That Woman Appeared

Before long, Keqing and Lumine brought out three identical dishes each.

Paimon drooled at the mere smell of them.

"Let me try them. If they taste bad and anger the adeptus, we'll be in trouble."

Drooling all the while, Paimon tried to dig into the freshly prepared dishes.

But no matter how long she flew, she never got any closer. When she turned around, she discovered that Zhong Baiye was holding her by the back of her collar.

Like a cat caught by the scruff of its neck, she couldn't move an inch, no matter how hard she struggled.

"Let go of me! I'm doing this for your own good!"

Despite her words, Paimon looked utterly bewitched by the food, making her claim completely unconvincing.

"Big brother!" "Zhong Baiye!" "Come taste what I made!"

Keqing and Lumine simultaneously brought their dishes over to Zhong Baiye, their faces full of anticipation.

Even Zhong Baiye, who had never had a girlfriend, knew this was a question that could get him killed.

He couldn't say either one's food tasted better. He couldn't afford to take even a single bite of these dishes.

Otherwise, by this time next year, the grass on his grave would be as tall as Paimon.

Zhong Baiye hurriedly looked around and spoke with a perfectly serious expression.

"Let's put these dishes on the table first. Holding them like that must be tiring."

Keqing and Lumine both thought he had a point. They exchanged a glance, clashing once again with their eyes.

"Hmph!"

They set their dishes on the table at the same time, neither willing to fall even half a step behind the other.

Just as all the dishes were neatly arranged, a sudden gust of wind swept through, making everyone squeeze their eyes shut.

When Zhong Baiye rubbed his eyes, a white crane stood before them.

The white crane had an extraordinary bearing, clearly that of an adeptus, but the grease at the corners of her mouth ruined her lofty image.

Seeing the grease on the adeptus's mouth, Keqing and Lumine sensed something was wrong and looked at the table that had been laden with food just moments earlier.

There was no food left on the table at all. Only a few bare plates remained as evidence of what had just happened.

Putting that together with the white crane's sudden appearance, even the rather slow-witted Paimon figured it out.

"Where's my food? You must have eaten it! I'll fight you to the death!"

Paimon angrily pointed at the white crane and declared she would fight her to the death, but her legs betrayed her. She was clearly fleeing behind Lumine.

"Not bad. It has been a long time since I tasted anything so delicious. Hmm! It's actually..."

Cloud Retainer was still savoring the food she had just eaten when she caught sight of Zhong Baiye and was struck with shock.

"Ahem. I am Cloud Retainer. Who are you, and why have you come to see me?"

But she quickly composed herself and changed the subject.

"I'm Zhong Baiye. These are Keqing and Lumine, and that little one hiding over there is our emergency food."

By now, Zhong Baiye was used to every adeptus looking shocked upon seeing him, so he answered Cloud Retainer at once.

"Hey! I'm not emergency food! I'm Paimon! Paimon!"

Hearing Zhong Baiye call her emergency food, Paimon immediately poked her little head out and angrily protested.

Keqing went on to explain their purpose to the adeptus. "We came here to..."

Before long, Keqing had explained the entire sequence of events to Cloud Retainer.

"Huh? You're finished? Oh..."

But Cloud Retainer hadn't been paying any attention to Keqing. She had been staring at Zhong Baiye the entire time.

Seeing this, Lumine and Keqing exchanged a glance.

Lumine said, "I sense danger from this adeptus."

Keqing said, "Me too. Let's call a temporary truce."

Lumine said, "All right."

No one could have imagined that, in that brief instant, Keqing and Lumine had agreed to a temporary ceasefire and united against an outside threat.

"Ahem!"

Feeling uncomfortable under Cloud Retainer's stare, Zhong Baiye coughed twice to remind her.

"Oh, oh... I see. Understood..."

Just as Cloud Retainer was about to continue, Lumine suddenly stepped forward and hugged Zhong Baiye's arm.

Keqing didn't sit idle either. She hugged his other arm tightly.

"Don't move. There seems to be a bug on your arm. I'll get it off for you."

Keqing made up a flimsy lie to hide her embarrassment.

Yet Zhong Baiye actually believed it, not doubting her in the slightest.

As for Lumine, she did this often, so Zhong Baiye wasn't surprised at all.

"How dare you!!!"

Seeing this from beside them, Cloud Retainer forgot what she had been about to say and shouted in anger.

"You want my help? Fine. Go clean my room."

Zhong Baiye looked utterly bewildered. What was going on? Why had the adeptus, who had been perfectly pleasant a moment ago, suddenly become angry?

After all, Genshin players called Cloud Retainer the Adeptus of Expert Conversation. How had she gotten angry when they had barely exchanged a few words?

Where Zhong Baiye couldn't see, a hint of smugness appeared on Lumine's and Keqing's faces.

The two even high-fived, then turned their heads away upon realizing what they had done.

Cloud Retainer was in no mood to stay and watch their flirtatious display. She opened a large doorway for them, then flew away.

Before leaving, she glanced back at Zhong Baiye.

"You've returned, but I'm no longer who I once was..."

Only after seeing that "woman" finally fly away did Paimon timidly emerge from behind Lumine.

"Phew... She's finally gone. What a shame I didn't get to taste any of that delicious food."

At Paimon's words, Keqing finally realized she was still hugging Zhong Baiye's arm.

Her face flushed. She patted Zhong Baiye's sleeve, then immediately let go.

"I've gotten rid of the bug. Let's hurry inside and take a look."

Zhong Baiye had wanted to ask Keqing where the bug was, but seeing that she had already reached the domain's entrance, he could only follow her.

He was still puzzled. What bug? What's gotten into Keqing?

Lumine, of course, was still hugging Zhong Baiye's arm. Wherever he went, she followed.

Only Paimon remained behind, unable to forget the food from earlier. She was holding a plate from the table and sniffing it hard, as though trying to catch its flavor.

When she turned and saw that Zhong Baiye and the others had all entered the domain, she hurriedly put down the plate and flew inside, grumbling all the way.

"Wait for me! Without Paimon, who's going to show you the way?"

What no one knew was that, after they left, Cloud Retainer returned.

"Slurp..."

After making sure no one was around, she actually picked up one of the plates and began licking it.

As she did, she muttered, "That was absolutely delicious. If those two didn't annoy me so much, I'd have them cook for me every day."