"Cough, cough. Why are you all looking at me like that?"
Watching from the bushes as the Millelith captured the treasure hoarders without a fight, Lumine and the others were giving Su Bai some rather strange looks. After spending a few days with Yae Miko, Su Bai felt like their expressions had taken on a sly quality.
"Think about it—if Liyue's people weren't so simple and honest, those treasure hoarders wouldn't have been fooled so easily."
"Um, when you put it that way, it actually makes sense. But something still feels off."
Paimon scratched her head, and Klee copied her, scratching her own head. The two adorable little ones nearly melted Su Bai's heart. Watching Su Bai's bright smile, Lumine pursed her lips in mild annoyance. She was starting to doubt her own charm as a young woman. Back in the other worlds she'd traveled, she had always been popular.
But with Su Bai, he seemed to treat her purely as a friend, his eyes completely clear of any other thoughts. This made her slightly insecure about her own appeal. She strongly suspected that Su Bai's real reason for traveling with them was just to play with Paimon—otherwise, why would he spend the whole journey laughing with Paimon while barely talking to her?
To be fair, this wasn't really Su Bai's fault. He had once wondered how to get Lumine to talk more. After observing her for a few days, he gave up—with Paimon the chatterbox around, Lumine simply didn't feel the need to say much.
"Alright, alright. Let me continue telling you about Liyue."
"In Liyue, people place great importance on filial piety. This virtue has been passed down for thousands of years and has even given rise to many customs and rules."
"Look over there—there's a young man weeping in front of a grave. Let's quietly move closer and take a look. I'll also explain some of Liyue's funeral customs."
Following Su Bai's pointing finger, they saw a young man kneeling before a tombstone, crying bitterly. His sorrow was so deep that even Paimon, usually so cheerful, felt sad for him.
"We should go check on him. If he does something desperate, we might be able to help."
Lumine's suggestion was met with general agreement. Crying so bitterly, there was a real risk he might harm himself. The people gathered around him seemed to be his friends—hopefully they could offer some comfort.
Beside the tombstone, a young man was hugging the grave marker, weeping uncontrollably. His faded clothes and patched pants clearly showed he came from a poor family.
"Father, how could you leave like this?"
"I am unfilial. I couldn't even see you one last time. Waaaaah~"
"Stop your crying! You think crying gets you out of paying your debts?"
"Pay up! If you don't have the money, hand over your house deed. Using your house to settle the debt works too."
The young man's face was full of grief and anger. The treasure hoarders surrounding him impatiently cursed at him. Sniffling, the young man tried to steady himself.
"You devils! My father only borrowed ten thousand Mora from you for medical treatment. Now you're demanding two hundred thousand Mora from me? And you want our ancestral home? Are you just bullying honest people?!"
"Haha, and what if we are bullying honest people like you? A son pays his father's debts—that's only right. Now pay up!"
The treasure hoarders laughed heartily at the young man's anger. This was exactly what they enjoyed most—watching others fume while being completely helpless against them.
As the treasure hoarders laughed around him, a surge of killing intent swept through the young man's heart. He clenched his fists, but after a few breaths, he let them go. Every one of these treasure hoarders carried weapons, while he was unarmed.
With such a gap in strength, he had no chance of fighting them. He knew that only by escaping alive could he report this to the Millelith. With that thought, the young man made up his mind.
"Father, rest in peace. At the rate I'm earning Mora, I can't even keep up with the interest, let alone pay off the principal."
"Today, I must make a decision that will shame my ancestors."
With that, he pulled out a small knife and cut off a lock of his hair, placing it beside the tombstone. Ignoring the confused looks of the treasure hoarders, he declared resolutely:
"From this day forward, I sever my father-son relationship with you. I will repay your kindness in raising me in my next life."
He kowtowed three times before the grave and ran off without looking back. This scene stunned everyone around him—both the debt-collecting treasure hoarders and Su Bai and the others watching from hiding were left speechless.
"Su Bai, Liyue really is a nation that values filial piety. The rituals are quite elaborate... even when severing a father-son relationship, you still perform the kowtow."
"I remember in another world I visited, there was a son who stabbed his father with a sword called Frostmourne. No mercy whatsoever."
Lumine drew a funny face in the dirt. The more Su Bai looked at it, the more irritated he became. How could there be such an infuriating expression in this world? And why couldn't these people do him a favor? Usually, incidents like this happened maybe once every few years. Yet here he was, introducing Liyue to Lumine, and they'd encountered two in a single day.
"Boss, what do we do? Since he's cut ties with his father, does that mean we can't get the money back?"
A younger member cautiously asked. Their leader slapped him across the face, clenching his fists in anger.
"What are you standing around for? Chase him! If we don't get the money back today, I'll send you to the next world to collect from the old man!"
"Dammit! In all my years, I've never seen such a crazy situation. Does he really think cutting ties gets him off the hook? After him!"
Hearing the treasure hoarders' angry shouts behind him, the young man yelled without looking back:
"I've already severed ties with Li Laogen! If you want to collect a debt, go find him! Why are you chasing me?"
"You little brat, stop running! You think cutting ties means you don't have to pay? Nice try!"
The treasure hoarder leader grabbed a crossbow from one of his men and fired at the fleeing young man. The bolt grazed his scalp and embedded itself in the bushes, drawing a sharp scream from within.
"Ah! Who's attacking me?"
The treasure hoarder leader didn't think much of it at first. But when he saw a Millelith soldier limping out of the bushes with an arrow in his rear, he knew he was in trouble. Before he could shove the crossbow into a subordinate's hands, the wounded soldier gave a signal, and all the Millelith soldiers who had been searching for monsters in the area jumped out.
"Officers, what if I told you this was all a misunderstanding?"
"Misunderstanding? Do you take me for a fool? Take them all away! Anyone who resists goes straight to the execution grounds!"
"Treasure hoarders these days have gotten awfully bold. Attacking even our elite Millelith monster hunters."