After a few teasing words, Klee pouted a little and stopped replying.
She sat on her chair, glancing around.
Even if she couldn't eat anymore, she could still watch everyone else eating.
She felt a little envious — these big sisters could eat so many bowls of rice. When I grow up, maybe I'll be able to eat that much, too…
While thinking about that, her gaze was suddenly drawn to a small figure nearby.
It was a girl who didn't look much bigger than Klee herself.
Klee remembered her name — Xia Lin.
Right now, Xia Lin was head down, focused on her food. Her eating speed was normal, but on her left side, there was already a stack of empty bowls, and on her right, several bowls of freshly scooped white rice waiting to go.
Xia Lin carefully cleaned out the bowl in her hands, then placed it on top of the stack before calmly picking up another bowl, adding a fresh ladle of Kill Pig Dish, and starting again.
She repeated this process until she had polished off all those bowls.
Klee stared, mouth hanging open just a little.
S-So much food!
She's about the same size as me, but she can eat so many bowls of rice in one go? That's amazing!
Klee watched as Xia Lin rubbed her stomach, stood up, and gathered up the stack of empty bowls from the table.
Is she going to wash them?
So well-behaved!
Seeing that, Klee hurriedly gathered up her own bowl and chopsticks and followed along.
But after just a few steps, she noticed something was wrong.
Xia Lin wasn't heading toward the washing station — she was walking straight for the rice pot?
What are you doing?
Why are you filling those bowls again?
Why are you carrying them back to the table?
Why are you picking up your chopsticks again?
Why are you eating again?!
Klee froze in place, staring blankly as Xia Lin calmly sat back down and resumed her meal.
She snapped out of it, put her own bowl down in its proper place, and ran over to Xia Lin's side.
"Hi there!"
Xia Lin looked over, surprised, swallowed her bite, and quietly replied, "Hi."
"I'm Klee!"
"I'm… Xia Lin."
"Xia Lin, you eat so much!"
"Mm…"
"How can you eat so, so much rice?"
"I…"
"Can you tell Klee?"
"I don't really know… I just can."
"Born that way?"
"Yes."
"Then there's no way Klee can learn that…"
Klee sighed like a little grown-up.
Although she didn't get an answer on how to eat more, Klee's cheerful nature soon helped her make fast friends with Xia Lin and Yaoyao after the meal.
Yaoyao even brought out her treasured telescope and lent it to Klee to play with.
"I have one too! My mom gave it to me."
"This one was a gift from my big brother — it can see super, super far."
"Mine can see super far, too!"
"No way it's farther than mine — look through it and see!"
"Really? …Wow! I can see Mondstadt! It can go this far?!"
"Of course!"
Yaoyao looked very proud.
Klee happily roamed around with the telescope, taking in the scenery.
Then suddenly she let out an amazed gasp. "Wow! So pretty!"
Yaoyao asked curiously, "What's so pretty?"
Klee pointed. "Fireworks! Over there! But you can't see them without the telescope!"
Yaoyao squinted in that direction. "That's probably Inazuma."
Klee lit up. "Klee knows Inazuma! Mommy told me about it and even brought fireworks back from there! They were so pretty when they went boom!"
Xia Lin, meanwhile, looked utterly lost. She wasn't familiar with local geography at all.
Yaoyao thought for a moment. "Zhu Zi said they light fireworks all the time over there, especially during the Summer Festival — every night, the sky is filled with them."
Klee's eyes sparkled with longing. "Summer Festival! Klee wants to see fireworks like that so bad!"
Yaoyao smiled. "Guess what? We're going to Inazuma this year to see the Summer Festival."
Klee asked, "Really?"
Yaoyao nodded. "Really! Once the Windblume Festival here in Mondstadt is over, we'll head to Inazuma."
"Will you take a boat?"
"Nope — we'll ride Xia Ci's hovercar! It can fly!"
"Is it that one over there?"
"Yep!"
Klee's face showed pure envy.
She snuck a glance at Amber, who was chatting by the campfire, and then leaned close to her friends to whisper,
"I'll tell you a secret — Klee didn't really come out to fish today."
"Huh?"
"Klee came out to test fireworks!"
"Fireworks?"
"Yep! Klee wants to make a super, super big firework. Then on Windblume Festival night, I'll set it off so it explodes in the sky — it'll be amazing!"
Yaoyao whispered, "Did you finish it yet?"
Klee's excitement dimmed a bit. "Not yet… I tried by the lake this afternoon, but when I lit it, it just went off like a Jumpy Dumpty and exploded right away — it wasn't pretty at all, just super loud, and it scared all the fish, and brought Amber over."
"Where did you get the fireworks recipe?"
"Klee doesn't have a recipe."
"Then how did you make it?"
"I just changed the Jumpy Dumpty recipe a bit."
"That's not going to work!"
"Klee thought it might be close enough, but… looks like not."
Seeing her new friend looking so down, Yaoyao thought for a moment, then whispered, "I have a way to help you."
Klee's eyes lit up. "What is it?"
Yaoyao pointed discreetly toward a figure sitting by the fire, wearing red glasses and looking elegantly cool.
Klee followed the finger. "Who's that?"
"That's Cloud Retainer — her mechanist skills are amazing! She'll definitely know how to make fireworks. We can go ask her."
Klee beamed. "That's awesome!"
Yaoyao was about to head over.
But Klee suddenly grabbed her arm. "Wait!"
Yaoyao turned back, puzzled. "What is it?"
Klee whispered, "I want the fireworks to be a huge surprise, so Amber can't know I'm making them."
Everyone was sitting around the campfire chatting, so if they went right now to ask Cloud Retainer, Amber would definitely find out.
"Let's wait until Amber isn't around, and then we'll ask, okay?"
"Okay."
Xia Lin had been listening to them this whole time and suddenly piped up with a question.
"Fireworks… what are those?"
Klee and Yaoyao froze, then gave her a look of pure sympathy.
How hard had Xia Lin's life been, to not even know about fireworks?
Right then, Klee's resolve grew even stronger.
She had to make the biggest, most beautiful firework ever — so that Xia Lin could see it for herself.
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