[Genshin Impact] A world where only travelers are alone.

Chapter 70 Xun Ming

"Your Excellency looks terrible lately. Have you been sleeping poorly?"

When Hu Tao stared at him for a long time before finally uttering those words, Zhong Li chuckled softly, "Is that so?"

"Yes, yes!" Hu Tao nodded vigorously. "Look, you even have dark circles under your eyes! What happened? Have you been secretly working on orders behind my back lately?"

She squinted suspiciously, then suddenly slapped her forehead: "Wait a minute, we haven't had a single customer in ages! Where are you going to catch up on orders?!"

Zhongli was already used to her startled behavior and simply drank his tea quietly.

Hu Tao immediately felt bored and snorted, "Forget it, I can't be bothered with you anyway."

But despite saying that, she couldn't help but lean closer again after a while: "Since you haven't had many clients lately, why don't you go home and rest today, and get a good night's sleep?"

She was unusually considerate, and even Zhong Li couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, wondering if his complexion was really that bad.

He's been having a lot of dreams lately.

This is a rare occurrence, given his special status, he is generally not affected by dreams.

Zhong Li thought, perhaps it really is because I'm getting old that I've started to reminisce about the past.

However, he figured he might as well take advantage of the free vacation. Under Hu Tao's concerned gaze, he nodded slightly and said, "Since that's the case, I won't let the hall master's kindness go to waste."

"That's more like it! The most important thing is to balance work and rest!" Hu Tao exclaimed happily.

But sometimes things just happen by chance. Zhongli had just gotten up when the door to the Hall of Rebirth was pushed open.

The two looked over and saw a young woman walking inside.

The woman wore a veiled hat, the excessively long veil almost reaching her feet, completely concealing her.

Hu Tao could only tell her gender from her exposed slender ankles, and couldn't help but wonder why she did this. But despite her confusion, it didn't stop her from greeting the newcomer warmly: "Welcome to the Hall of Rebirth. How can we help you?"

Before she could finish speaking, the woman lifted her veil, revealing a beautiful face and almond-shaped eyes brimming with tears.

"Please... help me..." she sobbed.

Hu Tao had never seen anything like this before and panicked on the spot. She kept comforting the woman, but the more she comforted her, the more the woman cried. She could only look to the only third person present for help, but she was surprised to find that he was just staring blankly!

Hu Tao was furious, but because the woman was present, she couldn't speak out. She could only silently condemn the incompetent guest with her lips.

Zhong Li finally came to his senses and, under Hu Tao's constant eye prompting, walked to the woman's side and said in a deep voice, "Miss, crying won't solve anything. If there's anything the Hall of Rebirth can do to help you, please let me know."

Walnut: Huh?

She was dumbfounded, and upon witnessing Zhongli's ability to comfort people for the first time, she was completely impressed and admitted defeat.

Hu Tao glanced at him, waved her hand, and told him to go to the side and not cause her any trouble.

What she didn't expect was that this awkward comfort actually worked. The woman gradually stopped crying and looked at them with her reddened eyes.

Caught off guard by her tearful appearance, Hu Tao felt as if she had been struck in the chest.

Even though the other person looks like she could be her older sister, her weak and helpless herbivore-like temperament makes you really want to hug her!

She struggled to suppress her restless heart and, putting on a serious demeanor, began to inquire about what had happened.

The woman lowered her eyes and began to speak: "My name is Xun Ming, and I come from Chenyu Valley. A few days ago, someone told me that my grandfather had passed away and asked me to attend the funeral. However, while collecting his belongings, I accidentally knocked over a box, and inside that box—it seemed to contain something strange..."

Her voice trembled more and more, as if she was terrified to the extreme, and her emotions, which had just calmed down, were on the verge of collapse again.

Just as Hu Tao was at a loss and preparing to comfort him, a broad and strong hand reached out from behind and placed on Xun Ming's shoulder before she could.

—It is Zhongli.

He had left sometime earlier to fetch a cup of hot water, and was now handing it to Xun Ming: "Miss Xun Ming, please don't rush, speak slowly."

Xun Ming responded somewhat absentmindedly, and under his guidance, drank the hot tea in his cup, no longer trembling.

Hu Tao couldn't help but glance at Zhong Li, secretly thinking that she had indeed underestimated the guest elder. Wasn't he just good at comforting people? Actually, he didn't perform well at first because he hadn't slept well, right?

She nodded to herself, increasingly convinced that the guess was plausible.

On the other side, after calming down a bit, Xun Ming finally continued recounting what had happened to him: "After I smashed that box, I kept hearing a woman's voice when I slept at night. At first, I couldn't hear it very clearly, but it became clearer and clearer. I heard her shouting—"

She seemed to feel it was inappropriate to call him by his name directly, and after a long pause, she finally uttered the last sentence.

"She's calling out, Morax..."

Morax is a taboo word related to rock.

As the god who single-handedly built the kingdom of Liyue and led its people to develop it into the prosperous place it is today, Morax enjoys great prestige in Liyue. Everyone reveres him and affectionately calls him "Lord Geo." No one has ever dared to address him by his name directly.

"At first I thought it was a prank, but once I heard what she was saying, the sound never stopped, and it was so loud that I couldn't sleep."

It's terrifying for humans to not sleep. Hu Tao, who sometimes stays up late to catch ghosts, knows this all too well. During that time, she completely lost her usual energy. Even when she finally had some free time and went to Wanmintang for a meal, Xiang Ling said that if she had to go through that again, she would join the group of guys she caught.

So Miss Xun Ming does look very haggard, even her lips are pale... How pitiful, she must be very scared.

Hu Tao looked at her with pity, then went around behind Zhong Li and nudged him.

Zhong Li: ?

He glanced at this guy whose thinking was so unpredictable that he could never keep up, and gave him a puzzled look.

Hu Tao gave a wicked smile and pursed her lips, hoping that the all-powerful guest master would once again demonstrate his superb ability to comfort, and on behalf of the Hall of Rebirth, give the poor Miss Xun Ming the warmth of home.

However, her performance was too abstract, or perhaps Zhongli simply didn't want to pay attention to her strange behavior, so she stood there indifferently.

Left with no other choice, Hu Tao had to take matters into her own hands, patting her chest in front of Xun Ming and promising that she would definitely handle the matter well.

She was an impatient and action-oriented person; as soon as she spoke, she was ready to get to work, and she hurriedly walked into the house to grab her weapons.

In stark contrast to her was Zhongli, who stood calmly to the side, watching helplessly.

Xun Ming looked up at him and asked timidly in a low voice, "Aren't you coming along, sir?"

Before Zhong Li could speak, Hu Tao interrupted, "Oh, our guest elder—he wasn't feeling well today, and was just about to go back to rest when you arrived. Don't worry, even if it's just me, the head of this hall, I can handle it!"

"Sir... are you not feeling well...?" Xun Ming asked, looking somewhat surprised.

She stood there, clutching and kneading the hem of her clothes, as if hesitating.

Only after the soft fabric was crumpled and mangled by her did Xun Ming seem to finally make up his mind, and he spoke again: "Actually, I originally chose to seek help at Wangsheng Hall because I heard of your reputation, sir. Everyone says that Mr. Zhongli is well-read and knowledgeable about both ancient and modern times. I think that since that strange woman dared to address Prince Yan by his given name, perhaps her background is not simple either..."

What she said made sense; at least she successfully persuaded Hu Tao, who subconsciously looked at Zhong Li.

The result was surprising; the man, who had always been at ease in the face of anything, was now frowning.

Is it really that serious?

Her heart skipped a beat, and she immediately said, "In that case, Guest Elder, you can come with us. After this is over, I'll grant you a week's leave so you can get plenty of sleep!"

Whether it was because of the holiday she mentioned or because she had figured something else out, Zhong Li's eyes flickered, and she suddenly smiled: "Since the Hall Master has said so, I naturally can't refuse anymore."

No one noticed that Xun Ming, who had been keeping his head down, also laughed after he said those words.

*

The distance between Shenyu Valley and Liyue Harbor is not short, and the location given by Xun Ming was somewhat remote, so it took them quite a while to finally arrive at Xun's grandfather's house.

The typical architecture of Shenyu Valley is completely different from the houses in Liyue Harbor. With its upturned eaves and corners, it has a kind of classical and simple beauty. In addition, since Xun's grandfather was well-off, the house is like a miniature garden courtyard, if it weren't for the fact that it was so dirty and dusty that it was starting to accumulate dust.

It was already late, and with insufficient light, it wasn't immediately noticeable until Hu Tao pushed open the door and touched a handful of dust.

"Cough, cough!" The swirling dust made her cough involuntarily. "How long has it been since this place was cleaned?"

Xun Ming quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, Miss Hu Tao! Actually, I haven't been back for many years. Although he's my only relative, my relationship with my grandfather isn't good, and we moved away many years ago. I don't know exactly why. I came back in a hurry this time, and then that kind of thing happened, so I forgot to clean."

Hu Tao had only made a casual remark, never expecting her to apologize so earnestly. She immediately waved her hand sheepishly, "It's nothing, it's nothing. What haven't I seen? This is nothing! Let's go inside and take a look."

Xun Ming nodded obediently and followed her inside.

Fearing the presence of ghosts or something similar, the three were positioned like this: Hu Tao led the way, Zhong Li brought up the rear, and Xun Ming, the only ordinary person, was tightly protected in the middle by the other two.

Just as Zhongli, who was a step behind the others, stepped into the house, the wooden door behind him creaked shut, completely blocking out the light from outside, leaving only the torch in Hu Tao's hand swaying in the darkness.

Zhongli did not turn around; Xun Ming's slender figure was reflected in her eyes, which shone like amber in the mountains.

There is nothing else.

(End of this chapter)

The author said: Well, I was particularly busy for a while, and I had to grit my teeth and write because of the word count requirements of the Jinjiang list. Actually, I hadn't even finished thinking about the original setting of the Zhongli chapter. As I wrote, it became more and more painful and felt like it was just filler, so in the end I chose to replace it and start a brand new Zhongli chapter.

Some readers may prefer the previous version. If that's the case, I can only apologize. Due to personal reasons, this situation has come to this. I'm very sorry, but I promise that the replacement content will definitely not be less than the previous content. I hope you will enjoy this new story.