Walnut used me to boost her sales performance.

Kaiya leaned lazily against the bar, casually tossing a Mora in his hand, waiting to taste the new cocktail made by the lovely bartender.

Upon seeing Jiang Bai, he reached out and greeted him.

"Hey, my good brother, what brings you here?"

Jiang Bai casually put his arm around his shoulder, "Of course I've come to visit my good brother."

These two people who keep calling themselves good brothers, I wonder if there's even a shred of real affection in their relationship.

"Huh—" Jiang Bai noticed the little bartender behind the bar.

The young bartender looked very young, only a little older than Klee. She had two cat ears on her head, stood on a stool, and her cat tail swayed behind her.

Although Jiang Bai had seen cat ears on their heads in Liyue, those were not hair accessories, but simply cat ear hairstyles. Now that he saw real cat ears and tails, he couldn't help but take a second look.

Diona's face was a little sour as she pushed the freshly mixed drink, which contained all sorts of strange seasonings, towards Kaya.

Kaiya took the drink with great interest, sipped it, and exclaimed in admiration, "Diona's bartending skills are getting better and better!"

Jiang Bai had just seen clearly that a lot of strange things had been added to this drink, such as lizard tails and octopus ink. How could a drink made like this taste good?

Diona was not happy at all about Kaiya's praise; in fact, she was even more annoyed.

She puffed out her cheeks, looking sullen.

Kaiya tossed the Mora in his hand onto the table. "Give my good brother a Diona Special."

Putting away the Mora, Diona, sulking, resignedly continued mixing drinks.

Seeing Jiang Bai's curiosity, Kaeya gave a brief introduction: "This is Diona. Don't let her young age fool you, she's the most popular bartender in Mondstadt."

"How can someone so young work in a bar?"

Jiang Bai initially thought that the girl with the cat tail was just young-looking but actually an adult, but he didn't expect that she really was a child.

Letting a child work in a bar environment, the parents of this child must be incredibly careless.

Or is this child an orphan who has to support himself by bartending?

“If you have the ability, why not?” Kaiya retorted.

Jiang Bai fell silent.

Why can't minors drink alcohol in Teyvat, but they can hire child laborers?

Still in this chaotic tavern environment...

Jiang Bai felt somewhat confused for a moment.

Chapter 324 is too hurtful to my good brother!

"But isn't it dangerous for someone so young to work in a pub? What if someone gets drunk and causes trouble...?"

Kaiya took a sip of his drink, smacked his lips in admiration, and said, "Don't underestimate Diona! Once Diona gets angry, even I wouldn't be able to handle her..."

Even he has been bitten by a cat before.

Jiang Bai's gaze fell on the Eye of God at Diona's waist. Oh, so she's the holder of the Eye of God.

It's still the Ice-type God's Eye.

"Hmph! Your [Diona Special], I hope that after drinking this, you can give up drinking!" Diona pushed the prepared drink in front of Jiang Bai with a sour face.

Jiang Bai stared at the octopus tentacle stuck in the wine glass, remaining unresponsive for a long time.

He saw it very clearly just now; there were a lot of strange things added to the drink. Is this concoction really drinkable?

Also, as a bartender, why would you want him to quit drinking?

How come someone as handsome as him looks like an alcoholic?

"Don't worry! Diona's cocktails are never bad!" Kaia gestured for him to drink without worry.

Jiang Bai saw that he didn't seem to be lying, so he picked up his wine glass and took a small sip.

The slightly cool liquor collided between their lips and teeth, and Jiang Bai's eyes lit up.

"That's great!"

Jiang Bai was immediately filled with admiration for this young bartender!

Hearing the praise, Diona's face turned even uglier.

Seeing that the young bartender was even more unhappy after hearing his praise, Jiang Bai scratched his head blankly and looked to Kaiya for help.

Kaiya shrugged, giving a helpless look.

"Don't ask me, even our famous Diluc can't get a good deal with Diona!"

"All right......"

Jiang Bai was somewhat curious, but not really. Seeing that the young bartender didn't want to talk to him, he didn't want to make a fool of himself.

He sat on the high stool, turned his wine glass to face Kaeya, and asked curiously, "Speaking of which, what exactly is your relationship with Lord Diluc?"

His relationship with Diluc is really strange; he even uses Diluc as a metaphor when making comparisons.

Jiang Bai was genuinely curious about this question, but neither Kaeya nor Diluc would tell him.

Kaiya curled her lips into a smile and uttered two words, "Guess."

Jiang Bai: "..."

Never mind, he'll just ask Abedo next time.

The amazing Abedo must have known.

Without elaborating on the topic, Jiang Bai brought up the important matter.

"The main reason I came here this time is to find an expert on the Qiuqiu language. I said I would find one last time, but it got delayed until now..."

"You've really been holding back for quite a while. I thought you didn't need it anymore," Kaiya teased with a smile.

During the last dragon disaster, Jiang Bai said he would find a Qiuqiu language expert, but then he remained silent until now, when the matter has been brought up again.

"Sigh, there's nothing we can do. Liyue hasn't been very peaceful lately either." Jiang Bai shrugged, also feeling helpless.

He had been injured and had other things going on, so he naturally put this less important matter aside for the time being.

"The Musk family has studied the Hilichurls for generations. After I finish my drink, I'll take you to find them."

The Musk family has a long history, and the famous Musk Reef is named after one of their ancestors.

They are passionate about studying the Hilichurls and have published numerous books on the subject.

This includes numerous books such as "Hichondrial Poetry," "An Investigation into Hichondrial Customs," "A Survey Report on the Study of the Hichondrial Ethnic Group," "Hichondrial Social Beliefs and Characteristics," and "A Quick Reference Guide to Hichondrial Language."

However, these books are too obscure and too dry, so even though they are all included in the Mondstadt Library, very few people read them.

Kaeya brought Jiang Bai to the Mondstadt Library. The contemporary Hilichurl linguist, Ira Musk, was either in the library or studying Hilichurls at the Hilichurl camp outside, so it was relatively easy to find her.

"Found it, it's right here."

Kaiya brought Jiang Bai to Ira Musk.

To Jiang Bai's surprise, this Ella Musk looked very young, about the same age as Diona, the bartender he had met at the pub.

Jiang Bai couldn't think of any other explanation for Ira Musk becoming a scholar in this field at such a young age, except perhaps the word "genius."

"Ella, my friend wants to learn Hilichurls. Could you please teach him?"

Ira Musk looked up from her book, her gaze falling on Jiang Bai, a hint of delight in her eyes. "You want to learn Qiuqiu language?"

The study of Hilichurls is a rather niche field. To date, the only people she knows who are studying Hilichurls are her Musk family and a few scholars from Sumeru.

She was overjoyed to find someone who wanted to learn the Hilichurl language!

"Yes." Jiang Bai nodded. "My name is Jiang Bai. How should I address you?"

"Just call me Ella!"

Ella, unconcerned with formalities, excitedly pulled Jiang Bai to sit down on a chair for people to read on, and handed him a book.

"Here is the 'Hyjourney Beginner's Guide'. Take a look at it first."

After saying that, she ran to the bookshelf to get other books, and soon there were several more books on Jiang Bai's desk.

"Read these books first, and ask me if you don't understand them."

Ella didn't really know how to teach people, so she could only tell him to read the books first. Once he had read enough of the books, he could go outside to find a Hilichurl camp and learn through practice.

"Because of their low intelligence, Hilichurls have no written language, and their language is very simple, lacking the grammar we have. Although it's unclear why Hilichurls from all over the world speak the same language, remembering a few common words is enough to understand most of what they're trying to say..."

Jiang Bai nodded slightly as he listened to Ella's words.

"I don't need to learn anything so complicated. I just want to know what those strange intonations of the Hilichurls mean..."

He wasn't lying, but he omitted the part about wanting to communicate with Hilichurls.

Jiang Bai glanced at Kaiya, who was still there, out of the corner of his eye. Kaiya was clearly trying to figure out what he wanted to do by learning Hilichurls.

He was speechless. They were so familiar with each other, yet this guy still didn't trust him much.

That really hurt his good brother's feelings!

Seeing Jiang Bai engrossed in his studies, Kaiya didn't linger and quietly left the library.

He was just a little curious about what Jiang Bai wanted to do by learning Qiuqiu language, but it wasn't anything very important.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Jiang Bai; he had spent a lot of time with Jiang Bai and believed he understood him quite well.

However, maintaining vigilance and skepticism towards everything has become his instinct.

There was no other way; he was forced to do it to survive, and he didn't want to either...

Chapter 325 Do Hilichurls also have beliefs?

Jiang spent an afternoon skimming through the books and asked Ira Musk a lot of questions.

"This book mentions the beliefs of the Hilichurls. Do Hilichurls have beliefs?"

"Yes," Ella replied affirmatively.

"Most Hilichurls worship a god they call Uun. We haven't figured out where this god came from, what miracles he performed, or how he appeared. Their faith in this god seems to be ingrained in their very bones..."

“Uun?” Jiang Bai repeated the word.

I think I heard the Hilichurls shout that when I was in the snowy mountains, but then again, I don't think I did.

Although his memory was still good, he couldn't remember a certain word.

“However, there are exceptions,” Ella said again.

"Exceptions? There are Hilichurls who don't worship Uun?"

Jiang Bai knew very little about Hilichurls. Apart from the Hilichurl tribe in the snow mountain cave, other Hilichurls would attack him as soon as they saw him, a human, or they would run away.

Furthermore, the Hilichurls do not have a written language. Although they can draw totems, those drawings, apart from serving as decorations and symbols in their dwellings, do not contain any information. Even if there is any information in them, they cannot understand it, so they have no opportunity to learn about them at all.

“Yes.” Ella nodded, turning to a page of her book, which contained a rough topographical map.

"There are three Hilichurl tribes in Dadaupa Valley: the Sleepy Tribe, the Meat-loving Tribe, and the Black Sun Tribe. The Meat-loving and Sleepy Tribes are just like their names suggest: the Hilichurls in these tribes prefer eating and sleeping, respectively. However, the Black Sun Tribe is an exception."

Ella turned to the next page, which showed a drawing made with a pen. It depicted something that looked like an altar, with black sun totems painted on the cloth tied to it.

"This Black Sun Clan worships the Black Sun, and the Hilichurls among them are the most ferocious and warlike."

A black sun? A black sun? That feels a bit eerie.

Jiang Bai looked out the window at the setting sun, which seemed to have nothing to do with black.

Is there anything special about this black sun?

“I don’t know.” Ella Musk shook her head. “My grandmother studied it for a long time and only knew that this Black Sun Clan appeared five hundred years ago, but there were no other results.”

Although they have mastered the Hilichurls' language, they can only communicate in simple ways; the Hilichurls simply cannot answer some overly complex questions.

“Okay…” Jiang Bai didn’t press further, but changed the subject.

What is the social structure of the Hilichurls? Do they follow the principle of survival of the fittest?

"From my observation, most Hilichurl tribes follow the principle of the survival of the fittest, with the strongest warriors holding the highest status and receiving the most meat. When food is plentiful, these powerful warriors often become large Hilichurls and leaders of their tribes."

"If these large Hilichurls evolve further, they might even become Hilichurl Kings. However, once a Hilichurl evolves into a Hilichurl King, the Hilichurl King will leave the tribe and live alone."