, I like the apple one a bit more."
Fang Qiu stuck out her small tongue, licked the cream stuck to her lips, thought for a moment, and said.
"Is that so."
Hu Tao stroked her chin, then gave Xiangling a subtle look.
"Then Fang Qiu, you should taste my portion too."
Xiangling immediately understood, smiled, and pushed her plate of cake towards Fang Qiu.
"Mm."
Fang Qiu nodded, picked up her fork, cut off a piece, and put it in her mouth.
Xiangling's cake tasted sweeter, and with the cream added, it was slightly cloying.
However, this was likely a matter of taste.
"How about it, which of these three is the best?" Hu Tao asked.
"Hmm... I think it's still the apple flavor," Fang Qiu thought for a while and said.
She preferred the texture of apple jam mixed with cream.
"Is that so."
Hu Tao smiled and said, "Then let's dig in."
"Mm."
Fang Qiu and Xiangling nodded.
The three of them chatted about daily trivialities while eating cake.
For instance, when Xiangling was cooking, Guoba actually stole the Golden Shrimp Balls she made for a customer, so she punished Guoba by making him tend the stove fire.
As she said this, Guoba, sitting beside Xiangling, looked very aggrieved.
Meanwhile, Hu Tao continued to solicit business, lamenting that the wilderness had been too safe lately; not a single one of the "Peach-tier" clients she had her eye on had come knocking.
She also mentioned wanting to visit The Crux Fleet the next time they returned to Liyue Harbor to promote her sea burial encoffinment package.
The sailors of The Crux Fleet were also her Peach-tier clients.
She had even specially prepared preferential policies for The Crux Fleet, same as the Adventurers' Guild.
The Wangsheng Funeral Parlor could prioritize requests from The Crux Fleet and even throw in one hundred specially made wooden boxes for free.
They also supported on-site body recovery services, covering more than half of Liyue. If it was beyond the coverage area or in a particularly dangerous place...
They'd have to pay extra.
After listening, Fang Qiu couldn't help but smile. Those sailors would certainly have terrible expressions if they heard Hu Tao promoting this package.
After all, they were at sea.
High winds and big waves were inevitable occasionally; people could disappear in the blink of an eye.
Moreover, following a battle-crazed captain who took a whole ship of people to challenge Haishan, the probability of dying on the spot was very high.
But what Hu Tao was selling wasn't insurance, it was funeral arrangements.
As for matters after death, pre-ordering the service or not was the same; there was no difference.
The person is already dead, so why worry about so much?
"Hu Tao, you absolutely must stay calm. Captain Beidou is very scary when she gets angry; be careful she doesn't hang you from the gunwale to go fishing."
Xiangling's small face changed, and she hurriedly said, "Once when I went on the ship to help in the kitchen, I heard someone say that last time a crew member made a mistake, Captain Beidou hung him from the gunwale to fish."
"Eh, that scary? Then I won't go."
Hu Tao surrendered at light speed, then sighed and said somewhat gloomily, "Everyone thinks of death as too terrifying. Yin and Yang have their order; Fate is fickle. Birth, aging, sickness, and death are the nature of the world. Clearly, only by recognizing death and understanding it can one understand the value of living, right?"
"Although it sounds weird, it seems to make a lot of sense. As expected of Hu Tao."
Xiangling nodded as if suddenly enlightened.
"It does indeed make sense."
Fang Qiu nodded.
These words of Hu Tao held quite a bit of philosophical truth.
"Fang Qiu, you really know the trade, as expected of a novelist. However, when will you help me promote Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's business in your novels?"
Hu Tao asked.
"I will in the future."
Fang Qiu did not answer Hu Tao's question directly.
"You said that last time too."
Hu Tao pouted.
Fang Qiu just smiled.
But then again.
The theme of Sword and Fairy 3 is reincarnation.
The cycle of life and death, reincarnation repeating.
That should count as having a connection to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's Dao of life and death, right?
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