Forget it.
She wasn't going to think about it anymore.
She'd just ask Klee again once she woke up this afternoon.
Fang Qiu decided to take a proper stroll around Ritou.
The Irodori Festival hadn't fully opened yet, but Five Kasen Square was already bustling.
Breakfast was ramen.
It wasn't Ichiraku's, and it wasn't instant Tangdaren noodles either, but it tasted decent enough.
Afterward she picked up a cup of Dango Milk from the Dango Milk shop next door and wandered around Five Kasen Square, sipping as she went.
As she passed a flight of stone steps, she noticed several Tenryou Commission soldiers at the bottom, weapons in hand.
But it wasn't the soldiers who really caught her attention. It was the two women standing inside their ring, apparently locked in a standoff.
One of them had crisp, shoulder-length short hair and wore Inazuman-style clothing, with a red tengu mask pushed to the side of her head.
She looked dashing and heroic.
The girl facing her looked a bit like a Mondstadter.
She was very slender, dressed in green and white, with a short green cape down her back. Sheer white stockings showed off her long, slim legs to perfect effect.
Her eyelids were lowered, and her hair, fading from black to green at the tips, swayed gently in the breeze.
More importantly, the girl was actually wearing a green hat…
Didn't Mondstadt have that saying about green hats? (In Chinese slang, it means your partner cheated on you.)
"Why does this feel like an interrogation scene?"
Sensing the frozen atmosphere, Fang Qiu froze for a moment herself.
Besides that, she noticed that both of them were Vision holders.
At the very moment she looked over, Kujou Sara turned her head and glanced at the white-haired woman standing on the steps, drinking Dango Milk and watching them.
Their eyes met.
After a second look at Fang Qiu, Kujou Sara withdrew her gaze.
"Oh?"
Venti followed Kujou Sara's line of sight and spotted Fang Qiu.
His eyes lingered on her face for a moment, then settled on the qilin jade pendant hanging at her waist. A flicker of surprise crossed his emerald-green eyes.
There were three people's powers inside that pendant.
Some weak, some strong.
Of course, that wasn't the point.
The point was that the strongest power in the pendant had been left behind by Morax.
This white-haired girl had a connection to Morax?
Could that fellow Morax possibly be…
Interesting.
Venti's lips curled slightly. Just as he was about to step forward and find out what was going on, a bladed bow barred his way.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Kujou Sara narrowed her eyes. "I believe I told you already: until your theft and illegal-entry cases are settled, you stand right there and behave."
"I need to use the restroom," Venti said with a smile.
"Hold it."
Kujou Sara glanced at Fang Qiu, then turned back to Venti, a cold glint in her eyes.
This guy was actually staring at that white-haired beauty's waist.
"Aw, come on, why so harsh…"
Looking at Kujou Sara's icy expression, Venti felt rather helpless.
Down below, Fang Qiu took another sip of Dango Milk and sighed.
Girls in the prime of youth, and they were stealing and sneaking across borders…
Was this the warping of human nature, or the collapse of morality?
"Heaving a long sigh, I wipe away my tears, grieving that the people's lives are so full of hardship…"
Still, that green-hatted girl looked like a habitual offender at first glance. She reminded Fang Qiu of the Treasure Hoarders who lined up at her bookstore's door at the crack of dawn, then resold her books at inflated prices to the people queuing behind them.
With that thought, Fang Qiu took one more sip of Dango Milk and turned to leave.
Venti had something to say, but it wouldn't come out…
All he could do was watch Fang Qiu walk away.
Not long after she left, the Traveler, Paimon and Albedo arrived…
By then, Fang Qiu had already reached a gift shop.
"Her Excellency, the Almighty Narukami Ogosho figurine? What a mouthful of a name… And it requires ID registration, one per person?"
She read aloud from the announcement board standing in front of the shop.
"Miss, is there anything I can help you find?"
The female clerk asked with a beaming smile. "Judging by your clothes, you must be from Liyue?"
"Mm."
Fang Qiu smiled and nodded. "No need to attend to me. I'm just looking around."
"Very well. Take your time, miss. If you need anything, just call out."
The clerk nodded and retreated behind the counter.
Fang Qiu began browsing the shop.
The goods came in a dizzying variety, mostly products of Inazuma's native culture.
There was shogi, too.
She remembered an anime from her past life about shogi, The Ryuo's Work Is Never Done!.
Shogi was somewhat similar to xiangqi.
"Oute" in shogi was the same as "check" in xiangqi.
Fang Qiu decided to buy a set to take home and play with the Traveler and the others. She knew the rules, at least a little, from researching for her books.
Thinking about it, she really had picked up a lot of random knowledge for the sake of her writing…
From macroscopic theoretical physics all the way down to the great dilemma of deciding quickly what to eat later, she had dabbled in all of it…
In short, she knew a little bit of everything.
As she stepped out after paying, a girl walking toward her caught her attention.
The girl had silver hair and wore a long dress with armor plating, a bow tied at the back.
She held a folding fan in one hand and was strikingly pretty.
She carried herself with a refined, practiced grace, the beauty of a well-bred young lady.
As Fang Qiu looked at her, the girl was looking at Fang Qiu too, and their eyes met for a moment.
What a lovely girl.
Even Kamisato Ayaka took a second look.
And somehow, the woman seemed strangely familiar.
But she had definitely never met this white-haired woman.
Realizing she'd been rude, Kamisato Ayaka gave Fang Qiu a nod and looked away.
Fang Qiu nodded back, returning the courtesy, and left with her shogi set.
Kamisato Ayaka glanced back at Fang Qiu's retreating figure, then walked into the shop.
"Miss Kamisato, what can I help you find?"
Seeing Kamisato Ayaka come in, the clerk hurried over to greet her.
"Excuse me, what would be the best thing to give a female author as a personal welcome gift?" Kamisato Ayaka asked.
Shogi set in hand, Fang Qiu wandered around Five Kasen Square for a good while longer, and was finally drawn to a place called "Dream Kingdom."
It looked a bit like the themed exhibition shops of her past life. The entrance was decorated in a dreamy style, with plenty of cute pink fox designs.
Unfortunately, it hadn't opened yet.
The notice board at the entrance said it would open to the public only on the day the Irodori Festival began.
And it was giving away pink fox pillows.
"Looks like it'll be fun. Once it opens, I'll come check it out with the Traveler and the others."
Fang Qiu thought it over and made up her mind.
The main reason was that she really liked that pink fox pillow.
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