Chapter Text
Ghost City was bustling with activity as everyone prepared for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Yin Yu sighed as he left one of the many, many food stalls that had questionable food preparation practices. Hua Chengzu wanted His Highness the Crown Prince to be able to eat anything he wanted when they went to the festival together, and the stall owners had loudly declared that it was the least they could do for their honored granduncle. When it came to actually changing their ways however… suffice to say that Yin Yu had to patrol constantly to make sure that nothing Hua Chengzu would deem “unfit for his highness” was served.
Yin Yu really appreciated the effort that Crimson Rain put into reviving him as a ghost, but at times he wondered if he had done so partially because he’d already trained Yin Yu up to maintain his exacting standards of what was worthy of his highness Xian Le.
As he approached the end of his patrol route, Yin Yu heard the now familiar pounding footsteps and the telltale call of “Shixiooooooooong!” that heralded the arrival of the curly haired little idiot. Yin Yu heaved a quiet sigh and squared his stance in preparation for the tackle that his sticky shidi always greeted him with.
To his surprise, Quan Yizhen actually skidded to a stop right in front of him.
‘Maybe he was finally learning,’ Yin Yu thought, before he noticed the box being cradled in his former shidi’s hands, ‘…or he has something that is more important than sticking to me,’ Yin Yu corrected himself with an uncomfortable feeling he refused to think about in his chest. Yin Yu, grateful that his uniform included a mask, greeted him with a shallow bow. “Your Highness Qi Ying-”
“No, shixiong! Don’t call me that!”
Quan Yizhen was just barely shorter than him, Yin Yu knew that he was. So why did his big pleading eyes make Yin Yu feel like they were still young disciples and had a good couple of inches on him? Yin Yu sighed internally and corrected himself. “Quan Yizhen, happy Mid-Autumn Festival. Are you doing anything to celebrate?”
“Shixiong, don’t tell me that you’ve forgotten! It’s my birthday!”
Yin Yu looked at his Quan Yizhen’s eager face with clenched fists. He was no longer the conscientious shixiong who felt the need to procure a birthday present for his wayward shidi every year. This was the first autumn since Yin Yu had been revived. Or, perhaps more importantly, since Quan YiZhen had helped nurture Yin Yu into a savage ranked ghost and made himself comfortable as a somewhat tolerated presence in his afterlife.
Of course the little idiot would expect a present from Yin Yu, regardless of the disastrous consequences of his last demand for a birthday present. And of course, Yin Yu hadn’t thought of buying a present for the occasion. Why would he? It had been a couple hundred years since he had last needed to. Perhaps he should have expected this, Yin Yu thought as he grit his teeth and took off in the direction of Paradise Manor.
There was a commotion as Quan Yizhen chased after him, but Yin Yu was pleased to note that he didn’t hear any loud clashes or wood splintering. That meant that Yizhen was being at least somewhat careful, but just because he wasn’t charging forward like a bull didn’t mean that Yin Yu would be able to get away. Yin Yu barely made it two blocks before he was tackled to the ground with a solid thump.
“Shixiong!” Yin Yu’s excitable former shidi exclaimed, “I made cookies for my birthday! Let’s eat together!”
Yin Yu sighed as he lightly pushed Yizhen off him and sat up, resigning himself to his fate. At least he didn’t have to scrounge up a present from somewhere. He looked at the container in Yizhen’s hand and asked, “You made them?”
Yizhen nodded excitedly, “Yeah! Former Lord Wind Master learned how to make these while they were traveling and I thought they were yummy, so they gave me the recipe! They’re called half moon cookies! Look!”
Quan Yizhen slid the lid off the box and let out a cry of dismay when he saw the mess of smushed cookies and smeared icing that greeted him. “They’re ruined,” he whimpered.
He looked so disappointed as his head dipped down and his shoulders drooped that Yin Yu could almost see drooping puppy ears in his shidi’s fluffy head of hair. Yin Yu sighed and reached up to pat Yizhen’s head. “It’s alright, it doesn’t matter how they look.”
Yizhen looked at Yin Yu with big eyes. “But… I wanted to share these with shixiong, and shixiong deserves the best!”
Yin Yu ruffled Yizhen’s hair and reached into the box. “Even if they’re a bit messy, I’m sure they taste just as good,” he said, removing his mask as he popped a bite of cookie into his mouth. Yin Yu grit his teeth to stop himself from grimacing as he registered the bitter and salty taste.
Yin Yu was so distracted trying to keep a straight face that he didn’t react on time when Yizhen copied him, and immediately spat his mouthful out, sputtering, “Salty! It’s not supposed to be salty. Shixiong! Spit it out!”
Yin Yu stubbornly swallowed down the bite, feeling oddly unwilling to spit out the result of Quan Yizhen’s genuine efforts.
“Shixioooooong!” Yizhen looked on the edge of tears.
Yin Yu got to his feet, dusted himself off, and extended a hand out to Yizhen. His shidi glanced at his hand and then the box of cookies still in his grip, frowning under the apparent assumption that Yin Yu wanted to take them. Yizhen shook his head and threw the contents of the box into the air, incinerating the failed cookies with a quick ball of fire before handing the now empty box to Yin Yu as he got to his feet.
Yin Yu blinked down at the box and tucked it under his arm before looking at his former shidi who was staring at the ground, sulking. ‘It is his birthday,’ Yin Yu mused to himself, ‘so I suppose I should let him do what he wants.”
Yin Yu sighed as he took Yizhen’s hand, like he used to when they were much younger. “Come with me, Yizhen,” he said gently, “I need to finish my rounds, but afterwards we can go to Paradise Manor and remake those cookies together.”
Quan Yizhen peeked up at him through his bangs. “Really?”
“Really.”
Quan Yizhen perked up, quickly forgetting about his upset. “Shixiong is the best!” he gushed, bouncing as Yin Yu led him back down the street so he could check up on the last couple stalls.
Yin Yu let go of his hand as he surveyed the stalls and their owners. They were mostly sticking to the special guidelines, but when they came to Butcher Zhu’s stall, Yin Yu caught the very distinct scent of human flesh and crossed his arms.
“Ah! Waning Moon Officer, Happy Mid Autumn Festival!” Butcher Zhu greeted Yin Yu as he stopped in front of his stall, “Would you like something to eat? Take a load off!”
“Happy Mid-Autumn Festival Butcher Zhu.” Yin Yu stepped closer to the stall and pointed at the meat shanks on display. “What is this?”
“Premium thigh meat, of course! Only the best for the festival!”
Yin Yu rolled his eyes. “Of course, but aren’t you forgetting something?”
“And what would that be?”
“Remember the special rules that Hua-chengzhu put in place for the day since His Highness Xianle is joining us for the festival? I know you’re able to sell different fare.”
The boar scratched his head “Right, I remember. I have everything I need for the festival, don't worry.”
Yin Yu smiled meaningfully. “I think it would be better if you switched your meat now, just so you don’t accidentally forget later. You wouldn’t want to upset Hua Chengzu would you?
The butcher sighed, “Of course not, hold on,” he wiped his hands off on his apron and brought them up to his snout, shouting, “Premium meat shanks at a discount! Cheapest price you’ll see all year! Everything must go!”
As it was almost lunch time, there were plenty of ghosts milling about, so the offending human meat was bought and consumed in no time. Once everything was gone, Butcher Zhu ducked under his counter and pulled out one tray each of beef, chicken, and pork. Yin Yu nodded in satisfaction and with a quick farewell, left the line of stalls behind as he returned to Paradise Manor with his former shidi trailing after him, uncharacteristically quiet. Yin Yu led the way to the kitchens with practiced familiarity and turned to Quan Yizhen, “Can I see the recipe?”
The martial god quickly pulled a scroll out of his sleeve and handed it to him. Yin Yu scanned it and nodded, turning to face Quan Yizhen as he pointed to the stone oven that sat in the corner of the kitchen. “Can you start a fire to heat the oven?”
He nodded eagerly and rushed to the oven to get to work. As he did that, Yin Yu quickly got out and measured all the ingredients. By the time he was done, Quan Yizhen had a good fire going, with a mix of wood and spiritual energy fueling it. Yin Yu gave his former shidi a bowl of butter and a whisk and told him to just keep churning.
As he did so, Quan Yizhen happily chattered away, assuring Yin Yu that he was doing his job as martial god of the west. As he double checked the recipe and added each ingredient to the bowl, Yin Yu questioned, not for the first time, why it became his job to make sure his wayward shidi was attending to his heavenly duties . Once everything the properly combined, Yin Yu stopped Yizhen’s motion with a hand on his arm and took the bowl from him to set it to the side. He then coated his hands with a thin layer of flour and rolled a portion of the dough into a ball that sat in the palm of his hand.
He held the ball out to Yizhen. “We are going to make thirty balls of dough that are this big, okay?
Quan Yizhen nodded eagerly and reached for the dough. Yin Yu quickly knocked an elbow against his outstretched hands, chiding, “You should cover your hands in flour first or it will be all sticky.”
Yizhen looked from Yin Yu’s hands to the little mound of flour he’d left on the countertop before his eyes lit up in understanding. He patted the mound of flour while saying, “So there’s a way to stop it from sticking! I was just scraping it off my hands before.”
Yin Yu sighed. He should have expected something like that. They quickly shaped all of the dough into balls, flattened them on a tray prepared by one of the more conscientious kitchen servants, and set them in the stone oven. As the cookies baked, they quickly began to make the buttercream frosting. Yin Yu left Quan Yizhen to split the frosting base between two bowls as he pulled the cookies out of the oven. He was just activating a wind array carved into the wall near the trays when he heard a clatter behind him.
He turned to find a mess of cocoa powder. Quan Yizhen had apparently knocked into the container and upended it so that part of the powder spilled into the bowl he’d been holding and the rest was on the floor.
Yin Yu tsked and gave him a stern look before he took the bowl from him and handed him a broom instead. “You remember how to use one of these, right?”
Yizhen’s shoulders slumped. “Yes, shixiong.”
“Then get to it. I’ll see about fixing the buttercream.”
As his Quan Yizhen swept up the mess, Yin Yu whisked the frosting together before dipping a chopstick into it to try a bit. Finding it too bitter and a little gritty, Yin Yu scooped more of the vanilla frosting into his bowl and added a bit more milk. He mixed and tested it again and again until he was satisfied with the taste and texture. By the time he was done, there was about three times as much chocolate frosting as vanilla. He turned to Quan Yizhen, who had finished sweeping up and was hovering over his shoulder, and said, “These aren’t going to be half and half anymore, but they should still taste fine.”
Quan Yizhen tilted his head to the side apparently deep in thought. “You like chocolate better right, shixiong?”
Yin Yu nodded, surprised that Yizhen remembered.
Yizhen beamed. “Great! Former Lord Wind Master said these are called Half-Moon cookies, so let's make these crescent moons! Then they can be waning moons, just like shixiong!”
Yin Yu nodded indulgently and they set about decorating the cooled cookies with Yin Yu smearing the cookies with large swathes of chocolate buttercream before handing each cookie off to his former shidi, who shaped each crescent moon with more delicacy than Yin Yu had expected. Soon enough, all thirty cookies were decorated and Quan Yizhen went about turning each one to face the same direction so they would all be waning crescents.
When he was done, they each picked up a cookie. Yin Yu watched Quan Yizhen take a bite, eyes lighting up in delight as the sweet taste and soft texture registered. “Shixiong! These turned out great! Try one! Try one!”
Yin Yu smiled as he bit into his cookie, admitting to himself that it was nice to spend time with his former shidi like this. When he finished eating, he packed the rest of the cookies into a tiered food box and turned to Quan Yizhen.
“Do you want to go to the festival with me? I need to patrol, but if you’re willing to be patient, and promise not to get in any fights, I’m sure we can have fun too.”
Quan Yizhen had stars in his eyes, resembling the child he was long ago as he exclaimed, “Of course shixiong! I’ll be good. Let’s go!” and ran out of the kitchen.
Yin Yu followed Quan Yizhen out at a sedate pace. He found him bouncing in place at the entrance of Paradise Manor, waiting for him so they could head out to the festival together.