Chapter 145 Hot Pot in the Hospital Ward: A Glimpse into Human Life...
"Congratulations, you can say goodbye to taverns for the rest of your life."
Tina Li, with a forced smile, showed the report to the cat lying listlessly on the hospital bed.
"His ability to metabolize alcohol is practically zero, damn it! You really didn't know that before?!"
"..."
Startled by the shouting, Mainkuen turned his head away, not daring to look at him.
"Stop hiding! Look me in the eye! I need to make you understand the importance of this!"
Tinari lunged forward, forcefully trying to turn his head so he would meet his gaze.
"With that level of alcohol poisoning, if your life were even slightly more normal, Kavi would have built you a mausoleum, you know! Elhesen would be carrying your portrait, Cole would be weeping at your grave, Nasita would be reading the eulogy, and Seno would be carrying the coffin—what a magnificent state funeral!"
[！！！]
Mainkun was terrified by the sudden approach and kept burrowing under the covers.
[Oh dear—why so specific!]
"Finally awake? Wait a minute!"
Barbatos appeared out of nowhere and, seeing the situation, quickly shielded Tinari with his body, rescuing the frightened cat.
"Calm down, calm down. After all, it wasn't his fault. I insisted on making him drink, and then..."
Who would have thought? The cat-eared hunters of Clearspring Town drink straight from the bottle, and when they're having a good time, they even forget to coax their angry little daughters. Barbatos had long been accustomed to this way of thinking, but who would have thought that this foreign cat would actually be unable to drink a drop!
"It's all my fault, it's all my fault."
*Snap*, the bard clasped his hands together, his voice sincere:
"Please put all medical expenses on my tab..."
"No."
A very soft denial came from behind him, and Mainkun drooped his ears listlessly, looking pitiful.
"No, it's your fault, it's mine, I forgot."
"Forgot? Did you know before...?"
"Um."
[Some human food is dangerous to me, some isn't, I can't tell the difference, and I usually refuse it all, but this time...]
The cat avoided the god's questioning gaze and simply spoke to the wall.
"I'm so happy to see you."
"I forgot to be careful about... my diet."
"It was an accident, I'm sorry."
...
"Eh—because I forgot something so important?! Wait, what does that mean…?"
Barbatos never expected that the tyrannical king, who was rumored to have kidnapped the gods, would actually be... a devout believer!?
"Could it be, could it be that those words, 'I've liked you since I was little...'... Barbatos, wasn't just drunken ramblings, but rather an unintentional slip of the tongue revealing his true feelings!?"
Why? It doesn't make sense. After all, judging from past experiences, shouldn't his favorite be the water god or Narcida? Or the old man... Oh, it seems he didn't reveal his identity to this child.
"despair."
Barbatos turned around and saw little Narcida outside, peering at him with pouty lips, looking at him with a bit of annoyance.
"snort."
It was as if he had heard everything.
Huh? I didn't mean to steal your friend's thing!
"Forgot! Good, good, so it turns out you did know, you just forgot everything after one glance!"
Upon hearing this, Tinali was furious, completely enraged as he was unaware of the Wind God's identity.
"If he hugs you again, are you so happy you'd break a boulder in your chest and hang yourself from the sacred tree, saving me the trouble of rescuing you? Fine, then we'll have this poet and Seno carry the coffin together. They're about the same height, so you won't have to complain about the jolting inside!"
Wendy: "Ugh... this gentleman really has a sharp tongue."
[!? This is Tinari!?]
Mainkuhn was terrified, watching in horror as Tinari politely apologized to the bard.
"I'm sorry, I lost control of my emotions today."
He then glared at himself coldly.
"What are you looking at? You're getting an IV drip!"
The dodging hand was forcefully pressed down, and Tinali hung up the IV drip, deftly disinfected the wound, removed the needle, pierced the skin, and inserted it into the vein.
"If you dare to move, I'll skin you alive."
[Wait a minute? Tinari? I'm the king, your superior, aren't I?]
Before Mainkun could regain his former glory, he saw Tinari frown, look at his hand with great distrust, and then take out a medicine box to bandage it.
"If you dare to demolish it, I'll kill you!"
"Ouch!" How fierce!
So...
[I'm clearly the king...]
After nervously seeing off the iron-faced Tinari, Mainkuen, amidst the cheerful music of the bards, received wave after wave of visitors.
"Hahaha! Really?! Poet, are you saying that this wise king, who was impervious to swords and spears, almost died from half a jar of wine? Hahaha! My God, I wonder what those assassins would think if they heard that!"
This is Dixia, laughing and teasing, holding a flower from Chi Nian in her hand.
"Here, I saw it when I came. It's in full bloom. Putting it by your bedside will give your sickly face a bit more color!"
"..."
Dixia was right. Although this sudden illness wouldn't kill Mainkun, it did cause considerable damage to his body. His listless appearance startled Kavi.
"Are you... alright? Headache? Nausea? Oh my god... I'll never ask you to drink again!"
"..."
Although Mainkuhn never went as promised, hearing Kavi say this still made him feel inexplicably sad, and his ears drooped.
"You can drink something else if you don't want to drink alcohol."
Wendy suggested with a smile:
“On our Mondstadt table, not even the youngest child’s table can be empty. There must be a glass of non-alcoholic apple cider or a glass of chilled orange juice. No one can be left out.”
"Yes!"
Kavi immediately understood and stared at the cat's lynx fur.
"If it's you... then I'll prepare the goat milk in advance, how about it? Will you come?"
"No."
Mainkuhn did not hesitate, but his ears returned to their original curvature.
"You bastard! Hahaha!"
Of all these, the most special were the foreign friends brought by El-Hysen.
Mainkun glanced at Kaya and Diluc, then turned to Wendy and asked:
"How come those two are in Sumeru?"
...
Kaiya's vision went black: "You...you don't remember?"
"?What?"
...
Diluc reached for the greatsword, his eyes glancing at the cat's head.
"Diluc, Diluc! Ahhh! Diplomacy! Watch out for diplomacy!" Kaeya grabbed his waist and desperately tried to stop him, but couldn't.
He changed his approach, "You...you said you were here to thank him? He saved my father!!"
"call……"
Under the cat's bewildered gaze, Diluc's chest heaved violently a few times, then he expressionlessly pulled off his sworn brother:
"Kaiya, you should go back to Mondstadt by yourself."
"...Ah, I didn't expect you to hate me to this extent? Actually, we could have one travel by carriage and the other by horse; there was no need to split up..."
"No, I just want to stay here to investigate the Fools."
"Oh, I see..."
After an awkward silence of a few minutes, Barbatos suddenly scratched his chin and spoke up, clearly enjoying the spectacle:
I guess.
"Young Master Diluc, are you shy?"
"There's no need. We were just tied together and displayed in public, and I told my brother the truth. There's absolutely no need to leave our hometown..."
"Shut up!"
Barbatos was unharmed, which can only be attributed to Diluc's unwavering faith. Crossing the chaotic Mondstadt crowd, Erhesen asked Maine:
"How do you feel?"
"I will get better as soon as possible."
"I didn't ask you that."
Elhesen picked and chose from the gifts sent by various parties, picking out some fruits and foods that were harmful to cats and eating them.
"Didn't I tell them not to send food to people indiscriminately?"
He popped grapes into his mouth while opening the chat group, wanting to emphasize it again.
"It wasn't them."
Mainkun was always more composed in front of Elhesen. He spoke slowly, his pace still slower than that of an average person, but very steadily, and there was little fear in his voice.
"They were ordinary people, scholars, dancers, merchants, and children."
"These gifts were sent by a complete stranger to me through the disciplinary officer after they learned of my illness..."
The sound gradually faded, like blades of grass unable to bear the weight.
"oh."
Al-Hysen put down the terminal, grabbed a sack, and started packing in front of Mainkuen's bedside.
"Wait... Elhesen? What are you doing?"
The latecomer, Seno, was startled and stared in disbelief as the other person stuffed the pastries into his pocket.
"Taking advantage of the patient's weakness to steal his supplies??"
"What are you thinking? Isn't it obvious what I'm doing?"
Al-Hysen remained unfazed, continuing to pack the gifts even as the unsuspecting medical staff cast disapproving glances at him.
“He neither wants to eat nor wants to waste the people’s good intentions, so I am helping Wang to solve his problem.”
"But you're being way too arrogant... these aren't for you!"
Sino was quite disapproving of the increasingly bulging sack.
Mainkuen whispered, "Sino, eat too."
"Yay!"
With a mille-feuille in his left hand and a Patty Salan pudding in his right, Seno sat down on the spot, saying, "It feels like this isn't the first time I've eaten the Wise King's food with you like this..."
There is no soup.
Al-Hysen ignored him completely and took out his book to read.
"good."
The two tried their best to eat for a while, but the food didn't seem to go down.
"So you should let me take it back and deal with it slowly."
"No, I can't let you line your own pockets."
Seno called in the three noisy Mondstadt people outside and then called for more people in the group chat.
[Free snacks, come quick!]
A moment later, a disgruntled little girl named Cole was brought in by Tinari, her face still bearing a trace of hostility.
"Nonsense, what do you mean by coming to the hospital for snacks...??"
But soon, she saw, bewildered, that Dixia was holding an iron pot and using fire element to boil the water inside.
"Just snacks won't do! I brought some meat with me; after rinsing it in water, we can give some to the Prince!"
"careful."
The red-haired Mondstadt man said coldly:
"There's a fire here, and we don't have any water elements."
"But there's ice."
Kaiya smiled, holding the bowl and chopsticks, his body adorned with his newly acquired Eye of God. "After merging, they'll all be the same."
"Date and honey candy, give me another piece!"
Elhesen handed the book to Narcida, frowning as he protected it.
"Soup and broth..."
"I'm treating you to a free meal, and you're still making such a fuss!"
Kavi rolled his eyes, then greeted Wendy warmly:
"Bard, would you like a freshly baked cheese ball? It smells delicious!"
"Ugh, I can't handle sticky stuff, but that apple is perfect. It looks so crisp, hehe!"
"You, all of you?"
Cole could hardly believe her eyes. She stared at the massive wind machine, Vizier, the Fiery Lion General, the God of Grass, and other important figures that ordinary people would never even dream of.
"They're having hot pot in the hospital room!?"
"Yes."
The aroma was mixed with the smell of disinfectant, but Seno didn't think there was anything wrong with it. He called to Tinari.
“Tinari brought Corley, but they are very slow.”
“I spent some time picking some mushrooms and greens, otherwise you would have just been eating meat.”
Tinari slowly pushed Cole's shoulder and led her into the steamy room.
"Let's make this clear beforehand: don't put too many spices in the soup, otherwise I won't eat it, and I'll flip the table and prevent you from eating it."
"Of course I can't forget your light taste."
Seno smiled and agreed, then turned to look at Cole:
What about you? Do you have any dietary restrictions?
"I...I..."
Somewhat awkwardly, Cole hid behind Tinaly, his eyes darting warily through the crowd.
"I can eat anything..."
"What a well-behaved child."
The God of Grass smiled and praised her, then tiptoed, leaned on the bed, and placed a full bowl of hot pot meat next to the cat-eared youth who had fallen asleep sometime earlier.
“He is not at all like our king.”
"..."
Mainkun's breathing was even and long, his brows relaxed, and his pointed ears twitched slightly from time to time, as if the people sitting around him were not the crowd he feared most in his life, but the most reassuring barrier.
A deep and peaceful dream.
"We can't wake him up."
"Then let's not call it that."
Kavi reached out and covered the old scars peeking out from Maine's sleeve with the blanket, chuckling softly at the same time:
"Anyway, we'll be eating here for a long time. When he wakes up, we can boil the pot again."
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