Year 20XX, late at night, all was dead silent.
Inside an urban village in a certain city in Huaguo, in a dimly lit room, only the light of a computer screen flickered frequently.
“Alright, President Wang, I’ll modify it right away.
Rest assured, by tomorrow morning—no, early this morning—it will definitely be finished.” The woman spoke facing the other side of the phone, continuously making promises and even bowing slightly from time to time.
The pale light emitted by the screen reflected in her bloodshot eyes caused by exhaustion.
After the call ended, the woman couldn’t help letting out a long sigh, “F*** (a common Huaguo polite expression), once this lady earns enough money, if I don’t slap you hard across the face twice before leaving, I’ll take your last name!” At this moment, the idiom of being deferential at first and arrogant later was vividly embodied in her.
The woman was named Li Xiaoxue, a very mob-character kind of name, yet her birth was not ordinary.
Li Xiaoxue did not know her biological parents.
Ever since she could remember, she had been by the side of the old granny who adopted her.
That year, the old granny’s husband had passed away due to illness years earlier, and her only son had met with a mishap due to an earthquake.
The heartbroken granny originally wanted to buy pesticide and end it all.
As a result, the granny picked up Li Xiaoxue on the road.
The granny gazed at Li Xiaoxue, who was wrapped only in a layer of dirty thin cloth and crying loudly from the cold in the snow.
After a long while, she ultimately couldn’t bear it and brought her back home.
For a week, the granny asked around all the surrounding villages, still failing to find Li Xiaoxue’s biological parents.
Eventually, under the persuasion of the surrounding neighbors, the granny also believed this was a certain fate bestowed by the heavens, and thus decided to raise her up and treat her as her own flesh and blood.
The granny lacked education and gave her the name “Xiaoxue”, simply because it was snowing lightly when she was picked up.
Li Xiaoxue could be considered promising.
Compared to her rugged birth, her path of pursuing education was plain sailing.
Relying on a fairly clever mind and hard work, plus a little bit of exam luck, she walked all the way smoothly from the big mountain into the university classroom.
Li Xiaoxue’s luck had always been pretty good; before the dividends were about to disappear, she entered a major tech corporation in Hangzhou.
Although the working hours were a bit long, Li Xiaoxue, who had been accustomed to poverty since childhood, faced the high salary without any dissatisfaction towards the work.
However, good times did not last long; personal luck was always limited, and facing the torrent of the times was no different from a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
In recent years, the granny’s passing, the involution of work, and the risk of being “transported back to society” at any moment made Li Xiaoxue’s originally bright eyes become lifeless and full of the “flavor of work”.
And the motivation or wish that supported Li Xiaoxue to continue working hard might be very cliché: traveling around the world.
Li Xiaoxue’s childhood was boring; inside the mountain village there was not much entertainment, and the wave of reform attracted or coerced the young people within the village to walk out of the mountains, leaving behind left-behind elderly and children.
Coupled with a poor background and a solitary personality, Li Xiaoxue didn’t have many friends.
Of course, with good luck, relying on her excellent grades, she would receive attention from teachers on ordinary days, so she wouldn’t be bullied either.
Her only hobby—reading books—was also formed during her childhood.
“Read ten thousand books, travel ten thousand miles.” Relying on those old books in the library corner, she, from the big mountain, could also understand the present world.
She wanted to go see the Terracotta Army, she wanted to go see the Pyramids, wanted to go see Chichen Itza, wanted to go see the ancient city of Rome…
What attracted Xiaoxue was not only the local geographical environment, but also the local history and culture.
Li Xiaoxue actually preferred the arts and humanities, but because sciences had better employment prospects, she chose the sciences.
It could be said that “science is for work, humanities are for life”.
Especially after reading historical books like *Guns, Germs, and Steel*, the view in the book that cultural relics, local customs and habits, and even the occurrence of wars were closely related to local geographical locations and environmental characteristics made her interest go a step deeper.
Fate is unpredictable; “the child wishes to support, but the parents are no longer there.” Having finally entered a major tech corporation, she hadn’t yet had time to repay the granny for a few years before the granny quietly passed away in her sleep.
After the pain of bereavement passed, Li Xiaoxue fell into confusion.
Having never been in a relationship, she had always taken “studying hard, getting into a good university, finding a good job, and being filial to granny” as her life plan until now, yet she lost her only home and her only attachment.
Between heaven and earth, wandering and without anything to rely on, she remembered a popular saying from her middle school days: “The world is so big, I want to go take a look.” Thus she began saving money hard, hoping to fulfill her wish.
Time flies like a white horse passing a gap, the money had long been almost prepared, but Li Xiaoxue hesitated.
The rise in unemployment rate, the contamination of resumes by gaps, and the ever-changing work skills made Li Xiaoxue’s rationality clearly recognize that behind the beautiful dream of traveling the world might be an abyss.
“Tomorrow and tomorrow, how many tomorrows there are,” Li Xiaoxue dragged it on day after day…
until today.
“I’ve decided, I’ll resign today!
In the past, I’ve already compromised too much for the sake of life.
Now that granny is no longer here, even if this job can earn no matter how much money, what meaning would it have?
I want to become a traveler!” Looking at those strings of code on the screen, thinking of the dream of traveling the world, Li Xiaoxue felt her heart was wailing.
“Huh?
F***, oh no, it’s really wailing physically!” Li Xiaoxue abruptly got up, wanting to pick up the phone on the bed for help, but unexpectedly went pitch black before her eyes and lost consciousness.
“Exquisite Chinese phrasing.” Before dying, Li Xiaoxue regretted, “Had I known earlier, when I saved enough money back then, I should have directly set off to travel around the world.
Sigh, the money I worked so hard to save…” Embracing regret, Li Xiaoxue’s consciousness plunged into darkness.
— November 20, 1980 of the Teyvat New Calendar, inside a medical clinic in Liyue Harbor, “Master!
Master!
Madam has given birth!
Both mother and daughter are safe!” The young man who was anxiously pacing back and forth not far outside the delivery room instantly beamed with joy upon hearing the news brought by the maid-servant, “Really?” The man who was usually calm and collected in the business world was, at this moment, like most young men becoming fathers for the first time, so happy that he became a bit foolish.
“Really, congratulations, Master.
Madam and the child are safe, and Madam has given birth to a pair of twins for Master.
Master and Madam can be said to be blessed with great fortune.” Facing the Master’s repeated inquiries, the maid-servant who came to report also recovered slightly, explaining in detail the situation inside the delivery room.
When the man heard “twins”, he could no longer hold back his composure and couldn’t listen to the servant’s subsequent words anymore, heading straight for the delivery room.
Inside the delivery room, it could be said to be full of joy, double cries and double happiness, only for some reason one of the cries sounded a bit perfunctory.
“Congratulations, Madam.” “Madam has been blessed with a double happiness…” The physician, midwives, and assisting maid-servants congratulated the woman on the bed one after another.
“Huh?
Mandarin?
Viewed this way, it must be a fictional world.
I just don’t know what kind of worldview it is; hopefully it’s a comedy or slice-of-life, don’t pull any shady or spooky stuff,” Li Xiaoxue cried while secretly praying in her heart.
That’s right, our Comrade Li Xiaoxue had time-traveled, and the way of time-travel was very cliché.
At this moment, Li Xiaoxue had become a newly born little infant.
Having experienced the initial chaos, Li Xiaoxue began to carefully analyze the current situation in her heart: From the point that she was just born, she could first know this was a delivery room; through a glance when lifted by the nurse, judging from those obstetrical medical tools and this distinctly Chinese-style room, the technology tree probably wasn’t as high as the world before her time-travel.
From the surrounding setup looking not like home but rather like a hospital, at least it was modern times.
Until hearing the dialogue between the midwife and maid, Li Xiaoxue was stunned for a moment, eliminating the possibility in her heart of traveling back to modern China.
She wanted to gather more information, but unfortunately as a newborn baby, her physical condition wouldn’t allow Li Xiaoxue to think too much.
Sleepiness struck, and carrying the fatigue of crying, she entered dreamland.
With a “bang”, the door of the delivery room was rudely pushed open.
Before everyone could react, the man hurried to the delivery bed, showing solicitous concern to the woman on the bed, “Hanwu, how are you feeling?
Is there anywhere you feel uncomfortable?” “Yunyi, I’m fine, quickly let me see the children.” Hearing this, the maid-servant nearby wanted to help but was stopped by the man’s gaze.
The man carefully picked up the twins and placed them beside the woman.
“They are truly cute.
I don’t know their names yet; has the children’s dad thought of them?” “This…” As soon as Wu Yunyi heard the address of “children’s dad”, his heart was about to Melt.
But upon hearing about naming them, he couldn’t help feeling a bit troubled.
After all, before childbirth, the possibility of twins hadn’t been considered, and the names decided beforehand with his wife lost their meaning.
Wu Hanwu also knew her husband’s predicament and did not urge him, only looking at him with a smile, seemingly unintentionally yet intentionally putting some pressure on her husband.
After all, because of the pain of childbirth, she also held a little bit of resentment toward her husband, playfully giving him a difficult problem to slightly “retaliate”.
“Um, Madam, is this room a bit stuffy?” Yunyi saw his wife’s smiling gaze; as a couple, what was there not to understand.
Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit awkward, Yunyi quickly asked the maid-servant to open the window for some ventilation, trying to change the subject.
“Master, Madam, look quickly, sun-snow!” This year’s weather in Liyue was a bit strange; the late autumn of November lacked clear skies and crisp air, and instead had continuous dark clouds and pattering autumn rain.
Today was no exception; when Hanwu entered the delivery room, the sky was covered in dark clouds like previous days, pressing down so heavily that people could hardly catch their breath.
But after the childbirth ended, unawares, the red sun in the sky also began poking its head out from the gaps in the clouds, and this year’s first snow in Liyue also appeared simultaneously with this sunlight, fluttering down in the air and ornamenting the human world.
Gazing at Liyue Harbor in the snow, smelling the fresh chill, everyone in the delivery room felt refreshed and joyous, couldn’t help but be intoxicated in it.
It was just a pity that whether it was the sunlight or the snowflakes, they were fleeting, appearing for only a few minutes before disappearing, and the sky returned to an overcast state once again.
Yunyi had a flash of inspiration, looked at the mother and daughter on the bed, and smiled, “How about naming one Keqing and the other Kuaixue?
Madam, no, what does the children’s mom think?” “Very good.” Just like that, the protagonist of this book, Kuaixue, officially began her life and adventures in the world of Teyvat.