"Tabibito, this… isn't right."
Xiangling lowered her voice, trying to talk sense into her before this went any further.
"Ryou is already married. Keqing is his wife. If you keep doing this, people are going to curse you for it."
She had no idea what happened after she left last time, but looking at Tabibito now, she could guess it had not been simple.
Tabibito looked straight at her.
"Xiangling, I came here to ask one thing. Will you team up with me or not?"
Xiangling froze.
Tabibito took her hand and spoke more seriously.
"I can tell you like Ryou. And Keqing isn't going to let go of him easily. If it's just me, I don't have much confidence. But if the two of us work together, we'll have a real chance."
"Tabibito…"
"We're friends, aren't we? I'm not here to trick you." Tabibito squeezed her hand. "Think about it. Will you team up with me?"
Tabibito had already prepared herself to persuade Xiangling properly, reason by reason, feeling by feeling.
Then Xiangling looked up.
"…What exactly are you planning?"
Tabibito immediately relaxed.
That was not a refusal.
That was the beginning of surrender.
"Tonight, Ryou is treating everyone to dinner. I can bring you with me."
Xiangling's eyes widened slightly.
"But tonight probably won't be the real chance. We'll have to wait until later. Yun Jin invited Ryou and Keqing to watch her new opera today."
"Yun Jin has a new opera?" Xiangling asked, surprised. "And she invited Ryou and Keqing?"
Tabibito nodded, though she did not say much more.
She had only met Yun Jin a few times. Her impression of Yun Jin was simple: graceful, beautiful, and especially unforgettable in full stage costume. Tabibito did not really understand opera, but even she had been struck by that sight.
She had also heard that Yun Jin was extremely famous in Liyue, almost like Mondstadt's Barbara.
Maybe even more famous.
Other than that, Tabibito did not know much about her.
Xiangling thought for a moment, then said, "Then I'll go with you later and help out at Ryou's house. I also want to ask him about cooking and see how far ahead of me he is now."
That settled it.
Tabibito felt much more confident the moment Xiangling agreed. She refused to believe the two of them together could not handle Keqing alone.
She picked up her chopsticks and took a few bites.
"Good. Then our alliance starts now."
"All right, but…" Xiangling looked at the table full of dishes. "Didn't you say Ryou is cooking tonight? Why did you order so much?"
"Paimon and I are just eating a little first. It's fine."
Tabibito placed several more dishes in front of Paimon.
"Paimon, eat more."
Paimon accepted everything without hesitation and buried herself in the food.
Tabibito watched her eat and felt a little more at ease. When she looked up again, Xiangling seemed like she wanted to ask something but did not quite know how to start.
Tabibito took a sip of tea.
"Xiangling, from now on, we're comrades and good friends. If you want to ask something, just ask."
Xiangling smiled awkwardly.
"Earlier, you said you were going to buy Third-Round Knockout. What was that about?"
"Oh, that."
"That place has an amazing location," Xiangling said. "If they're open for business, earning tens of thousands of Mora a day should be easy. Degui would never sell a place like that."
Tabibito grinned.
"When we came back to Liyue last time, Ryou brought it up to me. He wants to buy Third-Round Knockout so Diluc can open a tavern in Liyue Harbor."
"Diluc?"
"Yeah. People from Dawn Winery should be coming soon. Third-Round Knockout will definitely have to be bought. As for how Ryou plans to make that happen, I'll ask him tonight."
Xiangling understood.
If an ordinary person wanted to buy Third-Round Knockout, it would be nearly impossible.
But if Ryou was the one handling it, then suddenly it did not sound impossible at all.
Tabibito saw that Xiangling had accepted the explanation and felt even better.
Winning Xiangling over mattered. Not only would it give her more chances in Ryou's house, it also solved the problem she had been worrying about most.
After Keqing got married, she had skipped the Ministry of Civil Affairs for seven whole days.
Tabibito had once heard someone mention it during a commission. Later, she learned roughly what had happened.
She was confident in her own strength, but against Ryou, she did not have much certainty at all. If Xiangling could help from the side, her odds would be much better.
With that decided, Tabibito finally relaxed and focused on eating.
After a while, she noticed Xiangling holding her chin, lost in thought.
"Xiangling, what are you thinking about?"
By then, Paimon had nearly cleared the table.
Tabibito stopped eating. Ryou was definitely making crayfish tonight, along with other seafood. If she filled up now, she would suffer later.
She had to save space.
Xiangling looked at her own hands.
"You're invited as a guest, but I'm not. If I go, I should bring a gift. I was also thinking about what dish to make tonight, so Ryou can give me some advice."
Tabibito laughed.
"Anything is fine, honestly. But seafood would be best. His crayfish is amazing."
Paimon immediately dropped her chopsticks and grabbed Tabibito's clothes.
"Tabibito, let's buy more crayfish! The other seafood is fine too, but Ryou's spicy crayfish is so good Paimon starts drooling just thinking about it."
Tabibito swallowed.
She remembered that spicy crayfish too.
"Right. We should buy more. This time, we're eating until we're satisfied. When the time comes—"
Before she could finish, a sharp crash came from outside.
A plate had broken.
The noise in the restaurant shifted, voices rising in surprise, and bits of the conversation drifted into the private room.
"Your hand is bleeding. Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, really. I just…"
"Sorry about this, boss. My apprentice dropped your plate by accident. We'll pay extra when we settle the bill."
"It's fine. Plates are nothing."
"But she hurt her hand here too. I'll take a little off the bill. Consider it my apology."
"You're from Sumeru, right? You came all the way to Liyue Harbor. Don't let a small accident ruin your mood."
"That…"
"Thank you, then."
The voices faded after that. Whoever it was seemed to have left.
Tabibito looked at Xiangling.
"Have a lot of Sumeru guests been coming to Liyue Harbor recently?"
Xiangling shook her head.
"I'm not sure. I've seen a few, but they're probably just travelers. Wanmin gets people from everywhere, so it isn't that strange."
"That makes sense."
Tabibito did not think too much about it.
Then she looked at the empty plates in front of Paimon and pinched Paimon's cheek.
"Silly Paimon. You ate this much now, so tonight you'll only get to watch us eat."
Paimon wiped her hands and put them on her hips.
"Nonsense. This table only got Paimon to about thirty percent full. Paimon can still eat tonight!"
"Are you really okay eating that much?" Xiangling asked, genuinely worried.
Tabibito wiped her mouth with a napkin and sighed.
"Paimon can eat. Last month, this little thing ate almost four hundred thousand Mora out of me. If I hadn't earned a lot in Mondstadt, I wouldn't be able to keep her fed."
"Ehe."
Paimon scratched her head, not ashamed in the slightest.
Xiangling stared.
"Four hundred thousand Mora in one month? Just on food?"
"In Liyue Harbor, a Millelith soldier earns about three hundred thousand Mora a month, and that's enough to support a household comfortably. Paimon eats more than that by herself." Xiangling looked at Tabibito with real sympathy. "That's a lot of pressure."
"Tell me about it."
Tabibito gave Paimon a look, then stood.
"Come on. Let's go buy seafood before it gets too late. If we go after dark, the good stuff might be gone."
"Then I'll leave it to you, Xiangling."
"No problem."
Xiangling stood too.
Tabibito went downstairs, paid Chef Mao, then left Wanmin Restaurant with Paimon and Xiangling.
They had not gone far when someone behind them called out.
"Tabibito!"
"Paimon!"
The voice was familiar.
Tabibito glanced at Paimon.
"Paimon, doesn't that voice sound familiar?"
[End of chapter]