Teyvat New Era Year 1993.
Liyue Harbor.
“Xiaoxue, you really are here.
Put down the book in your hand, Mother is calling us to go eat.” Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, 13 years have passed.
The two young misses of the Wu Family have also grown up.
“Got it, A-Qing, I’ll come right after finishing this chapter.” Hearing this, Kuaixue didn’t budge an inch, staring intently at the book in her hand as if she could stare flowers out of it.
Seeing this, Keqing directly grabbed her own younger sister’s hand, almost dragging Kuaixue towards the dining hall by force, while muttering, “I don’t believe that at all.
I remember when we agreed to go shopping together in Feiyun Slope when we were little, and you didn’t show up until dark.
Hmph!
Ever since then, Keqing hasn’t believed a single word you say when reading.” Bringing up past events like this, the more Keqing thought about it, the angrier she became.
Back then, she thought Kuaixue had been abducted, growing more and more panicked the longer he waited at the agreed-upon spot.
“Ah, that did happen.
I remember you seemed to have cried and gone to find the Millelith that time, A-Qing,” Kuaixue said, scratching her head with embarrassment.
Hearing this, Keqing grew even more embarrassed and angry, stopped in her tracks, turned around, and stared expressionlessly at Kuaixue, her small lips pouted enough to hang lanterns for Lantern Rite.
Seeing her older sister looking like this, Kuaixue hurriedly comforted, “Alright, alright, I won’t dare do it next time, forgive me, A-Qing.” Obviously, Kuaixue’s “sincere” apology did not satisfy Keqing.
“Don’t be like that, A-Qing, it’s no big deal.” “Hmph!” (turning her face to the left) “I apologize, I’m sorry, A-Qing.” “Hmph!” (turning her face to the right) “…Alright, my dear older sister, I’m sorry, won’t you forgive your cute younger sister just once?” “One serving of Golden Shrimp Balls.” “Fine, fine, fine, definitely next time.” “That’s more like it.” Compared to the sisterly relationships in other families, the relationship between the two sisters of the Wu Family was somewhat special.
Due to her past life, Kuaixue truly felt embarrassed to call the “young” Keqing “older sister”, instead adopting a relationship similar to her roommates from her past life—calling him “older sister” when she needed something, and “A-Qing” when she didn’t.
Keqing, Kuaixue’s older sister, had long purple hair tied into bun-like twin tails on both sides resembling cat ears, styled into double Horsetails.
His exquisite facial features were like meticulously sculpted works of art, and those purplish-red eyes were as bright as stars, deep and brilliant.
In terms of personality, true to his name, Keqing was sincere, straightforward, outgoing, and lively, often going out to play with friends and classmates.
She was also very reassuring in her studies, having studied diligently through hardship, and was very diligent in her daily life, waking up early every day to practice swordsmanship and occasionally helping the servants with chores around the house.
The servants in the estate adored such an approachable Demoiselle.
Kuaixue looked identical to Keqing, but her personality could be said to be completely opposite to Keqing, her twin older sister.
Introverted, reclusive, lazy and gluttonous, with no friends to speak of, she stayed cooped up at home all day, sleeping in every day and needing Keqing or her mother to wake her up.
However, the young Kuaixue had been quite famous among the neighbors for no other reason than: “The Wu Family has a daughter who recognized musical notes at three months, spoke at half a year, recognized characters at one year, and could write essays by age three.” Regarding this, our far-famed genius child prodigy Miss Kuaixue expressed that Liyue’s language had pronunciations and grammar identical to Mandarin Chinese, differing only in the script.
That year, learning the characters from scratch was the only trouble, and recognizing characters in a year was hardly an achievement worth bragging about for Kuaixue, who possessed adult consciousness.
In addition, for the convenience of herself and others, unlike Keqing’s hairstyle that took half a day to tie up, Kuaixue’s hairstyle was long, straight hair that was easy to manage.
That being said, in the eyes of the neighbors now, Kuaixue’s image had probably changed from a genius child prodigy to a problematic youth.
Other nations aside, Liyue’s education system enrolled students from ages 6 to 15, where they learned pronunciation, literacy, basic knowledge, and martial arts from teachers in public or private schools.
Afterward, 5 years later, students intending to pursue further education would take exams for various “universities” within Liyue Harbor, entering based on their scores.
The university system lasted for 3 years, and those who obtained the required graduation credits within 3 years could graduate, with the school issuing a graduation certificate.
Students could join the workforce after graduation.
Among them, graduates wishing to pursue further studies had no choice but to go abroad to Sumeru Akademiya for further education.
As the nation of wisdom, Sumeru undoubtedly looked down on other nations in higher education, being the place in Teyvat closest to knowledge.
Following her family’s advice, Keqing delayed enrollment by two years and entered school at age 8.
Before turning 8, he diligently practiced the family’s inherited Yunlai Swordsmanship at home.
And in the year she should have entered school, Kuaixue chose to stay cooped up at home.
This confinement lasted for 5 years; if Keqing hadn’t forcefully dragged her out every few days to soak up the sun and go shopping, the neighbors would probably have thought Kuaixue had unfortunately passed away.
Kuaixue didn’t care about the neighbors’ views.
The year Kuaixue turned 8, she had a long, all-night heart-to-heart talk with her parents by candlelight and wrote a bunch of things, finally gaining her parents’ approval to skip the elementary schooling stage and self-study at home, directly taking the “university” exam 5 years later alongside Keqing.
Thanks to Liyue’s “university” exams having no academic background requirements—anyone willing to pay the registration fee could take the exam.
When the two sisters Keqing and Kuaixue arrived at the dining hall, their father Yunyi greeted them and told them to sit down for dinner: “You’re finally here.
Hurry and sit, the food is about to get cold.” Keqing gave Kuaixue an annoyed glance and pulled Kuaixue to sit down in the empty seats.
Kuaixue glanced at the dishes.
Oh ho, Golden Shrimp Balls and Jade Dumplings again?
Today wasn’t any special occasion, was it?
Kuaixue pondered inwardly.
During the meal, “Speaking of which, Keqing and Kuaixue are already 13 years old this year.
Thirteen years, time really flies,” Father Yunyi started a topic at the dining table.
As soon as Kuaixue heard this, she knew the main course of this meal was coming.
“Yeah, I’m afraid in just a few years, Mama here is going to turn into an old granny,” Mother Hanwu, aged only 34 but looking 28, flexed in such a humblebragging way.
“How could that be, dear?
You look completely like a 23-year-old Damselette,” the father wouldn’t dare answer recklessly to that.
“Hehe, you have such a sweet mouth, dear.” Ah, it’s starting again.
Watching her parents shovel dog food even sparing no children, Kuaixue put on a “sweating emoji” face.
Keqing on the side was already used to it.
At this moment, his eyes held only the Golden Shrimp Balls.
After stuffing a golden-fried and crispy Golden Shrimp Ball into her mouth, she chewed with bulging cheeks, revealing a happy smile.
After completing the daily quest of showing affection, Yunyi finally started discussing serious matters: “Keqing, Kuaixue, what are your thoughts on enrolling in Yunlu Academy?” “Keqing, Kuaixue, Yunlu Academy is a top-tier university in Liyue, oh.
Your mom and dad graduated from there back then too.
There, you can learn a lot of knowledge and make many friends.” “Especially you, Kuaixue.
Remember to be bolder after getting to university, take the initiative to communicate more with your classmates, make a few more friends, and invite them over to play at home.” Regarding Kuaixue’s usually reclusive temperament, Yunyi and Hanwu were deeply worried as parents, and secretly persuaded Keqing to take Kuaixue out for walks more often and make more friends.
Heavens preserve us, Miss Kuaixue, who was “named and criticized,” rolled her eyes inwardly.
Could you expect a normal member of society with a mental age in their twenties to play together with a bunch of elementary schoolers?
The only reason she accompanied Keqing shopping was simply because he was family.
That’s right, family.
In this world, Kuaixue, who had never experienced complete familial affection in her past life, placed extraordinary importance on family ties.
For her, who retained memories of her past life, possessed a cold disposition, and stood aloof from the world, family was one of the only two bonds connecting her to this life.
And the other bond was her curiosity about the unknown world and civilization.
This was also the reason she stayed cooped up at home for 7 years, soaking in the study every day.
Unlike Earth in her past life, Teyvat contained “surreal” things such as Gods, fierce beasts, immortals, Visions, and elemental energy.
The socio-political changes of Gods and humans coexisting for thousands of years, ancient ruins precipitated in the long river of history, and the influence of supernatural powers on civilization and customs—all of this held a fatal temptation for Kuaixue.
Rather than playing house-like friend games with those brats, it was better to spend that time and energy on reading books.
This was Kuaixue’s true inner thought.
Therefore, facing her mother’s care, although Kuaixue wouldn’t appear impatient and would strive to show a sweet little girl’s smile saying, “Got it, Mom,” she added inwardly, “Whether I actually do it or not is another matter entirely.” “Mm, get along well with your classmates after arriving at school.” Hanwu naturally saw through Kuaixue’s perfunctoriness, knowing it like the back of her hand, but given Kuaixue’s innate personality, there wasn’t much she could do.
“Keqing too, as the older sister, properly teach Kuaixue in the time to come, and take good care of your younger sister at school.” Hanwu was quite reassured about Keqing.
If only Kuaixue had half of Keqing’s diligence and outgoing nature.
Sigh.
“Hmph hmph, leave it to me, I will take good care of younger sister Kuaixue.” (The word “younger sister” was heavily accented) Keqing still had some confidence in Kuaixue’s learning; after all, being siblings, Keqing could roughly deduce Kuaixue’s general situation even if Kuaixue didn’t say anything.
Just based on the title of “genius child prodigy” and the behavior of hiding in the study all day reading books without letting go, Keqing believed that Kuaixue’s learning wouldn’t be too weak.
“…” Facing Keqing, who pompously wanted to display “older sister’s majesty,” Kuaixue directly rolled her eyes.
Feeling herself to be an adult with a mental age in their twenties, Kuaixue expressed that as long as you’re happy.
“That being said, Keqing and Kuaixue have no objections to enrolling in Yunlu Academy, right?
Then tomorrow I’ll have the servants prepare the supplies needed for registration.” “Whatever.” “As Father wishes.” But Yunlu Academy, she was still quite looking forward to it.
As for Yunlu Academy, even Kuaixue, who was a home-security guard, had heard a thing or two about it.
It was said that Yunlu Academy was co-founded by three of the past-past-past Liyue Qixing, using the Qixing’s own funds, making it a private university.
Its landmark building was the seven-story-tall “Wenyuan Pavilion” — a library.
By proving its own financial resources, material strength, and academic prowess, it attracted a large number of scholars to settle in as teachers during its initial founding, and the first generation of students was definitely not a problem to source.
Riding on this favorable wind, Yunlu Academy leaped in a short time to become a top-tier school as famous as the official school Qimenglu, and even the head of private academies.
As for Wenyuan Pavilion, Kuaixue, who had long since finished reading all the books in her home collection, had been drooling over it for a long time.
Although born into a prominent family, with her family’s frugal traditions, facing the exorbitant prices of books, she could only express that a child’s pocket money was truly not enough to spend.
Being able to buy at most ten popular readers a month, whenever she encountered an ancient book she liked, she could only “gaze at the book and sigh.” I wonder how many books are stored inside Wenyuan Pavilion?
Holding such thoughts, Kuaixue began to look forward to her future student life.