Stars hung across the sky, and the sea breeze carried a faint chill.
Waves caught by the wind lapped softly against the shore, filling the air with a gentle rushing sound.
The night felt cool and quiet.
But Fang Qiu's heart felt even colder.
She stole a nervous glance at the two women sitting across from her — Ganyu and Keqing, both staring at her with aggrieved, red-rimmed eyes, as though she had been two-timing them both and broken their hearts.
Fang Qiu felt a chill seep all the way down to her bones.
The two of them had been staring at her like this for several minutes now, ever since they'd finished the book — without saying a single word.
Scared.jpg
Rex Lapis, please watch over me.
Wait — Rex Lapis was dead.
He couldn't watch over anyone anymore. She'd need a different god.
The Anemo Archon, Barbatos?
But that god hadn't shown up in Mondstadt for ages. Probably dead too, same as Rex Lapis.
Then maybe the Raiden Shogun of Inazuma?
That one still ruled Inazuma, so she had to be worth something. The question was whether divine protection worked across national borders…
She sighed.
What a completely undeserved disaster.
"Um… Lady Ganyu, Lady Keqing — would you like some juice? I can go refill your glasses."
Fang Qiu tried tentatively to break the silence.
"No need," said Keqing, shaking her head.
"I'm fine too," Ganyu added softly, also shaking her head.
Just as Fang Qiu braced herself for the silence to settle back in like a fog, Keqing let out a long breath and spoke.
"From the midpoint onward, it was one gut-punch after another — even the one warm, tender arc in Jimo got its knife planted in it later during the Ghost Realm section. And yet… there's no denying it. This book is utterly brilliant. Every character, in every single arc, is carved out so vividly they stay with you long after you've closed the page."
"Mm. Keqing's right," Ganyu agreed, nodding gently. "Take Jiang Shi in the Chenzhou arc, for instance — her portion of the story is so brief, and yet the impression she leaves is so deep."
Seeing the two of them finally speak — and with no trace of anger in their voices — Fang Qiu quietly let out the breath she'd been holding.
She'd honestly had no idea how she was going to get out of that one.
Thank goodness Ganyu and Keqing were both such reasonable people.
If it had been her in their position, she would've stripped herself naked, tied herself up, sat herself down on top of a Jumpy Dumpty, and gotten her backside thoroughly spanked until it was red and swollen.
So she smiled, and the three of them fell into conversation.
It went well enough — though whenever the talk drifted toward the more heartbreaking parts of the story, the other two couldn't quite stop the wounded look from creeping back into their eyes.
Fang Qiu also recommended a few light novels she thought they might enjoy, though given how busy they both were, she doubted they'd have much time to read.
By the time they'd been chatting a while, the mood had noticeably lifted.
"Oh, by the way — a new dessert shop just opened over near Chihu Rock, on the Inazuma side. They're still renovating, but they've already set up a little stall out front. We should go try it sometime when we're free," Fang Qiu said with a smile.
"From what the Traveler told me, they have a drink called Dango Milk — apparently even the Raiden Shogun of Inazuma is fond of it."
She'd spotted the stall yesterday, after Sword and Fairy opened and they'd all gone to Wanmin Restaurant for dinner.
The Traveler and Paimon had been the ones to tell her about it.
She hadn't tried it herself yesterday, though.
She'd been far too full. Eating more on top of that would only mean gaining weight.
Her chest was already plenty big enough — she had no desire for it to get any bigger…
Her shoulders were exhausted.
And honestly, if her chest were a bit smaller, the whole mess from this morning wouldn't have happened either…
She sighed.
On top of everything, her nightdress had given out tonight. She'd have to sleep in her undergarments.
Or maybe just… not bother with anything at all?
She'd watched so many period dramas in her past life that she'd developed a very specific impression of undergarments — that they were, in a word, scandalous.
And with her chest the way it was, the fabric would just get pushed up ridiculously high anyway…
She'd heard there was a Mondstadt lingerie shop somewhere in Liyue City — one that sold not just undergarments, but silk stockings too.
Like the pair Keqing was wearing right now, for instance — those were probably from that shop, weren't they?
"Dango Milk… I think I recall seeing something about that in the food import paperwork," Ganyu said, pulling Fang Qiu back from her wandering thoughts. She tilted her head, considering. "It's one of Inazuma's specialty drinks, isn't it?"
"As expected of you, Lady Ganyu — you can actually remember the contents of food approval documents," Fang Qiu said, genuinely a little stunned.
So this is what the chief secretary of the Qixing is capable of. Terrifying.
"It's simply part of my duties," Ganyu replied, shaking her head. "And given that Inazuma has exceptionally opened trade with Liyue this time, it naturally warrants careful attention."
"Lady Ganyu really is dependable," Fang Qiu said.
"She really is," Keqing agreed, nodding. "Whenever I'm uncertain about something, I go to Ganyu for her opinion — and she almost always has a good one."
They talked a while longer, and the sky gradually deepened into night.
Fang Qiu said her farewells and headed home.
"That could've been a disaster."
She glanced back — Ganyu and Keqing were walking in the direction of Yujing Terrace — and let out a breath of relief.
Though it did leave her a little puzzled.
Those two… they weren't seriously going back to work overtime at Yujing Terrace at this hour, were they?
She made her way along the cobblestone streets, weaving past more than a few people who had clearly had too much to drink.
What puzzled her, though, was that when she passed by the Wanwen Bookhouse, the owner was nowhere to be seen — not at the door where she usually stood, and not inside either, even when Fang Qiu leaned in to look.
She asked a staff member, who told her the owner had drunk herself into a stupor and gone to lie down.
Well.
A tavern owner, drunk on her own wares.
Fang Qiu didn't press for details and moved on. The streets grew quieter with every block.
She was just passing a small bridge over a stream when she spotted two figures.
One was a girl. The other was a boy.
They were walking in a daze toward the water, already at the riverbank.
At first, Fang Qiu assumed they were just childhood sweethearts sneaking down to play by the river.
Then she noticed their expressions — blank, vacant — and their movements — stiff, mechanical.
A creeping unease rose in her chest.
A cool gust swept off the river, and Fang Qiu instinctively blinked — and in that single blink, the boy was gone.
There was no boy anymore. Only a small girl, standing alone by the water's edge, looking thoroughly lost.
"Just now… where did that little boy go? Did I imagine him? But how could I have imagined that…"
Fang Qiu's pupils shrank.
A shiver ran through her.
There was nowhere to hide around here…
That boy — could he have been something unnatural?
She was still standing there, uncertain what to do, when two sets of footsteps came from behind her.
Step. Step…
Getting closer.
Don't tell me that boy is right behind me now.
It was the oldest trick in the horror playbook — the behind-you jumpscare.
Cold sweat prickled all over her skin in an instant.
Fang Qiu's crimson eyes snapped wide — then she gritted her teeth and spun around, her arm swinging out in the same motion.
As her arm cut through the air, her Vision flared to life with a brilliant burst of light. A gleam of cold radiance materialized in her hand, and in the next instant, a sword forged entirely of ice — radiating a fierce, biting cold — crystallized in her grip.
The blade swept across in a wide arc.
And as she struck, she turned to see who was there.
She kept her focus sharp — the blade was deliberately a beat behind her turn, giving her a fraction of a second to assess. If it was an ordinary person, she could dispel the ice sword before it connected.
Then she saw Xingqiu, staring at her with a completely blank expression.
And in front of her, a young man who had already dropped into a low crouch to dodge her swing — the same boy she'd spotted with Xingqiu on the street a few days ago.
He'd anticipated it in time. Even so, Fang Qiu dispersed the ice sword halfway through its arc.
"Fang—" Xingqiu started.
The blue-robed boy cut in first.
"Auntie, it's me — Chongyun. Don't attack, I didn't mean to come up behind you. I just spotted you while I was passing by and wanted to say hello."
Fang Qiu, who had been about to apologize for nearly taking someone's head off, went completely blank. So did Xingqiu, who had been halfway through a sentence.
What…
What's going on?
Auntie?
Fang Qiu's mind raced, but no matter how she turned it over, she couldn't place anyone matching this description in her memories.
Then again, there were significant gaps in the original owner's memories — almost everything relating to family was simply… absent.
Could it be that this boy was actually…
Her nephew?
But he only looked a few years younger than her. Three or four years at most…
Then again, she thought, situations like that weren't unheard of. Back in her past life, she'd gone back to her ancestral village for a memorial ceremony once and witnessed an elderly man calling a young child "grandfather."
When she thought of it that way, this wasn't so strange after all.
At least it wasn't some old man calling her "Auntie."
Still — she hadn't expected the original owner of this body to have family left in this world.
Even if the memories weren't there, family was family, wasn't it?
She was just dispelling the icy air that still lingered around her and drawing a breath to ask him about it, when Xingqiu stepped forward.
"Chongyun — did you just say that? Is Fang Qiu really your aunt?"
"She is — she's a distant relative from a branch of the family… wait, hang on. Xingqiu, what did you say her name was?"
Chongyun stopped mid-sentence, suddenly freezing. He turned to look at Xingqiu.
"Fang Qiu. You should know that name pretty well — the books you're holding, she wrote them."
The moment the words left his mouth, Xingqiu realized he'd let something slip. "Sorry, Miss Fang Qiu, I didn't mean to — I only said it because Chongyun seemed to have the wrong person, so—"
"It's fine," Fang Qiu said, shaking her head.
Now that Xingqiu mentioned it, she noticed for the first time that both of them were each carrying a set of Sword and Fairy 2.
"Auntie… you're not called Shenhe? Oh — I see, your name in the mortal world is Fang Qiu. I never would have guessed that my favorite author is actually my own aunt." Chongyun blinked, then his eyes lit up with unmistakable admiration. "By the way, Auntie — would you want to come back to the main family with me? When the elders heard you were still alive, they were all so happy. And if they find out you've come back to Liyue Harbor and become a famous bestselling author on top of it — they'll be even happier. Quite a few of the younger family members are actually fans of your books."
Xingqiu stared.
He looked at Fang Qiu in pure astonishment. So "Fang Qiu" was just another name for Chongyun's aunt?
Fang Qiu stared too.
Shenhe?
Who?
Wait — was that her original name?
She drew a slow, confused breath.
How did she have absolutely zero memory of that?
Though, it was true that part of her memories were missing — perhaps it was precisely that part.
So the original body's name wasn't Fang Qiu at all. It was Shenhe.
And what did "in the mortal world" mean, exactly?
"Chongyun, are you sure you haven't made a mistake?" Xingqiu asked, since Fang Qiu herself was looking just as bewildered.
"I couldn't mistake her. A few days ago, when I was exorcising demons in the mountains, I ran into serious trouble — it was my aunt who saved me. She's just changed her clothes since then."
Chongyun shook his head firmly.
Hearing this, Xingqiu looked toward Fang Qiu, a flicker of surprise crossing his face.
So Chongyun went on to describe the battle in detail — how Shenhe had used talismans to summon a divine barrier that held off the Hilichurl King's assault, then taken up her spear and cut the enemy down in an instant.
Even Xingqiu couldn't help being impressed.
I never would've guessed — Miss Fang Qiu looks so gentle, but she's that powerful…
"Well… Chongyun, I think you've got the wrong person," Fang Qiu said, a little awkwardly. "My name really is Fang Qiu, and I haven't left Liyue Harbor in quite a long time. During the time you're describing, I was almost certainly sitting at a desk writing the books you've got in your hands."
Because she had absolutely no chance against a Hilichurl King.
And even if she somehow could, she certainly didn't fight with melee weapons.
"Huh?"
Chongyun went still.
Xingqiu went still too.
After a long silence, Chongyun said, a little shamefacedly, "Now that you put it that way… the aura is different. When I stand in front of my aunt, even when she means no harm, it feels like there's a force of nature standing right in front of me. But Miss Fang Qiu is… I'm sorry, Miss Fang Qiu, I made a mistake. You two just look so much alike — though now that I look carefully, your eye color is different…"
His face flushed red, and he dropped his gaze.
"Miss Fang Qiu, this was all a misunderstanding. Chongyun meant no offense. I hope you'll forgive him," Xingqiu said.
"Not at all, don't worry about it." Fang Qiu waved a hand, half-laughing, half-exasperated.
What a mix-up.
To think there was someone in this world who looked so much like her.
According to Chongyun, only their aura and eye color were different…
Like meeting another version of myself.
It would be something, to actually meet her face to face.
But more than that, she was curious about the sentence Chongyun had left unfinished.
Shenhe was a force of nature — and Miss Fang Qiu was… what, exactly?
They exchanged a few more pleasantries, and then Fang Qiu continued on her way home.
She'd only walked a few meters when she heard Chongyun and Xingqiu's conversation drifting from behind her.
"I can't believe there are two people that similar in the world. Next time I see my aunt, I'm definitely introducing Miss Fang Qiu to her."
Fang Qiu smiled to herself at that.
She'd genuinely like to meet this Shenhe — just to see if they really were as alike as he said.
"Oh — Xingqiu, didn't you say there was an evil spirit near this river, luring children to the water to drown them? How come we can't see anything? There's just a little girl standing by the bank."
Fang Qiu's smile froze on her face.
"I wasn't making it up this time, I swear. Several children nearly drowned here recently — they were only saved because someone happened to be passing by. And there were witnesses who said they'd seen it — apparently it looks like a small boy. Look, that little girl is just standing there looking confused — she's probably been enchanted by the spirit. Let's go ask her about it; maybe she can give us something to go on."
Hearing Xingqiu's words, Fang Qiu felt her legs go weak. A chill ran down her spine, and cold sweat bloomed across her skin.
That little boy she'd just seen…
Could he have been the very spirit they were talking about?
Those two children had looked for all the world like they were being pulled, one slow step at a time, straight into the river…
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