Genshin Impact, I, a mere mortal, cannot accompany you to the very end.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt the situation was bad, realizing that her current situation was quite dangerous, but she couldn't figure out a solution, and could only think of glaring fiercely at the stinky fox in front of her.

Paimon imitated Ying, putting her hands on her hips and glaring fiercely at the stinky fox—of course, the clever Paimon was not as useless as Ying; as astute as she was, she had already come up with a plan to retaliate against the fox—Paimon had already conceived several nasty nicknames for him in her mind.

Thinking of this, she straightened her chest with inexplicable pride.

...Yae no Miko found it quite amusing to bully these two silly idiots in front of her, and it gave her a unique sense of accomplishment.

She might tease him, but she wouldn't actually do it—although she herself has no moral principles whatsoever, she still wouldn't resort to such underhanded and low-level competitive tactics as 'tattling'.

Of course, to be fair, kicking this blond guy out of Inazuma... she admits it's quite attractive.

She was thinking about something else.

If it were just a simple smuggling operation, would it be necessary to go to such lengths to send samurai to search house to house?

Her fox ears were very sensitive, and she had already heard more details about the street outside the window:

The summer rain had just stopped, and the puddles on the bluestone alley were still wet. You could faintly hear the sounds of footsteps on the puddles, the opening and closing of doors and windows, and the low voices of soldiers asking questions—all of which indicated that there were quite a few soldiers searching for these so-called 'smugglers'.

This level of search intensity doesn't seem like they're looking for illegal immigrants; it's more like they're issuing a 'wanted' warrant.

Yae no Miko easily deduced the truth.

Why issue a warrant for their arrest?

Yae no Miko had a vague sense of foreboding.

She subconsciously looked at Qing Nuoyan, who was chopping vegetables in front of the stove. The young man was focused on processing the ingredients in front of him, and the cool moonlight shone on his delicate profile through the gaps in the window.

"I didn't see it," she finally said, in that lazy tone, "Let's go, let's go."

"I apologize for disturbing you." The samurai bowed respectfully to the door of the tofu shop, and just as the divine child had said, he turned and left without any hesitation.

He didn't mention anything about searching the place.

—'Seino Tofu Shop' holds an unshakable sacred position not only in Konta Village, but also in the hearts of the entire Inatsuma, especially the Inatsuma samurai. No one would dare to offend this unremarkable tofu shop.

Of course, even if it wasn't this shop, he wouldn't dare to investigate Lord Miyaji... Since Lord Miyaji said he didn't see it, then so be it.

Yingcai waited until the samurai's shadow disappeared through the crack in the door, the soft sound of osmanthus leaves stepping on the cherry blossoms growing increasingly distant, until she was certain the samurai was completely gone. Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief.

"call...."

She patted her chest, looked at Miss Fox as if she were a weasel offering New Year's greetings to a chicken, and asked warily, "Why are you helping me?"

"Oh dear." Miss Yae no Miko, the weasel, rested her chin on her hand and stared at him with a smile. "I just thought of something even more fun."

Fun... Ying thinks that what this guy calls fun is definitely not a good thing.

The Divine Child ignored Ying, but waved to Qing Nuoyan from afar, "Little guy, come here for a moment~"

The little guy... Qing Nuoyan almost chopped the cutting board in half again; he was quite resistant to this new nickname.

But the fox udon noodles were ready again... He discovered that he had a talent for making this dish. Even though it was only his second time making it, it was already quite good. For some reason, looking at those two bowls of steaming udon, he would always think of a cold, lonely morning after a heavy snowfall.

"What's wrong?" Qing Nuoyan placed the slightly hot udon on the table between them, wiped imaginary sweat from her forehead, and asked, "Miss Yae, is something the matter now...?"

Actually, he was pretending to be confused. With such a loud commotion outside, he wasn't deaf; of course he could hear it.

Thankfully, Miss Yae didn't sell them.

"Call me Sister Fox," Yae no Miko said lazily.

Qing Nuoyan shook his head resolutely.

"Hey..." The fox stood up and called out, "Well, I seem to have a vague idea that there's something like this..."

“Sister Fox.” Qing Nuoyan nodded firmly.

...It was obvious that he noticed Ying's expression was becoming increasingly unpleasant.

"You're wanted." The Divine Child separated a pair of chopsticks, gently picked up a piece of fish tofu, put it in his mouth, and squinted comfortably. "It's 'wanted'."

"It can't be that bad..." Qing Nuoyan said, "You'd be wanted for not paying the toll...?"

"It shouldn't be related to toll fees."

Miss Fox's expression finally turned serious. "On the contrary, you should be glad that you're poor and haven't paid any fees, otherwise your information would have been found long ago."

"You should know that the only information they have about you is that you are from Liyue, and they don't even have a portrait of you."

"Ugh... Could it be because Paimon stole a whole basket of fish from the villagers?" Paimon exclaimed in surprise, belatedly realizing what had happened.

This guy can really eat.

Qingnuoyan wasn't particularly surprised that Paimon was stealing fish; he already had a clear and accurate understanding of the small creatures that were flexible with their moral boundaries. What surprised him was that this seemingly tiny little thing could eat a whole basketful! — It seemed that his understanding of the species called Paimon was still superficial.

Ignoring the little creature's quirks, Qing Nuoyan pondered, "Why are you issuing a warrant for my arrest?"

He simply couldn't understand what he had done wrong.

"I, Lord Suzukasa, don't know either—but perhaps this isn't a wanted notice, but rather [protection]."

Miss Fox replied, "Judging from the samurai's attire, he should be from the magistrate's side. Tomorrow, the Japanese chief priest will write a letter to Ayaka, the magistrate's subordinate, and then we'll know for sure."

"So, are you going to hand us over?" Qing Nuoyan asked tentatively.

His concerns were not unfounded. After all, he and Ying were strangers to Inazuma, while the fox lady in front of him was Inazuma's priest. Both in terms of sentiment and reason, he should cooperate with the magistrate's investigation.

That guy named Ayaka spoke so intimately; he must be her friend.

"No."

Yae no Miko answered quickly, leaning forward slightly. Her pure white sleeves slipped down, revealing her smooth, snow-white wrists, and her violet eyes reflected Qing Nuoyan's face:

"Sister Fox wants you to stay here."

"I won't tell anyone."

she said.

I will never let go again.

She wouldn't let go. She had missed so many things, missed the Lantern Festival, missed giving him the knitted scarf.

In the long years, we think there will always be a next time, time is eternal, but time waits for no one. Lightning flashes and after the thunder, only a vast, desolate field remains.

"Even Ayaka, the head of the company, didn't tell you?"

“Ayaka won’t tell either,” Yae no Miko said. “No one will know.”

Including...'shadow'.

Miss Ying was caught in the middle of them, gritting her teeth in anger.

If it weren't for the fact that this bad guy had something on her, Ying would have already lost her temper.

"Ahem." She coughed loudly, interrupting their conversation, and stared at Miss Fox with considerable vigilance, firing off a series of questions, "What is your purpose? Why do you want to help us? What do you intend to do?"

"My purpose is very simple."

The goddess glanced at Ying with a hint of disdain, and after a long while, she said lazily, "Running this shop is too tiring!"

"What?" Qing Nuoyan was somewhat surprised.

"Running this shop alone is too tiring." Miss Fox sprawled listlessly on the desk, her fluffy fox ears drooping slightly. "So tiring. I, Miyaji, can't manage alone..."

Seriously, I'm so tired.

She can't do it alone.

She was very tired.

“The little guy will stay here—as a cook—and run this shop with me, Lord Tsukasa, serving as free labor. This way, I, Lord Tsukasa, will gain labor, and you can also stay hidden in Inazuma. They won’t dare to investigate a shop run by the Pillar of the Nation.”

"I, Lord Tsukasa, can easily provide you with a fake identity. They've never seen your face before."

She listed out the benefits one by one, and also outlined the pros and cons of the relationship. She really wanted Qing Nuoyan to stay.

Miss Fox looked very serious, like a child laying out her precious toys one by one, saying to him, "All my toys are here, will you play with me?"

"Why are you looking for me?" Qing Nuoyan asked softly.

why...

"Cough cough."

The cool moonlight shone in Miss Fox's eyes. She looked up at the window frame, and mimicking what the old man had once said, she raised her swan-like neck and said in a pretentious manner:

"You've already mastered eighty percent of my skills, so I'm very confident in entrusting the shop to you. I'm the boss, and you're the employee; an employee should listen to the boss."

She looked up at the moon and spoke in such a deep and mature tone, while secretly watching Qing Nuoyan's expression out of the corner of her eye, like a pink-furred cat eyeing a dried fish.

“My shop is right here. It’s not big, with three tables and thirty bowls and plates, that’s all. I only sell tofu and make udon noodles. I have twenty or thirty customers every day – that’s all.”

Her long, pale pink hair was adorned with a hair crown, the end of which was tied with a red string. A slightly chilly night breeze swept through the windowpane, and the red string and strands of hair were scattered in the cool moonlight, the moonlight flowing like water between the ends of her hair.

"Little one, would you like to run this little shop with me?"

...In this situation, even if I don't want to, I can't...I'm wanted by the authorities.

Moreover, looking at the earnest Miss Fox... for some reason... he couldn't bring himself to refuse.

“Alright…” he nodded, “Stay here and help out at this shop until you’ve washed the filth off your clothes…”

“However,” Qing Nuoyan said, “since you’ve taken me in, why not keep Ying here too? Oh, and Paimon as well, they can all be of help.”

Qing Nuoyan was telling the truth; they could all help with opening the shop.

Ying is quite good at cooking; she can already skillfully use seasonings to cook ingredients. Lia sleeps in the salt ruler and can make seasonings, while Paimon... Paimon can be used as an ingredient.

Yes, they're all quite useful.

This was his true feeling; they wanted to travel together.

Miss Ying relaxed slightly when she saw Qing Nuoyan's murderous gaze. She gave a soft hum and revealed a 'you know what's good for you' expression.

Tsk.

Miss Fox clicked her tongue lightly, though the meaning behind it was unclear, and said, "Alright, Miss Yellow Hair will be in charge of chores."

"I'm not! Yellow Hair!" Ying was beyond furious.

"Yay! The restaurant's open!"

Paimon happily stomped her feet, completely unaware that her role in the restaurant was that of a 'backup ingredient'. For little Paimon, running a restaurant together was a very happy thing—there were so many delicious things to enjoy.

Tonight was noisy and seemed very long.