Venti: "What brings you two here to see me?"
"Let me guess, the only thing that could stir up two Harbingers to visit our weakest Mondstadt must be that matter."
Even though he was being held captive, his attitude was nonchalant, and he even dared to tease them openly, "I must say, the love between you two is quite fascinating, worthy of being written into my poetry~"
Dottore: "..."
Childe: "..."
The young lady who had just finished reporting covered her mouth: "..." What is this person saying? She was in a hurry to get off work and sleep!
Does this kid even know who he's facing?
Childe is gentle by nature, but their Doctor is not. The last person who provoked him like this has already disappeared.
Venti raised his face, meeting the two dark expressions with a smile, "Oh my, I didn't realize the Fatui were so impressive. I'm quite impressed."
As the two before him grew colder, his tone shifted, "But seeing your current situation, what's written in the book must be false, or else you wouldn't be here looking for someone so ostentatiously."
Dottore tugged at the corner of his mouth, holding the novel like it was something dirty, and walked up to Venti. Venti showed no sign of panic, looking at him calmly.
Dottore: "Did you write this?"
His tone was certain, and a murderous intent flashed in his red eyes beneath the mask. If this truly was written by this weak and incompetent so-called Anemo Archon, it wouldn't matter much to kill him. Mondstadt doesn't need him anyway.
An Anemo Archon who never managed Mondstadt, does he even deserve to be called the god of Mondstadt?
He's so idle that he doesn't care about Mondstadt and writes these messy, fact-covering novels. Thinking of the colored glasses he experienced before leaving Snezhnaya, Dottore's eyes darkened.
Glancing at the thin book in his hand, Venti looked aggrieved, "How could it be me? I'm just an ordinary bard. Even if I write, it's poetry, not novels. Don't wrong an ordinary person who can't even truss a chicken."
Childe's eyelid twitched. If you're an ordinary person, then what are we?
Ants?
He had only briefly learned about Mondstadt's Anemo Archon, Barbatos, from Rosalyne's report. Rosalyne said he was weak and laughable, without much mention of his personality.
Now, seeing him for the first time, Childe thought, how come all these gods have such personalities? Zhongli is like this, and so is Venti.
If he didn't know his true identity, he would never have thought this "ordinary" bard full of nonsense was the Anemo Archon himself.
His temperament is like a child's...
Truly a performer.
Childe rubbed his forehead.
However, in his view, Venti's suspicion had largely been cleared. He really couldn't imagine a god going out of their way to fabricate stories about others.
They must have been preemptively predicted by the real author.
The Fatui young lady looked sympathetic.
Just as she raised her sympathetic expression, she heard the young boy say, "If I get the chance, I'd love to meet him. I'm sure we'd have a lot in common."
Yes, a lot in common indeed.
He was good at turning events into songs, while A Jiu wrote novels to record events. In another perspective, they were doing the same thing.
It's just that his stories are real, while the other's are fabricated.
Venti smiled, thinking about who dared to pin this blame on him.
Quite bold.
"Alright, entertainment time is over. You two should leave Mondstadt quickly. You've already caused quite a panic among the townsfolk."
Venti's smile faded, his emerald eyes quietly watching Dottore approach him, "That person isn't me, nor is it anyone from Mondstadt. I believe by now you've realized you've been played, right?"
"If you're still lingering in the city tomorrow, don't say the Thousand Winds didn't show you mercy~"
Dottore scrutinized the Anemo Archon before him, who was clearly being held captive yet spoke with veiled threats, his brows furrowing.
After Venti finished speaking, he smirked and vanished without warning. The two Fatui who had been holding him were shocked, quickly looking for the boy they had just been holding.
Gone.
The Fatui young lady who had just finished her report gaped.
Even Dottore hadn't expected Venti to escape, and in the next moment, a fierce wind hit him in the face, messing up his hair.
It was as if warning him not to do anything else, or the unseen, untouchable wind would tear him apart at any moment.
Seeing the Doctor thwarted, Childe pressed his lips together, trying not to laugh.
The Anemo Archon of Mondstadt wasn't as weak as they had imagined.
Venti, who had escaped, sat on the hand of his statue, listening to the whispers of the wind with his eyes closed. The braids on his cheeks glowed with a faint light in the night. After a while, he opened his eyes in disappointment.
It really wasn't in Mondstadt.
He had only said it casually in front of those two, but it turned out it really wasn't one of his people. Venti felt a bit down. He had wanted to see what kind of person could write such free-spirited words, but now that idea was dashed.
Since it wasn't someone from Mondstadt, Venti decided not to dwell on who it was. He didn't plan to leave Mondstadt just to find someone over a small matter.
Not to mention, he didn't even know which country they were in. Finding them would be like searching for a needle in a haystack—not worth it.
Venti shook his head, putting the matter behind him, and disappeared from the hand of the Anemo Archon statue.
Meanwhile, in Liyue Harbor, Shen Xing was blissfully unaware of the chaos his book had caused across the seven nations since its publication.
He was making a fortune, becoming a wealthy man, and everything seemed beautiful and wonderful.
Having money truly made a difference.
But this was only temporary.
With a big shot to support at home, this money was far from enough.
He needed to earn more money!
Cling to the biggest thigh!
Full of fighting spirit, Shen Xing walked down the street, pondering what to write in his new book.
As he tilted his head, he saw Yinger, the owner of Chunxiang Kiln, who was rarely not working in the back room, engrossed in a book, occasionally letting out a laugh.
This woman, known for her suggestive language in the Liyue storyline, was reading something so captivating.
Shen Xing was very curious. After a moment of hesitation, he finally approached, "Sister Yinger, what are you reading?"
His presence in Liyue Harbor was common, and with his unfamiliar face and handsome looks, he often drew a second glance from passersby, Yinger included. But every time, this little guy was always in a hurry, with no chance to speak.
How strange.
Now he was approaching on his own.
Yinger blinked, carefully observing the young man before her. His black hair looked soft, all gathered to one side in a ponytail. His face was handsome, with a boyish charm that silently attracted the surrounding girls.
Especially those fiery red eyes, Yinger admired the flame-like patterns in his pupils, thinking that once this child matured, he would surely be a heartbreaker.
Glancing at the lovestruck girls across the street, Yinger chuckled, "Oh~ what a handsome young man. What is it? Coming up to talk to me and knowing my name, do you like me?"
Shen Xing was dumbfounded, wanting to speak but was interrupted. Yinger draped her arm over his shoulder, pulling him close, and brought the book in her hand closer to his face.
Shen Xing reflexively looked and was met with a page full of obscene language.
"..." His eyes widened.
Isn't this the novel I wrote? Yinger was reading a section full of explicit scenes, and the intense kind at that.
The woman beside him said meaningfully, "You asked what I'm reading, didn't you? Look, it's this. Can you understand it? Do you want me to explain it to you?"
Shen Xing's face turned beet red, drawing a light laugh from Yinger.
"Look at this sentence, Dottore forcibly pressed Childe down, %￥@&, and then, #@￥%… Hey, why are you sweating?"
Yinger teasingly touched the boy's hair, and Shen Xing snapped back to reality, quickly pushing her arm away and fleeing.
He shouldn't have approached!
Hearing someone read his novel was one thing, but having the explicit parts read aloud was both embarrassing and awkward. Shen Xing, flustered and embarrassed, wished he could find a hole to hide in.
"Hey! You haven't told me your name—" Yinger called out, but the young boy only ran faster, making her chuckle twice.
Young boys are perfect for seasoned players to capture; teasing him must be quite fun, especially when he blushes.
So cute.
The "cute" Shen Xing returned to the tea house where he found Zhongli, looking dejected. As soon as he sat down, he heard Tea Master Liu Su's storytelling become increasingly familiar. Uncertain, he listened for a while, then asked Zhongli, who was listening intently:
"Is the last book already finished?"
Zhongli nodded, "Now they're telling 'Yandere Experiment Maniac and His Runaway Harbinger'..."
"Clatter!"
Before Zhongli could finish, Shen Xing fell off his chair. Zhongli paused, and Shen Xing quickly got up, set the chair back in place, and sat down again, looking innocent, "Mr. Zhongli, I'm fine. Please continue."
Zhongli: "..."
"...I heard this book is quite popular now, so both here and at Yu Teahouse are talking about it."
Shen Xing struggled to control his expression, twitching slightly. No, can such a novel really be told openly by a storyteller?
He glanced around at the audience, noticing many more women than before. Well, it seemed the audience had changed.
"However, I've been listening for an hour now and haven't found anything remarkable about this book."
Zhongli, with a serious face, rested his chin on his hand, his golden eyes looking at the storyteller with confusion, unable to understand how this book had suddenly become so popular. He heard that the tea house's storytelling of this book attracted more guests than usual.
All of this proved the book's extraordinary popularity.
"Is it about the romance between Childe and the Doctor?"
"Cough cough cough—!!"
I'm going to lose years off my life, letting Zhongli listen to such an unrefined novel. Shen Xing nervously reached out to pull Zhongli's hand, "Why don't we leave first? There's nothing good to hear in this, it's too vulgar!"
Yes, even if he was the author, he couldn't deny that this book was vulgar for the Geo Archon. What he wrote couldn't even make it to the stage. Shen Xing never imagined Zhongli would hear the contents of this book.
...He was afraid it would taint his ears.
Shen Xing even felt a nervousness like a child caught by their parent with a little secret.
He tugged once but couldn't move Zhongli, who sat firmly at the table, unmoving. He said, "It's quite novel, I'm very interested."
Shen Xing: "..." Help.
He had no choice but to sit with Zhongli and listen to the storytelling.
Shen Xing was anxious, constantly praying that no explicit words would appear.
What you fear comes true, and in the next moment, Liu Su's tone shifted, saying something bold and wild, causing a wave of laughter among the women below.
Shen Xing: "..."
He was instantly petrified, slowly turning to see Zhongli's expression.
Zhongli's face was calm, as usual, making Shen Xing think he might have misheard. The handsome man seemed to be listening to a serious historical explanation, sipping tea with an unchanging gaze.
The next second, Zhongli focused on Shen Xing, noticing the lingering redness on the boy's cheeks and his thoroughly flushed ears. Normally, he would attribute it to the boy running too fast and getting flushed.
Now, after hearing this book, considering another possibility, Zhongli's gaze deepened, and he spoke, "I wanted to ask earlier, did someone bully you to make you rush to me in such a hurry?"
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