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Normally, Hu Tao’s affairs were separate from her consultant’s; he went about his work, and she went about hers. Of course, she would pester him every now and then, and sometimes he’d give her a lecture about the next thing that caught his fancy, but this wasn’t a regular affair.
So she wasn’t quite sure what she had done to get him to drag her out to Stone Gate and Qingce Village for an entire week without warning. The first two days were a nice vacation, she started getting antsy on the third, and now, by the seventh... Well, suffice to say that she had been chained down to one of his Geo pillars to keep her from running off. (She found out the hard way that Zhongli had mastered the art of catching her — and keeping her caught.)
Even more infuriatingly, he very obviously changed the subject whenever she asked why he wasn’t letting her return to the city. “Don’t worry, the Ferrylady was forewarned about our little excursion. She is taking good care of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor in our absence.”
“Oh, so she got a warning, and I didn’t?”
“That is correct.”
Hu Tao decided she was so going to prank Zhongli to oblivion after they returned to the Harbor.
“We will return tomorrow.”
“Huh?”
“But not before 7 PM.”
“Huh?!”
After that, he refused to give her any more information, instead going on his old man tangents about Fun Fact #3,000,000 about the history of the secluded village. At this point, Hu Tao gave up and hoped the day would end faster. (It didn’t.)
They returned no sooner than 7:30 PM... And that was with Hu Tao dragging Zhongli back by the end of it. As they approached the entrance to Liyue Harbor, Hu Tao heard the familiar strumming and drumming of a certain rock ‘n roll star.
“Huh? Xinyan’s performing a concert? And I almost missed it?! Ugh, Zhongli!”
Hu Tao ran off, not even bothering to look back at her consultant. If she had, she would have seen the enigmatic smile dancing across his lips.
You've always been told what's wrong or right
Follow your destiny and shine
This lullaby suddenly sounds like a sweet lie
You want to see this new landscape with your own eyes
This was a new song Xinyan had been composing late into the night at Wanmin Restaurant for the past few weeks. Naturally, as a fellow lyricist, Hu Tao had often meandered her way into the seat next to Xinyan to give her input.
Getting to listen to it in a performance was exciting, although Hu Tao wished she hadn’t missed the first verse. That Zhongli!
Colors and paintings of this new awakening
As Hu Tao got a better view of the stage, her eyes widened. Standing next to Xinyan was most definitely Yun Jin, and she was most definitely wearing a new dress that crossed her traditional performance wear with rock n’ roll elements.
Her elders would never have approved of this. Attending rock n’ roll concerts was one thing (and in their eyes, it was bad enough) — so how did she plan on getting away with performing at one?
Don't you wanna know about the wonders, wonders?
Don't you wanna learn about the stars? (Stars)
Yun Jin provided an echo, then took over the main vocals. It was melodic and closer to her speaking voice instead of her usual opera singing, but oh did she rock it.
Don't you wanna see what's beyond
The horizon of your world?
Xinyan joined back in, making a perfect harmony between Xinyan’s vocals and Yun Jin’s melodic voice.
Don't you wanna dream above the clouds?
Live before you die
At the edge of the crowd, Hu Tao saw Xiangling and Guoba standing around, evidently looking for someone. Guoba spotted her first and gave her a cheerful wave, though his voice was drowned out by the music. Xiangling could hear him, however, and her face lit up when she saw Hu Tao.
The two jogged up to her. “There you are! We’ve been waiting for you!”
“Wait, huh?”
Xiangling didn’t bother explaining, grabbing Hu Tao by the wrist and pulling her to the front as Yun Jin began singing the bridge.
A new day has come
Your mind flies towards the sky
The journey has begun
And there's no turning back
Your restless soul
Wants to see, wants to know
Xiangling and Hu Tao made their way to the front of the crowd, where Yanfei and Xingqiu were. Yanfei gave a little wave to both of them with a playful grin; Xingqiu looked less enthusiastic about being in such a noisy place, but wordlessly gave Hu Tao a nicely wrapped present nonetheless.
As the chorus picked up again, the three girls burst into song and rocked out along with the crowd as the chorus picked up again.
Don't you wanna know about the wonders, wonders?
Don't you wanna learn about the stars?
Don't you wanna see what's beyond
The horizon of your world?
Don't you wanna dream above the clouds?
Live before you die
Xinyan’s riff faded out to a storm of cheers and applause. Before the note faded out completely, Yanfei leapt on stage. “Alright, ladies and gentlemen!”
Hu Tao leaned over to whisper into Xiangling’s ear. “Yanfei’s an emcee? This is way more sophisticated than Xinyan’s usual concerts!”
“This concert has been great and all,” Yanfei cut in, “but now that our birthday girl Hu Tao is here, this is where tonight’s real show begins!”
At birthday girl, Hu Tao’s eyes widened so much, she may as well have been doing her best surprised Guoba impression.
“The Red Strings and Yun Jin of the Yun-Han Opera Troupe present:The Hilitune, Operocktic Cover!”
Even as Yanfei leapt offstage and the band started a new riff, murmurs of both confusion and anticipation rippled through the crowd. “Oper-rock-tic? Like, rock and opera? Together?”
Xiangling leaned in. “Hehe, they’ve been working all week on this!”
A week?
After the introductory riff, Xinyan opened her mouth to sing, and Hu Tao held her breath in anticipation.
When the sun’s out, I come to play
When the moon’s out, I can’t stay away
This is a tale that I came to say
Of some hilichurls I saw one day
Hu Tao’s jaw dropped. The first two lines had been some little ditty she came up with while she was exploring one time, and to her memory, she’d only ever sung it in Xinyan and Yun Jin’s presence once. They remembered that?
First lil’ hilichurl fell a little ill
Second lil’ hilichurl up and got a doc
Third lil’ hilichurl then paid the bill
“It’s the Hilitune!” Hu Tao whispered excitedly, as if she didn’t know that already. “It’s a rock cover of the Hilitune!”
Xiangling grinned knowingly as the sound of a guqin cut into the air. A curtain was drawn away, revealing none other than Chongyun playing his heart out.
“Chongyun?!”
“You know how exorcists do all of those performances to please the adepti? We got Chongyun to perform for the opera part! You know, since the other people in the Troupe weren’t gonna do it.”
Xinyan stepped to the side of the stage but kept strumming as Yun Jin stepped on stage and struck a pose, ready to perform.
“Is she really going to perform the Hilitune? On stage?”
“Hee hee,” Xiangling grinned mischievously.
“And her elders are letting her?!”
“Hee hee.”
“Don’t hee-hee me, Xiangchang!” Hu Tao playfully swatted her arm, and Xiangling swatted her back.
“We’ll tell you after this is all over!”
The two watched the rest of the performance in awed silence as Yun Jin put on a rock-infused operatic performance of the Hilitune, sneaking glances at Hu Tao’s direction periodically. Hu Tao made sure to show her the widest grin she could, even as her face and jaw cramped up from all her smiling.
At the end of the performance, Xinyan’s Pyro and Chongyun’s Cryo mixed together to release a huge cloud of steam within which the performers retreated to a raucous round of applause from the audience. Yanfei jumped on stage, delivering some closing lines and dismissing the crowd for the night. But by that point, Hu Tao wasn’t listening — she had already run off to find her friends.
“That. Was. AMAZING!” The moment she spotted Xinyan and Yun Jin, she ran up to them and wrapped her arms around both of them, pulling them into a tight hug. “Wait, where’s Chongyun?”
Xinyan chuckled sheepishly. “Well, being wrapped up in a rock concert kinda got his yang energy going and all... Xingqiu dragged him off to cool him down the moment he got offstage.”
“Ohhh. That explains why he was here. But omigosh — Xiangling told me you guys spent the whole week practicing for this? When did you guys start coming up with all this?!”
“Well... Um, let’s just say we came up with the idea two weeks ago.”
“Two weeks?! You guys came up with this whole performance in two weeks ?!”
Yun Jin giggled. “Well, we should thank a certain talented lyricist for making it easier to get inspiration for the music, shouldn’t we?”
“You say that,” Xiangling chided as she placed her hands on her hips, “But who spent all-nighters at my place coming up with original lyrics for the opera part, again? You could probably sing this thing in your sleep now!”
“Actually, never mind that,” Hu Tao interrupted. “There’s no way your elders didn’t hear all of this. How are you going to explain yourself? Sneaking to Xinyan’s concerts is enough work as it is!”
The girls turned to Zhongli, who was sitting at a street vendor’s stall and casually chatting away. Hu Tao blinked. “...Zhongli...?”
“Hehe, we told him our idea and he was very supportive of it,” Yun Jin explained. “You should have seen him at Heyu Tea House, taking a few hours of his day to persuade the other members of the Yun-Han Opera Troupe to let me do this.”
Xinyan added, “The venue? Getting Yanfei to emcee this? That was all him.”
“Oh and of course... Making sure you didn’t know about this,” Xiangling grinned.
It took a second for Hu Tao to respond. “I knew it! I knew he was hiding something from me the moment he dragged me away without warning! But I didn’t think it was to hold a surprise concert, of all things! How did you guys even convince him this was a good idea?”
At that remark, Xinyan and Yun Jin looked surprised.
“What do you mean? Mr. Zhongli’s always been a huge fan of rock n’ roll.”
“What.”
Yun Jin continued, “As I said, Mr. Zhongli has been nothing but supportive. He thought combining rock n’ roll with opera was a brilliant idea. I almost think he was more interested in the concept than even we were.”
“That old-fashioned man likes operocktic music of all things...”
“Mr. Zhongli has a very old-fashioned way of thinking, but unlike some other old people, he likes it when people try to come up with new things,” Xiangling added.
The girls continued sharing amusing anecdotes of their interactions with Zhongli and his endearing attempts to think in a less old-fashioned way, to varying degrees of success. (Usually, it ended up with Zhongli giving up and letting the girls do whatever they wanted while he nodded along.)
By the time they wrapped up their get-together to go home, both Zhongli and the stallkeeper were long gone. Back to the funeral parlor it was, then.
As Hu Tao expected, Zhongli was sitting in his office when she returned. “I trust you had fun, Director Hu?”
“Despite making me thirty minutes late to the concert, yes.”
“You’re still going on about—”
Before he could finish his sentence, Hu Tao had walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him, resting her cheek on the top of his head. He fell silent for a moment before giving a small huff, his smile evident in his tone.
“Happy birthday, Director Hu.”
“Mm. Thanks for the present, old man.”
He chuckled lightly. “The present was hardly mine at all. Xinyan and Yun- xiansheng had the far more difficult part.”
“Mm-hm. Thanks for the present, old man.”
In the face of her insistence, he huffed again. “You’re welcome, Director.”
They shared a moment of silence as Hu Tao shifted, resting both her hands on one of his shoulders and placing her chin on his head.
Later...
“I’ll have you know that I’m seven days behind on my work because of you.”
“As am I. Was your present worth it?”
“Duh. Did you have fun rambling at me for seven days straight?”
“Hmm...” A smile crossed Zhongli’s lips. “As you put it, ‘duh.’”
Hu Tao frowned at him. “You’d better watch your back for the rest of the week. The pranks are never going to end.”
Despite her words, the smile on Zhongli’s face didn’t droop in the slightest.