Date With Hu Tao, Part One - Uncertainty
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***
Once Fischl spotted his lonely figure,
"Oh, how wonderful, my dear Prince! Dusk and dawn but fleeting shadows are. Once more, the twists of fate have led you into my everlasting cold embrace!"
She announced and hugged him.
Her movement was so quick and unexpected, but he remained steady and embraced her.
Despite what she was saying, her embrace was a complete opposite of cold. It was very warm and comfortable. She also smelled nice, and definitely came out of the bath not long ago.
She buried her face into his chest and stood up on her heels to reach his face, happily rubbing her cheeks against his and then gave him a morning kiss.
"Good morning to you girls as well."
He said softly and rubbed Fischl's back, his gaze trailing towards Hu Tao as well.
The girl in question raised one of her eyebrows seeing both of them act like that and looked far off with a glazed atmosphere, but soon enough reciprocated the greeting.
"Good morning, Assistant-kun! Today is the day! Don't you forget!" Hu Tao giddily replied.
He also naturally smiled seeing her like that.
She was always so energetic and mischievous, it was a part of her personality and her whole being, he didn't want to see her cry again. It simply didn't fit her...
Yomite and Hu Tao had finished up their breakfast and said goodbye to Fischl.
They proceeded to wander down the busy streets towards the city gates, while holding hands.
Hu Tao seemed more shy than he thought.
It was as if she was looking around, constantly watching if someone wasn't paying attention to them, walking around the town intimately...
He leaned to her ear and whispered, "Relax a little, will you? We should be enjoying this day, right? To easily breeze through it. There is no need to be nervous, we already said we love each other, no? Besides, who cares what other people think about us? I certainly don't."
She took a deep breath and nodded.
This was Mondstadt, and not Liyue, she didn't need to be afraid someone would call Yomite names and talk behind his back for hanging out with a weirdo like her...
This was a completely different territory, with a friendly city and most of its residents were also very polite.
But soon, she would have to return back to that unpleasant place.
Back to Liyue where everyone ostracized her for just breathing...
She didn't want to go alone....
He wouldn't go with her, would he?
***
Which person of Liyue did not know of the little troublemaker named Hu Tao?
The number of people would be low, that's for sure.
If they even existed. Even little kids knew of her infamous existence, as their parents warned them of the creepy little Wangsheng Funeral Parlor Director.
Still, to be the young boss of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor at such a fine young age was actually considered quite the achievement.
Usually, one would become the Director at age above forty, yet she was clearly cut above the rest, only around eighteen years of age or barely older and capable of handling every problem that would arise.
After their previous leader passed away, Hu Tao's grandfather, Old Hu, she did everything to perfection and no one could find a single mistake to reprimand her.
The retainers of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor were impressed, as they rarely saw a child as young and as talented as Hu Tao, to have the spirit and the soul of a businessman…
The problem was...that her spirit was quite extreme...because it wasn't like a person died and needed a burial ceremony every single day in Liyue, right...?
Hu Tao was trying way too hard and most of the time, shunned the people around her away by her forced advertising and her weird techniques of advertisement.
Almost everyone talked badly about Hu Tao, it was no wonder, as the little peppy woman was capable of entering people's homes uninvited during night to advertise her services of selling coffins, while saying that the best time of the day to promote them was during the night…
That was also probably where she picked up her lock picking skills that Yomite was so afraid of.
Once in a while, she would crack jokes about death, but no one would get them.
People were scared of death. Death wasn't funny to anyone but her. Death was nothing to joke about...
That was a worldwide fact, no matter in which country.
This especially concerned humans with short lifespans and people doing dangerous jobs like adventuring.
If they purely talked about the promotion of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor services, Hu Tao sometimes carried banners, walking around the town and promoting, and gave away the special discount coupons of 40% off for those who would deliver the dead bodies of their deceased relatives right in front of the doorstep of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, which was to most people, unacceptable.
This also spread around hatred of those people who recently lost someone close to them, thinking she was simply mocking them.
Words of her antics spread all around the Liyue and even across the world.
Even in Mondstadt, some people heard rumours about her, but seeing that she was hanging around the 'Hero' like a usual cheerful girl, made them forget such things.
People would forget rumours if they didn't seem true.
"That reminds me, do you not have any other set of clothes? Why do you always wear the same coat with a piece of cloth around your chest and short shorts?"
He wanted to see how she would react, being called out about the thin fabric that covered her tiny bosom.
She didn't wear a bra either, it was just a black piece of cloth that could easily come undone during their spars...
Luckily, she wore her coat over it when she was walking through the streets.
Full of people.
She puffed her cheeks, as if she was offended and replied.
"I have to wear the coat! If not, our business will be buried while the business of others will outshine us! The coat is the representation of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor! I can't just throw it away..."