Reading poems from Teyvat

For a moment, Shen Zhigui didn't understand whether Eula was drunk or not. If he said she was drunk, why was this analysis so clear and concise? If he said she was not drunk, the conclusion he drew was a bit too outrageous.

So both Wendy and Shen Zhigui temporarily stopped noting down the music, and Shen Zhigui just said, "So what?"

"So why do you try so hard to please her?" Eula seemed to put herself in her own situation and said a little indignantly, "Anyway, no matter what you do, she will look down on you and doesn't want to accept the benefits brought to her by your series of achievements. I guess from the beginning, she looked down on you as a bard, so she just treats you as dispensable. The more you do, the more she hates your attitude. In this case, what good will it do you to please her?"

"no?"

Shen Zhigui followed her words.

"But you didn't give up."

Eula continued to pour half a cup into her mouth.

Qin looked at her good friend worriedly, but ultimately did not interrupt her. She probably understood that her good friend had been keeping these words in her heart for a long time and had no chance to speak them out. She just wanted to vent them out while she was drunk. Even saying this would be beneficial to her physical and mental health, so she did not stop her and just let her friend continue to talk in distress.

Although she could see that Keqing didn't really hate this young man.

The young man's intention was not to please Yuheng Star deliberately.

It was simply that Eula, who was already drunk at the moment, unilaterally thought that Shen Zhigui's current situation was similar to hers.

"so?"

Shen Zhigui still dealt with her casually at this time and said.

"So what's your reason for persisting in trying to please her?"

"Because she's beautiful?"

Shen Zhigui remained the same, responding absentmindedly.

"What kind of excuse is that? Am I not prettier than her?"

"Well..."

Shen Zhigui hesitated for a moment.

His hesitation made Jyn doubt the relationship between him and Keqing:

Could it be that these two people really aren't in a relationship that's more than friends but less than lovers and is only one step away from becoming a reality?

After all, she had never seen anyone who really had that kind of relationship hesitate when faced with such a question about death.

Chapter 3: Epilogue ()

Shen Zhigui is a hopeless face addict.

So if you ask him to compare Keqing and Eula's looks, he will only judge based on appearance, and ignore additional factors such as their personalities and their shared past. It would be hard for him to say who is prettier.

Because Keqing's beauty is the kind of exquisiteness that reveals the temperament of a lady from a noble family from head to toe, but it can also be said that her shortcoming is that she is too exquisite, because that kind of dress is "to be admired from a distance but not to be played with" for ordinary people. It is true that Eula also has a similar temperament, but her "nobleness" is essentially just a pretense. Once she takes off the false illusion of coldness like she does now, people will feel that her beauty is just right and much more mature than Keqing.

Although this is nothing more than a standard mixed with the personal preferences of the raters.

After all, someone likes older sisters more than young girls.

Although it is very questionable whether one can say this about someone's mental age.

But if you just look at their appearance, Shen Zhigui feels that these two people are equally beautiful.

Youla didn't hear Shen Zhigui's answer for a long time, so she took another big gulp, spit out the full smell of alcohol, and said dazedly: "You yourself said that the reason you please her is that she is very beautiful, but you don't think she is prettier than me, so instead of pleasing her, you might as well please me!"

This is completely drunken talk, right?

Shen Zhigui watched her raise her glass silently, thinking.

"say something!"

She knocked on the table with her wine glass in dissatisfaction again. Fortunately, she was using a wooden one, so there would be no danger. Even if there was danger, it would not hurt her.

"what do you want me to say?"

Shen Zhigui said.

"Why did you choose to please her instead of me? As long as you drink this cup with me, I will acknowledge you as my friend! Isn't my attitude towards you better than that of Yuhengxing?"

Shen Zhigui hesitated to speak, and finally he really didn't think it was pointless to argue with such a drunkard, but he still said:

"I don't really care what Yuhengxing's attitude towards me is."

"I understand. You guys are just thinking that your dedication to your dream girl might change her attitude one day. If you still can't impress her, you can just move yourself."

Eula just sneered and said.

"Maybe it is like this," Shen Zhigui raised his eyebrows and said softly, "But this is nothing more than a choice. If a person has to pursue his own partner in his life, a community of shared destiny, a shape that can fill the gap in his soul, then it is better to give with hope than to stay where you are and do nothing. Of course, if you feel that your efforts for this person will never get her response, which undermines your dignity, you can naturally change the object to give. Maybe the next object's attitude towards you will be much better than the previous one? But what if If you still choose the original partner when you have a choice, it proves that she has never only brought you a situation where your dignity has been trampled upon, but also a warm kindness and a profound past, right? These pasts constitute your soul, your spiritual food, and even the air you rely on to survive. So even if one part of her may have been constantly rejecting you, the other part is constantly accepting you. In the end, your liking for the kind part of her outweighs your disgust for the malicious part, so you feel that it is better to stay here than to throw yourself into the arms of the next partner. "

At first, Eula was just drunk and confused, so she instinctively listened to the boy's remarks with a mocking attitude and wanted to find fault with him. But when she heard the end, she suddenly realized that the boy might also realize why she was confronting him, or maybe it was purely his personal point of view on love. However, at the moment, what he said did coincide with her will to some extent.

Because if Amber, Jean and a small number of people in the Knights of Favonius had not looked at her without prejudice, she might have become discouraged and no longer cared about the old customs and habits such as the glory of the old nobility. She would not have thought about changing the world's view of the Lawrence family and fighting against their prejudice. She would not have thought about integrating into this country and might have left Mond and traveled around.

What drove her to make this choice was, as the young man had said, the kindness of Amber, Jean and some other people. Her fondness for these people outweighed her disgust for others, and these people's kindness continued to give her hope, making her feel that one day she would be able to change the prejudice of the people of Mond against her, a person who inherited the old noble family name of Lawrence. She felt that she could eventually fit in, although if her family was really hopeless, she could also give up or even destroy this family name.

So after listening to the young man's words, she stood there for a long time without saying a word. However, the resentment that appeared from time to time on her pretty face also disappeared.

So Shen Zhigui turned around and continued to argue with Wendy about the accompaniment of the song.

Just as the two were getting into the discussion, Eula, with a slight blush still on her face, suddenly intervened in their conversation: "So you don't mind if that Yuheng Star can change his attitude towards you, right?"

Isn't this topic already over?

Shen Zhigui looked at her a little strangely.

But seeing that this person's eyes were too bright even though he was almost drunk, Shen Zhigui thought for a moment and said, "There are two kinds of people in the world, positive and negative. I belong to the negative type, so I don't actually actively seek a change in our relationship."

It would be better to say that Shen Zhigui actually has no intention of falling in love with anyone at the moment.

How do you say that?

The most important thing about a sword is to stay away from emotions.

Women only affect how quickly I draw my sword.

Although in reality, Keqing’s help to him—whether in completing system tasks or in real life—is far greater than that of anyone else.

"But if you're really a negative person, then you can't even please her, right?"

"Although I don't think that's flattery, you can think so if you insist. And I think it's not too much to flatter someone who saved my life."

Shen Zhigui just said that.

"But even if you try your best, and she may really like you in the end, she won't be able to choose to be with you due to various practical problems. Would you consider changing someone to please her?"

Chapter 4: Epilogue ()

"I've always been ready to please any beautiful girl in the world."

Shen Zhigui said without hesitation.

After hearing his words, Wendy, Jean, and even a certain Mondstadt night elf hero and tavern owner who had been secretly observing these people by wiping his wine glasses could not help but look at him sideways, thinking that no matter how you look at this guy, his previous attitude of being angry with everything does not seem like someone who can be gentle to any beautiful girl, right? Apart from anything else, now that a beauty like Eula is in front of him, the resentment on his face is almost overflowing, but he still has that absent-minded and casual attitude. Although he occasionally takes her words seriously and says some quite sincere words, it is probably still a perfunctory attitude. How can such a person say such things so confidently?

Not to mention Eula, who had been at loggerheads with him:

"Then why don't you come to please me?"

Shen Zhigui just rolled his eyes and said, "Pandering to a drunk will only make him worse."

"Humph!"

Eula immediately took another big sip.

Originally, Shen Zhigui thought that she would not continue talking, so he wanted to turn around and continue discussing with Wendy, but in the end, Eula said again: "But maybe I am easier to please than that Lord Yuhengxing?"

Shen Zhigui immediately turned his head to look over, but the noble girl was completely drunk at this time. After she whispered those words, she fell completely on the table. She could hear shallow breathing, as if she had fallen into a deep sleep. Shen Zhigui immediately had no way of telling whether her words were true or not.

But I guess it was just drunken talk?

Maybe I'll forget it when I wake up.

And even if she remembered, it probably wouldn't count.

So Shen Zhigui didn't take it seriously. On the contrary, Wendy took out his harp and played a subtle and delicate piece of music. When he finished playing, Shen Zhigui had almost finished notating the song. Although he felt that copying songs didn't seem to have any prospects in Mondstadt, he wrote this purely out of his personal memory. When Wendy saw that he was still sorting out the scale and notation of the song, she immediately shook her head and said, "You are really a strange person in a sense..."

"Does this also apply to you?"

Although the other party cannot be said to be a human being but a true god.

"My weirdness is understandable."

"Then how do you know that my strangeness is not justified?"

"Well..."

Wendy couldn't refute this statement at the moment, so she could only ask: "What's the reason that makes you so strange?"

Shen Zhigui immediately looked strange:

"What do you say?"

Wendy was silent for a moment, but soon returned to her playful state, took the music score he had almost finished writing, and brushed her fingertips across the strings of the harp, playing a soft tune. After the boy was silent for a moment, he began to sing.

So Qin just listened silently to the clear singing of the boy, while looking at her friend who might be really drunk or just pretending to sleep. She vaguely realized that this friend might have been really moved for a moment, but the boy was too unmoved, so she could only make this gesture. Although she really didn't understand why this boy could always touch other people's hearts with this gesture but still remain indifferent, is it always so easy for this boy to expose the secrets in other people's hearts?

So he could always easily evoke other people's deep emotions, whether through poetry, words or music, but after awakening those emotions, he himself seemed to have done nothing, just continuing to walk towards the next destination absent-mindedly, as if every person he met on the road was like a thick layer of rain between him and him. Although he could easily make others notice his singing and words, after the clouds disappeared and the rain stopped, the boy would soon disappear with the rain, and if anyone wanted to catch up with him, they would most likely get lost in that layer of rain.

Although Qin Ye couldn't see through the boy's intentions.

But she couldn't help but have a feeling that this young man was not the kind of person who would stay in one place for a long time, but a traveler like the wind.

Therefore, getting involved with him unnecessarily might be a troublesome thing, and this might be the reason why the boy has always maintained this attitude.

Does Eula understand or not?

Qin couldn't help but reach out and gently stroke her friend's short hair.

Although she wasn't sure if it was an illusion, she seemed to see Eula tremble.

When a certain tavern owner heard the slightly inappropriate singing of the boy, he couldn't help but stop what he was doing. As one of the richest men in Mondstadt, Diluk was actually more like a noble than someone like Eula who had the title of a noble. After all, the superstructure is always determined by the economic foundation, so he received a good education since he was a child, and this education was not like the stale atmosphere of the old times that Eula received. Of course, no matter what kind of education it is, the appreciation of music and literature is to some extent the same, so this big boss can easily taste the meaning of the song sung by the boy. Although this meaning is just a kind of tonic for many people in the tavern at this time, for Diluk, who once joined the Knights of Favonius and finally withdrew, the meaning of this song can evoke his resonance and make him fall into the memories of the past, unable to extricate himself for a long time.

When he came to his senses, the two bards had finished their performance and started drinking.

He also noticed that Shen Zhigui was drinking beverages such as fruit juice.

Although he seemed to be old enough to drink.

And if he doesn't want to drink, it means that he may be the kind of person who doesn't need to use alcohol to numb himself.

So Diluk actually admires him a little.

Because most people don’t actually want to live so clearly.

So the bar owner walked closer to them and said to the boy, "Did you write that song?"

Shen Zhigui just smiled with an ambiguous smile.

Diluk took it as his agreement and said, "If you come here to perform in the future, you can get a 30% discount on all your purchases."

"Boss, what about me? Although Xiaogui's song is good, without my accompaniment, his singing will lose a lot of its luster!" Wendy said.

Diluk immediately glanced at him and said, "If you come together, you can get a discount."

Chapter 5: Epilogue ()

Wendy, of course, drank even more happily after hearing this. Then she reached out and patted Shen Zhigui on the shoulder and said, "It looks like we can form a group. Xiaogui, what do you think would be a better name, Awakening Flute and Drunk Strings?"

"No one would want to remember such a fancy combination of names."

"Then, the Jade Flute and Wind Strings?"

"You're still bothered by those two words, right? Besides, can't you also play the flute?" Shen Zhigui shook his head. "Not to mention, I won't stay in Mondstadt for long."

Wendy said, "You said at the beginning that the freedom of some people in Mond was based on the price paid by others. Perhaps you thought at the time that the power of those people and the price they paid were not enough to make Mond a truly free country. But now, Tevarin has returned. You see, Captain Jyn is not as frowned as before, right? And you have made great contributions in this process. Is that enough for you to enjoy your freedom with peace of mind?"

"But I'm not the kind of person who would rely on others to protect my freedom," Shen Zhigui said, shaking the liquid in the cup, "Not to mention, if I stay here for a long time, I might get into trouble."

"But you have solved a lot of problems for us. As a friend, it is my duty to solve your problems, right?"

"What if the trouble I'm talking about is a huge trouble?"

Shen Zhigui casually pointed to the top of his head.

Wendy immediately realized what he was talking about, and her expression became a little more serious: "Is it really that troublesome?"

Shen Zhigui nodded: "If I keep the status quo, maybe I won't attract His attention. But if I want to continue to improve my martial arts, I guess I will have to fight. The scale of the problems caused by then will probably be no less than..."