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Qiqi was simply doing as her orders instructed her to do: go to Dihua Marsh and gather horsetail and, if spotted, Loach pearls. And for the first five minutes or an hour or so (she could not tell—time felt different to her), that was exactly what she did.
For the most part, Dihua Marsh was rather predictable. There were many tall grasses that tickled her nose and lots of mud that coated her shoes in ugly brown gunk. But with every addition she made to her basket, the closer she became to completing her order and moving onto the next.
And then she found a person.
He was slumped next to the water, eyes closed, body eerily still. Qiqi stared at him for a moment, studying his teal-streaked hair, his ancient-looking accessories, and his stained clothing.
What does Qiqi do in this situation again?
She flipped through her notebook, humming as she came across the informing entry.
Qiqi needs to take this gege to Bubu Pharmacy. Okay. She closed her notebook with a nod. Qiqi will carry this gege to Bubu Pharmacy.
So Qiqi strapped her little basket to her chest, grabbed the unconscious boy's legs, and promptly made her way to Liyue Harbor.
The sun had set by the time she made it back to Bubu Pharmacy. Doctor Baizhu greeted her at the top of the staircase.
"What do you have here, Qiqi?" he asked.
"Qiqi brought an injured person to Baizhu-xiansheng," she responded.
"I see." Baizhu knelt down and took the boy's legs from her grasp. Experienced hands and golden eyes and quickly inspected the unconscious boy. "Did you drag him the whole way here?"
Qiqi nodded.
"Well, it seems that he has some injuries. Particularly a bump on his head. See?" He tilted the boy's head to the side to show the little jiangshi.
"Oh." Qiqi blinked. "Qiqi will fix this." And with that, she promptly took her hat off her head and plopped it right over the unconscious boy's bump. "Done."
The snake around his neck hissed in laughter as Baizhu let out a sigh of defeat.
Given the state of her memory, it would be best to not mention the fact that his head was constantly being slammed against the stairs up to here.
Qiqi had very poor memory—this was a fact that she was well aware of, and was the very reason why she always carried her trusty notebook, which gave her all sorts of advice. As such, to Qiqi, whatever was written in her notebook was regarded as fact: violetgrass can be found on these cliffs; qingxin can be found high up on these mountains; cor lapis is shiny and can only be obtained by breaking its shell; jueyun chilis will make Qiqi feel like she will melt so she should not eat them; Qiqi should never drag someone around by their legs unless they have done very bad things.
Which is why every time she came across a person who had fallen near the road, she would set their head on top of her own, wrap their arms like a pretzel around her shoulders, and make the long trek back to Liyue Harbor proper.
One day, when trying to remember what to do upon finding an unconscious boy with black and teal hair and ancient-looking jade accessories, Qiqi opened her notebook and found herself looking at what Baizhu later told her was a relatively new entry.
If Qiqi finds a pretty gege with teal in his hair who is wearing ancient artifacts, Qiqi should soothe him with her talisman, then bring him to Baizhu-xiansheng without bumping his head.
"Okay." Qiqi held out her hands and the Icevein Talisman materialized in an instant. She offered it to the unconscious boy, only to be met with no response. "Well, Qiqi needs to bring you to the harbor." And so, just like she had unknowingly done many times to this boy, she put his chin on her head, wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and made the long journey back to Bubu Pharmacy.
"You have gotten better," Baizhu praised her as they laid the unconscious boy down on the pharmacy bed. "He has no bumps on his head."
"Qiqi made sure his head would have no bumps," she responded.
"Yes." Baizhu gave the girl a rewarding smile. "Bring some medicine for him, will you?"
"Okay." Qiqi trotted off in an instant.
"Good," Baizhu whispered when she was out of earshot, "you go do that while I try to figure out how to tell him why there is a hole in his pants from where you dragged him…"
Around his neck, Changsheng hissed. "At least it's not his shirt and shoes!"
"Thank archons for that."
"Qiqi, do you have anything else you need to do?"
Qiqi took the basket from Aether and began to count the horsetails inside. "Qiqi needs one more horsetail."
"One more? Well, I didn't see…oh." Aether nodded at the notebook she held up to him. "Yes, I see which one we missed. Let's go to it together, shall we?"
Qiqi held up her hand. Aether happily took it in his own. With her in the lead, the two trudged across the muddy waters.
"Okay," Qiqi said as she stowed the last horsetail in her basket. "Qiqi has them all."
"Good! Is there anything else we need to collect today?"
Qiqi stared at her notebook, then shook her head. "No."
"Should we head back to Bubu Pharmacy then?"
Qiqi did not respond.
"Qiqi?" Aether turned, only to find that the girl was gone. "Oh no…Qiqi? Qiqi!"
Luckily for him, the purple and pink attire Qiqi usually donned made her stick out like a sore thumb amidst the golds and blues of the marsh. When he finally caught up to her, he realized that she was kneeling at the water's edge, notebook in one hand and talisman in the other.
"Qiqi? What happened…" He trailed off when he noticed the unconscious boy laying before her. "Wha—Xiao?!"
Qiqi looked up at the traveler, magenta eyes wide. "Xiao?"
"That's Xiao!" Aether dropped down to his knees and shook the unconscious boy. "Xiao? Hey, Xiao, are you okay?"
"No worries, Aether-gege." Qiqi tapped on her notebook. "It says here that if Qiqi finds the pretty gege wearing ancient artifacts, she should use her talisman on him, then take him to Baizhu-xiansheng without bumping his head."
"Wha..? Has this happened so often that you have an entire routine written in your notebook just for helping Xiao?!"
"Xiao? What is that? It sounds like an ancient artifact."
"Well, Xiao is quite old, but…wait! No! Nevermind that!" Aether groaned. "Okay, let's do what your notebook says then."
Qiqi puffed her cheeks. "Qiqi already is." Her talisman darted out to bump against Aether's cheek to make a point.
"I'm sorry, please continue, Qiqi."
Qiqi hummed and the talisman circled around the unconscious boy's body in an instant. After a few circles, it fizzled into thin air.
"Now Qiqi will carry him without bumping his head."
"How are you—" Aether watched in dismay as Qiqi propped Xiao's head atop of her own, folded his arms like a pretzel, and began to walk. "Qiqi, you are dragging half of his body across the ground…"
"Qiqi's orders are to not bump his head. Qiqi feels she will not bump his head like this."
"Qiqi, please, for the love of Teyvat, let me carry him to the harbor for you…"
It turned out that, in only Aether's eyes, the situation was much more dire than he had anticipated. While walking through the harbor with an unconscious yaksha in his arms and an unfazed herb-gatherer at his side, he found that many of the locals barely gave him so much as a second glance. And the ones who did were usually aunties and uncles, most of whom would call out to Qiqi.
"Helping out the poor gege again, are we?"
"Oh my, he's back again with little Qiqi!"
"Oh dear, I hope he can start taking care of himself so much, he's caused Qiqi so much trouble…"
"He's very lucky that little Qiqi is looking out for him so much!"
Just how often has Qiqi walked through the harbor with Xiao on her back?!
Baizhu looked even more unimpressed than the locals had when Aether and Qiqi walked in.
"If it isn't my favorite adeptus patient back once again," he greeted. "Hello, Aether, and welcome back Qiqi."
"Hello, Doctor Baizhu," Aether said in return. Qiqi said nothing, instead choosing to drop her basket of herbs on the table before going to the bed and straightening the sheets.
"You can drop him right there when she's done," Baizhu said. "No torn clothes or bumped heads, yes?"
Aether waited until Qiqi had walked away from the bed long enough for him to set Xiao down on it before answering. "There shouldn't be any, as I carried him the whole time."
"I'm sure he'll be thankful for that." Baizhu snorted. "Well, assuming he stays long enough this time."
"...I think I'm starting to understand why he has become a regular customer."
"Medicine," Qiqi said, holding a basket up for Baizhu to inspect.
"Thank you, Qiqi. You can administer it when he awakens."
"Okay." Qiqi walked over to a nearby stool and plopped down on it. "Qiqi will wait."
"Aether will wait too."
"Changsheng will not!" the white snake hissed.
"Baizhu will not either." The man set his pen down. "I will be back momentarily. Please excuse me." And with that, the man and his snake were gone.
Aether dragged a chair over to the bed and sat in it. He gazed down at Xiao's sleeping expression, concern causing his eyebrows to furrow and lips to curve downwards.
Stupid yaksha. Gloved hands reached out and curled around battered gloved ones. Why do you keep on refusing the help that is being given to you?
"Rest," he whispered. "Please."
When Aether opened his eyes, he found amber ones staring back at him.
"Why are you here?"
"Huh?" Aether blinked at his surroundings. "Oh, right, Bubu Pharmacy…" His head snapped up in an instant. "Oh gosh, Xiao, you're awake!"
"Adepti do not need sleep."
"Medicine." A basket was set on the bed. Qiqi peeked over the frame and pointed at it. "Qiqi's orders say you must take it."
Xiao grimaced. "That will have no effect on me."
"Take the poor girl's medicine, Xiao," Aether huffed. "Archons knows she has been literally breaking her back to help you for gods knows how long."
Xiao stared at the traveler for a long moment. Then, with a heavy sigh, he reached for the basket. Bit by bit, each pill and remedy was swallowed down, until all that was left in the basket were empty containers.
"You have finished all the medicine." Qiqi took the basket. "Thank you for your patronage. Qiqi hopes you feel better soon."
Two pairs of eyes watched as the girl disappeared with her basket.
"What do you mean 'breaking her back'?" Xiao finally asked. "Her back appears perfectly unbroken."
Aether's head jerked around to glare at the yaksha. "Qiqi has poor memory, you know. And yet, her little cheatsheet notebook has an entire entry dedicated to helping you whenever she finds you passed out somewhere. How many times do you think that has happened for her to have an entry about it?"
"Once?"
"That's one time too many!"
"You are overreacting. I am fine—"
"No you are not! I know for a fact you're skimping on the pills from Zhongli, and the locals recognize your clothes enough that I know you have ended up here way too many times to count!"
"Aether."
"Don't you Aether me, you stupid yaksha! Do you know how worried I was about you?!"
"I…I'm sorry."
"Apologize by taking better care of yourself, dummy."
"But—"
"I'm going to glue myself to your side until your karma lessens enough for you to get proper rest, so you better get used to seeing my face around, buddy!"
"...Such blatant disrespect."
"Only because I care about you, you know."
"...I know."
"Promise not to do this again?"
"...For you, I will."
"Good."
Qiqi watched the scene unfold before her in silence. Then she pulled out her notebook and made a new entry.
If Qiqi finds a pretty gege with teal in his hair who is wearing ancient artifacts, Qiqi should soothe him with her talisman, then bring him to Baizhu-xiansheng without bumping his head. When he wakes up, tell him how angry Aether-gege would be with him if Qiqi told him about today.
Luckily enough for Qiqi and Xiao, she never had to put that entry to use.
(Not that she would remember doing so anyways.)