"Is this-Liyue?"
"That's right, Miss Big Eyeball. As expected of the most diligent of the Four Shades, you really know Teyvat like the back of your hand."
Ronava turned her head away. What kind of nicknames were those? Were people from other worlds all this bored?
During their journey between worlds, Ye Xuan had told Ronava about his life and the greatest game in the world-Genshin Impact.
To his surprise, Ronava had quickly accepted that she was a game character.
Because both of them had been stabbed in the back by their superiors, Ronava's attitude toward Ye Xuan had improved considerably.
"Where are you taking me?"
"To find work."
"Earlier, you said you'd let me live freely for myself for once."
"Don't you need money of your own before you can live freely? Or do you actually have some?"
"Now that we're in Liyue, I can borrow a little from Mr. Mo first and pay him back later."
Ye Xuan had to admit, he was amused by Junior Wa's ignorant remark.
"Does Morax necessarily have Mora?"
"Morax presides over wealth and contracts. How could he not have Mora?"
"Who understands Morax better, you or me? If you dare question me again, I'll find somewhere with no one around and give you another lesson on how masters and servants should behave."
"Hmph." Ronava fell silent.
It was daytime, and the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor was the quietest place in bustling Liyue Harbor.
"We're here. Looks like we need to work."
"So you weren't planning to work before?"
"Of course not. If we'd found the Golden House first, we could have gone straight in and taken a little. Then we wouldn't have had to worry about food or clothing."
"Hey, hey, there's actually someone in Liyue Harbor bolder than this director? From what you're saying, you've come to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor looking for work. If I don't agree, you won't really go rob the Golden House, will you?"
She wore her hair in twin tails, a hat decorated with plum blossoms and a red velvet pom-pom, and the funeral parlor's reddish-brown uniform, with spider lilies embroidered on its hem. Her fingernails were painted jet black.
Most striking of all were her plum blossom pupils, which gave her an unmistakably quirky, mischievous air.
It was Hu Tao, king of Liyue, the true chosen daughter of this land.
Ye Xuan smiled. "I've long heard of your great name, Director Hu. Robbing the Golden House was just a joke."
"Then I can rest-"
"The Golden House is so hard to find. It's nowhere near as conspicuous as the Jade Chamber. Rather than rob the Golden House, we might as well rob Ningguang directly."
"Ah! But that's Lady Tianquan."
"Lady Tianquan, Ningguang: wealthiest in all the land; her bright eyes cast a lovely glance, putting peach and apricot blossoms to shame; her eyes and ears miss nothing, all matters settled to perfection!"
"You've heard the poem I wrote too, friend?"
Hu Tao remembered that no one had been around when she composed it.
"Director Hu, you're Liyue's immortal poet. Naturally, I'd heard of it. It was only after hearing that poem of yours that I got the idea to rob Ningguang."
Hu Tao, who usually loved stirring up trouble, felt at that moment that things were getting a little criminal.
"Let's talk about your employment first."
She didn't dare continue that topic.
The Tianquan's hands and eyes reached the heavens; the funeral parlor might well have her eyes and ears among its people.
If one of her informants overheard them, the next time Hu Tao was caught handing out flyers, getting out wouldn't be so easy.
They entered the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
A young undertaker handed Ye Xuan and Ronava each a cup of hot tea.
"Tell me your names and why you want to work at the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor."
Ye Xuan answered, "My name is Ye Xuan, and this is Ronava, my maid. She has the ability to ferry the souls of the dead, so she's suited to working here."
"Ferry the souls of the dead? Really?" Hu Tao was so excited to hear it that she stood on her chair.
The young undertaker coughed twice, reminding Hu Tao to mind her image, and only then did she obediently sit back down.
"Since Miss Ronava has such an ability, why would she lower herself to work at our little Wangsheng Funeral Parlor?"
Ye Xuan waved a hand.
"Don't even ask. Ronava used to work in Natlan and Snezhnaya. She worked diligently without slacking for a moment, but just because she didn't serve people with a smile, her coworkers stabbed her in the back and her clients bore grudges against her. By the time I found her, she was already at death's door."
"I saved her, and she volunteered to be my maid. I told her not to, but she insisted on calling me master. I had no choice but to go along with her. I heard working at the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor paid wages, so I brought her here."
Miss Big Eyeball had nothing to say. She had clearly been forced into it.
"Paid wages? Are there places where people work without getting paid?"
"More than just not getting paid. Ronava has a special constitution and doesn't need sleep. She used to work twelve shichen a day, and her boss still wasn't satisfied. She nearly had to pay her whole dowry in compensation."
"That's awful?!" Hu Tao took Ronava's hand. "Don't worry, Miss Ronava, you're hired. Your monthly salary will be one hundred thousand Mora, with food and lodging included. Five days on, two days off. You'll never have to work for a black-hearted boss again."
A black-hearted boss? Ye Xuan couldn't hold it in.
"Pfft~"
Hu Tao looked at Ye Xuan in puzzlement. "Brother Ye Xuan, what are you laughing at?"
"I just thought of something funny."
The Great King of the Law was diligent enough too; it was just that the curse had screwed Him over. Still, He probably wouldn't mind Hu Tao's offense.
"Brother Ye Xuan, what can you do? You must be impressive to have saved Ronava."
"My abilities, huh~" Ye Xuan sank into a long silence as he thought...
"What's wrong? Is it inconvenient to talk about?"
"It's not that. I was just thinking how to put it. Oh, I've got it-"
"My ability, in a nutshell, is just two words-running away."
"Running away?!"
The Wangsheng Funeral Parlor employees all laughed. What kind of ability was running away? And he sounded so proud of it.
The young undertaker laughed the hardest. If Ye Xuan wasn't mistaken, that was Miss Not Worth Mentioning.
Ye Xuan would remember this grudge.
Hu Tao, however, didn't laugh. Although she was small, she was definitely the most knowledgeable of all the funeral parlor people present.
"You're good at running?"
"Heh, under these heavens, if my ability to run away ranks second, no one can claim first."
"That impressive?"
"It is, it is." Ye Xuan spoke proudly. "Even a god couldn't catch me when I run."
Hearing that, Hu Tao waved her hand grandly.
"Then you're hired too, on the same terms as Ronava."
Ye Xuan was very satisfied. "Director Hu, when you run into danger in the future, I'll definitely run over and bring your Staff of Homa back."
Ronava, who hadn't said a word since entering the building, finally spoke. "Why take the Staff of Homa instead of saving her directly?"
The answer was simple.
Time Reversal would turn everything back to the desired point in time, and the danger Hu Tao would face in the future was for the sake of protecting Liyue. Even if time were reversed, she would only go through it one more time; it wouldn't change the future.
But until he gained an offensive ability, Ye Xuan would rather die than reveal that he had no attack power. Ronava couldn't lay a hand on him, but what if she got a coworker to bully him?
"...It's simple. Director Hu is blessed. Even without my help, she can return safely from a crisis."
From Ye Xuan's words, Hu Tao deduced her own future.
"So I'll face danger in the future, but nothing bad will happen to me. I'll just lose the Staff of Homa, right?"
"You're clever, Director Hu."
"Then let me ask you: before I went to do that, who did I pass the position of director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor to?"
If she had even lost the Staff of Homa, it must have been extremely dangerous. There was no way she wouldn't have made arrangements beforehand.
Ye Xuan answered with a person's name without the slightest hesitation.
"Zhongli."
Now she completely believed him.
She really did think of Zhongli as her son.