Aether opened his eyes. Looking at the clock above the bookshelves, he decided to wake up early. After he completed his usual routine, he went to the meeting spot that he agreed on with Keqing.
"Good morning Aether, you're rather early today." Keqing said, smiling. "Morning, Keqing. What do you want to do today?" Before Keqing could think about their plans, she suddenly remembered something. "Oh, I actually told my parents that I would meet them for breakfast today. Want to join me?" "Sure." "Perfect! I'm sure they want to meet you, considering what you've done for our city."
After a few minutes of walking, they reached the place. While at first, this house seemed like a normal Liyue house, the interior was elegantly designed.
"Hello, Keqing." Keqing's grandparents and parents greeted her. "And you're Aether, right?" Aether nodded. "Welcome, make yourself at home! We're so grateful for all you've done for Liyue." Keqing's mother told Aether. "While waiting for breakfast, you can look around the place." Her dad added.
Aether did as Keqing's parents encouraged him to, and after looking around, he settled down in a nearby room. Meanwhile, Keqing approached her mother. "Mom?" "Yes, Keqing?" "Do you think you could help me make a mooncake? I've been meaning to make one for Aether for quite some time now." "Sure! Also, considering that he's the savior of Liyue and all that, I'll support your relationship together." "What?! We're not in a relationship! I mean, it's not like he's the person of my dreams, or anything!" Keqing clarified, her face red as a tomato. Thankfully, Aether didn't notice what was going on, probably because he was talking to Paimon in the other room. Her mom quietly nodded in understanding, and they got to work on creating the mooncake. For the message, Keqing decided to place these words on the mooncake: "Thank you for being with me."
Once that was done, they had breakfast after Keqing hid the mooncake in her bag. The meal went well, and Aether and Paimon enjoyed the food. When they finished the meal, they all said their goodbyes and left the house. Right after the meal, they decided that they would help some people around Liyue for a while.
The first thing they did was go to a village near Mt. Tianheng. After listening to the villagers' requests and helping them, Aether and Keqing returned to Liyue Harbor. However, Aether slipped and fell on one of his knees. "Huh?" Keqing said, looking behind her. "Wait a minute. What if I gave Keqing the mooncake I baked right now?" Aether thought, then said "Yeah, I'm fine. Anyway, Keqing?" "Hmm?" Aether, still on his knees, pulled out the square box. "Will you… accept this mooncake?"
Keqing could only smile, a small blush forming on her face. After she helped Aether get up, she took the mooncake and decided to give her mooncake to Aether. On their way, the two laughed about the incident which thankfully, no one saw, as the thing that happened could be easily taken as a marriage proposal rather than someone giving a mooncake as a gift.
When they returned, they decided to help Jifang get some new books for Wanwen Bookhouse. Once they finished that, they walked to Heyu Tea House, where they saw Yunjin. Yunjin also spotted them, and she went over to the pair. "Hello, Lady Keqing!" "Good morning, Yunjin." "And you're Aether, right? Nice to meet you, I've heard so many tales about you!" They shook hands with each other. "By the way, I'll be performing "String of Pearls" in a few minutes. If you wanna watch, I'll give you free tickets." After thinking about it, they decided to watch the opera.
"A heart of pearls in your house shall nest."
"In the skies with the wind shall we find rest."
The white moon shines o'er the catalpa's glade.
And with lowered head, the promise is made.
With the opera now done, Aether and Keqing decided to have lunch at the tea house. After congratulating Yunjin for her performance, they went inside and ordered their meal. While waiting, they talked about "String of Pearls". Paimon was the first to speak. "That performance of "String of Pearls was great, wasn't it?" "Yeah!" Aether said. "I think that the story was very well written. The way Zixin and Fan Jie fell in love wasn't forced, and the story was easy to follow. Overall, Yunjin definitely has some skill in terms of writing." Keqing said. After their quick meal, they said goodbye to Yunjin, thanked her, and left Heyu Tea House.
After they left, they decided on what to do. After a short while, Keqing told Aether "I think that we should go shopping." "I agree, Keqing. Shopping would be quite fun." Aether said to Keqing. "Let's start by buying some things from stores that only sell their goods during the Moonchase Festival or have limited-edition items.
When they were done with those stores, they had a lot of different things in their shopping bags, and they were able to buy many things that they were interested in. After checking to see if they got everything they wanted, they decided to split up and buy things from other stores.
Keqing ended up buying some clothes, books, and whatever caught her eye. She was definitely enjoying shopping, but even though she wanted to buy some more things, she stopped so she wouldn't waste too much money. On her way to one of the stores, she decided to open Aether's mooncake, and read the message he put on the mooncake. When she opened it, she saw the message: "Please stay by my side."
Meanwhile, Aether bought some things that he could use on his adventures, and he also bought some things like pens and books. Apart from this, he also decided to buy gifts for his friends, picking many of his gifts based on what they liked.
Finally, he found a shop selling some limited edition osmanthus wine, which the shop surprisingly let him buy despite his youthful look. A perfect gift for Zhongli, he thought.
Once they finished buying the things they wanted, they met each other again and headed to the end of the shopping area, where they saw a shop selling Rex Lapis figurines.
Of course, the man himself was right behind the counter.
"Oh, hi Zhongli! It's perfect that I saw you here, I was going to give you this gift." Aether gave Zhongli the bottle of wine. "Osmanthus wine, huh? You sure do have good taste." Zhongli said. "Hello, Zhongli." Keqing greeted Zhongli. "Hello, Keqing. Would you like to buy my Rex Lapis figurines?" "Sure! They would be a nice addition to my collection." "Alright, I'll bring the designs out for you. Aether, you can also buy some if you want. They chose from the many designs and wrote their choices on a paper.
"So, you have a Rex Lapis figurine collection, Keqing? I honestly didn't expect that." "Yes, but… they're just to keep me on the straight and narrow. Look, just because I own an idol or two doesn't mean I idolize him." Keqing responded. Aether nodded and said "There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, if I were you, I would have a collection of these too." Zhongli chuckled a bit at their exchange, and they bought the figures they requested.
By now, it was nighttime, and they were feeling a bit hungry from all that shopping. After thinking about it, they went to Wanmin Restaurant, where Xiangling greeted them.
"Hello, welcome back to Wanmin Restaurant! Would you like to try our limited-edition Moonchase Specials?" "What are they?" Aether asked. "For the main dish, we have some Come And Get It, while for the starter, we have some Golden Shrimp Cakes.
Keqing nodded "Alright, let's begin ordering. By the way, Xiangling, what are Golden Shrimp Cakes?" "Golden Shrimp Cakes are basically bigger versions of Golden Shrimp Balls. When making them, we take the fillings of Golden Shrimp Balls, shape them into a circle, and fry them." "Perfect!" Keqing said. "We'll have two plates."
After a very quick wait, Xiangling gave them the Golden Shrimp Cakes. They both enjoyed the dish, with Keqing commenting on how she had been craving for Golden Shrimp Balls ever since they were mentioned in the performance of "String of Pearls" that they watched earlier. In fact, the Golden Shrimp Cakes were so tasty that they ended up buying a few more plates. They also got the Come and Get It, which tasted really good. While they ate, they talked about a few things.
"Aether, have you found your sister yet? I'm curious to know." Keqing asked. "Yes, I have. Unfortunately…" Paimon had to finish his sentence. "She's with the Abyss Order and is now their Princess." "Oh, I see. I'm so sorry if this is a sensitive topic for you, I understand how you feel about it." "No need to worry, Keqing, it's fine. For now, in order to find her, I have to journey through all of the regions of Teyvat." "Alright. In that case, during this journey, I will stay by your side when you need me." Keqing told Aether. Of course, he blushed upon hearing this. "That must mean that Keqing read my message", he thought.
Once they were done with the meal, Aether asked Keqing about something. "Keqing, I know that this is quite sudden, but would you be interested in staying in my place?" "Sure! After all, I invited you to my parents' house, so it's fine if you invite me to yours."
They both entered the Serenitea Pot. Before they slept, Aether gave Keqing a tour of the place, which had an area with houses and trees, a market with a restaurant in the sky on some "sub-space boulders", and a Mondstadt city with an adventurer camp nearby. After the quick tour was done, Keqing commented about the area. "It is quite nice, but I think you should be concerned about using your space in the best way possible." "Got it." "Oh, sorry! I must have slipped into work mode again. It's your place, so do whatever you want with it."
Finally, their tour finished, and they entered the mansion. After greeting Tubby, Aether asked if Tubby had any Vials of Adeptal Speed for Keqing's bed. However…
"We're sold out."
Keqing approached them, a bit confused. "Huh? What's wrong, Aether?" Keqing asked. "We're out of Vials of Adeptal Speed, meaning that we have no choice but to share a bed." Keqing thought about it for a while, then said "O-okay. J-just make sure you don't do anything weird to me when we're there, alright?" "Of course." Although, she wouldn't mind if Ae- "Wait, I can't think about these things in front of Aether!" Keqing immediately thought, and headed to the room.
Right before they slept, Paimon teased them and said "Goodnight! Have fun!~" After they set up the bed, Aether and Keqing then went to sleep.