Chapter Text
There were a few Millelith soldiers stationed around Bibo’s Fish Market today. Not enough, Ningguang decided as she walked between the stalls, if the reports of criminal activity she had heard were accurate. The market had been on the Qixing’s radar for a while now, since the transactions taking place there seemed too frequent to be just seafood. Still, other than a few unlicensed vendors who had been dealt with swiftly, they had never had anything tangible to go off of.
Until now.
“Guozhi,” Ningguang murmured, repeating the name the children had given her. If her deductions were correct, the stall owner would be somewhere around here today, perfect for her to catch him in the act. Usually, she would send someone else to do the work, but she only trusted herself to get to the bottom of this swiftly.
Finally, she saw someone that matched Little Lulu’s description: a tall, skinny man, with a distinctive head of spiky black hair and permanently-furrowed eyebrows. Over afternoon tea a few days ago, one of the children had let slip that traditional Inazuman goods were being sold at Bibo’s Fish Market. Given that there were no official export channels between the closed island nation and Liyue, someone was bringing in Inazuman goods through unofficial channels.
But this man didn’t seem capable of braving Inazuma’s turbulent seas all by himself, so something more was going on here.
“‘Guozhi’s Goods,’” Ningguang read aloud, tapping the sign that hung from the stall. “License, please?”
With a grunt, Guozhi slid his license across the table. Ningguang took a moment to inspect it. It didn’t have any of the typical characteristics of a forgery, but that meant very little.
“I’ll return this in a few days after the Ministry of Civil Affairs inspects it,” she said, pocketing it, and Guozhi’s mouth fell open.
“Lady Tianquan, I’ve done nothing to warrant this,” he said. “Those guards will not let me sell without my license. A day without my license is a day I’m unable to earn any money to support my family.”
Ningguang leaned forward, her long claws tapping the surface of the table. “Mr. Guozhi,” she said, baring a polite smile, “There are rumors that say one can acquire smuggled goods at Bibo’s Fish Market. Specifically, from you.”
“Ridiculous,” Guozhi responded a little too quickly. “If there’re any Inazuman goods being circulated around these parts, I wouldn’t know about it. I just come here to sell equipment.”
Ningguang raised an eyebrow. This was too easy. How had he lasted this long in the smuggling business? “I didn’t say anything about Inazuma, but now that we’re on the subject–”
“Ningguang!” said a gleeful, familiar voice, and Ningguang spun around mere seconds before she was thumped on the back aggressively. “Fancy seeing the esteemed Tianquan around these parts. Didn’t know you were also a fan of Guozhi’s!”
“Beidou.” Once Ningguang had recovered from her surprised cough, she glared at the pirate with as much dignity as she could muster. “I am not, in fact, a fan of Guozhi’s. I’m here to question him regarding his potential involvement in smuggling goods from Inazuma to Liyue. Would you happen to know anything about that?” That explains how he lasted this long in the smuggling business, her mind supplied, as the answer chuckled and raised her tankard to her lips.
“Smuggling? That’s imaginative.” Beidou took a long sip.
Ningguang waited patiently for Beidou to be done, but when she had wiped her mouth and showed no signs of wanting to say more, Ningguang sighed. “Don’t be difficult, Beidou. Just tell me who else you’re giving the goods to, and I’ll reduce your fines this once.”
“I don’t know what goods you’re referring to,” Beidou said, “but what I do know is that poor Guozhi here hasn’t done anything to deserve having his livelihood ruined for a few days. I also know that the Ministry of Civil Affairs takes two hours at most to verify a merchant license, so if you act with haste, you should be able to get Guozhi’s license back to him by this afternoon, no?”
Ningguang narrowed her eyes. “The Ministry is busy. Requests take a long time to process.”
“And you’re the Tianquan,” Beidou responded breezily. “You have connections; use them. Surely your requests must be the most important?” She tilted her head. “Unless you’re wasting your time on something unimportant, which would be unbefitting of the head of the Qixing.”
Guozhi’s gaze was bouncing back and forth between Ningguang and Beidou so quickly that Ningguang wondered how his neck wasn’t hurting. “Fine,” she said airily. “I don’t have time to go to the Ministry today, but I’ll be back tomorrow with an inspector to examine the license. That should give you plenty of time to acquire a better forgery if necessary. Have a good day, Guozhi, Beidou.”
Beidou’s one visible magenta eye gleamed with pride. Don’t think you’ve won this time, Ningguang wanted to snap, even though Beidou had successfully set her back. Once again.
“How was your day, Lady Ningguang?”
Ningguang looked up from staring at her reflection in her teacup to see Little Meng’s earnest face and wide eyes. As usual, she had brought the kids plenty of treats, which Little Lulu and Little Fei were digging into, as well as some high-quality fermented tea. It was never too early to refine the children’s taste for finer things, even if they insisted on dumping sugar into their cups. The cups themselves came from her porcelain collection, though they were a mismatched set from all the cheaper ones the kids had not broken yet.
She thought about annoyingly confident pirate captains and stupid smugglers and forced herself not to grimace.
“It was alright,” she said. “A typical day as the Tianquan. But not as exciting as yours, of course!”
The children had just told her all about the games they’d played that morning—how they’d pretended to set up a proper inventory for all their private treasure, then snuck around the harbor tailing people they deemed potential threats. Ningguang had approved of the inventory, but warned them against being public disturbances and scaring random civilians. While the children were cute and harmless, she wasn’t sure all of the harbor’s residents would take lightly to being ambushed by three random kids.
“You’re so busy all the time, Lady Ningguang,” Lulu said, taking another bite out of her Mora Meat. “Being the Tianquan must not give you a lot of free time! You have to deal with all those people, like the other Qixing members, the merchants, the pirates…”
“Yes, that’s the reality of it. But all the responsibility comes with the power.” Ningguang ruffled Lulu’s head. “Besides, at least I have enough time to find you three!”
She really did enjoy her usual meetings with the children. While she had originally reached out to them as a ploy to get more information, suspecting that they might be the most effective way of keeping tabs on the activity around Liyue Harbor, she had grown fond of their bright smiles and energetic antics. Now, even if a meeting didn’t yield fruitful information, at least she had a chance to cast everything else aside and enjoy time with the children.
Though she had to admit that her fondness for them was becoming a weakness, too.
“Oh!” Lulu sat up straighter. “There’s this treat all three of us have been craving lately, and we wanted to ask if you could buy some for us.”
“We did?” Fei asked.
Lulu ignored him. “Everyone keeps talking about Mr. Lai’s steamed custard buns, and how delicious they are, but we’ve never gotten to try to them! He only sells them on Monday and Thursday mornings, from ten to one.”
“Oh right, yeah!” Fei nodded vigorously.
Thursday was two days from now. Ningguang didn’t have anything scheduled for the morning, so she could probably find time to drop by Mr. Lai’s stall and buy some buns.
“Sure. I’ll come by Thursday morning?”
Fei and Meng nodded, but Lulu tilted her head. “Maybe later, before lunch?”
The basket of steamed custard buns in Ningguang’s hands was still warm. As the kids had requested, she had gone to Mr. Lai’s stall to procure them before the lunch break rush. Seeing the sight of the custard buns, round and smooth and white with tendrils of steam still rising from them, she understood why the kids had specifically requested them and had been tempted enough to buy a fourth for herself.
She quickened her pace as she approached the kids’ ship, excited to see their reaction to the coveted snack. However, when she was only a few steps away, she paused.
A woman was seated next to the kids at their small table. A familiar woman, too, as she noticed the broad shoulders and tanned muscled arms. The long, dark hair. The distinctive eyepatch.
Ningguang resisted the urge to groan. How unlucky that Beidou was visiting the kids at the same time. The pirate had been mercifully absent from the fish market yesterday, when she had gone back to inspect Guozhi’s license. She was tempted to turn around and come back later, but the warm weight in her hands dictated otherwise.
The custard buns will get cold if I don’t give them to the kids now, she thought with a sigh. I will drop them off, then be on my way as quickly as possible.
That, and Little Meng had just caught sight of her and was now waving aggressively over Beidou’s shoulder.
“Lady Ningguang!” he called. “Lady Ningguang! Hi!”
Ningguang tightened her grip around the basket, donned her best diplomatic smile, and strode forward. “Good morning. I see Captain Beidou has blessed us with her presence,” she said, sliding onto the bench between Little Lulu and Little Fei. “Here. I got the steamed custard buns you all wanted.”
She lifted the lid to unveil four pearly white custard buns, sitting in the basket in all their glory.
Meng breathed in deeply, then let out a squeal, already reaching to grab one. “Ahh! ThankyousomuchLadyNingguangtheysmellsogood—” was what he managed to get out before he stuffed his mouth with one of the buns.
Lulu gave him a look of disdain, grabbing her own bun in a much more civilized way. She broke it gently in half, revealing the soft yellow interior still oozing with custard. “Ooh, they’re so fresh,” she murmured. “Thank you, Ningguang!” Fei also quickly took one for himself.
“These look delicious,” Beidou said, taking the last one to her hands and turning it to appraise it like it was a piece of treasure. Ningguang’s eye twitched. When had she said Beidou could help herself? “Whose stall are they from?”
“Mr. Lai, by the street food stalls on the other side of the harbor.”
“I’ll have to get some more for my crew at some point,” Beidou mused. “They’d love these.” Then, she swiftly broke it into two pieces and popped one half into her mouth. Ningguang was imagining how long the walk back to Mr. Lai’s stall to buy herself some more buns would be when Beidou suddenly turned to her and offered the other half. “Here.”
At least the pirate had some manners, even if she hadn’t asked for permission to eat the half anyway. Ningguang took the offered half gratefully, though, and bit into it herself. As she had expected, it was warm, soft, and sweet. A treat she had not had in a while.
“Captain Beidou,” said Meng, wiping away some crumbs from the corner of his mouth with his bare wrist, “keep telling us about your trip to Inazuma! What happened after you left Liyue with the Traveler?”
This is my cue to leave, thought Ningguang, preparing to say a few parting words and stand up. However, before she could, Beidou laughed and launched into the story.
“Well, the first stage of our journey was calm. Obviously, as experienced pirates, we know the seas of Liyue better than the insides of our eyepatches! But the further we sailed, the more turbulent the seas became…”
It would be a little rude if Ningguang stood up and left as Beidou was speaking, wouldn’t it? She sighed and crossed her legs underneath the table, hoping this story would be brief. Or that it would soon come to a pause where she could excuse herself and go back to her duties. She could always come back to the kids later. Alone.
“...You’ve got to know a lot of people, and do a lot of favors, if you wanna succeed as a pirate,” Beidou was saying. “So we arrived in Ritou, and then I had to talk to…”
Beidou’s story did not end after that. In fact, it did not end for the next few minutes as she continued talking. Ningguang glanced at the kids, hoping for an opening to leave, only to see they were wide-eyed and hanging onto Beidou’s every word.
For their sake, she tried to look a little interested, even though what Beidou was saying was nothing she hadn’t already heard from her information sources, minus the embellishments. She had been surprised, and a little miffed, to first hear that the pirate had managed to take the Traveler all the way to Inazuma, and had done her own investigating shortly afterward. Now, she let her mind wander to other things, like the legal revisions she had to look over, or her upcoming meeting with Keqing, or how to get a pirate to stop interfering with her business.
“...Well, that’s all you’re getting for today,” Beidou finally, finally, said. “My crew needs me now.”
The kids pouted. “But we wanna hear the rest of the story!” Lulu said. “It was getting good!”
“Well,” Beidou patted Lulu on the head with what looked like a little too much force, “if you kids behave well, I’ll tell you the next part next time.”
“We always behave really well,” Fei promised, and Beidou chuckled.
“Right. Until next time, then, kids.” She stood up and turned to Ningguang. Ningguang could not tell if the way her visible eye closed was a wink or just a blink. “Thanks for sticking around, Lady Tianquan.”
“Thanks for the thrilling story,” Ningguang bit back.
Beidou only laughed in response. “Anytime.” Ningguang watched as she walked off, whistling the entire way, and shook her head to herself.
“Beidou is soooooo cool,” Meng gushed. “Her adventures sound so fun and dangerous! I want to be just like her when I grow up!”
“Do you think we could join the Crux?” Fei asked with a shine in his eyes. “Being part of Beidou’s crew would be so cool! Imagine sailing aboard the Alcor…”
Lulu scoffed. “Beidou doesn’t just take anyone! We have to work hard and keep becoming better pirates to be worthy of her crew.”
Ningguang, who was about to stand up and excuse herself, frowned. Surely this was something that warranted intervention as the Tianquan. “You know, kids, there are more law-abiding and, err, productive ways to spend time. Like… you could play at being lawyers! Or merchants! Isn’t selling and haggling for things so much fun?”
On second thought, encouraging more of Liyue’s younger generation to become annoyingly shrewd businessmen was maybe not in her best interests either. Luckily for her, the kids seemed disinterested in this idea.
“But playing pirates is so much fun,” Meng insisted. “You get to fight, go on cool adventures, take down the bad guys…”
Lulu tugged on Ningguang’s sleeve. “What do you think of pirates, Lady Ningguang?”
Ningguang paused as she thought about how to answer without breaking the kids’ hearts. Her honest opinion? Pirates gave her a headache. They were far too much trouble, constantly flouting rules and finding legal loopholes, disrupting the natural flow of the economy and supporting black market operations. But to kids like these three, who only saw the cool sailors and heard about heroic deeds…
“I’m not sure the lifestyle of a pirate is very compatible with my ideals,” she finally said. “But I suppose I can respect their drive.”
By that, she meant that pirates were probably some of the only people who rivaled her love of Mora, but she wasn’t going to tell the kids that.
Lulu tilted her head. “What do you think about Captain Beidou, then?”
Ningguang resisted the urge to sigh loudly. All the problems she had with pirates were exemplified in Beidou. She was constantly determined to create trouble for Ningguang, or maybe it was just that they were naturally destined to clash with each other even when pursuing their individual goals.
But as a formidable captain and impressive warrior, Ningguang had to admit that Beidou was someone she would almost consider an equal.
“I admire that Beidou cares strongly,” she said. “Whether it’s about her job, her crew, or her ship… Very few people in this city have that same level of passion.”
Turning to look the kids in the eye, she tapped Lulu’s nose gently. “So if there’s one thing you three should definitely learn from her, it’s being invested in your work.”
“We are invested,” Lulu insisted. “You should play Pirates with us sometime! Then you’d see how fun it is.”
Ningguang stiffened. “I don’t know about that.”
“It’s soooooooo much fun,” Meng said. “How will you know unless you try it? You’re always telling us that we should try different things, but I think you should listen to your own advice, Lady Ningguang.”
“Meng,” Lulu hissed, “that’s kind of mean.”
“No, he has a point,” Ningguang said, trying not to laugh. These kids were getting smarter every day. “Alright. Then I will ‘play Pirates’ with you at some point in the future, if you insist.”
“Argh! Hide your Mora, for I have come to steal all of it.”
This is the most humiliating thing I have ever done, thought Ningguang to herself. She took a deep breath, wiped the grimace from her face, and charged at the kids with her arm raised.
“It’s a bad pirate!” Little Meng cried, pointing with his free hand. In his other, he waved a wooden stick like a flag. “Crewmates, protect our treasures!”
At his command, Little Fei and Little Lulu ran forward, nearly headbutting Ningguang in their enthusiasm. “Stop!” Lulu shouted. “You cannot rob us!”
Ningguang silently sent a prayer to Rex Lapis, or whatever remained of his holy presence. “Oh no, I have been bested by ferocious pirates,” she tried not to deadpan. “I see the error of my ways. From now on, I will become a law-abiding citizen and never steal anything, ever again.”
She watched Fei skid to a halt. “What,” he said.
Ningguang stared at them. Lulu must have read something from her expression, because she quickly stepped forward. “Lady Ningguang, it’s not as fun if you immediately give in,” she said. “You have to pretend to be a bad pirate for longer! That makes it much more satisfying.”
“Right.” Ningguang blinked. “Of course. Then I will… be a bad pirate for longer.” This was the most mentally demanding thing she had ever done, and she had risen from a nobody to Liyue’s leader through her own hard work.
Was it worth the strange looks Ganyu and Keqing had given her when she left the office that morning, or the risk of any of the citizens wandering along the harbor seeing their Tianquan playing such childish games? Absolutely not.
Was it worth the toothy smile that Lulu gave her? …Okay, maybe.
This is all for the prosperity and wellbeing of Liyue’s future generations, Ningguang told herself. It wasn’t convincing at all, but she had no choice. Suppressing another grimace, she tried to look fierce again. “I refuse! I need Mora, and I will take it!”
“Why can’t you earn your own Mora, like everyone else, instead of stealing ours?” Meng said.
Exactly! Thank you, Little Meng! If only all pirates thought like you, Ningguang thought. But instead of voicing that, she tried to put herself in the shoes of whatever kind of fictional villain the children wanted her to be. What would I answer? “...Because you’re weak, and only the powerful deserve to have everything,” she finally said, hoping that was sufficiently cheesy.
“You’re wrong, bad pirate!” Lulu grabbed the stick from Meng and pointed it at Ningguang. “First of all, we’re not weak! Second of all, you’re not powerful! And third of all, that’s a horrible, horrible way of looking at the world! You don’t have enough empathy. You should learn to see things from others’ perspectives; then you’d understand the importance of being kind!”
Ningguang was saved from finding a response to that when she heard familiar laughter behind her, but instantly, her heart sank. Of all people…
“So our Lady Tianquan needs to learn to be kinder?” Beidou’s approaching voice drawled from somewhere behind her. The pirate stepped between the children and Ningguang, her face filled with mirth. “I’m glad to see you teaching Ningguang such a valuable lesson, kids.”
“Captain Beidou!” Lulu said. Then, she cleared her throat, slipping back into the game. “We found this bad pirate trying to steal our money! Help us!”
“Sorry, children, but I’m done.” Ningguang crossed her arms. “Beidou. You missed Little Meng asking a very insightful question. What was it again, Meng?”
Meng hesitated. “‘Why can’t you earn your own Mora, like everyone else, instead of stealing ours?’”
“Yes, that.” Ningguang fixed her glare on Beidou. “What’s your answer to that, esteemed pirate captain?”
But Beidou only chuckled, holding two hands up in defense. “Hey, I don’t steal. Isn’t that right, kids?”
“Yeah! Beidou’s a good pirate!” Fei exclaimed.
Ningguang waved her hand dismissively. “Good pirate, bad pirate, those labels don’t matter to me. You may not ‘steal Mora,’ but you still act in a way that flaunts the laws everybody else obeys. What gives you the right to ignore the laws that others live by?”
From her peripheral vision, she was aware of the children’s eyes bouncing back and forth between her and Beidou, as if they were watching a battle of some kind.
Beidou took a step closer, her gaze not wavering. “What if those laws are not fair? Why should I yield to a law that only protects the wealthy and preys on the poor?”
Ningguang gritted her teeth. (So they were doing this in front of the children, huh?)
“Regardless of any problems you have with the law, you’re not above the law, Captain.” She placed a hand on Beidou’s shoulder. “And your lawless actions will have consequences.”
Beidou’s posture was still relaxed, unbothered, but the glint in her eye seemed to harden. “You’d really insult my honor in front of these kids?”
Ningguang allowed her gaze to wander to the children, who looked stunned and almost a little impressed. Beidou was right. This wasn’t the side of herself she wanted to show to the little ones, and she was sure Beidou felt the same way.
She took a step back, retracting her hand. “I should go,” she told the kids, her eyes not leaving Beidou. “Sorry. I just remembered I have work to do at Yuehai Pavilion.”
Before she could turn around and get away, Beidou snapped to attention. “I’m headed to Bubu Pharmacy. I’ll walk with you.”
“Suit yourself.” Ningguang crouched down so she was eye level with Lulu. “I’ll play with you all again next week, okay?” she said softly. When Lulu nodded, appeased, she stood up and waved to the children. “See you around, little pirates.”
Beidou let out a chuckle at that, one that Ningguang pointedly ignored as she walked away. She had always considered herself a brisk walker, with the goal of getting between destinations as efficiently as possible, but Beidou quickly caught up to her and matched her stride. “You know,” Beidou began, “I’m surprised you spend so much time with the kids. Doesn’t seem to line up with the image of the Tianquan I had in my mind.”
Ningguang didn’t slow her pace. “You didn’t think I had a heart?”
“I just didn’t think you were such a big softie.”
That nearly made Ningguang stop in her tracks. Nearly. “Caring about Liyue’s youth lines up with my interest in Liyue’s general wellbeing, as the Tianquan,” she said, the half-excuse slipping from her with practiced ease.
“Nobody is holding a knife to your throat and forcing you to play a roleplaying game with them,” Beidou pointed out. The corner of her mouth curved upwards. “In fact, I see you there all the time. Every few days, always bringing them such delicious treats. You love the kids, don’t you?”
“Children are excellent sources of intel. They see and hear everything going on in the harbor.”
It was probably unwise to reveal any of her information sources to her biggest rival, but Beidou was too smart to not have already suspected, or known. And when she looked Beidou in the eye, she could tell that both of them were more fixated on the fact that Ningguang had not answered her question.
“Sure,” Beidou said. Then, her smirk dropped off her face. “Look, I love those kids too. So if we ever run into each other with the kids again, I need to you to promise to act civil.”
Ningguang sighed. “I am always civil—”
“Civil my ass,” Beidou snapped. “I know how you feel about me, and you know how I feel about you. But around those kids, we don’t show it, okay? Tone down the passive aggression and pointed remarks, and I’ll do the same. Those kids look up to us. The least we can do is act like mature adults who aren’t always at each other’s throats. Can you do that?”
Ningguang sighed, then nodded. Lulu, Fei, and Meng really did look up to them. She supposed it wouldn’t be very healthy for them if their bickering worsened in the future. “You really think so lowly of my composure?” she asked. “Certainly, I can. Can you?”
Beidou’s smirk returned. “Control myself around you? Of course.”