He changed Tiwat

The Mora meat dish made by "Chief Steward" is crispy on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside, so delicious that one bite is enough to make you fall in love with it.

To protect her voice, Yun Jin rarely eats greasy dishes, but she highly praised this dish: "The Mora meat made by Uncle Xiao has a legendary deliciousness that makes people unwilling to pick up Mora even when it is right in front of them."

The smug "Chief Steward" even told them about the history of this Mora meat.

It is said that when Tianquan Star Ningguang was still a little girl, she also worked odd jobs at the shipyard. After eating the Mora meat of Chief Steward Xiao, she pestered him to teach her this craft.

Ningguang, who later became a famous food critic, once showed off her skills at a banquet during the Lunar Festival. Her dish, "Qiankun Mora Meat," amazed everyone present, who wondered where the high and mighty Lord Tianquan had learned this skill.

And now, everyone present knows the answer.

Xin Yan proudly boasted to everyone about her "food paradise": "I wasn't lying to you, was I? The food at the Liyue Harbor Shipping Company is absolutely delicious! It's very oily and there's plenty of meat. Although there are only a few dishes, I never get tired of eating it! If you ask me, just to try their lunch, it's worth working a day at the shipping company!"

“I’m not a picky eater, but I hate bland, watery dishes. Salty is salty, spicy is spicy, and I only enjoy eating when it’s flavorful! Even if there’s only enough ingredients to make a ‘Pearl Jade White Jade Soup,’ I’ll prepare a dry dipping sauce beforehand. The dishes at our shipping company are just right for my taste.”

—Not only was the pay good, but meals were also provided, and the food was especially delicious. That was Xin Yan's sole reason for working as a helper at the shipping company.

As a civil servant in Liyue, Han Fulai knew very well that working at the Shipyard was a tough job—so tough that civil servants often submitted reports to be transferred out of the Shipyard.

The wages were low, there was little rest, and they had to stand in the wind and sun all day long in the dock, their hair smelling of seawater.

This is still clerical work involving inspection and management, where you don't have to do the actual work yourself.

As a helper, Xin Yan naturally had to get involved in shipbuilding, carrying timber, polishing parts, climbing up and down scaffolding... these were all her tasks. These tasks would exhaust even strong men, let alone Xin Yan, who was just a teenage girl.

Beneath her cheerful exterior lies a life full of hardship.

The rock and roll dream she pursued didn't really have much fertile ground to thrive in Liyue.

Xin Yan's concerts are different from Yun Jin's Liyue Theater concerts; they don't have a permanent venue—so naturally, there's no ticket revenue.

From the stage and costumes to the special effects, everything was paid for by Xin Yan herself. Her art couldn't bring her any income, so she often had to work several jobs to support her pursuit of art.

Not only is the rock and roll art industry struggling to survive, but she herself is also having a very difficult time living in Liyue Harbor.

Yun Jin once told Han Fulai and the others about her first encounter with Xin Yan. At that time, Xin Yan was very surprised that Yun Jin would become her fan and bluntly asked her, "Aren't you afraid of me?"

In Xin Yan's opinion, a traditional girl like Yun Jin should dislike her.

Or rather, she knew that most people in Liyue disliked her.

She confided to Yun Jin in private, "Sigh, some people say my eyes are like knives, I don't dress properly, and I don't speak politely. They avoid me whenever they see me. Sigh, it's really... It's just a different style, I'm not some monster..."

"Rock music originated in Fontaine, so it's relatively new. However, it's not very popular in Liyue. Most people find it noisy and don't like listening to it. So, I'm very grateful to everyone who comes to listen to me sing, haha."

Logically speaking, few people could persevere under such circumstances; most would have given up long ago. But Xin Yan seems undeterred by any setbacks, tirelessly striving to spread the charm of rock and roll to the public.

What she's doing now, to put it metaphorically, is like trying to grow a forest in the desert, like trying to transform saline-alkali land into fertile fields, like trying to implement human rule in a country ruled by gods...

So Han Fulai was very curious.

"Miss Xin Yan, may I ask you? What sustains you on your path of rock and roll?"

Although the atmosphere didn't seem suitable for discussing this topic, Han Fulai still asked.

Xin Yan didn't find it strange.

She casually patted the hand drum at her waist, playing a light and cheerful melody. The fiery red Eye of God embedded in the hand drum immediately shone brightly.

"Because the eternal theme of rock and roll is 'rebellion'."

“What I want to rebel against is not a physical object, but a kind of shackle called ‘prejudice’.”

"Don't you think changing other people's prejudices is a 'rock and roll' thing?"

Xin Yan knew that there was no fertile ground for rock music in Liyue. If she wanted the people here to accept her music, she had to create the soil in which music could grow.

If people don't even know that "rock and roll" exists, how can we talk about its development and growth?

Creating something from nothing is the hardest part; the first step is to make it eye-catching enough.

She immersed herself in the world of music, searching for ways to move people's hearts.

She broke many instruments and developed calluses on her hands... but the results were still unsatisfactory.

"Who wants to listen to something so noisy!"

—This is already considered a very gentle evaluation.

Xin Yan's parents were staunch opponents of rock music.

Like all parents in the world, Xin Yan's parents also hoped that their daughter would become successful.

Although life in the farm was poor, her parents still gave her the best of everything: the best food, the best clothes, and things that they themselves couldn't bear to use. They hoped that this "little sparrow" could transform into a shining "phoenix."

Of course, this "phoenix" must be exactly what they envision.

To put it simply, she's like the kind of city ladies you see when you go to the market in Liyue Harbor.

She is knowledgeable, gentle, and lovely; she is likable to look at. She will surely find a tall, handsome, wealthy "sycamore tree" to climb to the top and become a phoenix.

However, things didn't go as planned. Xin Yan was much taller than the average girl, and her appearance was not at all like the soft and cute type.

A girl's natural bone structure and facial features cannot be changed, but if she learns cooking, housework, needlework, and other skills well, she will always have the opportunity to enter a wealthy family. Therefore, her parents went around asking people to teach her these skills.

Unfortunately, Xin Yan couldn't do any of these things well when he was a child.

Although the parents were disappointed, they also felt that this was reasonable. A sparrow's offspring is still a sparrow, and it's not surprising that it can't become a phoenix.

Having accepted their daughter's ordinariness, Xin Yan's parents returned to helping her with farm work—until the family moved to Liyue Harbor. In Liyue Harbor, Xin Yan encountered an event that would change her life forever.

That day at the market in Liyue Harbor, Xin Yan met a musician from Fontaine.

Despite being called a musician, he looked no different from a street vendor selling sunset fruit when he stood by the roadside—because there was a fruit stall right next to him.

The instrument he was holding was also very strange; it was a musical instrument that Xin Yan had never seen before—Xin Yan later learned that it was called a guitar.

The musician was playing and singing by the roadside, but few people in Liyue Harbor stopped to listen to him. Everyone was too busy to listen to a foreigner singing tunes they couldn't understand.

But Xin Yan, the little listener, was captivated by the melody and stayed there all day, imprinting the song in her mind until her parents pulled her away.

Xin Yan only managed to get the song's name from the Fontaine musician—who told her in broken Liyue language that it was called "Rock".

The music and the singing ignited a fire in young Xin Yan's heart.

This girl, whose name contains the character for "fire," seems to have a natural affinity for passionate and unrestrained flames.

From then on, Xin Yan formed an indissoluble bond with rock and roll.

She started practicing singing, but instead of traditional Liyue opera, she sang strange tunes that her family couldn't understand.

Xin Yan's parents were very worried about this. In order to dissuade her daughter from singing, her mother told her that people who sing well either come from a family of opera performers and are born with the ability to sing, or they have drunk a precious spring called "Hanshan Ganquan" and received the blessing of the spring spirit.

"Those birds can only sing melodious songs because they've drunk from the mountaintop spring. Look at our family, no one has ever liked to sing, so how can you possibly sing well?"

Her mother thought that such a lie would be enough to appease the child.

To everyone's surprise, Xin Yan's reaction was—

"Then I can go drink this spring water too, right? Mom, I'm going out for a bit!"

Then she searched in the mountains all day long. Her father later mobilized the whole village to search for her for most of the night before they finally found her in the mountains.

Although he didn't find that magical spring, Xin Yan's passion for rock and roll remained undiminished.

She began learning various crafts—not to become a good bride who could marry into a wealthy family, but to make musical instruments and build stages. Then she began to stand on the stage she built herself, playing the instruments she made herself and singing the rock songs she wrote.

This behavior has certainly caused a lot of trouble for the surrounding neighbors.

Her first performance on stage was shooed off the stage by her neighbor with a broom.

"Get down here! You can't set up a stage here! If you can't sing, don't sing. Why are you trying to put on a show like other people? Honestly."

Her parents were naturally very troubled by this, and even mobilized the neighbors to persuade her.

For example, Uncle Zhu from across the street would always grumble a few words whenever he saw her: "I say, Xin Yan, how can a young girl like you play such a crude musical instrument?"

For example, when Sister Jixiang next door sees her, she'll greet her: "Xinyan, your mother said she'd like me to teach you embroidery when I have time. Hehe, that's called a refined hobby. When are you coming to my house?"

Haibo, the one who chased her away with a broom, was even more blunt: "It's so noisy! Stop playing the piano by the roadside! If you absolutely have to play, can't you at least play something respectable?"

— Repeatedly receiving such negative comments made Xin Yan consider giving up.

That was a lantern festival several years ago.

Xin Yan ran into the mountains, to a place where there were no people and no harsh words.

Sitting atop Mount Tianheng, overlooking Liyue Harbor at night.

Liyue Harbor is a bustling commercial port that never sleeps, and its lights are especially dazzling during the Lantern Festival.

The lanterns lit by every household slowly rose into the sky, transforming the sky above Liyue Harbor into a sea of ​​lights.

The firelight illuminated the streets, but it couldn't ignite the "rock and roll spirit" of this commercial metropolis in her eyes.

She also thought about running away to a place where people appreciate rock music...

But this kind of thing is too "unrock and roll".

In her view, this is a form of escapism, contrary to the inherent rebellious spirit of rock and roll.

I've heard that the Sky Lanterns were lit to commemorate the heroes who sacrificed themselves for Liyue.

The people of Liyue often say "the torch is passed on when the flame is extinguished," which speaks to the legacy passed down among heroes.

She also wanted to live like a blazing fire.

—She not only wants to stay, but also wants to become a true "fire" that can illuminate Liyue Harbor.

She began experimenting with using fire to awe people, adding sparks and explosions to her musical performances.

But for ordinary people, controlling flames is easier said than done.

During training, she burned her fingers and blew her instruments away countless times, but she still persisted in practicing on Tianheng Mountain every day.

Perhaps even the gods are looking forward to some entirely new form of music sweeping across the seven kingdoms of the mortal world...

During one practice session, the scorching hot "Eye of God" became the finishing touch, bringing the painting to life.

Xin Yan ran down the mountain and held her first rock concert in Liyue Harbor.

Xin Yan never follows the rules when she plays; anything can become her instrument. The pillars on the stage, the floor, the cheers and shouts of the audience, and even the sparks and explosions of the Eye of God can all become the finishing touches in her rock music.

Upon witnessing Xin Yan's performance for the first time, and seeing the "Eye of God" ignite the stage, Wang Banzi, a shipyard employee who was both frightened and excited, suddenly shouted loudly—

"It's on fire!"

He wasn't just talking about the stage, but also about his own heart.

Xin Yan's musical journey began here.

Chapter 326 Never Compromise Until Old Age (Bonus Chapter 18/20)

Xin Yan rarely talks about her own story. Even her good friend Yun Jin was hearing Xin Yan talk about her past experiences for the first time.

For a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl, these things are clearly not a burden she should bear at her age.

Because Xin Yan's parents and elders are involved, it is even more difficult for outsiders to comment.

As a result, the atmosphere in the shipyard's kitchen became somewhat silent for a moment.

Xin Yan, on the other hand, revealed a carefree smile.

She clapped her hands and said, "If 'prejudice' is something that can be so easily overturned, then there is no point in resisting it. I believe that rock and roll is like a seed, and after a performance, it will always take root and sprout in the hearts of two or three people."

"See, now I have you as a good friend, don't I?"

Xin Yan raised his hand and touched the iron hair tie on his head. As if remembering something, he took out two exquisitely crafted cloth dolls from his body and handed them to Yun Jin.

“Last time on my birthday, Yun Jin, you specially asked your family to make these two iron hair ties for me, and I really liked them. I’ve been thinking of doing something for you.”

"Look, this is an embroidery I specially made. I referenced the dolls in Fontainebleau and tattooed the two of us on it. Isn't it adorable?"

It is indeed a very cute plush toy.

The rag dolls are embroidered with Q-version images of Yun Jin and Xin Yan, dancing hand in hand. Both dolls have happy smiles on their faces, which makes people smile involuntarily when they see them.

All three of them immediately focused their attention on Xin Yan's face.

"Hey... why are you looking at me like that? Is it strange that I can embroider?"

Xin Yan scratched his cheek, a blush rising from his dark face.

Girls should learn needlework and cooking; girls shouldn't play rock music; girls should obediently listen to their parents and become good wives and mothers when they grow up...

Because her childhood was dominated by the deepest prejudices, Xin Yan was able to understand just how terrible prejudices can be.

Embroidery used to be something she hated the most.