Below the Wanwen Bookhouse.
Jiang Qin Ji, the tavern proprietress, was sitting at the tavern's entrance.
Inside, quite a few novel enthusiasts were drinking in gloomy silence.
Outside, the rain poured in torrents; winter thunder rolled across the heavens, and a cold wind drove the heavy rain slanting downward.
The lanterns of the tavern across the way swayed in the wind and rain.
On the table beside her, a copy of The Forest of Fireflies' Light, opened to its final pages, lay quietly on the table.
As the wind blew, the pages fluttered noisily, finally coming to rest on the title page.
"Bonds that cannot be, only deepen the sorrow."
Upon these words were a few water stains—not traces left by the rain, but the tears she had shed after seeing Gin die, when she turned back to the title page and read this line.
At first glance, the line seemed merely a little sad; but only after finishing the story and looking back at it could one truly feel that helpless heaviness.
Her expression was complicated.
A bond that can bear no fruit—how sorrowful it is...
She turned to look inside the tavern, at a young man seated at a table, drunk out of his senses.
She knew this young man.
He was a poor lad, but two years ago he had fallen in love with the daughter of a wealthy family.
Yet when he summoned the courage to call on her family to propose, he was humiliated by the rich merchant.
He had him driven out.
He did not lose heart, but worked hard to earn money, exhausting himself half to death every day. This life of resting only two hours a day lasted a full half year, and many times he collapsed from exhaustion.
And after half a year, the wealthy daughter came to find him.
She told the young man that she already had someone she liked—a young master from another wealthy family.
This news struck like a bolt from the blue, utterly shattering his psychological defenses.
After that, the young man drank here at her place for three full days and nights.
When he got drunk he slept; when he woke he kept drinking.
At first, she assumed the wealthy daughter had simply had a change of heart—after all, such things were common enough.
Until one day later, that wealthy daughter slipped out in secret to drink, and seeing her face full of sorrow, the proprietress went over and deliberately probed the matter in a roundabout way.
It turned out that the wealthy daughter had seen how desperately hard he was working, and feared that one day he would work himself to death. Her own mother was gravely ill, and she could not, at such a critical juncture, abandon everything to elope with him.
What was more, the young man's parents were still living; if the two of them eloped, her father would surely never let the young man's parents live in peace.
She could not bear to watch the young man cast everything aside.
So she told the young man she had transferred her affections to another, so that he would stop hurting himself.
Let go.
All things are fate; not the slightest part is up to us.
Everything was simply that helpless.
Bonds that cannot be, only deepen the sorrow.
A bond that was never going to bear fruit—it truly is something to grieve over...
"What a cold rain."
The tavern proprietress lifted the wine beside her that had gone cold, took a sip, and raised her head to look at the sky—the sky a sheet of gloom, curtains of rain interweaving across it.
Just as she was gazing blankly at the sky, a steady voice rang out.
"Each winter rain brings a deeper chill. This year, Liyue Harbor will likely see snow."
The proprietress turned to look, and saw a tall, handsome young man walking toward her through the rain beneath an umbrella.
"Master Zhongli, welcome."
The proprietress set down her wine cup and rose to greet him: "Here for a drink?"
"Mm."
Zhongli nodded, set down the oil-paper umbrella in his hand, and walked into the tavern.
"Your usual seat?"
the proprietress asked.
"Mm."
Zhongli nodded.
"Please, come with me."
The proprietress nodded and walked into the tavern.
Zhongli withdrew his gaze from the dead-drunk young man, gave a soft sigh, fell into step behind the proprietress, and made his way to the seat where he usually sat.
However, on the other side of the table sat another person.
It was Chang the Ninth.
Zhongli sat down across from him and ordered two bottles of Osmanthus Wine.
This time, he too was thoroughly drunk.
Beside him lay Fang Qiu's new book, The Forest of Fireflies' Light.
"Bonds that cannot be, only deepen the sorrow, is it..."
Zhongli turned to look out the window.
Outside, the wind drove the rain pattering against the ground, splashing up bursts of water.
Soon, the proprietress brought up the wine.
Zhongli poured a cup and was about to drink, when Chang the Ninth, sitting across from him, raised his head with a drunken expression.
Only, he was not looking at Zhongli, but staring blankly out the window, tears flowing unstoppably.
He remembered that after the last time he had met with Jiu'er and gone home, a great rain had fallen from the sky—a rain as heavy as this one, said to have even caused floods.
After that great rain, Jiu'er's family had moved away.
"Bonds that cannot be, only deepen the sorrow? I don't believe it! I will work hard to write books... make my own... name... resound across all of Tey... vat, until Jiu'er sees..."
he said, slurring and disjointed.
With that, he flopped back onto the table with a thud, still mumbling something indistinctly.
Something about how he had to read more of Fang Qiu's books to learn.
Zhongli gave a soft sigh and looked at the book beside Chang the Ninth—on its cover, Gin and Hotaru Takegawa held hands by way of a wooden stick, walking down the mountain side by side.
Two people destined never to be bound together...
Even if Hotaru Takegawa and Gin could hold back and never touch one another, Gin, as half-spirit and half-human, would far outlive Hotaru Takegawa.
Until Hotaru Takegawa died, and Gin would become a lonely soul once more.
So Gin would rather vanish now, as long as he could touch Hotaru Takegawa.
As for whether Gin had touched that child on purpose, it no longer mattered.
Because even without that child, Gin would not have been able to resist touching Hotaru Takegawa.
Having endured such long loneliness, then finally one day gaining what he longed for—how could he bear to lose it again...
He drained the wine in his hand in one gulp, then sighed and said, "As I thought—no matter how many times I drink, I can never taste that original flavor again."
He looked out the window; the rain still poured, and the leaves of the osmanthus tree outside were falling rustling in the wind.
Yujing Terrace, Yuehai Pavilion.
"What a sorrowful ending it is..."
Ganyu stood by the window, watching the Glaze Lilies sway in the wind and rain, her gaze somewhat dim.
"Only deepen the sorr..."
Ganyu murmured softly, her eyes brimming with sorrow.
The lifespans of the immortals were exceedingly long and far-reaching, and the same was true of semi-illuminated beasts.
Compared to the Adepti, an ordinary person's lifespan was like the thunder that flashed across the sky in this very instant.
Gone in the blink of an eye...
Before, she had always thought that the loneliness of Liyue Harbor was lonelier than that of Jueyun Karst.
To watch the clouds in Jueyun Karst was merely the loneliness of one person watching clouds alone.
But to walk into the sea of people in Liyue was the loneliness of a non-human thing amid the mortal world...
So, while fulfilling her contract with Rex Lapis, she always buried herself beneath documents and reports, hiding herself away like a Dendro Slime.
But ever since she read Miss Fang Qiu's books and came to know Miss Fang Qiu, her life in Liyue Harbor seemed to take on a slightly different sort of anticipation.
On every book-release day, finishing the work at hand and going to bookshops like the Wanwen Bookhouse to buy books had seemingly become the norm.
Strolling through the sea of people in Liyue, she would even begin to hope that she might, on the streets, catch sight of that gentle, lovely white-haired woman.
Perhaps she was close to finding a way to fully blend into Liyue Harbor.
Only...
Fang Qiu was just like Hotaru Takegawa.
They were merely ordinary people.
And she was like Gin... their lifespans were both exceedingly long...
Time was cruel to ordinary people, and cruel to the long-lived races as well.
Bonds that cannot be, only deepen the sorrow...
Thinking of this, Ganyu's expression grew even more downcast.
Just as she was wavering in indecision, a knock came at the door.
"Come in."
Ganyu wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, let out a soft breath, and said.
The other person did not answer, but silently pushed open the door.
Yet, upon seeing the person behind the door, Ganyu could not help but freeze.
"Miss Fang Qiu? What brings you here?"
Ganyu's eyes lit up slightly, then, remembering the pouring rain outside, she asked with concern: "It's raining so heavily out there—are you all right?"
"Senior sister, I'm not Fang Qiu. I'm Shenhe."
Shenhe said, shaking her head.
"Eh? Senior sister? Shenhe?"
Ganyu froze for a moment, only then noticing the ways in which the white-haired woman before her differed from Miss Fang Qiu.
She had heard before that Shenhe had come to Liyue Harbor on the orders of their master, Cloud Retainer.
But at the time, busy preparing to deal with Beisht, the wife of the god Osial, she had never been able to meet Shenhe.
And after the decisive battle, she had been constantly handling affairs, for trade with Inazuma had restarted, and on top of that there was the tunnel Keqing had dug through to allow large caravan trains to pass.
All manner of trade documents had piled up.
So, until now she had not been able to free up time to meet Shenhe even once.
Even today's book-buying was only a fragment of time she had squeezed out.
She had even planned, once the next couple of days' work was done, to meet this junior sister and help her find a job.
She had not expected that Shenhe would come to find her on her own.
Was it so that she would arrange a job for her?
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—you look so very much like a friend of mine that I mistook you."
Ganyu said, her face full of apology.
Come to think of it, when she first met Miss Fang Qiu, because she had only glimpsed Shenhe once from afar, she had mistaken Fang Qiu for Shenhe.
She had not expected that upon meeting Shenhe, she would in turn mistake Shenhe for Fang Qiu.
What a marvelous twist of fate.
"Don't worry about it. Fang Qiu and I really do look alike—even Master says so."
Shenhe said.
"Shenhe, you know Miss Fang Qiu as well?"
Ganyu asked, puzzled.
"I'm currently staying at her home."
Shenhe said.
"Staying at her home?"
Ganyu could not help but be startled.
Seeing the confusion on Ganyu's face, Shenhe told her the process of how she had come to know Fang Qiu.
"I see."
Ganyu nodded thoughtfully and said, "By the way, junior sister, did you come looking for me about something?"
"Madame Ping asked me to come and ask whether you're free to have dinner together tonight."
Shenhe said.
"Since it's Madame Ping who invites me, of course I'm free."
Ganyu nodded.
After chatting with Shenhe for a while, she entrusted her work to the other secretaries, took half a day's leave, and, holding an umbrella, followed Shenhe all the way toward Madame Ping's home.
Arriving at Madame Ping's home, they found that Madame Ping had already been waiting for some time.
"Children, you've come."
Madame Ping said with a smile, "Ganyu, you child, it's been so long since you came to see this old woman."
"I'm sorry, Madame Ping—it's truly because I've been so busy with affairs."
Ganyu said, a little embarrassed.
"Don't worry, this old woman doesn't mean to blame you. Being busy is good—a little busyness is a good thing."
Madame Ping said with a smile, "Sit. I'll brew you a pot of tea to warm you up."
"Thank you, Madame Ping."
Ganyu gave a faint smile and thanked her.
Shenhe, at her side, thanked her as well.
Just as they had sat down, a knock came at the door.
Madame Ping opened the door, and a coral-haired girl came bustling in—wearing a red ceremonial cap with white antlers on either side, a legal codex at her waist, and a novel in her hand.
"What a downpour—what a disaster. Not getting my book is one thing, but I also ran into someone cutting in line. I thought he was just an ordinary person, but who'd have guessed he was actually a Treasure Hoarder. Hauling him off to the Millelith wasted so much time... I'll just have to wait for the rain to stop and go buy it later."
Yanfei took the towel Madame Ping handed her, wiped the rain from herself, and said, "Thank you, Madame Ping."
"Oh, Senior Ganyu is here too. And this is...?"
Seeing Ganyu and Shenhe, Yanfei first greeted Ganyu, then turned her gaze to Shenhe and said, somewhat puzzled.
"Shenhe."
Shenhe introduced herself.
"Hello, my name is Yanfei. I'm Liyue's foremost legal expert, bar none—commercial disputes, civil mediation, criminal litigation, I'm proficient in them all, and one move from me settles the matter."
Yanfei said, not minding Shenhe's terse self-introduction in the least.
She had seen Shenhe on the streets several times—this morning, for instance, while she was passing judgment on that Treasure Hoarder, she seemed to have spotted Shenhe.
Shenhe seemed to have even watched the commotion from the side for a while...
But the Shenhe of a little while ago seemed somewhat different from the Shenhe now...
Was it just her imagination?
And at this moment, the Heyu Tea House.
"Come to think of it, today's a book-release day, isn't it? With rain this heavy, surely there won't be a line to buy books."
Yun Jin stretched lazily and walked to the window. She had been busy the better part of the day writing a new opera and hadn't had time to go to the Wanwen Bookhouse to buy books.
Just as she was wondering whether to take advantage of the downpour and go to the Wanwen Bookhouse, she suddenly saw two youths on the street raise umbrellas and step out from the tea house across the way into the rain.
It was Xingqiu and his friend.
But no sooner had they stepped into the rain than the umbrellas in their hands were blown apart, and the two were instantly drenched like drowned rats.
"Eh?"
Chongyun was stunned.
"Ugh, the quality of this umbrella is far too shoddy. Could it be one of my family's brocade umbrellas? Can't block the sun, can't keep off the rain—only good for hanging on a wall?"
Xingqiu was also stunned.
"Never mind. We're already soaked anyway—let's just head home like this. Keep the books safe."
Shielding the books, Xingqiu ran off together with Chongyun all the way toward the Feiyun Commerce Guild.
"Xingqiu really is an amusing fellow."
Yun Jin laughed softly.
With their constitutions, even a winter rain should do them no harm—unlike Fang Qiu...
"Come to think of it, I wonder whether Miss Fang Qiu has put on extra clothes."
Yun Jin reached out a hand and caught a raindrop falling from the sky.
It was cold to the touch.
"Come to think of it, I wonder if Miss Fang Qiu has any free time lately. I'd like to talk with her about matters of opera—if she can write opera, it would be wonderful to hire her to compose one. And then there's Miss Fang Qiu's new book, The Forest of Fireflies' Light—I'm really rather looking forward to it."
Yun Jin felt a touch of anticipation.
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