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Baizhu’s body blocked the doorway. Herbalist Gui stood behind him, and behind his ushering hand Qiqi peeked out with big, wondering eyes.
“I don’t know what you gentlemen expect to achieve, begging me for money,” Baizhu spoke to the masked figures on his doorstep, “Frankly I’m insulted that the Fatui sent its grunts to do its dirty work. Whatever happened to your Harbinger? I liked him.” He stood in front of the coterie with folded arms and a cocked hip, Changsheng’s head raised and bobbing as if readying herself to strike. The Fatui eyed her warily, even if she was a small snake with even smaller fangs.
The broad-shouldered woman at the front of the crowd stepped forward, pushing into Baizhu’s personal space with her jaw jutted and her chin raised. He gazed down at her, his eyes narrowing with bored displeasure. “We’re not begging, doctor. We’re advising . The Bubu Pharmacy is a very wealthy establishment, and we’re merely offering you insurance in case it all goes up in smoke.”
“I’m in the business of making money, not throwing it away. If Snezhnaya needs funding so badly I recommend taxing its own citizens, not panhandling through Liyue.”
“For the last time,” he response was terse. “We’re not panhandling-” Baizhu’s pupils thinned alongside Changsheng’s.
“I’ve heard them all, I’m afraid. If you aren’t here to offer a real service, I’m not going to give you real money. Kindly remove yourselves from my property before I ask the Millelith to do so themselves.” He raised his eyes over their shoulders. The yellow-uniformed guards patrolling the terrace had started to look over at the twilight gathering of armed thugs. He caught their gaze, even through the gathering darkness.
“Fine,” the woman spat, “ Fine. But mark my words -”
“I haven’t seen the last of you, yes-yes,” Baizhu raised a hand and fluttered it at them as if sweeping them away. “I’ve heard that one too. Shoo. ”
The city wasn’t willing to risk the world-famous establishment, especially not when it held the lives of so many citizens in its hands, so the Millelith were stationed around the perimeter of the building within a few hours. There were three men at the front door, one by every window, a heightened patrol through the terrace and a constant cycle of bodies marching along the exterior walls. Nothing could have gotten through, provided no clever spark in the Fatui thought of an attack from the air.
“You’ll be able to take care of things while I’m gone, yes?” Baizhu asked as he placed an overnight bag on the front desk.
“What?” Gui blinked in shock. He had been tense throughout the mustering of the Millelith, worried at the thought of flaming arrows being shot from the nearby hills or assassins creeping through the blind spots in the guards’ rotations. “You’re leaving? Don’t you realise how vulnerable you’ll be?” His master seemed to think to himself as Qiqi poked her head out from one of the back rooms. He stood, framed by the light of the moon streaming through the open door, one hand on his hip. Gui pressed further. “Half the guards in the city are here - this is the safest place to be right now.”
“The Fatui want the pharmacy, not me,” Baizhu concluded after a moment, and Gui had the impression that he had only been pretending to think for his benefit. “Killing me would do nothing for them - in fact, it would mean they couldn’t keep trying to pick my pocket.”
Qiqi drifted over to them in silence, then placed a small, purple purse on the counter beside Baizhu’s bag. They both looked down at her, and she gazed resolutely back with sleepy, blinking eyes. “Oh, Qiqi,” Baizhu cooed, then crouched down to her height with his arms folded on his knees. “I’m afraid you can’t come with me. You should stay here and protect Master Gui.”
“Qiqi says that Qiqi should come with you,” she replied.
“Why do you even want to leave, anyway?” Gui leaned over the counter to fix him with a concerned frown. “Are we in danger?”
Baizhu looked up at him before pushing off his knees and forcing himself to a stand. “No,” he replied, weariness starting to edge into his voice. “But I’ll need you to keep an eye on the pharmacy while I’m away, okay?”
Gui locked gazes with him, pupils flitting between Baizhu’s thin slits. He searched for a clue, some softness or hidden fear, but he saw nothing. Only calm, certain, indominable steel. He sighed. “Of course. The pharmacy will still be standing on your return.”
Baizhu gave him a pleasant smile and took up his bag. Qiqi took up hers. He walked to the door, hooking his bag over his shoulder, and she followed two steps behind also hooking hers. Baizhu sighed down at her. “Alright, come on then.”
His lanky silhouette was joined by her tiny little shadow as they walked towards the full moon.
“Hold my hand, Qiqi,” Baizhu said as their colourful forms rippled through the black beams and silver stones of Liyue’s marketplace. Her frozen hand hooked inside his. Her little chest puffed. She calmly, but constantly, turned her face towards dark alleys and hidden corners that passed them by. Baizhu eyed her as they walked. “Do you remember what you had for breakfast this morning?”
“Hm?” Qiqi’s hand reached up and touched her mouth. She answered easily. “No.”
“Good girl.” He gave her hand a squeeze. Sometimes her body bumped against his leg in her attempts to stick close to him. Once he would have found this irritating, but now it only made him regret that he was too weak to carry her on his hip.
He took her to the port, then delved beneath to the shuttered storefronts and covered, hidden pathways that ran through the scaffolds. The Wanyou Boutique was closed. The lanterns were not lit. Baizhu turned his gaze to Qiqi once more.
He crouched in front of her. Her eyes were following the waves, the shadows moving in the darkness and the banners that flickered in the wind. He took her chin with utmost gentleness and turned her to face him. “Qiqi? Pay attention now.”
She looked to him. “Qiqi says that Qiqi should follow Dr. Baizhu,” she said, repeating herself with a dreamy resolve that he nevertheless understood was unbreakable.
“I know,” he replied. His eyes flicked down the docks, watching for movement, then looked back at her. “Whatever happens, I want you to wait behind me, okay? No talking, no using your Vision. I have matters to attend to.” Qiqi nodded.
A voice came from the shadows. For all of Baizhu’s vigilance, he jumped. “Can we get this over with, doctor?”
“Of course,” Baizhu said with a smile, before rising gracefully to his feet.
Three Fatui agents slunk into the blue light of the moon. Underneath their hoods and masks not even their genders could be ascertained. One fingered a curved knife at their belt, but though Baizhu glanced at it he didn’t react. Another growled. “Why is she here?”
“She’s helping me carry my bags. As you are well aware, my health is not what it should be.” He held out a hand and cupped her against his side, moving with elegance to hide how solid his grip on her was. She kept close, clinging to his robe. She was not afraid but she knew Baizhu needed her.
“Is it done?” an agent asked, their voice distorted by unknown mechanisms hidden within the black uniform.
“The Millelith have been deployed to my pharmacy,” Baizhu stated with undisguised distaste. “What happens now is none of my concern.” He held out his hand. “Return your stolen goods.”
Through the distortion, a thick tone of amusement could be heard in the agent’s tone. “You have a very ironic weak spot, doctor.” He reached into the depths of his cloak and pulled out a drawstring purse. It smelled like a herb, one that Qiqi often smelled on Baizhu but had never seen. Baizhu turned his palm face-up. The agent moved to drop it into his hand, but then paused. “And a very exploitable one.”
“What?!” Baizhu snapped, pulling Qiqi behind him as the agent’s companions moved to surround them both. He rounded on his betrayers like a wounded lion turning on a hyena, his eyes aflame. “You idiots!” he roared, “If I die, Liyue will go to war!”
“You’re a tougher nut to crack than your receptionist,” the central agent spoke plainly. “And we have future plans for the pharmacy that you’re unlikely to accept.” Blades glinted in the darkness.
A stream of silver slashed for Baizhu’s face. He staggered backwards, missed by an inch, but a thought surged unbidden through him. A chemical instinct borne from millions of years of mammalian mothers dying for their young screamed in his blood. Protect the child!
Another blade came, and this time he did not dodge. His arm snapped up to meet it. The steel sank into his flesh, blood splattered on the stone, but Baizhu’s eyes burned with a rage that was unshaken by pain.
Qiqi gasped quietly, her fists balling in Baizhu’s robe as he blocked her with his body. His head whipped around as the agents drew knives. “Qiqi, run!”
Her body started moving without her, but then she remembered. “Qiqi says that Qiqi should follow Dr. Baizhu.”
“NO! ”
Fire surged from the central agent’s knife and flung out from his hand. It ripped through the air, a buzzsaw made of fire, aimed to gut Baizhu’s bare stomach. Time slowed down enough that he had time to wince against it. Then a clash of metal, a violent vibration in the air, and the blade ricocheted into the darkness. Qiqi stood before her master, blade drawn, her vague eyes leveled into a frown. She launched for the nearest assassin and swung forward with her own sword - a tin-pot toothpick she had picked up from a place she couldn’t remember.
The assassins changed their target. Her blade swept through the air and buried itself in the side of one, then flicked and stabbed into another. A whirlwind spun up around her. The central agtent struck forward with his blade. Qiqi parried. The wet boardwalk froze. Thrust. Parry. Shards of ice cut through the air. Qiqi’s assailant stabbed. She raised her sword and his knife bounced off. One agent fell, then another.
Only their leader still lived, darting and flashing around the little girl as she raised her weapon and did her best to deflect, lunge and step.
“I will not be bested by an infant!” the agent snarled. He caught her blade and twisted. It flung from her hands and clattered across the floor. Her wide eyes gazed at her attacker as he drew a second blade and advanced like the shadow of a praying mantis, both knives dripping with moonlight as they raised for a killing blow.
A board heaved down onto his head, shattering into sawdust and splinters as his body crumpled to the floor. Qiqi let out a yip of surprise as Baizhu stood where the man had been only a moment before. “Dr. Baizhu!” She darted over the fallen bodies as he bent forward and clasped his knees, exhausted from that one movement. She threw her arms around his neck.
Baizhu’s knees hit the ground, his heart fluttering weakly in his chest as he wrapped his arms around her too. “Qiqi!” he panted. His arm drooled blood onto her overcoat but he pinned her under his chin. “Good girl , Qiqi! That was marvelous!”
Gui breathlessly updated both of them with the news the next morning. “Did you hear? Some of the richest men in Liyue had their homes ransacked last night.” Baizhu looked tired as he sipped his morning tea, leaning against the front counter to take in the morning sun before any customers could show up.
“How terrible,” he said with a hiss and a shake of his head. “Honestly, the Millelith have always been stretched so thin.”
Qiqi gasped slowly. Baizhu glanced down at her as the cogs in her head turned. Plainer than he had ever seen before, a memory she had managed to retain spilled itself open to her. Her eyes wide, her body perfectly still, she seemed to hang within the stream of time as the information downloaded itself. Even Gui saw it. “What is it? Did you hear anything about the case?”
Qiqi looked up at Baizhu. Something unspoken passed between them and she puffed her chest, realising she was needed.
She looked to Gui and shook her head. “I don’t remember.”