Reading poems from Teyvat

"In fact, winning or losing has little to do with whether I am absent-minded or not."

Shen Zhigui just said what he thought.

As long as his spirit has not recovered to the point where he can use the "Fish and Birds in the World Fly and Sink" technique to fly the sword through the air, he will definitely not be a match for Keqing in this state.

Even if he recovered, his chances of winning would only increase by 20% to 30%.

Although Shen Zhigui has accumulated a lot of true energy in his body now, it is still too weak compared to the thunder element controlled by Keqing using the Eye of God. Even if he can concentrate on deducing Keqing's moves and be the first to strike first, but being as fast as Keqing is enough to make her invincible to some extent.

Keqing wanted to say that his attitude was wrong, but she also knew that if the boy tried his best in his current state, he would probably fall down in two or three moves, so she had to remain silent. But in the end, she still followed the agreement she and Ningguang had made and asked Shen Zhigui: "How long do you plan to study with Master Liuyun Jiefeng?"

"How can you be sure of such a thing?"

Shen Zhigui just casually made a sword flower and sheathed the sword while speaking.

"That……"

Keqing immediately raised her head and looked at the distracted boy. She hesitated to speak, but finally took a deep breath before saying, "Then why don't you take care of yourself before going there?"

"You seem to be very concerned about my whereabouts recently..."

Shen Zhigui said meaningfully.

"you?"

"He's an idler who's about to retire but wants to drag me down with him," Shen Zhigui said absentmindedly. "I didn't want to wade into this muddy water. After all, no matter how you look at it, the rewards and risks are not proportional. And if something goes wrong in the process, I'll even have to bear a lot of blame. From this perspective, I should have rejected that person immediately."

"what are you saying?"

"Just a little grumble."

Shen Zhigui glanced at the girl, then handed his sword to Keqing and said, "Master Yuhengxing, what do you think of this sword?"

In fact, Keqing had long been curious about Shen Zhigui's new weapon, but she had never found a chance to ask clearly. When she saw the young man handing it to her, she took it, then drew her sword, carefully examined it for a moment under the moonlight, and finally swung it at the stone table beside her. Suddenly, she saw the stone table cracked into two sides, but the long sword in her hand, which seemed to be made of flawless green jade, did not leave any scars, but instead shone even more brightly under the moonlight:

"Where did you get this magical weapon?"

"A gift from someone else."

"Why would he give you such a magical weapon?"

"To drag me down with you?"

Shen Zhigui took the sword handed back by the girl and said.

"What does he want from you?"

Shen Zhigui immediately looked at the girl with clear eyes, then sighed and said, "Is it similar to what you want me to do?"

"You were the one who took the initiative to ask me to sign the contract. I never asked you to do anything."

Keqing turned her head away, curled her lips and spoke in a low voice.

"That's true, actually."

Shen Zhigui drew out his sword again, and tapped the sword with his left fingers. The green sword immediately emitted a clear sword chant, which spread farther and farther in the dark night. He held up the sword with a clear texture, and used it as a mirror to peek at his own spirit. However, perhaps because he had seen it too many times, he didn't think it was anything strange. What's more, he couldn't figure it out in his heart. What could he tell from looking at his face?

"What on earth are you thinking about?"

Keqing asked when she saw his attitude.

"Master Yuhengxing, what do you think I will be able to achieve in two years?"

Shen Zhigui said.

"Two years later? Why two years later?"

Keqing asked sensitively.

"Maybe because I'll be an adult in two years?"

Shen Zhigui just made up an excuse and said.

Although in fact his mental age is already over 18 years old.

Perhaps because this reason was too consistent with the casual image he gave people, Keqing did not think much about it and followed his train of thought. However, when she thought about how the boy had gone from running away in a panic when he first encountered the Hilichurls to being in a close match with her in less than two months, she found it a little hard to imagine what he would be able to achieve two years later.

"Why do you ask?"

"Just want to take a gamble."

Anyway, according to the original plot development, Ningguang could pass this test even if she destroyed the Qun Yu Pavilion.

But his current state...

"Forget it," he shook his head, just thinking, "Let's first see the results of the promotion of the Qi system in the Qianyan Army."

Anyway, he didn't have to get involved, and Zhongli was also aware of the danger of "Come like thunder and end with wrath". It would not be so easy to promote it in the Qianyan Army.

Chapter 50: Those who disturb my heart today are full of worries (Part 2)

Although there is still more than half a year before the next ceremony to invite the immortals.

Therefore, if Shen Zhigui wanted to see what Zhongli would do, he would have to wait at least half a year.

He can't have stayed in Liyue Harbor for the past six months, right?

So when Keqing finally asked him to agree on a deadline, Shen Zhigui announced that he would come to Liyue Harbor again before the next Summoning Immortals Ceremony. After hearing the deadline the boy said, Keqing couldn't help but feel that it was a bit too long. But then, she heard the boy say thoughtfully, "I may not always stay with Master Liuyunjiefeng."

"That……"

"If I am free and have recovered by then, I will probably go to Mond."

"What are you doing in Mond?"

Keqing couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, but asked.

“Exchange poetry writing tips?”

Shen Zhigui made this excuse which even he himself could not convince.

But Keqing felt that his excuse was reasonable, so she didn't object for the moment. But when she thought about the boy's casual personality, what if he went to Mondstadt and felt that it was a more suitable place for him to settle down?

So Keqing immediately found an excuse: "I also have plans to go to Mondstadt recently. If you can come back earlier, I can go to Mondstadt with you."

"No need?"

Shen Zhigui thought that if he could learn how to make the Chen Ge Pot from Master Liuyun Jiefeng, he wouldn't have to rely on Keqing's Divine Eye space. He could take as many personal belongings as he wanted, and even if it rained or snowed, he could just go into the Chen Ge Pot and control the progress of his journey by himself, instead of having those two workaholics desperately urging him to speed up like he did when he was traveling between Liyue Harbor and Wangshu Inn. If he hadn't been in poor condition when returning to Liyue Harbor, those two people wouldn't even leave him any free time. In this case, if you let Shen Zhigui endure Keqing's nagging from morning to night, "If you waste too much time, you won't be able to finish your work," it would be better for him to go alone!

So even though Keqing is an extremely beautiful girl, Shen Zhigui has no interest in traveling with her or going to Mondstadt.

Isn't it just torturing yourself to follow this kind of workaholic?

But at this time, the girl lowered her eyes, and her long eyelashes were clearly visible in the moonlight. At this time, Shen Zhigui only heard the girl say in a delicate voice, almost whispering: "I will wait for you to come back."

Her voice revealed a weakness the boy had never heard before, as if she was pulling a kite flying in the storm, as if the silk string in her hand would break if she wasn't careful, and the kite would disappear into the distant sky and never be found again.

So when Shen Zhigui looked down and saw her posture, he couldn't help but fall silent at this time, and finally responded in a low voice.

But soon Keqing realized her situation and hurried out of the courtyard. The boy just followed her leaving figure with his eyes until her figure completely disappeared into the darkness. Shen Zhigui couldn't help but say:

"Those who left me, yesterday's day cannot be kept, those who disturbed my heart, today's day is full of worries..."

Although these two lines of poetry can be translated into plain language, it simply means that yesterday has passed and today still has to be spent in worry and sorrow.

Although Shen Zhigui doesn't need to worry so much.

But he suddenly thought of a fact. Keqing would never back down in Zhongli's test. And Zhongli's test involved not only the Whirlpool Demon Osiel, but also the meddling and intervention of the Fatui. Although her skills should have improved a lot now, Zhongli had decided not to let the immortals intervene. Would she really not have any problems at that time?

Just because of this one thing, Shen Zhigui couldn't just sit there and watch.

Although the condition that Zhongli provided for him to take over Ganyu's job was a bit too vicious.

He had no interest in being some humble public instrument to hold the fruits of the careful deliberations of the Seven Stars of Liyue.

If he really wants to do it, he would rather lead the change himself.

How did you say that?

How can a man who lives between heaven and earth live in depression for a long time under human beings?

So even if he wanted to intervene, he had to talk to Zhongli first and get him to change this rule.

……

In the eyes of Ganyu, the real cabinet secretary, Shen Zhigui’s knowledge of the system was indeed very advanced. Although she did not know where the so-called Zhendan country was in Teyvat, from the boy’s words, he seemed to have really seen how that country that was completely ruled by people rather than gods was established. So she could learn from the boy how the power structure of that country operated and what basis and needs the division of various powers involved was based on. Although for Liyue’s current situation, it was actually impossible to train and supply so many professional bureaucrats——

This is also why Ganyu has always had so much work to do.

Because in her case, the work of "officials" and "clerks" has never been separated, but handled together.

Occasionally, when Shen Zhigui heard about the content of the work she had to deal with, he felt a sense of discomfort as if a state-level cadre had to go to the village to mediate a dispute between two brothers over family property. So he couldn't help but respect her for handling all these messy tasks at once and handling them in an orderly manner.

If he were to do it, he might just fall into the task of organizing the work content.

However, sometimes Shen Zhigui also suspected that the reason why Ganyu was like this was not only because of the insufficient number of professional bureaucrats, but also because she was used to working in this way, and her work efficiency was too high, so Yue Haiting's secretaries unconsciously handled affairs with her as the center, instead of making a good division of labor and then dealing with them. Ganyu had not made any mistakes for thousands of years, which led to the younger secretaries of Yue Haiting still doing things according to the practices taught by their predecessors in the past, and they never thought about changing this working model.

But these actually have little to do with him.

Although it is said that the end of the universe is the system, he has never thought about joining it.

So when faced with Ganyu's questions, he simply used some of his knowledge from the original world to deal with Ganyu.

Anyway, in his opinion, the situation in Liyue where natural disasters are everywhere may not be like the society he was in before, where most graduates want to apply for the establishment after graduation. Moreover, most of the establishment in Liyue are still Thousand Rock Army, and the number of clerical clerks seems to be much smaller, which makes Ganyu's work more difficult.

Chapter 51: Those who disturb my heart today are full of worries (Part 2)

But the longer Gan Yu and Shen Zhigui traveled together on the road to Jueyunjian, the more confused she became:

Perhaps this young man had indeed lived in a country that was completely ruled by people rather than by God, and that country was not like Liyue where the remains of demons were everywhere. It could even be said that the weather was good and the young man did not really hate that country. From his words, that country was actually quite stable and even thriving when he lived there. So why did he advocate the rule of God instead of the rule of man?

One night when they were camping in the wilderness and sitting by a campfire, Ganyu couldn't help but ask this question.

"That's a good question."

Shen Zhigui thought about it and said.

"Ms. Ganyu, do you think that among human beings, the majority are selfish or selfless?"

Although Ganyu wanted to say it was the latter, because she was that kind of person, so she wanted everyone in the world to become like that, but the experience of thousands of years had proved that it was the former, so she couldn't lie, but she still couldn't help but defend those people, saying: "But there's nothing wrong with being selfish, right?"

"Of course," Shen Zhigui also nodded and said, "I have no intention of judging whether selfishness or selflessness is better or worse. I just want to point out a fact. Humans or most creatures are selfish in essence. This is their nature. Seeking benefits and avoiding harm is the instinct of creatures. So once such creatures build a society, those who occupy high positions will consciously or unconsciously want to consolidate this order so that their descendants can continue to occupy high positions. So in the long run, wealth and power will become more and more concentrated in the hands of the upper class. When the lower class can no longer bear it and breaks this order, the rebuilt order will start this cycle again, and the cycle will repeat itself over and over again, never stopping -"

At this time, Ganyu saw that the boy's eyes were unusually clear under the flickering bonfire, and the voice also became unusually clear and firm:

"So in the final analysis, I am not against rule by man or rule by God. What I am against is this endless cycle. Perhaps Liyue will also have this tendency now, but both you and the Emperor have proved that you can be qualified supervisors. You can keep up with the times and accept new ideas instead of sticking to the old ways and always wanting to maintain the convenient and easy-to-use order of the old times. So if you ask me why I still advocate 'rule by God' after seeing such a scene, then my answer is that I just want to see whether Liyue's society can really end such a ridiculous cycle after it develops to that stage and has a qualified and long-lived supervisor."

After hearing the young man's words, Ganyu fell silent for a moment.

Maybe he wasn't confident enough to praise the boy?

Ganyu thought.

Maybe the Emperor was indeed that kind of person, but for her, whether she could really keep up with the times and accept new ideas, she really couldn't admit it frankly, so facing such a young man who praised her without any scruples in front of her, she couldn't say anything else. She wanted to say that Shen Zhigui was too flattering, but she didn't want to admit that she would really stick to her old ways and disappoint this young man, so she could only stare at the flickering flames in a daze for a long time before saying:

"I am a hybrid of human and unicorn."

Shen Zhigui immediately looked at the young-looking Seven Star Secretary in surprise, wondering why she suddenly said this?

At this time, she also raised her eyes and looked at the boy sitting not far away, and said seriously: "For a long time, I have been unable to determine whether I should integrate into the normal society of Liyue as a human, or stand apart from the crowd as a fairy beast and protect this country. Now, you want me to become a qualified supervisor. Do you mean that you want me to protect Liyue as a fairy beast?"

Apart from anything else, your way of thinking is indeed quite inhuman.

Although Shen Zhigui didn't know how she would respond if she were a normal human being and heard such words.

But after hesitating for a moment, he just said: "Why do you have to be so entangled in whether you are a human or a Qilin?"

"what?"

Ganyu was a little surprised when she heard the young man's words.

"If you want to feel a sense of belonging in human society as a human, then you should frankly admit to the people you want to be recognized as a hybrid of human and Qilin. Those who should recognize you will recognize you sooner or later. If you want to be a Qilin, you should show off your Qilin part and make those you hate feel afraid. Why can't you be both, instead of integrating into one side? Besides, aren't there people like you in Liyue Harbor?"

"similar?"

"That Yan Fei who is also a mixed-blood."

Gan Yu immediately recalled the girl who currently lived with Ge Chenlangshi Zhenjun, and nodded immediately. But then she thought of something and said, "But in this case, Yan Fei can actually become a qualified supervisor, right?"

"She does have the potential to be a competent supervisor."

Shen Zhigui just said that.

"possible?"