The sky was just beginning to pale.
It was early morning, and the light had not yet come fully.
A rare heavy fog had settled over Liyue Harbor, and the streets held only a scattering of people.
At that moment, in the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. Second floor.
Knock, knock, knock.
Hu Tao stood with one hand on her hip, the other rapping politely at Zhongli's door.
After a quiet moment, the door opened.
Zhongli stood behind it, neatly dressed in the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's custom robe of dark yellow and black.
"Is there something you need, Director?" Zhongli asked, his expression calm.
No irritation, no impatience. His tone was mild.
"It's release day! Are you free? Want to go buy books with me?" Hu Tao asked, eyes crinkling into a grin.
"Release day again? Let's go."
Zhongli's brow lifted slightly, then he gave a placid nod, stepped out of the room, and turned to pull the door shut behind him.
"Heh heh, Fang Qiu promised me she'd promote the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's philosophy in the book."
Hu Tao headed down the stairs, her voice smug. "After this book comes out, business is bound to pick up quite a bit. I'll have to rethink our discount policy."
She rattled on with plans and event ideas for the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's future, while Zhongli listened in silence, offering an agreeable word now and then.
Downstairs, the undertaker girl and Old Meng were drinking tea, and hearing all that left them somewhere between laughter and despair.
It was genuinely impressive that Mr. Zhongli could sit through the Director's nonsense with such a straight face.
Business at the tavern picking up, now that would be more like it... never mind.
As long as the Director was happy.
Once Hu Tao and Zhongli were well out of sight, Old Meng looked at the undertaker girl and said, "You know, I went to see that new book announcement yesterday. Miss Fang Qiu's new one is supposed to be healing and redemptive. I'm really looking forward to it."
"Really? Looks like Miss Fang Qiu has finally gone back to normal. Didn't I say so? How could such a gentle, lovely girl enjoy tormenting her readers forever? I heard people saying that Old Thief Fang Qiu... ahem, that Miss Fang Qiu would mend her ways after writing Weathering With You, and who'd have thought it would actually come true," the undertaker girl answered with a smile.
There was anticipation in her voice.
Healing and redemption. Just the sound of it felt warm. Surely everyone would sleep well after finishing it?
Except, thinking that far, something struck her as off, and she asked, "Then again, didn't the Director just say Miss Fang Qiu would be promoting our Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's philosophy in the new book?"
"She did say that, I think. Is there a problem?" Old Meng asked.
"Healing and redemption... how exactly does that connect to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's philosophy?" the undertaker girl said.
"..."
Old Meng had no answer for that. He thought about it for a good long while, then looked out the window, where a bleak winter wind rolled the thick fog along in vast drifting sheets toward the distance, and said, "Let's just have faith in Miss Fang Qiu."
Meanwhile, Hu Tao pulled a small handcart along, humming the revised version of Ten Hilichurls that Fang Qiu had written for her, Ten Treasure Hoarders, and walking toward the Wanwen Bookhouse with a grin all over her face.
"Ten Treasure Hoarders, hustling for a bite to eat, one of them choked and couldn't be saved, and then there were nine. Nine Treasure Hoarders, up past midnight, worn to the bone, one lay down and never woke, and then there were eight..."
"Is this a new ballad of the Director's own making?" Zhongli asked.
"Not bad, right? Fang Qiu wrote it for me. Feels like something that could go toe to toe with my Hilitune," Hu Tao said with a laugh.
"Savored closely, it does have a certain flavor to it." Zhongli nodded.
A passing Treasure Hoarder caught the words, and a chill ran through him from head to foot.
These people were writing songs to curse the Treasure Hoarders!
He wasn't about to take that lying down.
Rex Lapis might endure this, but the Conqueror of Demons never would!
Damn it all!
"You two! Hold it right there!" He whirled around, snarling.
"Yes?"
Zhongli and Hu Tao turned back.
And in that hazy instant, he saw the two Visions hanging at their waists.
A gust of wind blew past, and the cold soaked all the way through him.
It struck him then that life in this world is one great empty dream, and really, there was nothing a man couldn't endure.
So he swallowed hard and said, "Nothing. I'm just a passing treasure hoar— passerby. I only wanted to remind you two that the fog's thick up ahead. Careful you don't slip."
With that he bolted, sprinting off into the distance.
"What a strange fellow. Tells us to be careful not to fall, and then goes and eats dirt himself. A man like that counts as a premium client in my line of work, always one step from doing himself in."
Watching that back disappear into the fog, and the man's footing give out so that he went sprawling face-first onto the ground, Hu Tao looked puzzled.
"Director, the books are what matter. Let's go," Zhongli said evenly.
"True enough."
Hu Tao nodded and hurried after Zhongli, hauling the little cart behind her.
By the time they reached the Wanwen Bookhouse, a line of a good several dozen people already stretched below it, with more joining by the minute.
"Director, I'll be picking up my copy at the tavern, so I won't be queuing with you," Zhongli said mildly.
"Go on, go on. I'm getting in line."
Hu Tao waved him off, then hustled her cart all the way to the back of the line and took her place.
She waited quietly for the Wanwen Bookhouse to open.
Zhongli, for his part, gave a faint smile and walked into the tavern, where the Tavern Proprietress attended to him at once.
"Mr. Zhongli, you're here! There's still a while before Fang Qiu's new book goes on sale, so have a seat first. Can I get you anything to drink?" the Tavern Proprietress asked briskly.
"A pot of tea will do," Zhongli said.
The tavern was permitted to sell Fang Qiu's books, but only after bookstores like the Wanwen Bookhouse had opened for the day.
Everything released at the same hour.
"One moment, please."
The Tavern Proprietress nodded and turned to go brew his tea.
That a tavern had tea was common knowledge.
Zhongli nodded, then turned his gaze on a man seated not far off.
That man he recognized, more or less.
The man was called Chang the Ninth.
They had shared a table over drinks once. He was a devoted reader of Fang Qiu's, and every single time Zhongli came to this tavern, he would find this man called Chang the Ninth here drinking.
Drinking himself blind, every time.
From the man's drunken rambling, Zhongli had come to understand a few things about him.
As a boy, he had gone down to the river to play with the girl he'd grown up beside, and after leaving a book there, he had gone home alone.
Only, once he got home, he never saw that childhood companion again.
And soon after, her family moved away.
So he believed her family had looked down on him and forbidden her to come find him, and that was why he wanted to shake the world with his writing.
So that she would hear his name.
So that her family would see him in a new light and let her come to him.
Zhongli smiled faintly.
He did not dislike men like that.
Before long, the Tavern Proprietress brought the tea.
He lifted the cup and took a small sip.
The fragrance was rich, the liquor of the tea light and elegant.
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