[Author's Note: (Minor revisions have been made to the end of the previous chapter.)]
Seeing that Fang Qiu hadn't finished eating yet, Bai Qing didn't linger. After a few more words, she raised her oil-paper umbrella and walked off into the rain.
"What's the Irodori Festival?"
The moment Bai Qing was gone, Hu Tao came over and asked.
Seeing the puzzled look on her face, Fang Qiu told her what the Traveler had said about the Irodori Festival in Inazuma.
"So, Fang Qiu, are you planning to go?" Hu Tao asked.
Before Fang Qiu could answer, a knock came at the door.
Both Fang Qiu and Hu Tao couldn't help feeling puzzled.
Had Bai Qing forgotten something?
But when Fang Qiu opened the door and saw who was standing there, she froze for a moment.
It wasn't Bai Qing. It was Ningguang's secretary.
Baiwen.
"Miss Baiwen, is something the matter?" Fang Qiu asked.
"Miss Fang Qiu, Lady Ningguang requests your presence," Baiwen said.
"I see. Please wait just a moment," Fang Qiu said.
"Take your time, Miss Fang Qiu." Baiwen gave a polite nod.
"Miss Ningguang needs me for something. Let's talk more when I get back," Fang Qiu said.
"Go on, go on. Although — I need to find Meng and go discuss funeral arrangements with a client, so I'll come see you tomorrow instead." Hu Tao waved a hand as she spoke.
"Mm." Fang Qiu nodded. "Look after Tingyu for me."
"Leave it to me." Hu Tao waved again.
With that settled, Fang Qiu opened her oil-paper umbrella and set off with Baiwen toward Yujing Terrace.
Watching her back recede, Hu Tao felt something sink in her chest.
"Inazuma, huh."
She murmured it to herself, looking up at the sky.
Clouds smothered the heavens from end to end, the drizzle blurring everything soft and grey.
She stood in silence for a good while. Then she turned, gathered Tingyu into her arms, raised her umbrella, locked Fang Qiu's door for her, and started off down the road toward the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
Fang Qiu, meanwhile, followed Baiwen all the way to Yujing Terrace, where they boarded the stone platform that carried them up to the Jade Chamber.
At first, she was more than a little nervous.
It was raining, after all, and the wind was up. One slip of the foot and she'd go straight off the edge of the platform...
But the instant she stepped onto it, she discovered that the platform sealed out the wind and rain entirely.
The whole thing stayed bone dry. Remarkable, really.
Though she still thought that instead of packing it with all these fancy tricks, they might have simply put a railing around the thing. That would have been far more reassuring.
She stepped off into the Jade Chamber, which hung serene and unmoving amid the storm.
In the main hall, Ningguang lounged in her chair in a white-and-gold cheongsam.
And she wasn't alone. Two others were there.
The Traveler and Paimon.
Their eyes were both red and swollen, as though they'd been crying.
Yet their moods seemed cheerful enough.
"Fang Qiu, you're here!" Paimon waved, happily working her way through a plate of pastries.
"Traveler, Paimon — what are you two doing here?" Fang Qiu blinked.
"We're delivering a message for that Miko person. She woke us up at the crack of dawn today."
Paimon spoke with her cheeks full, then picked up a pastry, flew over to Fang Qiu, and held it out to her. "Fang Qiu, try this, it's really good!"
"Thanks." Fang Qiu smiled and took it. "Right — you just said you were delivering a message. What message?"
"It's like this." Ningguang's voice was cool and even. "I have been in talks with Inazuma for some time about importing Liyue films and animation, along with the associated merchandise. And today, the Traveler and Paimon have brought word that there has finally been progress."
"What kind of progress?" Fang Qiu asked before she could think.
"Editor-in-Chief Yae is willing to clear away the obstacles to importing the films, animation and merchandise. What's more, the Yashiro Commission will build a picture studio before the Irodori Festival, and premiere your work there on the day of the festival itself," Ningguang said.
"Uh... and what's the price for that?" Fang Qiu frowned. Nothing about this sounded simple.
What did any of it have to do with her?
"You," Ningguang said.
"Me?" Confusion spread across Fang Qiu's face.
Surely Ningguang wasn't about to sell her off?
"Miko's condition is that you attend the Irodori Festival."
"Fang Qiu, let's go see Inazuma together!" Paimon put in from the side. "We'll take the boat over with you. With us along you've got nothing to worry about — the Traveler's really strong!"
Lumine nodded in agreement.
"When the time comes, I will send Beidou as well," Ningguang said. "With her fleet at hand, you may set your mind at ease."
"You want me to go to the Irodori Festival?" Fang Qiu stood there, dazed.
That Editor-in-Chief Yae had gone to absurd lengths — she'd even gotten Miss Ningguang to do the persuading in person.
Under Ningguang's steady gaze, and the eager, expectant eyes of the Traveler and Paimon, Fang Qiu had little choice but to agree.
Editor-in-Chief Yae had paid such a steep price for it, and Miss Ningguang had spoken to her about it herself.
Refusing at this point would have been rude.
After all, what other author could ever command that kind of face?
Not even someone who'd eaten the Face-Face Fruit, surely.
Besides, the terms Editor-in-Chief Yae had proposed worked out well for her too. There was a tidy sum of income in it.
And there was still so much she hadn't bought yet.
A luxury ship, for instance. Or a Jade Chamber of her own...
One could never have too much Mora.
Still, Editor-in-Chief Yae certainly liked taking the long way around. Why not just transfer the Mora to her directly?
She'd have said yes a hundred times over — a thousand. Getting paid and getting to see a foreign country with the Traveler and the others besides.
She could meet that well-bred noble lady, the Eldest Miss Kamisato. She could meet Naganohara Yoimiya, the girl as warm as a firework, who loved fireworks and loved children.
And Thoma, too — the one who'd tormented her with ghost stories, and whom she'd tormented right back.
She wondered how he was doing these days.
Instead, here she was, with a middleman skimming the margin.
Naturally, none of this showed on her face.
"Yay! Rushing back at dawn was worth it after all!" Hearing Fang Qiu agree, Paimon was over the moon, and Lumine looked delighted too.
"Then it's settled," Ningguang said with a nod.
After chatting a while longer, they saw that Ningguang had other business to attend to, and left her to it.
They made their way out of the Jade Chamber, and only when her feet touched solid ground again did Fang Qiu feel properly at ease.
"Traveler, Paimon, where are you two off to now? Heading back to Inazuma to report to Editor-in-Chief Yae?" Fang Qiu asked.
"Obviously we're going to eat something delicious!" Paimon said. "Let her wait!"
"All right then. My treat. Let's go." Fang Qiu smiled.
"Yay!"
"Oh, right, I have a question."
"Ask away, Fang Qiu."
"How's Thoma doing?"
At the question, the Traveler and Paimon both stopped mid-step. They looked at Fang Qiu's expectant face, caught somewhere between laughter and tears, and said:
"Thoma has to pay triple the normal price for groceries now... and on top of that, he played the Dark Hot Pot Game with us yesterday. His luck was so terrible he ended up eating every single one of the weird ingredients himself, and then he had the runs all night. He was still running to the toilet when we left..."
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