"Alright."
Hearing Ningguang's playful challenge, Keqing responded coolly.
She didn't believe Ningguang would actually have the nerve to ask.
If the Shopkeeper said he preferred Ningguang's type, what would Ningguang do then?
Wait... The Shopkeeper said earlier that if he could favor anyone, he'd favor me, not Ningguang.
Doesn't that imply he already likes me?
Thinking of this, Keqing's ears turned pink again.
Ningguang smiled faintly, glancing at the screen before heading to the projection room to lower the volume.
The sound was indeed loud; she guessed it had already leaked outside.
But the visuals were truly captivating.
The movie started with a bang—a stone exploded, and a monkey leaped out.
Then, the scene shifted to the misty heavens, where celestial beings sent investigators.
Ningguang adjusted the volume and quickly returned to her seat.
The scene changed. The monkey arrived at a waterfall, playing with a troop of other monkeys.
They made a bet: whoever could jump through the waterfall and return unharmed would be their king.
Without hesitation, the stone monkey closed his eyes and leaped through the curtain of water.
The camera followed him. Behind the waterfall stood an iron bridge. Below it, water rushed between rocks, hanging like a curtain that hid the cave from the outside world. Inside, there were stone chairs, beds, basins, and bowls—everything needed for living, as if someone had resided there recently.
It was a natural home, clean and quiet. Pots and pans sat neatly on a stone stove.
In the center stood a stone stele engraved with: "Flower-Fruit Mountain, Blessed Land; Water Curtain Cave, Cave Heaven."
"What a wonderful place," Baixiao marveled. "The monkey jumps out of a rock, finds a perfect home called Water Curtain Cave, and becomes king. Everything goes so smoothly for him."
"The cave is beautiful, but not as scenic as Luhua Pool," Baiwen mused. "Maybe we should consider building a Water Curtain Cave at Luhua Pool."
"Nature's craftsmanship needs no carving," Ningguang chuckled. "Let's keep watching. This movie is fascinating. I want to see what happens to this monkey next. I assume the story revolves around him."
Just from the opening, she was hooked.
As Ningguang spoke, Keqing and the secretaries watched silently.
Time passed unnoticed.
The monkey emerged from the cave, was hailed by his peers, and took the throne as the "Handsome Monkey King."
He led the monkeys in joy for three to five hundred years. But one day, while feasting, the Monkey King wept at the thought of death. An old gibbon stepped forward and said, "If the Great King wishes to be immortal, he must learn the ways of Buddhas, Immortals, and Gods."
The Monkey King decided to travel to the ends of the earth to find an Immortal and learn the secret of eternal life.
The next day, the monkeys built him a raft and packed fruits. The Monkey King bid them farewell and sailed alone into the vast ocean.
He drifted across seas and continents until he reached the Mountain of Heart and Mind (Lingtai Fangcun Shan). There, he found the Cave of the Slanting Moon and Three Stars, home to the Immortal Patriarch Subhuti.
He rushed to the cave. The doors were shut tight. Opposite the entrance stood a massive stone stele, thirty feet high and eight feet wide, bearing ten large characters: "Mountain of Heart and Mind, Cave of the Slanting Moon and Three Stars."
The movie continued through his apprenticeship, the secret midnight lesson where Patriarch Subhuti taught him the 72 Transformations, and his eventual graduation.
The screen faded to black.
"Such Immortals exist?"
"Thirty-Six Transformations of Tiangang, Seventy-Two Transformations of Disha... it sounds so profound."
"Liyue has Adepti, but this is the first time I've heard of Immortals who travel the North Sea in the morning and reach Cangwu by dusk."
"Imagine... one somersault covers 108,000 miles!"
Baiwen gasped, "Mountain of Heart and Mind... I've never heard of such a place."
"So, it must not be Teyvat," Keqing said softly. "If it were, we would have heard of it."
As they spoke, the screen changed again.
Large text appeared: "Episode 2: The Monkey King is Appointed Bi Mawen"
"It's starting again!" Baiwen cheered. "We can keep watching! I wonder how many episodes there are?"
"I calculated the time. One episode is about an hour," Keqing frowned. "A whole night is only about ten hours. We can watch maybe ten episodes. I wonder how long the whole series is."
"We can check," Ningguang said. "The control room shows the progress."
She led them back to the booth.
"Twenty-five episodes in total," Ningguang noted, looking at the display.
"Twenty-five? That means we'd need over a day to finish it," Baixiao hesitated. "Should we go back and sleep, then come back tomorrow?"
The cinema wasn't going anywhere. They could rest and return.
"No. The cinema opens to the public in two days. I won't be returning to the Jade Chamber tonight," Ningguang said, her eyes fixed on the screen. "Besides, I really want to keep watching."
"Same here," Keqing nodded.
She had to finish this.
"Alright then," the secretaries nodded like pecking chickens, happy to stay.
The group returned to their seats and resumed the marathon.
Time slipped away quietly.
Outside, evening turned into deep night.
The moon hung high, and the candlelights of Liyue flickered in the wind, dreamlike and serene. The bustling city gradually quieted down.
However, a small crowd still lingered at the cinema entrance.
They stared at the Millelith guards with curiosity, straining to hear the faint sounds leaking from inside.
"It's weird. Lady Ningguang went in at dusk and hasn't come out."
"Lady Keqing too. I'm dying to know what's inside. Is it a Domain?"
"They're probably testing something. She said it opens in two days. Let's just go home and sleep."
"Yeah, the house won't run away."
"True, but I'm still curious."
"Go sleep. If you don't have work tomorrow, then stay up."
The crowd slowly dispersed. Soon, only the guards remained.
"I wonder what Lady Ningguang is doing in there," one young guard whispered to his comrade.
Even the Millelith were curious about the strange music and wave sounds.
"Just guard the door," the older guard replied calmly. "We'll know when it opens. Young people have no patience."
"True."
Northland Bank.
On the balcony, Childe stood with his hands behind his back, frowning at the strange building in the distance.
He had heard about the cinema created by Ningguang.
She had gone in and not come out. Strange noises were emitting from it.
If Ningguang and Keqing weren't inside, he would have snuck in to investigate. But with two Qixing present, getting caught would be disastrous for the Fatui's already precarious position in Liyue.
I'll just wait two days, Childe decided, turning back inside.
Speaking of which, my jar cooldown is almost up. I wonder what I'll get this time.
The Next Morning.
Dawn broke over the harbor, waking the sleeping city.
Liyue began to stir with life.
At the port, a blonde girl with fireworks-themed clothing stared at the bustling docks with wide, excited eyes.
Yoimiya had finally arrived in Liyue.
She saw the swarm of dockworkers, the endless line of merchant ships, and the disciplined Millelith patrols.
"So prosperous!"
Yoimiya beamed.
This is Liyue? It's completely different from Inazuma!
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