Honkai Star Rail (READER)

Qingque - You got this!

After an hour of attempting to explain the house rules of gambling on Celestial Jade you still couldn't place how to even begin the first portion of the game. The jade tiles adjourned with different numbers and characters representing patterns and directions perplexed you. 

"And this one?" 

"North." She answered. 

"Oh right, North, and this one is three." You nodded along, though in truth not following any of what she was saying, wishing you were back on the express playing Honkai impact 3rd instead. 

"Nope, that's a stick." She points to the ambiguously shaped tile. 

"Yes, but it's three sticks??" You point out with frustration. 

"There's five of them here." She looked at you with mild concern. 

She pats you on the back with sympathy, giving you a cheat sheet, she wrote down just for you. Before she can explain how to bet, the rest of the players sit down to begin and thus the game starts. 

Completely lost as they continue to randomly shuffle the tiles around the board, you stare at Qingque with wide eyes pleading for assistance, though she doesn't notice, too lost in her hand. 

"Alright, everyone name you bets." Someone across the table remarks. 

"Five grand." 

"Are you crazy!? No way- three."

"Fine, but if you back out again it'll be ten."

The two others argue, Qinque merely places a couple of chips in front of her. You analyze it but find that your betting chips are completely different in every capacity. Resorting to random logic you place the ones with the same color and texture, and stack them on top of each other. 

"Wow, newbie's all in!" 

"Wait, what?!" Qingque exclaims with alarm. Before she can help you and protest to the beginning of the game, the other two have already started picking up and putting down the jade tiles. 

Once your turn rolls around you mimic the actions of the other two who had just gone before you. Picking up a random tile the person adjacent to you interrupts, "You can only take the one that was recently put down." She points to the one with multiple swirls, you give her a coy smile and pick it up. 

Thinking your turn was over you stop and sit there in silence, the group shows growing concern for you, and Qingque slaps her face in second-hand embarrassment. Taking a brief pause from the game she confronts you, "When you said you didn't know how to play, I thought you were being modest!" 

You aggressively shake your head, "How do I play?" 

"Don't worry, just follow my lead!" She encourages. 

The two of you return to the table followed by your competitors, it seemed like it would be a two-on-two match. Worried, you knew this battle would be like none you'd ever fought before. 

Knowing what to do, once your turn came around you picked up your piece and confidently showed it to Qingque who looked at you awestruck. Safe to say it wasn't a team game and what you'd just done was considered cheating. 

After the game concluded the two of you were forced to pay ten grand each, which you paid off with all the money you'd scavenged from the trash cans around the city. 

"Sorry Qingque." You apologized, but she shook it off. "No worries, it wouldn't do me much to get upset, not to mention you didn't know how to play. As your teacher and your girlfriend, that was my fault." She explained as if losing ten grand on a civil servant salary was easy, you knew she was taking the financial loss in strides. 

To make it up to her you decided to take her to a play. The local small theater had a production in the works and would finally be producing it tonight. Qingque agreed, just glad to be spending time with you. 

"This might be a bad question, but how's work? You're not getting stressed, are you?" You worried, picking up a candied fruit per Qingque's request. 

She shook her head, taking the candy with a smile, "Thanks, and don't worry! You know me, work is my last priority." She laughed, but you knew she wasn't kidding around. You wondered sometimes if Bronya would have a heart attack, or anyone from Belobog, if they met Qingque's laidback personality. 

Enjoying her candied fruit, she locked an arm around yours and clung to you as the both of you strolled through the city checking out all the stands and stalls. From the corner of your eye, a dumpling stand caught your attention. "Anyone who wins the massive dumpling eating competition earns a free prize!" 

Knowing your infamous reputation as a food master in Belobog you took the challenge, Qingque cheered in the background, "Go Y/N! You got this!" 

Invigorated by Qingque's support you dig into the fine delicacies of different soup dumpling types. Completely focused you outpace the competition by about three or four bao's. though the weight of the luxuriously tasty soup finally catches up to you, and you feel all the oil slowing your metabolism by 50 years. 

"Fighting! C'mon sweetie!" She continues her unwavering support, and at that moment you knew, that no matter what if you won or lost, she would still be there, supporting you.

Safe to say by the end of that competition you had regurgitated your guts on the nicely polished stone floors of the Luofu. Though Qingque was there the whole time, like a sturdy rock she had your back, offering you water and holding up your hair, especially the tiny strands that fell on your face. You bet that even if you were completely bald, she would find a way to hold up your hair anyways. 

"I'm sorry again Qingque, we couldn't see the performance-" You recounted your failure in shame, having taken so long to hurl off the side of the Luofu, into the spacious pit below that you'd missed the show. 

"Nonesense! No more apologizing Y/N! I don't know about you but I had a great time today." She confidently remarks with joy. 

"Yeah, I did too." You admitted, smiling through the end of the whole ordeal. "Qingque?" You begin.

"Mhm, what's up?" She tilts her head, enjoying the warm atmosphere by your side. 

"I want to spend every day just lazing around with you." You confess, staring longingly into her eyes. She places an affectionate kiss on the bridge of your nose. 

She looks at you with a solemn gaze, "I do too, but I have work." 

The two of you look at each other in silence for a moment before her solemn gaze shifts to a wide smile, and you both begin laughing all thought-out the night. 

---X---

A/N: This chapter is my favorite so far, it's just a feel-good chapter, and I'm good with that. I'll be honest, when I first saw Qingque I didn't like her character, but after doing a little research she grew on me. I respect the grind, or in this case, lack thereof. She seems like a person who would definitely go through life taking it easy, but taking care of people she loves, showing them the way to living well by partying hard and working less. 

Thank you for reading!