“Oh my, judging by your reaction, this hall master already knows your answer.”
Hu Tao put the two sets of clothes back, but didn’t ask anything further.
“Ahem… Actually, I bought a gift for you too, Hu Tao. It’s this.”
Neo coughed lightly, then reached out and took another box, placing it on the table.
“What is this? Something to eat? Or something to use? Could it be expensive? Did you carefully pick it out for this hall master?”
Hu Tao immediately crouched in front of the table, placed both hands on its surface, and craned her head forward curiously to look at the box.
“Uh… You’ll know if you open it.”
Perhaps because he had spent so much time around a quiet girl like Columbina, Neo wasn’t quite used to Hu Tao’s liveliness and almost didn’t know how to respond.
“So mysterious? Then let this hall master see what kind of gift it is…”
Hu Tao curiously reached out and opened the wrapping on the box.
Inside the box sat a large, fluffy Teyvat cloud bird plushie.
“I remember you seemed to like cute things when you were little, so I bought this when I saw it.”
Neo explained to Hu Tao after she opened the box.
“…It really is cute. You have good taste.”
Hu Tao reached out with both hands, picked up the Teyvat cloud bird plushie, and nodded in satisfaction.
“If I turn this thing into a trap, maybe Qiqi will obediently walk right into it…”
Hu Tao then muttered something that Neo couldn’t hear very clearly.
“All right, all right. We can open the rest later. It’s getting late too. This hall master will take you to eat.”
Hu Tao put the Teyvat cloud bird plushie away and explained to Neo.
“Eat? Aren’t we eating here?”
Neo was a little confused, but he still followed Hu Tao.
As for those things, they would just leave them at the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor for now.
“You’re not really planning to eat and stay at the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, are you?”
Hu Tao looked at Neo in surprise.
Neo: “…”
“All right. Actually, this hall master originally wanted to cook for you personally, but the guest said he happened to get a reservation at Liuli Pavilion, so we might as well go to Liuli Pavilion.”
“But how did he happen to get a reservation just when he said he wanted one… Forget it, who knows? Maybe he was just lucky~”
Seeing Neo’s speechless expression, Hu Tao finally explained.
“I see. No wonder I didn’t see this guest at the parlor. He’s already waiting for us at Liuli Pavilion, right?”
Only then did Neo understand.
Hearing her say that, Neo also remembered something about Hu Tao.
Her cooking would produce strange dishes, and she even had specialty dishes capable of destroying one’s taste buds…
That guest must have been worried that something might go wrong with Hu Tao’s cooking.
And so, Neo and Hu Tao arrived at Liuli Pavilion together and found the private room reserved by the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor’s guest.
At this moment, he was sitting alone inside the private room, calmly drinking tea.
The guest was handsome, with short black-brown gradient hair and a long braid hanging down behind him.
“Here we are, here we are. Neo, this is Zhongli, our Wangsheng Funeral Parlor’s guest. Don’t let his young appearance fool you. He’s incredibly capable!”
“Guest, this is the Neo I mentioned to you this afternoon. He’s my… um, brother, I guess.”
Hu Tao brought Neo into the private room.
As soon as she saw the man named Zhongli, she immediately introduced the two of them to each other.
Neo had lived at the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor when he was little and was one and a half years older than Hu Tao.
After thinking about it, she felt that calling him her brother was the most appropriate.
But this was only to explain their relationship.
There was no way she was going to keep calling Neo “brother.”
“Nice to meet you, young friend.”
Zhongli took a sip of tea, put down his cup, and greeted Neo.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Zhongli.”
It was Neo’s first time meeting Zhongli, but he remained very calm.
After all, he had already mentally prepared himself.
“All right, all right, Neo, sit down. Guest, you can have them bring the food out. This hall master’s stomach has been growling for quite a while…”
Hu Tao found a seat and urged Neo to sit down, then held her stomach and looked toward Zhongli.
“Please wait, Director.”
Zhongli nodded slightly, then got up and walked to the private room’s door to inform the Liuli Pavilion staff that they could serve the food.
Before long, a sumptuous spread of hot dishes was placed on the table.
“Eat, eat. Don’t be polite with this hall master.”
The reservation had already been paid for in advance anyway, so Hu Tao spoke generously to Neo.
Neo nodded.
He had been wandering around all afternoon and was already hungry, so he picked up his chopsticks and started eating.
As one of Liyue’s two major restaurants, Liuli Pavilion’s menu consisted of authentic Liyue cuisine, mainly featuring delicacies from the mountains.
It suited Neo’s taste quite well.
At the table, Hu Tao chatted with Neo while eating, asking whether he had encountered any interesting things in Snezhnaya or complaining that Zhongli’s expense reimbursements had increased again, keeping the atmosphere from becoming quiet.
Neo was very satisfied with this meal.
After all, it was pure enjoyment, rather than being so spicy that he was covered in sweat like at lunch.
“I’ve already heard about Young Master Levi’s experiences from the Director. Traveling thousands of miles from Snezhnaya in search of family was no easy matter. I raise this cup to you, young friend, and wish you smooth sailing in the future.”
Alcohol was naturally indispensable on an occasion like this.
Zhongli also raised his cup to toast Neo.
“Thank you, Mr. Zhongli.”
Neo hurriedly raised his cup in return.
“Hehe~ This hall master will join in too. I wish you a future where every day is even happier than this hall master’s!”
Hu Tao immediately stood up to join the fun.
And so, after eating and drinking their fill, Neo and Zhongli left Liuli Pavilion together under Hu Tao’s lead and returned to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
Knowing that Neo hadn’t found a suitable place to stay, Hu Tao helped him find an empty room in the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, allowing him to stay there temporarily for a while.
Several days after Neo left Mondstadt for Liyue, in the waters around Mondstadt.
“Lady Damselette, the underwater detector has found the sunken ship. It’s directly below us. Should we salvage it?”
On a warship that had been searching the waters for some time, a soldier temporarily assigned to Columbina respectfully reported to her.
The ship Neo had taken would pass through Dornman Port in Mondstadt’s waters before making a detour to reach Liyue Harbor.
“No need. Just confirm the location.”
“You can return. I’ll handle the rest.”
Columbina gently shook her head from the deck.
This ship was a warship, with no disguises and nothing but weapons aboard, so it couldn’t openly dock at ports in other nations.
Columbina had never intended for them to take her all the way to Liyue Harbor.
It was simply easier to use a detector to find the location of the wreckage in the vast sea.
“But you…”, The soldier hesitated.
He wasn’t familiar with this mysterious Harbinger.
But even though he knew that the Harbingers were all extremely powerful, leaving a Harbinger alone in the vast sea like this seemed far too dangerous to him.
“I’m fine. You can go back.”
Columbina gently shook her head again, then lightly leaped up from the deck and landed on the surface of the sea with the tips of her toes.
“Yes.”
Seeing Columbina quietly standing on the surface of the sea, the soldier could only obey and relay her orders.
Soon, the warship slowly turned around and sailed away.
Columbina quietly sensed her surroundings from the surface of the sea.
After a long while, she finally raised her right hand.
“I can sense it. His presence…”
Under the force of Columbina’s moon power, an object from the seabed slowly floated up to the surface.
It was Neo’s suitcase.
“Mm… Why isn’t it his body?”
“Clearly, this is the object with the strongest trace of his presence…”
After seeing the suitcase, Columbina was somewhat puzzled, but could only try to continue salvaging.
The object with the strongest trace of his presence wasn’t Neo’s body, so she had to switch to an object with a weaker trace.
This time, what surfaced was Neo’s military coat.
It hadn’t drifted somewhere else because it had been pinned down by a heavy object.
“His body… can’t be found?”
After searching for a while longer, Columbina had no choice but to accept this fact.
There was no trace of Neo’s body on the surrounding seabed or surface, nor was there any other trace connected to him.
Looking at Neo’s suitcase, Columbina remained silent for a long time.
“…I’ll help you send these things back to Liyue.”