"Idle people idly admire flowers and grass, busy people are busy beyond measure..."
Hearing footsteps approaching from behind,
Hu Tao, who was composing doggerel poetry, turned around. "Yo, you big busybodies, what brings you to this Hall Master?"
Lumine was just about to explain their purpose to Hu Tao.
But she was interrupted by Hu Tao. "Don't say it yet—let me guess—"
Hu Tao shook her head like a storyteller.
"Hehe... looking at you all, you have something you want to ask, right?"
Lumine nodded. "I want to ask why Hu Tao doesn't like Baizhu."
"Yes, yes—could it be that Baizhu's master, as mentioned before, did something to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor?"
Paimon chimed in from the side.
"And also, why can you and Baizhu tell at a glance that Jialiang has demon god residue on him?"
Hu Tao looked at Mu Yang with great interest. "Is Mu Yang interested in these matters too?"
"Regarding that lineage of physicians with the contract with Changsheng, I hope Hall Master Hu can inform us a bit."
Hearing Mu Yang say this,
Hu Tao nodded satisfactorily.
"Mm mm, from today onward, I'm also someone who has told a story to an Adeptus. When I get back, I must properly tell it to the Consultant."
[Xiao: You know what I'm going to say]
[Hu Tao's thinking is too jumpy haha]
[No wonder she was acting like a storyteller just now]
Hu Tao waved an imaginary folding fan in her hand.
"Ahem... a long, long time ago..."
The three: ...
Hu Tao narrowed her eyes at everyone's expressions, then suddenly laughed.
Afterward, she began to tell the story seriously.
The Wangsheng Funeral Parlor was originally established to combat the lingering resentment of demon gods after their deaths.
In ancient times, demon gods caused chaos.
The ancestors, to maintain the boundary between life and death, began purifying the air and cremating corpses...
[This is Hu Tao's story quest]
[Reminds me of Hu Tao's grandpa again, sigh...]
The above were all things from a long time ago.
Nowadays, this business of dealing with demon god resentment no longer exists.
But the methods for handling demon god residue
were passed down nonetheless.
So although Hu Tao isn't an Adeptus, she still knew about the existence of demon god residue on Jialiang.
Lumine asked, "Then how did Baizhu learn it? Such arts shouldn't be easily taught to people outside the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, right?"
"Probably taught by his master." Hu Tao crossed her arms, her face somewhat unpredictable.
"His master was my grandpa's younger brother—my great-uncle, the second-in-command of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor back then."
[This career change is a bit hardcore]
[It really is—one in charge of sending people off, one desperately trying to save them]
[Studying medicine can't save Teyvat—Mondstadt idol Barbara]
[This is—Li! Yue!]
Lumine and Paimon were a bit incredulous upon hearing this.
Even in Mu Yang's eyes, there was a flicker of change.
How could someone from the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor become Baizhu's master?
Hu Tao shrugged. "This brings us to the pharmacist of Chenyu Vale."
According to Hu Tao's grandpa,
when he was young,
he and his younger brother had gone traveling together.
They met a pharmacist in Chenyu Vale.
No one knew what that pharmacist said to her great-uncle.
But it actually made him want to abandon the family business to study medicine.
"Grandpa had a big fight with great-uncle, but still couldn't persuade him."
"Later, grandpa inherited the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, while great-uncle stayed in the Chenyu Vale area to practice medicine... The two never contacted each other again until old age."
Paimon held her chin. "Someone in funerals actually became a healer—hard to imagine. But it shouldn't lead to never speaking again, right?"
Hu Tao waved her hand. "If it were a normal medical family, that would be one thing—after all, the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor originally did work similar to doctors."
"But according to grandpa, the pharmacist they met back then was shrouded in an ominous miasma."
"...The method of treating patients in that Chenyu Vale lineage even goes against life and death."
After Hu Tao finished, the three all looked at Mu Yang in unison.
Actually, the reason Hu Tao was willing to tell was also to see if Mu Yang knew why her great-uncle chose to become a doctor.
And using such a crooked path at that.
Mu Yang faintly said thank you to Hu Tao.
This thank you made everyone even more puzzled.
"Though I don't know your great-uncle's character, his choice saved Changsheng's life."
Paimon was surprised. "Weren't we talking about Baizhu? How did we get to Changsheng?"
Mu Yang explained, "I don't know much about this secret art, only that Changsheng must find a physician to continue her contract, otherwise..."
He stopped there.
But everyone already knew how severe the consequences would be.
So that thank you earlier was indeed from Mu Yang's heart.
Hu Tao knew more about Baizhu.
Earlier, she had been investigating Baizhu adopting Qiqi.
She only felt that a zombie like Qiqi should go where she was supposed to.
Though the misunderstanding was cleared now—she knew of Qiqi's desire for life.
She also respected and understood her choice.
But she still didn't understand Baizhu's purpose.
Now hearing Mu Yang say this, could Baizhu want to raise Qiqi as the next contractor?
Hu Tao still wanted to ask about the contract.
But Mu Yang said he was also investigating it.
Perhaps only Changsheng herself knew the answer.
But with her current loss of power, she couldn't remember anymore.
"You've said so much, but you still haven't explained why the Chenyu Vale method of saving people goes against life and death?"
Lumine asked Hu Tao in return.
Hu Tao actually wasn't too sure.
It was just that Baizhu had been researching so-called [immortality], with a very deep obsession.
That's why she said that.
Lumine asked Mu Yang again, "Then does Mu Yang know Baizhu's method of saving people?"
"Why is he so confidently certain he can cure Jialiang?"
Mu Yang avoided this question and said to the others,
"It's better to wait and see for now. Perhaps by tomorrow, you'll have the answer."
[Mu Yang is getting more and more like a riddle-speaker]
[Is this a good thing? Dizzy]
Seeing Mu Yang unwilling to speak further,
Hu Tao had no way to ask more.
However, today there was still some gain.
At least she knew her great-uncle didn't leave the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor for no reason.
He very likely learned of Changsheng's predicament and was willing to take on the pharmacist's inheritance.
Becoming Changsheng's new contractor.
Hu Tao bid farewell to Mu Yang and the others.
She returned alone to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
She wanted to tell grandpa about what she saw and heard today...