Walnut used me to boost her sales performance.

Chapter 162 Did Klee get into trouble again?

The following evening, Diluc carried the sleeping Klee back to Mondstadt.

Diluc maintained his expressionless face, looking cold and unapproachable.

Keli wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder, sleeping soundly.

So comfortable was she that a little drool dripped from her lips and onto Diluc's clothes.

Feeling the dampness on his shoulder, Diluc's expression grew even colder. He simply switched arms and carried Klee into the city.

Because Diluc's expression was so cold, the knights guarding the gate didn't dare to say a word even though they saw him carrying Klee, and just watched him carry Klee into the city.

After Diluc left, the two gatekeeper knights whispered to each other, "Why is Diluc carrying Klee?"

"I bet Klee got caught by Diluc for causing trouble at Dawn Winery. Judging by the looks of it, he's definitely going to take Klee to settle scores with Jean!"

"But it doesn't look like it to me. Klee doesn't look like she's been caught causing trouble."

"Hey, you don't understand! Even if Klee blew up his vineyard, Diluc wouldn't be angry at a little kid like Klee. He would definitely go to her guardian—Jean!"

Just as the two guards had guessed, Diluc had indeed come looking for Jean.

He didn't know where Keli lived, but since he had brought her back, he couldn't just leave her anywhere. He had to find someone he could take care of and trust.

Qin was currently handling government affairs in her office in the Knights' Building. Stacks of documents were piled up in front of her, and the ink bottle next to her was almost empty.

She is the vice-commander of the Knights of Favonius, and she handles most of the affairs of the Knights of Favonius and the entire Mondstadt.

She buried herself in these government affairs, handling them diligently, occasionally lifting her head to relieve the pain in her neck.

She had long, golden hair, which she simply tied back with a ribbon for work purposes.

Even while handling so many administrative tasks, her eyes showed no signs of fatigue, only boundless energy.

That was an expectation for the people of Mondstadt to live a good life; that was a selfless dedication to Mondstadt.

There was a sudden knock on the office door. Without looking up, she said:

"Please come in."

Diluc pushed open the door and walked to her desk.

Jean was genuinely taken aback when she saw Diluc holding Klee.

Diluc hadn't been here for a long time since his father's death.

His presence here was surprising enough, but what was even more surprising was the girl he was holding in his arms, Klee.

Jean's heart, which had been cleaning up too many messes for Klee, jumped almost instantly.

"Has Klee gotten into trouble again?"

“No, I just brought her back.” Diluc placed Klee on the sofa next to him.

Sensing the change in her surroundings, Klee groggily opened her eyes.

"Where am I? Is Klee home yet?"

She rubbed her eyes, still a little groggy, but when she saw that familiar face, she almost immediately snapped back to reality.

Remembering her act of blasting nails on the snow-capped mountain, she jumped off the sofa in a flash, didn't care about anything else, threw down a sentence and ran away.

"Um... Captain Jean, Klee is going home. Goodbye, Captain Jean!"

Jean watched as Klee ran off like the wind, but instead of rushing to catch her, she turned her gaze to Diluc.

"Why are you here? And why did you bring Klee?"

"I went to the snow mountain and, at Kaiya's request, brought her back."

Upon hearing this, Qin pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation.

“Kaya didn’t mention Klee in his letter to me.”

Teaching Claire had always been a major problem for her.

Klee's mother, Alice, entrusted Klee to the Knights, and the heavy responsibility of disciplining Klee also fell on the Knights' shoulders.

But Klee was far too mischievous and dangerous, so she could only give her the title of Spark Knight to make it easier to discipline her.

However, disciplining children is indeed a difficult task.

“That guy’s always been like that,” Diluc said calmly, as if it were nothing new.

"You already know about what happened at the snow mountain, right?"

"Mm." Qin nodded.

"In that case, I'll be going now. Please give my regards to Grand Master Falgar." Diluc turned to leave.

"Diluc!" Jean called out to him.

Her expression was very complicated.

It was an expression that combined guilt, apology, regret, and pity.

"What's wrong?" Diluc turned around.

"Are you really not considering returning to the Knights?"

"No, the Knights of Favonius are not for me. I have my own way of protecting Mondstadt."

……

After four days, Hu Tao and Jiang Bai returned to the Hall of Rebirth, both looking travel-worn.

Since they had nothing else to do, the two of them were in no hurry to travel and walked slowly, occasionally hitching a ride on a caravan. Finally, on the evening of the fourth day, they returned to the Hall of Rebirth.

As they walked into the shrine, the two chatted idly.

"Judging by the time, the ceremony to invite the immortals should be the day after tomorrow. If we come back any later, we probably won't make it in time."

"It was at Yujing Terrace, wasn't it? I went up there with Mr. Zhongli once." Jiang Bai still remembered this!

The Geo Archon, the guardian deity of Liyue, appears once a year. It would be a shame to miss it!

He still doesn't know what the Rock King Emperor looks like!

Last time, Hu Tao mentioned that the Rock King Emperor was dragon-shaped, but "dragon-shaped" is too broad a term. A jiaolong is a dragon, a kuilong is a dragon, a panchi is a type of dragon, an yinglong is a type of dragon, and there are also fish-dragons, cloud dragons, dragon-descending dragons, and even dinosaurs...

With so many different forms of dragons, it's really hard to say which one Longjiangbai is.

When did you go?

"I went there a while ago when I was shopping with Mr. Zhongli."

"Oh? I remember Zhongli did send back a bill last time..." Hu Tao remembered this.

Zhongli, unusually, only bought one set of cups.

"However, you'd better not have too high hopes for the summoning ceremony!"

"Why?" Jiang Bai asked, puzzled.

What does "don't have too high hopes" mean? Logically speaking, shouldn't the Summoning Ceremony be the most important day in Liyue?

"Because this happens every year, the Ascension Ceremony isn't particularly unusual for the people of Liyue. Moreover, it's quite elaborate and time-consuming, so locals rarely attend. Instead, it's mostly foreign tourists and merchants who watch it..."

"Is that so?"

Jiang Bai wasn't surprised by the numerous formalities; after all, with so many days of preparation in advance, it would be disrespectful to the deity to just do something haphazardly.

"Go back and rest first. Get up early the day after tomorrow, and I'll take you to broaden your horizons."

"it is good!"

Jiang Bai nodded, but after taking two steps, he suddenly remembered something and turned back, saying:

"Let's invite Mr. Zhongli to come along!"

Since Zhongli is dissatisfied with the rule of the Rock God, he might reveal some clues when he sees the Rock King!

Chapter 163 Quietly Listen to Your Show-Off

“If you want him to do something, you can get him to do it, but if you ask him to go with you, he will definitely make excuses like ‘I’m going to see a play,’ ‘I’m going to listen to a story,’ or ‘I have an appointment to have tea with a friend.’”

"For him, watching a boring and cumbersome ceremony is not as good as sitting at home drinking tea!"

Hu Tao is clearly quite experienced in this kind of thing.

"Is that so..."

Hu Tao said that's what she meant, but Jiang Bai still decided to give it a try when the time came.

After all, how will you know if you don't try?

"Master, could you give me the dandelion seeds we picked? I'll send them to Mr. Zhongli later."

"Okay!" Hu Tao tossed a bag of dandelion seeds over and walked straight to her room.

Jiang Bai wasn't particularly tired, but after traveling for so long, he was bound to be covered in dust and smell bad. He figured it would be better to wash up before going to find Zhong Li.

After all, Mr. Zhongli is a particular person, so you naturally have to be particular when you go to see him.

He didn't have any important business to discuss with Zhongli; he just wanted to tell Zhongli about the results of their trip to the snow mountain and, incidentally, sound him out.

It would be best if we could get him to agree to go together for the ritual of inviting the immortals the day after tomorrow.

Back in his room, Jiang Bai found a porcelain vase and placed the plum branch that Hu Tao had given him inside.

The bottle was pure white, and the red plum blossoms were vibrant, bringing a touch of brightness to this rather dull room.

Jiang Bai touched the bright red plum blossom on it. He wondered how long the plum blossom could be preserved, as it still maintained its vibrant color.

I'll sneak off a branch from the big plum tree in the walnut yard another day and plant it in a pot to see if it can survive.

After washing up and changing into clean clothes, Jiang Bai carried a bag of dandelion seeds to Zhong Li's courtyard.

The sky was getting dark, so the room was also quite dark. Zhongli was sitting at a table by the window, writing something with a pen.

There were many books on the desk, and the writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstones were arranged quite neatly.

On one corner of the table sat a jade-green porcelain vase, inside which a few orchids were arranged with great leisure and elegance.

Jiang Bai knocked on the courtyard gate and poked his head in.

Is Mr. Zhongli here?

Upon hearing the sound, Zhongli put down his brush and looked up.

"I'm here."

"I'm coming in."

Jiang Bai said something and came in carrying his things.

"You're back. Did things go smoothly?"

"Smooth sailing, very smooth sailing. We've used enough bombs to blast the mountaintop into a basin; the mere Frost Spikes are no match for us..."

Jiang Bai sat down on a bench in the pavilion and began his long-winded rambling.

"Mr. Zhongli, you didn't see it! The explosion was nothing short of apocalypse! The hall master drew his bow, and an arrow imbued with fire element shot out, instantly igniting the fuse!"

"The explosives that filled the entire Frost Nails detonated, instantly causing a thunderous roar from the ground, dark clouds to obscure the sun, snow waves to surge, and thick smoke to rise everywhere!"

"The entire Frost Nail was blasted into countless fragments by such a powerful explosion. Under the heat wave, the millennia-old ice layer melted rapidly, and the water vapor was directly vaporized, leaving not even a trace behind!"

As Jiang Bai spoke, he gestured with his hands and feet, exaggerating his words as much as possible.

Zhongli listened quietly, smiling faintly without saying a word.

I thought he was very suitable for storytelling last time, and now his storytelling skills have improved a lot.

"That power was so immense that I reckon even immortals would have to back down, and only gods could contend with it! Thank goodness I put shields on everyone in time, otherwise we who were a kilometer away from the bomb's center would have been doomed..."

Zhongli poured him a cup of tea and exclaimed in surprise in perfect unison.

"I did hear a loud noise coming from the direction of the snow mountain, and I thought it must have been you who did it. Now it seems that was indeed the case."

"It's a pity I wasn't there, otherwise I really wanted to see what it was like."

"Although you can't see what it looks like after it's been destroyed, Mr. Zhongli, you can see what the Frost Nail looked like before it was destroyed."

Jiang Bai pulled out a photo; it was a group photo they had taken in front of the Cold Sky Nail.