Ye Yun added the Express Crew, Natasha, Seele, and Svarog as pass-through personnel for the portal.
At that moment, Natasha walked over and returned the phone to Ye Yun.
"Ye Yun, do you have any other mining equipment? I'd like to take another look."
Ye Yun smiled.
"Perfect timing. I just finished setting up the teleportation gate. Let's head to my shop—it's much more convenient to browse and buy things there."
With that, Ye Yun opened the door and stepped through it with the two little ones.
Svarog, after analyzing the portal and getting no results, stepped in as well.
Seeing this, Natasha and Seele could only follow.
Passing through the store's portal, they arrived inside Ye Yun's shop.
March 7th set down the Bubu Seed and stretched.
"Mm~ Jarilo-VI is way too cold. The train is still the comfiest place."
The Bub Seed also looked around curiously. Suddenly, her eyes lit up—she had spotted Rios resting not far away.
Bub Seed toddled over with her leafy little legs.
"Bubu~"
Rios opened his eyes, and the moment he saw the Bub Seed, a hint of joy flashed in his eyes.
"Bub Seed?"
Rios hadn't expected another sprite like him to show up so soon.
"Bubu! Bubu!"
The Bub Seed was just as excited to see Rios and happily ran circles around him.
Meanwhile, Natasha and Seele curiously explored the shop.
Seele clicked her tongue at the finely decorated interior.
"Ye Yun, your shop looks expensive. Tsk tsk."
Ye Yun raised an eyebrow.
"Then maybe put that scythe away? If you scratch anything, you'll have to pay for it."
Hearing that, Seele quickly stored her scythe away.
Ye Yun turned to Natasha and gestured toward a touchscreen next to the small bar.
"Come on, let's go over there. You can see all the products clearly from that screen."
Ye Yun brought Natasha to the bar area and sat her down, then began teaching her how to use the touchscreen.
After a few tries, Natasha got the hang of it and began browsing slowly.
Ye Yun poured drinks for both of them. At that moment, Paimon suddenly popped up and sat beside him.
"Ye Yun! Give me one too—I want grape flavor!" Paimon said, hugging a cup and looking at Ye Yun with hopeful eyes.
Ye Yun looked a bit surprised.
"What are you doing here? Where's Lumine?"
Paimon pointed to Lumine, who was off to the side playing with the Bubu Seed.
"Over there!"
Ye Yun nodded slightly. According to the original timeline, wasn't Lumine supposed to go clean the Four Winds Temples with Jean today?
"You guys came here today? What for?"
Paimon took a sip of her grape juice.
"Captain Jean asked us to come. She wants to see you."
Ye Yun looked puzzled. What could Jean want with him? Maybe to thank him for helping them with Dvalin?
Actually, that seemed likely. After all, the title of "Honorary Knight" Lumine earned came about the same way.
"Captain Jean?"
Paimon explained:
"She's the Acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius in Mondstadt. Do you have time? Want to go see her?"
Ye Yun thought about it.
"Wait over there for a bit. I've got some guests to take care of first, then I'll come."
"Got it~" Paimon said cheerfully and flew off with her grape juice.
On Natasha's end, she soon finished picking out a mining machine she liked.
Ye Yun glanced at the machine. It wasn't expensive—just 20 Star Coins each—but still quite effective.
Natasha bought 50 units, spending a total of 1,000 Star Coins.
That 1,000 Star Coins had been collected by Seele yesterday in Rivet Town.
After the purchase, Ye Yun used the shop's portal to send the mining machines to the front of Clara's house.
Natasha borrowed a squad of robots from Svarog and took the batch of equipment back.
Unlike the original storyline, thanks to Ye Yun acting as a hub, the relationship between Svarog, Natasha, Seele, and the other Wildfire members had slightly improved.
They no longer fought on sight like in the original.
After Natasha finished her shopping, Svarog also approached Ye Yun and purchased supplies worth 10,000 Star Coins.
After that, Ye Yun left Clara and Hook in Himeko's care for a while and followed Lumine and Paimon to Mondstadt.
***
In Mondstadt City—
Ye Yun arrived at an inn alongside Lumine and Paimon.
He was a bit confused—why was Lumine staying in an inn? Didn't she just buy an RV?
"Lumine, why are you staying in an inn instead of your new RV?"
Lumine visibly winced at the mention of the RV.
"Don't bring it up. You think I don't want to stay in it? I can't!"
Ye Yun raised an eyebrow.
"What happened? Don't tell me it's broken already?"
Lumine clutched her chest in anguish.
"Yup! My brand new ride! It got destroyed in yesterday's dragon disaster!"
Ye Yun thought for a moment.
"How bad is it? I have a suggestion. Go see Welt and Himeko—they might be able to fix it for you."
Lumine's eyes lit up with hope.
"Really?"
Ye Yun nodded.
"Yeah. You can go ask them now."
Without a second thought, Lumine opened a portal and dove in.
One minute later—
Himeko and Welt arrived in Mondstadt with Clara and Hook.
Walter looked around.
"Lumine, where's the RV? Take us to it."
Lumine cheerfully led the way.
They arrived at the city gate, where the ruined RV lay collapsed on the ground.
Lumine patted the RV.
"Here it is. Can you still fix it?"
Welt and Himeko stepped forward and pulled out their tools to begin inspecting it.
Clara followed behind Welt with a look of eager curiosity.
Welt noticed.
"Clara, you know how to fix this stuff?"
Clara nodded vigorously.
"Mm! Clara learned a lot from Mr. Svarog. When people are injured or machines are broken, Clara helps fix them."
Welt waved her over.
"Come here, Clara. This tool is for scanning and diagnostics. Give it a try."
Seeing Welt teaching Clara, Himeko stopped what she was doing.
She had already checked—despite appearances, the RV's damage wasn't too bad. Most of the critical systems were still intact.
It was a good chance to let Welt use it as a teaching moment for Clara.
Welt patiently guided Clara on how to use the tools and how to troubleshoot various problems.
Under his instruction, Clara began operating the tools to repair the RV.
Lumine was stunned.
Wow. Clara's amazing. She's so young but already has such skills?
At some point, Venti had arrived to watch the fun.
He stood next to Ye Yun, casually sipping from a bottle of wine.
Ye Yun looked at him, exasperated.
"Seriously? Your alcohol habit is that bad? I could smell you from a mile away."
Venti laughed.
"Wine is the finest thing in the world! So what's all this?"
Ye Yun replied:
"Fixing Lumine's RV. She bought it yesterday, and it got smashed during your 'buddy's' rampage. Shouldn't you be paying her compensation?"
***
Hearing Ye Yun's words, Lumine immediately voiced her agreement.
"Exactly! You're the Anemo Archon, and your subordinate wrecked my car. Aren't you ashamed for not paying up?"
Venti whistled and looked around, avoiding eye contact.
"Eh heh~"
Seeing Venti pretending to be clueless, Lumine was speechless. How could a god be like this?
Venti shrugged.
"Aiya, didn't I say it already? I just woke up."
"I don't even have a single Mora on me right now."
Lumine held out her hand.
"What about Primogems? With your power, getting some should be easy, right?"
Venti spread his hands again.
"A god's power comes from faith. I've been gone from Mondstadt for so long that my strength is almost gone."
Ye Yun inwardly scoffed—he didn't believe a word of it.
The Archons of Teyvat didn't become powerful because they became gods. It's because they were already powerful that they became gods.
The Seven Archons of Teyvat all fought their way through the Archon War—none of them are weak.
As for the weak ones, they've long become dust of history.
Just then, Jean arrived with Lisa, Kaeya, and Amber from the city.
"Lumine, what are you doing here?"
Lumine turned around and waved at them.
"Oh, it's you, Acting Grand Master Jean. I'm repairing my RV over here."
Jean looked toward the RV and saw a white-haired little girl operating some equipment with full concentration.
Lumine was a bit curious. Wasn't Jean always super busy? Why was she here now?
"Acting Grand Master Jean, how come you're free today? Didn't Amber say you're usually too busy to even touch the ground?"
Before Jean could respond, Lisa chuckled.
"Of course, I dragged her out here. My dear Jean is always stuck in the office handling paperwork—her body is going to rust soon."
"So as her best friend, I insisted she come out for a walk."
That was Lisa's way of putting it. In truth, she had received a report from a knight saying there were some strange visitors at the city gate, including the Traveler, Lumine.
After hearing the report, Lisa figured the others were likely Ye Yun and his companions.
That's why they had come to the gate at this moment.
Lisa looked at Ye Yun and the others.
"Lumine, are these your friends? Aren't you going to introduce us?"
Paimon immediately flew to Ye Yun's side.
"I got this! This is Ye Yun—he's the one who drove away the Stormterror yesterday!"
Ye Yun smiled and nodded in greeting.
Paimon then flew over to Himeko.
"This is Himeko, the navigator of the Astral Express and a good friend of Ye Yun."
Himeko gracefully said, "Hello everyone, I'm Himeko. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Paimon then flew over to Welt.
"And this is Mr. Welt, another member of the Express team."
Welt nodded slightly and continued guiding Clara in repairing the RV.
After the introductions, Paimon flew back to Lumine's side.
Hook was a little upset—Paimon hadn't introduced the great Dark Hook!
"Don't forget me! I'm the great Pitch-Dark Hook the Great!"
Jean looked at Hook. For some reason, she felt a strange sense of familiarity, though she couldn't quite place it.
Jean smiled gently.
"Hello everyone. I'm Jean, Acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius."
Lisa also introduced herself.
"I'm Lisa, a librarian."
Saying that, she walked up to Ye Yun.
"So you're Mr. Ye Yun? Thank you very much for your help in Mondstadt yesterday."
Ye Yun replied, "No need to thank me—if you want to thank someone, thank Lumine. She's the one who came to ask me for help."
Lumine put her hands on her hips and raised her head proudly.
"That's right! Thank me! I went to get reinforcements, hehe~"
Ever since Lumine found a way to restore her powers, her "gremlin" nature had fully emerged.
Lisa chuckled behind her hand.
"Well then, thank you, Lumine. As a token of our appreciation, please accept these Primogems."
She took out a delicate pouch and handed it to Lumine.
Lumine was a little stunned.
Huh? I get a gift just like that?
Lisa continued, "Some of the Primogems are a thank-you from Mondstadt, and the rest are compensation for the damage to your RV."
Jean nodded in agreement.
"Lumine, please accept them."
Seeing that, Lumine accepted the pouch.
Lisa then turned to Ye Yun.
"Mr. Ye Yun, I heard from Lumine yesterday that you opened a little shop. Would it be possible for me to take a look at your goods?"
Ye Yun smiled and nodded.
"Of course. Guests are always welcome. Once Lumine's RV is repaired, we can head to my shop together—how's that?"
Lisa naturally had no objection.
After that, the group chatted at the city gate.
About half an hour later, Lumine looked at her fully repaired RV with excitement.
"Waaaah~ My RV! It's finally fixed!"
She ran over and gave Clara a big hug and a loud kiss on the cheek.
"Clara, you're amazing! Gimme another kiss! Mwah!"
Clara's face turned red from Lumine's sudden attack.
"P-please don't do that!"
She struggled out of Lumine's arms, but Lumine laughed and hugged her again, planting another kiss.
"Hehe, you're not escaping me! Clara, let me kiss you again! Hehe!"
Ye Yun rolled his eyes and casually lifted Lumine like a kitten using a surge of energy.
Lumine flailed her fists in protest.
"Darn you, Ye Yun! Let me down!"
Ye Yun said, "Calm down. Look at how scared you made Clara."
Clara had run to hide behind Himeko.
Ye Yun thought for a moment and decided to place a shop portal in Mondstadt.
The Knights of Favonius could be considered major clients, and they'd definitely gather Primogems quickly.
"Jean, do you have a relatively safe location here?"
Jean thought for a moment.
"Follow me."
She led them into the city.
The group made their way up to the Knights of Favonius headquarters.
Just as they entered, a fiery red figure zoomed toward them.
"Outta the way!!! Klee can't stop!!!"
Ye Yun caught her head-on. Luckily, unlike the last time with Hook, he was prepared this time and didn't fall over.
He looked down at the little girl in his arms.
"You okay, little one?"
Klee rubbed her forehead.
"Klee is fine! Big brother, are you hurt?"
Ye Yun smiled and shook his head.
"Big brother's fine."
Jean looked sternly at Klee.
"Klee! Were you trying to sneak out and play again?"
Klee froze and stood up straight.
"Captain Jean, Klee knows she was wrong~"