Rising Storm || Genshin Impact

12: Adventures in Liyue (II) - Xinyan Ft. Keqing

ayo another fun chapter teehee. 

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Every other night during her stay in Liyue, Y/N would head to one of Xinyan's impromptu stages to watch the spunky girl perform. The atmosphere at her nightly shows were always high-spirited and energetic; workers would go there to relieve the stresses of their day, as well as younger citizens who had grown fond of Xinyan's rock'n roll music, despite the genre being extremely looked down upon in Liyue.

"Who'd want to listen to this racket?" was a line Y/N often heard from by-passers. In the city of Liyue where tradition was highly-regarded and maintained with great importance, many of the more conservative population disapproved of rock'n roll music thinking it was too "bold", too "distasteful", too "loud". But Xinyan never paid those onlookers any mind, for her focus was on her performance, and her performance only. Y/N respected that; she, as well as the rest of Xinyan's audience, appreciated the musicians confident, bold approach.

Y/N was looking forwards to seeing her performance tonight. However, the rock-star was nowhere to be found.

Disappointed and puzzled, Y/N started to head back to Aether and Paimon at the Wangmin Resturaunt. Perhaps something important came up for Xinyan, otherwise, she would never skip out on her nightly routine.

Just as Y/N was heading back, she spotted an eccentrically designed guitar sitting near a street food vendor. It's owner sat on a wooden bench with their legs crossed, sluggishly chewing on a Zhongyuen Chop Suey.

It was Xinyan, Y/N knew. But what was she doing here instead of performing as she usually did?

Curious, the traveler approached the latter. "Uhm, hello! You're Xinyan, aren't you? I'm a big fan.", she held out her hand for the girl to shake.

Xinyan's sharp eyes instantly lit up. "Yeah! You're a fan, huh? That's awesome! Thank you so much for your support!".

Y/N grinned as her idol shook her hand energetically. If only she had brought a pen and paper, she would've asked for her autograph.

Xinyan suddenly narrowed her eyebrows and leaned forwards as if to closely inspect the traveler's face.

"Heyyy, I think I've seen you around at my shows!", she exclaimed. "Damn, what a bummer. I'm really sorry for leaving you all hanging tonight."

The performer's face suddenly dropped into a frown. She hated disappointing her fans, she was equally disappointed herself. 

"Some residents nearby ganged up on me and filed an official complaint about my music! Together! Can you believe that? Now I'm not permitted to perform anywhere in the city! So much for Ningguang's new permit laws...", she huffed in disbelief.

If only Liyue was more accepting of modern ideas, if only it's citizens didn't fear progression like it was the plague. Xinyan firmly believed that adults feared her presence only because of their own prejudices. Their prejudices towards her age, her instrument, her potential. If they could simply abandon their bigotry and open their minds, they could come to enjoy her music like how most citizens in Liyue have.

Y/N sympathized with Xinyan's situation. People shouldn't be allowed to bring their personal grudges and beliefs into situations affecting someone else's income and passion. It was annoying, to say the least. And annoying things needed to be shut up.

"Is there anything I could do to help at all? I can take you to Mondstat, or we can file another complaint ourselves?", she suggested.

Xinyan laughed, "Baha! I like your spirit, but I'm afraid those ideas won't do for me. We can't file complaints about other complaints. Plus, Liyue is my home. I'd never want to consider leaving."