Inside the Good Hunter restaurant, Sara glanced curiously at Su Bai's table. In all the years the Good Hunter had been open, there weren't many people who could get Kaeya to pick up the tab.
"Kaeya, eat something. Seeing you, the host, just watching me eat makes me too embarrassed to keep going," Su Bai said, a chicken leg in one hand and a skewer of grilled fish in the other, stuffing his face.
Kaeya's eye twitched. 'If you weren't eating so heartily, I might have actually believed your nonsense.'
"Sir Su Bai, I'm not hungry. You eat your fill. Once you're full, please think harder about whether there are any other ways to help... help my friend."
"Seems you and that friend are quite close, for you to be so concerned."
Mondstadt's cuisine had Su Bai's appetite wide open. Before, his purse had been too light to order some of the more expensive dishes. Now, finally having a 'benefactor', Su Bai didn't stand on ceremony with Kaeya.
Having lived in Mondstadt for so many years, Kaeya had a decent savings, but Su Bai's casual markings on the menu followed by the phrase, 'Bring one of everything except these few,' had genuinely made Kaeya's Mora pouch ache.
"This matter is actually quite simple. Sara, do you have a map of Mondstadt City? Get me one, charge it to Kaeya."
"I do have maps here. No need to charge it, this map isn't worth much Mora. I'll give it to you, Su Bai."
It must be said, Sara had a good head for business. She kept various small items like maps in the restaurant. Foreigners who had never been to Mondstadt would often buy a map while eating here. Though not expensive individually, it added up to a considerable income.
"Thank you, then."
"It's just a small thing. Just come patronize my Good Hunter often in the future."
Su Bai spread the map on the table, searching for the place he had in mind. Seeing Su Bai scrutinizing the map, Kaeya didn't dare disturb him.
'Is this what Liyue people call 'Feng Shui'? Looks quite interesting. The Feng Shui of our Good Hunter must be good, otherwise it wouldn't have become Mondstadt's largest restaurant,' thought Sara, watching from the side, quite confident in her establishment.
Once Su Bai found the place he was looking for in a corner of Mondstadt City, he rolled the map back up and placed it on the table. 'Better leave the map here. Sara can still sell it for some Mora.'
"Time to settle up and go, Kaeya. I have some ideas about your friend's situation."
"Really? That's excellent, Sir Su Bai."
Kaeya directly pulled out a pouch of Mora and placed it on the table. Paying no mind to Sara still counting change by the counter, he hurried Su Bai out of the Good Hunter.
Along the way, relying on his decent sense of direction and a series of left and right turns, Su Bai successfully arrived in front of a rather dilapidated-looking building.
Kaeya looked at the building before him, then at Su Bai. Feeling the urge to spit blood, Kaeya turned to leave. He hadn't expected Su Bai to be such a swindler.
"Kaeya, where are you running off to? Come inside with me."
"Sir Su Bai, I would rather be haunted by that spirit forever than eat an egg boiled in a child's urine!"
Kaeya's already dark face now resembled the bottom of a pot. Su Bai glanced at the orphanage in front of him and suddenly understood. So Kaeya had gotten the wrong idea.
"Come back, come back. I brought you to the orphanage not for that, but to make a donation."
"A donation?"
Kaeya was confused. What connection did a donation have with being led astray by a spirit? Could it be that even spirits liked Mora? This was beginning to touch upon Kaeya's areas of ignorance.
"In Liyue, we value the accumulation of virtue. Your friend being haunted by a spirit now might be because they've done too many bad deeds."
"If you want to help your friend, donate some Mora in their name. With virtue accumulated, the spirit naturally wouldn't dare approach your friend."
Su Bai spoke utter nonsense with a completely straight face. After all, Kaeya wasn't from Liyue. No matter how he spun it, Kaeya wouldn't know right from wrong and could only be led by the nose.
"Let's go, let's go inside. It's just about noon. I'll see what the meals are like in your Mondstadt orphanages."
"Then Sir Su Bai should look carefully. The Knights of Favonius provides a subsidy to the orphanage every month. The meals can't be bad. Perhaps the food here is even better than what you usually eat, Sir Su Bai."
Knowing there was a solution had clearly relaxed Kaeya considerably. He even cracked a small joke with Su Bai. Su Bai merely smiled, unperturbed. He hadn't smelled any enticing aromas around. If the food was truly good, his nose wouldn't have failed to pick up the scent.
Pushing open the orphanage's main gate, the innocent smiles of children leapt into Su Bai's view. These smiles, coming from the heart, didn't seem fake at all. Even Su Bai, an adeptus accustomed to judging people, felt a twinge of doubt. 'Had he guessed wrong earlier? Were these children really eating something delicious? But then why was there no smell at all?'
Kaeya also noticed something amiss. Logically, a stove cooking for this many people would need at least two pots working simultaneously. Yet before them, only one pot had firewood burning beneath it.
"Grandpa, grandpa, aren't we having porridge for lunch today? Are we eating rice instead?"
"Yes, rice. I heard a Liyue adeptus helped reduce merchants' costs by ten percent. Some kind-hearted Liyue merchants lowered the price of rice a bit. From now on, children, you can have a meal of white rice every day."
"Yay! Rice!"
An elderly man with graying hair was smiling as he added firewood to the stove. The children sat obediently around him, greedily sniffing the air. Joy and anticipation sparkled in their eyes. A few of the younger ones even drooled unconsciously.
"Tsk. Kaeya, since when did plain white rice count as good meals in Mondstadt?"
Su Bai's words filled Kaeya with some shame, but even more so with bewilderment. He knew the specific amount of the subsidy the Knights of Favonius gave the orphanage. Averaged per child, it was definitely enough for at least one meat dish a day. How could today's lunch be so pitifully meager?
"This shouldn't be. The subsidy is delivered personally by people sent by Acting Grand Master Jean every time. They shouldn't be eating this poorly."
"Grandpa, someone's here. Is it those bad uncles who want our Mora?"
Su Bai and Kaeya at the orphanage gate hadn't deliberately lowered their voices. A little girl soon noticed them, tugging nervously at the old man's clothes.
The smile instantly vanished from the old man's face upon seeing Kaeya. He immediately grew wary, shielding the children behind him. The image of the old man's towering, protective stance in the children's eyes formed a stark contrast with the helpless pleading Su Bai saw in his.
A flash of anger passed through the old man's cloudy eyes, but for the sake of the children behind him, he bent his back, putting on a humble, ingratiating smile.
"Sirs... haven't I already paid this month's Mora?"
"Old sir, we're not here to collect Mora. We're here to donate Mora."