[God remnants? Carrying that thing and living normally for four years? Father Jun… no, Brother Xiao, you're superhuman!]
[From now on, every person who dies from god remnants will continuously raise Brother Xiao's value.]
[So that's how the Vision in front of Second Brother's tomb came to be! I was wondering why there seemed to be no Visions during the Archon War—after all, I remember Venti saying they only appeared after the Seven.]
[So Second Brother's Vision was extinguished from the very beginning! I thought it went out after Second Brother passed away.]
[Hey, this plot development is really making me cry. Second Brother already lost his father young, and now he has to learn the sword he doesn't like just because of one Vision.]
"Sigh, Jun Xiao—he's a real man, and a good father." Silver Wolf sighed while thinking of the last words Jun Xiao left for Jun Mo Li.
["Mo Li, from now on you don't need to practice sword anymore. Just do what you like."]
To today's kids, these words are something they wouldn't even dare dream of in broad daylight.
Countless parents can't accept their own failures, so they project the things they never succeeded at onto the next generation—even forcing it on them, stubbornly insisting.
Jun Xiao himself was a failure, yet he didn't choose to make Jun Mo Li accept his failed dream.
Just this alone is enough to surpass 80% of real-world parents from the start—Jun Xiao deserves to be called a good father.
And what moves people the most is perhaps Jun Mo Li voluntarily taking up Jun Xiao's dream and beginning to think about practicing sword.
A waterfall appeared. Little Jun Mo Li held a wooden sword and swung it beside the waterfall.
"I began practicing sword on my own right at the waterfall where Father taught me. Only there could I calmly practice without thinking about other things."
"Because I kept going far from Qingce Village to practice at the waterfall, my relationships with peers gradually grew distant. Only one person was the exception."
[Isn't this the waterfall from the Fengdeng Lou event plot where little Jun Bai got attacked?]
[So there's this layer of connection? That's why little Jun Bai said Second Brother often practiced sword under the waterfall.]
The camera zoomed in. Beside little Jun Mo Li appeared a boy of the same age, rubbing his hands eagerly.
"He's Li Tonghui, same age as me. There were rumors he was raised by a tiger in the deep mountains, so in Qingce Village only I was willing to get close to him."
"No other reason—I just didn't believe the rumor. Because I didn't believe it, I was the only one willing to get close to the guy."
"Now the positions have reversed. The guy only I was willing to get close to has become the only one willing to get close to me."
Silver Wolf blinked: "This dialogue… can I say I feel something's off?"
[Same. Feels shippable.]
[This plot development really makes it hard not to think in that direction.]
The screen blurred, then suddenly cleared.
Compared to earlier scenes, two somewhat grown boys were now sparring.
"Tonghui saw me always practicing sword, so he proposed sparring with me. At first, with no martial foundation, he was easily defeated by me."
"After being defeated, the guy wasn't discouraged—he just smiled and said 'tomorrow again.' From then on, sparring became something we did every day."
"Tonghui was very weak—weaker than I could take down in one or two moves. But he kept improving."
"At first he could only last one or two moves, then gradually longer. By eight years old, though the situation was still one-sided, Tonghui could already fight back."
"That guy kept improving. If I ever stopped progressing, I'd be overtaken sooner or later."
"My goal is to be the number one swordsman in the world. Being overtaken means I can't be number one. So perhaps I should thank Tonghui."
"If he hadn't kept chasing behind me, I might have become complacent at some point and stopped my constant practice."
[That's pressure for you.]
[Excessive pressure leads to despair, but moderate pressure promotes growth.]
"Then in that eighth year, Li Tonghui and I met the person who would influence our lives forever—right beside the waterfall."
The screen flipped pages. Beside the two sparring boys appeared a white-haired little figure on the waterfall.
The screen kept flipping pages, forming a continuous animation.
The little figure fell from the waterfall. Little Jun Mo Li jumped into the pool, caught the figure, and swam to shore. Little Li Tonghui extended a tree branch from the bank.
"When he fell from the waterfall, we even thought he had already left this world."
"He was very cute—looked only about four years old, cuter than anyone we'd ever seen. At first Tonghui even thought he was a girl."
[Little Jun Bai really is cute, so Yiya—who looks a lot like him—is cute too.]
[So the Marshal and Second Brother's bond started right here. Wait, following this development… could the guy who kept kneeling to Second Brother—Li Tonghui—actually be Big Brother?]
"After Tonghui and I waited for him to wake up, we found he had amnesia. Then because of his white hair, Tonghui and I named him—Ah Bai."
The scene shifted to a clinic. A young doctor examined Ah Bai.
"The doctor couldn't figure out the cause of Ah Bai's amnesia, so no treatment method could be found."
"Mother took pity on the amnesiac Ah Bai and adopted him into the family. I don't know if Mother did it on purpose, but Ah Bai—who should have been my younger brother—was turned into my younger sister through Mother's maneuvering."
"Pfft—"
Silver Wolf spat happiness water all over the screen, then pounded the table, bursting into laughter: "Hahahahaha…"
Table HP -1, -1, -1…
[So the meaning is—Mother Jun didn't adopt Jun Bai as a son, but as a daughter? (red flag alert.jpg)]
[So this is the truth behind Jun Bai's cross-dressing…]
[I've received special training—I usually don't laugh, but this is a special situation, hahaha…]
"Anyway, regardless of the process, Ah Bai ultimately joined our family through Mother and became my new family member."
"So Ah Bai took Father's surname. His new name is—Jun Bai."
—Side note
This short film is expected to take four chapters—mainly to shape Jun Mo Li's character. Friends who aren't interested can stockpile chapters.
A quick note on upcoming plot arrangements—readers can stockpile according to your needs.
After Jun Mo Li's short film (previously called PV, but I mixed up the difference between PV and short film), it's the lightning-fast version of the 1.2 plot.
There will likely be Xuanjian's legend quest interspersed in between (this is a side story—released together with the daily update; already one-third written).
After that comes the original Lantern Rite plot for version 1.3.
(There may be Keqing's legend quest side story in between.)
Version 1.4 Windblume Festival lightning-fast version—at the end of the event plot, another of my original characters will be introduced (or semi-original).
Version 1.5 lightning-fast—even possibly skimmed, since it's mostly just giving the Serenitea Pot.
Version 1.6 lightning-fast—after all, Klee's birthday really has no reason to bring the protagonist to the island, but a side story can be written. Someone should be looking forward to Klee meeting Yiya, right? (Anyway, I'm looking forward to it.)
Before chapter 200, the Inazuma main storyline will definitely begin. As everyone knows, I never make empty promises.
Finally, for the Inazuma plot, I might pad it a bit—not padding the main story, but using side stories as updates and writing some daily life for Liyue characters. Because I want to write the version 2.4 Lantern Rite again during the New Year.
So versions 2.0 to 2.3—these four versions—I need to stretch them as much as possible until New Year.