The original god of the Jyota Jinchūriki

Chapter 238: Walnut's Collapse after the Lantern Festival

Today was another peaceful day in Liyue Harbor, with people working as usual. However, this tranquility was broken by a scream from the Hall of Rebirth.

“Ahhhhhhhh, there’s a thief in the Hall of Rebirth!!!”

"Which bastard dared to steal my things??? He didn't even leave me a piece of paper money to burn for the deceased!"

“Zhongli, go find Keqing and ask her to come and take a look. If I find out who it is, I will definitely let him see my cooking skills.”

Seeing the cabinet where funeral supplies were usually placed was empty, Hu Tao, who had just woken up, almost fainted. In the stories her grandfather told her, she had never heard that the Hall of Rebirth had been visited by thieves when the previous 76 generations of masters were in office. Now that she was the head of the hall, the Hall of Rebirth had been robbed. How could she face the previous 76 masters in the future?

Zhongli looked at Hutao, who was kneeling on the ground in front of him with lifeless eyes. He couldn't help but sigh deeply. As the King of Rock, how could he end up with Hutao, a little girl whom he couldn't handle?

"Master Hu, do you really not remember anything you did last night?"

Could it be that he hit Hu Tao too hard yesterday and made her stupid? Zhongli pondered in his heart as he looked at the wailing Hu Tao, but that shouldn't be the case. He had hit Hu Tao like this before when she had secretly drunk alcohol and nothing had happened many times, so there shouldn't be any problem this time either.

"Did the master catch the thief last night? Why don't I have any recollection of it?"

"Could it be that you bought something, Zhongli, but there was no Mora to pay for it, so someone emptied the Hall of Rebirth?"

Hu Tao glanced at Zhong Li who looked calm, and gave a reason that almost made Zhong Li spit out the tea in his mouth. Zhong Li put the teacup on the table and reluctantly told Hu Tao what happened last night.

"So I burned all these things myself?"

After listening to Zhongli's description, Hu Tao pointed at herself and said that she couldn't believe in gravity, but Zhongli in front of her nodded seriously and didn't seem to be teasing her.

"Master Hu was very heroic last night. He shouted in the Wanmin Hall that he wanted to burn down the Wangsheng Hall to send off the heroic spirits."

"If Ruo Jin, the Traveler, and Xiang Ling hadn't held you back, you would have burned down the Wangsheng Hall."

Talking about what happened last night, Zhongli's eyes flashed with helplessness. Last night, he was bored and told some stories about heroes in Liyue's history to the people in the Hall of the Rebirth. As a result, Hu Tao seemed to be irritated and slammed the table and shouted that she wanted to do something for the dead heroes.

Originally, Zhongli was quite pleased that Hu Tao had such intention, but after hearing that Hu Tao wanted to burn down the Hall of Rebirth, Zhongli was numb. He had seen so many people in thousands of years, but he had never seen anyone who was more noisy than Hu Tao when drunk. Hu Tao was also stunned by the image of himself being drunk as described by Zhongli.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible, how could I do such a stupid thing, you must be fooling me, right?"

After thinking about it and finding no memory of this at all, Hu Tao was somewhat skeptical of what Zhongli said. She had never heard anyone else mention that she would do something stupid when drunk.

Looking at Hu Tao who still held on to a glimmer of hope, Zhongli decided to break the only remaining fantasy of Hu Tao. After all, a short pain is worse than a long pain, and some things are better to be accepted.

"It's true. You can find the remaining ashes at the door. If you don't believe it, you can go and have a look."

Zhongli said the cruelest words in the most calm tone, thinking that Hu Tao would not believe him. Zhongli opened the door of the Hall of the Dead and pointed at a pool of ashes at the door. Looking at the ashes with a few pieces of paper money that had not been completely burned, Hu Tao sat on the ground in a daze. Hu Tao, who had turned black and white, seemed out of tune with this world.

"but."

"But what? Are there still some that haven't been burned, or have some been bought by others?"

Zhongli's words only made Hu Tao regain her spirits. Now Hu Tao believed Zhongli's words, and she just wanted not to lose too much.

"However, Master Hu, your burning of flammable materials was seen by Miss Keqing who came to pick up Ruojin. Miss Keqing asked me to tell you that you have to go to the General Affairs Department to pay the fine today."

"Huh? Ajin was taken back by Keqing?"

I am so confused. Hu Tao is confused. What is this? She burned her own homemade food in front of her house and was fined by Keqing. After all, it was her fault. But how come even Ruo Jin was taken back by Keqing? Did she lay the groundwork for a whole night and Keqing got the advantage? Is there still law? Is there still law?
"Zhongli, didn't you try to persuade me?"

"Master Hu, do you think the people in Wangsheng Hall will listen to you as the master or to me as a guest official?"

After hearing Zhongli's words, Hu Tao scratched her head embarrassedly. When scratching her head, Hu Tao suddenly found that a big lump had appeared on the back of her head without her knowing when, and it felt quite painful to touch.

"Zhongli, was this hall master hit by a club last night? Why is there such a big bump on the back of his head?"

When Zhongli heard Hu Tao asking about this, his heart skipped a beat. It seemed that he had indeed used too much force yesterday. However, if he had not knocked the man unconscious, the Wangsheng Hall would have been in danger.

"It may be that you were drunk last night and bumped into it accidentally. I'm not sure."

"After all, it was so dark last night, and we drank so much, so it's inevitable that we'll have some bumps and bruises."

Zhongli was very good at telling lies with his eyes open. After all his explanations, Hu Tao didn't notice any flaws. Just when Hu Tao was getting ready to pack up and go to Yuehai Pavilion to pay the fine, Ying came out of the room in her pajamas, rubbing her eyes. Seeing that Hu Tao was already dressed and ready to go out, Ying was stunned and said in surprise.

"Good morning, Hu Tao. I didn't expect that you would get up so early after Zhongli hit you so hard last night. It's incredible."

"But your alcohol tolerance is too poor, Little Walnut. You got drunk after just a few drinks. That's really lame."

After hearing what Ying said, Hu Tao also reacted. Oh my god, it turned out that it was this guy Zhongli who knocked her out. No wonder there was a big bump on the back of her head. So that's it. Okay, okay, you are so brave, Zhongli.

When Hu Tao turned around and wanted to have a good talk with Zhong Li, she found that Zhong Li, who was originally sitting on the chair, had already disappeared. Realizing that she had accidentally let the cat out of the bag, Ying smiled awkwardly. She had just woken up and her mind was still not clear. It seemed that she had accidentally tricked Zhong Li.

"Zhongli! If you have the guts, don't go back to the Hall of Rebirth!!!"

(End of this chapter)