"Leave it to me. You can go now."
Childe stood up and took the teapot.
"Yes, sir!"
The manager carefully glanced at the two of them before quietly withdrawing from the private room.
"Mr. Zhongli, this is the finest tea Liuli Pavilion has to offer. Let me pour you a cup."
Childe smiled as he lifted the teapot and filled Zhongli's cup.
A rich fragrance immediately drifted through the room.
"Excellent tea."
Zhongli nodded slightly.
As someone who regularly enjoyed tea, he could naturally tell quality at a glance.
"Then please, give it a try."
Childe smiled.
To avoid arousing suspicion, he poured a cup for himself as well.
But there was a trick hidden inside.
The teapot had been specially modified at Childe's request.
It contained two different teas.
By manipulating a hidden mechanism, one could pour either blend.
The cup in front of Zhongli contained the tea mixed with the Forget-Worry Gu.
Childe's own cup was ordinary tea.
"Something feels off."
Zhongli frowned slightly.
Having lived for thousands of years, he'd seen every scheme and conspiracy imaginable.
Childe's sudden enthusiasm, the manager's nervous behavior earlier, all of it felt suspicious.
After a moment of thought, his gaze settled on the tea.
Could there be something wrong with it?
A possibility formed in his mind.
At that instant, he acted.
Crack!
The chair beneath Childe suddenly broke apart.
Caught completely off guard, Childe fell to the floor.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Zhongli casually waved a hand.
The two teacups on the table instantly switched places.
The movement was seamless.
No trace remained.
For him, it was a trivial feat.
"Damn, the quality of Liuli Pavilion's furniture is terrible!"
Childe grumbled as he got back up and grabbed a replacement chair.
"Have some tea and calm down."
Zhongli smiled mildly.
"Good point. Please enjoy yours as well, Mr. Zhongli."
Childe nodded.
The two men each lifted their cups, both harboring very different thoughts.
"Excellent tea."
After taking a small sip, Zhongli set his cup down.
Then he quietly observed Childe.
"What's going on? Why do I feel dizzy?"
After drinking his tea, Childe suddenly felt his head spinning.
He rubbed his temples.
Could it be a sleeping drug?
Zhongli speculated.
Was Childe planning to knock him out and steal the Gnosis?
But what happened next left even him speechless.
"Hm? Why am I here?"
Childe looked around in confusion.
Then his eyes lit up when he saw Zhongli.
"Mr. Zhongli, did you invite me here?"
"No. Quite the opposite. You're the one who invited me."
Zhongli shook his head.
"I did? I don't remember that."
Childe blinked.
"Then what about discussing the Ultraman statue? Or pouring tea just now?"
Zhongli asked.
"What's an Ultraman statue? And when did I pour tea?"
Childe looked completely bewildered.
He couldn't understand a single thing Zhongli was talking about.
Yet he vaguely felt as though he'd forgotten something important.
"So it wasn't a sleeping drug. It's a memory-loss medicine."
The corner of Zhongli's mouth twitched.
He had initially assumed Childe was after the Gnosis.
But this?
A memory-erasing drug?
What exactly was the point?
Still, based on his understanding of Childe, the Fatui Harbinger wouldn't do something this pointless without reason.
A memory-erasing medicine... could it be because of the wager?
After some thought, another theory emerged.
Among all of his recent dealings with Childe, their bet was by far the most significant.
Especially since Zhongli had sent over an enormous bill earlier that morning.
Viewed from that angle, perhaps Childe simply couldn't afford the cost.
Yet he didn't want to openly back out of the wager.
Then, by chance, he acquired a medicine capable of causing memory loss.
So he decided to make Zhongli forget the bet altogether.
Piece by piece, Zhongli reconstructed the entire situation.
He even suspected the medicine had been obtained from Boss Han's manga shop.
Otherwise, Childe would have used it long ago.
"You and I are friends. You could have just spoken honestly. Was there really a need for all this?"
Zhongli sighed.
Still, the incident served as a reminder.
Even with a wager in place, he really couldn't continue squeezing Childe dry.
Building the statue required an enormous amount of Mora.
"Looks like I'll have to ask the Liyue Qixing for assistance later."
Having no money truly was inconvenient.
At that moment, Zhongli finally understood how his old friend Venti felt.
Small expenses were manageable.
But once massive sums became involved, things got troublesome.
"Mr. Zhongli, are you leaving?"
Childe stood up as Zhongli prepared to depart.
"Yes. I have some matters to attend to."
Zhongli nodded.
After a brief pause, he added:
"With your strength, the memory loss shouldn't last very long. But don't drink any more of the tea on this table."
After leaving that warning behind, he walked out.
"Why shouldn't I drink the tea?"
Childe immediately became curious.
People were often like that.
If you said nothing, they wouldn't care.
But the more you tried to stop them, the more they wanted to do it.
Childe was no exception.
Driven by curiosity, he poured himself another cup.
"It shouldn't be poisonous, right?"
He muttered before draining it in one gulp.
Then the familiar sensation returned.
His thoughts became muddled.
Something important slipped away from memory.
After a while, he recovered.
"Huh? Why am I here? Who brought me here?"
Childe looked around the room in confusion.
Judging by the setting, another guest seemed to have been expected.
Had they not arrived yet?
He scratched his head.
Something felt wrong.
"Forget it. I'll have some tea while I wait."
Unable to figure it out, he decided not to think about it.
So he poured another cup.
And then—
He lost his memory again.
Thus began an endless cycle.
Again.
And again.
And again...
—------------------------------
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