"Achoo!"
Inside a teahouse in Qingce Village, the Lady suddenly sneezed. She rubbed her nose, "What's going on? Did I catch a cold?"
The Lady looked at the withered yellow leaves and figured that was most likely it.
Qingce Village in autumn was incredibly beautiful, with colorful terraced fields neatly arranged on the mountainside, like various jade pieces embedded in the mountains.
"What a beautiful view."
The Lady took a sip of hot tea, snuggled into her fur coat, and said contentedly. How long had it been since she last relaxed like this?
The Lady didn't know, nor did she want to remember. She only wanted to stay in Qingce Village and rest well now.
"Hmm… did I forget something?" The Lady looked at the tranquil and peaceful scenery before her, feeling a sense of emptiness in her heart.
After thinking for a while, the Lady's eyes suddenly lit up. She unfolded her lounge chair and lay down.
A warm fireball rose from her hand, dispelling the severe chill of late autumn.
Then the Lady closed her eyes—she had forgotten her afternoon nap today… Unlike Qingce Village, the sun from Guili Plains to Minlin was very scorching. A bright sun hung high in the Sky, completely unlike the vigor autumn should have.
At this moment, Guili Plains had undergone a massive transformation. Valleys, ruins, lakes… all had vanished.
After Azhdaha and Osial's devastation, coupled with Yu Jin's restoration, Guili Plains had now become a vast, flat plain.
New shoots and trees grew vigorously here, presenting a vibrant scene.
"Heave-ho! Heave-ho! Heave-ho!"
On the verdant clearing, Childe wielded a shovel, moving so fast that it left afterimages.
Behind him was an extremely wide, brand-new river channel.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead with his almost cramping arm, Childe let out a deep breath.
When did it become like this? Childe pondered. Oh, right, it was when Keqing showed him the design for the new dam.
Osial had carved out a new river channel across the land, connecting this vast plain.
After inspection, the Qixing realized that the new Guili Plains was an excellent place for cultivation. Thus, to facilitate irrigation, they designed a new dam.
Before building the dam, the river water needed to be diverted. Keqing surveyed for a long time and finally found low-lying areas on both sides of the great river.
These low-lying areas were sufficient to hold several months' worth of the great river's water flow. This time would be enough for Liyue, with its elemental power and alchemy, to build a brand-new dam.
Therefore, the heavy responsibility of constructing the diversion channels naturally fell on the shoulders of Liyue's two excellent existing "plowing machines."
Childe was responsible for the left channel. As for the right… Childe looked across the great river to the opposite bank, where soil was flying, as if something was rapidly digging through the earth.
Amidst the dark brown mud, a Mushroom-shaped head could vaguely be seen bobbing up and down—that was Balladeer, without his hat.
"Brother! I brought you delicious food!" From afar, a boy wearing a wool hat and dressed in a style completely out of place for Liyue ran over.
Behind him, Lumine and Paimon followed.
"Teucer, slow down!" Childe shouted when he saw his younger brother running towards him from a distance.
The thought of this restless younger brother gave Childe a headache. He had managed to hide in a cargo ship and travel from Snezhnaya to Liyue!
When he heard this news from the Qixing, Childe's first reaction was that the Qixing had kidnapped Teucer from Snezhnaya specifically to monitor and warn him.
However, after Keqing and Ningguang's scornful glances and Teucer's own explanation, Childe finally accepted the fact that Teucer had run to Liyue himself.
Then Keqing added another circle to the design drawing, saying that there was an important ancient ruin in the middle of the original diversion channel that needed to be bypassed and protected.
Seeing this, Childe could only endure. Originally, he had thoughts of escaping, but now that Teucer had come to Liyue, it directly gave the Qixing a good assist.
Now, Tartaglia couldn't run away.
Looking at the excited little brother-troublemaker running towards him, Childe looked helpless. What could he say? When he was little, he was even more adventurous than Teucer, running directly into a crack in the Abyss.
"Brother, look, this is Liyue cuisine that Paimon sister recommended to me. Try it." Teucer said, opening the lunchbox he was carrying.
A fragrant aroma wafted out. Clearly, this was genuine delicious food, not some prank.
"Eat up quickly and get back to work, 'enthusiastic' Mr. Childe." Lumine and Paimon saw Childe's mud-covered, disheveled appearance and almost collapsed on the ground laughing.
Karma truly comes full circle. He deserved it for tricking them! Not only tricking, but also following; not only following, but also fighting. And when he couldn't win, he got angry.
Serves him right!
Lumine and Paimon felt a great sense of satisfaction watching Childe devour his food. In fact, Paimon even thought this punishment was too light.
They should make Childe and Balladeer take on the entire dam project!
After all, both of them were worth a hundred, or even a thousand, men. Their work efficiency would probably be similar.
However, the Qixing were clearly not that reckless. Liyue would never dare to let the Fatui get involved in a hydraulic facility like a dam.
If the Fatui were to tamper with it, the resulting destruction would probably be no less severe than what happened this time.
"Brother, how is it? Is it delicious?" Teucer asked eagerly as he watched Childe swiftly finish the meal.
"Delicious! I'm full of strength now!" Childe shouted, stomped his foot, and the shovel flew up, then landed in his hand.
"So cool!" Teucer clapped his hands, his eyes shining.
"There's something even cooler!" Seeing Teucer so excited, Childe also felt like showing off. He activated his Vision, and Hydro element gathered on the shovel.
Then a much larger shovel appeared in Childe's hand. As for its purpose… well, of course, it was to dig earth even faster!
And so, under the scorching sun and cheers, Childe once again began his new labor… "Hmm? No friends?"
In the diversion channel opposite Childe, Morgott looked at the long-sighted Balladeer and said indifferently.
"Just an overload of the core, taking a break." Balladeer raised his arm and poured out the mud from the crevices of his joints. White, superheated exhaust continuously sprayed from his body.
"Besides, things like friends are only needed by the weak," Balladeer added while cleaning the mud from his body.
"That's why you have no friends." Morgott did not comment on Balladeer's words. He felt that Balladeer had no friends simply because he was foul-mouthed and arrogant.
People like that, just beat them once. If once isn't enough, beat them twice. After enough beatings, they'll probably be fine.
But Morgott was too lazy to act, fearing that the guy's mouth was too foul. If he angered him, he might accidentally use too much force and this puppet would fall apart.
"Hmph! Thanks for the compliment." Balladeer sneered, then began to activate his Delusion.
"Whoosh—"
But just as he was about to continue opening the channel, he heard a whistling sound from the Sky.
Looking up, several bright blue contrails gleamed high above, causing Balladeer to involuntarily stop his movements.
"What? Want to go?" Morgott looked up once, then paid no more attention. Just a meteor. He had not only seen them but even fought them.
The stars of The Lands Between were alive, and even meteors were no exception. When The Lands Between was in turmoil, malicious meteors would take the opportunity to intrude.
As the former King of Leyndell, he had dealt with many things like Fallingstar Beasts.
"Naturally, my purpose in coming to Liyue is this meteor." Balladeer's eyes darted around. The arrival of the meteor clearly made him somewhat agitated.
"Buzz—"
A golden light, even more dazzling than the meteor's contrail, appeared. When the golden light dissipated, Balladeer clearly saw Morgott shouldering a large golden hammer.
"You can try." Morgott gently placed the giant hammer on the ground, and the earth immediately cracked inch by inch.
"…"
After a brief silence, the two channels once again became busy.
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