what does freedom really mean, when demanded of you by a god?

master plan with master jean

yall this chapter is making me read through pages and pages of law shit... it better not be all for NOTHING

the court date finally arrived and it was in liyue, though venti was given special permission just for this case. hopefully jean would help him win this case and get that sweet sweet JUSTICE although the chances were looking slim because zhongli got xiao one of the best lawyers in teyvat...

never in venti's very very long life did he think he'd take an adeptus to civil court, so much for the god of freedom, huh... but what annoyed him most is that zhongli, despite literally being the god of contracts and law and all that legal shit, wouldn't hesitate to try and cover this up just because of this emo freak!!

zhongli looked nervous, but xiao didn't at all. he didn't even FLINCH. this made venti so angry that he wanted to strangle him right there and then, except that would make him lose the case automatically...

and so began, the genshin impact ace attorney crossover that we've all been waiting for (have we???)

yanfei cleared her throat as she began her speech. "it seems that the assault on the prosecutor was justified in some way, since a restraining order was violated. there is one witness—zhongli, who stumbled across the assault after it had taken place. Let us listen to his testimony."

Zhongli stood up, his eyes darting around the room. Clearly, he knew he was obstructing justice. You're not getting out of this, Zhongli!!!

"Venti has been told to stay away from me and my son for a very long time yet he still wishes to violate this. Therefore I believe this assault was actually just an act of self defence," Zhongli said.

Jean raised a hand "objection"

The judge nodded and Jean spoke. "The prosecutor did not assault or cause any injury to the defendant first. So this cannot be considered self defence when the assault happened unprovoked. My client was not even given a chance to explain the situation before he was stabbed. Plus, there is evidence by this letter written by Mr Zhongli addressed to Venti. He tried to bribe him with mora into avoiding a court case. This is a clear instance of obstruction of justice, your honour. The eyewitness is not trustworthy and he played a part in helping to cover this situation up."

At least Yanfei was a mature and patient lawyer. "I think it would be best to hear a statement from the defendant."

Zhongli nudged xiao's shoulder and he stood up awkwardly. not a hint of regret in those stupid emo eyes. Xiao pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket, before realising it was actually a restaurant receipt. "oops" he said shoving it back into his pocket and pulling out again an equally as crumpled piece of paper. Ah, so he prepared a speech. Or rather zhongli prepared a speech for him.

"ngl I can't read." xiao said. LMAAOOOOOOOO. venti had to muster up the strength to hold in his cackle. zhongli's plan was so backfiring.Wait.. Nono, this was actually just a trick that zhongli was pulling. Xiao read wattpad angst all the time. He could absolutely read. Sneaky cheeky little bastard.

Yanfei sighed. "I shall read it out then." She cleared her throat again (gee, how much phlegm u got in there fei) She squinted before raising her eyebrows. "Umm, is this some sort of new calligraphy style? Who wrote this? Was it you, Xiao?"

"idk how to write." Zhongli's eyes widened as xiao said that. Wait no!! that was just going to expose him!! venti smirked as he realised that zhongli had completely dug himself into this legal hole that he knew he would never be able to escape from.

A blue haired bo...boy? boy?? with a stupid haircut raised his hand from the jury. "I was tasked with writing that statement."

Yanfei huffed. "Oh.. right.. Well Xingqiu, are you able to read this?"

"Yuh" the boy nodded and Yanfei passed him the paper. "AHEM AHEM AHEMScGhwks HJEUB HEUGEGEJJ (chocking noises, im such a good writer😍) Ummmm it sys like... xiao saw.. other xiao... was intimidated... errr.... stabbed........ karma.... something something debt...."

"Hmmm.." Yanfei paused. "There's writing on the back, could you read it out?"

Xingqiu nodded and turned the paper round, and he managed to read through a couple sentences in his head, only to burst out laughing. "Miss lawyer, I'm not really sure what this is."

Xiao had realised exactly what was on the back of the paper, as evident by his jaw agape.

"Your honour... This is.... This is....." Xingqiu couldn't even get the words out. "This is a very slow burn Xiaoven fanfiction."

WHAT?