The Lost People of Teyvat

Chapter 11: Broken Snow in the Jade Pavilion

Bai Zhu collected his thoughts, first glanced at the long sword on Chen Tianfeng's waist, and then looked into his eyes: "Have you ever thought about hiding it? Grandma Yuan may not be able to bear the sadness of the death of her relatives."

“I have thought about it, and I have thought of many different versions.”

Chen Tianfeng's eyes were calm: "Yuan Mu met a noble man, went to a foreign country to do business, and was determined to make a lot of money before returning home; Yuan Mu met a woman, fell in love with her at first sight, and planned to live with her forever; Yuan Mu sincerely searched for medicine, was appreciated by the immortal, and practiced in the mountains..."

"But this is impossible. Yuan Mu is a simple child. Even if the immortal wants to take him away, he can only knock him out without informing my mother-in-law."

But the immortals of Liyue cannot do such a thing.

"What's more, I promised to give him a grand funeral." Chen Tianfeng rubbed his fingers unconsciously, and he seemed to still feel the cold and slippery feeling.

"There are always surprises in life, young man, you should be more open-minded." The white snake wrapped around Bai Zhu's neck raised its head and spit out its tongue, with no expression on its face: "If you let this get you down, it will affect your health and that will be bad."

The voice of the White Snake is neither male nor female, has a slightly childish tone, and is quite pleasant to the ear.

Chen Tianfeng looked at the white snake in surprise, and heard its genuine concern. He cupped his hands and said, "Thank you. But I'm not that fragile. Birth, aging, sickness and death, the world is unpredictable, I understand."

"That's good. By the way, my name is Changsheng. You are welcome to come to Bubulu often... Uh, forget it, it's better not to come here often." Changsheng rested his chin on Baizhu's shoulder, looking lazy.

Chen Tianfeng smiled, and suddenly wanted to find a talking partner, such as Mondfischl's crow Oz, the rice crust of Xiangling, the little cook of Wanmin Hall, or Paimon, the emergency food of the blonde traveler... Oh, forget about the last one, it costs too much and he probably can't afford it.

He collected his thoughts and chatted with Bai Zhu and Changsheng occasionally.

Not long after, Ah Gui appeared, smelling of Chinese medicine, carrying a gourd filled with medicinal soup in one hand and a medicine box in the other.

Bai Zhu did not delay and asked Agui to stay and look after the medicine house. Then he and Chen Tianfeng, who took over the gourd and medicine box, went to Liushu Street together.

The two men knocked on the door and found an excuse to coax Grandma Yuan into drinking the nourishing and strengthening medicine. Bai Zhu then examined the old lady and boiled some calming medicine before signaling Chen Tianfeng that he could speak.

Chen Tianfeng looked at the old man's slightly pale face and gray hair. His throat felt dry and for a moment he even forgot how to start talking. The thoughts he had thought of on the way became a mess.

"It's about Yuan Mu."

Granny Yuan tightly grasped Chen Tianfeng's hand, her cloudy eyes filled with the pain she had expected and the sadness she refused to believe: "My Mu'er, is he... is he... gone?"

Yuan Mu had been away from home for several days. The old man thought about the worst outcome every day and sometimes woke up from his dreams at night.

When she heard that someone was specifically asking about their family today, the old lady realized something was wrong. In the afternoon, Chen Tianfeng, a stranger who was asking about the situation, came to her house with Mr. Bubulubai. They gave her medicine and checked her. Grandma Yuan knew that her worst fear had probably happened.

Chen Tianfeng's nose felt sore, and he looked away timidly, unwilling to look at the old man. He just nodded: "Well, Yuan Mu ran into the treasure-stealing group...something went wrong..."

···
···
Since leaving Grandma Yuan's house, Chen Tianfeng has not said a word, and Bai Zhu and Changsheng have also been silent.

When they returned to Bubulu, Chen Tianfeng bowed to Bai Zhu and said, "Thank you very much for today, Mr. Bai. I wonder how much the consultation fee and medical expenses are in total?"

"No thanks." Bai Shu shook his head and refused. Seeing that Chen Tianfeng was determined to give it, he thought for a moment and advised, "You still owe Wangsheng Hall a lot of Mora, right? It's a special situation, so don't worry about it. Besides, if I accept the money for today's matter, I will only feel sad. So forget it."

"...Thank you, Mr. Bai."

Chen Tianfeng bowed, said goodbye to Bai Shu and Changsheng, turned around and walked away along the long steps under Bubu Lu.

"Changsheng, you seem to have a good impression of him?"

Bai Zhu looked at Chen Tianfeng's back and suddenly spoke.

"Well, there is an interesting aura about him. My intuition tells me that if I sign a symbiotic contract with him, there will be only one result." Baishe Changsheng was still lazy.

"Oh? What's the result?"

"I will die."

Changsheng spat out his tongue and said, "He has a strong smell of death."

······
The people of Liyue Harbor all know that above Liyue Harbor, there is a fairy palace in the clouds and a palace in the mist.

That is the world-class property purchased by [Tianquan] Ningguang - Qun Yu Pavilion.

When the weather is clear, looking down from the deck outside the palace gate, most of the scenery of Liyue Harbor can be seen.

As night falls and the lights of Liyue Harbor are turned on, if you look down from the deck, the lights of Liyue Harbor and the reflections of the stars on the sea are intertwined, creating a dreamlike feeling that "it's not like being in the human world".

Ye Lan withdrew her gaze, tossed the dice, and after getting a satisfactory number, she walked straight to Ningguang's office in the Qun Yu Pavilion.

"It's three days later than scheduled. What happened to you?"

Ningguang glanced at Ye Lan who came in with her beautiful eyes and put down the brush.

She was wearing a cheongsam with a golden phoenix pattern on the collar, and the hem was shaped like a bird's tail, which made her look more elegant and noble. Her long white-gold hair was curled up by a black and gold hairpin, parted from the back and hanging down to her calves. The vermilion tassel hanging from her forehead echoed the color of her eyes. "I met an interesting person."

Ye Lan pulled over a chair and sat down opposite Ningguang without any hesitation.

Although some people said that she was following the orders of [Tianquan] Ningguang, Ye Lan believed in her heart that she could not be considered anyone's subordinate. Rather than a superior-subordinate relationship, her cooperation with Ningguang was more like a transaction, or in other words... a contract of some kind.

She can get all the intelligence fruits from the dangerous flowers for Ningguang, but the rewards she asks for are only danger and a sense of accomplishment. The reason for this cooperation is unknown. The only certainty is that Ye Lan's footprints have long been imprinted on the land outside Liyue.

Wherever the stars appear, there are wandering visitors.

"Interesting person?"

Ningguang was in a good mood. There were not many people that Ye Lan could call "interesting".

"Chen Tianfeng is a guy with many secrets. He has never appeared in Liyue before. According to him, he once lived in Mondstadt for a period of time. But the experiences he described are all things that cannot be confirmed or falsified."

Ye Lan recalled the days she spent with Chen Tianfeng: "Of course, these are not important. The key point is that he seems to have a better understanding of many things than ordinary people, but he lacks some common sense... What do you think?"

"An immortal who is coming down the mountain for the first time, or an immortal's disciple." Ningguang thought thoughtfully.

"Yes, I thought so at first." Ye Lan nodded and said, "But then I felt that it was not the case. However, no matter what, one thing is certain, he has an incredible secret."

"What are you going to do?"

"Let's get to know him for a while. If he has no ill will towards Liyue, we won't be able to do anything."

"Well, Liyue isn't so stingy as to not accept a 'secret guest'."

Ningguang nodded slightly, a smile on her red lips: "You came at the right time today, please do me a small favor."

"You tell me, and I'll decide whether to help or not depending on the situation."

Ye Lan stood up and followed Ning Guang, and the two of them left the palace and came to the deck.

Miss Baiwen, one of Tianquan's confidants, stood aside, holding a large box filled with scraps of paper.

"I've been wanting to ask you for a long time, what is your evil taste?"

Ye Lan raised an eyebrow and guessed what Ning Guang was talking about.

Broken snow in the Qun Yu Pavilion.

This is what the merchants in Liyue Harbor called this event, and a storyteller even composed a little poem about it.

[Floating in the air, it looks like falling snow dust on the clouds.]

No matter how dense or sparse the characters are, each word is as precious as a treasure.

With a single thought, the mountains and rivers are engulfed.

Everyone knows that the power of heaven is supreme. 】

But behind this heroic and magnificent poem, there is actually the vile behavior of this woman Ningguang, who shredded the discarded intelligence papers after sorting them out and threw them out of the Qun Yu Pavilion.

Yet those businessmen still flock to it, taking great pains to buy these discarded scraps of paper at high prices, trying to obtain some important information so that they can profit from it.

But most of them came back empty handed.

These people didn't even think about how a woman like Ningguang could just throw away the information she had worked so hard to obtain. The occasional useful information was just false hope thrown out by Ningguang.

Or maybe the businessmen all think that they are lucky and can reap the benefits smoothly, so what does the life and death of others have to do with them?

"How can you say it's a bad taste?"

Ningguang didn't take it seriously and said with a smile, "I deal with the garbage, the restless adventurers get quests, the merchants get the goods they desire, and even the sanitation workers who clean the streets of Liyue Port get a bonus from the Jade Pavilion every year. This is a good thing for everyone to win together."

"If I didn't know that you were throwing part of it away and hiding part of it and selling it to other merchants at a high price, maybe I would have believed it." Ye Lan sneered.

"Who would dislike Morado?"

Ningguang's beautiful red eyes reflected the night scene of Liyue Harbor. She picked up a few pieces of paper and threw them down: "I'll have to trouble you from now on, Miss Ye Lan."

Then it seemed as if it really was snowing from the sky, and countless businessmen looked up with burning eyes.

(End of this chapter)