Dusk gathered on every side, the sky steadily darkening.
It was already twilight.
A gentle breeze drifted past, carrying threads of coolness.
"How pleasant."
Fang Qiu, holding the reluctant Tingyu, sat quietly on the corridor, the breeze gently stirring her hair.
Tingyu, for its part, watched the little pond before it, where a dozen or so ornamental fish swam freely about.
"It's about time. Shenhe, let's set off and go stroll the Lantern Rite."
Fang Qiu stretched lazily, turning her head toward Shenhe, who sat meditating with her eyes closed not far off, and said this.
"Mm."
Shenhe nodded and rose to her feet.
"The nights are cold; put on an extra layer before we head out."
A gust of wind blew over, and Fang Qiu couldn't help shivering. She looked up at the overcast sky and said, "By the look of this weather, it just might snow tonight."
She hadn't seen snow yet.
With the weather this cold, it ought to snow soon, shouldn't it?
"Mm."
Shenhe nodded and said, "It probably will snow."
Fang Qiu went back to her room and changed into a moon-white robe, then added two more layers, wrapping herself up nice and snug.
Only then did she head out, carrying Tingyu along.
But just as she reached the door, a knock sounded.
Hm?
Who could it be?
Fang Qiu was slightly startled. When she opened the door to look, she found it was Hu Tao, with Sanmi perched on Hu Tao's shoulder.
"Fang Qiu, Shenhe, happy Lantern Rite!"
Hu Tao waved, beaming, and said, "I've got a rare bit of free time today—want to go stroll the Lantern Rite together?"
"What a coincidence—we were just about to head over to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor to find you."
Fang Qiu said with a smile.
"Then it works out perfectly—let's go stroll together."
Hu Tao said, beaming, "Xiangling has to help out in the kitchen at the Wanmin Restaurant. We'll go find her when it's time to watch the fireworks."
"Mm."
Fang Qiu nodded.
And so the three of them set off together.
The streets of Liyue Harbor were brilliantly lit, lanterns arranged in pleasing disarray, and on both sides of the road all manner of stall vendors hawked their wares with gusto.
Along the way, quite a few couples strolled hand in hand.
Fang Qiu also saw a young man dressed in Fatui garb come jogging up to the large festival lantern set at the foot of Feiyun Slope, then speak with an apologetic look to another female Fatui.
He was probably apologizing for having carelessly shown up late.
Besides them, Fang Qiu also spotted the two children who had inspired her to write 5 Centimeters per Second.
They walked side by side, the girl holding a string of candied hawthorns.
The boy was a little nervous; his hand inched restlessly toward the girl's, only to shrink back timidly a moment later.
"Look, look! There's someone selling festival lanterns over there—let's go take a look."
Hu Tao said.
"Mm."
Fang Qiu answered, looking toward Shenhe, and said, "Let's go have a look."
And so they made their way over to the lantern stall.
"Three young ladies—which lantern catches your fancy?"
The stall owner asked with a smile.
Fang Qiu glanced at the lanterns laid out on the stall—a great many kinds.
After choosing for a good while, Fang Qiu settled on a peach-blossom lantern.
"Boss, how much for this peach-blossom lantern?"
Fang Qiu asked.
"You've got a fine eye, miss!"
The vendor said, "Behind this peach-blossom lantern lies a moving, tear-jerking love legend. As the tale goes, in Qingce Village there was a kindhearted, poverty-stricken scholar. While he slept, he would swap bodies with a young noble lady of Liyue Harbor, and in the process the two fell in love. But the good times didn't last—before long, they stopped switching bodies. And so the poor scholar traveled thousands of miles to Liyue Harbor, hoping to find that wealthy young lady. Yet on his way there, his memories of her were fading fast, and by the time his feet set foot in Liyue Harbor, every last memory of the young lady had scattered away. He remembered only that he had come to find someone important, but no matter how he tried, he couldn't recall who it was. That noble young lady, too, had forgotten everything, feeling only as though something important were missing from her heart. At that very moment, Rex Lapis, idly wandering the mortal world, came upon this ill-fated pair, and bestowed upon each of them a peach-blossom lantern. Guided by the peach-blossom lanterns, they finally found each other. Holding their lanterns, they gazed at one another, and though neither could recall who the other was, their tears wouldn't stop falling. The scholar asked the young lady, 'Have we met somewhere before?' and through her tears she answered, 'I feel the same.' Afterward, the two became lovers—and this peach-blossom lantern has been passed down ever since."
After hearing the vendor's story, Fang Qiu didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Hey, mister...
An adaptation isn't a free-for-all; a dramatization isn't just talking nonsense.
Wasn't this just the Liyue version of Your Name?
What's more, Rex Lapis was swamped with a myriad of affairs every single day—where would he find the time to idly wander the mortal world and hand out lanterns to play matchmaker...
A god like that sounded rather disreputable.
Still, on closer thought, the vendor's adaptation wasn't half bad.
She'd heard that The Chasm had once been struck by a meteor. But at the time she hadn't known much about Liyue and had no idea The Chasm even existed; otherwise she'd have written Your Name as a Liyue story instead.
"This one, then."
Fang Qiu said with a smile.
"Right you are—one hundred Mora."
The vendor broke into a delighted grin.
Mm, fairly reasonable.
After all, it was entirely handmade.
Back in her past life, a lantern this exquisitely crafted, sold at a festival celebration no less, would have gone for two or three hundred at the very least.
Although she'd never strolled a festival or bought a lantern in her past life, she had eaten noodles and bought water at scenic spots.
A bowl of beef noodles, two liang's worth: seventy.
A bottle of mineral water: twenty.
After buying the peach-blossom lantern, Shenhe and Hu Tao each picked one as well.
Once the Mora was paid, the stall owner lit their lanterns for them, and a faint glow flickered to life.
No sooner had they finished paying than a voice rang out.
"Director, Miss Fang Qiu, and Miss Shenhe—what a coincidence! You've come to stroll the Lantern Rite too?"
Fang Qiu, lantern in hand, turned her head to look, and saw the young undertaker holding a little girl by the hand, gazing at them with a smile all over her face.
After they'd exchanged greetings, the young undertaker asked, "Director, aren't you spending the Lantern Rite together with Mr. Zhongli?"
"That fellow Zhongli?"
Hu Tao waved a hand and said, "Don't even get me started. This afternoon the two of us went to eat at the Third-Round Knockout, and not only did the guy fail to bring any money, he even had me front the cost of a jar of Osmanthus Wine—said he wanted to buy a pot of wine to go visit an old friend. He's probably still not back yet."
"I see."
The young undertaker nodded and said, "Then I won't keep you from your strolling."
After bidding them farewell, the young undertaker led the little girl off into the distance.
"Let's get going too. Look—there seems to be something new over there, some kind of shadow lantern. Let's go check it out."
Hu Tao said.
"Mm."
Fang Qiu nodded.
Once they had left, the lantern-selling vendor couldn't help wearing a peculiar expression.
He glanced at Fang Qiu's receding figure, then drew a book out from inside his robes.
The title: Your Name.
"Did that person just now call that white-haired girl Fang Qiu?"
The vendor's face was full of doubt, and a touch of embarrassment besides.
That peach-blossom lantern naturally had no such legend behind it; this was something he'd dreamed up and adapted after reading the Your Name that Fang Qiu had written.
He'd thought to enrich the lantern's backstory with a tale, so that customers could enjoy the Lantern Rite all the more contentedly.
The price, of course, stayed exactly the same.
Entirely handwoven.
Surely he hadn't just run into the author herself?
After mulling it over for a moment, the vendor shook his head and said, "No, no, how could that be... It must just be a coincidence of names. Who would use their real name as a pen name?"
He'd heard, after all, that Old Thief Fang Qiu was a crusty old codger.
Otherwise there was no way anyone could have such powerful writing and such a wicked taste for making people cry.
How could Old Thief Fang Qiu possibly be a white-haired beauty?
Impossible, absolutely impossible!
The odds of that were about as low as Rex Lapis not being dead right now and instead sipping tea and walking his birds.
At that thought, he set his mind at ease.
Little did Fang Qiu know that the young undertaker's greeting just now had nearly given away her identity; she was busy playing with the shadow lanterns alongside Hu Tao and Shenhe.
"This is so hard."
After fiddling for ages, Fang Qiu had only managed to set up the two most basic, simplest shadow lanterns—the ones that just needed their direction adjusted.
Then she got stuck on the third, unable to solve it no matter what she tried.
Hu Tao and Shenhe had long since cleared their stages and stood off to one side watching her, until their gazes made her face flush red.
At last, the third one was solved.
When the stall keeper—a young lady—brought out the fourth, Fang Qiu despaired.
This fourth one was far harder than the third...
Ah, this...
Just as Fang Qiu was at a loss, a soft chuckle sounded behind her.
"That won't do at all. You've got to get your posture just right, or you'll never line this shadow lantern up."
Hearing these words, suggestive as flooring the gas pedal, she knew who was speaking without even turning around.
Fang Qiu's pretty face flushed slightly; she naturally caught the implication.
At the same time, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry—could you really go careening into the gutter even on a road this beat-up?
"Sister Ying'er, good evening."
Fang Qiu turned and waved in greeting.
"Good evening. I didn't expect to run into you all here."
Ying'er said with a smile, "So how does it feel, the three of you together?"
"Uh, it's nice."
Fang Qiu answered.
"Oh? It feels good? Then maybe I'll give it a try myself when I get the chance."
Sister Ying'er gave a little smile.
Feeling the mischievous gaze she cast over and her teasing expression, Fang Qiu couldn't help being taken aback.
Sister Ying'er couldn't be steering things into the gutter, could she?
They'd clearly only been talking about the three of them strolling the Lantern Rite together...
She unconsciously pictured that scene, and her pretty face flushed crimson in an instant. She hurriedly shook her head, shaking all those messy thoughts out of her mind.
Mustn't let my mind wander...
"What's the matter with you? Why's your face so red?"
Seeing Fang Qiu looking so flustered, the mischief on Ying'er's face grew even deeper, and she asked with a smile.
"It's... it's nothing. I just put on too many layers and got a little hot."
Fang Qiu said, her face red.
Sure enough, Sister Ying'er was steering it dirty!
"A little hot, are you? Want them to help you take off a few layers?"
Ying'er said with a smile, then narrowed her eyes and teased, "Or rather—would you like Sister Ying'er to help you out of them? Sister Ying'er would be only too happy to lend a hand. Or, for that matter, shall all three of us help you undress?"
"No need, no need—I'd freeze."
Fang Qiu hurriedly refused, her face red.
"All right, all right, I'll stop teasing you. Here, I've got a gift for you all."
With that, Sister Ying'er fished three small paper boxes out of her bag and handed them over.
Hers and Shenhe's boxes were a bit larger, while the one in Hu Tao's hands was smaller.
"What is this?"
Fang Qiu asked reflexively.
"Stockings."
Ying'er said with a smile, "I just bought them at that lingerie shop in Mondstadt. It's a new style of stockings you can pull all the way up to the waist—said to be very warm. With these on, you won't even need to wear trousers."
"I see."
Fang Qiu nodded and said, "Thank you, Sister Ying'er."
At first, she didn't understand why Sister Ying'er would buy a smaller size of stockings, but the very next moment she recalled the bondage nightdress Sister Ying'er had given her before...
And then she more or less understood.
Shenhe and Hu Tao thanked her as well.
"It's just a little gift."
Ying'er smiled, glanced at Shenhe and Hu Tao, and said, "Oh, right—these stockings feel wonderfully nice to the touch once they're on your legs."
With that, she waved a hand and said, "All right, I won't keep you. I'm off to browse the next shop."
Having seen Sister Ying'er off, they strolled all the way toward Chihu Rock.
Liyue Harbor had by now fully sunk into night.
By the time they reached Chihu Rock, Xiangling had already finished up.
Having handed the cooking over to Chef Mao, Xiangling brought Guoba along and strolled Chihu Rock together with them, and along the way they even ran into Xingqiu and Chongyun.
When the two of them saw Fang Qiu and Shenhe, their brains short-circuited for a moment.
They couldn't tell which was which.
But the moment Shenhe opened her mouth, the two of them could tell them apart.
Shenhe's voice was far colder than Fang Qiu's.
Fang Qiu's voice was very gentle.
Since they'd run into each other anyway, Chongyun and Xingqiu simply joined up and went along together with them.
After strolling for a while.
They each bought a Xiao Lantern from Granny Ashan, then came together to the wooden railing—the open sea before them—and watched the Xiao Lanterns drifting across the whole sky.
"Granny Ashan just said that if you make a wish while releasing a Xiao Lantern, Rex Lapis will hear your heart's wish."
Xiangling said, "Mm... but Rex Lapis has already passed away. Can he still hear our wishes?"
"Then let's just hope Rex Lapis's spirit in heaven watches over us."
Fang Qiu said with a smile.
They each silently made a wish in their hearts, then released their Xiao Lanterns.
Glowing faintly, the Xiao Lanterns rose and drifted toward the horizon, floating higher and higher, carried off into the distance on the wind together with the countless other lanterns.
At the same time, the little girl beside them—the one who'd been begging Ah Kuan to buy her a toy—released a Xiao Lantern too, with the help of her father, Ah Kuan.
Beneath the Xiao Lanterns, they played with burning sparklers in hand while they chatted.
The sparklers blazed fiercely, dazzlingly brilliant.
According to Hu Tao and Xiangling, at the last Lantern Rite an Adeptus had even made an appearance—an immortal deer that ran through the air, soaring straight into the clouds before bursting open across the firmament.
Hearing this filled Fang Qiu with longing.
But still.
All along the way, she saw many Millelith tirelessly standing guard over the fireworks' ignition points.
This year's Lantern Rite, with the fireworks gathering hosted by Keqing, would surely be no less spectacular than last year's.
At that thought, Fang Qiu couldn't help looking forward to it, and so did Shenhe—she had lived since childhood in the realm of the Adepti.
Having lived with few desires from a young age, unversed in the mortal world, it was hard to say whether she'd ever even seen fireworks, let alone a fireworks gathering.
"It's about time, isn't it?"
Fang Qiu murmured, gazing at the Xiao Lanterns drifting across the whole sky.
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