Back home, Lumine explained the matter in more detail.
The girl named Xiaojiujiu commissioned them to find a book, saying that her Ninth Brother had specially written it for her. She had been engrossed in reading and only realized her Ninth Brother was gone when she came to her senses.
She went to look for him alone but eventually fell into the river. Her hands held the book tightly; at this point, the book hadn't been lost. She originally wanted to find a place to dry the book, but because she was too tired, she fell asleep.
When she woke up, the book was gone.
So she hoped to commission Lumine to help her find it.
At the time, Lumine felt something was off, because the girl named Xiaojiujiu had no trace of wetness on her, and she also called out Lumine's name directly as soon as she spoke.
Although she said she often heard everyone talking about her and often saw her outside.
But Lumine had only recently arrived in Liyue, her reputation was nowhere near as great as in Mondstadt, and she hadn't taken on many commissions to run around.
However, Lumine still put aside her doubts and went with Paimon into the woods to look for the book Xiaojiujiu had lost.
They ran for a long time, searched for half a day, but ultimately found nothing.
When they wanted to go back and ask the little girl again, they found that the little girl had disappeared.
Lumine and Paimon thought perhaps the little girl had run off to look for the book, so they searched again, but still didn't see the girl's figure.
In desperation, they were also a bit worried about the little girl's safety, so they went to the nearby Qingce Village, hoping to inquire about news...
"Old Man Chang?" Stelle raised an eyebrow slightly, a hint of a guess forming in her mind.
"Yes, that Old Man Chang, he must be the Ninth Brother the little girl mentioned..." Lumine sighed.
Compared to encountering a ghost, the words she heard from Old Man Chang made Lumine feel even more uncomfortable.
Old Man Chang seemed to still not know that the little girl had already met with misfortune, only that the little girl's family had long since moved away from there.
He was still thinking that perhaps that family looked down on him and didn't want him and the little girl to be together, so he was determined to get rich and sell the book he wrote for the little girl all over the world.
"So, did you finally tell him the truth?" Stelle couldn't help but ask.
"No, telling him the truth in this situation... probably wouldn't be good," Lumine shook her head.
"Besides, even if we told him, he probably wouldn't believe us," Paimon also said, spreading her hands.
"That's true..." Stelle also fell silent. Undoubtedly, she had heard a story that couldn't make one happy.
But what she was thinking about more was the little girl's situation.
If it really was the soul of that little girl from back then, she hadn't gone to the afterlife, nor had she lingered at the boundary.
Should she tell Hu Tao about this...
"Forget it, let's not talk about these sad things," Lumine saw Stelle also silent and thought she was equally sad, so she immediately changed the subject.
"Stelle, did you go out with Xiangling?"
"Eh? How did you know??" Stelle came back to her senses, looking at Lumine in surprise.
Hadn't they just returned? How could they know about this?
"I heard it from the Millelith at the gate. So, how was it? Have you and Xiangling already..." Lumine didn't finish her sentence, just looked at Stelle expectantly.
"Uh... you could say we've become closer," Stelle inexplicably moved her head away, feeling guilty.
"That means your friendship has deepened, right?" Paimon didn't know Lumine's true meaning. "That's great, friends should be closer, after all."
"Yes, yes," Lumine said with a smile, agreeing wholeheartedly with Paimon.
However, for her, the word 'closer' needed to be in quotation marks.
"Speaking of which, you met a ghost. Guess what I met when I went out with Xiangling?" Stelle lightly coughed, changing the subject without batting an eye.
"What, what?"
"A disciple of an adeptus…"
…Lumine and Paimon exchanged glances.
"Isn't Xiangling one?"
"Oh, it's not like Xiangling. How should I put it…" Ann rubbed his head and began to tell them in detail about his encounter today.
------
Night, Mt. Aocang
Shenhe slowly walked into Cloud Retainer's Cave, returning to her and her master's residence.
She returned a bit late today. Even though she had nothing else to do after encountering that Damselette, she still lingered in Jueyun Karst for a long time.
She just followed her feelings, walking through many places.
Later, she realized that all the places she had visited seemed to be places that Damselette had been to today.
The air still seemed to carry a reassuring scent, so much so that she didn't even think about returning for a while.
Of course, her master also explicitly said that there would be no training today and told her to go out and relax, so Shenhe had no psychological pressure doing so.
Cloud Retainer's voice suddenly rang out, causing Shenhe's steps to pause slightly.
"Master." She turned around and looked at her master.
Cloud Retainer was still in her human form, completely different from before.
"Master, will you be like this from now on?" Shenhe tilted her head, asking with some confusion.
"What?" Cloud Retainer asked without changing her expression.
"Why did Master turn into a human?" Shenhe asked again, but she changed the question, as if she already knew the answer to the previous one.
"Hmph, a mere transformation technique is child's play for this adeptus. It's just that I haven't had the interest in the past."
"Then, Master is interested now, why?" Shenhe continued to ask very calmly.
"Cough…" Cloud Retainer was momentarily speechless by her disciple's question. She pushed up her glasses and turned away. "For no reason. This adeptus is unrestrained and free, doing as I please."
She wasn't entirely sure of the specific reason herself; it was just something she instinctively did after seeing that Damselette.
Anyway, for her, it didn't matter what form she took; it was just a matter of convenience or inconvenience.
"It's you, though. Why did you return so late today? Did something happen?" Cloud Retainer changed the subject, though her question was rhetorical.
"Hmm…" Shenhe nodded, but she didn't know how to tell her master about this matter.
A hint of conflicted emotion appeared on her face, an expression Shenhe rarely showed.
"Master, I met a very special person."
"Special? Hmm… indeed very special." Cloud Retainer pinched her chin and nodded.
"?"
"Cough, no, nothing. You continue. You can tell me anything, and I will give you advice."
I'm guilty, I'm very sorry I didn't see the panty donation from the big shot, because there haven't been many donations recently, and I haven't been checking the backend donation section often, which led to missing it… In short, I'm very sorry!
---------------------------------
If you'd like to read the next 70 chapters in advance, you can support me on Patreon.
I regularly post chapter previews there, so you'll always be up-to-date and won't have to wait too long.
patreon.com/SolyuraMT
And if you enjoy the story, don't forget to give me a Power Stone. Your support really motivates me to continue translating!