At these words,
the Nancy Empress and Jiang Yumeng, who had been quietly listening beside them all along, were both dumbfounded.
This little madam looked no older than six at most, and she was saying she had already taught herself all of middle school.
What had she, Jiang Yumeng, been doing at six?
She had still been crying for her daddy and mommy and watching those childish cartoons.
And this little madam was saying she had finished middle school.
Nannan's cleverness and precocity Jiang Yumeng had in fact been able to see.
After all, this girl had no trouble at all talking with grown-ups, and talking with the Nancy Empress she showed not the least nervousness.
Had it been Jiang Yumeng, she would probably have been stammering for half an hour after two sentences.
"Kindergarten teaches things too childish? It seems your family's tutoring is very professional." The Nancy Empress glanced at Nannan in surprise; she was astonished, but kept her feelings under control.
At her level now, it was not as if she had never seen geniuses.
Even her goddaughter, so that she would win at the starting line, had been given many private tutors.
Though she was still in kindergarten for now, what she was learning had in fact already reached primary school.
And among the children of her subordinates, some had got into university before ten and held doctorates in their teens.
So long as there was talent, and money and resources piled on besides, geniuses could be raised.
"It's all right. Those things are actually all very easy; learn them once and you know them. Nothing interesting about it." Nannan shrugged.
"Then what do you find interesting?" the Nancy Empress asked with interest.
"Magic." A word burst out of Nannan's mouth.
Hearing this word, the Nancy Empress and Jiang Yumeng looked at Nannan, and for a moment it felt as if she did fit the standard of a little child after all.
Having the notion of magic too; she had probably seen it in some cartoon.
"You may think magic is something found only in fantasy works and legends. But I feel magic may exist. For instance, within the range of star systems we know, we already know other civilizations exist, and some races even have gifts science can't explain. Born able to fly, born fireproof, born able to survive in the space environment. Can science explain these? So I think that perhaps, in some universe among all the heavens and myriad worlds, there's a civilization built mainly on magic; of course, over there magic may not be called magic. It would have a theoretical basis, like our science, and real creations made by it. We use science to create space elevators and interstellar warships. Then they might use magic to create teleportation circles, or magic interstellar warships. Think about it: in truth the functions of the two have something in common. Isn't there the conjecture of quantum teleportation in science too? Sending an object straight from one space to another: how is that different from a teleportation circle? As for starships: cannons, railguns, coilguns, pulse cannons. These are science's weapons. Then what if magic were used, like in novels and films and shows, so the main gun could spew roaring flames, or thunder and lightning, to attack? And then it could exist in the space environment too; wouldn't that be a magic warship!"
Listening to Nannan, a child of five or six, saying all these extravagant things,
it felt as if she were telling a story, yet at first hearing there seemed to be some sense in it too.
"Since you know so much, why are you still in kindergarten now?" the Nancy Empress asked.
Hearing this, Nannan could not help pouting, and said, "It's all because of my mom; she thinks a little kid should have a full childhood, so she's making me do one year of kindergarten, to experience so-called childhood. But those little brats are all hopelessly childish. On the first day of class I made every one of them my little followers; now they all call me Big Sis. Anyway, I'm definitely not going to kindergarten next year. Either she sends me straight to a Fierce Dragon Kingdom high school, or she hires private tutors for me to study at home. I mean to finish all of university before I'm eight. Then I can go straight into the Fierce Dragon Starship Academy."
"Don't you like magic? Why do you still want to apply to the Fierce Dragon Starship Academy?"
"Liking it is one thing, but the real situation is another. At least right now I don't have the chance to research magic. So first I'll get to know starships inside out. Into the Starship Academy at eight. Graduate at ten. Aboard a ship before thirteen, as captain! That's my goal," Nannan said, unshakable.
Having heard Nannan say all this,
Jiang Yumeng sat by, stunned.
This "little sister" of hers had planned a future rather too astonishing; anyone not in the know would think it was some super short drama playing on a certain Fruit.[1]
A five-year-old girl's road to StarCraft supremacy?[2]
"Ha ha ha ha, you really are an interesting child." The Nancy Empress smiled.
Had her subordinates seen it, they would probably have been very surprised.
It should be understood that this Nancy Empress very seldom smiled.
At this point the space elevator arrived.
Beyond the portholes was the view of space.
The blue planet below could be seen, and the huge Dragon Palace Starport beside them.
"So this is the Dragon Palace Starport; how come it feels so much bigger than in the pictures!" Jiang Yumeng could not help saying in surprise.
"What you saw were probably photos from phase one. The Dragon Palace Starport now has finished its phase-two expansion. Its area is three times what it was in phase one. Big sister, could you study a bit more in your spare time and binge fewer short dramas?" Nannan pointed at Jiang Yumeng, for all the world like a big sister setting her little sister straight.
Jiang Yumeng's cheeks went red.
It seemed Nannan had truly hit the mark.
The Nancy Empress beside them turned a curious look on her.
Jiang Yumeng said at once, embarrassed, "My little sister's a genius; I'm no genius. At most I'm a little better than my peers. To tell the truth, having a little sister like this is real Alexander!"[3]
Hearing what Jiang Yumeng said, the Nancy Empress expressed understanding too.
After all, geniuses were few in the end.
Jiang Yumeng looked at Nannan and could not help feeling glad in her heart.
Thank goodness she had no such little sister.
Otherwise she would have been ground to death in the cut-throat competition.
Then, when she was at college,
her classmates and teachers around her would surely point at her and say:
aren't you So-and-so's big sister?
She would soon lose her own name.
At the thought of it, it felt like a nightmare.
"Godmother!"
The elevator doors opened, and at this point a girl's cry came from outside.
In the waiting area outside, a woman could be seen holding a little girl by the hand.
The little girl was waving excitedly at the Nancy Empress.
"Nannan, didn't I say I'd come find you two once I'd finished my business? Why did you come specially to meet me?" The Nancy Empress walked over and greeted her best friend and the little girl.
She pinched the little girl's cheek.
"Nannan said it's vacation now, so she wanted to see her godmother early," Huang Min said with a smile, looking at her best friend before her.
In truth, by a chance some time before, she had already learned the Nancy Empress's identity.
She had been somewhat astonished at the time.
But perhaps because she lived in the Fierce Dragon Kingdom and had been educated there, Huang Min had soon accepted it too.
It was after this that she had squeezed three meals out of this good friend of hers.
"Godmother, Nannan missed you so much!" This little girl threw her arms round the Nancy Empress's leg.
Just at this moment,
behind the Nancy Empress, Jiang Yumeng and Nannan came out.
"Well… we'll be going then." Jiang Yumeng pointed at the tour group she belonged to.
Huang Min and the little girl saw the young woman and the child before them.
The two little girls looked at each other.
Huang Nannan looked the other up and down and found her truly very cute, just like a doll.
"And these two are?" Huang Min asked curiously.
"These are friends I've just met, here touring the Dragon Palace Starport. It counts as fate, too. Would you like to have a meal together?" the Nancy Empress said without thinking.
Jiang Yumeng knew this was usually just a polite remark, so without thinking she meant to decline.
But who would have thought Nannan would step forward and say, "Sure."
This turned Jiang Yumeng to stone at once.
The Nancy Empress looked at Nannan somewhat surprised; she too had said it offhand, never thinking this child would really accept.
But it was only a meal; nothing much.
Anyway, she rather liked this little girl, and was interested in her.
"That may not work. On the tour we signed up for, we're not allowed to leave the group without permission," Jiang Yumeng explained hurriedly.
"That's not a problem; I can step in and vouch for you." With that, the Nancy Empress walked over toward that tour group's leader.
"Hello, I'm Nannan." Huang Nannan greeted Nannan of her own accord.
"Hello, I'm Nannan too."
At that instant even the air went a little quiet.
Huang Nannan pointed at herself, then at the girl opposite: "I'm Nannan, and you're Nannan too? Then which of us is Nannan?"
"So you share a name; that's rare. What an adorable child," Huang Min said, somewhat surprised, but she did not think much of the shared name.
"I'm Jiang Nannan." The ID Nannan carried now said she was Jiang Yumeng's little sister, so naturally her surname was Jiang.
"I'm Huang Nannan. We're both Nannan. Then how old are you this year?" Huang Nannan was very curious about this Nannan before her, perhaps because it was the first time she had seen a girl about her own age also called Nannan.
The two told each other their ages.
Huang Nannan was older than Nannan.
"I'm older than you; you have to call me big sister." Huang Nannan put both hands on her hips and said somewhat proudly.
But Nannan said, "I think deciding who's older by age is outdated."
"Huh? Then by what?" Huang Nannan looked at Nannan, puzzled.
"It should be by learning. Let me ask you: if someone's older but stupider than you, would you be willing to call him big brother?" Nannan asked by way of example.
Hearing this argument,
several examples came into Huang Nannan's head: a few boys older than her who were very childish, and whose marks were not as good as hers.
Being made to call them big brother was something she could not accept at all.
Huang Nannan shook her head at once.
"Fine; then let's see who's cleverer. Whoever's cleverer is the big sister," Nannan said.
"Okay!" Huang Nannan nodded, and then began throwing out her question.
"I've got a question here. Right now a cage holds chickens and rabbits, 35 in all, and their feet add up to 94. How many chickens and how many rabbits are in the cage?"
As Huang Nannan put this question, she was still rather proud.
This was not a problem children her age could learn.
But she had already learned it.
Wasn't she amazing?
Wouldn't this little sister before her have to look up to her now?
"23 chickens, 12 rabbits." Nannan gave the answer almost the instant after.
Huang Nannan was dumbfounded on the spot.
"Now it's my turn." Nannan gave Huang Nannan no chance to react,
and threw out her question at once.
"A mall sells goods bought in at 40 a piece for 60 a piece, and sells 300 pieces a month. Market research finds that for every 1 the price rises, monthly sales drop by 10 pieces. Question: at what selling price does the mall make the greatest profit each month? What is the greatest profit?"
The instant she heard this question,
Huang Nannan was dumbfounded on the spot.
Selling clothes was selling clothes; didn't you only need to work out how many you sold and how many were left?
Why did you have to work out that raising the price meant selling fewer?
And if raising the price meant selling fewer, why raise the price at all?
Having heard this whole string of a problem, Huang Nannan had no idea at all how to work it out.
At this moment even Jiang Yumeng beside them was dumbfounded.
This problem she knew; this was a high-school math problem.
A little child of five or six had actually thrown out a high-school math problem.
Just whose little prodigy was this?
"Call me big sister!" Nannan pointed at the little girl before her who shared her name.
"Big sister…" Huang Nannan called, somewhat grudgingly.
In her heart she was planning how to win back face.
"Since you've accepted me as big sister, then I have to give you a present too. You play games, don't you; that new one that just came out, Goddess World," Nannan asked.
"Yes! How did you know? Do you play too!" Huang Nannan looked at Nannan in delighted surprise.
Nannan swept her eyes over this little girl's clothes: her shoes were that game's collab edition, and her clothes had that game's characters on them too.
On the backpack on her back were several of that game's character charms as well.
Anyone paying the least attention could see this little girl was certainly a fan of Goddess World.
"As it happens, I've got some Goddess World character skins here; they're yours. Send me your game account," Nannan said.
Huang Nannan shared her game account.
Very soon she received a whole series of gifts.
"Wow, it's the skin from that limited-time gacha before. I got full marks on a test back then and had Mom top me up eight hundred, and I still couldn't pull this skin!"
"And this discontinued event skin, I wanted it so much."
One sugar-coated bullet after another knocked Huang Nannan clean out.
"Big sister, you're the best!"
One more little fan for Nannan.
Jiang Yumeng watched this scene, and the corners of her mouth could not help twitching.
This way of winning hearts was far too lavish!