Chapter 106 Letter from a Colleague
However, even though Hu Tao wanted to make the funeral as grand as possible and promote the Hall of the Rebirth abroad, it was not in Liyue after all, so it was missing many things, so she had to hold it as it was.
Under Walnut's arrangement, six mercenaries from the Gilded Brigade lifted the coffin from six directions and carried it on their shoulders. To the sound of the funeral band, they walked along the largest street in Xumi all the way out of the city.
This was the first time that most of the people in Xumi had seen a funeral of this scale, and they stopped to watch out of curiosity.
The others who were unaware of the situation thought that they were being treated as heroes because today was the birthday of the Flower Goddess, and they all came forward.
After some inquiries, I finally learned the truth from a mysterious white-haired disciplinary officer with his face covered.
The great sage Azar, feeling deeply guilty for imprisoning the little King of the Auspicious Grass, committed suicide in prison.
In order to commemorate his contributions to the construction and development of the Ordinance House during his lifetime, King Mahasishu hereby approved holding a funeral for him.
"Wow, what a beautiful sight! I will also look for a funeral hall in the future."
Catching up with the funeral procession, Liu Bai exclaimed and said with some envy.
As gods, Nashida and the Great Mercy Tree King were showing the greatest kindness by allowing Azar to hold the funeral, so they would not attend the funeral. Liu Bai was very interested in the funeral process and chose to follow it all the way.
In this way, the funeral procession left Xumi City and headed towards the Hushi Forest in the northeast.
The road here is not easy to walk on, but fortunately, during the investigation in the past few days, Hu Tao has solved this problem by using several rock ridges lying across the riverbed to form a simple bridge.
"Yes, you did a good job, Zhongli Keqing. I'll give you a bonus when I get back."
Watching the funeral procession successfully pass through the rock ridge bridge prepared in advance, Hu Tao nodded with satisfaction and patted Zhongli on the shoulder in praise.
"Thank you, Master."
Zhongli didn't seem very happy about the bonus.
In this way, the funeral procession successfully arrived at the Feng Shui treasure land selected by Walnut.
After a complicated ceremony, extras were invited on stage to cry for a while before the coffin was opened again.
When the Hall of Rebirth was first established, it was to deal with the plague that swept Liyue at the time, so the burial method adopted by generations was basically cremation to prevent the spread of the plague.
Inside the big pit, the raging fire fueled by the element of fire quickly engulfed Azar's coffin. All that was left was to wait for it to burn to ashes before burying it.
During this process, Hu Tao distributed wages to the extras.
Since the funeral was more grand than planned, Walnut had asked Nashida to add some money, and she was now very rich.
"Hmm? You're not an extra, are you?"
Hu Tao looked at Liu Bai in confusion as he stretched out his hands in front of him with an expectant look on his face.
Although he was queuing in the extras line and stretched out his hands waiting to receive his salary like other extras, Hu Tao was sure that he had not seen him among the extras just now.
"...In fact, I also made a great contribution to this funeral."
"Go away, don't interfere with my timely salary payment. I'm a good boss."
Liu Bai said this seriously, but Hu Tao walked towards the next extra with a bad look on his face.
Soon, Hu Tao distributed today's wages.
After Hu Tao distributed the money, the fire in the pit was almost burned out. After all, she added a little elemental power to fuel the flames.
Afterwards, under Walnut's command, the mercenaries brought a tombstone that had been made long ago and stuck it into the pit. They then filled the surrounding soil back and buried Azar's ashes, leaving only a small mound, in front of which was the part of the tombstone that was exposed above the ground.
After doing all this, Hu Tao nodded with satisfaction, paid the mercenaries' wages, and then quit working.
"Long time no see. I knew you were in Xumi before, but I have never met you in person."
After finishing today's work, Hu Tao turned around and greeted Liu Bai.
The first time she saw Liu Bai in Xumi was yesterday when he went on stage to give Nashida a gift.
"Yes, it's been a long time since I last saw you, Mr. Hu Tao. If it wasn't for Brother Zhongli mentioning you, I wouldn't have known you were in Xumi. I hope you are doing well."
"Haha, I'm here on a business trip as well. I didn't expect to meet Miss Liu Bai. It's really an honor for me."
"No, no, Mr. Walnut, thank you for your compliment."
"..."
Zhongli watched the two people chatting familiarly from the side. It seemed that they had a good relationship, but he always felt that something was not right.
"Oh, yes, in two months, the first Liyue Paper Flying Chicken Competition hosted by this hall master will begin. As one of the founders, you must come and participate when you are free. This hall master will reserve a VIP seat for you."
The two complimented each other for a while, and Hu Tao suddenly remembered something and immediately reminded Liu Bai.
"Paper Flying Chicken Contest...Okay, I'll make a note of it. I'll go there in two months."
Liu Bai nodded in surprise and agreed. He really didn't expect that Hu Tao would actually hold a competition.
Just like that, after Azar's funeral, everyone did not stay any longer and soon dispersed, and Liu Bai also returned to Xumi City.
……
The next day, Hu Tao and Zhongli said goodbye to Liu Bai and the others, and then went to Omos Port to take a ship back to Liyue.
Along the way, wherever there were signboards, Hu Tao had posted advertisements for the Wangsheng Hall.
In the following half month, Liu Bai continued to live in Xumi City at Nashida's request.
After Nashida helps the Great Tree King deal with the affairs of the Order, they can return to Winter.
And on this day, a letter was suddenly delivered to Liu Bai from the Northland Bank branch in Xumi.
'From Lerch himself.'
'Greetings, my dedicated colleague, Mr. Lerch.'
'Recently, my child sent me news that the Cardinal Judgment Machine has stopped functioning, which has caused quite a stir in Fontaine. The water goddess Funina is trying her best to repair the Cardinal Judgment Machine, and the Fontaine government is extremely busy. This is a good opportunity to go to Fontaine to seek the Heart of God.'
'I will wait for you in the winter. If you go directly to Fontaine, please write back.'
"——Arecino"
After opening the envelope sent by the Fatui's men, Liu Bai stroked his chin and thought for more than ten minutes. Then he remembered that he seemed to have promised to go to Fontaine with the "servant".
"Girl, it's time to go back to winter!"
Thinking of this, Liu Bai took the letter to Cao Shen's office.
"Well……"
After hearing Liu Bai's words, Nashida looked back at the Great Compassion Tree King beside her with some reluctance.
"Go ahead, you're already grown up, and Xumi doesn't need to worry about you. Come back and rest when you're tired."
The Great Kind Tree King gently stroked Nashida's head.
"Okay, then you... should take some rest."
Nashida nodded, feeling somewhat worried, but at the moment she didn't have any words that would be appropriate to express her concern for the god, so she just said this.
"Well, I will."
"..."
The Great Mercy Tree King responded, and Nashida hesitated for a moment, then stretched out her arms and hugged the Great Mercy Tree King.
The two hugged each other gently for a while, and then Nashida came out of the arms of the Great Compassionate Tree King.
"Then I'm leaving. Bye~"
After saying goodbye to the Great Compassionate Tree King, Nashida walked over and took Liu Bai's hand.
"Goodbye, mother-in-law. We will come back to see you!"
Liu Bai waved goodbye to the Great Compassionate Tree King, then took Nashida and left the Palace of Wisdom.
However, Liu Bai did not take Nashida directly back to Xumi, but took Nashida out of the Order Institute and came to the main body of the void.
Nashida recently gave Liu Bai access to the void, so Liu Bai can now use the void at will.
But the strange thing is that as long as he puts on the void terminal, the void terminal will explode in the next second.
In desperation, Liu Bai had to give up the void terminal and go find the void subject himself.
He also moved a printer into the House of Decrees.
Canned knowledge was created by the Ministry of Education, but the Great Compassionate Tree King discovered that excessive use would cause serious harm, so it has been banned. This printer was specially made to download paper content from the void.
However, Liu Bai developed a new way to play.
As he connected the printer to the void, the images constructed earlier using void calculations were gradually printed out.
"...?"
Nashida leaned over to take a look and found that the image printed on the paper was actually a portrait of herself sitting on Liu Bai, with one hand covering her mouth, her cheeks red, hearts in her eyes, and a bitter expression.
"Ah! W-what did you do with the void!"
Nashida screamed with her face flushed, and quickly tore up the painting printed out by the printer, and even burned it with the power of fire.
"Hehe, wouldn't it be a huge loss if the Void's high computing power is not used to run the pornographic pictures...Ah! Girl, I was wrong! I won't do it again! I'll delete it now! My ears are going to fall off!"
……