Chapter Text
Zhongli had a story, metaphor, or proverb for everything and anything.
“There is a Liyue proverb about a horse crossing a river. Have you heard of it?”
Such as now. Childe awaits the inevitable moral and deeper meaning behind the story.
“Yeah, it’s the one with the squirrel and ox right?” Childe replies, his hands shaking to pick up a piece of Jueyun Chili Chicken with his pair of chopsticks.
Zhongli hums in agreement. “A horse is trying to cross a river. He doesn’t know how steep it is so he asks the neighboring ox.” He drops the piece of chicken that Childe was struggling with into his rice bowl.
“The ox tells him the river is shallow, but a squirrel in the tree overheard and told the horse the river is steep and will drown him.” Childe thanks him and continues to struggle putting the chicken in his mouth.
“You are like a squirrel.”
I wouldn’t drown. I can swim. He thinks. The thought felt dumb in his head so he replied instead with, “I have a Hydro vision,” which was definitely an even dumber statement. His chicken plops onto the rice.
He flushes a little when Zhongli laughs softly, the type when his eyes close and he lifts his hand up to his mouth to be polite. His mouth was stuffed with food.
“No, you’re right. You could probably swim as well.” Childe agrees mentally behind his embarrassment. He really had to change the conversation like this.
“You know, we’re sitting a bit away from our usual spot. Normally we’re a bit closer watching Xiangling cook.”
“Usual?”
“Yeah. We’ve been sitting at that spot quite a lot now.” He points with his chopsticks at the table spotted right outside Wanming Restaurant.
“12 times to be exact,” Zhongli replied, with exactness.
“Right. That’s a lot right?”
“Is it?” He muses. “There’s a spot I’ve eaten with friends thousands of times.”
Childe never forgets that he’s dating a god (not after the stunt the Geo Archon pulled), but the comments he makes sometimes are still jarring to hear.
He chuckles, “Sadly I don’t think I could take you to any restaurant a thousand times. Maybe a hundred? A few hundred too maybe?”
Zhongli blinks, “You don’t need to. Knowing you, you’d be bored by the 50th time.”
It wasn’t the point, but he appreciates Zhongli’s ever lackluster attempt to humor him. It’s really cute honestly. But still he couldn’t stop himself from asking:
“I would never hold up against an adepti right?”
It took him a moment, probably a bit faster than Childe had estimated, but his eyes brighten up even more than they usually do, “Ah.”
Zhongli purses his lips, “Are you jealous, perhaps?”
Childe scoffs, finally placing the chicken in his mouth, “No.” Yes.
The man in front of him smiles again, this time no longer covering his mouth. “You are like a squirrel.”
The conversation returned back to this, so Childe simply huffs.
“And why do you think that?”
“Your cheeks, they puff up a lot when your mouth is full.” Zhongli replies, his eyes twinkling.
So maybe not all of Zhongli’s stories and metaphors and parables have a deeper meaning.