Genshin Impact: Joining the Genius Society

Chapter 350: Chapter 350: Keqing: “Is She Sick in the Head?”

Far away in Liyue, Tingyun suddenly sneezed several times in a row.

In an instant, all traces of her elegant demeanor vanished, replaced instead by an unexpectedly adorable contrast.

"How strange. The air in Liyue is actually fairly fresh."

After staying here for some time, Tingyun had gradually become accustomed to life in Liyue.

Overall, it wasn’t too different from the Luofu.

It simply lacked advanced technology.

For ordinary people, that would naturally be difficult to endure.

But for someone like Tingyun, adapting wasn’t particularly hard.

After all, it wasn’t as if she had completely lost access to technology.

The space station floating above Teyvat still contained plenty of advanced equipment.

It simply wasn’t connected to the interstellar network.

Even so—

It still counted as high technology.

"Miss Tingyun, are you feeling unwell physically?"

The person accompanying Tingyun now wasn’t Ningguang—

But Keqing.

A woman equally filled with ambition and ideals.

The two got along fairly well.

After all, although Tingyun was shrewd, her moral bottom line was noticeably higher than Ningguang’s.

She gave people the impression of being more honest than Ningguang.

Of course, Su Ran also played a role in that.

At present, Teyvat was still extremely underdeveloped, and its people were incredibly simple and straightforward.

Naturally, Tingyun had no intention of cheating or exploiting anyone.

Because there simply wasn’t enough value in doing so.

Besides—

The Xianzhou Alliance had an excellent reputation throughout the cosmos.

There was no way she’d do anything that might tarnish the Luofu’s name.

Even if no one here truly understood what the Luofu represented.

"It’s nothing."

"I’m just feeling a little homesick."

She had been away from the Luofu for quite some time now.

And since she still couldn’t send messages back home—

She naturally worried about the people there.

She also had no idea when this mission would finally end.

From her interactions these past days, Ningguang truly was an exceptional commercial genius.

The only thing limiting her was the smallness of her world.

Otherwise, she absolutely would have had the potential to thrive across the cosmos.

Still—

Compared to most people, Ningguang was already incredibly fortunate.

After all, the person who had taken interest in her was a member of the Genius Society.

Her future achievements would undoubtedly surpass Tingyun’s own status as a relatively ordinary Whistling Flames merchant representative.

"..."

Keqing genuinely had no solution to this issue.

After all, Tingyun came from beyond the stars.

Keqing had no way to send her home.

The distance was simply too great, and they didn’t even know where "home" was.

People of Teyvat already struggled just trying to reach the sky—

Sending Tingyun back across the universe was absurdly impossible.

"If you truly miss home that much..."

"I could ask Su Ran for help."

Right now, he was probably the only one capable of accomplishing such a thing.

Keqing wasn’t the type who insisted on squeezing every bit of value out of someone before letting them leave.

She wasn’t Ningguang.

"Benefactor Su is burdened with countless important matters every day."

"How could a trivial issue from a mere little woman like myself justify wasting his precious time?"

Wasting even ten minutes of a Genius Society member’s time could practically be considered a capital offense.

Tingyun was only somewhat homesick.

That didn’t mean she couldn’t endure it.

The Whistling Flames Merchant Guild often traveled abroad; she was already accustomed to long journeys away from the Luofu.

The only reason this time felt particularly emotional was because she had encountered danger during this trip.

And after experiencing danger—

Wasn’t it normal for people to start missing home?

Keqing: "..."

People like Tingyun really were rare.

Keqing was trying to help her—

Yet somehow Tingyun was acting as though helping her would wrong Su Ran by wasting his time.

If not for Keqing’s genuine admiration for Tingyun’s vast business knowledge—

She might genuinely have blurted out:

"Is something wrong with your head?"

She was sincerely trying to help, yet somehow she became the unreasonable one?

Naturally, Tingyun noticed the speechless look in Keqing’s eyes.

Though she still underestimated just how baffled Keqing truly felt.

"Benefactor Su is a member of the Genius Society."

"If not for him having use for me, someone like me would probably spend her entire life only qualified to admire his portrait from afar."

"How could I possibly have had the chance to meet him personally?"

"So please, Miss Keqing, do not misunderstand him."

Keqing: "..."

At this moment, she truly felt incredibly speechless.

Teyvat’s people respected Su Ran because he came from beyond the stars and could bring unprecedented change.

But what was going on with you, a person from the stars?!

Why did it feel like people from outside Teyvat admired Su Ran even more intensely?

Keqing genuinely couldn’t understand it.

At this point she was beginning to suspect she’d gain yet another title in addition to "one who disrespects Rex Lapis"—

Now she’d also become "one who disrespects Su Ran."

And the annoying part was—

That guy was technically her direct superior now.

Just like Rex Lapis used to be.

"Is he really that incredible?"

No matter how much Keqing tried imagining Su Ran’s greatness—

She was still shocked by Tingyun’s attitude.

Was it really that exaggerated?

"For hundreds of thousands of years, only eighty-five people across the entire universe have attained that position."

"Do you really think that isn’t incredible?"

Even as a Xianzhou native, Tingyun fully understood the influence a Genius Society member could exert upon the cosmos.

That influence far surpassed that of even a Xianzhou General.

"I suppose that’s true..."

Thinking about it carefully—

Keqing realized Tingyun wasn’t actually exaggerating.

The universe was vastly larger than Teyvat.

And the timescales involved were unimaginably longer.

Compared to that—

Even gods seemed less rare.

After all, Teyvat alone had far more than eighty-five gods throughout its history.

"Miss Tingyun admires him so much..."

"Then... do you also feel jealous of Ningguang?"

Though she didn’t say it directly, Keqing occasionally noticed that whenever Tingyun mentioned Ningguang—

The envy in her eyes was completely genuine.

"Also?"

"Could it be that Miss Keqing feels jealous of Ningguang as well?"

Tingyun suddenly looked as though she had uncovered an astonishing secret.

"That’s not exactly strange, is it?"

"If things are truly as incredible as you describe..."

Then her jealousy was perfectly understandable, wasn’t it?

What was there to hide?

Jealousy was simply a normal human emotion.

"Of course it isn’t strange."

"To be personally valued and deliberately cultivated by Benefactor Su..."

"Ningguang is the first person I’ve ever seen receive treatment like that."

Tingyun truly was full of envy, jealousy, and admiration toward Ningguang.

Because from everything she knew—

No Genius Society member had ever invested so much effort into nurturing a subordinate.

Even Miss Asta had never received such importance from Madam Herta.

Not to mention—

The entire space station above Teyvat had technically been built under Herta’s name using Asta’s money.

The difference there was obvious to anyone.

The gap between Ningguang and Asta wasn’t merely "large."

It was worlds apart.

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