Shenhe
Hearing these two words, Su Bai's body trembled involuntarily. An expression of fear surfaced on his face. This is bad... I wonder if Dr. Baizhu's specially formulated bruise ointment is still enough...
Su Bai and Shenhe first met when Su Bai was six years old. That day, Cloud Retainer returned from an outing, bringing Shenhe before Su Bai and explaining her background to him.
At the time, Su Bai, thoroughly spoiled by the adepti, saw how pitiful Shenhe looked. He grabbed her hand and declared he wanted her to be his wife, that he would protect her in the future. Before he could even finish speaking, Shenhe gave him a thorough beating. After beating Su Bai up, Shenhe then very matter-of-factly stroked Su Bai's single tail and said that perhaps it would be better if she protected him in the future.
Little Su Bai, who didn't yet understand the appeal of being a freeloader, couldn't swallow his pride. One night, he used the pocket money Granny Ping had given him to buy a boat ticket to Inazuma and left Liyue.
He had once overheard Sister Ganyu mention that there was a very powerful fox lady in Inazuma. The young Su Bai resolved to go to Inazuma to study under her.
The result? After ten years of training, a confident Su Bai returned and sought out Shenhe for a sparring match. The result was Su Bai being pinned to the ground and beaten. He tragically discovered that his most proficient skill, illusion arts, had little effect on Shenhe due to her naturally detached and indifferent nature.
Defeated once again in front of all the adepti, Su Bai let Shenhe stroke his tail to her heart's content. When Shenhe was younger, it was one tail and two small hands. Now that Shenhe had grown up, with two tails and two hands, one hand per tail was just perfect.
From then on, Su Bai avoided Shenhe whenever possible. If he couldn't avoid her, he would find an excuse to slip away. After being tricked by Su Bai a few times, Shenhe grew wiser. She would first ask Su Bai what he was going to do. If Su Bai refused to say, she would invite him to spar, under the pretext of "seeing how much my junior brother has improved lately."
"Su Bai, you're still so scared of Sister Shenhe. She seems like such a gentle and frail person, though."
Gentle and frail? Su Bai nearly choked on Xiangling's words. Looks like I need to take Xiangling to see Dr. Baizhu for an eye check next time. How could a female powerhouse who could pin him down and thrash him be described as 'gentle and frail'? He truly didn't understand how Xiangling saw Shenhe as 'frail.'
"Let's not talk about that. Xiangling, when you get back to Liyue Harbor, if Sister Shenhe asks about me, just say you haven't seen me."
"Alright..."
Xiangling couldn't quite figure out the relationship between Su Bai and Shenhe. Being naturally enthusiastic, she quickly put the matter aside. She had important things to do.
She dragged a middle-aged man before Mr. Draff. After some conversation, to Diona's utter bewilderment, this middle-aged man named Olaf suddenly became her... ancestor? He looked about the same age as her father, yet was now her ancestor.
"Diona, quickly greet your ancestor. The name Olaf does indeed appear in our family records."
"A-Ancestor?"
Diona looked at the cat ears on Olaf's head, then at the tail behind him. All these features proved that this man named Olaf was indeed a member of the Katzlein bloodline.
"Look on the bright side, little Diona. This might even be a good thing."
"Think about it. You can't stop Mr. Draff from drinking, but can't your ancestor here manage that?"
Hearing Su Bai say this, Diona's eyes lit up. That's right! If she couldn't control her father, she'd let her ancestor do it! Her father couldn't possibly disobey his ancestor's words, right?
"Ancestor, this is some apple cider I just bought. How about we have a drink?"
"Good lad, not bad at all! The aroma is quite pleasant. Come on, let's have a few."
"Diona, eat a bit more later. I need to have a chat with your ancestor."
Draff pulled Olaf, who was who-knows-how-many generations his senior, toward their home. Their shared passion for drinking dispelled Su Bai's last shred of doubt about Olaf.
See? The moment drinking is mentioned, Draff only remembers Diona in his heart, and Olaf forgets everything else. This obsession with alcohol clearly shows they're related by blood.
This scene infuriated Diona. She picked up her cocktail shaker, determined to go add some special ingredients to her father's and ancestor's drinks. Since they want to drink, they can try my latest creation, 'Crimson Frog Frog.' (I'm curious if drinking Diona's cocktails would actually cause food poisoning... Even if the taste is good, the ingredients probably haven't changed, right?)
"That little cat isn't eating the food Xiangling made either? Then I'll take care of her portion, hehe."
Paimon giggled foolishly. Getting to eat an extra portion made her very happy. Lumine rolled her eyes at Paimon. The way Paimon said it made it sound like Lumine never fed her enough.
"Perhaps we can set aside the matter of eating more or less for now. The aunt competing with you in cooking, Xiangling, has already started her fire."
Su Bai pointed at Auntie Brook, who was already busy cooking. The sweet scent of Sweet Flowers was already wafting to Su Bai's nose on the breeze. It seemed Draff was right; this Auntie Brook did have some skill.
"Huh? Lumine, come quick and help! We need to hurry too!"
Xiangling hastily found a stove and started cooking. Lumine, as Xiangling's assistant, also got busy—chopping vegetables, fetching seasonings, handing tools. The two of them, absorbed in their work, completely ignored Su Bai, Paimon, and Guoba.
"We seem to have been forgotten. Guess I'll have some Sakura Mochi to tide me over first."
Su Bai took out a few pink-colored cookies from his Vision's spatial storage and popped them into his mouth. Paimon, who had never seen such cookies before, immediately flew in front of Su Bai. Her wildly kicking little legs betrayed her anticipation for the Sakura Mochi.
Smelling the distinct sakura aroma of the cookies but unable to eat any, Paimon fixed Su Bai with pitiful eyes, shaking him with both hands while constantly whining.
"Su Bai, good Su Bai, do you have any more snacks? Share some with me, share some!"
"Lu-lu-lu~"
"Guoba, let go, let go! I didn't bring a spare pair of pants on this trip! Let go, let go! I'll give you all the cookies in my hand!"
Hearing this, Guoba finally released his little claws from Su Bai's trousers. After successfully obtaining the Sakura Mochi from Su Bai's hand, a glint of triumph shone in Guoba's small eyes.
"Lu-lu-lu~"
After getting all the Sakura Mochi from Su Bai's arms, Guoba wasn't in a hurry to stuff them into his mouth. Instead, he waved the cookies in his hand at Paimon, as if wanting to share with her.
Paimon, who hadn't gotten any Sakura Mochi, was originally a bit sullen. Now seeing Guoba seemingly wanting to share, she immediately flew close to him.
"Guoba, I never thought you'd share with me."
Paimon opened her little mouth, aiming to bite the Sakura Mochi from Guoba's hand. The corner of Guoba's mouth twitched. With speed completely at odds with his physique, he took a big bite of the berry in Paimon's other hand, simultaneously moving the Sakura Mochi to his other hand.
By the time Paimon, who had bitten thin air, realized she'd been tricked by Guoba, she threw away the now mostly-eaten berry and started chasing Guoba all over the place.
"Guoba, bad! Give me some of your cookies!"
"Lu-lu-lu~"
It was clear that Guoba, being chased around by Paimon, was having a great time.