Chapter Text
Seeing Hu Tao with fliers in her hands wasn’t an astounding, surprising vision. Even after Liyue Harbor had passed a notice against hanging such things around the city since they were making the place dirtier, more prone to get cluttered as time went by and they were thrown everywhere, she had continued printing and using them as her main form of advertisement.
(Sure, she also did social media—and her Teygram pictures were as outlandish as her posters, but that was another topic for another day.)
It did mean that Yanfei had double the work telling her to stop it or else she and the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor would be charged a pretty hefty sum of money, yet the words were ignored no matter how many times the lawyer had to say, text or write them to the other woman.
Regardless of how reckless Hu Tao was, however, on that particular morning everyone commented on how it took a whole set of nerves to break into the Ministry of Civil Affairs with fliers in hand on a Monday morning, one of the busiest times for all law-enforcing places in the city. And how it took another, completely different and new set of nerves for her to ignore people staring at her with annoyed expressions as she made her way through the beautiful place.
“Excuse me, ma’am, your presence isn’t allowed—”
“Miss? Do you have an appointment with a minister or secretary?”
“You gotta check in at the front desk and get a number, not getting ahead of the line like that! Hey—”
“Hey you, with the papers! You will be taxed for this before you even walk out of here. Now get ou—are you even listening to what I’m saying?”
Several people tried to stop her progress, from secretaries and police officers to citizens just like her, who were waiting their turn to complain about the city and ask for changes, or whatever it was that people did when they visited the Ministry. She easily side-stepped them, slipping over the polished linoleum floor, uncaring about them and their stupid claims. She wouldn’t take long anyway, had decided before even setting out that it would be useless to wait in line. Her eyes were fixed at the end of the long corridor that she was following, one that was reserved for the lawyers who had been awarded an office within the grandiose building.
The moment she spotted the one she was after, a door decorated in gilded letters that formed the name of the person she had been looking for, her carefree expression turned into a happy, victorious one.
After all, it had been a long morning so far. One that had consisted of her searching for Yanfei all over the city before realizing that, duh, since it was the start of a new week the legal advisor would more than likely be busy with some dull office work instead of out and about solving cases the old-fashioned way.
Nevermind that some lawyers and judges were already going about their jobs digitally, with full audiences taking place in video conference calls. No, all hell would break loose if her dear Yanyan used the computer to look up some legal codex or the other. The device was only touched to type case reports—and those were only typed because the Ministry demanded that she did so, otherwise the machine would have rotten in place already due to being completely ignored.
Hu Tao shook her head at that thought, giggling to herself. Wasn’t that one of the many things that made Yanfei so attractive to her, though? Something to be admired, a “quirk” that few would understand and many would frown upon?
The director of the funeral parlor thought so as she stood in front of the door with the name written in gilded letters, pondering, trying to determine if there was someone already in there. After she placed her ear to the wood, waited and focused, and couldn’t really make out any noise other than a string of muttered words that belonged to the woman she liked, Hu Tao grinned, pushed the door open without knocking and sauntered inside as if the office was her own.
What she should have expected, or perhaps she did and found it funny, was that the lawyer would be so engrossed in her work that such an interruption could startle her. The issue was that the door opened abruptly and Hu Tao walked inside very loudly, dancing and humming to herself in excitement about what would happen next, that Yanfei was violently woken from her train of thought, the break in her concentration big enough for her to jump from her seat and land smack on the floor.
The legal advisor stared at nothing, dazed, before shaking her head and looking around in order to better understand her predicament. Behind her was the office chair that had rolled out of harm’s way due to how quickly she had leaped from it. In front of her was a chuckling Hu Tao, who hadn’t even bothered to close the door and was laughing a little bit too much, a little bit too loud at an outcome that wasn’t so new or unexpected coming from the two of them.
And all around her, well… were the handwritten papers that Yanfei insisted on keeping, regardless of the sleek black laptop that hummed on the desk above her head.
“Uh oh,” Hu Tao said as she noticed the mess, the fact that the lawyer was staring at all of it with blank eyes. That was a blessing in disguise for sure: the moment the woman realized what had become of her office and her work day, the director would surely be called out and told to get away from there as fast as she could, or something.
Hence before that could happen the newcomer crouched, started piling up the sheets that had scattered around the ground and sighed in relief when Yanfei finally came back to her senses and simply did the same.
She had a few more seconds of silence and peace to call her own, a few more heartbeats to wonder if she had fully ruined her chances of getting what she wanted with her sweet Yanyan. Yet when the other girl spoke there wasn’t that much resentment in her voice; hope shone bright in Hu Tao’s heart once more because of that.
“Why did you do that?” The lawyer grumbled, less upset since she was being helped. She had been meaning to reorganize those files too, but was planning to do that after her shift… and not by throwing everything on the ground first. “This isn’t an open office and you could have knocked, you know.”
“My, my, is that how you welcome a loved one into your workplace?” Hu Tao grinned, cheeky. Although she knew there wasn’t much she could say to defend herself, that didn’t mean she wasn’t about to try and defend her honor. “I came here out of the kindness of my heart to invite you to visit a cool place that will open in a few weeks, and that is the reception that I get? How utterly uncouth of you, Yanyan.”
The legal advisor had been close to Hu Tao for long enough to understand that simple logic wouldn’t work there. That she would delay the issue—and the director getting out of the office so she could go back to the case at hand—by trying to make a completely valuable, easy-to-grasp point. No, that wasn’t the time for arguments, for letting the other girl know she was the one that burst through the door without warning and that such a reaction was a common, expected one.
With that in mind Yanfei sighed, straightened the pile of papers in her hands before setting them on the desk and faced the newcomer, her heart melting a little bit due to how excited she looked. “You have come to invite me to what? Would you care to elaborate on that?”
There was a split second in which her curiosity perked up; was she being asked out? Like, for a date? A date, date? Although private when it came to her personal life, some of Yanfei’s closest friends knew how helpless she was whenever Hu Tao was involved—a perk that the now director of the funeral parlor had noticed back in high school, and used in order to get out of some serious situations as soon as her dear Yanyan became class and student council president.
The issue was, as most of those friends also knew, there was certainly something between her and Xiangling, the genius cook who had become chef of the Wanmin restaurant before even starting high school. Well, there had to be something, right? Or else why had Hu tao always gone completely out of her way in order to scare the living hell out of Longline, only to hold her close in a tight embrace or caress her hand for soothing?
As a result, and once Yanfei remembered that particular issue, her hopes completely turned to mud as soon as the director clapped her hands and started talking once more.
“I’m inviting you, yes! They’re gonna open an amusement park-slash-haunted house kind of thingie in a few weeks. Have you not heard of it?” The director took a few steps closer to the lawyer after putting her own pile of sheets on the wooden desk, beside the unused computer. “I heard that an amazing lawyer helped settle some dispute over the piece of land where it’ll be built. It had something to do with the neighborhood,the work days those people kept and stupid noise levels.”
“O-oh, that.” Yanfei could feel herself blushing, even though the compliment hadn’t been entirely directed at her. “I uh, I do remember dealing with a court case like that around two years ago. It was quite a troublesome one too, as everyone’s claims held a lot of pull in court and most of the jury was composed of people who didn’t want to break up with traditions—what with the territory in question being nothing like the area they want to emulate, and how the real place is still up and running anyway… Many people thought it would be a waste of resources and just another excuse to irritate the inhabitants of Yujing Terrace.”
Hu Tao seemed thoughtful about that, an expression that looked endearing to Yanfei. She stopped herself from letting her mind even register that cruel thought or anything like it, not until some of her investigations were done and she could rest assured that she had misread what was going on between Taotao and Xiangling. But that was a topic for another time, for when she was free from her job and the afternoon was ending, the sun fading in the horizon.
That was a topic for the sleuthing she did outside of her working hours, and not at all appropriate to the conversation at hand. Or… was it?
“I mean, they have a point since construction happened alllll under their roofs, kinda. Details, details.” Hu Tao waved the matter away with a flicker of her wrist. “If you ask me, it would’ve been better if the construction had been above those fancy houses in Yujing, then I would’ve offered them a discount on funeral services and all! ‘Got a brick to the head? Get double its weight off on all expenses related to your passing!’ Or something like that.”
The legal advisor should have been used to such advertising, given that the Ministry of Civil Affairs had delegated every case, accusation or order of restraint surrounding Hu Tao to her own care. The words still made her frown though, an impulsive reaction that simply caused the other woman to giggle.
“Anyway, back to what I came here for. The park is called The Haunted Underground Chasm and it’ll finally open next week! Apparently they couldn’t just name it The Chasm even though it’s an estimation of what its cave area looked like, what was hidden in it and so on, so forth according to maps, registers and legends, buuuut… Still suitable if you ask me.” Hu Tao beamed, proud of herself for remembering everything she had read online about the place.
Although it had yet to open for business, the location was already attracting a lot of hype from locals and tourists alike, to the point that even Yanfei had heard something or the other about it after the case was over and she won in favor of the company building it. Registers proclaimed that even when exploring the Chasm was allowed, the actual place located beyond Litha, a lot of paperwork was required for one to be allowed in. And when they were let in, only the surface was available for miners and low-to-medium rank adventurers; few groups, most notably one led by an individual mentioned more than once in Adventurers Guild lore by the codename Traveler, made it deep underground.
As a result several urban legends had sprung to life back in the day, some of which were even described in the Ministry books: something about a giant metal snake, strange people called hilichurls that went there to… fade away or something of the sort, and a strange black goo that made others sick, to name a few. It all sounded like make-believe to Yanfei, who at first was concerned that such tales would exist in public records and not in story books. She was convinced to let it go after being told that those things were part of Liyue history and as such, worthy of being preserved by the Ministry too.
To hear that a whole amusement park was being made in homage to these legends, to the maps that had been carefully kept in museums and other archeological institutes, made the legal advisor both elated and a bit unsure. After all, depending on how that information was treated there was a chance that the entire place would get a very bad reputation and history would be tainted in some way or the other, wasn’t it?
And the only way for her to determine which was the case…
“So uh,” Hu Tao continued since her companion seemed to be deep in thought, the silence which stretched between them a reminder of why she had been nervous before stepping into the lawyer's office. She preferred angry, chatty Yanfei to the quiet, distracted one, a hundred percent. “Yeah, I bought you an invitation since only a few of them were available and so many people wanted one that they ran out in less than like, five minutes. Wanna go with me?”
The legal advisor stared at the director, considering, trying to conceal the fact that her heart had sped up at the invitation. The same had happened to her thoughts after a few seconds of peace, of her mind standing still once and for all. Was she dreaming that, the encounter, the invitation, the rather calm morning before Hu Tao had barged in? How many nights hadn’t she spent wide awake, imagining something like that occurring before reminding herself that the director was probably courting Xiangling?
But if she was there right then, staring at Yanfei with wide, pleading eyes while waiting for an answer… if she had extended an invitation to her and those were indeed so hard to get…
Had she listened too much to the rumor mill? Or misunderstood Hu Tao’s action? Which was the correct thought, the trail that she should follow in order to—
“Yanyan? Are you still there or should I go back to the Wangsheng to make a casket your size?”
The comment was soft, the grin on Hu Tao’s face a sweet, gentle one even though she knew there was a chance the legal advisor would hate that joke, ask her to take it back. Yet nothing was said, no remark was made about how unnecessary that had been, a first for the lawyer who was always keen to remind the director about how bad her puns could be.
After all, Yanfei was too busy trying to determine what exactly she wanted to do regardless of the outcome, of what had motivated that visitation or if they should go out together like that. Once her mind was made and she decided it was better not to read too much into the whole thing as it was probably nothing but a friendly (or not so friendly) banter, a smile colored the lawyer’s surprised face, her troubled expression finally melting into a happy one.
“Sure thing! I would love to accompany you there and if nothing I can make sure they are following the safety protocol. Especially on the more dangerous rides, if there is such a thing in that park or whatnot.” Yanfei mused out loud, realizing right then and there that she had never been to an amusement park before. Were rides something that were actually part of the attractions available at such places? She did remember reading a few scenes involving them in a mystery novel not so long ago.
Wait a second, hadn’t the main character almost gotten killed in the ferris wheel?!
“Noooo, please I just want you to have fun!” Hu Tao intervened, wondering why the other woman had gasped and looked a bit worried all of a sudden. She held the hand with the invites up high, as if baiting Yanfei to take one from her. “So if you really wanna go and want me to give you one, well, you have to promise you’ll totally forget about work while we’re there.”
Well, it shouldn’t be that bad, should it? The story she had stumbled upon was nothing more than a fable to scare people, to give them some entertainment related to murder cases that were so absurd and well-thought that they would likely never happen in real life. How likely was it that the two of them would walk into someone holding a knife, sword or worse in a ferris wheel?
Plus, both of them knew a thing or two about martial arts, as they had both studied it as kids and teens, going as far as receiving black belts together (and so had Xiangling; they were even awarded the nickname Pyro Masters back then) so they would be safe even though it had been years since they had practiced, right?
“We have a deal, Taotao.” Yanfei beamed, extending her hand out of habit. Groaning at herself, she was about to take it back when Hu Tao giggled and actually shook it, a bit more energetic than nay of Yanfei's clients would.
And although that was already nice, the contact very welcome and cute, it made it tough for her to focus at the words the director was saying as she shifted and enveloped Yanfei’s pinky finger with her own.
“Pinky promise? And if you turn into Miss Supreme Lawyer in the middle of the place you’ll have to pay a twenty-million-Mora fee.”
Sighing since those words woke her up from another reverie, allowed her to remember just who she had managed to develop a crush on (for some years, to make things worse,) Yanfei nodded and agreed to the terms in the best layman’s language that she could muster. “I promise and we have shaken on it, so a deal’s a deal.”
Hu Tao seemed satisfied enough with what she had gotten, humming to herself as she picked one ticket from those in her hand and gave it to the lawyer. “Not that I think you’ll do it since you’re the most organized person I know, but don’t you go and lose it, okay? Don’t forget to fill up your name and address and stuff on the back, too.”
Yanfei received it with reverence, holding the piece of paper in both hands as if it were something sacred. Well, if the director’s description of how tough it had been to get those were true, then they actually were to an extent, right? And they really were to her also, at least if she read that entire encounter as an indication that Hu Tao had thought about her.
That Hu Tao cared enough about her to ask her out.
Wait… should she consider going to a horror-themed amusement park a date date, even if it fitted the other woman’s character better than any sort of romantic setting?
“So yeah! Meet me next week after our shifts are over?” The director winked, folded her hands together in a pleading gesture. “We can have some food before going or take our chances with the park’s menu—though I heard that they’ll serve some weird stuff too. Like, most of the stalls will be working with creative cuisine according to their website so yuck.”
The lawyer couldn’t help but grin at that, remembering the several times the two of them had allowed their mutual friend Xiangling to cook for them. While Yanfei hadn't completely minded that her favorite tofu was used as an ingredient for a pasta dressing instead of being chopped and seasoned, Hu Tao had gone hungry that afternoon and almost passed out on PE because of that.
After all, how could someone enjoy a dish that had had slime condensate (an alchemical ingredient according to legends) as part of its sauce?
“That sounds like a flawless plan. We should discuss some more details as the week goes by, settle a time and place to meet and a restaurant to go to if you would rather not gamble on the park’s cuisine.” Yanfei nodded, smiling at the memory and that entire conversation.
Although it had started on the wrong foot and she had been pretty sure that Hu Tao's visit was so she could ask for legal help again, it became pleasant and actually very enjoyable, a much needed break to her Monday routine. It wasn’t the first time that something like that happened either, to the point that she attributed the messy, wavering feelings which flowed within her to the other woman’s usually chaotic energy.
It was a contrast to her more organized one, true. And many people would often question how and why she allowed that to happen, for the director to sometimes completely mess up her days with an out of the blue dinner invitation or something else. The funny thing was that she had learned to welcome it, to cherish those moments and to adapt to the confusion, embracing instead of rejecting it.
Embracing Hu Tao as she was, instead of wishing that she were someone else.
“Suuuure! I’ll text or call you soon.” With that the director hopped closer to Yanfei, then leaned in to squeeze her shoulder for a brief second. Was she aware of how that single, simple touch managed to fluster her? “Thank you so much for agreeing to this, Yanyan! It’ll be amazing and loads of fun if the concept pictures on the website are trustworthy.”
“No no, thank you for inviting me. Even if… I’ve never been to a horror amusement park. Or an amusement park per se.” The lawyer admitted, blushing harder the moment she realized it was true. Admittedly, her heart had also skipped a beat once Hu Tao got closer to her—and by then she was so far gone, her crush probably so blatant to the other woman, that wondering about Xiangling did nothing to sweep away the sweet, light headed feeling which coursed through her.
“Well, I’ll make it worth your while, Lady Lawyer.” Hu Tao grinned and winked, then started backing up towards the door, to Yanfei’s dismay. “With that I’ll take my leave. Loads of work to do, people to help, ads to place around the city before some client or the other forgets what the Wangsheng does…”
The lawyer shook her head, yet couldn’t bring herself to be angry or grimace at the other woman just then. Not when she was still nigh to Celestia with happiness over what had just happened. “Your advertisement campaign is unique enough that I am sure everyone knows what the Wangsheng does—the living and the dead.”
Cracking a smile that was too pretty to translated to words, at least to Yanfei anyway, Hu Tao casually leaned against the door and replied, “Even so, there’s never too much publicity in my line of work since my clientele just… goes from this place to the next. And I always have to make sure my ads are to die for, you know.”
Before the legal advisor could admonish her to pay more attention to her phrasing (especially in her line of work,) Hu Tao said another hasty goodbye, blew her a kiss and rushed out of the office, of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and of the busiest streets in Feiyun Slope. She hadn’t been lying when she said there was a lot on her plate for that day, though she forgot to add the part that she had simply wanted to get the most pleasant yet hardest task out of the way first thing in the morning.
Which meant that, while Yanfei beamed and kept replaying that last scene, the little kiss that was blown her way and that she wished was planted on her cheek for some reason or the other, Hu Tao turned to Chihu Rock and started walking towards it, whistling and hopping in order to hide her nervousness about the next task at hand.
There was one other person she had to invite, someone else she had gotten a ticket for. Somebody that made her heart beat faster, in the same way that her Yanyan did, interestingly so.
Someone… who would probably refuse her invitation right away, because of the destination and of Hu Tao herself.