Time flowed, and it was now the day of the Moonchase Festival.
Because of the story Lin Qiu wrote, this Moonchase Festival was much grander than usual.
Wanderers who originally didn't want to return home all came back to Liyue to reunite with their families.
Today, some changes occurred on the streets of Liyue Harbor.
At this time, every household in Liyue Harbor displayed a small 'Guoba statue'.
Over the past few days, the people of Liyue spread the word, and even those who didn't read the prophecy book knew Guoba's story.
With Guoba's immense popularity, merchants naturally wouldn't miss this business opportunity.
Thus, in just a few days, items like 'Guoba statues' and 'Guoba dolls' flooded the Liyue market.
Just like thousands of years ago, every household had its own 'God of the Hearth'.
Guoba seemed to have recovered his divine power, once again splitting into small avatars, accompanying the people of Liyue.
"Guoba is so cute!" Furina hugged Guoba, rubbing her small face against him, her ahoge constantly touching Guoba; she wondered if Guoba felt ticklish.
"I also want such a cute creature."
Liyue was holding the Moonchase Festival, and Furina also wanted to come, so Lin Qiu simply brought them all over to play together, which was also a good opportunity for everyone to reunite.
"Lulu~?" Guoba widened his eyes but didn't struggle.
Lin Qiu had drawn illustrations of Guoba in his book, both when he was a God and after he became small.
However, it was clear that the illustrations couldn't convey Guoba's real-life bounciness; his touch was simply too good.
"He's definitely better than Paimon," Lin Qiu commented.
Lin Qiu had also touched Guoba; to be honest, he felt better than Paimon, more bouncy, more stretchy, bouncy and delicious without sticking to the teeth.
"Damn it! I'm clearly better than..." Paimon was about to retort but then fell silent after a second thought.
..."Wait, why should I compare myself to Guoba?"
Ying was shocked, "Paimon got smarter?"
What was going on? Although she had thought about finding a school for Paimon, she hadn't even started school yet, so how did she get smarter?
"I've always been smart, okay!" Paimon retorted.
The few of them were playing around Guoba outside Wanmin Restaurant; passersby didn't seem surprised, as they were all 'acquaintances'.
Traveler, Prophet, these were all famous figures; the Damselette in the blue 'sailor suit' was unfamiliar, but she was probably no ordinary person.
Inside Wanmin Restaurant, Xiangling was chatting with Xianyun and Gecheng.
"Master, you are truly beautiful," Xiangling praised.
Gecheng smiled brightly, "Xiangling's words are still as sweet as your junior sister Yaoyao's."
The master and disciple were exchanging pleasantries when Xianyun interrupted their conversation.
"Alright, come and taste the food made by this Immortal's automatic cooking divine machine." Xianyun brought out a plate of golden shrimp balls.
"Hurry and taste it, this Immortal is participating in the competition this time," Xianyun said.
Since she had already entered the mortal world, there was no reason why she couldn't participate in a mortal competition.
Over the past few days, Xianyun had passed the preliminaries and advanced to the semi-finals.
Before the two could even pick up their chopsticks, a voice came from outside the door, "Is that the smell of golden shrimp balls?"
Keqing arrived; today was the Moonchase Festival, so she was relatively relaxed, only needing to serve as a judge for the Chef Showdown.
So they decided to look for Lin Qiu; Lin Qiu's whereabouts were no secret, and his subordinates told them Lin Qiu was at Wanmin Restaurant, so they came.
"Eh? Cloud Retainer? Aping?" Ganyu was slightly surprised, not expecting to meet them here.
His subordinates naturally wouldn't mention these two Adepti when reporting, as they didn't recognize them.
"This Immortal is not Cloud Retainer!" Xianyun retorted.
Keqing was still here; if she revealed this Immortal's identity, what if she lost the competition?
How embarrassing it would be if the Qixing knew that an Adeptus Catalyst lost to a mortal!
"..." Keqing was silent; you call yourself 'this Immortal', what else can I say?
"golden shrimp balls... May I taste them?" Keqing pretended not to hear Xianyun's statement.
"Naturally." Xianyun nodded; Keqing was already a judge, so it was good to let her evaluate it in advance.
Unfortunately, golden shrimp balls had a special effect on Keqing, making her evaluation of the dish somewhat biased.
At a dining table behind Wanmin Restaurant, Clorinde, Chiori, and Shenhe sat together.
The three of them weren't very interested in 'playing with Guoba' or in cooking, so they sat together to 'chat' and foster their relationship.
It was a shame that when these three sat together, they couldn't even manage a single word for a long time.
After 'chatting' for half a day, they only managed to learn each other's names.
In fact, Shenhe, Chiori, and Clorinde weren't particularly aloof people; they just looked aloof.
It was just a pity that there was no one present who was good at finding topics, which led to their silence.
"Junior Sister, you're here." Ganyu arrived; Xianyun had told her Shenhe's location.
"Senior Sister." Shenhe nodded, then said nothing more.
Ganyu looked at the other two, then at Shenhe, thinking, 'Junior Sister, aren't you going to introduce them...?'
Unfortunately, Shenhe didn't understand Ganyu's meaning, and in the end, Clorinde and Chiori introduced themselves.
Then this table went from three silent Bobbys to four silent Bobbys.
As for those who could chat, across from Wanmin Restaurant at Sanwan Buguo Port, Zhongli and Venti sat together drinking wine.
That's right, Venti had run from Mondstadt to Liyue again to participate in this Moonchase Festival.
"This wine... it's quite watered down..." Venti sighed.
This wine barely tasted like wine anymore; how much water was added?
Speaking of which, the one drinking with me is your Geo Archon, and you still water down the wine for him? You really are fair to everyone...
The owner of Sanwan Buguo Port claimed innocence, saying there were too many people; otherwise, he would definitely have made sure the Archon's cup was not watered down.
Speaking of wine, the Alcor was quite lively at this time.
They naturally wouldn't set sail on the day of the Moonchase Festival; after reuniting with their families for a while, they returned to the ship to drink with their brothers.
This wine was bought by Wan Ye when he went to the port last time, but unfortunately, Wan Ye, the one who bought the wine, didn't drink it himself.
Hu Tao, Navia, and Xinyan were also on the ship; they had wanted to visit last time and finally seized the opportunity this time.
The people on the ship drank and chatted, with Xinyan playing the guitar for entertainment; only Wan Ye and Hu Tao couldn't drink.
One was underage, and the other got drunk at the slightest touch of alcohol.
"Do you need Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's services?" Hu Tao chatted cheerfully with Wan Ye.
On the other side, Guizhong and Heuria were shopping, accompanied by Yanfei.
The two of them weren't familiar with things and were easily deceived, so Yanfei perfectly compensated for this.
It's worth mentioning that Guizhong was wearing new clothes, given to her by Lin Qiu in the name of the Moonchase Festival; it was Luo Tianyi's outfit, made by Chiori.
With that hair color, it would be a shame not to cosplay Luo Tianyi.
"Xiao." Lin Qiu called softly.
"What do you call me for?" Xiao appeared before Lin Qiu.
In fact, he had always been there; ever since he finished reading the book last time and realized he hadn't recognized the God of the Hearth, he had felt guilty.
So, these past few days, whenever he had free time, he would come to see Guoba and also ask Xiangling to make two spicy meat buns for Guoba to eat.
"My new book will be released tomorrow; it's a story about you, remember to read it." Lin Qiu smiled.
"...Understood." Xiao said, then disappeared from the spot.
Lin Qiu was helpless; no wonder Ying prohibited Xiao from suddenly using 'Windwheel Astrolabe'; appearing and disappearing like that was indeed hard to get used to.
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Character Voice Line · Lin Qiu: About the Moonchase Festival
"Awesome! It's truly awesome! I'm so full!
It's just that Keqing came at me so fiercely, it startled me; turns out it was because of the golden shrimp