Keqing had fully expected to find herself stepping into the courtyard of the Ye Family residence in Sumeru City.
What she had not expected was this: a vast, lush carpet of green grass, stretching out before her eyes.
A warm breeze drifted past. The little blades of grass swayed underfoot, and the air that reached her nose carried not only the fresh scent of the earth — but unmistakably, the smell of the sea.
And not far away, bathed in the warm glow of the setting sun, a beautiful house sat in quiet, serene stillness.
The sight of it pulled a startled cry from her lips before she could stop it.
The Jade Chamber.
"Wh — what? What happened, what is it!"
The sound of Keqing's voice echoing back through the portal made Paimon shriek and dive straight into Lumine's arms.
Dehya, fearing Keqing had run into danger, charged straight through after her.
She crossed the threshold — that strange, still surface like a sheet of water set upright — and the world opened up around her all at once.
Dehya froze, just as Keqing had.
"Uh... what a beautiful house!"
In the distance, a low fence — barely reaching a person's waist — enclosed a neat and charming little courtyard. A cobblestone path ran straight from where she stood toward the center of the yard. A bright lantern glowed at the entrance, and warm light poured from every window of the house within.
The style was like nothing she had ever seen — utterly unique, utterly beautiful. Pastoral and serene in a way that made you want to stay forever.
"It's gorgeous, Dehya!"
"It really is!"
Dehya nodded in agreement and poked her head back through the portal, looking out at the crowd still gathered in the Jade Chamber. "Everyone get in here — it's incredible inside! Come on, you won't believe it!"
That was all the encouragement anyone needed. One by one, the girls came through the door.
"Well then, Ningguang — would you like to come take a look at my new home?"
Ningguang's heart was a storm of curiosity.
If she was being honest with herself — the moment Ye Xi had opened that guest room door, and instead of the familiar interior, she had seen nothing but that still, lightless darkness like a pool of ink standing upright — she had already been thoroughly shaken by what Ye Xi was capable of.
In the span of a few minutes, he had simply... changed the space inside a room. Connected it to somewhere else entirely.
She had never heard of such a thing. Not once in her entire life.
Was this the power of an Adeptus? To displace one space and link it to another?
How was that even possible?
She had to see what was on the other side of that door.
She gave a nod and stepped through.
"The three secretary ladies are welcome to come have a look as well."
"Eh!?"
Baiwen, Baishi, and Baixiao all looked up with identically delighted expressions.
"Are you sure it's alright?"
"Thank you so much, Master Ye Xi! You're far too generous!"
"This is incredible — is there really an entirely new world on the other side? This has to be the most extraordinary thing I will ever witness in my entire life!"
All three secretaries followed them through.
They understood, instinctively, that they were about to witness one of those rare miracles that a person might encounter only once or twice in a lifetime.
The night Yelan had come to report to Ningguang, they had overheard: Ye Xi was an Adeptus. And since that moment, the reverence they held for him had grown beyond all measure.
They had even entertained the strange, half-serious urge to kneel before him and beg for his blessing.
And now, watching him work a miracle with their own eyes, every last shred of doubt had dissolved. He was absolutely an Adeptus. There was no other explanation.
Full of wonder and barely-contained excitement, the three of them crossed the threshold.
Ye Xi followed behind, stepping into the Serenitea Pot.
From all around him, the girls' voices erupted in overlapping cries of amazement.
"Oh wow! Is this real!? Is this a fairy realm!?"
"Am I dreaming? Tell me I'm not dreaming!"
"There's even an ocean here! Are we still in Liyue!?"
"Heavens, this is incredible!"
Something new and wondrous always had a way of lighting girls up from the inside. They were all beside themselves with curiosity — how had he done it? One second they were standing in the Jade Chamber, floating above Liyue Harbor, and the next, they were looking out at a beach, a sea, and a rolling green lawn.
It was beyond imagining.
Lumine, however, had recognized it at a single glance — this was the interior realm of a Serenitea Pot.
And that realization only made her more astonished.
Because Ye Xi had only received the Serenitea Pot that very afternoon.
"Ye Xi — how? How did you do this!?"
"You've only had a single afternoon — how is it possible that the Serenitea Pot is already this beautiful!"
"Serenitea Pot!?"
Paimon's eyes went wide as saucers. "Master Ye Xi — this is actually inside a Serenitea Pot!?"
Ye Xi smiled and nodded. "It is."
"Traveler, look at Master Ye Xi's pot!" Paimon crossed her arms and let out a pointed huff. "It's so beautiful! And yours — yours is just a broken little shack! Not even a dog would live in it!"
"Pai — MOOOON!"
Lumine's expression twisted into something between homicidal fury and a sputtering inability to form words. Her eyes practically shot sparks.
"Ahh ahh ahh — help! Traveler's going to kill me!"
Paimon shot off like a bolt and Lumine gave chase, the two of them pelting across the wide open lawn without a care in the world — shrieking, laughing, crashing into each other.
Then Lumine's foot slipped, and with a spectacular splat, she went face-first into the grass.
The entire group dissolved into laughter.
Ningguang stood quietly in the middle of it all, looking around in silent, mounting astonishment.
She had always thought that building the Jade Chamber — constructing a home in the sky itself — was a remarkable achievement. The grandest thing a person could do.
But looking at this... the most remarkable thing here was undeniably Ye Xi.
He had built a new home inside the Jade Chamber.
A place where you could enjoy sunlight and sea breeze while floating above Liyue Harbor. The sheer absurdity of it. The sheer wonder of it.
If she could live here...
Even just looking at it made her heart stir.
"Collei, I'm so envious of you! You're actually going to live here from now on!"
Amber was turning slowly in place, taking it all in. The air was still and quiet, the surroundings were breathtaking — it felt like something out of a fairy tale. Like a castle pulled from a dream.
Collei was equally moved — but when she heard Amber's words, she smiled and said, "If Amber likes it here, she should just move in too!"
"Eh!? Could I really? Is that actually okay?"
Amber was starting to sound genuinely serious about it.
Collei nodded. "Master wouldn't be so stingy — and this place is so big!"
At that, Amber let out a small, wistful sigh. "The trouble is I still have to go back to Mondstadt."
"I really do wish I could just... not go back. And live here with you instead."
Nearby, Eula gave a huff. "If you're both going to be living here, then I'll simply have to beg Ye Xi to keep a room open for me as well."
While the girls whispered excitedly among themselves, Ye Xi clapped his hands once. The chatter settled.
"No need to stay out here — go inside the house and have a look around."
"Lumine, take them inside. You should know your way around better than anyone."
"Eh? Me!?"
Lumine pointed at herself, baffled. She had never actually been inside — how was she supposed to know anything?
Ye Xi nodded, then turned to Dehya. "You all divide up the rooms — see who wants which one."
"I need to make a trip back to Sumeru to bring Nahida and the others here."
"Back to Sumeru?"
The girls all looked up in surprise.
"But... we're all in Liyue Harbor right now."
"How would we even get back?"
"Unless..."
Ye Xi walked toward a second door nearby and said, "I forgot to mention — this door goes directly to Sumeru."
"What!?"
Every head in the room swiveled toward him at once.
"You can do that too!?"
"Oh, that's such a relief — we won't have to leave Sumeru after all!"
Dunyarzad let out a long breath.
She had been afraid the new home would be in Liyue Harbor. And of course — she had given everything of herself to Ye Xi; wherever he went, she would follow without complaint. She would never resent that.
But Sumeru City was still her home. Her mother and father were still there. To leave it behind entirely would have meant missing it deeply.
Now she didn't have to worry. She could go back whenever she wanted.
For Alusha, honestly, it didn't really matter where home was. Desert, rainforest, or some foreign land far from everything she had ever known — it was all the same to her.
She had no home left to go back to.
So wherever Ye Xi was — that was home.
Meanwhile, Paimon bounced excitedly on her toes. "Does that mean Paimon can have Sweet Madame for breakfast in Sumeru and come to Liyue Harbor for Grilled Tiger Fish at lunch!?"
"Food! Food! All you ever think about is food!"
Lumine looked at her with an expression of profound despair.
Ningguang's beautiful eyes were wide with something that could only be called shock. She reached out and grabbed Ye Xi's arm. "So what you're saying is — if I want to go to Sumeru, I just come through the portal in the Jade Chamber into here, then walk through that door, and I'm in Sumeru? Just like that?"
"Not bad — you caught on quickly. Very much like a Tianquan."
At Ye Xi's words of praise, Ningguang fell into a brief, thoughtful silence.
This meant she could travel to Sumeru at any time she wished.
The three secretaries stood rooted to the spot, equally stunned.
Normally, reaching Sumeru meant a journey of enormous length and considerable effort. But with this portal? It would take less than a minute.
"Master Ye Xi — what about Mondstadt!? Don't tell me Mondstadt is possible too!?"
Amber's eyes were practically sparkling, her whole face alight with hope.
Ye Xi nodded. "Not yet — but once I've visited Mondstadt and established a connection there, it will be."
"Really!?"
Amber spun around and threw her arms around Collei, practically vibrating with excitement. "That's amazing! I'll be able to come visit Collei whenever I want!"
The whole reason she and Collei could never see each other was that she still had her duties as a Scout Knight back in Mondstadt. She couldn't simply abandon them.
But with a portal like this?
She could work at the Knights of Favonius during the day and be back here at Collei's side by evening.
Eula blinked, then — with the air of someone who had just realized something extremely important — said, "In that case — I'm coming too!"
"Amber, you're not planning to abandon me and leave me alone in the dormitory every single night, are you!?"
"I'm keeping score on this one."
And honestly — Eula's situation was no different. She had her own duties as captain of the Reconnaissance Company. She couldn't simply disappear.
But if Amber was going to vanish from the dormitory every night, what was the point of staying behind alone?
Wherever Amber went — Eula went.
It was as simple as that.
The girls all drifted happily into daydreams of what the future might look like.
"Alright then — I'll head back to Sumeru now."
The evening was coming on. If he left it any longer, the wives still waiting in Sumeru City would start to worry.
With that, he opened the portal and stepped through to Sumeru.
The moment he was gone, the girls could no longer contain themselves — they made a beeline for the house.
Lumine had been designated the guide, so she took the lead and pushed open the front door first.
The moment she stepped inside, she understood immediately why Ye Xi had sent her in ahead.
"What — what style is this exactly!?"
"It's so strange! But it looks amazing!"
"It doesn't look anything like Sumeru style, and nothing like Liyue style either!"
Seeing how bewildered everyone looked, Lumine supplied the answer. "This is a modern interior design!"
And indeed — the inside of the house was decorated in a thoroughly modern style.
In Teyvat, homes were built from heavy stone blocks or rough timber — smooth plastered walls were simply not a concept that existed here. But the walls of this house were perfectly flat and bright, and the floors were polished and even.
The living room had a sofa and a coffee table — everything you could want. It felt like stepping into a thriving metropolis from another world entirely.
The furnishings were luxurious without being ostentatious.
Electric lights had been installed in every room. The bathroom and kitchen both had running water pipes. Lumine turned a tap, and clear, clean water came rushing out.
For the girls who had never seen a tap in their lives, this was utterly baffling.
"Eh!? It — it just shoots water out on its own!"
"How does it do that!? It's unbelievable!"
"This is so convenient!"
"Traveler, you know about all these things, don't you!"
Lumine put one hand on her hip and answered with great authority. "That's called a tap. It works by using a water pump to draw water up from a source, then pressurize it and push it through the pipes."
The explanation went directly over everyone's heads.
Whether in Liyue, Mondstadt, or Sumeru — everyone drew their water the same way: bucket, river, repeat. The concepts of pipes and pumps were as foreign as the dark side of the moon.
Lumine laughed. "Anyway — if there's anything you don't understand, just come ask me!"
And just like that, every room in the house — upstairs and downstairs — was filled with the sounds and laughter and exclamations of the girls exploring.
Ningguang, meanwhile, had grown quieter and quieter. She was sinking deeper and deeper into thought.
To her eyes, all of this was opportunity.
Take the tap, for instance — a design that would be enormously convenient for ordinary people. The commercial potential alone was staggering.
Keqing leaned close and murmured, "Ningguang — surely you're not having second thoughts now that Ye Xi has a portal this convenient?"
"Of course not."
Ningguang smiled. "If anything, I'm looking forward to the future more than ever now."
"Only a true member of the family gets to enjoy all of these conveniences, after all — isn't that right?"
"I have absolutely no intention of letting this opportunity pass me by."
...
Ye Xi stepped back through the portal and emerged in the Ye Family Compound in Sumeru.
There were still things he needed to bring back — bedding, towels, and other everyday essentials the new home didn't yet have. With his portable space at hand, transporting it all was a trivial matter.
He crossed into the courtyard and was just about to head inside when something made him stop.
Something was wrong.
He couldn't place it immediately — only a faint, instinctive sense that something was off.
He scanned the courtyard.
And then he found it: every single Slime he had stationed around the perimeter of the compound had gone silent. Their presence had simply... vanished from his awareness.
Those Slimes served as his sentinels whenever he was away from home. They kept watch over the grounds.
If they had gone silent, that could only mean one thing.
Someone had broken in.
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