Chapter 36 Chapter 36
Ganyu's expression was flustered for a moment, then she paused before quickly returning to normal. "Sorry, this invitation involves two of Liyue's Seven Stars, so I had to intervene..."
“…”
ah.
It seems... when I came back, I did feel like I had forgotten something...
Ming Chong was petrified bit by bit. When he realized that there was more to this matter and that he would probably have to finish it himself—
Save me save me save me.jpg
——2000yearslater——
"Bang!" Uncle Tian slammed the table.
"That boy hasn't come yet?"
"Here I come!" Ming Chong strode forward, still looking the same sunny and cheerful boy. "Oh, it's the old man fishing!"
With a "bang", the table made a mournful sound again.
If there wasn't a Hu Tao standing behind him, Ming Chong felt that he would definitely feel nervous.
But now——
Looking left, it was Ningguang;
Look to the right, it's a walnut.
That's it! How can I lose?
Uncle Tian gave a forced smile, "It's me. You're the lunatic who took my disciple away in a sack and then ate him, right?"
“…”
ha--? !
Ming Chong turned to see Ningguang silently turning away, avoiding his gaze. Turning again, Hu Tao sat there with a clear gaze, pretending to be a serious child. The snacks on the table were incredibly delicious.
Ningguang propped up her head and closed her eyes.
- Don't blame me, A Chong. This time, I can't help you. Any elder who is like a teacher or a father, if he finds out that his child has been deceived, and finally gets involved in the game, and turns a disaster into a blessing, and even makes great contributions, even if he has some minor flaws and can't take over the job, he can still become a talent like Ye Lan or Gan Yu. But he -
——Want to join the treasure-stealing group? !!!
Hu Tao, who knew the relationship between Uncle Tian and Zhiyi, sighed secretly and asked, "May I ask what this opera is about?"
Hu Tao silently added in her heart - Dad, he is not a poor boy!
——Uncle Tian: Yes, he is not. But he will soon become a dead boy, in a few days he will become a stinky boy, and after a while, he will be a rotten boy!!!
Uncle Tian's gaze almost materialized as he stared straight at her.
“…” Ming Chong sat down with a stern face.
It's over.
——Behind me, now, there is no one!
“…”
Tired, destroy it.jpg
——Whatever, come on!
"...Okay, old man, what do you mean by eating and taking at the same time?" Ming Chong changed several movements awkwardly in his seat, and finally gave up completely and gave up pretending to be deep.
Uncle Tian looked at him quietly, then suddenly asked in confusion, "How on earth did you make Zhiyi so devoted to you?!"
"……ah?"
stunned.jpg
Hearing this, Ming Chong couldn't help but smile, "What happened to Zhiyi? I remember he rejected me before... Hahahahaha——"
Noticing the murderous look in the other person's eyes, Ming Chong's laughter stopped abruptly, "Hahaha, cough, cough..."
"Uh, what I mean is, old man, I still don't understand what's going on. Even if you ask me that... I don't know how to answer."
Ming Chong relaxed and leaned back in his chair, shrugging casually, "Don't you think so?"
"..." Uncle Tian was silent for a moment, and now he calmed down. "Thank you for that matter before, young man."
oh?
Ming Chong opened his eyes wide, completely confused.
——What kind of operation is this? !
"You're welcome." I agreed anyway.
Uncle Tian pondered for a moment and said, "Too many things have happened recently. I didn't pay attention to Zhiyi's unusual behavior. I didn't expect that the Fatui would find an opportunity to take advantage of me..."
As Uncle Tian continued his story, the atmosphere relaxed. Although Ming Chong did not understand the political conspiracy, he listened with great interest.
Recently, Liyue appeared to be operating as usual, but undercurrents were brewing. The Fatui, keenly aware of Liyue's covert collaboration with the Treasure Thieves, set their sights on Mingchong and Zhiyi.
However, because Ming Chong was too incompetent, the Fatui could not find a way in, so they had to start from Zhiyi.
Ming Chong: ...
——My family, this is such a speechless thing. I was just staying at home, but ended up running into this idiot guy!
The enemy's plan against Zhiyi wasn't particularly clever, but it hit him right where he was. They exploited Zhiyi's desire for supernatural powers, some seemingly plausible information, and used props as bait to lure him to the "edge."
In addition to completely understanding Zhiyi's thoughts, the other party also had some guesses about Mingchong's strength - it should be that he had initially gone to Qun Yu Pavilion and Wangsheng Hall, and some clues were discovered, and this time the plan was set up entirely to confirm the guess.
If they failed, they would only have lost one of Tianshu Star's disciples, not even a guaranteed successor...
"This time Zhiyi intervened personally, and we finally got some leverage over them." Uncle Tian stated the facts calmly.
——High emotional intelligence: get involved personally.
——Low emotional intelligence: falling into the trap accurately.
Ming Chong's gaze slowly shifted. He snatched away Hu Tao's pretend acting prop—the snack—and threw it into his mouth, smacking it and mumbling indistinctly: "Oh..."
Hu Tao was speechless. She simply left the room and waited outside as it was none of her business.
"I know Zhiyi very well. He has terrible luck and terrible fishing skills. He's been struggling his way up until now. If you leave him alone, he'll go to extremes..."
Ming Chong was so frightened that he crushed the snack in his hand, and the crumbs fell all over the table.
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Uncle Tian looked at him and continued calmly, "I have been keeping him by my side and teaching him all these years. Zhiyi is a promising young man after all. It would be a pity if he went astray. It would be a waste of his talent to use his brain to scheme and plot..."
“…”
——As expected of Tianshu Star, if she really didn't notice anything and was fooled by Zhiyi's disguise, that would be terrible. Come to think of it, even Ye Lanlan felt that Zhiyi was not an ordinary person at first sight...
So that secretary named Gan Yu is truly a master of disguise, right?! After being in the officialdom for so long, she must have become an even more sophisticated, black-hearted scoundrel!
Ming Chong nodded secretly and praised his own intelligence.
"Young man, since that guy has chosen to follow you, then I'll be frank with you.
Tianshuxing will make him feel suffocated and uncomfortable, but can you let him live in accordance with his nature with you? Zhiyi is not suitable to be a good person in the ordinary sense, but he is not a completely bad person either.
"Young man, can you accept such a twisted person?"
——
——
"Zhiyi, you're just standing outside, aren't you going in?" Hu Tao folded her arms, tilted her head and looked at the person on the other side, giving her own fair evaluation -
“Normal listening is certainly interesting, but abnormal listening angles are even more exciting.”
Zhiyi: ...
Maybe it was due to practice, but when faced with such talk, he could now naturally change the subject, "Young Hall Master..."
"Just call me Walnut." Walnut waved her hand and continued with a chuckle, "Of course, if you want, you can also call me 'Little Sister' like Xiao Chongzi does."
"……walnut."
Walnut shrugged and spread his hands in disappointment.
"Do you know? After we separated, my destiny star gradually changed." Zhiyi said, and took out a ring-like pendant from his arms.
Taking it and taking a closer look, Walnut turned it over several times in amazement: "Isn't this the Crow Seal? It's just that the pattern and material are a little different."
"Is this your destiny star?"
Zhiyi nodded. Hu Tao couldn't see his expression because of the lighting. "At first, it was a golden, spherical star. At night, when it was facing the moonlight, it would reflect the image of a fish..."
"What kind of fish?!" Walnut's eyes lit up.
But Zhiyi shook his head. "I haven't found this kind of fish in any book. Later, my destiny star gradually began to change. At first, it just took on the color and pattern of that fish..."
"The base color is jet black, interspersed with red and orange-red. Hmm... such a familiar color combination." Walnut observed the Crow Seal Life Star, pinching his chin in thought.
"Just when I returned to Liyue Harbor, its shape also began to change..." Zhiyi paused, "It turned towards the direction of the Treasure Thieves' Crow Seal."
"So, you started to wonder if you were more inclined to accept Xiao Chongzi's invitation at that time..." Hu Tao thought thoughtfully.
Zhiyi still shook his head. "That's not the case. I refused simply because I wanted to make things clear with Uncle Tian first, just like he did for me before, with a beginning and an end."
Hearing this, Hu Tao couldn't help but smile. Although the words didn't make it clear, Hu Tao understood that Zhi Yi understood the coincidence of the kraft paper - there weren't so many coincidences in the world.
"As expected of a disciple of Tianshu Star!"
Then, Walnut hammered his palm and exclaimed, "Oh, right, Keqing seemed to have mentioned it!"
"It's jet black, with irregular orange-red patches and red stripes, and a colored ring around the edges... It glitters like stars on a summer night... It's a 'starfish'!"
"Starfish?"
Hu Tao nodded, looking like a teachable child. "The guest said that this fish was invented by Xiao Chongzi. It was mistaken for a fish because it resembled a delicious and harmless fish. Then, it was found to carry a venom sac and look beautiful. Although it is solitary, it is not picky about water quality and has a friendly personality. It can be used for viewing."
In fact, these were not exactly Zhongli’s original words. Some time ago, Ming Chong was obsessed with raising fish, and Zhongli’s hand holding the square cup trembled.
In Zhongli's recollection, Mingchong heard that he disliked seafood and preferred to drink tea from a square cup, so he did this one time -
After Ah Chong learned about the "Cang Lingli" from Fu Jin in the Shen Yu Valley, he would often stare at the Emperor with a strange smile. Later, he persuaded the True Lord Liu Yun Jie Feng to build him a printing mechanism that combined projection and recording.
Although it was true that A Chong did something wrong, it was also caused by Liu Yun Jie Feng Zhenjun's complaint about the Emperor and drinking tea in a strange square cup. The Emperor was calm and steady by nature, and he always drank tea slowly, so A Chong jokingly called it "raising fish in a cup."
Another time, the Emperor happened to run into A Chong while drinking tea. With Heulia following him and me keeping a tip-off, A Chong traveled thousands of miles to intercept and steal a "Cang Ling Carp". True Lord Liuyun Jiefeng adjusted the mechanism as required, and a small fish appeared vividly in the Emperor's cup.
Just as the Emperor was about to drink his tea, the fish, transformed from immortal energy, remained frozen in the cup, swimming despite being far away from the Sunken Jade Valley. Later...
The printing mechanism left an image, which was printed on paper by A Chong, with the words "scared to the point of blurring out".
In response, Ah Chong spoke convincingly and made up a story about the origin of the fish:
"Morax, you hate sea creatures, but they're not really wrong. It's you who insists on eating them.
Now you see, fish don't have to be eaten; they can be enjoyed for viewing. And this isn't just any fish; it's a "tail starfish"!
I got it in a dream..."
The Liyue Immortals tried to put out the fire, but two demon gods intervened. The Emperor did not get angry, but simply said:
"You're not entirely wrong. This fish certainly has its own value, and the fish is good; but this cup is round on the outside and square on the inside, embodying the ultimate truth of heaven and earth, and the cup is also good."
But in fact, the immortals were already relieved, and they never thought that there would be a follow-up to this sentence - "The waters of Guyun Pavilion are deep and the teeth are cold. When the time comes, everyone can burn some more clothes for this child."
——"Yu Duchen's Coming to the World"
Thinking of this, Zhongli fell silent.
The fish is good, and the cup is also good, but they just don't go together.
This is why Hu Tao's initial surprise at the guest official Zhongli's quick wit led her to believe that he hadn't anticipated it. The heartaches she experienced during this time are truly untold.
"It can not only attract wealth and good fortune, and connect with people's minds; it can also help us explore the unknown and be tenacious and enterprising." Hu Tao pondered and slowly repeated the guest's comments.
"Zhiyi, this is Xiao Chongzi's blessing to you." After she understood it in her heart, she said with a smile.
Finally, she told me the species of this fish.
“…”
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