Lu Bu, the Thunder General, is my adoptive father in Genshin Impact.

"Mr. Thomas!" The bartender's face lit up with barely concealed excitement. "It's been a long time. I was thinking this morning that you would grace us with your presence, and sure enough, I was right."

"Business is about the same as usual, but just now..." He changed the subject and looked troubled, "Something happened at the store, and the security personnel happened to be on leave."

"Just tell me what's wrong, maybe I can help you solve it," Thomas said, patting his chest.

The bartender, grasping at a straw, hurriedly explained, "Not long ago, two customers got drunk and claimed they wanted to fight in the alley. You know the nature of our shop; if there's bloodshed nearby, it'll be troublesome if it attracts the attention of the Tenryo magistrate."

"Alright then, I'll go check it out for you and try to break up the fight while I'm at it," Thomas said with a hearty laugh.

"Thank you so much!" The bartender practically knelt down.

“No need to thank me. Bring my friend a jug of the best wine, and we'll be even.” Thomas walked toward the door, saying to Xiao Yi, “I’ll get it done quickly. Wait a moment, and try the fine wine here.”

Not long after the door closed, the bartender brought out the fragrant and rich sake and poured it for Xiao Yi.

Xiao Yi had no choice but to sit at the bar and sip his wine, pretending to be intoxicated.

"Fine wine, with a subtle plum sweetness, paired with a rich malt aroma, makes you feel as if you are lying in a field about to be harvested, with a dense plum grove beside you."

The bartender's face was full of approval; he hadn't encountered such a knowledgeable customer in a while.

In reality, Xiao Yi knew nothing about wine. He didn't grab the wine jug and chug it down like water because he was being considerate of his good friend Thomas.

It's a small matter if I lose face; Thomas is a local bigwig, and as his friend, I shouldn't be so tasteless.

Bang! ! !

As Xiao Yi brought the ceramic wine cup to his lips, a heavy thud came from behind him, as if someone was banging on the door.

Immediately afterwards, someone bumped into Xiao Yi from behind, causing him to lean forward involuntarily, spilling the entire glass of wine on his face.

Xiao Yi wiped the liquid off his face with his sleeve and noticed that the bartender looked terrified. He turned around and saw a dark-skinned fat man standing behind him, glaring at him fiercely as well.

It seems that the person who slammed the door and then bumped into himself was this burly guy with a fierce face.

"Shouldn't you say something, sir?" Xiao Yi said casually.

"What does that mean? Heh!" The fat man unbuttoned his shirt, revealing his fleshy upper body. "You really need to be disciplined. Kids shouldn't wander into adults' places!"

The dark-skinned fat man wasn't showing off his fat; when he tore open his clothes, the ruby ​​hanging at his waist became even more obvious.

This is a fire-attribute divine eye. Fatty wants to tell Xiao Yi: Take a piss and look at yourself. You're a weakling without a divine eye!

“Tadokoro, Mr. Tadokoro Koji,” the bartender said tremulously, facing the fat man, “This is Mr. Thomas’s friend, please don’t be too…”

"Oh? Thomas's friend?!" The fat man picked up Xiao Yi's glass and filled it for him. "Then I'm really sorry. Here, let me toast you!"

Instead of handing the cup to Xiao Yi, he held it above Xiao Yi's head and slowly poured it down.

The bartender was terrified and didn't know what to do.

Sake dripped from his head onto his face, but Xiao Yi maintained a smile throughout, as if he were admitting defeat because he dared not defy the fat man.

However, Xiao Yi was not really scared; he only endured the insults out of caution.

Thomas will be back soon. If a fight breaks out now, Thomas will most likely choose to help. Xiao Yi thinks it's not good to let a friend get into trouble because of personal matters.

He planned to wait for Thomas to return, find a reason to send him to a more distant place, and then slowly deal with this arrogant, fat, dark-skinned man named Tadokoro.

Seeing that Xiao Yi dared not resist, Tadokoro Hiroshi poured the whole glass of wine, laughed loudly, placed the glass on Xiao Yi's head, and turned to walk deeper into the tavern.

Xiao Yi took the cup off his head and slowly poured himself more wine, continuing to savor it as if nothing had happened.

Thomas returned just as he finished his business and sat down at the bar. He noticed that Xiao Yi's hair was wet and asked him what had happened.

"It was too hot in the tavern, and I tend to sweat a lot," Xiao Yi explained with a smile. "After a couple of drinks, my body temperature and height increased, and that's how I got like this."

Faced with this situation, the bartender, who had witnessed the whole thing, hesitated to speak, while Thomas remained skeptical.

Xiao Yi then changed the subject, trying to get Thomas to leave: "There seem to be some grilled fish for sale around the dock, perfect for having with drinks, but I'm a bit drunk and can't walk. Brother Thomas, could you please buy a few for me?"

As Xiao Yi picked up his glass to sip his wine and waited for Thomas's response, an unexpected situation occurred.

A guard from the tavern rushed in anxiously, looked around and found Thomas at the counter. He immediately leaned close to Thomas and whispered and quickly reported the incident.

"Lord Thomas, I've finally found you—something terrible has happened! The young lady has been assassinated!"

"Pfft!" Xiao Yi next to him spat out a mouthful of old wine.

Chapter 12 Minotaur, Die!

Ayaka Kamisato, the eldest daughter of the Kamisato family, a magistrate, is the noble White Heron Princess. She is gentle, kind, and approachable, and thus deeply loved by the people of Inatsuma.

Tonight, the seemingly harmless White Heron Princess was assassinated, a shocking piece of news that stunned the entire nation.

However, the guard's report was very quiet, and apart from Thomas and Xiao Yi, even the bartender behind the bar couldn't hear what was being said.

Thomas tried to suppress his inner turmoil. Although he tried to lower his voice, his rapid speech still betrayed his emotions: "How is Miss now? Has the assassin been caught? Does the patriarch know about this? Has the Heavenly Territory Envoy taken any action...?"

Although the guard looked anxious when he rushed in, Thomas was even more anxious now. The guard forced himself to remain calm and organized his thoughts to report the situation.

"Please rest assured, Miss has been practicing swordsmanship since childhood. Those assassins were no match for her; they were all defeated by her. Currently, the warriors of the Heavenly Territory are interrogating the suspects. Nevertheless, this is still no small matter."

"Is Miss alright?" Thomas's mood had calmed down considerably.

"He was just a little frightened," the guard said.

"I'll be right back." Thomas quickly stood up and raised his voice slightly to Xiao Yi, "I have some work to attend to, so I can't keep you company any longer. I'm sorry."

Xiao Yi heard everything clearly and replied, "You just go ahead, I'm fine on my own."

Thomas and the guards led the way to the door and left the bustling tavern.

The lonely Xiao Yi poured himself another drink.

Since Ayaka was unharmed, there was no need to worry too much. Besides, there was no reason for her to go to the Kamisato mansion with Thomas to watch the excitement. She could only wait and see until she met Thomas again, then ask him what happened and be an ordinary bystander.

As for now, there's something I haven't done yet.

Xiao Yi asked the bartender, "The fat guy who 'toasted' me earlier, I think his name was Tadokoro Koji, what's his background?"

The bartender looked around and whispered, "He used to be a samurai in the Tenryo magistrate's office. During the war, he awakened the Eye of God. Later, he was punished for mistreating prisoners of war. After the war, Tadokoro seemed unable to adapt to the mundane military life and left the Tenryo magistrate's office to become an unemployed vagrant."

"This guy is addicted to gambling. We have a secret room built specifically for this purpose, but he prefers to do it openly in the lobby. Whether it's me, the security guards, or the izakaya owner, we all think he's a troublesome guy who's always causing trouble."

But there's nothing you can do about it, right? Xiao Yi thought to himself.

Furthermore, Xiao Yi also realized that the tavern's unspeakable secret was actually a hidden casino.

As a model young man with excellent conduct, Xiao Yi is sworn to gambling and drugs and would naturally not get involved in such things.

At this moment, an inconspicuous corner of the tavern was unusually noisy, where a group of shady characters had gathered.

Xiao Yi remembered that the fat man had walked in that direction earlier.

Thinking that he had a score to settle with this guy, he picked up his full glass of wine and slowly moved toward the noisy crowd.

Pushing through the dense crowd, Xiao Yi noticed a broken table in the corner. The table's corners were uneven and had to be supported by stones to maintain its balance.

There was no wine on the table, but three dice on each side, two cups for shaking the dice, and dozens of small wooden tokens as simple chips.

Upon seeing this, Xiao Yi immediately understood what was happening here and why there were so many onlookers.

There were two people sitting at the table participating in the gambling.

Xiao Yi recognized the arrogant fellow as Tadokoro Koji, the one who had splashed wine on his head. The fat man casually fiddled with his chips, looking like he had victory in his grasp.

His opponent, on the contrary, was a thin, timid, and listless man, as if he had been forcibly tied to the gambling table.

When Xiao Yi arrived, the man had just lost a game. With trembling hands, he handed a few chips to the excited fat man.

"Your luck isn't so good!" Tadokoro mocked. "Want to try again? Or are you just going to go back like a coward and watch your wife die of illness?"

"Again, again." The man tried to grab the cup to cover the dice again, but his hand trembled and he accidentally swept one of the dice under the table.

He bent down to pick up the dice, but someone beat him to it.

Xiao Yi gripped the dice that had fallen to the ground and advised, "Give up, you can't win."

The onlookers on the street were buzzing with discussion.

"Who's this kid? He's got no fear of death!"

"He actually dared to tell Tadokoro's rivals to stop!"

"He's ruined Tadokoro's mood, he's doomed!"

The thin man gripped Xiao Yi's wrist tightly, pried his fingers open, and snatched the dice: "My wife is sick. Even selling all my possessions wouldn't be enough for her treatment. This is the only way to save her: use our possessions to get more money, more money..."

The man was rambling incoherently, almost delirious.

At the same time, several chips slammed into Xiao Yi's face. After throwing the chips, the fat man cursed angrily, "It's you again, you bastard! How dare you ruin my fun! Believe me or not..."

Koji Tadokoro suddenly fell silent as the gaunt man stretched out his hands and pushed all the chips to the center of the table.

"No, don't make things difficult for him. Let's continue, I'll stake everything on it."

"Huh? You've got guts!" The fat man's anger turned to delight. "You're just not very bright."

"I'll deal with you later!" After threatening Xiao Yi, Tadokoro covered the three dice with the cup.

The man also covered the dice.

They shook their glasses at the same time, and for a moment the entire tavern fell silent except for the frequent "clattering" of the dice against the glass, until the commotion abruptly stopped a few seconds later.

The man opened the cup first, and as the cup was lifted, the numbers four, five, and five appeared before everyone.

Fourteen points in total, which is a very large number, and the onlookers couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

With his wife's life finally saved, the thin man breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the dark-skinned fat man.

Koji Tadokoro remained calm and slowly lifted the lid of the cup covering the dice, shocking everyone once again.

Five o'clock, six o'clock, six o'clock.

The man slumped in the wooden chair like a puppet whose strings had been cut, helplessly watching as his lifeline was snatched away by Koji Tadokoro.

One of the onlookers whispered in the fat man's ear, "Uncle Tian Suo, I've seen this man's wife. Although she's always sickly, she's very beautiful..."

The fat man curled into a disgusting smile.

"Hey, coward. I'll give you one more chance. If you can beat me this round, all the chips are yours."

After hearing the fat man's words, the man's extinguished hope was rekindled.

"What...what do you want me to do?"