Morning mist veiled Liyue Harbor like a layer of silk. The early sun rising from the sea did little to warm the port, and many of those heading out for the day's first work could only pull their thin garments tighter against the chill.
As the largest harbor in all of Teyvat, Liyue's shops were already opening for business. Amidst the bustling streets, however, one establishment remained utterly deserted: the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
"My, my, if it isn't Zhongli! What are you doing sitting around the Parlor today? Don't tell me the Heyu Tea House is closed?"
A young girl pushed open the doors. She wore a long black coat embroidered with intricate patterns and a trailing hem, with a round Bagua hat upon her head, the back of which was adorned with a black bow. The emblem of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor was set prominently on the front, while a sprig of plum blossoms on the side of the hat added a welcome splash of life to her otherwise somber attire.
This strangely dressed young lady was none other than Hu Tao, the seventy-seventh Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, and nominally Zhongli's boss. Carrying two lunch boxes, she skipped inside, only to stop short in surprise at finding Zhongli seated in a chair.
"Still, that's not right either. Even if the tea house is closed, you've got plenty of other places to haunt. Seeing you actually inside the Parlor is downright bizarre. Oh, well, since you're here, you might as well have this extra serving of Chop Suey. Has Su Bai not gotten up yet?"
Zhongli shook his head from his seat. He took the portion of Chop Suey and began sampling it with deliberate care, savouring the taste. It had been years since he'd last had this particular snack; now, he found it no less delightful than the offerings at Xinyue Kiosk.
"The sun's practically roasting our backsides, and Su Bai is still not up? No, no, your Director is going to go wake him! The weather's perfect today, a fine day to drag him along and pitch our Wangsheng VIP packages to the masses."
Watching the mischievous girl clatter up the stairs, Zhongli could only shake his head as he continued eating. Su Bai had been such a promising child, but just what had happened to him after spending a decade in Inazuma?
Thinking back to how industrious the boy used to be, now reduced to this state under Yae Miko's influence, Zhongli felt a headache coming on. After all, he'd once worried that Cloud Retainer would turn Su Bai into a complete shut-in, which was precisely why he'd allowed him to go study in Inazuma. At this rate, he was starting to think he'd made a terrible mistake. Maybe letting the Adeptus keep him would have been the lesser evil.
Upstairs, Hu Tao tiptoed to the bedside. Finding Su Bai still fast asleep, she whipped the blanket off with practiced ease. Two puffy, snow-white tails were immediately exposed to the air. Grinning, she reached out with her freshly washed, cool little hands and helped herself to a feel.
The fluffy sensation brought a satisfied smile to Hu Tao's face. Truly, the early bird caught the worm. As long as she woke up before Su Bai, she could pet his tails to her heart's content.
The still-sleeping boy stirred slightly. His pair of fleshy, white fox ears, perched atop his silver hair, twitched in recognition of his visitor. Confirming who it was, however, he showed no sign of actually getting up.
"Su Bai, wake up! Wake up! The weather's gorgeous today, you can use that irresistible charm of yours and come scamper around town with me, convincing all those young ladies to sign up for our Parlor's VIP packages!"
"Do you even know what time it is? Haven't you heard the famous words of Sayu, that napping ninja of the Shuumatsuban? 'Work is worse than sleep.' And you have the nerve to ask me to scamper around with you?"
Since Hu Tao's little hands were still mauling his tails, Su Bai couldn't get comfortable enough to fall back asleep. He cracked open his eyes and shot her an exasperated glare. Only after she'd had her fill did he finally manage to pull his tails free from her grip.
"Last time I used my tails to help you sell your packages, we ended up running straight into Keqing! Not only did you fail to warn me, you went and hightailed it out of there without so much as a backward glance! Do you have any idea that woman held me hostage for a whole hour just so she could keep petting me?"
"Sorry about that! Still, you can't really blame your Director, can you? Your tails just feel way too good, Su Bai! Even someone as diligent and devoted to her work as Keqing can't help but want to keep touching them."
Hu Tao's utterly insincere apology earned her a well-deserved glare from Su Bai. That memory was a mark of shame. If it weren't for the fact that Hu Tao always gave him a cut of every package she sold, he would never have sold out his own tails so cheaply.
"Alright, enough kidding around. I'm heading to Mondstadt soon, so consider this your official notice."
"Mondstadt? They're in the middle of a huge dragon crisis over there! Aren't you afraid that overgrown lizard will gobble you up? Then again, dragons probably aren't interested in foxes, are they? Ow, that hurt!"
Hu Tao rubbed her head, staring at Su Bai as he calmly withdrew the hand that had just delivered a love tap to her skull. She could never figure out why his chops always stung so much more than anyone else's.
"I'm still an Adeptus, you know. A renowned Fox Adeptus of Liyue Harbor, at that. No way I'm getting eaten by some Stormterror. And besides, if I did get eaten, who'd be left to sell all those weird packages of yours?"
"Aww, don't get mad! I brought you Chop Suey for breakfast, didn't I? Since you're not coming along, your Director has to go handle business. But when you come back from Mondstadt, don't forget to bring your Director a souvenir!"
Seeing that she'd failed to con him into going out, Hu Tao didn't press the matter. After saying her farewells, she simply vaulted out the window and disappeared.
Hearing her start to sing one of her self-composed Hilichurl ballads outside, Su Bai couldn't help but smile. He knew she only went out to pester people when she had no actual work to do.
"I wonder which poor soul's going to be her victim today."
Then, his thoughts drifted. "I wonder how Miko's doing. I heard Inazuma's in the middle of the Vision Hunt Decree. Sara wouldn't actually try to confiscate her Vision, would she?"
He sat up and pulled on his coat. Since he was already awake, there was no point lying in bed any longer. He might as well go downstairs and grab some breakfast while he had the time.
The Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, a structure spanning millennia, was built almost entirely from fine timber joined without a single nail. It was for this very reason that Hu Tao was strictly forbidden from using her Vision inside the building.
Su Bai's footsteps echoed on the wooden stairs, thump, thump, thump, as he made his way down to eat the Chop Suey Hu Tao had bought him. But to his surprise, he found someone already sitting in his usual chair. And that someone was none other than the man Su Bai could never quite see through: Zhongli.
"Zhongli! You're not out spending money? That's a first. Don't tell me you actually came to see me off because you heard I'm heading to Mondstadt?"
Su Bai's teasing rolled off Zhongli like water off a duck's back. By now, even Yae Miko herself could waltz in and start spinning tall tales, and Zhongli would still manage to keep a perfectly straight face.
"I have been at leisure lately, merely resting here to soothe a weary mind. Su Bai, I have heard that the Dandelion Wine of Mondstadt possesses a rather distinct character."
"Yeah, yeah, 'Su Bai' when you want something, 'Su Bai' when you don't. It's just a bottle of Dandelion Wine, isn't it? I've got Mora in my pocket right now. I'll bring you back several bottles."
He still had plenty of Mora left over from his last cut of Hu Tao's sales, safely tucked away in the subspace inside his Vision. It wasn't a fortune, but it was more than enough to buy a few bottles of wine.
Speaking of which, Madame Ping's art of Sub-Space Creation was truly remarkable. Who knew you could carve out a little pocket dimension inside a Vision? Madame Ping was the absolute best.
Oh, and speaking of his Vision, this was the very one that had dropped out of the sky back when Ei, that old hag, had wolfed down the dumplings Yae Miko had specially prepared for him. Su Bai, still a hotheaded kid at the time, had been so furious that he grabbed a Chihue Fish Sword almost as tall as he was and challenged the Shogun to a duel.
And then, well, his backside had been swollen for three whole days. While he was recovering from that thrashing, an Electro Vision fell right out of the sky and landed squarely on his already bruised rear. He'd been so mad he nearly threw the thing away.
"That would be perfect, then."
"If there's nothing else, I'll be off. I'll catch up with old Azhdaha when I get back."
Hearing Su Bai mutter Azhdaha's name under his breath, Zhongli's expression flickered through several shades of unease. He knew that Su Bai had used the charms he'd learned from Yae Miko to tear a small rift in Azhdaha's seal. He also knew that Su Bai had awakened some of the old dragon's buried memories with his unique illusion arts. But what Zhongli hadn't expected was that when he'd gone to visit his old friend a few days earlier, the first thing Azhdaha had bellowed was:
"The pain, the unbearable pain! Morax, why, why must you hide from me?"
At that moment, Zhongli had felt as though he'd been sealed all over again and then hit with a Superconduct reaction, silent and shattered and utterly defenseless. Even now, he still hadn't quite recovered from the shock.