A few minutes later, Ganyu collapsed on the bed, her entire body weak, cheeks flushed, her eyes soft and misty.
Turns out the horns of a mystical beast really were a sensitive spot.
Even though he touched them all the time during massages, she never seemed to get used to it.
Suddenly, the phone by the bedside rang.
Xia Zhi picked up the little square device — it was a message from the others, urging him, the internet café owner, to hurry up and open for business.
What a bunch of hopeless game addicts.
No choice.
He'd let Ganyu rest for now.
Xia Zhi closed his eyes, entered the dream realm, went to collect Furina and Focalors, and opened up the internet café.
After finishing up there, he returned to the real world.
Ganyu had gotten up close, peering at his face.
Seeing her like this, Xia Zhi couldn't help remembering the first time they'd met.
He reached out and lightly touched her cheek — soft as ever.
Ganyu lowered her gaze, noticing how absentminded he looked. "What is it?"
Her voice had gone sweet and gentle, tinged with a bit of a pout, adorably sticky.
"I was just remembering the first time I gave you a massage, when I accidentally touched your horns."
"You say that like you didn't mean to…"
"I really didn't!"
"Yes you did!"
He hadn't expected Ganyu to sulk like this.
Pretty cute, honestly.
"Then let me touch them again."
"No… not right now… mmm… wait…"
"Wait for what?"
"I-I haven't maxed out my merit for today yet…"
"Don't worry, I have a better way."
"Eh???"
The lights in the room went out.
The bell jingled brightly, golden light pulsing through the dark.
"N-no… it's too loud… everyone will hear…"
"Relax."
A Silence Orb appeared on the bedside table.
And then — well, there was no "then."
Except maybe to say, the feel of Ganyu's horns was really, really nice — even better than twin ponytails.
And the coconut fragrance pouring off her grew stronger and stronger, thick enough to practically saturate the air, so rich it felt like he was soaking in coconut milk.
The Silence Orb could block all sound, but it couldn't block scents.
So that sweet, heady aroma silently slipped out the window, spreading through the entire Serenitea Pot.
The ordinary girls sleeping inside breathed it in, their faces turning rosy as they mumbled and dreamed sweet dreams.
Little girls, with their simple, innocent hearts, only slept more soundly.
As for Xia Ci, Xia Zhen, Shenhe, Cloud Retainer, and Streetward Rambler, since their minds were busy dreamwalking, they didn't show any odd reactions, though their bodies took in the same fragrance.
When they finally left the dream realm and returned to their bodies near dawn, they didn't wake right away, but instead, influenced by the scent built up overnight, fell straight into even more colorful dreams.
Xia Ci, who possessed dominion over dreams, was barely affected. When she woke from the dream, she glanced toward a certain direction outside the window, her lips curling into a strange smile.
And in another room, Madame Ping, who had been sleeping, found the old illusion of age around her gently fading, revealing a clear, youthful beauty beneath.
----
A little past seven in the morning.
The sweet coconut-like scent that had lingered in the Serenitea Pot had mostly faded away.
Klee opened her eyes, sat up on the bed, and stretched her tiny arms, letting out an energetic little cry.
"Time to get up!"
She turned her head to look at Xia Lin, who had slept with her the night before.
Xia Lin was still asleep, curled up tightly with her arms wrapped around her knees, her head bowed.
It was a rather particular sleeping posture, like a poor little animal trying to keep warm in a snowstorm.
Generally speaking, only people who lacked a sense of security would unconsciously adopt such a defensive position while they slept.
The way Xia Lin was curled up so protectively meant she was deeply insecure inside.
Yet her sleeping face showed no trace of unease — only peaceful, sweet slumber.
Klee didn't understand any of that. She just curiously leaned over and stared at Xia Lin's face.
Then she brought her lips close to Xia Lin's ear and stretched out her voice, whispering, "Ti-i-ime… to… get… u-u-up…"
Her warm breath tickled Xia Lin's ear, making it itch.
Xia Lin blinked her bleary eyes open, meeting Klee's grinning face right in front of her.
"Klee?"
"Time to get up!"
"Oh…"
"Come on, come on! Let's go play!"
"I have to change first."
"Klee knows that!"
Klee hopped down from the bed, grabbed her spatial backpack, and quickly changed into her clothes with practiced ease.
"All changed!"
Xia Lin was still getting dressed more slowly, a bit clumsily, trying to remember all the basic skills Xiangling had taught her yesterday.
"We still have to wash up," she reminded.
"Klee knows! Klee will wait for you! Hurry!"
"Okay."
After a while, the two little girls came out of the house, only to find the world outside strangely quiet.
Klee looked around, confused. "Huh? The big sisters aren't up yet?"
"Probably not."
"Is Yaoyao still sleeping too?"
"Yaoyao usually practices spear drills every morning."
"Spear drills!"
"I saw Yaoyao yesterday morning, over there on that patch of open ground, with Madame Ping."
"But there's no one there now."
"Maybe she's still asleep too."
"Then let's go wake Yaoyao up!"
"Okay."
The two of them went to the treehouse door together.
Klee stood on tiptoe, patting the door with her hand while calling inside, "Yaoyao! Yaoyao! Klee's here to play! Time to get up!"
Inside.
Yaoyao was still deep in sleep.
But Madame Ping had heard the voices and woke up first.
She slowly opened her eyes, remembering the strange dream she'd just had, a trace of confusion flashing through them.
What was going on?
Normally, after leaving the internet café dream, shouldn't I have woken up directly?
Why didn't I wake up today, and why did I have that kind of dream?
For some reason, she'd dreamed about Mr. Xia…
At least nothing too indecent had happened in the dream…
Madame Ping glanced at the clock on the bedside table.
It was already past seven in the morning.
She looked at Yaoyao, still clutching her pillow and sleeping soundly.
Strange.
How was Yaoyao still asleep at this hour?
Outside, Klee was still knocking and calling out.
Madame Ping sighed helplessly.
"Yaoyao, time to get up."
She gently nudged Yaoyao awake, then got out of bed herself and went to open the door.
"All right, Klee, Yaoyao will be up soon."
Klee froze mid-knock, staring blankly at the person who'd opened the door.
"Pretty big sister, who are you?"
Pretty big sister?
Madame Ping froze as well.
She looked down at her own arm, noticing the skin was snow-white and delicate — nothing an old woman should have.
What about my disguise?
She lifted her hand to touch her face.
Smooth and soft.
Wait, where did my transformation go?
Madame Ping fell silent for a moment. "Come on inside, you two."
Klee still looked curious. "Big sister, who are you? I don't remember seeing you at home yesterday!"
Ping turned around, and in the next instant, her appearance shifted back to the familiar, wrinkled form of Madame Ping. "I'm Madame Ping."
Klee's eyes widened in amazement. "Eh!?"
Yaoyao had just sat up on the bed, rubbing her eyes in confusion. "Master…"
Madame Ping looked at her calmly. "Yaoyao, it's time for your spear practice."
Yaoyao nodded sweetly. "Okay, Master. Klee, you came."
"Yep! Klee came to wake you up!"
"You're up so early."
"It's not early anymore! It's already past seven!"
"Huh?"
Yaoyao glanced at the alarm clock and realized she had overslept.
Luckily Master wasn't scolding her.
But something felt off…
Even if she'd overslept, Master usually would have woken her earlier, but she hadn't today. Could it be… Master overslept too?
Yaoyao looked at her master, who was calmly tidying up the bedding.
Never mind, better not ask.
Yaoyao got up and quickly changed her clothes.
After washing up, she ran outside to start her morning spear drills.
Klee and Xia Lin sat nearby, chatting as they watched her.
"Xia Lin, guess what," Klee began.
"Hmm?"
"Last night I dreamed about my mom!"
"I had a dream too, about my dad."
Hearing her two friends, Yaoyao paused for a moment.
She had also dreamed last night — about her favorite big brother.
But unlike Klee and Xia Lin, Yaoyao had read the novels written by Sister Zhu Zi, so she knew more things than they did. Which meant her dream had been a little…
Not as embarrassing, but still way too awkward to share.
Then Klee suddenly shouted, "Oh yeah! Yaoyao, your master is so pretty!"
Yaoyao's movements froze. "Huh?"
----
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