In the pavilion near Bubu Pharmacy.
Qiqi sat beside Stelle, holding a cup of coconut milk with both hands, sipping it little by little.
Stelle had specifically bought this nearby; Hu Tao said it was Qiqi's favorite.
Hu Tao, on the other side of Stelle, gave him a brief overview of Qiqi's situation.
"Anyway, that's how it is." Hu Tao sighed slightly, finally explaining everything clearly to Stelle. Otherwise, it would be bad if Stelle misunderstood Wangsheng Funeral Parlor as a terrorist organization.
"I see..." Stelle turned his head to look at Qiqi.
He didn't expect this child to have such a heartbreaking past.
"Before, I always used coconut milk to lure Qiqi, and it worked every time, but later Qiqi stopped falling for it." Hu Tao also turned her head to look at Qiqi, saying with a smile.
Qiqi, however, shrank back again, completely hiding beside Stelle.
"This child has probably figured out a way to deal with it, hasn't he?" Stelle gave Hu Tao a speechless look.
According to Hu Tao, as a zombie, Qiqi's memory wasn't very good.
Under such circumstances, he was actually able to recall when he needed to hide and how to avoid Hu Tao.
If Hu Tao hadn't brought Stelle to Bubu Pharmacy today to familiarize him with the Liyue Harbor environment, he probably wouldn't have run into Hu Tao.
"It looks like it'll take a long time for Qiqi to trust me." Hu Tao said, spreading her hands.
"Hu Tao, annoying." Qiqi finished his coconut milk and put it aside, then took Stelle's hand and hugged her arm. He seemed to feel that as long as he held Stelle, he wouldn't be taken away by Hu Tao.
"Hu Tao won't hurt you anymore." Stelle gently touched Qiqi's cheek and said softly.
It was cool to the touch; zombies didn't seem to have human body temperature, but the feel was very good.
"You, like." Qiqi looked up at Stelle, his face still expressionless, and no emotion could be read from his pupils.
If it were anyone else, such a cold voice might only make one feel that the word 'like' was a casual pretense.
But Qiqi was different, and Stelle could feel it too.
"Thank you, I like Qiqi very much too." Stelle showed a gentle smile.
Although Qiqi's liking might be due to being affected by her constitution, for such a cute child to say 'like' to her, no matter the reason, she was very happy.
She really wanted to take him back and raise him as a son... and a different type of son from Diona.
Too bad she couldn't.
"Speaking of which, it's really rare for Qiqi to actively approach you." Hu Tao looked at this scene and couldn't help but recall what had just happened.
When Qiqi first saw her, he didn't seem to react, but when Qiqi finally recalled, he almost instantly ran behind Stelle.
Before, he always hid behind Baizhu, which was because Baizhu had picked up Qiqi a long time ago and had saved Qiqi so many times from Hu Tao's hands.
But Stelle and Qiqi had only met for the first time, yet Qiqi subconsciously hid towards Stelle.
"If you hadn't done those things back then, I estimate Qiqi would also be willing to approach you." Stelle shook his head. Although she was mostly relying on her constitution, Qiqi was essentially a very good child, and if they got along well, he wouldn't be disliked no matter what.
"There's nothing we can do, yin and yang have their order, and besides, Baizhu has his own motives for adopting Qiqi..." Hu Tao's voice gradually faded.
Pursuing immortality and defying the laws of life and death, Hu Tao found it difficult to agree with such ideas.
However, she didn't want to say much about these things to Stelle.
-----------
They quickly said goodbye to Qiqi. Qiqi still had to return to Bubu Pharmacy, and they also planned to continue walking towards Yujing Terrace.
Before parting, Qiqi even specifically asked for Stelle's name, then very seriously wrote Stelle's name in his small notebook.
"The Please Immortal Ceremony is held at Yujing Terrace every year, and Rex Lapis will also issue divine decrees here at that time." Hu Tao skipped ahead, introducing Stelle to everything related to Yujing Terrace along the way.
Stelle listened very carefully. Since this was where the Please Immortal Ceremony was held, he had to pay close attention. After all, if there was truly no way to reasonably enter the Please Immortal Ceremony process, then he would ultimately only be able to use some less-than-above-board methods.
"Look there." Hu Tao pointed her hand towards the sky.
Stelle also followed Hu Tao's finger and looked over. In the distant sky, a palace was floating there.
Yujing Terrace was relatively high, so looking from here, the outline of the palace was much clearer, and one could even vaguely see people moving on it.
"Is that, Qunyu Pavilion?" Stelle couldn't help but ask.
"That's right, it's Tianquan Ningguang's Qunyu Pavilion. No matter how many times I see it, it always feels so magnificent... I wonder when our Wangsheng Funeral Parlor can achieve this scale." Hu Tao exclaimed.
"..." Automatically ignoring Hu Tao's last sentence, Stelle's eyes were fixed on Qunyu Pavilion in the sky.
He inexplicably felt that a gaze from above was also fixed on him, meeting his eyes across the distance.
"I wonder if there's any way to get up there..."
"Besides getting an invitation from Tianquan Star, there shouldn't be any other good way, right?" Hu Tao thought seriously for a moment, then said.
"Alright, let's keep going."
"Mm..." Stelle nodded and averted his gaze.
Qunyu Pavilion was indeed magnificent. It was said that it was originally only the size of one room, and through Ningguang's efforts, it finally reached its current scale after several years.
When chatting with Hu Tao earlier, he had also heard Hu Tao's evaluation of her:
"Tianquan Ningguang, wealthy beyond compare; with bright eyes and a charming smile, she makes peaches and apricots blush; she is well-informed and handles everything perfectly."
No matter how you looked at it, that Tianquan Star was a very capable woman.
"Eh!" Hu Tao suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong?" Stelle's mind was constantly on Tianquan Ningguang, and he almost bumped into the suddenly stopped Hu Tao.
"I met an acquaintance. Come, I'll take you to meet him." Hu Tao took Stelle's hand and, without explanation, walked towards a corner of Yujing Terrace.
"Ah? An acquaintance?" Stelle tilted his head and looked into the distance.
There was a flower bed, and in front of it was a set of tables and chairs. Two people were sitting together, drinking tea and chatting: a young man and an old woman.
As he watched, Stelle's brows slowly furrowed.
These two people gave him a very different feeling.
Although he couldn't quite articulate what that feeling was, still...
No matter what, they were definitely not ordinary people.
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