Chapter Text
Xingqui had finally decided that this year before the rite of parting he’d confess his love to Chongyun. Before he did though, he wanted to understand his personality more.
“Why have you come to me for such chatter?” Albedo asks Xingqui.
Xingqui’s first thought after he made up his mind was to search for another nation to practice on Chongyun's personality. After working on a book with Albedo he found that the two of them got along great and he’d often bring tea when he visited Dragonspine. “I know it’s a question that I wouldn’t so informally bring up, but this is too important to me that I need all the assistance I can get my hands on.” Albedo looks away from his art piece to look at Xingqui “I shan’t discourage you, but I’m nowhere near the personality you describe” Albedo says honestly feeling a bit guilty he can’t help personally. “I can’t think of anyone that has a personality that close. I do think I know someone with different connections that could help.” Xingqui visibly looked happy at the response “Diluc Raginvindr, I believe you might have heard of him before.” “He runs the wine industry. Correct?” Albedo nods “If you want to run into him your best bet is to watch the Angels Share in Mondstadt. He often switches his bartending duties with Charles” Albedo rips a piece of paper from his sketchbook, a visible disapproval from Xingqui from the ripped page. “Though I don’t have any close contact with him I know that he may answer if I use my duty to my advantage.” He writes something down and slides the piece of paper his way. “When you do see him, show him that and you should at least get some type of assistance. I wish I could assist you in more ways but this is all I can do.” “No! No- this is more than I was expecting! When I get the chance I’ll bring the highest quality supplies for your studies.” Albedo smiles slightly “Oh… that’s too much. We’re friends aren’t we? Take this as a gesture of our friendship.” Xingqui nods before leaving Dragonspine.
After Xingqui gained some type of authority to leave for Mondstadt he made sure to hurry over to Angels Share in hopes of Diluc being there. However, he was disappointed to see a male with brown hair. After being greeted by Charles, Xingqui sits down and looks through his options. Charles notices his attire and approaches him.
“Hello sir, is there anything you’d like to try?” Xingqui looks at the appealing options and settles down “Could I get some Grape juice?” Charles smiles and quickly gets to work on his grape juice. From afar Xingqui looked like a young kid, legs dangling from the bar seats and his clothes being somewhat loose, so Charles didn’t think twice about his drink of choice. After his first glass he pulled out a book that really served as his guide.
After checking in at the Grand Goth Hotel Xingqui goes to the library to take a peek through the books. “Ooh who’s this cutie?” A swooning voice says “Hello miss! It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m just here to browse.” Xingqui is all too familiar with most library rules. The lady smiles and waves him off.
Xingqui manages to find a few new finds. One of them being a guide to travelers and it was supplied with generous amounts of information about each nation in Teyvet and the similarities between them despite the obvious different focuses. Xingqui gives the book to the librarian so he can check it out.
Once he grabs the book he heads out of the library only to bump into a young child with blonde hair and pointy ears. “Oh… ouchie… Klee’s very sorry stranger!” Klee says, Xingqui quickly helps her up. “No worries! Are you hurt?” “Klee’s fine… Oh no wait Kaeya will-” “Kaeya will what?” A voice says behind her startling Klee. Xingqui takes this opportunity to grab the book on the ground that has long since fallen from his bag. “I’m very sorry about Klee here” The things in Xingqui’s broken bag fall out “I knew I should’ve asked for a bigger bag when I had the chance” Kaeya grabs the note Albedo gave to him, and starts reading it. “You know Albedo? You’re more than meets the eye” He points out “Oh… yeah me and Albedo worked on a book together and we kind of hit it off from there” Kaeya carefully judges him, and looks at the broken bag. “Let me repay you with a new bag.” Xingqui follows Kaeya to the Grandmasters office. “Oho there! Acting Grand Master, do you have a bag to spare?” Jean looks at Xingqui. Somewhat familiar with him she gets into a shelf and pulls out a medium sized bag. “This was personally shipped from Liyue by Lady Ningguang” She whispered to him. “Wait, acting grand master?” “Yes?” Jean asks “Do you happen to know Diluc Raginvindr?” She startles at the name “Master Diluc? Why do you wish to speak to him?” Kaeya interrupts “It’s my reason for being in Mondstadt.” Kaeya opens the letter again “That explains the letter! Hmph. Well so be it then, Acting grand master I can take care of him.” Jean nods and the two of them walk out.
“Here’s your stop!” Xingqui doesn’t go towards the grand goth hotel, rather he stares at Kaeya “Right! You wish to see Master Diluc correct?” Xingqui nods “He’ll be at the Angel’s Share tomorrow night. I’ll be more than happy to escort you there” Xingqui wants to decline the offer but since he’s a well respected figure he accepts. “And who is this you brought along this time?” Diluc says from behind the counter “This one right here came to speak to you. You should be thanking me if anything.” Xingqui can see tension between the two, but he has no business to pry into it further. “So what do you need, kid?” Diluc says after noticing how uncomfortable he is. “Right. Ahem…A friend of mine told me about you and how you might be able to assist me” Diluc raises an Eyebrow at the statement. “Here! He said to give this to you.” He hands the paper to Diluc. “Alright, I can help.” Xingqui gleefully smiled “I’d hate to keep you waiting after your long journey, but I must ask you to wait until after my shift so we can talk'' Xingqui nods, understanding his position. Xingqui moves to a table in the corner of the tavern and starts reading about the small guide mentioning each nation of Teyvet.
“Hm” Connections, something Diluc had plenty of. The note Albedo left wasn’t vague per say. The note stated the following:
“Diluc, I know that my knightly authority only goes so far, but I must ask you to help my friend here. His name is Xingqui and he’s from Liyue’s Feiyun Commerce Guild. He hasn’t come on official business, but he’s determined to do what he has to. Knowing that he sets off immediately, I’m sure if you can’t assist him he’ll think of something anyway. Please try and assist him in finding someone of similar personality to the one he describes. He might be nervous, so be sure to be more comforting. If you need to talk to me in particular I’ll be coming to the Knights headquarters on Jean’s request. If you don’t visit I might take a trip to the Angel’s Share. Be on guard! -Albedo
“So, Xingqui you’re here for finding a certain personality? What type of personality are you looking for?” Xingqui thinks for a moment. To put Chongyun in a personality. “Hmm… A person who speaks their mind, is hardworking at what they do, and tends to give it their all even when they aren’t confident in their work” Diluc looked shocked. Albedo said he might be nervous, but Diluc wasn’t expecting him to be so straightforward “I can’t think of anyone with that personality. Maybe I need to look at my foreign contacts.” Xingqui looked upset and Diluc felt bad for letting him down. “Hey kid if you’re in the Feiyun Commerce guild why not use your contacts?” Diluc asks curiously “Oh! Well I wanted to observe someone who didn’t know me or my status.” Diluc nods, taking note of the answer. “I think one of my foreign contacts from Inazuma mentioned that one of the Tri-Commission commissioners is in Liyue on account to solve a goods issue” Xingqui raises an eyebrow “Really? What’s their name?” “I need to find the letter so I can see the name. If you have time you can come to the Dawn Winery with me” “Oh sure!”
The two arrive and Diluc starts looking for the letter. While Diluc was looking for the letter he noticed a peculiar vase. “I found the letter” Diluc catches Xingqui’s attention as he walks over. “Kamisato Ayato?” Xingqui says after looking at the letter. “That actually sounds familiar” “How so?” “I think I read the name” Xingqui says, pulling out the book from earlier “Ah… Here!” He skims through the section “Among the Tri-Commission of Inazuma several clans are held in high regard” He skims through more “The Kamisato clan is a part of the Yashiro Commission and is one of the most well known ones in Inazuma.” Diluc thinks for a small second “Does the book have a picture?” “Yeah!” Diluc looks at the book “That’s him” Xingqui looks up at Diluc “Thank you so much for helping me!” He smiles brightly “Think nothing of it. Make sure to give that book back to Lisa.” Xingqui nods, waving as he leaves the front door.
Upon arriving Xingqui’s first thought was to see Chongyun and tell him about his venture. Of course, Xingqui knows that he was busy with the “leads” Xingqui gave him so avoided the course of action.
Given the only thing Xingqui could do, Xingqui decides to go back to the Feiyun Commerce Guild. Mind Blank, he runs into someone. “Oh my! I’m so sorry!” The person turns around looking a bit lost. “Um… I don’t mean to bother you but can you help me find the Feiyun Commerce Guild” Xingqui recognizes the lighter tone of blue in the older man's hair. How lucky was he?
Extra Inclusion Before they arrive at the Winery- Kaeya & Diluc:
“So from what the paper says, Albedo is using his Knightly authority to help a friend out?” Diluc brings up “I was surprised too! Wouldn’t expect someone like him to be friends with Albedo who’s normally in the frosty exterior of Dragonspine'' Diluc rolls his eyes not caring if Kaeya saw them. Xingqui eventually falls asleep reading the guide.
Xingqui awakes to The guide in front of him, standing tall. “Ah…You’re awake!” Diluc says lowering the book he had held on. “Ready to go?” Xingqui nods, getting up from his seat.