The Liyue Qixing's suspicions were soon indirectly confirmed by a reaction from another quarter.
[Venti: Pfft, cough, cough.]
[Jean: Lord Venti, are you all right?]
[Venti: I'm fine, I'm fine. Something just went down the wrong way, cough, cough, pfft, hahahahaha!]
[Barbara: Did something good happen to Lord Barbatos?]
[Venti: I just suddenly saw something funny, something worth composing a poem about myself.]
[Zhongli: ...]
Oh no, I forgot about this guy.
Judging by this brat's shameless habit of composing poems about even his own followers' misfortunes and spreading them for a thousand years or so, this business of "Rex Lapis holding a funeral for Morax" would probably be sung throughout Teyvat until its very end.
Zhongli rubbed his forehead with a slight headache. Faced with such an unreliable colleague, especially now that the other party had discovered the grand production he had staged, he truly had no idea what to do.
After all, he had taught him a lesson with stone spears before, but clearly, the omnipresent wind remembered treats, not beatings. A stubborn rock like himself really had no good way of dealing with the free wind.
Alas, who could have imagined back then that a screen dedicated to exposing people's embarrassing secrets would appear?
Had he known this wretched thing existed, he would never have devised such a ridiculous retirement plan.
Perhaps sensing that old man Zhongli was grumbling about him inwardly, Venti left one final comment in the discussion area, then said nothing more, busy snickering to himself.
[Venti: All I can say is, the old man really knows how to have fun.]
The Anemo Archon had stopped talking, but quite a few people spotted previously overlooked points in his peculiar attitude.
Well, judging by the Anemo Archon's attitude, he was not saddened in the slightest by his old friend's "death." He was laughing instead. Sure enough, something fishy was going on.
Every nation had its share of capable people, and by now, they had more or less identified the crux of the problem.
Although most people had yet to grasp the key point about Zhongli holding Morax's funeral, they had all gotten the fact that there was definitely something suspicious about the Geo Archon's assassination.
[Lumine: That's why you shouldn't believe everything in a teaser PV. A lot of it uses deliberately sensational headlines to grab attention, but once you click through, you find it's nothing like the truth.]
[Lumine: Even though I've lost far too many memories, I still vividly remember the news from something called the UC Editorial Department in a world I visited before.]
[Yae Miko: Hehe, our light novels at Yae Publishing House often use this kind of publicity too~.]
[Furina: Fontaine's film promotions have used similar tactics.]
[Nilou: Could our performances at the Zubayr Theater use this kind of publicity too?]
[Dehya: Uh, Nilou, take my advice. Don't do that.]
[Nilou: Oh, all right.]
While the viewers in the discussion area were still discussing the information revealed in the video, the scene on the screen had already shifted to the Traveler, Paimon, and Zhongli arriving at a place that sold ore.
[Jade Mystery]
Many people from Liyue recognized the stone-gambling shop in Chihu Rock at first glance. Strictly speaking, the shop was something of a long-established business in Liyue, but by the time it passed into the current owner's hands, it had fallen on hard times. In fact, Jade Mystery's best business now was actually duping foreigners into gambling on [uncut stones].
Still, however far it had fallen, the real Jade Mystery was completely different from the shabby one on the screen, which consisted of nothing more than a canopy and a table. In reality, they at least had a shop with a property deed, all right?
Even though the Jade Mystery on the screen was unrecognizable even to its regular customers, the owner's distinctive features were exactly the same.
Shitou, the owner of Jade Mystery, was just as rotund as in reality as he warmly welcomed Zhongli's group of three.
"Hey there, customers! Welcome to [Jade Mystery]. Want to try your luck opening a couple of [uncut stones] today?"
"It's cheap and fun. You might even strike it rich before you know it!"
[Xiangling: Wow, those familiar words! I almost thought Mr. Shitou had suddenly appeared in Mondstadt.]
[Paimon: Th-this is that legendary stone gambling, right? I know about this!]
[Paimon: As long as you get one top-quality stone, you can make loads of Mora! Then when I have Sweet Madame, I can eat one and throw another away, eating however I like!]
[Lumine: Little Paimon, gambling is bad. Nine out of ten times, you lose.]
[Paimon: I-I know (rubs head). I'm just envious, that's all. Can't you let me daydream a little?]
The real Paimon rubbed her head and grinned sheepishly, while the Paimon on the screen pointed about.
"[Uncut stones]? No, no, we're here to pick out... what kind of stone was it again?"
[Lumine: Pfft.]
[Paimon: Hey!]
[Lumine: Haha, little Paimon is so cute.]
[Paimon: Mm, I get the feeling you're laughing at me, but since you called me cute, I'll let it go.]
"Noctilucous Jade, at least [Luminous] grade."
Hearing Paimon's question, Zhongli folded his arms and spoke calmly.
[Xingqiu: As expected of a Rite of Parting for a god. Even my family rarely uses Luminous-grade Noctilucous Jade.]
[Xingqiu: But when I think about how it's being prepared for Rex Lapis's Rite of Parting, it seems perfectly ordinary.]
[Chongyun: Xingqiu?!]
In the mountains around Qingce Village, Chongyun tugged at Xingqiu. As someone from Liyue, how could he speak so calmly about something as horrifying as a Rite of Parting for Rex Lapis?
Only after Chongyun tugged at him did Xingqiu realize. He had guessed that Rex Lapis had merely faked his death, and very likely even had an alternate identity as Zhongli, but his innocent friend had not noticed.
[Xingqiu: My fault.]
It was all this video's fault. Even he was having some trouble distinguishing reality from fiction.
Fortunately, Rex Lapis had visited all the adepti in their dreams the night before. Even a workaholic like Ganyu had received a forcible message from Rex Lapis after he finally grew impatient waiting. Everyone knew he had merely faked his death, so they had no particular reaction to Xingqiu's words.
In the video, Luminous-grade Noctilucous Jade had clearly startled Shitou, the owner of Jade Mystery, as well.
"[Luminous]-grade Noctilucous Jade...? Hmm, so you aren't tourists. My apologies. I'll fetch the stock right away. Please take a look..."
[Lumine: ...So if I were a tourist, you could fleece me without a care?]
[Ganyu: Mm, I'm sorry you had to witness such an embarrassing scene.]
[Keqing: It looks like we'll need to straighten out the market next.]
[Ningguang: Indeed. It's been two years since the last crackdown, hasn't it? It was actually about time for another one anyway.]