The wind and snow howled over Liyue Harbor, and the snow came down heavier and heavier.
Few travelers were on the roads, and the stall vendors had packed up early.
Only from the lantern-lit indoor teahouse by the roadside came the ringing, forceful voice of a storyteller.
"This single sword stroke of Jing Tian's was mighty as mountains and vast as seas. In that instant, the winds and clouds changed color, the sun and moon were thrown into upheaval. To learn what comes next, tune in for the next installment!"
Then a wave of clamor broke out.
"Old Zhang, you've been telling this battle between Jing Tian and Chonglou for three days now—when's it ever going to end?"
"Yeah, you cut it off right at the best part again. That's a bit much."
"How are you any different from those cliffhanger hacks? Last time I read a book where everyone thought the protagonist was dead, and all the villains who'd been kept down went off to bully the protagonist's family. Right when the villain was about to kill the protagonist's kin, the protagonist drove a sword into the ground before him and said, 'You lot are courting death'—and then it just ended…"
"Ahem, everyone, settle down. This adaptation isn't just making things up. Fang Qiu's books form a complete, self-contained system. Though I've been paid a fee to adapt the telling, I still can't break past the book's original framework. On top of that, the story of Sword and Fairy is so wonderful that adapting it is extremely hard to begin with, and my own skills only go so far. Next time—next time I promise to give you all a satisfying earful, how's that?"
"I'll trust you one more time. If this fight still isn't finished next time, I'll go listen over at Third-Round Knockout. I hear they've been telling Chonglou's great war in the Demon Realm lately."
"Right, right."
The teahouse was lively beyond measure.
Meanwhile, out on the cold, deserted street.
Two Treasure Hoarders—one fat, one thin, their faces bruised and swollen and smeared with blood—propped each other up, staggering along in the cold wind of the winter night.
Every so often as they walked, little drops of crimson blood fell onto the snow, strikingly vivid against the white.
"Big bro… your nose is bleeding again…" the fatty said.
"Sss… ow… that woman hit way too hard… all I did was ask someone to lend me a bit of pocket money to spend… if I broke the law, couldn't they just let the law come punish me…" The skinny man grimaced with pain.
"B-big bro… how about… next time we just don't… rob people anymore… let's go sell books instead… you know, when we line up to buy books for those two, we buy a few extra to sell on the side… how… how about it?"
The fatty kept wiping at his bleeding nose, tears spilling out despite himself, and said, "This grudge—I'm remembering it!"
The skinny man cursed, "Don't let me find out where she lives!"
"B-big bro, don't. That woman's too strong—there's no way we can handle her." The fatty went pale with fright and spoke in a rush.
"Of course I know that. That woman's monstrously strong—I'm not stupid." The skinny man wiped away the tears the pain had brought to his eyes and said resentfully, "Once I find out where she lives, I'll jam something into her lock's keyhole every single day so she can't open her door."
"Won't we be mistaken for picking locks and get hauled off by the Millelith?" the fatty asked.
"What's there to be scared of?" the skinny man snapped.
Cursing all the while, the two headed toward Bubu Pharmacy.
Just as they were getting into the swing of their cursing, three figures came walking toward them down the street.
Two women and one man—one tall, two short.
The wind and snow were too heavy, and with the beating they'd taken, they couldn't make out the three faces clearly. They only sensed that the trio was watching the two of them.
Rage boiled up in the skinny man at once.
"What're you looking at? Never seen Treasure Hoarders this handsome? Get lost, and be quick about it—dawdle and I'll thrash you," the skinny man snarled.
Normally, once he said something like that, an ordinary person would already be sprinting away. After all, the Treasure Hoarders had a reputation. Who wouldn't tremble at the mere mention of them?
Even babies in Liyue, so they said, would stop crying the moment they heard the Treasure Hoarders' name.
But to his surprise, the three not only didn't hurry off—they stood right where they were. In fact, they came walking straight toward the two of them.
"Ho? Coming right at us? Not scramming is one thing, but stepping up to ask for a beating? I'm in a rare good mood today and was going to let you off, and you don't even appreciate it." The skinny man spat a mouthful of blood onto the snow, flecking the white with crimson.
He pushed away the fatty holding him up and, gritting through the pain, loosened his limbs. His gaze was sharp as a wolf's. He wouldn't stand for it!
Today he'd teach these three a proper lesson, let them get a good taste of what came from crossing the Treasure Hoarders. Otherwise, before long, every stray cat and dog would dare dig up trouble on the Treasure Hoarders' turf.
He'd vent the rage bottled up from the beating he'd just taken. All he had to do was pummel these three into the same pig-headed pulp he was.
Beside him, the fatty readied himself to fight too.
"If you don't come a little closer, how am I supposed to beat you black and blue?" A cold woman's voice rang out. It came from the tallest of them.
"Oh? Then why don't we step a bit clo—" Before he could finish, he dropped to his knees with a thud, the arrogance on his face turning at once to terror and dread.
His whole body shook uncontrollably.
He knew perfectly well that he wasn't shaking from any bitter cold, but from fear.
"Bei—" He was about to beg for mercy, but he'd barely gotten one syllable out when the fatty beside him pivoted on his foot, drove the force up through his waist, and swept out a horizontal kick straight at the woman leading the group.
But the next instant, the fatty went flying backward like a cannonball, tumbling several times across the snow like a dead pig before he lay there, not moving.
"Quite the nerve—throwing your weight around on the streets of Liyue." A mocking voice sounded, and it startled the skinny man into a shudder. He hurriedly kowtowed and owned up to his mistake.
"I was wrong, I failed to recognize someone of your stature, I didn't know it was you—please, I beg you, let me off," the skinny man said in terror.
The three stepped out of the darkness into the lantern light. Under the warm glow, the woman in front wore a set of tight black-and-red combat clothes, her hair bound up with a hairpin and a black eyepatch over one eye.
The man and woman flanking her—the woman had a strangely shaped instrument slung across her back and wild, poofed-out hair, while the man wore Inazuman clothing, his hair pale white.
"So what you're saying is, if it weren't me, you'd be free to boss people around and bully the weak?" Beidou said coldly.
"S-Sister Beidou… that's not what I meant," the skinny man said, quaking with fear.
"Then what did you mean?" Beidou said, narrowing her eye.
"I… I…" Panic all over his face, the skinny man strained for a long while but couldn't get out a single word.
Beidou couldn't be bothered to waste any more breath on him. She kicked him over onto the ground and said, "Get lost. Next time I catch you bullying the weak, no one who comes will be able to save you."
"Th-thank you, Sister Beidou." The skinny man scrambled up from the ground, thanked Beidou, then hauled up the fatty, who'd been kicked senseless. Seeing he hadn't passed out, he slapped him across the face and cursed, "Damn you, raising a hand against Sister Beidou—you tired of living? Hurry up and thank Sister Beidou."
"Thank you, Sister Beidou." Terror all over his face, the fatty hurriedly gave his thanks.
Then the two of them, panic written across their faces, propped each other up and ran off toward Bubu Pharmacy. Halfway there, the fatty took a spill and dragged the skinny man down with him, drawing a stream of foul curses from the skinny man.
"Let's go," Beidou said with a wave of her hand. "I had someone buy Fang Qiu's new book today—perfect timing to read it back on the ship."
"Mm." Kaedehara Kazuha drew back his gaze. The two hadn't dared to resist a stronger foe—nothing worth paying any mind to.
"They say Weathering With You and Your Name share the same world. No idea whether that's true," Xinyan said.
"If this one's a tragedy too, I'm going to go make trouble at Fang Qiu's door," Beidou said, working out her limbs.
"Sister Beidou, you're not going to hit Fang Qiu, are you? A frame like hers couldn't take a beating," Xinyan said quickly.
"As if I'd hit her." Beidou waved a hand. "I'd just tie her to a chair and tickle the soles of her feet."
They walked farther and farther away. The two Treasure Hoarders walked farther and farther off too.
Though the Uncrowned Lord of the Ocean's word was as good as gold, the two kept glancing back over their shoulders as they fled.
Only when Beidou and the others were completely out of sight did they let out a breath of relief. They'd nearly been scared to death.
Just then, yet another figure came walking toward them—and this time they didn't dare run their mouths.
"Tsk tsk, you two are in bad shape—there's a risk of passing away. And one look tells me you're men who do big things. Men who do big things tend to run into trouble, and trouble tends to lead to passing away. So how about it? Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's grand customer appreciation sale, buy one get one free—care to consider? Order now and you can even reserve a custom-made Wangsheng oilpaper umbrella. So many discounts!"
As the words faded, the skinny man finally made out the newcomer's face. It was none other than the Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor—the one who'd once beaten him black and blue at Wuwang Hill.
The skinny man gave a full-body shudder and said tremblingly, "Uh, I think we can still be saved. As for doing big things—I've just decided I won't be doing big things anymore. We'll take our leave now."
With that, the skinny man and the fatty propped each other up and ran all the way toward Bubu Pharmacy, disappearing into the wind and snow in a flash, gone without a trace.
"Aiya, running that fast—looks like they really can still be saved," Hu Tao muttered with a sigh.
The two Treasure Hoarders ran on through the cold wind of the winter night and at last reached Bubu Pharmacy—only to find that, though its door stood open and the lamps blazed bright, there was no one inside.
Just as they'd searched all around without finding anyone and were at a loss for what to do, a soft, raspy, emotionless little voice piped up.
"Excuse me, is there something you need?"
Following the sound, they discovered a little girl standing behind the counter—one not even as tall as the counter itself.
Only, her getup was a little odd.
"You… you're the doctor?" the skinny man asked.
"Doctor Bai is out on a house call. Only Qiqi is watching over Bubu Pharmacy," Qiqi said.
"Then get us some medicine and bandage us up," the skinny man said.
"Where's the prescription? You don't have a prescription?" Qiqi tilted her head and asked.
"No prescription," the skinny man said with a wave.
"No prescription, no filling medicine," Qiqi said, shaking her head.
The skinny man was taken aback and forced down his temper. Striking a doctor was a grave taboo in their line of work. Besides, what was the point of squabbling with a child?
Luckily he got hurt often enough to know the salve he usually used, so he told Qiqi its name.
Hearing that they wanted bruise medicine, Qiqi hesitated, then changed her mind. After taking their Mora, she quickly fetched the salve.
"Please rub it on for me—the pain's really more than I can bear," the skinny man said. "Mm." Qiqi nodded.
Lately she'd been learning how to treat bruises and sprains.
Because Fang Qiu was so frail—last time she'd nearly taken a tumble—Qiqi had been studying how Doctor Bai treated people's bruises and sprains, so that she could heal Fang Qiu if she ever got hurt.
That was why, upon hearing they wanted bruise medicine, she'd fetched the salve for them.
Her memory wasn't very good, but she remembered that Doctor Bai used exactly the salve the skinny man had named to treat people.
Recalling how Doctor Bai applied medicine, Qiqi picked up a wooden stick, scooped up some salve, and pressed the stick against the swollen red spot on the skinny man.
"Aaah!" A shrill scream rang through all of Bubu Pharmacy. Qiqi had pressed too hard, and the pain sent tears streaming down the skinny man's face.
"Uh… I'll just do it myself," the skinny man said, his hand trembling.
Qiqi tilted her head innocently, looked at the skinny man's contorted expression, handed him the salve, and went back to the counter to play with a small finch.
The skinny man shakily picked up the wooden stick and began applying the medicine himself.
Not far outside Bubu Pharmacy, Ganyu glanced at it, puzzled, then looked away.
It was, after all, Bubu Pharmacy. When people were being treated, the occasional scream or two was hardly out of place.
She looked at the copy of Weathering With You in her hands, then up at the snow filling the sky.
This wasn't the copy Hu Tao had given her, but one she'd bought at the Wanwen Bookhouse after finishing her meal.
After Hu Tao gave her that book, she'd rushed through her work and then finished reading Weathering With You.
This copy she'd bought for her master, Cloud Retainer.
"When I have a moment, I'll ask Miss Ningguang for leave and bring this book to Mt. Aocang. If Master sees that Miss Fang Qiu wrote a happy ending where everyone's reunited, she'll surely be delighted," Ganyu murmured with a soft smile.
A gust of wind swept past, lifting the strands of hair at her temples.
She tilted her head up slightly to watch the snow fill the sky. Under the warm lamplight, the falling flakes somehow seemed not so cold anymore.
"The world, or you—I choose you. Who'd have thought Miss Fang Qiu could write both the Sword and Fairy series, about a hero of the greatest kind who saves all the world's people by her own hand, and Weathering With You, about throwing everything aside for love. It's truly astonishing."
Ganyu chuckled softly and, hugging the copy of Weathering With You tight to her chest, set off toward Yujing Terrace. Overtime tonight.
At this moment, in Jueyun Karst.
The three Adepti each closed the books floating before them.
"That child Fang Qiu has finally written a happy ending," Cloud Retainer said. "It seems the child has indeed mended her ways."
Remembering how, back during the Lantern Rite, Fang Qiu had trembled like a lamb while reading The Forest of Fireflies' Light, Cloud Retainer gave a soft laugh.
Splitting the Mountain to Save Mother should be fine now.
"Compared to the ending of Sword and Fairy you had us read before, this really is far better," Mountain Shaper said with a nod. "And it makes up for the regret in Your Name, where the leads never ended up together."
"I have to admit, this child called Fang Qiu really does write remarkably well. Whether it's the prose or the emotional groundwork, both are first-rate," Moon Carver added. "No wonder she's an author even Rex Lapis favors."
"Oh?" Cloud Retainer cast a glance at Mountain Shaper and Moon Carver and said, "I have some other books by Fang Qiu here—you two might as well read them all while you're at it."
With that, she gave a beat of her wings, and several books appeared out of thin air, drifting over to hover before Mountain Shaper and Moon Carver. At the very top sat The Legend of Sword and Fairy 1.
"This…" The two Adepti both hesitated.
"What? You don't like them?" Cloud Retainer asked.
"No, no." The two Adepti both shook their heads.
"Speaking of which, I've heard the Traveler has lately been helping ship that child Fang Qiu's books to Mondstadt and Inazuma," Cloud Retainer said.
"There's something like that going on?" Mountain Shaper asked. "So how are her books selling in Mondstadt and Inazuma?"
"Quite well, it seems." Cloud Retainer looked off toward Inazuma. "The Traveler should be in Inazuma right now, shouldn't she? She's probably finished the child's book too by now."
At this moment.
Inazuma, at the entrance of the Yae Publishing House main store.
"We finally got it…" Though there wasn't any sweat on her face, Paimon still pretended to wipe some away.
She glanced at the long dragon of a line stretching behind her, let out a long breath, then knit her brows and complained, "It's all that Miko's fault—she actually had the editors refuse to give us a copy, making us wait in line here for so long."
"It wasn't easy," Lumine agreed with a nod, gazing at the sky. It had been dark for such a long while now… who knew how long they'd been in line.
Because the book had been released so suddenly, the print run wasn't enough, and after selling for a while, it ran out of stock. Though another batch would be shipped in after a spell, it too would quickly sell out. So they could only keep waiting.
Back and forth it went, and only now had they finally bought the book. That last sellout especially—the books had run out right when it was their turn.
And who could say whether Miko, seeing it was their turn, had deliberately made the delivery slow down. They'd waited a full hour before the book cart finally came trundling along.
"We can finally report the job done. So sleepy—I'm never taking a gig like this again." Sayu, her face heavy with drowsiness, rubbed her eyes and complained, "This Fang Qiu person is really awful… writing so well for no reason, so that this many people line up to buy her books and eat into my sleeping time. And Thoma… he's awful too… growing that tall and still not letting other people sleep and grow. Couldn't he come buy it himself?"
Hearing Sayu's complaints, Lumine and Paimon didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The truth was, Thoma really didn't dare come buy it himself.
While they'd been waiting in line just now, they'd overheard quite a few novel enthusiasts still discussing the matter of Fang Qiu's knife-twisting heartbreak being custom-ordered by Thoma.
Quite a few were even saying that if Weathering With You was going to twist the knife again, the vegetable sellers would band together and double the price of vegetables for Thoma.
They had no doubt that if Thoma came to buy the book in person, someone would deliberately stall at the shop, dragging out their purchase to make Thoma wait longer in line—or buy up every last book in one go and then resell them at cost to the people behind Thoma, leaving him waiting on and on.
One misstep, and you regret it for a thousand years.
Besides, this Sayu—she'd clearly spent most of the wait asleep…
As for the complaint that Fang Qiu wrote too well and so drew big crowds, for a moment they were at a loss for words. It seemed to make sense, yet somehow felt like there was something off about it.
"Sayu, you go on and sleep. We'll deliver the book to the Kamisato Estate for you," Paimon said.
"Then I'll leave it to you… mm… now that the job's done, I just really want to sleep… snooze." Sayu handed the book to Lumine.
"Mm." Lumine nodded and took the book Sayu passed her.
"Sayu… finally doesn't have to work anymore." Sayu walked to a quieter spot near the Yae Publishing House, used ninjutsu to conjure a wooden barrel, then crawled inside and sank into a deep sleep.
Just as they were about to leave, they noticed someone very familiar standing at the back of the long line.
"Hm? Who's that over there?" Paimon paused, then it came to her. "It's Ippei and Shinnojou! What are they doing here?"
"Hm?" Lumine gave a small start.
"Hey! Don't tell me you've forgotten?" Paimon pointed at the man in armor. "That one's called Shinnojou—when we first arrived at Ritou, we escorted Hiiragi Chisato out of Ritou together with him. The one beside him is Ippei, an attendant of Kujou Kamaji, the current acting head of the Kujou Clan. Anyway, let's go ask them."
"Mm." Lumine nodded.
"Hi, Ippei, Shinnojou," Paimon called.
"Oh, it's you two. Thank you so much for what you did last time," Ippei said. "I came to buy a book for the Second Young Master, and didn't expect to run right into him here."
"So you two know them as well?" Shinnojou asked.
So they told one another how they'd each come to know the Traveler and Paimon.
Shinnojou had come not only to buy a book for Hiiragi Chisato, but also to deliver a letter to Kujou Kamaji while he was at it.
"Mm. A few days ago, the Second Young Master found some time to read Fang Qiu's book, and after that he couldn't put it down. No matter how worn out he was from the Kujou Clan's affairs, he had to read a while before bed, and he often exchanges letters with Miss Chisato to discuss the story," Ippei said.
"Is he really reading Fang Qiu's books because he enjoys reading? I have my doubts," Paimon said, crossing her arms with a suspicious look.
"Ahem, that I wouldn't know," Ippei said, a little awkwardly.
"So then, Shinnojou, you're here to buy a book for Hiiragi Chisato too?" Paimon said, turning to look at him.
"Mm. After the young lady received the book Young Master Kujou Kamaji sent her, she made time to read it too. Only, she often reads herself to tears—but you can tell she loves Fang Qiu's books very much," Shinnojou said with a nod.
"They've been writing to each other so often lately—I suspect it won't be long before they're engaged," Ippei said, a little excited.
"That would be wonderful," Paimon said.
Midway through saying it, both Lumine and Paimon turned to look at Shinnojou.
"What is it?" Shinnojou let out a long breath and said, "There's really no need to consider my feelings. If the young lady can be with the one she loves, then of course I'm genuinely happy for her."
"Right, right, that's what I think too," Ippei said. "Well, but it seems it's still a ways off—the Kujou Clan hasn't fully stabilized yet."
"True," Paimon said. "After all, such a big thing happened."
"Oh, right—we bought a few extra copies at once, so let's give one to each of you and save them from waiting so long." Lumine took out two copies of Weathering With You and handed them over.
"Then—then thank you both," the two said, taking the books. After some pleasantries and thanks, they each went their separate ways.
"Let's go too," Lumine said. "Thoma and Ayaka have probably grown tired of waiting."
"Mm." Paimon nodded. "I'm so looking forward to Fang Qiu's new book."
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