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I
“There’s always a way to beautifully and logically put together exquisite things. In a way, we should honor their history and what they used to be, to even elevate their beauty and meaning that goes beyond what’s material.” A rush of images of gaudily-designed halls and rooms in fleeting mansions flashed in your subconscious, chuckling meekly as wide-eyed pairs of eyes were fixed on you.
You didn’t realize that the crowd aboard the Pearl Galley this afternoon would take interest in your profession. It was just the customary ‘what do you do for a living?’ aimed at everyone, and when you replied with ‘interior decorator,’ everyone’s curiosity was aroused.
It’s not an odd job, per se, but while the discipline is all the rage in Fontaine, you can’t deny that it’s a fairly alien concept in Liyue. In fact, you might be the reason behind its recent rise in popularity within the elite, after the Tianquan herself sang high praises for your work with the newly-rebuilt Jade Chamber. So, you really can’t help but point out this recent achievement when your newfound audience asked about your clientele.
Your gaze clashed with stern amber, as you turned your attention to a stately gentleman whose undivided attention has been on you ever since you joined this round table. Despite this, he hasn’t uttered a single question.
“In that case, I do think you might enjoy conversing with Mr. Zhongli here, who’s like a walking encyclopedia for Liyue’s customs and culture.” As if sensing your acknowledgment of the mysterious man, the merchant beside him introduced him to you. The merchant, who you remember was known as Luo Feng, seemingly beamed with pride over being acquainted with the man. Hushed agreement and affirmation buzzed throughout the table, and you presume that Zhongli has quite the reputation amongst the patrons of the Galley.
“Luo Feng, you speak too highly of me. I am nothing but a man of many interests.” He cleared his throat and looked at you intently once again, “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, mademoiselle.” You can’t help but smile upon hearing the nickname you sorely miss from your years in Fontaine as a student. It was a genuine surprise to hear someone address you in such a way now that you’re back in your home, Liyue.
As you were about to speak and acknowledge Zhongli, his gaze fell on the gold and obsidian necklace resting just above your bosom. “Say, your necklace was a family heirloom, yes?”
You feel a blush creep up your cheeks. You don’t know if it was because of his question or the borderline inappropriate area on your body he’s focusing on, but you gathered your composure to reply in confidence, “You’re right, Mr. Zhongli.”
“Then mademoiselle, I infer that you come from the Lihua clan of smiths and jewelers? They’re known in Liyue for their marvelous work on obsidian that’s rare to mine in this region.” His gloved fingers are now touching his chin as if in deep thought. The other people at the table are now focusing on you.
You’re sure that it’s not his intention to put you on the spot, and that this interaction is nothing but a party trick after Luo Feng vouched for Zhongli’s vast knowledge—but he’s unfortunately right. You are a Lihua descendant, but there’s a tinge of denial that did want him to be wrong.
After all, you never wanted to follow the expected route for the members of your clan. Smithing weapons and gemstones alike were nothing but a thing of the past for you. It’s your own path you’re carving and not the dark stone that’s tied to your bloodline.
“You are correct, Mr. Zhongli.” You force the amusement through your lips. He smiled fondly at you as the crowd erupted in sublime cheers.
“But even though that’s a fact, It’s evident you’ve diligently paved a road you can call your own. And I think there’s nothing more brilliant than that, Miss (...)”
Your inner tension melted upon his words, giving him an affectionate smile that he now wished would be only for him.
II
You fixed your new hairpin out of instinct.
It was gifted to you as a token by a recent client, a housewife of a high-ranking officer from the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Your client insisted that a merchant at Yujing Terrace had offered her the hairpin at a special price. She recounted being hesitant at first, but the merchant—like a stroke of fate!—suggested that giving the hairpin to a retainer would surely bring both parties good luck.
“Oh, that’s very exquisite.” Zhongli’s gaze didn’t leave the opulent accessory pinned on your hair as he sat down to join you at your usual table at the Liuli Pavilion.
“I know right?” You touched the finery once again as if showing it off to him.
The hairpin itself is gold, fashioned like a dragon. The long stem’s texture feels and looks like dragon scales. The head of the dragon was intricately honed. Draping from the already elegant pin were opal gemstones shaped like teardrops. You think that there’s something both beautiful and macabre in the way it looks. After all, how can an imposing symbol such as a dragon, be matched with opal gems that shone meekly?
“How have you been, m’amour ? I’m glad we can meet today over tea.”
It has been a year since you met Zhongli. Ever since that day at the Pearl Galley, he’s been inviting you for tea or dinner—not like you’ve thought anything of it. You’d often share stories about the items you’ve discovered while redecorating your clients’ gigantic homes, to which he’d give input on what might be the historical and cultural significance of these artifacts. Without fail, he has provided insight that even helped you in your projects.
But it was all that’s there to it, you think.
As much as you’ve appreciated his company for the past year, he’s developed habits that you’ve found a bit uncomfortable—the affectionate pet names, the insistence to walk you home when you meet up, all the expensive gifts, tea, and dinner he’s been showering you with. You wanted to have the audacity to ask him upfront if he wanted more from you, but he’s been quick to avoid that topic so masterfully.
“Dear?”
“I-Uhm, I'm okay. You?”
The fond smile that was once plastered on his face faded into his usual stern expression. You hear him resign with a low, barely inaudible sigh.
“Zhongli, did I upset you? Sorry if I was a bit distracted. Work was a bit draining, that’s all.”
Zhongli was quick to catch your hand resting on the table, his gloved fingers stroking your knuckles reassuringly. “Oh no, I’m not upset.” He gives you that gentle smile again. “And you did seem tired from work, so I’m a bit regretful for insisting on meeting you today just to have a look at your client’s gift.”
“What are you on about? I was the one who brought it up! I was too excited to show this to you because I thought it looked interesting.” You retracted your hand, giving his hands a few quick taps while giving him a close-eyed smile.
Zhongli closed his eyes in contentment, “Well then, shall we order our tea? My treat, of course.”
—
“You know what, I really can’t put a finger on where that hairpin came from. Although…” Zhongli slowly lowered his teacup back to the table with a faint thud. He crossed his arms in deep thought as if trying to remember something. “...I think I have something in my collection that really resembles it.”
“Zhongli, I know you’re Mr. Walking Encyclopedia, but that doesn’t mean you have to know everything.” The smell of the luxurious white peony tea wafts through your senses as you take a sip from your cup. “Also, you’ve been talking big about your collection, when am I ever going to see that?” You noted in a teasing way. After all, for a single man to live off of a consultancy job for a single client, bragging about a vast collection of luxurious historical items is quite lofty. Surely the funeral business can’t be that lucrative, right?
“Hmm.” You know that sound—he’s really intrigued. “Would it be so bold of me to ask for that hairpin, my dear?” Zhongli sighed as if defeated. “I really can’t rack up my brains where that came from, but it looks a lot like something from my collection.” He’s now looking at you. His words were asking for permission, but there’s guilt already creeping inside you with the thought of rejecting his proposition.
“I–uh,” you hesitantly put down your cup, hands making their way on your hair. “Y-yeah, I mean…sure?” You laughed weakly as you pulled the hairpin away. The opal shines faintly under the dim light of the restaurant. You put it on Zhongli’s gloved hand, which is already prepared to receive the article.
For a second, you were quite sure you saw the curve of his lips as a smirk before it transformed into an affectionate smile, his eyes hyper-fixed on yours as his fingers curl to secure the hairpin in his person.
III
Zhongli promised to return your hairpin but insisted that he show you first the set it belonged to. As such, he asked you if you can drop by his home after work to see for yourself. Of course, it’s Zhongli, and he almost always has his way—but you were indeed curious to see the entire thing, and maybe tease him to sell it to you as payment for troubling you.
It’s a bit surprising to learn that his apartment is a humble flat near the port. The outside seemed too plain and uncharacteristic of the refined gentleman you knew well.
He immediately opens the door a few moments after you knock. Has he been doing nothing but wait?
Zhongli was not wearing his waistcoat. He was dressed down in a white collared shirt that fitted him very well. Despite this, it was still tucked neatly in his trousers, which by virtue are still very much formal and not casual. He wordlessly led you inside, arms ghosting at the small of your back.
Your eyes immediately filled with awe looking around his apartment. He really wasn’t lying about owning all this stuff. His receiving room looks more like a curio shop. “Wow Zhongli, you actually need my service.” You remarked in jest. He let out a surprising (but still reserved) laugh as he secured the locks behind you. “Do I get a discount, then?”
You chuckled while eyeing the plethora of fragile bone shards and juvenile jades on display, “Oh wow, now you suddenly know how to save money?”
“Or…you can always do it for me for free?” You replied with a conservative laugh while playfully punching his arm.
While he went to work to empty a table for the both of you, your eyes took in the marvelous mix of vases, scrolls, sculptures, and artifacts which you completely had no idea how a mere funeral parlor consultant was able to collect. There’s just no way he could have acquired everything in his lifetime. Sure, your gentleman friend’s personality might be a little dusty, but he’s as young as you are. Maybe his family is really loaded? Archons! What if he moonlights as a treasure hoarder? The thought made you chuckle.
“Curious how I got everything?” His baritone voice cut through the silence in the room. You turned to face him with a smile. “First of all, I am not a treasure hoarder, if you’re thinking about that.”
He makes quick work on a box that he pulls from a cabinet within his arm’s reach. Your gaze focused on his gloved hands as he carefully pulled out your hairpin from the vessel, gold and opal catching the faint light from the chandelier. A finger started to stroke the golden stem, eyes ever-so-stern as he displayed the item in front of you. In a way, you felt like he was teasing.
“Can I take that back?” You blurted almost involuntarily, an uneasy feeling settling in as you saw him hold the item a bit possessively.
“Hm. Impatient, aren’t we?” You can sense Zhongli step and shifting behind you. “Let me give it back properly.”
You can feel his fingers combing through your hair, which made you wince. “Hey hey wait, I can…”
This did nothing to stop him. He was already working intently on doing your hair like how you usually do it. “Zhongli?” He didn’t react. You look at yourself and him through the ambiguous reflection on the glass paneling of the shelf in front of you. Zhongli looked at you through that reflection but he did not stop—he continued to work on the pin and your hair as if he’s been doing it every day.
“All done.” When you blinked, he already stepped back so you could face him again. You’re left with no choice but to acknowledge and thank him for the gesture.
He then declares that the tea is ready, and he can finally show you the items that came with the hairpin.
When Zhongli disappears into the hallway, you involuntarily touch the obsidian charm draping on your chest, suddenly thinking about your mother who presented you with this heirloom a few years back.
Obsidian. Dark and mysterious.
The tip of your thumb touches the top of the black gem, almost threatening to pierce through the skin. “…often sought for absorbing negative energies. Also for cutting off toxic relations.”
Your attention shot back up immediately to the man returning to the room. Your focus was then pinned on the ornate tea set Zhongli is carrying towards you and the table.
The tea set, which you surmised included the serving tray, the pot, and the two cups, all are made of exquisite porcelain with gold detailing. The pot’s spout was even formed to look like the head of a dragon. When Zhongli finally props everything on the table, a weak and unusual glint catches your attention: opal embellishments.
“Is this…” you touch the golden rim of the serving tray. “The hairpin’s missing family?” You looked up at Zhongli in pure astonishment, which slowly drained the feelings of uneasiness from his previously (uncalled for) ministration.
“Mmhmm.” Zhongli returned the attention by making brief eye contact while still masterfully pouring you a cup of tea, a slight smile plastered on his face. “I realized the motifs were similar to the hairpin.” Zhongli subtly slides your cup in your direction with a gentle and careful push of a pointer finger. “Ah, it’s finally time to put this beauty to use.”
You eyed the masterful craftsmanship of the tea set in front of you, mind distracted with awe and blissfully unaware of the trap that has yet to unfold.
“So, where did you get this? Well, scratch that, where the heck did you get all this, Zhongli? Are you some sort of a black market bigwig?”
He chuckled, “You ask a lot of questions, my love. Shall we drink first in honor of things finally belonging to their rightful place?”
Zhongli had always been one to speak flowerily, but there’s been something iffy about his words. You hesitated to ingest your tea, but Zhongli taking his own cup involuntarily made you follow suit. The steaming drink’s base was rose and black tea, but you can’t make out the rest of the ingredients on your tongue as the taste of the rose water overpowers everything else.
Before your mind can even start to wander, Zhongli stifles a low chuckle. “It’s quite easy to collect and preserve precious things when you’ve lived as long as this land.” He then fully pins his attention on you as he puts down his cup on the table with a calculated thud. “Let’s just say my friends and enemies alike came and went by this mortal plane, leaving little souvenirs to remember them by.” He’s saying this so casually but you can’t even comprehend what he meant. Somehow you refuse to acknowledge whatever bullshit he just dropped. You feel the room get smaller for the two of you.
Unable to come up with a proper reaction, you changed the topic. “Hmm, a hairpin and a tea set is quite a weird combo, don’t you think?” Maybe you drank your tea a little too fast as if it was liquid courage.
“Oh no, not at all.” Zhongli was somehow unaffected when the conversation was steered away from his identity. “In fact, these are traditional paraphernalia for betrothal ceremonies in Liyue in place of contracts.” He says this nonchalantly. “Oh, you forgot?”
“Betrothal?” There was a subtle shake to your voice as you inquired.
“The bride gives a hairpin to her betrothed.”
“On the day of their union, the groom then returns the hairpin to his lovely bride, putting it on her hair.”
You wanted to flinch when his gloved hands suddenly found the side of your face, fingers brushing gently over your cheekbones. Before you can fully turn your head away, his hand lowers to your jaw, applying a bit of pressure to make you look at him.
“Z-Zhongli?”
You’re a learned woman. You even broke away from your family and your country to supposedly seek greater knowledge. But despite all this mastery, you’re hard-pressed to deny and overlook details on purpose when you don’t want things to stray from what you ideally want to happen.
The dinners and afternoon tea.
The flowers he leaves at your doorstep.
The various trinkets he randomly gifts you.
These are all buried under your unspoken rejection of Zhongli’s affection for you. But to him, this constant defiance weighs nothing.
Because as much as you’re good at looking the other way and denying his feelings, Zhongli is as skilled in imposing the opposite.
You could have made up poor excuses to not meet him for tea or dinner—but his counsel has been consistently helpful to your line of work.
You could have brushed him off to leave you alone whenever you were walking home at night—but it felt safer to have him by your side when you had a history of stalkers.
You could have turned down the flowers, the luxurious finery, his unyielding attention—but despite branding yourself as someone who asserted her destiny, there’s only a spoiled rich girl beneath the surface.
Zhongli already accepted that you only know how to take, and you will never deny nor give.
“I…I have something urgent. I need to go.” There was a loud sound when you stood up and slipped off from the heavy oak chair you were sitting on. You wordlessly get ready to leave as Zhongli matches your actions without haste. In your head, there’s nothing to talk about, and so you can’t afford to give him a look before departing. Your eyes were particularly glued to the ground.
You make a quick shuffle to where you remember the door…was.
Confused at the blank, visibly doorless wall, you can’t help but look back at Zhongli.
It took a few seconds before you can even utter something. “Zhongli? Where’s the…door?” At this point, nothing makes sense, and yet, you still try to act like a door suddenly missing is totally normal.
Zhongli slowly makes his way toward you. Every step he makes, you respond with a step back. Your eyes make a quick scan of the area to avoid locking gazes with him. How did you not catch how illogically enormous this place is when it was supposed to be a single-bedroom apartment in a run-down complex near the port?
As you feel the cold slab that is the empty wall behind you, one of your hands hurriedly reaches for the sharp obsidian gem on your neck, pulling it out of its pendant hook.
The thing about obsidian is it is as beautiful as it is lethal. Your thoughts suddenly flood with memories of your family. Maybe you should call them sometime.
“We travel to learn, not to forget, my dear.” Still composed as ever, Zhongli stops pacing. “It seems like your years in Fontaine made you completely forget how things are done here in our home.”
Maybe you should also pray to the Geo Archon, who you didn’t revere much growing up, let alone even called for at all when you were away from home. Suddenly, praying to a dead entity makes so much more sense to you now than a friend acting like you’re a prey being lured to his den.
Rex Lapis, please help me. Please. Please. Please. I’ll do anything…
Still not making eye contact, you saw Zhongli shift and make a move again in your direction. He pulls you into an embrace, which you desperately struggle to shake away from. You manage to raise an arm, holding the obsidian in your free hand. As you were about to stab the glassy weapon in his neck, it pulverized in your hand. Confused, you finally look at Zhongli, desperate to make sense of the events—but the subtle glow in his amber eyes raises even more questions.
“That’s a bit dangerous, you know.” He’s now fully caging your body against the wall, warm and tensed breaths meshing. “After all, obsidian is also forged by fire, not only by the earth. Was quite unsure if you’d really end up stabbing me.”
“What the fuck is this, Zhongli?” You hissed.
There was a low, rumbly sigh from Zhongli when you punctuated your confusion with profanity. After all, you don’t think you ever swore when you’re with him.
Rex Lapis, please…I’m begging.
The faint glow dissipates from his eyes and he steps back. You stood frozen from the sudden withdrawal of warmth.
“You don’t need to beg, tianxin. I’ll help you out. Always. I promise.”
You furrowed your brows, failing to recognize any instance where you begged something from Zhongli.
“After all, you’re my wife now, and that’s what marriage is all about.”
He steps back even further. With a flick of his hand, you were surrounded by pillars made of geo-elemental energy. You try to breach through, but it was all in vain.
“You did tell me you’ll do anything, and so you shall keep your end of the bargain.”
“Then stay.”