"Food's ready!"
Xiangling and Guoba brought steaming-hot dishes out of the kitchen, quickly filling up the entire table.
"Thanks for your hard work! Come and eat together!"
Xiangling waved her hand dismissively. "After preparing for the Rite of Parting for so long and even fighting an ancient god, you're the ones who've worked hardest."
"Everyone worked hard to protect Liyue Harbor—I'd like to propose a toast."
Zhongli raised his cup, and suddenly the suffocating rules of the dinner table descended upon them.
"That's way too much! We barely did anything," Xiangling hurriedly picked up her cup, replacing wine with tea.
Everyone else also quickly raised their cups in return.
Only after the choking etiquette finally ended did Xiangling look at Venti with open curiosity. "And this person is…?"
"He's a bard from Mondstadt, named Venti. He's also our friend."
Venti pulled out his lyre, striking a poetic pose and plucking the strings lightly. "Having witnessed the battle between humans and the ancient god during my visit to Liyue, I was deeply moved and inspired. The courage and determination of humans truly is the world's most beautiful poem."
"According to Liyue customs, arriving uninvited means I must punish myself with three cups first!"
After that, he poured three cups of wine and downed them all at once.
The corner of Jiang Bai's mouth twitched slightly. Such nice words—he obviously just wanted an excuse to drink.
But since Venti now knew Xiangling was treating, Jiang Bai felt he had to say something too.
Raising his cup, Jiang Bai looked apologetically toward Xiangling. "I was the one who invited him, but my pockets are empty, so we're freeloading on your dinner, Xiangling. I feel guilty—I'll punish myself with three cups too."
After saying this, he downed his wine in one go.
"It's fine, it's fine! Meals taste better with more company anyway!" Xiangling waved her hands quickly.
Aether silently drank his juice, while Paimon blankly held her own cup.
Constant toasts, constant punishments—Liyue dinners were terrifying.
Thankfully, this tense atmosphere didn't last long. After the drinking formalities were over, everyone began to truly enjoy themselves.
Paimon walked out of Wanmin Restaurant rubbing her round, stuffed belly, her face full of satisfaction.
"Xiangling's cooking is so good! If only my stomach wasn't completely full—I could've eaten more!"
Jiang Bai stared at Paimon's stomach, completely baffled. How did such a tiny thing have a belly like a bottomless pit, eating even more than him?
He patted Aether's shoulder sympathetically. "It must be hard on you to support her."
"Ah…" Aether sighed deeply.
If not for the Mora he'd earned at Albedo's place, he would've long gone broke trying to feed Paimon.
"Let's go—we'll head to Northland Bank and make them pay Mora to redeem Childe."
"Yay!" Paimon's eyes instantly lit up.
Decisively, the three headed straight to Northland Bank, which had already resumed business today.
Northland Bank was the Fatui's largest enterprise in Liyue, closely tied to many residents' loans and savings. Liyue officials had no legitimate reason or means to shut it down.
Thus, it reopened the very next day, though with fewer staff.
Amidst yesterday's chaos, the Millelith had detained many Fatui and Snezhnayans, including several bank employees.
Though the Fatui's crimes were countless, ordinary Snezhnayans were ultimately innocent. If Liyue expelled all of them, no other nation's citizens would dare trade here again. After verifying these people weren't involved, the Millelith released them.
There might still be some Fatui higher-ups mixed in, but officially, their identities checked out. They had also deliberately avoided participating in the Harbinger's schemes, leaving the Qixing unable to prosecute them—so Northland Bank continued operating.
Jiang Bai deeply understood the Fatui's cruelty. Those who had attacked them on the Jade Chamber to protect Osial's revival were suicide troops. Even those not killed outright had fallen into the ocean, leaving no survivors.
So many soldiers, sent to die without hesitation—the ruthlessness was astonishing.
If ordinary soldiers were treated this way, a Harbinger wouldn't fare much better.
Jiang Bai turned toward the two behind him. "When we get inside, don't say anything. Leave negotiations to me."
"Mm-hm!"
Entering Northland Bank, Jiang Bai approached an employee directly, bluntly stating, "Your Harbinger is in our hands. I want to speak to someone who can make decisions."
The employee froze in shock, utterly disbelieving.
Jiang Bai tossed out a miserable-looking photo of Childe tied up. Only after seeing this did the employee believe him somewhat, though doubts remained.
Still skeptical, he nonetheless reported the matter.
Shortly afterward, a middle-aged man approached, eyes scanning them carefully.
"I'm the Deputy Manager of Northland Bank. You truly have Childe?"
Jiang Bai crossed his arms. "You're the one in charge here? Childe is in our hands. Didn't Signora mention it when she left?"
The Deputy Manager frowned deeply. Indeed, after yesterday, they hadn't seen Childe at all. Even Signora had left injured.
It seemed Childe truly had met trouble.
"What do you want?"
Jiang Bai boldly named his price: "One billion Mora!"
"Impossible!" The Deputy Manager raised his voice sharply.
Clearly, the figure Jiang Bai quoted had startled him.
"Tsk. To think a Fatui Harbinger isn't even worth one billion Mora," Jiang Bai mocked openly.
"Northland Bank doesn't have that much liquid cash, and there's no way we'd spend that much Mora redeeming him!" This figure was completely unacceptable—not just to him, but even to their manager, Pantalone!
Due to this incident, Ningguang was already driving them into a corner at the negotiating table. Childe's reckless actions had made their diplomats furious enough to want him expelled outright. Spending that much Mora to redeem him? He might as well offer his head to the Tsaritsa directly!
"Eight hundred million!"
"Impossible!"
"Seven hundred million!"
"Still far too much!"
"Tsk, let's go back. We'll just hand him over directly to Ningguang instead," Jiang Bai pretended to leave.
"Wait!" The Deputy Manager ground his teeth.
They absolutely couldn't let Childe fall into Ningguang's hands—otherwise, the price they'd pay would exceed even a billion Mora!
"At most, three hundred million!"
All of Childe's accumulated savings only added up to about this much!
But withdrawing three hundred million wasn't as simple as emptying Childe's account. The bank had to maintain sufficient liquidity—funds they absolutely couldn't touch. Gathering three hundred million on top of their liquidity reserves wasn't easy at all!
"Fine." Jiang Bai didn't bother haggling further. Three hundred million was still plenty. He could repay Zhongli's debts completely and still have plenty left over.
"You have three days. In three days, at ten o'clock in the evening, northern Mt. Tianheng—we'll trade the person for Mora!"
---
T/N: poor childe...
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