In the blink of an eye, several days passed.
The sky was clear and bright, sunlight dancing on the water in shimmering ripples — perfect weather.
And yet, bright and early, a knock came at the door.
"Who is it?"
Fang Qiu had curled herself into a ball beneath her covers, squirming restlessly, mumbling the words in a half-asleep daze. With her chaotic sleep schedule, she'd barely gotten four hours.
"Miss Fang Qiu, I am Baishi — Lady Ningguang's secretary."
"Baishi?"
Fang Qiu blinked — and was instantly wide awake.
Lady Ningguang's secretary!
She flung herself upright immediately, trying to sit up in one swift motion — only to run out of momentum halfway through, and crash back down onto the mattress.
Thank goodness she'd switched to a softer bed. At the speed she'd just slammed back down, the old one would have had her yelping in pain.
No time to bemoan the sorry state of her core strength. She rolled over, braced herself, and pushed up properly.
"One moment, please," Fang Qiu called out.
"Of course," came Baishi's voice from outside the door.
Fang Qiu scrambled into her clothes, did a quick check in the bronze mirror to make sure she was presentable, hurriedly washed up, and then pulled open the door.
Outside stood a young woman who had clearly been waiting with considerable patience — ponytail, glasses, every inch the picture of a professional secretary.
"Good morning, Miss Fang Qiu. I am Baishi, Lady Ningguang's secretary." Baishi introduced herself with a polite nod.
"Miss Baishi — what brings you here?" Fang Qiu asked, genuinely puzzled.
The woman before her was indeed one of Ningguang's secretaries — Baishi, one of the trio known as Baiwen, Baixiao, and Baishi.
But what on earth could Ningguang want with her at this hour? It was barely breakfast time.
Were all the people of Liyue running on some kind of turbo setting? Even Tianquan Ningguang, the most powerful merchant in the land, was hustling this hard before the morning meal?
Sure enough, Baishi's answer confirmed exactly what she'd suspected.
"Lady Ningguang requests your presence."
"Please give me just a moment — I need to get my cat's breakfast ready first," Fang Qiu said.
"Take your time," Baishi said, giving a small nod.
While she waited, Baishi took the opportunity to observe Fang Qiu discreetly.
It had been Baixiao who came for Miss Fang Qiu the last time; today, with Baixiao unexpectedly occupied, the task had fallen to her. Though she had studied Fang Qiu's file thoroughly, this was her first time meeting her in person.
The file had been accurate. She was a rare beauty — her looks and bearing not a step behind Lady Ningguang's own.
What also surprised her was Fang Qiu's composure. Most people, upon hearing that Lady Ningguang had personally summoned them, would be trembling with excitement. A private audience with Lady Ningguang was, after all, a once-in-a-lifetime honor — all the more so when the Lady herself sent her secretaries to extend the invitation.
The only individuals who had ever received an even higher honor were the celebrated Traveler and Captain Beidou, both of whom had been personally summoned by Chief Secretary Ganyu herself. That placed them a notable rank above Miss Fang Qiu.
Though, of course, Ganyu's personal summons of the Traveler had concerned the Fatui and the matter of the god — and the summons of Captain Beidou had been about the Inazuma trade negotiations.
And yet here was Miss Fang Qiu, receiving word that Lady Ningguang wished to see her — and still finding it in herself to stop and prepare breakfast for her cat.
This Miss Fang Qiu was certainly no ordinary person.
Then again, according to the intelligence reports, Miss Fang Qiu counted both Miss Ganyu and Yuheng Lady Keqing among her close friends, and had notable connections to both The Crux Fleet and Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. She had even crossed paths with the Tianshu Star — who had, in fact, visited Wanwen Bookhouse in person to purchase Fang Qiu's books. One report even noted that the Tianshu Star had brought Fang Qiu's novels along on a fishing trip.
Fang Qiu finished preparing Tingyu's breakfast quickly, then went around to check that all the windows and doors were properly latched — just to be safe. Tingyu was clever, and far too lazy to do anything reckless like the brainless cats from her past life who'd fling themselves off ledges for sport. But better safe than sorry.
With everything settled, she set off alongside Baishi toward Yuehai Pavilion.
Along the way, she noticed more and more conversations in Liyue Harbor revolving around the Moonfeast Festival. Shops lining both sides of the street were already stringing up lanterns and festive decorations — just like the merchants back in her past life gearing up to cash in on a holiday.
It reminded her of the infamous Double Eleven — what had started as Singles' Day had been hijacked into a shopping frenzy, robbing singles of their last scrap of dignity.
The thought made Fang Qiu find herself looking forward to it. After all, the Moonfeast Festival would be her first proper holiday in Liyue.
Though, come to think of it... the Moonfeast Festival seemed a lot like the Mid-Autumn Festival from her past life.
But the previous owner of this body apparently... had no family.
At least, not in any of the memories.
She followed Baishi all the way up to the top floor of Yuehai Pavilion, and there she found Ningguang.
Ningguang was dressed in a black-and-gold cheongsam, seated behind her desk with a sheaf of documents held in her hands, reading with careful attention.
"You're here. Sit down," Ningguang said, rising with a faint smile and gesturing for Fang Qiu to take a seat at the reception area across from the desk. She gathered the documents together, then settled down across from Fang Qiu with the stack in hand.
"Let's get straight to the point," she said, as soon as Baishi had been sent off to brew tea and Ningguang had taken her seat.
"Of course," Fang Qiu said, giving a small nod.
"The pre-production work for Sword and Fairy is more or less in order. Here are the materials — take a look and let me know if you have any thoughts," Ningguang said, sliding the documents across.
"Sure." Fang Qiu nodded, accepting the stack.
The first thing that caught her eye was the production team — a joint effort between people from Liyue and Fontaine. The Liyue side was handling roles comparable to directors in her past life, while the Fontaine side was responsible for the actual filming and camerawork.
A clear division of labor.
Her editor, Bai Qing, was also listed among the participants, available to offer input and guidance.
Both groups fell under her authority to direct.
The casting had yet to be finalized — there was a long list of candidates, and they would be meeting with each one for individual review later.
On the music side, the names listed were all prominent figures from Liyue. One of them caught her eye immediately.
Xinyan.
"Didn't expect Xinyan to throw her name in," Fang Qiu said, mildly surprised, then smiled to herself. "She's probably looking to use this as a platform to promote Rock 'n' Roll."
Beyond all that, there were notes on filming locations and a host of other logistics — the planning had been thorough down to the finest detail. The Yun-Han Opera Troupe was also involved, and there was no shortage of Vision holders on the list either.
Those were likely brought in to produce special effects for Sword and Fairy. She had to admit — using Visions to create visual effects was far more convenient than anything from her past life.
And the list of potential filming locations was impressively extensive.
"Looks like I'm going to be very busy for a while," Fang Qiu thought, letting out a quiet internal sigh. "A thirty-percent cut really doesn't come easy."
She went through the materials carefully, discussing each point with Ningguang as she went.
In the meantime, Baishi returned with tea and refreshments — Mondstadt's signature black tea, accompanied by a selection of Mondstadt cakes and pastries.
So Fang Qiu discussed and reviewed, all while helping herself to the cake and sipping her tea.
She had to say — worthy of Ningguang's personal arrangements. The pastries were noticeably better than anything from that Mondstadt dessert shop back in the city.
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