Didn't you go to Teyvat to earn money to support me?

"Does the customer like this pattern? Is it for furniture? Or roof beams? This pattern starts at 500,000 Mora if it's decorated with gold, and 50,000 if it's decorated with silver, so it's not too expensive." The gray-haired carpenter looked up from his focused carving work, and his eyes widened in surprise at the person in front of him.

The newcomer was a noblewoman with flowing blonde hair, dressed in a light, thin white dress. Her face was veiled with an opaque white gauze, but the mere glimpse of her delicate, fair chin was enough to reveal her stunning beauty. Fortunately, the carpenter was old; he simply smiled at the woman examining the furniture.

"So expensive?" Nabu was taken aback, then looked at the intricate patterns on the slab.

Although it was just a sample, the material slab looked beautifully translucent in the sunlight, a sky-blue-white color with a faint golden glow. The pattern was an abstract wolf totem, a golden wolf, the color appearing and disappearing, perhaps because the gold lines used to engrave the lines were too thin, so it appeared elegant and refined, without any of the worldly feel of gold.

"This little bit of gold costs 500,000 Mora?" Nabu laughed.

Forget about its value, the gold content in 500,000 Mora is more than the gold required for this design.

“Gold has a price, but jade is priceless, sir,” the carpenter said with a smile. “It has nothing to do with gold. This slab is made of Liyue’s Azure Jade. Liyue produces jade of better quality than Sumeru. Such pure jade is rare. Even if you only want this tabletop, it will cost 500,000. Larger pieces of wood will be even more expensive, and the larger they are, the more they will increase.”

"Oh?"

"I am both a carpenter and a jade craftsman. You'll understand the principle that the larger and purer the jade, the more expensive it is if you ask around. This Azure Jade has an interesting origin. It is said that a celestial star once crashed into a deep abyss of rocks, and the fragments that the star shattered were made of this jade. It is extremely hard, and its color is a clear blue-white, so much so that it doesn't even look like a stone. Therefore, the people of Liyue mined it all out hundreds of years ago, and there isn't much left. Moreover, it is quite difficult to process this jade. In Sumeru City, you won't find any other craftsman besides me."

“That is indeed rare,” Nabu said, looking at the Azure Jade and touching it. It was not as smooth and warm as jade; on the contrary, it was harder than gold and stone. “I remember that the celestial star that crashed into the abyss of layered rocks fled the earth thousands of years ago during the war between the demon gods. Hmm, the remaining piece is a good item, and the price is not unreasonable.”

The carpenter smiled and cleared his throat: "So the customer is a connoisseur. Jade like this is rare and precious. Seeing that the customer has been staring at it for so long and likes it so much, I certainly won't ask for a low price."

"Do you think I like to blackmail you?"

The carpenter shook his head. “I can tell that the customer must be from an extremely distinguished family, not lacking in Mora. You like this jade and my craftsmanship, so naturally you are willing to pay a high price. I am just stating the price in the customer's mind. Besides, if I quote too low a price, wouldn't it make you seem like you have a poor eye? Jade is priceless; whether it is good or not depends on your taste. If you like it, it is worth it. Conversely, no matter how good the jade is, if you don't like it, it won't sell for a Mora.”

Nabu appreciated the carpenter's answer; she certainly never misjudged her own judgment.

"I have heard that jade can house a person's soul."

“There is indeed such a saying in Liyue: jade nourishes the person and the soul,” the carpenter said calmly. “But to put it bluntly, it’s just a way to express those deepest thoughts in one’s heart. If you give someone jade, and you’re no longer here, they will remember you when they see the jade. Or if they’re no longer here, and you look at the jade, you will still remember them. It’s all wishful thinking. In the end, even Azure Jade is just a stone. Besides, who knows whether it can harbor a soul or not?”

Nabu smiled slightly as she walked along the path of the house, surrounded by magnificent and exquisite furniture. Wood chips on the ground fluttered and rose with the movement of her skirt, and fine dust particles could be seen floating in the sunlight.

The long tables of Mondstadt banquets, the rustic octagonal armchairs of Liyue, the incense burners common in the homes of the Grand Bazaar, and the simple benches stacked in layers. The carpenters also took on jade work; rows of crystal-clear stair railings were inserted into the wooden stairs leading to the second floor. Nabu touched them one by one, then turned around and stood by the window, gazing absently at the street outside.

The carpenter glanced at her and wanted to remind her that her long hair dragging on the ground was inconvenient in a place full of sawdust, but the woman's gorgeous golden-red hair was spotless.

He had lived a long life and had seen many extraordinary beings. Although he sensed that this woman's identity was probably not simple, he just smiled.

"The customer has been looking around for a long time. What would you like to have made? A table? A cabinet? Or a bed frame?"

Nabu snapped out of her thoughts and shook her head. "I'm not interested in those things. What I value is the quality of the Canglan jade. It's absolutely gorgeous. I've never seen such a beautiful material before. So, I'm going to use that material to make a coffin."

"A coffin!?" The carpenter was stunned. "Making a coffin out of jade? That is indeed a difficult process... No wonder the customer asked earlier if it could house a soul. But making a pure jade coffin is not as simple as just making a table or bed board. I would have to use up all the large pieces of Canglan jade I have saved up over the years. The price is not an ordinary number. If the customer insists, perhaps... I would have to come up with a hundred million to make it convincing."

Without hesitation, Nabu raised her hand, and the golden sandalwood table beside her was neatly filled with gold coins. Teyvat's Mora comes in different materials: coins with clay, copper, and iron as their core are worth 1 Mora, coins with jade and silver as their core are worth 100 Mora, and coins with gold as their core are worth 10000 Mora. The gold coins were stacked up, reflecting the sunlight, and were almost dazzlingly golden.

The splashing sound, like water being poured, instantly attracted many neighbors. They looked up and were almost blinded by the sight of a whole table of Mora. The whole street was filled with gasps of surprise.

"Here's two hundred million. Use your skills to craft a coffin made of Canglan jade," Nabu said calmly. "It must be able to preserve a corpse, the kind that won't decay for a thousand years. If you need any materials, you can apply directly to the Order of the Church, regardless of conditions or cost. But I need it in two days."

Two days… that’s an unbelievable demand for making a coffin, but with a whopping two hundred million Mora at stake, the carpenter couldn’t bring himself to refuse. He figured he could just give out a portion of the money and call back all the apprentices outside to fight this battle! Clearly, this woman who could so easily command even the Order of the Church was absolutely powerful and influential.

But the carpenter couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you afraid... I'll run off with the money?"

Even if he had ten times the courage, he wouldn't run away. This woman's status was so high, and her personal power was probably very strong. After all, no one could see where she pulled out all that money from the table.

Nabu chuckled, casually forming a knife with her fingers, and her slender middle finger sliced ​​across the rows of neatly stacked gold coins. What happened next made everyone's eyes widen: every gold coin she touched snapped off from the top, the entire stack neatly cut in two from top to bottom!

Two hundred million gold coins were arranged in more than a dozen rows. Nabu then nimbly sliced ​​through them more than a dozen times. Even after all the gold coins were cut open, they did not collapse and remained neatly stuck together.

“The severely damaged Mora cannot be exchanged. Once you finish the job, I will get a note from the Order of the Church, and then you can take these half-cents to the Order of the Church to exchange for whole coins,” Nabu said casually. “You just need to figure out how to finish it within two days, and the money is all yours.”

The carpenter nodded in agreement. Seeing that Nabu seemed about to turn and leave, he quickly asked, "Did the customer order this coffin as a work of art or for actual use?"

This needs to be clarified. Using such expensive jade to make a coffin shows their immense wealth, which requires extreme caution. After all, coffins are considered auspicious in some places, and this one is made of both jade and gold—what kind of art piece would be worthy of being displayed? And what kind of person would be allowed to use such a coffin?

Nabu stopped, absentmindedly running her fingers through her long, radiant golden-red hair, and looked up at the sky, seemingly lost in thought.

After a long while, she tilted her head and smiled rather charmingly, "It's my token of love."

"A pledge of love?" The carpenter and the neighbors along the way were all taken aback.

“Of course, after all, he’s a kid who loves coffins and is always carrying one with him.” Nabu smiled warmly. “Giving him what he likes is naturally a token of our love. He’ll definitely be happy to receive such a special gift, because no one but me would ever give him a coffin… This is a unique expression of love.”

The carpenter fell silent, unable to comment on Nabu's reasoning. He could also guess who Nabu was referring to; after all, the boy's news had recently spread throughout the Seven Kingdoms, his image too striking: a handsome young man with white hair and white robes, always carrying a coffin as tall as two people, one of the few legitimate newly ascended gods in the Seven Gods system.

Thinking about it this way, the woman's identity...

“Oh, right.” Nabu, who had already walked quite a distance away, suddenly turned around. “I really like the wolf you sculpted, but it needs to be a bit more naive, a bit cuter, a bit more greedy. After all, although it came on strong, it is still just a little wolf that hasn’t been weaned. A little wolf should be picked up and rubbed and squeezed properly.”

Watching the woman's alluringly upturned eyes, the carpenter silently lowered his head, unable to help but imagine the young man who had single-handedly dominated the battlefield of the towering abyss. That little fellow, simultaneously known as the "Battlefield Princess" and the "Bad Boy of Ji Palace," a mere child demon god not even twenty years old—had he already been targeted by gods from other nations?

She is still the most insane and unruly one, the ruler of the mad and the foolish, the queen of the Holy Spirit, the goddess of beauty, the goddess of flowers.

“Our gods of Mount Sumeru eat people without spitting out the bones,” the carpenter murmured.

------------

Alice clung tightly to the pillow beneath her, barely managing to keep herself from collapsing onto the bed. Her blonde hair was disheveled, and her back was covered in sweat. The bright red stigma on her back gradually returned to normal as she breathed heavily, changing from bright red to a gleaming sheen.

Shen Liang looked up at the ceiling, the golden light that had been flashing like flames in his eyes gradually dimmed, and the backlash pain in his body slowly subsided. Only when he was sure that everything was alright did he breathe a sigh of relief.

But instead of leaving immediately to take a shower, he leaned forward and gently hugged Alice, who was still trembling.

With their warm skin touching, Alice turned her head and glared at him fiercely, both frightened and dissatisfied. But when she saw Shen Liang's slightly guilty expression, she chuckled and simply raised her chin.

Shen Liang understood, and gently moved closer to kiss the blonde witch.

"Liang'er, you really like kissing, huh?" Alice teased after they separated. "When in doubt, you kiss a girl. Is that your first reaction when dealing with problems?"

“…” Shen Liang hesitated for a moment.

Alice clicked her tongue. "It really is."

"In fact, I haven't systematically studied how to interact with the opposite sex, but in my experience, no matter what problems exist between people who like each other, they can be resolved by simply rushing over and kissing each other."

“In a way, that’s true…” Alice lay on the pillow. “You could even say it has nothing to do with your overly cute appearance. Even for ordinary couples from ordinary families, a kiss can solve 99% of the problems without any explanation.”

"Humans are amazing, aren't they?"

"Hmph, that's because we women have spoiled you men!" Alice nuzzled against her like a caterpillar, knocking the boy who was talking on her back off. Then she rolled over and glanced at Shen Liang's gradually cooling body. "Don't keep hugging me, it's too hot. Are you using us to cool down because my body temperature and Gan Yu's body temperature are lower than yours, who always has a fever?"

Shen Liang thought to himself, "Then I might as well crawl into the coffin. Sister Yu Tu's body temperature is minus seventy or eighty. Isn't her cooling ability much better than the two of you?"

But these words could not be said to Alice, who had been taking care of him with all her heart, or even to Gan Yu, who had been caring for him until he fell into a deep sleep.

After his memory returned, his emotional intelligence improved significantly.

"If this backlash isn't over by now, I really can't help you... I'm about to fall apart." Alice glanced at Gan Yu, who was sleeping soundly, and pouted. "That little Qilin is really weak and helpless, relying entirely on me for support... Hey, do you Easterners have some kind of misunderstanding? We Mondstadt people may look a bit bigger, but we are still delicate girls who need to be cherished! Not some indestructible little or big foreign horse!"

Shen Liang smiled, turned to face the full-length mirror of the hotel wardrobe next to her, and started to tie up her now disheveled, hip-length white hair. It used to only reach her waist, but because she hadn't had time to style it in so long, it now reached her buttocks. She could only tie it into a high ponytail; the long, straight white hair that used to fall naturally now tucked under her thighs because of her sitting posture.

Seeing the little wildcat's feigned innocent smile, Alice couldn't keep making a fuss. She said lazily, "Aren't you going to take a bath first?"

"I can control the water flow, so I can tie my hair up first and then take a shower, it won't delay me," Shen Liang said.

"What I mean is, you should hurry up and get some hot water, darling," Alice said helplessly, jumping off the bed and pinching the little guy's cheek hard. "Have you forgotten that we still need to go to the market to buy some gifts as a token of our appreciation? Are you going to meet the Three Gods of Sumeru empty-handed?"

Chapter Three: My Child with Liang'er

If you travel from Liyue to the Temple of Sumeru by land, you will naturally pass through Sumeru City, which is very close to Liyue.

Although it is the capital of Sumeru, the gods of Sumeru do not reside within the city to receive the worship of the people. The city is mostly governed by the Council of Religion. The gods rarely appear in the mortal world, often hiding at the boundary between the rainforest and the yellow sand, where their temples are located.

To be precise, Sumeru City is located in the lush rainforest of the entire country, with favorable geographical conditions that facilitate the governance of the nation. Going north from Sumeru City along the river leads directly to the sea, where the port of Omos is a major city, economically prosperous and with frequent commercial activity. Neither Sumeru City nor Omos Port directly interacts with the gods.

Therefore, although the gods of Sumeru rule this kingdom, they do not interact much with humans. In fact, one could say that even the Council of the Order must travel to the temple to receive their instructions. The temple is a two-day journey from Sumeru City. It is because of this that the Tree King of Sumeru developed the "Void Terminal." The Void Terminal can ensure communication from top to bottom, so that even if they are separated by thousands of miles, the sages of Sumeru City can still carry out the country's development plan according to the gods' will.

However, for Shen Liang, a two-day journey could be completed in a single day. He could grant Gan Yu the speed to instantly grant her power; they would depart tomorrow morning and arrive at the Jue Wang Palace by tomorrow afternoon. That was the place of pilgrimage for the Sumeru people, where it was said three deities resided.

But due to his pitiful physical condition, Shen Liang arrived at Sumeru City in the afternoon, and then stayed in the room with the two girls until the moon rose before he was willing to come out.

Unlike Jigong Palace, there was no food delivery service here. After a whole afternoon of running around, even Shen Liang was starving. After comforting Alice, he took her out to find something to eat on the street.

Alice sipped the rice wine in her glass. The taste was unlike anything from Liyue Mondstadt; it had a peculiar sweetness and wasn't particularly intoxicating. She glanced at Shen Liang across the table, who had finished his fried pork chop. Shen Liang didn't speak, but silently gazed out the window at the pedestrians and vehicles outside the restaurant.

Although it was night, Sumeru City was a city of scholars with a relatively high level of culture on the continent, and every household had lights at night, and the streets were brightly lit.

The shop was dark, probably to save money, but the warm glow of the streetlights outside shone through the window, illuminating Shen Liang's delicate and perfect face, making her look like a dignified and gentle girl.

Alice was lost in thought when she suddenly became annoyed and leaned over to shout in his ear, "Hey!"

The noise was so loud that it drew the attention of customers from all directions in the restaurant. They saw a handsome young man lost in thought and a slender, plump woman who looked angry. Next to them stood a large rectangular object wrapped in cloth, which looked like some kind of building material.

Perhaps surprised by her appearance, the tavern was quiet for a moment, but then a slight discussion began again. In a place like a tavern where all sorts of people mingle, Alice's outstanding mature beauty was indeed very alluring.

"What are you thinking about? Lately, you've become less and less adorable, kid. I feel like you're spending more and more time in silence, and you're not like a child anymore." Alice rested her chin on her hand, looking him over. "I feel like you've become much more proactive. You used to just go with the flow, but now you have so many things to do."

"..."

"Kid?"

This conversation was overheard by some other guests who had noticed Alice, or rather, wanted to strike up a conversation with her, which was somewhat disappointing. Although she was a beautiful woman, she turned out to be a woman with a child, making her less of an easy target for conversation.

"Try calling me that again?" Shen Liang smiled sweetly. "Dear Alice."

Alice pursed her lips, no longer daring to indulge in her rant.

Actually, it wasn't just her; Fanan Ganyu had also talked to her privately. They both felt awkward calling their barely 1.5-meter-tall boyfriend "darling," "brother," or "husband," especially in public. So most of the time, they called him "Liang'er."

However, if you were to ask them what they most wanted to call Shen Liang in the darkest corner of their hearts, it would definitely not be any of these names. Rather, it would be something that would greatly satisfy their twisted vanity: the kind of nicknames that Shen Liang would find most unacceptable, like "baby" or "darling," which are inexplicably a generation below him in terms of affection.

"But that's just how girls are," Mistelin whispered in his mind. "It's not just boys who claim to be the other person's father; girls do it too."

"I rarely see them as mother and daughter," Shen Liang retorted.