v. oh my stomach's tied in knots
yet another successful day has passed at wanmin restaurant. the teyvat-famous chef can be seen slumping down for the first time since morning, muscles aching as she had to run around liyue delivering food to their customers when she's not cooking.
it's usually around this time her supply of fermented plum blossoms gets delivered, along with a prank or two but it's been years since she last set foot in her kitchen. xiangling sighs. how many years has it been since she last made flower cakes?
"ah! welcome, sir!" she hears her father say. xiangling frowns. it's closing time already. why would her father accept a customer this late into the night? and why does he sound so nervous?
her father gives her a side-eye, silently telling her to stand up and entertain their customer. xiangling stands up. could their customer be one of the qixing? but the qixing wouldn't pick their restaurant. they would probably dine in xinyue kiosk. who is making her father so nervous then?
eyes land on a very familiar person. ah, she thinks. no wonder her father is acting all nervous. someone considerably more important than the qixing has arrived in front of their restaurant. xiangling has only seen him a couple of times in her life. the two of them have never been especially close. however, they did have a mutual friend in the past…
"adeptus xiao," she greets with a smile. "this is a pleasant surprise."
the adeptus only nods his head in greeting. still as distant as ever, xiangling thinks. now that she thinks about it, only two people have ever actually befriended the yaksha: the traveler and… and her.
"please take a seat." she says, offering one of the restaurant's seats to him. xiao looked a little hesitantly before taking the one directly in front of the chef. her father quickly excuses himself, muttering something about checking their supplies for tomorrow morning. now, if xiangling remembers correctly, the only dish the yaksha could stomach is almond tofu. hu tao used to bug her to teach her how to perfect the dish.
did she ever perfect it…?
the smile on her face wobbles a little as she tries to keep the memories at bay. she cannot act unprofessionally in front of an adeptus! she takes a deep breath before she can trust herself to speak again.
"almond tofu, right? one almond tofu coming right up!"
just as she was about to pick out her ingredients, a gloved hand stops her.
"actually, i would like to order steamed fish with a side of prawn dumplings."
xiangling blinked, her head tilting to the side. steamed fish with a side of prawn dumplings… her smile turns a little less professional and a little more wistful. she gives the adeptus a small nod.
"i see."
they are both silent as she works on his order but she could feel his immense stare on her… or not exactly on her. on her dish. could he possibly miss her as much as her? xiangling doesn't know the extent of their relationship. come to think of it, xiangling doesn't know a lot about her. what she does know is how she likes her favorite food.
and so that is how xiangling decides to cook it now.
she places his order in front of him and watches as he picks up his chopsticks. just as the adeptus takes his first bite, xiangling decides to speak.
"that's how she used to like it."
eyes of molten gold focus on her, mouth closing for a while as he ponders an answer. finally, he gives her a nod.
"i know. she used to tell me just how delicious food is at your restaurant. told me that she wanted to take me here to try her favorite dish."
amber orbs widen in surprise. hu tao talked about her? to the guardian yaksha? it seems she voiced her question out loud (or does the adeptus have the ability to read minds?) because xiao takes a bite of the steamed fish and then continued.
"she used to tell me a lot about the young chef at wanmin who would experiment on her food using uncanny ingredients. she said she liked that the most about you."
the yaksha's eyes once again focus on the young chef.
"she told me she was happy to have befriended someone like you. and that she always wanted to apologize for destroying your kitchen every time."
her eyesight blurs and she quickly wipes the tears as she lets out a little sniffle.
"i see… i have… i've been a bad friend to her. she probably never knew how important she was to me."
the yaksha offered nothing to calm the chef. but it doesn't matter. xiangling never expected anything anyway. as she finally gets hold of her emotions, a smile once again places itself on her features.
"so what brings you here, adeptus xiao? it's not every day you pay liyue harbor a visit."
the conqueror of demons opens a hand and a brilliant green light materializes from it. once the light show was over, xiangling could see in his hand a very familiar hat.
"i want to visit her liyue harbor. the liyue harbor she wanted me to see. the one she never had the chance to show me."
and as xiangling stared at the adeptus in front of her, she finally understood.
the yaksha is in love with her friend.