During the Liyue Archon Quests, the traveler had asked the staff at Wangshu Inn of the "adeptus on the rooftop", and were met back with Smiley Yanxiao's almond tofu. Upon bribing the wary adeptus with said tofu, he had told them that it tasted of the dreams that he used to devour. A light, mellow feeling, full of warmth and love. However, as with all things, once the dish was devoured, darkness would continue.
"Do not come close to me, mortal. Doing so will only bring you harm."
His words were clear as day--as dark as night. Soon afterwards, he disappeared in a flash of light. However, seconds before he did so, he mentioned to the blonde outlander...
"...if you ever need me, call out my name."
A symbol of trust? Or a blessing from beyond? His puff of smoke and silence throughout carried nothing else to show.
And time passed.
"You're asking me what my favorite food is, traveler?" A surprised Yanfei said, handing out legal pamphlets to promote her business. The blonde outlander next to her nodded. They were also handing out the brochures, as a favor to the half-adeptus for helping them with figuring out the way to escape the rift created when the chaos inside the underground Chasm happened.
"Yeah! Paimon wants to know too!" The floating companion next to the traveler's side cheered, despite not handing out anything of note herself. She hovered about as they walked along Feiyun Slope, greeting citizens with smiles on their faces.
"Hmmm... I've gotta say that it's tofu!" Yanfei grinned at the traveler, whose hands were nearly empty of the plentiful, tri-folded pamphlets from earlier. "It has such a light and bouncy feel, and it's virtually viable in, well, any kind of situation!" She ended her words with a slightly cheerful tone, as if reminiscing happy memories.
> "Really? That reminds me of someone else I know of who also likes tofu..."
> "Paimon, do you recall the adeptus at Wangshu Inn?"
"Right! The Conquerer of Demons!" Paimon looked at the traveler, who started looking in their bag for something. After ascertaining its location in there, they made a mental note of it. "Ooh, do you think that if Paimon called out his name, he would come?"
"You mean Xiao? The adeptus who was with us during our prolonged stay in that enclosed space in the Chasm?" Yanfei inquired, tempted by the thought of another who also enjoyed tofu as much as she did. "Wait, you can call him?" She looked to the traveler for confirmation, and they smiled. Paimon huffed proudly as Yanfei spotted an adventurer walk by.
> "Sure, Paimon."
> "Go ahead and give it a try."
"Xiao!" Paimon yelled out, startling some of the Liyue citizens as Yanfei stepped a few meters away from them to hand out the last of her legal advisory brochures. "Are you out there?!"
...and nothing happened.
"Huh, that's weird..." She said, puzzled. "Paimon knows that last time Paimon called out his name, he answered... but now Paimon's all confused! Traveler, why don't you try?"
> "Well, here goes nothing..."
> "Xiao!"
"You called?" A voice from behind startled the traveling duo. The feel of footsteps was discernable now--he had come, just as he said he would. The duo turned around, and Xiao looked into the traveler's eyes. "Is something wrong?"
"Wha-! Hey! What about Paimon?!" Paimon expressed her discontent at being ignored by the adeptus. "Paimon's here too, you know!"
Xiao kept ignoring her.
"Oh, wow!" Yanfei said in excitement as she came back to the duo. "I-I can't believe it. You actually did it!"
Xiao looked at her. "Oh... it's you."
"Conqueror of Demons!" Yanfei greeted him formally, giving a slight bow in respect. "Welcome! I didn't expect that to happen..."
"Hmph! Well, at least he's here." Paimon crossed her arms, annoyed. She then looked over at the traveler, who placed their hand back into their bag again, and looked at the adepti in front of them.
> "Yanfei, I know it's your birthday today..."
> "Xiao, I know how much you enjoy your tofu..."
They took out two servings of almond tofu--one representing a simple, yet sweet dream and the other, a innovative take on "My Way"--and placed the corresponding dish in each adeptus's hands.
"Hm?" Xiao looked at the dish quite fondly, looking at the traveler for confirmation of it being a gift.
"For me, traveler?" Yanfei questioned, looking at the tofu-like dessert that she was now holding instead of the legal pamphlets they had earlier. It smelled sweet, but was shaped like tofu, as well as having a bit of jelly-like crab roe on the side.
> "It's for both of you."
> "And Yanfei... happy birthday."
