"It's very dangerous for a young lady to walk alone at night." Yu Jin picked up the hairpin from the ground and placed it back into Ningguang's still stunned hand.
Feeling his hand being pushed away, Ningguang finally snapped out of her daze. She held the hairpin in her hand, twirling her hair while wiping the cold sweat from her forehead, and said, "Tha…thank you."
The stinging sensation in her brow was still faintly lingering. Ningguang had no doubt that if the halberd blade had gone just a little further, it would have split his skull.
Ningguang took a few deep breaths, adjusted his mindset, and said, "Indeed, I was careless."
He had originally thought it was, at most, a somewhat skilled jackal, but who would have thought it was a lion-tiger playing innocent?
If Yu Jin hadn't held back in the end, Ningguang would probably have passed away by now.
"So, this strange gentleman, are you following me in the middle of the night just to remind me not to walk alone at night?" Ningguang tidied his hair, which had been disheveled by the strong wind, and adjusted his mindset before speaking.
Since the other party hadn't attacked him, he must have had other intentions.
Ningguang looked at Yu Jin, who was rubbing his hands in front of him. He was also very curious about what this person, whom Yelan regarded with such caution, wanted from following him.
"Well…" Yu Jin looked at the surrounding scenery. Although it wasn't the right occasion for serious business, since he was asked, he couldn't very well refuse, could he?
"Um, actually, I wanted to ask Tianquan for a job. I wonder if it's possible."
Yu Jin rubbed his hands even more frequently. Actually, he had originally wanted to give Ningguang a gift. He asked around, but couldn't find out what Ningguang liked, so the matter of giving a gift was dropped.
"Oh? Applying for a job?" Ningguang lowered his head in thought. Although he pretended not to know Yu Jin, he was well aware of much of Yu Jin's information.
Yu Jin was somewhat well-known in the Adventurers' Guild, and he had also saved some Mora in the Liyue Adventurers' Guild, so he shouldn't have been reduced to looking for another job.
Unless there was something fishy going on.
However, playing along might reveal a lot. Thinking of this, a smile appeared at the corner of Ningguang's mouth. He pretended to clear his throat a few times, then said:
"Cough, cough, cough! In that case, let's begin the process."
"Process? What process?" Yu Jin scratched his head; he was completely clueless about this.
Ningguang pulled out a small but luxuriously covered ledger from somewhere, then drew out a gold-threaded brush, looking as if he was about to record something.
"Name?"
"Yu Jin. Which is the surname and which is the given name, you decide. Anyway, if you ask me, I have no name or surname," Yu Jin added.
In Liyue, the surname generally comes first, followed by the given name. If that were the case, Yu Jin would be surnamed Yu.
However, the thought of being called "Mr. Yu" by others made Yu Jin's skin crawl.
Ningguang looked up at Yu Jin upon hearing this, then began to write furiously.
"Where do you live?"
"Uh… Chihu Rock, 563 meters to the right of Wanmin Restaurant, then 64 meters inward, the fourth house in the third alleyway." Yu Jin thought for a moment and realized he didn't even know the name of his street.
Or rather, that small alley had no name at all. In his helplessness, he directly reported the specific location.
Ningguang looked up at Yu Jin again. He couldn't believe he remembered such an address.
Ningguang only looked for a moment before continuing to write. However, halfway through, he suddenly found that he was out of ink.
Just as he was about to reach for it, he found that the moonlight was blocked by someone.
"Here, ink." Yu Jin held out his hand, on which was a bottle of pitch-black ink.
The ink was very black, abnormally black. It didn't look like ink, but like the void after space had shattered.
But just as Ningguang wanted to look closely, he found that the ink returned to normal.
Ningguang shook his head. Perhaps it was his own hallucination just now?
"Thank you."
"You're welcome." Yu Jin watched Ningguang, who continued to write after dipping his brush in the ink, and nodded.
The the Deep bathwater, one more use.
"By the way, why do you carry paper and pen with you?" Yu Jin asked curiously, looking at Ningguang's focused expression.
Could it be that Ningguang enjoyed composing poetry? If so, that would be bad; Yu Jin's poetic ability was even worse than Venti's.
"When walking around, one always sees flaws. I have OCD and can't stand flaws, so I write them down to deal with later."
Ningguang's fingers moved quickly, and his mouth wasn't idle either. He continued to ask, "Married or not? How many people in your family?"
"A bachelor." Yu Jin felt something was off. Wasn't he applying for a job? Why was it like a census?
Seemingly noticing Yu Jin's impatience, Ningguang closed his notebook and rubbed his eyes, saying, "Alright, this is the last question."
Ningguang now suspected that Yu Jin's ink was problematic. The more he looked at his own writing, the more confused he became, so he simply stopped writing.
"Done?" Yu Jin was a little surprised, but he quickly reacted and asked suspiciously:
"That's not right? I haven't even said what kind of job I want, so how can it be done?"
"You've only passed the first round of interviews. Now, tell me, what kind of job do you want?"
Ningguang's expression remained unchanged. He would never admit that he simply forgot to ask.
"Uh… I want to be an internal staff member of the Golden House, preferably one who can enter and exit freely!"
Yu Jin's first sentence almost made Ningguang want to turn around and leave.
He wants to enter the Golden House? And as an internal staff member, and even more outrageously, he wants to enter and exit freely?
Ningguang strongly suspected that Yu Jin was joking with him. The Golden House could be said to be the most heavily guarded place in all of Liyue, and its entry and exit difficulty was even greater than entering and exiting his Jade Chamber.
Now Yu Jin actually wants to enter and exit freely. You should know that even he, Tianquan Star, needs the consent of the other six stars to enter, and also needs to be accompanied by someone.
Ningguang really wanted to reply to Yu Jin with "Impossible!", but the words reached his lips, and Ningguang swallowed them back.
Because this was a good opportunity to gauge Yu Jin's depth.
"Hmm—your competition for this position is quite intense. Come to Yujing Terrace in three days for the second round of interviews," Ningguang said with feigned indifference.
"Really? Thank you, thank you!" Yu Jin didn't doubt him. He directly grasped Ningguang's hand and began to shake it.
He hadn't expected to get an interview opportunity so easily, which surprised Yu Jin. Although it wasn't settled yet, Yu Jin didn't think any difficulties could stump him in an interview.
"Ha… haha, you're welcome." Ningguang tried to pull his hand away, but it was useless. Then he gave up struggling, waiting for Yu Jin to let go of him voluntarily.
Yu Jin shook Ningguang's hand for a good while before finally letting go. The latter then clenched his fist without changing his expression.
This wasn't Ningguang wanting to punch Yu Jin, but rather to get his blood flowing—Yu Jin had shaken his hand numb.
"Actually, you don't need to follow me in the middle of the night. If you want to see me, you just need to send a letter to Yujing Terrace," Ningguang said slowly, shaking his arm.
"Aren't you a busy person? I heard from Beidou that your schedule is booked for several months in advance," Yu Jin shook his head and said with emotion.
He couldn't imagine how busy he was day in and day out.
If Yu Jin had to live such a life, he would rather slay his way through The Lands Between and Lordran again.
"That's your imagination. In fact, I have a lot of free time. And that time is what I use to meet with the public and identify shortcomings in Liyue."
As someone who climbed from a small fish vendor to the position of Tianquan, Ningguang's concern for the people of Liyue was very high.
"I see. I will next time." Yu Jin nodded. He had gained more useless knowledge.
Because Yu Jin estimated that after this time, he would not actively seek out Ningguang. At least not because he had something to ask of him.
"In that case, prepare well. I am very strict," Ningguang looked up at the bright moon. In his heart, he was thinking about how to set the questions.
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