Before long, Baishi returned with the contract.
Fang Qiu glanced over it a couple of times; there were so many clauses they made her head spin.
Had she not been dealing with Ningguang, she would absolutely have hired a legal expert to thoroughly examine this home-purchase contract, lest someone had tampered with it.
After all, she didn't understand Liyue's laws either—what if she got swindled?
This was a transaction of a full thirty million Mora!
Without Ningguang's cooperation—which was practically like handing her Mora for free—the most she'd have on hand right now would be a few million.
Thirty million could be called an astronomical figure.
Though for a transmigrator, that might be a little embarrassing to admit.
If she were cheated out of thirty million Mora, she reckoned she wouldn't sleep well or eat properly for the next six months, and might even spend a good while washing her face with tears.
Speaking of legal experts, Liyue seemed to have a particularly formidable one named Yanfei.
Come to think of it, the legal expert she'd run into yesterday on the way to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor—the one who'd nearly gotten a line-cutter handed over to the Millelith and sentenced to two years—was pretty formidable too.
Two years for cutting in line—in terms of sheer professionalism, that was on par with how, in her past life, that doctor girlfriend who slashed her boyfriend over thirty times had ultimately had it ruled a minor injury.
One look and you could tell she was a professor-grade existence.
Hiring her would surely be the right call.
Come to think of it, she had no idea whether that fellow from the line had been locked up or not...
Fang Qiu shook her head, shaking all those jumbled thoughts out of her mind, let out a long breath, and picked up the writing brush Baishi handed her, ready to sign.
The instant the brush touched the paper, Fang Qiu finally felt the weight of thirty million Mora.
That weight hung on her arm like a scale's counterweight, leaving her hand trembling uncontrollably as she signed.
This was a mortgage of over ten million, after all!
Once she pressed down her handprint, the contract officially took effect.
"The contract is sealed; those who break their word shall suffer the punishment for breaking their word."
Baishi put away one copy of the contract and handed the other to Fang Qiu.
Feeling the weight of the thirty-million-value contract she'd just signed resting in her hands, Fang Qiu was suddenly struck by a daze.
She instinctively looked around at her surroundings.
The place they were in was the main hall, and its décor was lavish and exquisite—the kind of opulence that, were she writing a novel, she reckoned she could spend several whole chapters just describing the hall's furnishings.
To think that one day she too could own a house of her very own.
This counted as her putting down roots in Liyue on an economic level, owning real estate to call her own.
"The contract has been signed and completed; Miss Fang Qiu may move in this very day. I can arrange for people to help with the move."
Baishi pushed up her glasses and said.
"I won't trouble you with the moving, Miss Baishi."
Fang Qiu said with a smile.
It wasn't that she was unwilling to trouble Baishi and Ningguang—the main thing was that Shenhe had gone off to visit the Adepti, and if she moved house first, then when Shenhe came back to find the place empty and everyone gone, it would be terribly awkward.
For now, she'd just head to the market and buy some daily necessities.
She paid fifteen million up front and owed fifteen million.
She kept two million on hand to cover household expenses.
That fifteen million would be deducted from her upcoming earnings.
"Very well. Oh, and if there's anything about the decoration you're unhappy with, do feel free to mention it—I'll send people to make alterations as soon as possible."
Baishi said after a moment's thought.
"No, no, it's quite all right—I'm already very satisfied."
Fang Qiu hastily waved her hand and said.
She really didn't think that any suggestions she, a layperson, might offer would, once implemented, turn out better than what the people Ningguang had hired had designed.
If she went around issuing clueless orders, and then had the artisans change everything back after the fact, the craftsmen would beat her up.
In her past life, she'd written custom-commissioned fiction for a while.
That client had been especially outrageous: she'd finished the first draft and handed it in, and the other party kept putting forward revision after revision.
Bit by bit, almost the entire thing got revised, and after it had been altered beyond all recognition, just as she was assuming the client would pull the classic gag of having her revert it back to the first draft—who'd have thought the client would simply blacklist and delete her outright.
Later, she came across two custom pieces online—one was the original version, the other the improved version she'd almost completely rewritten.
As if freeloading one custom piece off her wasn't enough, that swindler had even tormented her with revisions, and then freeloaded the revised custom piece off her as well!
That was when she came to understand the suffering of the party taking the commission.
So she'd best not torment the craftsmen.
With everything settled, and having other matters to attend to, Baishi handed Fang Qiu a great big bunch of keys and then turned and left.
And then.
At Paimon's signal, the Traveler took out the Serenitea Pot and sent them all inside it.
What met her eyes was an orange-red setting sun; amid a sea of clouds, immortal cranes danced on the wing, and now and then a distant, drawn-out cry drifted over.
A gust of wind blew past, lifting Fang Qiu's hair and the hems of her robes.
"So beautiful."
Hu Tao murmured.
Fang Qiu, for her part, was wide-eyed with awe and couldn't come back to her senses for a good long while.
Wh-what just happened?
What was going on?
Was this what an Adepti treasure was like?
She'd originally thought that this so-called blessed paradise grotto would, at most, be able to create the interior of a very large house.
Something a bit like an RV from her past life.
Portable, yet also livable.
A divine artifact for traveling.
Who'd have thought—this was no RV at all; this was plainly a galaxy-spanning warship bearing an enormous mountain peak.
The scale ratio was just too terrifying.
Was this the power of the Adepti?
To think it could truly create such a blessed paradise grotto.
She'd assumed the Adepti were merely somewhat more powerful humans; she hadn't realized how narrow her own horizons had been.
According to Paimon, there was also an Adeptus named Tubby in this realm who could turn the materials they handed over into buildings or furniture.
All she could say was that she was incredibly envious.
At the same time, though, a question arose in her mind.
Where was the Traveler and Paimon's house?
Surely they hadn't just traded roughing it in the open outside for roughing it in the open inside the Serenitea Pot?
What would be the point of that?
Just as she was puzzling over it.
"Fang Qiu, Hu Tao, over here, over here."
Paimon's voice rang out from behind them.
Fang Qiu instinctively turned around, and a luxurious, magnificent building instantly filled her field of vision.
So... so big!
At the sight of the building before her, Fang Qiu was stunned for several seconds.
This was the house Paimon had said was inferior to hers?
In what way was it inferior?!
Then she suddenly noticed that, before the building's entrance, there stood a...
Hmm?
What was that?
Fang Qiu's gaze was instantly and wholly seized by the thing standing in the doorway—tucked inside a giant teacup, a teacup lid perched on its head—a big bird?
"Let me introduce you—this is Tubby."
Having introduced that big bird, Paimon then introduced them to Tubby in turn.
After chatting a few words, they toured the Serenitea Pot together.
The interior décor of the house was far less spectacular than the exterior had looked.
Which did match the just-getting-started level Paimon had described.
In the Traveler's plans, she intended to make a large garden, then put in an Inazuma-style hot spring, Mondstadt-style furniture, and Liyue-style architecture.
Hearing this, Fang Qiu exclaimed that she really knew her stuff.
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