Chapter 160: Senior Sister is a Silly Roe Deer (Patreon)

But the next moment, as Piers spun around to strike, that chill vanished — his blade sliced through the empty curtain of rain, hitting nothing at all.

With no target to strike, the thrown Dust Cutter only carved an arc through the night sky before flying back into his hand.

Piers gripped the hilt, eyes sweeping the surroundings, brow furrowed. The rain kept falling, and the courtyard was silent except for its patter.

A hallucination? No, that wasn't it. At his current level of cultivation, even with his guard constantly up, an illusion like that shouldn't be possible.

Piers dismissed the thought at once, growing even more alert.

He bent slightly at the knees, lowering his center of gravity, one hand held loosely before him, ready to counter an ambush from any direction. His awareness spread outward like a web, blanketing the entire Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.

Whoever this was, they were clearly no ordinary person — appearing and vanishing without warning, leaving Piers unable to catch even a trace.

He swept the area again, adept power rolling out like a tide, again and again, across every inch of the grounds. But to his frustration, he still found nothing — the funeral parlor stayed perfectly still.

Unable to find anything, Piers gave up the search for now and decided to deliver the Elixir to Guizhong first. He slowly straightened, Dust Cutter still in hand — he didn't sheathe it.

But the instant he took a step toward Guizhong's room, his foot barely off the ground, the chill returned.

This time it came on far more violently, as if pouring in from every direction at once, an icy presence that seeped straight into his bones.

Piers's pupils contracted sharply, his body reacting before his mind could catch up.

He spun around and struck out again, Dust Cutter wreathed in adept power, the blade tearing through the air and blasting a ring of white mist into the rain.

But just like before, there was nothing there — not even a lingering trace. The chill vanished once more...

"Knew it, this wasn't going to be that simple. Well, Sister Guizhong, looks like you won't be getting your Elixir tonight after all,"

Even someone as dense as Piers could tell the other party was threatening him — trying to stop him from delivering the Elixir to Guizhong.

If it came down to a straight fight, Piers wasn't afraid of whoever this was. But this was Liyue Harbor — a fight here risked hurting innocent bystanders, and besides, the other party seemed to only be threatening him, without any real intent to actually fight.

"Fine, fine, I won't deliver it for now. I'm going to sleep, all right?"

Muttering to himself, Piers headed toward the eaves — sleeping under the corridor roof still beat sleeping out in the open. But the moment he took a step forward, the chill struck again.

"Are you kidding me? You won't even let me sleep?"

Piers cursed aloud, but no one answered. Just like before, the chill vanished the instant he turned around. It was then that he seemed to notice a pattern.

The next moment, he spread his adept power to blanket the whole of Liyue Harbor, then took a step back toward Guizhong's room. Sure enough, the chill came again — but even with his awareness stretched across the entire harbor, he still couldn't detect anyone else.

Seriously, where was this person even hiding? Not a trace of presence — unbelievable. Were they playing hide-and-seek?

This time was a little different, though — not entirely without result. Piers still hadn't found the source, but with his guard already up, he'd caught a faint hint of familiarity in that chill. He even had a guess or two about who it might be.

He tested it by taking another step forward, but this time the chill didn't come. Still, Piers didn't press on any further.

"I see. So that's how it is. Looks like tonight I can forget about getting anywhere near Sister Guizhong — I can't even stay in the funeral parlor. Guess I'll cosplay as Zhongli and go wander the streets instead."

Liyue Harbor still had plenty of people out at night — but unfortunately, this was the dead of night. Even the liveliest city needed sleep eventually, and the only ones left on the streets now were the Millelith standing the night watch.

Piers wandered aimlessly, and as he walked, it struck him that he hadn't yet paid Ganyu a visit this trip to Liyue. Cloud Retainer had probably mentioned his arrival to her sometime during the day, but as her junior martial brother, he still owed her a proper visit.

Besides, knowing Ganyu's habits, she probably wouldn't be asleep at this hour — she usually only slept for about two hours around noon.

Conveniently, Feiyun Slope wasn't far from Yuehai Pavilion, so Piers simply walked over — there was no rush, after all.

About half an hour later, he arrived at Yujing Terrace. From a distance he could see the lights still on inside Yuehai Pavilion, with a few Millelith standing guard outside. Other lights were on nearby too — this was Yujing Terrace, after all, unmistakably a wealthy district.

The two Millelith on watch noticed Piers right away — it was so late, and with Yujing Terrace's open grounds otherwise empty, he was hard to miss, wandering around all on his own.

By the light along the terrace's path, one of the Millelith got a clear look at Piers's face and recognized him instantly.

"Hey, does that guy look familiar to you?"

He gave the man next to him a kick without warning.

"Like I need you to tell me — and you kick me for it? That's Lady Ganyu's junior martial brother. He's been here plenty of times."

The other man wasn't shy about it either, kicking him right back.

Just then, Piers walked up. Before he could even figure out what to say, the two Millelith on guard simply stepped aside and cleared a path for him.

A little surprised, but since they'd already cleared the way, Piers walked right on in without a second thought — it saved him the trouble of coming up with an excuse.

In a small room beside Yuehai Pavilion's main hall, Ganyu knelt as usual amid a mess of scattered documents, working through the neatly stacked files on the low table before her.

Cloud Retainer had stopped by that afternoon, chatting her ear off for quite a while, even going on about arranging a marriage between her and Piers.

Ganyu had gotten used to just listening without saying anything — arguing back never did any good anyway. Besides, as far as she knew, Piers wasn't even in Liyue Harbor right now, so there was no point in Cloud Retainer planning ahead.

Cloud Retainer hadn't told her Piers had actually arrived in Liyue, since she'd unconsciously assumed he always told Ganyu first whenever he came. At least, that had been the pattern the last few times — meet Ganyu first, then head to Mt. Aocang.

What Cloud Retainer had forgotten, though, was that this time Shenhe had simply hauled Piers straight to Mt. Aocang.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Huixin, is that the report from the Chasm? Just set it on the table."

Ganyu didn't look up, still poring over the documents in her hands.

"Senior Sister Ganyu, no report from the Chasm this time — just a junior martial brother here to see you. Don't tell me you're disappointed?"

Piers nudged the stack of files by the door aside, clearing himself a spot, and sat down facing Ganyu.

Hearing his voice, Ganyu froze for a moment, then lifted her head, her big eyes still heavy with sleep as she stared blankly at Piers.

"Junior Brother Piers? What are you doing here?"

Honestly, how could Senior Sister Ganyu be so silly? Of course he'd come to see her — why else would he be here, to help with paperwork?

"Ever since we parted last time, I haven't been able to sleep, thinking of you constantly, Senior Sister Ganyu. In the end I missed you so much I came all the way to Liyue just to see you."

Piers said it with a completely straight face, utter nonsense and all — though really, who could resist teasing someone with a personality like Ganyu's?

"J-Junior Brother, what are you even saying... Is there something you need in Liyue this time? Anything I can help with?"

Ganyu had a fairly good read on Piers's personality by now — a little irreverent at times — so she wasn't quite the innocent, easily-fooled girl she might seem.

"Nothing, really. There's nothing I need your help with this time — I just came to see you."

That much was true, at least. Whether it was helping Guizhong recover her cultivation or mending the damage to his own soul, Ganyu couldn't really help with either. He'd come to see her mostly because he had nowhere else to go — he could hardly spend the whole night wandering the streets.

"Really, nothing?"

Ganyu sounded a little unconvinced, setting down her pen entirely as she asked.

"Really, nothing. I just had nowhere to go tonight, and figured you were probably still working late, so I came by on my way."

Piers gazed earnestly into Ganyu's sleepy, wide eyes — and the longer he looked, the more it made her blush.

"I see..."

She'd been keeping up with the conversation just fine, but holding his gaze had flustered her all at once. Her train of thought, clear a moment ago, scattered completely, and she had no idea what to say — she'd even lost all interest in her paperwork.

"By the way, Junior Brother — has Cloud Retainer ever come to you, about... the two of us?"

Ganyu trailed off, head lowered, eyes downcast. She was secretly afraid that whatever Cloud Retainer had been saying might have turned Piers off her instead.

"About getting married? Cloud Retainer's mentioned it to me, yeah."

"Then... what did you tell her?"

"I told the Adeptus that marriage needs both people to agree — even if I was willing, you might not be, and left it at that."

While he was talking, Ganyu had wanted to cut in and blurt out 'I am willing!' but the words never quite made it out. Declaring her feelings so boldly just wasn't in her nature — she was better suited to saying things quietly.

Ganyu kept her head bowed, silent for a long moment, her hands twisting together restlessly in front of her stomach — though from her angle, she probably couldn't even see her own fingers.

After wrestling with herself for a long while, Ganyu finally spoke.

"You don't need to take what Cloud Retainer said seriously. But... if you ever run into trouble, Junior Brother, please come find me. Helping you is what a senior sister should do. And if... if you ever wanted to start a family... that would be... fine too..."

Her voice was quiet, and her head stayed bowed, but the night was still enough that every word came through clearly. Ganyu waited for a good while for Piers to answer, but no answer came. She didn't dare look up, so she just kept waiting with her head down.

After a long while, unable to bear the waiting any longer, she finally worked up the nerve to steal a glance upward — only to find that Piers had fallen asleep.

She felt relieved and disappointed at the same time — relieved that he hadn't heard what she'd said, and disappointed for exactly the same reason.

As she watched him, Ganyu suddenly leaned in carefully and pressed her lips lightly against his cheek — so lightly she wasn't even entirely sure she'd actually touched him.

After collecting herself a little, Ganyu picked her documents back up and went on reading.

...

Not until dawn did Piers blearily open his eyes, the bitter, faint fragrance of qingxin filling his nose, half his field of vision blocked by something.

That was when he realized he'd fallen asleep on Ganyu's lap — and that she still hadn't slept at all, still hard at work.

Seeing him wake, Ganyu greeted him warmly.

"Morning, Junior Brother. You fell asleep sitting up last night, and I didn't have a pillow handy, so I'm afraid you had to make do with my lap all night."

In truth, Ganyu couldn't see his face at all, not even by looking down, but she'd felt him stir against her legs and guessed he must be awake.

"Morning, Senior Sister."

Piers returned the greeting just as warmly, though he sat up first — greeting someone while lying in their lap felt a bit strange, especially when he couldn't even see her face from down there.

"Want to get breakfast, Junior Brother? Huixin's probably still asleep — I'll go buy some for you."

"Let's go together, Senior Sister. I'm not so lazy that I need breakfast brought to me. Mornings are good for a walk — it's good for cultivation."

"All right, let's go, then."

Ganyu rose up out of her pile of documents.

The two of them walked all the way from Yuehai Pavilion to Wanmin Restaurant. Ganyu was usually the first customer there — by the time she arrived, the restaurant would only just be opening, with Xiangling and Chef Mao still hauling tables and chairs out front.

This time, though, someone else was already sitting there, early as could be.

"Oh? Piers? You're here for breakfast too?"

"Hu Tao? You're actually up this early?"

Sure enough, the person sitting there so early was none other than Hu Tao herself! And Hu Tao was famously a night owl — night owls, by nature, slept late and woke late, so if she was ever eating breakfast, it was usually because she'd stayed up all night straight through.

If Piers hadn't personally seen Hu Tao turn in early the night before, he'd have suspected someone had pulled off a soul transposition on her.

"What kind of talk is that? Early to rise, good for the health! Do I look like the sort of director who sleeps in?"

"Director Hu, it's been a while."

Beside him, Ganyu smiled and greeted Hu Tao.

"Well, well, if it isn't the famous Miss Ganyu! So that's why Piers never made it back to the funeral parlor last night — off chasing after you."

"Miss Ganyu's here! I made this flatbread for you ahead of time, nothing on it, just like you like."

Xiangling, busy moving tables, spotted Ganyu coming and darted straight into the kitchen, emerging with a palm-sized flatbread. Since Ganyu so often came by in the morning for one, Xiangling had simply started making one ahead of time and setting it aside.

"Thank you."

Ganyu took the bread and looked over at Piers.

"Junior Brother, are you hungry? Why don't you eat this first?"

She held the flatbread out to him.

"It's fine, Senior Sister. You've still got work to do — you eat it. I've got plenty of time; I can just wait here a bit."