"Auntie... when did you co down from the mountain?"
"A few days ago."
"When do you plan to return?"
"I'll be living in Liyue for a while and won't return for now. When I have ti, I'll visit your family."
"Oh!"
"Don't leave later, stay for lunch."
"You don't need to trouble yourself!"
"Last ti I visited your ho, your parents were very hospitable. Now that you've co to see , this is only proper."
"This..."
"Don't worry, the boss's cooking is very good."
Hearing this, Xingqiu's eyes brightened, asking: "Mr. Xia will cook himself?"
Shenhe nodded slightly: "Mm."
Xingqiu quickly tugged at Chongyun's sleeve under the table, signaling him to accept.
The free al wasn't important; what mattered was that relatives should interact more.
Chongyun gave Xingqiu a puzzled look but couldn't refuse his elder's invitation: "Then we'll impose on you."
"It's fine. There are books on the table if you're bored. I need to get back to work."
"Okay, please go ahead, don't mind us."
Shenhe turned and left.
After she was far enough away, Chongyun looked at Xingqiu and asked softly: "Aren't you busy today?"
"What would I be busy with? My brother's the busy one."
"Didn't you say yesterday that all the wealthy young masters organized a lunch gathering at Xinyue Kiosk today and invited you?"
"Oh right, that did happen, but those gatherings are boring. Don't worry, as your friend, I definitely won't abandon you today."
"..."
"Don't think too much about it. As they say, 'steal half a day of leisure from life.' Chongyun, try this rainbow juice, weren't you curious about its taste?"
Chongyun looked down at the glasses before him.
Two beautiful seven-colored drinks.
He had been worried that Xingqiu was trying to trick him again, but the custors' satisfied expressions couldn't be fake, and with his aunt working here, there probably wouldn't be any problems.
He picked up the glass, took a small sip, and his eyes imdiately widened.
"So Chongyun, how does it taste?"
"It really is delicious."
"I told you it was good, yet you doubted ."
"...Xingqiu, do you rember where that haunted village is now?"
"Almost, just a bit more. Books say mory is best at noon. After lunch, I should rember."
"...Which book said that?"
"I've read too many books, I can't rember right now."
"..."
Chongyun silently lowered his head and continued drinking the juice.
After a while, Shenhe brought over a plate of mooncakes and a plate of osmanthus cakes to serve them.
The taste needs no description - both of their progress bars increased slightly.
At noon, after seeing off the custors, Xia Zhi ca over to greet Xingqiu and Chongyun, asking: "Do you two have any dietary restrictions?"
Xingqiu smiled and said: "I'm fine, just don't like carrots. But Chongyun has many restrictions because of his Pure Yang Constitution. He can't eat anything too hot or spicy, especially food with Jueyun Chilis."
Pure Yang Constitution... so that's Chongyun's special condition.
Xia Zhi had read about it in "Records of Jueyun." It was said to be a constitution that appears once in a thousand years. All spirits and demons would retreat from it, but because of excessive yang energy, blood easily boils, affecting emotions and potentially causing berserk states and personality changes.
Xia Zhi "looked" at Chongyun's Vision again - interestingly, it was Cryo, opposite to his constitution.
"I see, I understand. Please wait a mont."
Walking into the kitchen, Xia Zhi began preparing food.
So ingredients from yesterday were left, preserved by Shenhe's Cryo power. They had been thawed earlier, and now he processed them with the [Eternal Spirit Knife] to restore their freshness.
He made eight simple dishes, mostly mild in flavor, including two cold dishes.
"It's simple fare, please excuse the plainness."
"Mr. Xia is too modest. I've eaten at all the famous restaurants in Liyue, big and small, but can't find cooking skills like this anywhere."
Xia Zhi smiled, rembering yesterday's events.
"I heard from Zhu Zi that Young Master Xingqiu's family really enjoyed my mooncakes?"
"Yes! I took the mooncakes Mr. Xia gave ho for everyone to try. My parents and brother loved them so much that after finishing them, they still wanted more. So they invited so pastry masters, hoping they could make similar ones. Though those masters' skills were good and their mooncakes looked beautiful, I felt they were still missing sothing compared to Mr. Xia's."
"Actually, the taste was very close."
"Mr. Xia is being modest. Even those pastry masters admitted your mooncakes were more delicious."
"Perhaps it's the recipe. There might be so small differences. I'll tell you the recipe later, and when you go back, you can have those masters try again."
"Thank you, Mr. Xia!"
"Please eat more, don't be polite."
"Okay (Mm)!"
A mont later, Xia Zhi heard two consecutive system prompts in his mind.
"Progress bar has reached 100%, obtained Silver Treasure Chest reward."
"Progress bar has reached 100%, obtained Gold Treasure Chest reward."
Xia Zhi glanced at the two treasure chests in his inventory but wasn't in a hurry to open them, mainly because there were too many people around.
He had the [Hourglass of Ti], so he could wait until evening when he was alone in his room. If the items weren't useful for his current stage, he could reverse ti and try opening them again.
"By the way, when will the first batch of reeds arrive?"
"Should be in the next couple of days. When they arrive, I'll bring them to Mr. Xia right away."
"Thank you, Young Master Xingqiu."
After lunch and so casual chat, Xingqiu and Chongyun took their leave.
Chongyun seriously invited Xia Zhi and Zhu Zi to visit his ho with Shenhe next ti, and Xia Zhi smiled and agreed.
Turning back, Xia Zhi "saw" a hint of relief flash across Shenhe's cool face.
It was clear Shenhe wasn't good at handling these "family relations," after all, she had lived alone in Jueyun Karst since childhood, with little experience in social interactions.
After cleaning up, the three of them sat in the shop to rest, then started business at two o'clock.
Around four in the afternoon, Zhongli walked into the shop.
"Mr. Zhongli, please sit. The usual?"
"Mm."
Xia Zhi made two glasses of higher concentration juice as usual, had Zhu Zi bring them over, then selected Zhongli's figure in his god's eye view.
The system prompt sounded in his mind.
"Use [Skill Steal] on target?"
"Yes."
"[Skill Steal] successful, learned skill [Heaven's Star] from target."
"[Skill Steal] has entered cooldown, usable again in 24 hours."
Xia Zhi "looked" at Zhongli, who behaved normally, seemingly unaware of what had just happened.
Xia Zhi relaxed and opened his system panel to check the newly learned skill.
"[Heaven's Star]: Summon a massive star rock from the sky, dealing huge Geo elental damage to enemies in the impact area and petrifying them."
"Mana Cost: 100,000 points."
The skill was grayed out because his mana wasn't sufficient to use it yet.
However, from its enormous mana cost, it was clearly on the sa level as fifth-rank light magic, making it a god-tier skill.
This was good.
As a light system god-rank, he had been lacking area damage skills.
Xia Zhi looked at the "huge Geo elental damage" in the skill description.
Geo elent...
This world seed to have only one Geo god, Rex Lapis...
So Mr. Zhongli must be Morax...
Xia Zhi closed the system panel, "looking" at Zhongli calmly drinking juice, when a strange idea suddenly occurred to him.
Next ti there's a chance, maybe he should invite Mr. Zhongli to go to Yujing Terrace to offer incense to Rex Lapis together.
----
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