Cooking is a funny thing for Xiangling. It's equal parts art, science, and hospitality. You could no sooner divorce any one of those aspects from her love of cooking than you could cut the clouds from the sky. She wanted to concoct new, interesting things with exotic ingredients; she wanted to experiment and find new combinations that worked (and go through all the ones that didn't); she wanted to see happy people with full tummies and smiles on their faces.

So she's no stranger to taking some time to find the right ingredient-- the right cut of fish, the right pressed Lotus head. But even she's starting to get a little frustrated. Do these mythical peppers even exist? The sun is getting lower in the sky, too.

But she can't show Keqing that. This is supposed to be a fun outing for the two of them. When Keqing speaks, she pipes up. "Oh, that's a good idea! I can never have too many peppers. You'd be surprised at how many we can blow through at Wanmin, whoosh-- just like that!"

She's at Keqing's side in a jiffy, opening the leather pouch she collects ingredients in, and starts plucking the peppers from the stems. "You remember how to pick these, right? You just gotta twist a li'l so the stem doesn't rupture." Not that she doubts Keqing at all, but no harm in reminding her, right?

"Oh, wow, there's a bunch of bushes! Um, let me know if you see a few that look a little orange-y, right?"

The sky itself is getting orange, though. Who can tell with the light like that?