"Wow, so this is Liyue?"
"It really looks completely different from Mondstadt!"
Paimon clung to the edge of the Golden Vessel and stared down at the scenery below, unable to stop herself from exclaiming in awe.
They had set out from Mondstadt, and since they wanted to properly enjoy the landscapes of both Mondstadt and Liyue along the way, Rowan didn't take the most direct route straight to Liyue Harbor.
That would be meaningless—traveling like that would just be rushing. There was no need. They had plenty of time; even arriving at Liyue Harbor at night would be fine.
So instead, they followed the trade route from Dawn Winery to Stone Gate, then continued along the trade road all the way to Wangshu Inn.
They'd have a delicious lunch there, then in the afternoon cross Guili Plains and head for Liyue Harbor.
That way, they could take in all the scenery along the route, and Lumine could also get a more intuitive, overall picture of Liyue.
After all, she would be staying in Liyue for a long time in the future.
Inazuma was still locked down, so she couldn't go there at all.
So getting familiar with Liyue was something she had to do sooner or later.
"Yeah. Compared to Mondstadt's wide-open plains, it feels like there are more mountains and forests here."
"Especially over there."
Standing beside Paimon, Lumine gazed into the distance and pointed as she sighed.
That really was nothing but towering peaks and deep valleys. Even right next to Stone Gate, there was a fairly tall mountain.
And on the far side of that mountain was a small town, where quite a few residents lived.
Paimon noticed it too and turned toward Rowan with curiosity.
"Rowan, look over there—what place is that?"
"Hm?"
"Paimon, aren't you the guide? How do you not know Liyue's place names?"
Lumine put her hands on her hips, wearing an expression that screamed, Are you serious?
Paimon guiltily poked her index fingers together, embarrassed as she mumbled, "I-I only know the general customs of the Seven Nations and their gods. But the exact locations and specifics… I don't really understand those…"
"Hehehehe~"
"..."
Lumine was genuinely speechless. If she hadn't already fed Paimon for so long and grown attached, she would've tossed this freeloader—who only knew how to eat, drink, and fool around—straight off the Golden Vessel.
What kind of guide are you supposed to be?
Paimon awkwardly flew upward, whistling while staring at the scenery outside, pretending nothing had happened.
Lumine rolled her eyes and went back to looking at the view.
Jean watched the two of them with a smile, then came over and explained.
"The place you're pointing to is Qingce Village."
"It's Liyue's largest granary. Eighty percent of Liyue's grain is grown in Qingce Village."
"But as more and more young people leave Qingce Village, its grain output has been decreasing year by year. It's starting to feel like it can't keep up with demand."
Qingce Village—Liyue's biggest retirement and grain-production base.
More than ninety percent of the people living there were elderly, and most of the rest were children.
There were barely any young adults. You could even say there were essentially no young people left in the entire village.
The youngest one was probably that Chang the Ninth who had failed in business and returned.
Of course, that didn't include the Millelith stationed there.
So Liyue was still very worried about Qingce Village's situation.
If grain production kept shrinking like this, sooner or later Qingce Village would disappear.
And Liyue would go from being the biggest grain-producing nation to becoming a grain-importing one.
That was something Liyue's upper ranks absolutely didn't want to see.
But for the time being, they couldn't find a solution, so the problem had been dragged on and on—making this generation of the Qixing increasingly frustrated.
And even though Liyue Harbor had more young people, that brought another problem: more and more people wanted to settle in Liyue Harbor.
That drove housing prices up again and again, and plenty of real estate merchants took the chance to hype it up and speculate.
As a result, young people these days couldn't afford homes at all. They could only rent, or live in restaurants and inns.
Now Liyue Harbor's population was swelling to the point where it was nearly unable to support so many people.
Liyue had to solve this and divert people elsewhere, or Liyue Harbor would eventually collapse under the pressure.
Right now, Liyue Harbor had the largest population, followed by Qiaoying Village which produced tea, and then Qingce Village.
Especially Qingce Village—it had pitifully few people.
Lumine and Paimon finally understood. No wonder they'd been staring for so long and all they saw in Qingce Village were old folks and kids.
So all the young people had gone to Liyue Harbor.
"This is simple. All you need is for someone to invest in setting up factories or industries in Qingce Village."
"Then Liyue will definitely support it strongly, and it'll attract a lot of Qingce locals to return."
"It can also drive Qingce Village's economy."
Rowan walked over after hearing Jean's concerns and chuckled as he spoke.
"But who would invest there!"
"They're not all suckers."
Paimon crossed her arms and complained.
"Exactly, exactly! Merchants don't get up early without profit. They're not stupid!"
Lumine agreed too. If it were that easy, Liyue wouldn't be so troubled.
"Ugh, you really are rigid thinkers."
"If your own country can't handle it, then go find another country you're close with."
"Like Mondstadt. Mondstadt's wine industry is the number one in Teyvat, so it needs a massive amount of grain for brewing."
"As long as you find Diluc and persuade him to open a winery in Qingce Village, do you think anyone will still need to worry about what comes next?"
"It can solve the lack of young people, solve the shrinking grain output, and boost Qingce Village's local economy."
Rowan seriously couldn't understand these people.
Were the folks of Teyvat all this one-track-minded?
The Fatui had already demonstrated it multiple times—Northland Bank and the Adventurers' Guild were both things Snezhnaya set up.
So why couldn't they learn from that?
Not to mention, Mondstadt and Liyue's relationship was practically best-friends-forever.
Their upper ranks had close ties and frequent exchanges.
So why couldn't they cooperate?
Did someone really have to point it out before they could figure it out?
Jean froze, staring at Rowan in disbelief.
"It's really that simple?"
"What else would it be?"
(End of Chapter)
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