Genshin Impact's Incense Burner Of Liyue [602]

Gu Sanqiu led Shenhe to the territory of the Ten Gold Association and asked Xingqiu to arrange for a few sharp-witted female members to help her pick out some new clothes.

While adepti could indeed keep themselves pristine through passive abilities, Shenhe was still a ways off from that realm. Clothes were, unfortunately, still a necessity.

To avoid agitating the latent hostile aura within her, Gu Sanqiu emphasized repeatedly that this new recruit had only just emerged from seclusion and might be extremely sensitive to changes in her surroundings.

The women nodded understandingly—then immediately started looking at Shenhe with a gaze usually reserved for innocent little deer.

In short, with just a brief meeting, Shenhe had already charmed a few mom-fans with nothing but her looks and natural expressions.

Out of concern for the safety of Liyue Harbor’s citizens, Gu Sanqiu chose to trail them from a distance, dragging along a very reluctant "Golden Retriever"—aka Aether—beside him.

By now, missing person notices had been posted throughout Liyue’s streets and alleys, though Gu Sanqiu, well aware that such things were more symbolic than effective, kept his mouth shut and simply wished Aether good luck.

Maybe one day, if those siblings actually did have to face off in a deadly battle, he could gather all the missing person notices scattered across the Seven Nations, and then fling them as hidden weapons.

In a world where the power of faith and will could work real miracles, such a move might just give Aether a crucial window to land a sneak attack.

At first, Aether thought Gu Sanqiu had summoned him for something important. But when he realized it was just to accompany a girl on a shopping trip, the light visibly died from his eyes.

He still vividly remembered the time Paimon had dragged him shopping—eating all afternoon into the night, wandering back and forth through endless food streets. It was far more exhausting than fighting a horde of hilichurl bandits.

Trauma. Deep trauma.

"Relax. It’s just picking up a few changes of clothes. Won’t take long," Gu Sanqiu said reassuringly.

Then the real culprit threw an arm around Aether’s shoulders. "By the way, have you thought about what we talked about? You know, joining the Ten Gold Association?"

"Uh, well… Since it’s your organization, I don't mind joining," Aether said, a bit puzzled. "But isn’t the position you’re offering me a little too important?"

"'Special Envoy for External Affairs' or whatever… are you trying to dump all outside affairs on me?"

"No, no. It’s just a title," Gu Sanqiu shook his head. "If I’m right, that device you used to travel quickly across nations—it probably exists in Liyue too. Which means you have a unique advantage in relaying information quickly."

Given their relationship, if anything abnormal happened elsewhere, Aether could quickly alert him—a precious capability.

After all, Gu Sanqiu didn’t have Mona’s astrology skills or anything fancy like a "Divine Eye of Omniscience," so he had to find practical ways to strengthen his intelligence network.

And in the intelligence game, timing was everything. The faster and more accurate the info, the more time you had to react—and avoid stupid losses.

That’s why he wanted Aether’s name officially tied to the Ten Gold Association. Gu Sanqiu even explained all the details upfront, to make sure Aether wouldn’t feel like he was being used.

"If it’s just that, sure," Aether agreed, though a little sheepishly. "But with my current strength, setting up a teleport anchor is still kinda hard."

"No worries." Gu Sanqiu waved it off. "I’ll handle the resource costs. Just find the closest anchor point you can."

As for strength… at least for now, nothing major was likely to happen in Liyue. And if anything did stir up in the next phase, it would probably be because of him.

Namely, stirring up some trouble over in Inazuma—but strictly on the surface islands. He had zero interest in poking around in Enkanomiya.

Once bitten, twice shy. After narrowly surviving one major betrayal, Gu Sanqiu was exceedingly cautious now.

Better safe than ending up like Orobashi—when even gods couldn’t save you.

Meanwhile, Aether should have a golden period ahead to both make money and grow stronger.

"Boss, we’ve finished picking out the clothes!"

The Ten Gold Association members came over, faces flushed bright red. "Anything else you’d like us to do?"

...Why are your faces red?

All the girls were beet-red, and Gu Sanqiu exchanged a baffled glance with Aether.

What the heck happened in that clothing store?
Did some weird spirit possessing 'make girls blush instantly' latch onto them or something?

No, wait—given Shenhe’s strength, if she’d gone all 'exorcist mode,' these girls would be more amazed than embarrassed. Why the blushing?!

"Um, Boss, can I talk to you for a second?"

One of the girls tugged at Gu Sanqiu’s sleeve, pulling him aside. Among the members, Gu Sanqiu wasn’t seen as some aloof superior—after all, madmen like him didn’t care for strict hierarchies. Whatever felt comfortable, he went with it.

"Boss… where the heck did you find that friend of yours?"

The girl’s face was full of disbelief. "Don’t tell me she’s one of those kids you tossed into a mountain gorge as a baby and forced to cultivate for twenty years?"

"You’ll have to ask her master about that," Gu Sanqiu said, massaging his forehead. "I’m just the stand-in guardian."

If he didn’t clear this up quickly, these girls would probably start seeing him as a horribly abusive parent figure.

Honestly, if Shenhe didn’t give off such natural airhead vibes, Gu Sanqiu wouldn’t have subconsciously slipped into the "guardian" role either.

"So what’s the issue? Lacking basic common sense?"

"Yeah… something like that." The girl’s face went even redder. "It’s just—when she was trying on clothes… she was too cute. Too beautiful. Too perfect!"

???

Gu Sanqiu was completely stunned. He understood every individual word, but when combined, it sounded like she was chanting some ancient, long-forgotten spell.

"Mind elaborating?"

"Ah, it’s just girl stuff, Boss. You don’t need to stick your nose into it," the girl declared firmly, steam practically rising from her ears.

"Anyway! Just leave Miss Shenhe to us!"

"We swear, Boss—give us half a month, and we’ll have her living independently in Liyue Harbor like a perfect modern woman!"

Why does that guarantee sound so weird coming from you?

Gu Sanqiu tilted his head suspiciously, then without hesitation extended his spiritual senses outward to eavesdrop on what the other girls were whispering about.

"Did you see her just now? Gosh, even I almost had a nosebleed!"

"She really doesn’t know anything about modern fashion, huh? Guess it’s true what Boss said about her being in seclusion for years—but that just makes her even cuter!"

"You idiot, of course I noticed! Her figure, her aura… I just wanna jump her and snuggle forever!"

"And that red rope wrapped around her wrist while she was trying on clothes—so adorable! I wanna be tangled up in that rope too!"

The whispers gradually grew more and more unhinged.

Ding, ding—brain overload. Rebooting... Reboot successful.

So that’s what’s going on.

I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have eavesdropped.

If this were a fictional romance novel, maybe this kind of scene would be charming.
But in real life? It could be a complete disaster if things spiraled out of control—and his good reputation would be toast in an instant.

Gu Sanqiu let out a long, weary sigh, feeling deeply grateful for his foresight in recruiting backup girls.

Good thing this young master is clever!

---

T/N: Heh shenhe is too cute

This is a fan translation of 原神之璃月奉香人 by 淡白蛋清. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!