The experienced craftsman glanced at Varesa, then at Bai You, and understood immediately.
With a few quick twists of the sugar syrup in his hand, he shaped a small, green sugar figure.
Her eyebrows and eyes are curved, just like Varesa.
Varesa smiled too. She took the sugar figurine and said to the old craftsman, "I want one too, just like her."
The master craftsman sculpted another sugar figurine, small and pinkish-white with round eyes.
It looks just like Bai You.
The two paid, each holding the other's sugar figurine, and smiled at each other.
Bai You held up a sugar figurine shaped like Varesa, hesitated for a moment, and then gently bit into "her" hair.
Sweet.
Varesa looked at her, then held up a Bai You -shaped sugar figurine and slowly took a bite of "her" ear.
Bai You's face flushed red instantly.
"Why are you biting my ear...?"
"Hmm," Varesa said without changing her expression, "Sweet."
I ordered two skewers of candied hawthorn.
We ordered a huge bunch of grilled squid.
We ordered two cups of lotus seed soup.
I also bought an extra bag of osmanthus cake.
Bai You held a whole bunch of things, her eyes curving into crescents.
"I bought too much..." she said, but couldn't suppress the smirk on her face.
"Not much." Varesa helped her gather the things in her arms. "I've heard that Liyue's plays are very famous. Let's go see one now. Watching a play is all about eating and enjoying it at the same time."
Varesa, holding Bai You, searched for a spot in the crowd below the stage.
"Over there, there seem to be some empty seats." She pointed to a long bench on the side of the front row.
The two walked over and sat down.
Bai You had just settled down when she noticed that there was another person sitting on the other side of the bench.
He was a tall, slender man.
Her long, brown hair was tied into a braid at the back of her head, the ends gradually turning orange-yellow.
He was dressed in a dark robe embroidered with subtle patterns, sitting quietly with his gaze fixed on the stage, his expression composed.
Bai You's breath hitched the moment she saw that face clearly.
Zhongli.
She silently uttered the name in her heart.
Morax, the Rex Lapis, Geo Archon who has ruled Liyue for 3,700 years.
At that moment, the god was sitting right next to her, less than a fist's distance away.
Bai You froze completely.
She knew that at the Rite of Descension the day after tomorrow, this Rex Lapis would "fall" in front of the entire city.
But now, he is still "alive".
She was sitting next to a god who was going to "die" the day after tomorrow.
That feeling is indescribable.
"What's wrong?"
Varesa noticed her stiffness, turned her head and asked in a low voice. Her voice was very soft, only the two of them could hear it.
"No, it's nothing."
Bai You struggled to tear her gaze away from that profile.
Varesa's gaze swept back and forth between her and the man next to her.
Just then, Zhongli, who was standing next to her, seemed to notice something and turned his head slightly.
His gaze first fell on Bai You's face, and then on Varesa.
Those were golden-brown eyes, deep and calm.
"Two girls,"
He spoke, his voice low and gentle.
"Are you here to watch the opera too?"
Yes.
Varesa answered the question.
"I've long admired Liyue's opera, so I brought her here today to listen."
Zhongli's gaze lingered on Varesa for a moment longer.
"The girl's demeanor," he said casually, "Is like that of someone who has performed on stage before."
Varesa was slightly taken aback.
Then she smiled.
"Sir, you have a good eye."
"I sang songs in the Snezhnaya Theater Troupe."
" The Snezhnaya Troupe." Zhongli seemed thoughtful. "I've heard them sing before. Snezhnaya's songs mostly lament the snow and homecoming, with a high-pitched vocal style, quite different from Liyue's plays."
"Yes." Varesa nodded. "The songs of Snezhnaya are sung for those far away, but the dramas of Liyue are sung more for the land beneath our feet."
A faint hint of approval flashed in Zhongli's eyes.
"The girl is right."
Bai You listened in stunned silence.
She hadn't expected that Varesa could chat with Zhongli so naturally, and that she wasn't intimidated by the Rex Lapis's aura at all.
Bai You quietly turned her head and glanced at Varesa.
Her profile was softened by the lantern light, yet it exuded a sense of composure.
Bai You suddenly felt that with her by her side, she wasn't so nervous anymore.
Just then, the gongs and drums on the stage rang out with a loud "dong".
The play has begun.
" The Divine Damsel of Devastation "
Varesa took a string of candied hawthorns out of the paper bag and offered it to Bai You's mouth.
Open your mouth.
Bai You paused for a moment, then obediently opened her mouth.
A hawthorn berry, coated in a glistening sugar glaze, is sweet with a hint of sourness, melting on the tip of the tongue.
"Is it delicious?" Varesa asked.
Bai You nodded, her cheeks puffed out.
Varesa looked at her, unable to hide the smile in her eyes.
A person dressed in theatrical costume flicked their sleeves, and their melodious singing drifted gently in the night sea breeze.
Varesa's eyes widened slightly.
She sang in the Snezhnaya troupe for so many years, and was used to the orchestras of opera houses and symphonies, and the layers upon layers of harmonies.
But Liyue's story is different.
There was no band, only a few gongs and drums, and a erhu.
There was no scenery, only a stage.
With a flick of her water sleeves, a turn, and a glance, she sang the entire opera.
Every step, every gesture, is a testament to skill.
Every song and every sigh tells a story.
She suddenly understood why Zhongli said that Liyue's opera was about the land beneath their feet.
This land is so rich and heavy, it holds so much within it.
It is so profound that it needs no fancy embellishment.
"... But—I've heard that evil spirits haunt those mountains."
The play begins with a song about a mountain in the south of Liyue.
There are sealed evil spirits in the mountains that emerge every few years to cause trouble.
The villagers were terrified, so they made a rule that whenever the evil spirit awoke, a the Damselette would be sacrificed and sent into the cave to appease its wrath.
That year, the one chosen was a girl from a family of exorcists.
Her mother had recently passed away.
Her father, overwhelmed with grief, went mad and, in an attempt to resurrect his deceased wife, secretly made a deal with an evil spirit.
He personally sacrificed his own daughter, locking her in that man-eating cave.
At this point in the song, a collective sigh rippled through the audience.
Bai You's hands clenched unconsciously.
Varesa noticed her exertion, turned her head and asked in a low voice, "Are you feeling unwell?"
"... No."
Bai You shook her head, her voice very soft.
"I just felt that the beginning of the play was a bit tragic."
Varesa did not speak.
She held the candy in her hand to Bai You's lips.
"Eat something sweet."
Bai You took a bite out of her hand.
While she was eating, Varesa quietly took off her outer robe and draped it over her shoulders.
The sea breeze was a bit chilly at night.
Bai You, wrapped in the robe that still held her body heat, moved closer to her.
The two of them were sitting shoulder to shoulder.
Varesa gripped her hand tighter.
On stage, the play continues.
The girl who was locked in the cave neither cried nor begged for mercy.
In the darkness, she found a dagger left behind by her mother and a red rope used to bind evil spirits.
Then, she did something no one expected.
She didn't wait to die.
She gripped the dagger and charged towards the awakening evil spirit deep within the cave.
On the stage, the female lead flips over, her water sleeves fluttering, and her singing suddenly rises to a high pitch, carrying an almost tragic and resolute tone.
"--With a mortal body, defying fate!"
The audience was completely silent.
Bai You froze on the spot.
She wasn't unfamiliar with " The Divine Damsel of Devastation ".
In her original world, she had heard it countless times in the game.
But back then, she was separated by a screen, by a layer of data, and what she was listening to was a transition, a piece of music.
Now, she sits on the pier of Liyue Harbor, enjoying the sea breeze and listening to the drums.
Looking at the living, breathing person on stage, she heard a vivid story being sung into her ears, word by word.
The feeling was completely different.
The unwillingness in her singing, the resolute determination in her flowing sleeves, the undiminished light in her Kamisato—
They all look so real.
She even paused for a moment.
Looking at the seemingly fragile yet prickly figure on the stage, her eyes welled up with tears.
She used to think that the storylines in games were boring, and that they were just for quickly completing the story and getting rewards.
But now, sitting in this world, she realizes that these people, these events, these resentments and struggles contain a profound power to move people.