English
Indonesia
Chinese (Simp)
Japanese
Korean
Spanish
Portuguese
French
German
ArabicGenshin Impact: A Guide to the Unofficial History of Teyvat — Chapter 43
Chapter 43: Second Young Master Xingqiu of the Feiyun Commerce Guild, is it? Soon you’ll be the Second Miss!
Life returned to its former tranquility.
Lovia spent several agonizing days observing the streets from the shadows, her fluffy ears twitching at every passing footstep. She finally confirmed that Xingqiu truly hadn’t taken any further action. No Millelith guards had come to kick down her door to arrest her, nor were there any wild rumors about a strange sea creature spreading through the bustling wharves of Liyue Harbor.
Her heart, which had been hanging by a frayed thread, finally slowly settled back into her chest.
“It seems… that Second Young Master is actually quite honorable?” She sat cross-legged on her messy little bed, mumbling self-consolations while aggressively munching on a crisp Apple. “Maybe a busy man like him just forgot about me already!”
Yes, that had to be it! The young master of a major commerce guild must be swamped all day with tedious business ledgers and grueling martial arts practice—or, more likely, hiding in a corner reading wuxia novels. How could he possibly have the time to obsess over an insignificant little Melusine like her?
Thinking this way, Lovia suddenly felt a massive weight lift from her shoulders, and even the sweet fruit in her mouth tasted infinitely better.
With the perceived crisis resolved, her creative urge, which had been suffocated by sheer paranoia, sprouted like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, itching to break the surface.
However, after that terrifying close call at the bay, she wasn’t planning to continue writing ‘Secret History of Wanmin Restaurant: Is Guoba the True God of Cooking?!’ anytime soon, despite her previous burning enthusiasm.
Lovia’s gaze involuntarily drifted toward the bustling center of Liyue Harbor, her lips slowly curling into a mischievous, toothy smile bubbling with the sweet thrill of impending revenge.
“Second Young Master Xingqiu of the Feiyun Commerce Guild, is it…” she hummed softly, her sapphire-blue eyes gleaming with otaku cunning. “Seeing things you shouldn’t see comes with a heavy price, you know.”
Although her rational mind whispered that Xingqiu probably, likely, maybe had no ill intent and was actually quite polite and considerate.
He had still given her a massive fright! He had completely ruined her appetite and sleep schedule for days—well, not really, but she liked to exaggerate—and almost forced her to abandon her cozy little nest to flee all the way back to Fontaine in a blind panic!
And what bothered her the absolute most was the look in Xingqiu’s eyes when he had spotted her.
That gaze was filled with an overly intense, burning curiosity, as if he wanted to dissect every single secret she was desperately trying to hide.
That specific look made Lovia’s fur stand on end.
Having once been human in her past life, she knew all too well what that morbid curiosity behind humanity’s view of non-human strange creatures often led to, even in a magical world like Teyvat.
Who said everyone in Teyvat was a saint? Had they not paid attention to the world quests? There were so many messed-up, twisted individuals lurking in Fontaine’s shadows… What if Xingqiu accidentally let her existence slip to the wrong crowd?
So, once exposed… it would mean ostracization, relentless hunting, the bitter alienation of being an anomaly, or worse, being locked in a cage and scrutinized like a rare exotic beast.
When she was human, she had never been subjected to that terrifying gaze reserved for strange existences. Now that she had transmigrated into a Melusine… that piercing scrutiny made her skin crawl, filling her with a primal panic far worse than outright hatred.
She knew Xingqiu meant no direct harm, but… she was an author of unofficial histories anyway. If she didn’t write about him now, she would inevitably target him eventually. Striking now would perfectly serve as her petty revenge.
‘Hmph! You brought this upon yourself by becoming prime material!’
Even though it felt a tiny bit like spreading malicious rumors… there wasn’t much difference between unofficial history and rumors anyway, right? After all, the scandalous stories she wrote about Morax could easily be considered rumors too!
, was she, Lovia—the grand transmigrator, self-proclaimed gourmet, and the infamous author Li Xin—so easily scared off? Even though she fully knew Xingqiu didn’t mean to spook her.
‘Second Young Master Xingqiu of the Feiyun Commerce Guild, is it? Soon you’ll be the Second Miss!’
A brilliant, utterly chaotic title gradually took shape in her mind, accompanied by the giddy excitement of causing absolute havoc and a readiness to set the literary world on fire.
The title would be: ‘Secret Tales of Feiyun: A Beauty Hidden in the Inner Chambers, the Second Miss’s Sword Shadows and Book Fragrance’!
Lovia rubbed her small hands together like a scheming villain and tossed the Apple core perfectly into the trash can. She hopped off the bed, pounced onto her small wooden desk piled high with blank manuscripts, and snatched up her favorite pen, her face flushed with mischief.
“Hehehe…” she let out a low, gremlin-like chuckle. “Second Young Master Xingqiu—oh, excuse me, Second Miss Xingqiu—this is top-tier material you delivered straight to my door. It would be an absolute crime against literature not to use it!”
The metal nib of her pen swished aggressively across the crisp parchment, driven by the intoxicating thrill of creative retaliation.
[The following is a fragment of the novel written by Lovia]
[Chapter 1: Secrets of the Inner Chamber]
As everyone knows, the fabulously wealthy Feiyun Commerce Guild of Liyue Harbor has two sons… or rather, to be precise, in the public eye, there are two young masters.
The elder brother is steady, reliable, and highly capable, having long since assisted his father in managing the guild’s sprawling affairs; he is the undisputed heir.
But the Second Young Master, Xingqiu, whose whereabouts are constantly mysterious and who frequently avoids distinguished guests under the convenient pretext of secluded study or traveling for learning, is widely regarded as the most acclaimed pearl of the Feiyun Commerce Guild.
Of course, the word pearl must be heavily emphasized, for this is actually a carefully woven, beautiful lie that has lasted for over a decade.
The public only gossips that Young Master Xingqiu is handsome and refined, fiercely loves reading, and possesses a gentle, elegant temperament. Although born the son of a merchant, he completely lacks any air of worldly greed, appearing instead like a graceful noble from a prestigious scholarly family. also, he possesses exquisite, flowing swordsmanship, making him a rare, once-in-a-generation talent in both literary and martial arts.
Yet very few souls know what delicate, soft curves are tightly hidden beneath those elegant male clothes. That clear, youthful voice, with just a slight adjustment, could instantly transform into a feminine melody as sweet as a mountain spring. Those amber eyes that occasionally look up from a heavy scroll to gaze out the window are as clear as autumn water, containing not just deep literary thoughts and sharp sword intent, but also the faint, lingering melancholy of a young lady in the inner chambers who must temporarily mask her true beauty.
Why is this so?
Rumor has it that when the Matriarch of the Feiyun Commerce Guild was pregnant, a wandering master diviner predicted that if the child were a girl, her destiny would be boundlessly extraordinary. However, she would absolutely need to present herself as a male until the age of sixteen to avoid a devastating, fated calamity. Only after reaching adulthood could she safely reclaim her true identity and enjoy a lifetime of lasting blessings.
The Guild Master and his wife loved their precious daughter dearly and preferred to believe the warning. Additionally, since Xingqiu showed a massive interest in male clothing and chivalrous tales from a young age, showing no resistance to the disguise, this grand plan of substituting the peach for the plum was quietly and flawlessly applied.
The guild members were strictly tight-lipped, only announcing to the outside world that they had birthed a Second Young Master, successfully deceiving the entirety of Liyue Harbor.
Thus, our Second Young Master Xingqiu grew up in this strange, suffocating twilight of being both male and female.
She didn’t read elegant poetry or study feminine literature, but rather devoured martial arts novels and chronicles of wandering chivalry. She didn’t practice delicate embroidery or cooking, but rather the family’s secret Guhua Sword style.
At times, she had to flawlessly play the role of a refined young master in public, while at others, in the absolute privacy of the inner courtyard, she could finally change into light, flowing silk dresses before her personal maid. She would apply delicate makeup to her face, sighing at her reflection: “This tight chest binding is truly more exhausting than a full day of grueling sword practice.”
…Writing up to this point, Lovia dropped her pen and burst out laughing, her tail thumping wildly against the wooden floorboards.
She fully used her boundless imagination as a transmigrator, adding dramatic flair and complex details to depict Xingqiu as a Second Miss of the inner chambers. A girl who had to cross-dress as a man due to the heavy chains of destiny, appearing slightly melancholic yet full of incredible contrast.
She heavily emphasized how the Second Miss skillfully used loose, flowing robes to hide her developing figure, how she deliberately lowered her voice and mimicked male mannerisms to get by, and how, in private, vulnerable moments known to no one, she would reveal the true charm and secret worries of a young girl.
She even boldly hinted in the text that the reason the Second Miss was so utterly obsessed with martial arts novels and chivalry was perhaps a psychological form of compensation—a desperate release for her heavily restricted identity.
“Perfect!” Lovia looked at the scandalous story born from her pen with immense satisfaction. The more she thought about it, the more she felt this setting was incredibly compelling. “Predictions of destiny, cross-dressing, fated calamities, dark secrets—heehee, all the best tropes are here! The readers will absolutely eat this up!”
She could almost vividly imagine what kind of massive tidal waves this Secret Tale would cause in Liyue Harbor’s vicious gossip circles once it was published.
Although there was a high probability it would just be treated as absurd, trashy unofficial history, it would definitely be enough for people to eagerly gossip about over tea and meals for a long while.
As for what Xingqiu himself would think upon seeing his reputation dragged through the mud?
Lovia didn’t care about that at all!
“Hmph, this is legally classified as mental distress compensation!” She shook her head triumphantly, her ears perked high, and continued to write feverishly. “That’s exactly what you get for scaring me! Now you get to experience the subtle, exquisite feeling of total social death too!”
She even mischievously planned that the next time she went to Wanmin Restaurant to eat, she might just accidentally let a draft of this manuscript fall out of her bag in a crowded place… As for whether she’d be caught?
Liyue Harbor was full of loose tongues and countless wild rumors anyway. This was just something she had occasionally heard and artistically processed a bit!
Besides, she wrote it with a masterful mix of truth and lies; who could possibly trace it back to her? At most, Liyue Harbor would just have another harmless, spicy anecdote about the Second Young Master of the Feiyun Commerce Guild.
If anything, she was actually helping Second Young Master Xingqiu increase his local popularity!
Yes, that was exactly it!
Unfortunately, at this moment, the smug little Melusine didn’t know that Xingqiu wouldn’t care about this rumor at all—and might actually find it incredibly entertaining.