Genshin Impact: Watch me turn the tables and kill my servants at the start!

The dishes were arranged by Ningguang herself.

The order in which the main courses were served was clearly carefully planned. Cold dishes were served first, followed by a soup that needed to be simmered over low heat.

The Qiankun Mora meat was placed in the center of the table. The dark red meat chunks were neatly arranged on a porcelain plate, with an amber sheen on the surface. A few fried garlic chips and dried chili rings were sprinkled around the edge. A layer of bamboo shoots soaked in the broth was placed at the bottom of the plate and spread outwards from the edge.

The other dishes were arranged around the table, like well-trained courtiers who had taken their seats according to their rank, each occupying a pre-emptive spot on the table, without crowding or missing seats.

When Ningguang saw the main dish being served, she picked up her chopsticks without changing her expression, but her gaze had already moved past the edge of the plate of Qiankun Mora meat in the center of the table and landed on the person sitting opposite her.

Fanes sat on the left side of the table, with Funina on his left and Walnut on his right.

Hu Tao was looking down at her device, taking pictures of the dishes in front of her. She adjusted the angle several times and took three pictures before finally choosing the one she was satisfied with. She nodded and put the device back in her pocket.

Just as Funina reached for the plate of flower-shaped radish slices in front of her, she saw Walnut's terminal light up and withdrew her chopsticks. She sat up straighter, like a cat cautiously assessing the situation before it took action, waiting for the "take the first bite" signal to be given.

Walnut had already put away her terminal. Seeing Funina about to put her chopsticks away, she asked, "Fufu, what are you waiting for?"

Funina put down her chopsticks and placed her hands, folded, on the edge of the table. "Oh, I know that. We have to wait for the host to start eating, right? Don't worry, I know that much about manners."

Ningguang sat directly opposite Fanes across the plate of Qiankun Mora meat. When she heard Funina say, "Let the host start eating first," the smile on her lips remained, but the fingers holding the chopsticks shifted slightly.

"As the goddess of water, Lady Funina could easily have made the first move. There's no need to be so particular about the details. This meal should be casual, without too many formalities."

Hu Tao waved her hand, "Fufu, you're overthinking it! I just wanted to take a picture to post on WeChat Moments first. Look, I've already taken the picture, we can start eating now."

Funina picked up her chopsticks again: "Ah, is that so? Modern etiquette is truly evolving with the times."

Ningguang sat opposite her, watching Funina's natural switch from "I'm waiting for my master to start eating" to "So it's okay to eat after taking pictures." Her chopsticks had already picked up a piece of Qiankun Mora meat, and she was looking down at the brownish-red sheen on its edges.

Ningguang looked away after that gaze settled on her, and then took another look at Funina's profile—her eating manners were not exactly elegant, but they weren't rude or uncouth either. She seemed more like someone who was focused on enjoying her favorite food, temporarily putting everything else aside.

Ningguang wondered, did Little Twelve like this kind of innocent and naive type? Or did he simply like young people? No, that didn't make sense; she remembered that Funina was over five hundred years old.

Ningguang glanced at Furnessa, who was engrossed in her meal, with a little sauce still on her lips, and then corrected her previous judgment—this was a very old and tender plant.

Ningguang put down her chopsticks, picked up her teacup, took a sip, and began to wonder if she should also show her youthful side. She tried to imagine herself facing Fanes in a delicate and charming manner, and then her whole body stiffened slightly as if a gust of wind had swept across the back of her neck.

Ningguang thought of her usual demeanor at the negotiating table, the volume of her voice when giving orders in the Qunyu Pavilion, and her daily routine of staying in the General Affairs Department office from dawn until the lights came on before getting up—she had imagined many ways she might present herself when facing Fanes, but the image that had just flashed through her mind was definitely not one of them.

Ningguang reached for the teapot in front of her and refilled her cup. After taking a sip, she realized that the so-called "delicate" demeanor had been pushed far into the reserve zone of her consciousness, and even the edges of it were beginning to darken.

Fanes sat opposite Ningguang, watching her recover from her stiffness: "Ningguang? What's wrong with you? Your expression just now was off, like you choked on something."

Ningguang put down her teacup, picked up her chopsticks again, and placed a piece of Qiankun Mora meat on the plate in front of him: "It's nothing. Keep eating. This dish tastes best when it's hot, you should try it."

Fañes looked down at the dark brown piece of meat on the plate, picked it up, and put it in his mouth. The meat was tender and juicy, with a rich, savory sauce, and the flavor of the spices seeped out from between the meat fibers, creating a complex base flavor on his tongue.

Fanes chewed twice and nodded: "The taste is indeed quite good."

Seeing his expression of enjoyment, Funinga also reached out and picked up a piece of Qiankun Mora meat with her chopsticks, putting it in her mouth. After chewing a few times, her eyes brightened slightly, as if a new taste had briefly triggered some dormant sensory connection, before she swallowed it: "Absolutely delicious!"

Fanes looked at her, then glanced down at the half-eaten piece of meat on his plate: "If you like it, eat more."

Fanes picked up a new piece of Qiankun Mora meat, the tip of his chopsticks hovering above the table, and turned his head to look at Funina.

When Funina saw the glistening piece of meat on the tip of his chopsticks, she subconsciously opened her mouth slightly.

Then Fanes' chopsticks took a turn and stuffed the piece of meat into the mouth of the little black boy who was squatting on the edge of the table.

Little Black opened its mouth, caught the piece of meat, chewed it twice, swallowed it, and narrowed its amber eyes: "Delicious."

Fanes put down his chopsticks and picked up another piece, placing it in his own bowl: "It tastes really good."

Funina's mouth remained slightly open. She watched as the piece of meat on Fanes' chopsticks fell into Little Black's mouth, then looked at Little Black's satisfied expression, and finally closed her mouth: "You bad boy!"

Ningguang sat opposite, watching the piece of Qiankun Mora meat disappear from Xiao Hei's mouth from the tip of Fanes' chopsticks. She slowly withdrew her gaze, picked up her teacup, took a sip, and said nothing.

The tea was at the perfect temperature when she sipped it from the rim—neither too hot nor too cold. Ningguang took another sip.

She made that dish herself; she prepared the ingredients in the kitchen of Qunyu Pavilion this afternoon and simmered it over low heat for more than an hour before it was ready. Thankfully, he didn't feed it to Funina himself.

Ningguang placed the teacup back on the table, picked up her chopsticks again, and put a piece of stir-fried vegetables into her bowl. "Everyone, the guest rooms at Qunyu Pavilion are ready. If it gets late after dinner, you may wish to stay here for the night and go down tomorrow."

Fanes finished the last piece of meat in his bowl, put down his chopsticks, and said, "Then I'll stay for the night. I have other things to take care of tomorrow."

Funina also put down her chopsticks and was wiping her fingertips with a damp towel. "I don't have anything urgent to do back home. Staying overnight is fine."

Hu Tao had already shifted her position on the chair several times: "Does the guest room have a window? Can we see the stars at night?"

Ningguang leaned back in her chair, her tone as if stating a previously confirmed inventory record: "There are windows. Two of the rooms face east, offering a more expansive view than the row on the west side."

Walnut's posture became noticeably more settled after those words. Fanes looked down at Little Black, who was crouching on the edge of the table.

Little Black was rubbing its belly with its front paws, then turned its head to look at him, as if it had eaten an unexpected extra meal and was silently confirming whether that portion of the food had been combined with the total amount for the day.