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Chapter Text

alt image text found in author's notes at the bottom

Hello Travelers!

This issue’s unsolved true crime case is the one of the archon Rex Lapis, also known as Zhongli. This is a pretty recent case, still unfolding in the bustling town of Liyue, nation of contracts. That does not, however, mean that there is no information about the case.

Let’s compile some of the cold hard facts about Rex Lapis’s case.

Fact # 1: Zhongli was the archon with the highest approval rating.

Compared to the notorious Raiden Shogun of Inazuma, host of the infamous Vision Hunt Decree, and the unforgiving Tsaritsa of Snezhnaya, who is as cold as her nation’s climate, it’s unsurprising that Rex Lapis Zhongli has garnered the most positive reception of his fellow archons. That’s why it’s so surprising that he was assassinated in such a violent, merciless way.

Fact # 2: The coroner delivered the news with a smile.

The official coroner of Liyue’s flagship hospital, a woman named Hu Tao (who is also the owner of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor), has been surrounded by rumors throughout her entire time as coroner and as owner of the funeral parlor. She was rumored to be close personal friends with Rex Lapis as he also served as an occasional consultant to her. But despite her friendship, she relayed Zhongli’s passing while smiling cheerfully, no hint of mourning or grief in her tone.

And thus, our very first suspect comes into play.

As avid followers of FINDING AETHER know, I frequently travel to true crime locations to investigate more closely than I could from the comfort of my home. So join me on my trip to Liyue, the city of contracts, as I attempt to solve the mystery of the passing of Zhongli, a beloved political figure and the victim of a horrific crime.

See you in Liyue!

- Lumine

Chapter Text

As a frequent traveler, Lumine had some of the best traveling tips to give any of her friends that asked. Her primary tips were to secure all your valuables and to always carry some sort of protection (that you know how to use, because if you find yourself in a dangerous situation with only a switchblade, it’s more likely that you’ll end up with puncture wounds instead of your assailant). Her secondary tip, however, was to always print out and double check copies of your reservations, be it plane tickets or hotel bookings.

If she listened to her own advice as much as she gave it, she’d probably have a copy of the fact that she booked this particular hotel room at the Wangshu Inn for the duration of her stay at Liyue.

If she had listened to her own advice, she probably wouldn’t be arguing at the desk of said inn with a woman named Verr Goldet (with chimes in from a scary man in a chef’s uniform who brandished a very, very sharp knife to emphasize his talking points) about how she booked it through the website, not even a third-party app and no, she didn’t get any email confirmation, but she just assumed that it went into her spam mail or she deleted it by accident.

In fact, if she had followed her own advice and just checked her booking before she left, she probably would’ve realized her mistake of booking the room at the inn for the next month instead of this one.

So now, Lumine was traipsing the streets of Liyue, which, after the death of its archon, was not nearly as festive or as bustling as it usually was. Don’t get her wrong, there was still plenty of activity going on; food stalls were loudly promoting their cuisine (cheap and tasty chop suey!), children were still running around playing tag, ore salesmen were still swindling naive tourists into spending a fortune for a rock they could probably find in their backyards.

But the faces of all the citizens seemed pretty gloomy and many spoke in hushed tones. She’d heard of many performances and music being played throughout Liyue on a daily basis, but she saw and heard none. There was a poster for a performance from Xinyan, a popular rock and roll artist, that had been X’ed out with a red [CANCELED] stamped onto it.

Lumine had spotted multiple memorial sites for Rex Lapis throughout the short distance she’d covered. They were covered in stuffed animals and the fragrant smell of the flowers placed under pictures of the archon wafted through the crowd. Several had multicolored candles burning around them.

They really did like him, Lumine thought, it wasn’t just great marketing or faked approval polls like the gossip tabloids from other nations had said.

As she rounded a corner, trying to find some kind of cell service so she could look up a hotel that she could stay in for the night, Lumine all but bumped into an older woman standing next to a vat of glaze lilies. As she started to apologize, the woman said, “Sweetheart, you shouldn’t be out this late on your own. Do your parents know where you are?”

They very much did not, Lumine’s subconscious snarked.

The old woman smiled kindly. She had a very warm, amiable aura to her, a shawl wrapped around her shoulders and thick gray hair wrapped into a bun behind her head. She looked at Lumine through thin, round glasses, awaiting her response. Instead of indulging her subconscious, she replied, “Thank you for worrying, ma’am, but I’m actually an adult. I’m just walking around looking for a hotel to stay for tonight.” Lightbulb “Actually, would you know of any hotels in the area?”

The woman smiled and said, “You’ve got great luck, follow me.”

Now, ordinarily, Lumine would’ve faked cell service and excused herself with a “Oh sorry, I just got word from my friend. Thanks for your help!”

As previously mentioned, Lumine was a very frequent traveler. She knew that there were certain things you had to do to keep yourself safe. Keep some sort of protection on you. Let others know your whereabouts in case you go missing. Don’t. Follow. Strangers.

And yet, as cold and tired and hungry as Lumine was, she almost couldn’t stop her feet from propelling her towards the direction the old lady had started moving in. Damn you feet, she cursed at her disobedient limbs.

As they walked, Lumine struck up conversation with the woman, who introduced herself as Madame Ping. She knew about lodging only a short ways away, where the woman was returning to herself. In turn, Lumine introduced herself and told Madame Ping about why she was in Liyue. It turns out Madame Ping had actually gone to school with Zhongli when she was young, and thus had a couple of stories about him.

“We weren’t the closest of friends,” Madame Ping clarified, “but it’s difficult not to hear about a personality like that.”

She shared stories of how he’d been forecasted to become an archon even in school, what with his classroom leadership and brilliant mind. He’d had a remarkable interest in history and could talk for hours about the tiniest details of Liyue. Plus it didn’t hurt that his uncle was previously Rex Lapis.

But despite all that he had going for him, he befriended every kind of person. Even Madame Ping who was “a bit of an oddball, even back then”. She said that he’d chat with anyone who came up to him. He was kind, he was gentle with everyone.

Lumine knew it was morbid, but she couldn’t help but think, Who would want to kill this guy?

Lost in thought, Lumine almost didn’t notice as they rounded yet another corner and landed along a stone courtyard. Madame Ping stopped walking suddenly, and turned to Lumine.

“Okay sweetheart, let me tell you about Serenitea.”

But Lumine couldn’t help but look around her in wonder at the housing behind her. She’d been of the opinion that Liyue was a bustling city, as were most of the places she’d traveled to. So, the place behind Madame Ping definitely gave her a moment of pause.

It looked like a block of townhouses, maybe four or five total spaces. They looked relatively old, with a couple cracks in the stucco, each painted a different pastel color. All around, the spaces were surrounded by lush vegetation: high grasses, and bushes filled with what Lumine recognized as sunsettias.

But Lumine’s favorite part of the setting in front of her was the flourishing garden in front of the center townhouse. Lumine recognized from her research about Liyue that some were glaze lilies, jueyun chilies, silk flowers. She actually recognized a couple Mondstadt and Inazuman varieties as well.

Her heart thudded in her chest as she remembered the beautiful garden they’d had back at home. Her family had planted tons of varieties of fruits, vegetables, and flowers, just to see what would take root in their climate. Picking it once it was ripe was always fun, since she would always get to sample the fruits and veggies. She and-

No, Lumine interrupted, now’s not the time to be thinking about him. For this month, I stay focused on Rex Lapis.

A small voice in her head offered another perspective: but you’re always focusing on something or another, when will it be time to focus on him again?

Lumine stuffed that voice very far down her subconscious and drew her attention back to Madame Ping’s explanation. The old woman smiled as she’d noticed that Lumine had grown distracted by the site of the land before her, then launched back into her account.

“Serenitea is a small community that I run. If you please, you can stay here for the remainder of the night, free of charge, and then decide if you wish to stay here for the rest of your stay. Afterwards, we can discuss payment.”

Lumine all but jumped on the offer, thanking Madame Ping profusely. The old woman chuckled, and directed her to the pastel yellow townhouse, which was on the edge of all the properties.

She took out her keyring and unlocked the door, opening it for Lumine to walk inside.

The inside was quaint, but radiant. It was big enough for a bedroom, bathroom, small kitchen, and a common area. It was modestly furnished, and had a couple plants around.

Madame Ping stood in the doorway as Lumine ooh’ed and aah’ed while opening doors. Once she was satisfied, Lumine returned to the doorway and thanked Madame Ping again.

“Of course, sweetheart. Here are your keys,” she handed Lumine a small, golden key which she immediately slipped onto her keyring, “you have next-door neighbors, Qiqi and her guardian Baizhu, I’m sure they’d love to meet you as soon as you’re ready.”

As the woman turned to leave, she made eye contact with Lumine and said, “I’m very glad you’ve taken interest in the passing of Rex Lapis. He was an honorable man. I hope you can figure something out that the Qixing can’t.”

Lumine hoped so too.

The next morning, Lumine awoke with drool on her face to three short knocks on the door.

She managed to sneak a look at the alarm clock on the nightstand which read 10:00 and yelled, “I’ll be right there!”

As she pulled on a sweater to look a little more presentable, she caught the tail end of a knock and a man’s voice saying, “She said she was coming, Qiqi.”

Lumine quickly opened the door to a tall, thin, most likely middle-aged man with darkish green hair and strange purple-ish glasses. He wore a black crop top with a high-ish neck that kinda reminded Lumine of-

What is with you?! Why is everything reminding you of him!

He held the clenched fist of a small child with lilac hair shaped into a bob. Around her neck was a large string of rounded white beads.

The child spoke in a monotone voice first, before the man could introduce them, “Hello. I’m Qiqi. Have you seen my cocogoat?”

Puzzlement filled Lumine’s features as she tried to process the little girl’s words. What the Abyss was a cocogoat? Was it a pet?

Luckily, the green-haired man stepped in and clarified, “Sorry, Qiqi’s got a big imagination.” He whispered the next part, “She’s in a big coconut milk phase right now, and she insists that it comes from a creature called a- cocogoat, was it? Just play along, if you don’t mind.”

Lumine straightened and said, “Sorry Qiqi, I haven’t seen any cocogoats around here. I’ll let you know if I see them, okay?”

The girl, Qiqi, nodded solemnly, choosing to focus her attention onto the sunsettia bush next to Lumine’s window, leaving the man and Lumine to speak freely.

“I’m Dr. Baizhu, and this” he gestured loosely to Qiqi, “as you’ve probably guessed, is Qiqi. Madame Ping let me know that we’ll be your next door neighbors for the next little while.”

Lumine smiled, “It’s very nice to meet you Dr. Baizhu, and Qiqi as well. How long are you two staying here for?”

Baizhu sighed and ran a hand through his lime-colored hair, “That depends. I was called in to assist with some remedies for a couple of the victims from the bombing of Rex Lapis’ ceremony.” Lumine startled at this, “But I couldn’t leave Qiqi with anyone where we’re from, and I end up having to come home a lot earlier and work shorter hours than I could’ve back home.”

Lumine felt a pang of sympathy, especially since Dr. Baizhu must be dealing with some nasty wounds from the explosion. So, without a second thought (the second thought should’ve been how she’d never really taken care of kids before), Lumine volunteered, “If you’d be willing to trust me with her, I can take care of Qiqi.”

Dr. Baizhu looked through his glasses at Lumine, a hint of doubt in his eyes, “Dear, are you sure? You don’t have any night plans while traveling?”

Lumine, slightly bashful, admits, “Not really, I’m here for a month on business. I’m a true crime blog writer investigating the death of Rex Lapis.”

“Well, then!” Dr. Baizhu clasps his hands, suddenly cheerful, “I have the perfect way to offer my thanks!”

“One of my patients, Ajax Tartaglia, was a close personal associate of…” he paused, “Mr. Zhongli’s. I can ask him if he would be willing to speak with you about the incident.”

Lumine’s eyes gained an almost cartoon-y sparkle, “Oh my gods, are you serious? Yes! Thank you!”

Dr. Baizhu chuckled, “Now, hold on, don’t thank me just yet. I can only ask, I have no idea if he’ll say yes.”

“Either way, thank you! Just let me know when you need me to take care of Qiqi, and I’ll be there!”

At the sound of her name, Qiqi wandered over with a salamander wriggling in her fingers, “Baizhu. Did you find my cocogoat yet?”

Baizhu waved distractedly at her, “Not yet, Qiqi. Let’s go see if we can find that creature at the park.”

He took out what looked like a prescription notepad and took a pen out from the satchel he was carrying. Scribbling hurriedly, he handed the scrap of paper to Lumine with a, “Here is my phone number, please text me and I can let you know when the best time for you to come over is.”

Lumine took the proffered slip of paper and stood in her doorway, smiling and waving goodbye as the two dawdled off. As soon as they exited the small courtyard, Lumine cracked her knuckles.

“Alright, let’s get right to business.”

“Hey Paimon! Long time, no see.”

Lumine’s friend Paimon, a girl about one or two years younger (and one or two feet shorter) looked at her with a bemused expression.

“I was beginning to think you’d forgotten about me. Not that I could blame you! I’m sure the night life is craaaaazy over in Liyue.”

Lumine scoffed and retorted, “Oh yeah, following an old lady to a hostel in the middle of the night while investigating the murder of a major political figure definitely counts as one of my crazier nights.”

Paimon giggled, but then turned serious for a second, “So how’s that going, Lumi?”

Lumine sighed and rested her chin on her palm. How was it going? She’d been given a new lead by Baizhu in the form of Ajax Tartaglia, and she’d called Hu Tao’s office earlier in the day to schedule a meeting tomorrow morning. But otherwise, no new information. She’d spent all morning researching the life of Zhongli and doing a background search on his relationship with the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor and its mysterious 77th director.

It was normal not to receive much new information in the early stages of investigating a case, but it was never any less disheartening for Lumine, and she said as much to Paimon.

Paimon hmm-ed thoughtfully and said, “It seems to me like you’ve made plenty of progress. Two leads in less than 2 days of setting foot in Liyue.” Paimon laced her knuckles, as if preparing herself for the suggestion that would come out of her mouth. “Maybe you should, I don’t know, take a break.”

Lumine glowered at her temporary desk, strewn with pages she’d deemed important enough to print out.

There wasn’t time to take a break. She didn’t deserve a break. If she wasn’t working on a case, she should be working on the case, what she’d named her entire freaking website for.

The disappearance of her twin brother, Aether.

Lumine quickly banished the thought from her mind, she was good enough at compartmentalizing to realize that she shouldn’t mix thoughts of Aether with the case at hand right now, Zhongli’s murder.

Suddenly remembering that Paimon had offered a suggestion, Lumine batted her hand dismissively as Paimon’s face slightly deflated.

“I’m taking a break by talking with you Paimon! That and I’ll probably be going to sleep in like twenty/thirty minutes”

Liar

“so I’ll be well-rested for the interview with Hu Tao tomorrow.”

Paimon sighed, “Lumine, you already know what I think, so I’m not going to say anything. But I want you to remember the conversation we had about holding things in until they explode like diet coke and mentos” Lumine snorted “ and also… to check your phone, Venti told me to tell you because he knows you check it once in, like, a blue moon.”

Lumine laughed good-naturedly and promised to text back her most mischievous friend. Wishing Paimon good night and sending lots of kisses her way, she closed the app she’d been calling Paimon with. Lumine scooped up her phone and jumped onto her temporary bed, scrolling through her messages that she’d apparently missed.

Lumine glanced at the texts between her and tone deaf bard 😜🎵. He’d sent her an absurd amount of tik toks, as well as a string of texts reading:

“hey girl are u dandelion wine?”

“because u give me a headache sometimes”

“Annnyyywaaayyyysss”

“are u still on for thursday night? TEYVAT IDOL AND TEQUILA BABIE”

“oh man i forgot ur an old lady who never checks her phone” “urggggh im gonna text paimon”

“also i thought of a song for u”

“LUMI LICIOUS DEFIN-

Lumine chuckled quietly, replied quickly with an affirmative, and clicked out of those messages with a well-intentioned eye roll and went to check her others.

She’d also gotten one from Baizhu that read:

“Hello Lumine, this is Dr. Baizhu. Sorry for the late notice, but would you be able to take care of Qiqi tomorrow from 5-7? One of the doctors caught a stomach bug and won’t be able to make tomorrow’s shift. If you are unable to, I completely understand.”

She smiled and texted back “of course, it’s no trouble! i’ll be there by 4:50”

Finally, allowing herself to rest for a couple minutes, Lumine thought about all the details she had so far for her case, thinking each over carefully and creating a mental checklist for all the information she’d have to look over and organize for the next few days.

The threads holding together this story were still completely wound up, but Lumine was confident she could unravel them, no matter how tightly they were coiled.

Chapter Text

As Lumine pulled on her sneakers and threw a corduroy jacket over her outfit, she thought of the questions she’d like to ask the director. 

After interviewing so many people for her blog, Lumine recognized the right and wrong way to ask questions with suspects. Too many big, accusatory questions too early and you risk losing your suspect, but too little always leads to barely any information and a prolonged investigation. 

She always started easily, asking them about their occupation, then led into the day of the crime, then subtly started poking around for an alibi (or lack thereof). Her plan wasn’t always foolproof, but it wasn’t the worst plan in the world. 

As she went to lock the door, she spotted Baizhu next door locking up as well. He had Qiqi in one hand (batting her hands away from his keychain, which held a toy that she’d obviously well loved) and the lock in the other, while juggling a lunchbox between  his elbow and his chest, so Lumine crossed over and offered to lock up for him. Gratefully, he accepted and asked about her plans for “the big city”. 

Lumine chuckled and responded, “Unfortunately, it’s all work right now. I’m going to interview the director of the Wangsheng funeral parlor. She was friends with Zhongli,  right?”

Baizhu paused his batting of Qiqi for a second to say, “Are you talking about Hu Tao?”

At the mention of the young woman, Qiqi became visibly upset and grabbed a fistful of Lumine’s pants to say, “I despise Hu Tao.”

Lumine had to take a second to choke back something between a laugh or a gasp to ask for clarification, “Qiqi, what did you say?”

Baizhu stepped in to explain, “Qiqi’s had a little bit of a…” he paused to carefully select his next words, “quarrel with Hu Tao in the past.” 

Qiqi, fists still full of denim, solemnly chimed in, “She said she wanted to bury me in a coffin.”

“What?!”

Baizhu stepped in to say, “Lumine dear, I know how important maintaining non-bias  must be to someone in your line of work. Maybe Qiqi can regale you with her tale after your meeting. Better not to start off on the wrong foot.”

Lumine felt her cheeks redden, feeling slightly guilty for egging Qiqi on. She nodded and replied, “Of course, thank you for reminding me Baizhu.”

Baizhu inclined his head and cleared his throat, “Alright then, we must be off. “ 

Gently extricating her fist from Lumine’s pants ( Celestia , did Qiqi have a grip), the two set off to wherever they were headed for the day, leaving Lumine with slightly more questions than she’d had when she stepped foot out the door. 

Nevertheless, she shouldered her backpack purse, and set off in the direction that the Wangsheng funeral parlor’s office had given her. 

Liyue was definitely a walking city. There were no textured mountains like Lumine had spent her childhood navigating or tall, pristine architecture like Lumine was familiar with in other cities that she’d visited (along with her hometown). Liyue was neatly arranged with walking trails cleverly weaving through storefronts and vendors selling a wide variety of goods. 

She passed through a couple of landmarks of Liyue on her way to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor  like the Northland Bank, where Mr. Tartaglia worked, and the Jade Chamber, home of the esteemed businesswoman Ningguang.

Lumine was so busy sightseeing that she almost missed arguably the most important location of the case. 

Yujing Terrace. 

Facing the grand slopes of Mount Tianheng and the graceful arches of Feiyun Slope, Lumine could almost feel the atmosphere of regality and importance that this site had shrouding it. The paved walkway cut through tranquil pools filled with lily pads and lotus heads, stairs leading to the spot where Rex Lapis had given his infamous last speech. 

Lumine found herself in an almost-trance as she glided along the path, nodding absentmindedly to the Millileth officers flanking the entrance. She found herself taking one unplanned step after another towards the site of the crime. 

Rather surprisingly, there weren't many people around. Liyueans must not flock around memorial spots like in other nations , Lumine though almost guiltily. 

While traveling and taking on unsolved cases, It was always at the top of Lumine’s priorities to honor the culture and grieving processes of the families and nations that she visited. There were many cases she’d declined to take on because the culture of the deceased was one that did not invite outsiders poking into their loved one’s death or disappearance.

With Liyue however, she’d received hundreds of tweets, DM’s, emails, and letters from citizens in Liyue encouraging and asking her to take this case. Perhaps finding some answers would be the best way for the Liyueans to grieve for their beloved archon. 

And Lumine intended to find some answers. Though many of her cases remained unsolved, she had helped to uncover many details, some of which led to the eventual solving of the case, of many different unsolved (often deemed unsolvable ) cases. She’d helped children find their parents and husbands find their wives.

All that, and you still haven’t found your twin , the decidedly evil voice in her subconscious taunted. 

She was really disliking her inner voice at the moment. 

Enough of that , she chided herself, focus, take it in. 

After climbing a couple of stairs, she reached the raised platform where Zhongli had given his speech. It was a stone-paved area, surrounded, like most of Yujing Terrace, by a pond. The air felt a lot colder here, most likely due to the higher altitude, so Lumine wrapped her jacket a little tighter around herself as she surveyed the memorial to Zhongli atop the stand. 

The stand itself was still a little burnt, as was a good portion of the stones below. At the base of the stand, there was a wreath with a picture of Zhongli hung in the middle, flanked by clippings of Zhongli from the newspaper. 

Lumine bent down to inspect the pictures a little closer, investigating the good deeds the archon had constantly been doing for his citizens: visiting elderly patients in the nursing homes, attending a memorial for a Millileth officer who had passed away, standing next to Hu Tao-

Wait.

Standing next to Hu Tao? 

She’d heard of the rumors that they’d been friends, but she’d yet to see any actual proof. But here it was: the coroner and director of the Wangsheng funeral parlor with her arm slung around the archon of Liyue’s shoulder like they were old friends, both with big smiles on their faces. The edges around Hu Tao were blurry, like she’d rushed out of frame as soon as the picture was taken to check on how it looked, while Zhongli had an almost exasperated grin, as if he was used to putting up with the eccentric director, yet still enjoyed doing so. 

This just added another layer to the case.

Why would Hu Tao want to kill Zhongli after being such good friends? Were they truly good friends or was the picture deceiving?

Lumine stood up, heading towards the Yujing Terrace entrance with her mind filled with questions. After thinking for a little too long, Lumine checked her watch to make sure she was still on time to meet with Hu Tao. 

She had more than an hour to spare and less than ten minutes to walk,  so she stopped by a nice-looking stand with a poster designating it the “Wanmin Restaurant”.

She placed her breakfast order with the middle-aged, friendly-looking man whose name tag read “Chef Mao” with smiley faces drawn on and a sticker of a flame attached to it. As she ordered rice balls (probably not the most nutritious or appropriate breakfast choice, Lumine knows), she heard a high pitched voice from behind the counter squeal, “Oh my Celestia! Are you Lumine? The blogger?!” 

Lumine, startled, turned to the owner of the all-knowing voice, coming face-to-face (literally, the girls’ noses almost touched) with a pretty blue-haired young woman with a chef’s apron. 

Lumine could barely get out an “Um, yeah?” before the young woman launched into an excited one-sided conversation about how much she loved her blog (“it’s such a good cause”, “you catch onto the smallest details, it’s unbelievable!”, “i couldn’t believe that you finally found Joel’s father, I really thought he was dead”). 

As the girl complimented Lumine and her blog, Lumine took a moment to look over her conversation partner. She looked about 19 or 20, right around Lumine’s age, with cobalt blue hair cut into a bob and surrounded with braids resembling a bow in the back of her head. She wore a brown apron, which made her think she probably worked at Wanmin Restaurant, with red bows interspersed throughout her outfit. 

The girl suddenly cut herself off, stating firmly, “I’m so sorry. I got wayyy too excited there.”

Lumine quickly reassured her, saying, “No worries! I get excited about true crime too. What’s your name?”

She smiled gratefully, and replied, “I’m Xiangling, I help run Wanming Restaurant. I’m the youngest chef here!” Her chest practically puffed with pride, and Lumine couldn't help but feel proud of this near-stranger. 

Lumine smiled and said, “That’s really impressive, I’m sure you must be fantastic at what you do.” She laughed a little as she said, “In fact, I really hope you’re fantastic because I just ordered a whole bunch of rice balls from you.”

Xiangling laughed as she wiped her hands on her apron and said, “Don’t worry about the rice balls, I conquered those when I was about seven years old.”

At this, a lightbulb seemed to go off in Xiangling’s head as a mischievous (read: shit-eating) grin slid onto her face. She said, “Actuallyyyy, seeing as you’re the author of one of my favorite blogs to read, can I offer you some free experimental treats I’ve been working on?”

Chef Mao looked over a little concernedly at those words, making eye contact with Lumine and widening his eyes as if to say “Say no. SAY NO.” 

But alas, Lumine could not say no to sweet Xiangling and these treats that she seemed so proud of. So, after about fifteen minutes, Xiangling returned with a take-out container of steaming, fragrant rice balls and a slightly spicy-sweet scented box. 

Xiangling handed her the box and waited for Lumine to cautiously open it and put it in her mouth before warning, “Careful, it’s a little bit spicy.”

Which was, perhaps, the understatement of the century.

Now, Lumine was no slacker with spice. She’d had her fair share of hot dishes and she liked to believe that she handled them well. But Xiangling’s dish was quickly proving her wrong. 

Her tongue burned and steam practically poured out of her ears as she half-swallowed the sweet-tasting and hellishly hot treat that Xiangling had made as Xiangling herself was bent over at the waist laughing. She managed to hand Lumine a glass of water, which Lumine downed in record speed, and choke out, “That was called Enhanced Chili-Mince Cornbread Buns! Did you like it?” before dissolving back into laughter. 

After Xiangling was finished laughing her ass off and Lumine could talk without biting her swollen tongue (which sent Xiangling into another fit of laughter), she asked Lumine about why she was here and what case she was working on. Lumine talked with her a little about investigating the case of Rex Lapis, and even got comfortable enough to divulge to Xiangling that she was meeting with Hu Tao. At this, Xiangling gasped and Lumine steeled herself to receive more bad testimony about Hu Tao.

Instead, Xiangling cried, “I love Hu Tao! She’s so funny, my friends and I love it when she comes to hang out with us here. In fact-” She jogged over to the kitchen, leaving Lumine at the counter (out of the way of other customers, of course) as she went to grab something. She came back with another box identical to the one she’d given Lumine and said, “Here, can you give this to her? Tell her Xiangling sent it, and tells her to get her butt over here one of these days.”  

Lumine accepted the box cautiously, gingerly asking, “Are you sure she’d be okay with the… spice level?”

Xiangling laughed good-naturedly and said, “Don’t worry about it! Me and Hu Tao are birds of a feather with our spice tolerance, she’ll be totally cool with it.”

Lumine doubted that, but she took the box and promised to give Hu Tao the message. Xiangling snapped her fingers as she said, “Oh my Celestia! An idea!”

She pointed to Lumine as she said, “Today is buy one, get one day for happy hour at the Heyu Tea House! You and Hu Tao should totally come hang out, I can ask Hu Tao to bring Yanfei as well, oh my Celestia I haven’t seen Yanfei since forever, well not forever it’s only been-”

Xiangling stopped her tirade to say, “Lumine? What’s with the face?”

Lumine had been worrying her lip, trying to figure out how to relay this to Xiangling as softly as she could as she replied, “I… don’t really think Hu Tao will be wanting to drink with me after our interview today.”

Xiangling laughed confusedly, twisting in her chair, unaware of what Lumine was implying, “What do you mean? Aren’t you just asking her about her role as coroner? Why wouldn’t you-”

At this, something clicked as she turned around sharply to face Lumine and said, “You’re questioning Hu Tao as a suspect.”

Lumine guiltily nodded, hiding her face from Xiangling, who frowned as she took the information in. She quickly reassured, “I’m not mad at you or anything, Lumine. I know you just investigate what leads you’re given. I’m just shocked Liyue’s turned the finger to Hu Tao as quickly as it has.” 

Taking Lumine’s raised brow as an invitation, Xiangling sighed, “Hu Tao’s viewed as very strange around here. People can’t fathom that someone as bright and cheerful as her can run a successful funeral parlor.” 

She turned to Lumine with urgency, “Don’t get me wrong, Hu Tao is  insanely good at what she does! She’s very respectful, she just doesn't have the gloomy mood  that all the other funeral people seem to have, so everyone thinks she’s weird. ” 

She fervently pushed back her bangs as she continued to defend Hu Tao, “And she would never kill Rex La- Zhongli. They were close friends! Zhongli was even a consultant to Hu Tao. She would never!”

With a huff of breath, Xiangling stood up to go find something to busy her hands as Lumine pondered over the information in her head. What did she have on Hu Tao? She was officially the last person to see Rex Lapis, whether that was alive or dead. She did have a strange reaction to his death, smiling rather than delivering the news with tears in her eyes as a close friend probably should have. She also thought over what Qiqi had told her, saying that she despised Hu Tao, who had allegedly told her that she was going to “seal her away”. 

But out of respect for Xiangling and the sanctity of the case, Lumine absolutely had to go into the interview with a lack of bias. It was what any good reporter had to master, and Lumine was a great one.  

As Xiangling came back, arms full of a mixing bowl which she was whipping with vigor, Lumine rose from her seat, smiled and said, “Thanks for telling me about Hu Tao, Xiangling. I’ll let her know about the drinks and I’ll try to come as well.” Lumine grew self conscious suddenly and stuttered, “I-if you’ll still have me, of course.” 

Xiangling smiled sweetly and nodded, pushing the box of spicy cornbread rolls and the still-steamy rice balls towards Lumine as she said, “You’re always welcome, Lumine.”

Lumine smiled at Xiangling and waved goodbye as she continued on her way, with a whole lot more to think about.

Confession time: Lumine had never been to a funeral before. 

She’d had relatives die before, but she’d been too young to attend when they died. Her grandparents were all dead before she was born. Thankfully, none of her friends had passed away. 

So, by the same token, this would be the first time Lumine had ever visited a funeral parlor. 

That’s why Lumine was torn between feeling grateful and being confused over the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor’s appearance. 

From the outside, it was pretty standard for a business in Liyue: darker outside, on the bottom floor of a two-story structure, red columns flanking the entrance, a green gabled roof. 

On the inside, though, the funeral home was a complete contradiction to what it was supposed to be. It wasn’t dark or gloomy, filled with the cries of loved ones. Instead it was light, like someone had opened all the windows to let the crisp winter air in. There was light but cheerful music being played, but it sounded like it was being played from a record player or a radio station rather than piped in over the intercom. 

Lumine was too busy gawking to notice she’d made it to the front desk. When she finally was able to wrench her eyes from taking in her surroundings, she made eye contact with the man at the front who was grinning at her expression. 

He introduced himself as Meng and confirmed that she was Hu Tao’s eleven o’clock appointment before getting up to go check that Hu Tao was ready to receive Lumine. 

As he walked away, Lumine took some time to look over the decor. There was a very tasteful sign affixed to the wall opposite her that read “Painting the Last Strokes” written in calligraphy that looked hand-painted. On the wall next to Lumine, there stood two portraits that had “Previous Director” and “Current Director” plaques above them. To the left, under the previous, there was a picture of a kindly looking old man, wearing a hat Lumine had seen Hu Tao wearing in pictures. To the right, was Hu Tao herself, beaming from ear to ear. She looked a bit younger than Lumine had seen on TV, but otherwise unchanged.

Lumine studied the portrait of Hu Tao thoughtfully. What was this eccentric young woman doing running a funeral parlor? Her attitude and her age suggested that she’d be better suited to a different career.

But Lumine also had to think about what Xiangling had said, and consider the facts. Hu Tao was indeed good at her job, the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor was a booming business, and they had a lot of clients who trusted Hu Tao to get the job done. 

Stuck in contemplation, Lumine didn’t even hear the click-clack of heeled loafers come to a stop next to her. She only realized someone was next to her when she heard a lilting voice say, “Isn’t she cute?”

Lumine jumped, quickly turning to face the source of the voice: the young woman she was here to interview. 

Lumine looked over at the girl, taking in her interesting outfit of a black blazer with matching black and red coattails and a well-tailored hat resting atop her head. She had long, twin ponytails coming out from underneath the hat, which flowed all the way to her waist area. 

Instead of facing Lumine, she was looking at the portrait of herself, fondly smiling at the visage of her younger self. 

“I was sixteen when I became director of Wangsheng,” Hu Tao declared, “three years after my grandfather passed.”

Lumine listened in silence, allowing Hu Tao to continue her story. But instead, Hu Tao turned to Lumine with a big smile on her face and said, “Are those from Xiangling?” Lumine had almost forgotten the bag full of (SPICY, WAY TOO HOT) confections and passed the box to Hu Tao. 

Hu Tao wasted no time opening the box with delicate fingers full of rings and black nail polish, maintaining eye contact with Lumine to acknowledge her voice but licking her lips in anticipation of whatever she thought Xiangling had given her. 

Lumine dutifully reported,  “Xiangling wanted me to give you a message with the box. She says- ”

She cut herself off as she watched Hu Tao pick up one, two, three spicy cornbread buns and stuffed her cheeks with them.

Lumine watched in (awe? fear? nausea?) as Hu Tao didn’t so much as flinch, merely swallowing the buns ravenously, before wiping her mouth with her sleeve and saying, “I’m sorry, I’m being a rude hostess,” she held out a bun with her non-powdered sleeve, “ would you like one?”

Lumine fervently shook her head and said, “NO! I mean-” she cleared her throat, “no thank you, but Xiangling already let me sample some.”

Hu Tao chewed another bun thoughtfully and swallowed before saying, “What were you saying before? A message Xiangling had for me?”

Lumine laughed and said, “This is coming from Xiangling, not me. But she says to get your butt over to Wangming Restaurant one of these days.”

Hu Tao gave a friendly laugh, “I’ll definitely call her! I’ve been neglecting that poor girl, and more importantly, her delicious food.

But for now, wanna get the interview started?” 

She gave a small smile as she awaited Lumine’s answer, rocking backwards and forwards on her heels. Lumine wondered if it was nervous energy or just hyperactivity. 

Tuning into detective mode, Lumine nodded and allowed Hu Tao to lead her to the room where she’d be conducting her interview, which happened to be her own director’s room. They settled at a desk where Hu Tao offered her a drink before reaching into a secret minifridge under her desk to grab herself a sunsettia juice. 

Lumine reached into her backpack purse and took out some writing utensils and set up her recording device and pad of paper before she asked, “Is it alright if I record this interview?”

Hu Tao, still sipping on the sunsettia juice, nodded and held up a thumbs-up to confirm her consent. 

Lumine pressed record and took a deep breath, steeling her nerve before she began. 

She’d interviewed dozens of witnesses, suspects, and victims because of her line of work. She knew, as always, what answers to look for in regards to the case she was investigating. But even more than that, she knew to look out for body language. She’d managed to solve the mystery of Joel’s father (the case Xiangling had mentioned) because she recognized the strangeness of the body language of what she had assumed to be her friend Albedo. 

It wasn’t so much the “if they’re looking right, they’re lying” type of clue. It was more of identifying comfort levels and the emotions behind the answers the interviewee was giving. 

So, before asking any questions, Lumine quickly jotted down a couple notes on Hu Tao’s general disposition going into the interview. 

Very casual, solid eye contact, legs remain still

Lumine led with an open-ended question, so that the director could interpret it however she chose, “So Hu Tao, I assume you know what this interview is about, right?” 

Hu Tao let out a sigh, putting down her juice and replying, “Yes.”

“You believe I killed Zhongli, correct?”

Woah , Lumine did not expect that to be her answer. She expected, frankly, some kind of roundabout way of saying she knew Zhongli or an alibi of some sort. 

Lumine stuttered, “N-no, Director Hu. That’s not what-”

Hu Tao let out a giggle, almost like she was teasing her, “Sorry Lumine. I didn’t mean to jump into it that fast, I’m a lot more blunt than I think I am  sometimes. “

She didn’t seem very sorry , Lumine thought. Lumine wondered how this interview would play itself out.

She shuffled her feet in a little dance while saying, “And you don’t have to call me director! Hu Tao is totally fine.”

Lumine collected herself and said, “I’m not a Millileth, I have no plans to arrest you or blame you for Mr. Zhongli’s death. I simply want to hear about your relationship with Rex Lapis and your investigation of his” Lumine paused to choose her words carefully as she knew the two had been close friends, “...death.”

Raised jaw, inner eyebrows raised, jutted lower lip 

This meant Hu Tao was genuinely sad! Lumine paid close attention as she watched Hu Tao bite her lip before choosing an answer.

Then…  she smiled. 

Wait, huh .

All former traces of sadness vanished off her face as she gave Lumine a bright, wide smile. Her eyes crinkled with mirth as she answered, “Me and Zhongli were besties! He was a whoooole lot older than I was, we all- everyone in the parlor, I mean- teased him about how ancient he was.”

Lumine, shocked, pretended to write down everything she was saying (which was unnecessary because she had a recording device keeping track of everything) as she pondered what the director was saying. 

She completely redirected! She spoke of Zhongli as he was alive, without adding a single concession about his death or how she’d declared him legally dead. 

Lumine tried again, “It sounds like you knew him well. How have you been dealing with his passing?”

Laced fingers, crossed ankles

“I’ve been alright, thank you! I’m very used to dealing with death. Everyone in the city though, oof. They’re taking it preeetty hard. Did you see Xinyan canceled her performance?” She snapped her fingers, “I was so looking forward to that!” 

Lumine stopped writing and looked up at Hu Tao.

Unbelievable . She’d never seen such deflection in an interview before. Hu Tao couldn’t be acting guiltier if she tried.

She felt her hopes sinking, which was a weird feeling for Lumine to be having right now. She should be elated! It seems like her first suspect might be the only suspect with how Hu Tao was responding to these questions. 

But after hearing about Hu Tao from Xiangling and seeing how close Hu Tao used to be with Zhongli in the picture on the memorial wreath, Lumine had to admit that she was holding out hope for Hu Tao to be innocent. 

So, to give herself some time to catch up and for Hu Tao to maybe settle down a little more, Lumine asked a couple questions about business at Wangsheng (“you wouldn’t believe some of the requests we get! Like- let me not mention that one on air actually”) and growing up in Liyue (“born and raised! By my grandfather actually. Not that I mean my grandfather gave birth to me, obviously”). 

Once she felt like Hu Tao had maybe defrosted enough to ask again about Rex Lapis’ death, she gave it another go, “Going back to Zhongli, can you tell me a little bit about what happened on the day of the explosion?”

Lowered eyebrows, downturned lips, gritted teeth, small, almost imperceptible huff of breath

“It was pretty standard. The patient” Lumine noted the word choice, “presented deceased on arrival. Cause of death was determined to be burns and the impact from the explosion on the patient’s body.”

Hu Tao avoided Lumine’s eyes as she took another sip of sunsettia juice. After swallowing, she roughly placed the juice on the desk and avoided Lumine’s incredulous eyes. 

Lumine had to remind herself to calm down before gritting out, “Hu Tao.”

Crossed arms, turned head

“Yes, Lumine?”

Lumine almost threw her pad of paper down before calming herself and clicking off her pen to set it down on the paper. 

She rubbed the bridge of her nose with her fingers and said, “Hu Tao, I’m going to be honest with you, brutally.”

Hu Tao held eye contact, lilting voice becoming steely, “Shoot.”

Lumine removed her fingers from her nose bridge to make full, tense eye contact with the girl, “You’re not looking good right now.”

Hu Tao forced out a giggle and joked, “What do you mean, Lumine? Are my pigtails lopsided or something?” 

Lumine slapped her hands on her paper and hissed, frustrated at her interviewer, “Right now, you are not only my only suspect, but you’re looking like you might be my last suspect. You refuse to answer my questions, “ She held up a finger, “you don’t show a single bit of grief, despite being such close friends with the victim,” she held up another, “you were the last person to see the deceased,” she held up yet another finger, “and you’ve got almost everyone in this town vouching against you!”

“Zhongli was murdered and you’re going to be pinned for it unless you give everyone a reason to believe otherwise.”

Hu Tao opened her mouth, like she was going to say something. Then firmly shut it. 

And started sniffling.

Lumine spectated, shocked, as big tears started slowly rolling down the girl’s porcelain cheeks. When Lumine reached around the desk and offered a tissue, she started sobbing in earnest. 

Lumine was stunned in place for a second, before getting up to pat Hu Tao on the back. The director turned to her to give her a hug, sobbing on Lumine’s shoulder.

After a minute, she calmed down enough to wipe her eyes with the tissue, wiping away the tear tracks from her mascara before laughing wetly and saying, “Wow, I have not done that in a little while. I’m really sorry, this is really embarrassing.”

Lumine just nodded, returning to her seat before reassuring, “Don’t worry. I’ve had plenty of people cry during interviews, I’m pretty used to it.” She held up her tissue packet, “See, I know to always bring tissues.” 

Hu Tao laughed again, before throwing her used tissue into the trash can. 

Lumine said gently, “Alright, let’s talk about it.”

Hu Tao sighed and unlaced  her tightly wound up her fingers, conceding, “Alright.”

“As the director of a funeral parlor, I can’t show my personal emotions while I’m doing my job. I have to stay upbeat and reassure everyone so they don’t get panicked.” 

Hu Tao’s eyes watered and she pressed both her thumbs into the corner of her eyes to hold off the tears. Lumine was still a little shell-shocked at how much emotion the girl was showing, Hu Tao looked really, genuinely upset. 

“It was really difficult because Zhongli and I were really close when he was alive. He was just so nice! He was kind to everyone including,” her eyes were downcast, “oddballs like me.”

She got up to pace around her desk like a wind-up toy that had just been wound as far as it could go, full of anxious energy and warding off tears, “He was always there to listen when I complained about the people who called me weird and he was always ready to defend me when the public started attacking me.”

“ Especially with the whole Qiqi situation.”

Lumine stiffened, which Hu Tao took notice of. She stopped her pacing to say, “You know Qiqi?”

Lumine rubbed her neck awkwardly and admitted, “Yeaah. She’s my neighbor for the rest of my trip.”

Hu Tao groaned and smacked her forehead with her palm. 

“Of course you do. No offense, but you’re really good at what you do.”

Lumine laughed quietly but waved her hand for Hu Tao to carry on with the story. Hu Tao resumed her pacing and continued, “Qiqi used to come down here with her guardian, Baizhu,” she shot Lumine a glance, to which she nodded her recognition of Baizhu, “when she was struggling with her” wince “… life-threatening illness.”

Lumine lowered her pad of paper in shock, “Hu Tao. Tell me you didn’t.”

Hu Tao raised her hands in defense, “It’s not like I told her she was going to die! I just… explained the process of death and burial to her. I was still really new to this stuff!!”

She paced a little faster as if she could run away from the embarrassment, “I thought it would help relieve her pressure, but all she heard was: “

She held up her hands in overexaggerated air quotes and mimicked Qiqi’s apathetic tone, ‘Hu Tao is going to bury me in a coffin.’ which she told everyone .”

Lumine rubbed the bridge of her nose again. Geez , she thought, Zhongli must’ve been a master at public policy if he smoothed that over.

Hu Tao pretty much read her mind by saying, “Zhongli managed to curb some of the reaction from that by telling everyone that it was just a misunderstanding and clearing everything up with Baizhu, who pretty much understood the situation, besides letting me know that I probably shouldn’t interact with Qiqi for a whiiile.” 

She rubbed her fingers together sheepishly before somberly sitting down in her desk chair. 

“I really do miss Zhongli, he reminded me a lot of my grandpa, which is, I guess, why his death is affecting me so much.” She sighed, “The worst thing though is that Zhongli’s death feels unfinished. My grandpa died because it was his time, but Zhongli…”

She made eye contact with Lumine, who had stopped writing and was just listening, before saying “I dislike loose ends a lot.”

As did Lumine. It was the whole reason why she’d started this blog, the whole reason why she did what she did. She empathized  with Hu Tao yearning for answers because she’d done so herself for her entire life.

So Lumine nodded meaningfully, taking in Hu Tao’s  words and the responsibility she felt to solve this case. She flipped shut her pad of paper and stood up before saying, “Thank you, Hu Tao.”

Hu Tao stood up as well, enveloping Lumine, who’d had her hand out for a handshake, in a hug, mumbling, “Thanks for doing this Lumine. I know you might still have your suspicions about me, but I really hope you can figure out who did this. For Zhongli.”

Hu Tao brightened and offered, “I’ll even give you a coupon for 25% off our best oakwood coffin if you’re able to beat this case.”  

Lumine laughed and squeezed her tightly before letting go slowly and hesitantly offered an olive branch, “Xiangling said to let you know about bogo day at the Heyu Tea House today. I told her I’d probably make it by. I hope I’ll see you there?”

Hu Tao smiled, walking her over to the door while handing her a business card with her number and saying, “Oh, you bet! I never miss bogo night.”

Lumine snorted before adding, “I almost forgot. Xiangling said to ask you to bring a… Yanfei?”

Hu Tao almost lost it at this, letting out a big belly laugh and saying, “What a great idea! I can’t wait for the two of you to meet!”

Lumine highly doubted that she’d share her enthusiasm when the time came but she smiled and wished Hu Tao well before leaving. 

As she walked back, she thought hard about what this meant for her case. Her prime suspect had massively declined on her list of guilt, and she only had one more (possible) lead left for this case. 

Lumine sighed. She hoped a massive stroke of luck, some huge clue would descend upon her soon. 

Little did she know, she was very close to discovering a very, very big clue. If she’d only looked a couple feet to her right, behind the column of a nearby building, hidden from the view of the public, she would’ve noticed the biggest clue she could’ve possibly received staring directly at her. 

Alas, the pseudo-detective was far too engrossed in the interview she’d just conducted. So the eyes simply watched her until she went beyond their eyesight, before turning and stealthily returning to where they came from. 

Chapter Text

Lumine took her time heading back from Hu Tao’s interview. She had a lot to think about while she was walking, so she walked slowly, ruminating as she did.

She’d be receiving the footage of the explosion in a couple days (or at least that’s what she’d been promised by the Millelith). She’d be receiving it a full twenty-four hours before the rest of the public was, due to some connections she’d made with previous cases. 

But right now she had more pressing issues. 

She had to get ready for her babysitting with Qiqi. In between researching for the case yesterday, she’d been researching good babysitting techniques and games to play with how old she guessed Qiqi was. Baizhu had assured her that she could order whatever (that he’d pay for) and Qiqi would eat it, as long as she was assured it wasn’t cocogoat meat (which was a whole separate issue on its own).

So, just as she promised, at 4:50 Lumine was knocking on the door of Baizhu and Qiqi’s residence, holding the pack of cards that she brought every time she traveled and her laptop (just in case). 

Inside the door, she could hear sounds of disarray, which surprised her, and Baizhu yelling, “Qiqi put it down! You’re going to take someone’s eye out with that thing!”

Baizhu answered the door less than ten seconds later, looking slightly harried before smiling brightly at Lumine and saying, “Hello dear!”

He held open the door for her as he smoothed down his ivy colored hair while confessing, “I’m sorry in advance for the hyperactivity. Qiqi’s usually very calm but one of her online friends from Mondstadt introduced her to… how shall I put this” Baizhu furrowed his brow, “...homemade explosives.”

Lumine’s mouth fell open before a spark of recognition flared in her brain, “Oh my goodness! Are you talking about Klee?”

Baizhu, although slightly surprised, put a hand on his chest with relief, “I am so glad you know the child. I admit, I was slightly nervous that you would think of Qiqi and I as some kind of insane household that manufactures weapons!”

Lumine laughed loudly before reassuring, “Don’t worry, I’m friends with her guardian Albedo so I’ve met Klee plenty of times.” She was curious, though, “What kind of explosives did Klee teach Qiqi about?”

She quickly got her answer as she was hit square in the face with a spurt of brown fizzy liquid as Qiqi called out, with absolutely no sense of urgency or enthusiasm, “Watch out.”

The force of the spurt knocked Lumine over missing her laptop and cards ( thank Celestia ) as Baizhu scolded, “Qiqi what did I just say?!”

“Sorry.” Qiqi monotoned, revealing herself as the culprit, and stepping out from behind the counter guiltily. 

Baizhu helped Lumine up, apologizing profusely before checking his watch and blurting, “Lumine dear, I am so sorry, but I’m already late for my shift. Is it okay if I leave you with Qiqi?” He sent a glare towards Qiqi and said through gritted teeth, “She will be disposing of the soda bomb. Won’t she?”

Qiqi roamed over to pick up the bottle and throw it away as Lumine assured, “Don’t worry Baizhu, like I said, I’ve had plenty of experience with Klee and her bombs, so I was expecting a lot worse.” 

Baizhu breathed out, still looking stressed, and whispered, “If she tries anything like that again, don’t be afraid to threaten the cocogoat, it's very effective.”

Lumine covered her mouth with a hand to hide her chuckles before agreeing, “Deal.”

With this, Baizhu grabbed his coat and his satchel, while jogging out the door and calling out, “Remember you can order whatever for dinner, dear, I left some money on the counter for you and Qiqi.”

After calling out her thanks and watching the door close behind him, Lumine turned to face Qiqi who was still cleaning up her mess. Lumine grabbed a couple paper towels and bent down to help her mop up the spill before asking, more curious than annoyed, “How did you make the soda go so far?”

Qiqi gave a faint smile and said, “Klee said to add mint candies.”

“Of course.”

They stayed there, mopping up the spill before Lumine remembered to ask, “Hey, do you have any homework or anything?”

“A project.”

“Oh, all right. When’s it due?”

“Tomorrow.”

“... Of course it is.”

So, that’s how the two found themselves collecting all manner of colored pencils and writing utensils to get started on the project, which was actually about Rex Lapis. The prompt read, “Create a poster on Rex Lapis Zhongli, his history, and three fun facts about him. Please include at least one picture and one article cutout (can be found online or in a newspaper)”

So, as Qiqi started dragging the color pencils across the paper ( not in a very gentle way , Lumine thought), Lumine ordered cheese pizza over the phone. She probably would’ve gotten pepperoni but she wasn’t really in the mood to explain to Qiqi what kind of meat pepperoni was. 

Lumine let Qiqi borrow her laptop- since Baizhu’s had a password on it- and she sat on the couch   with the laptop resting overly large on her lap, kicking her feet as Lumine surveyed her to make sure she wasn’t playing games on it. So far, she’d been very diligent, finding one (not so flattering) picture of Zhongli and one article that might be promising. 

She pondered as Qiqi clacked away on the laptop. Another show of how much Liyue loved Zhongli: their teachers finding ways for his students to honor him and to, most likely, help them through the confusion of losing their benevolent leader. She again wondered, against her own best interest, who would’ve had a motive to kill this guy. 

She was pretty much ready to cast doubt away from Hu Tao, whose eccentricity seemed to become a scapegoat in the eyes of the public, since there was no real evidence tying her to the crime. She’d also been at Wangsheng (which was confirmed by security footage) the entire time the explosion had occured.

Explosives were tricky though, as Lumine knew from spending time with Klee, a child from Mondstadt who had an unnerving obsession and expert-level knowledge of explosives. They were the perfect murder weapon for someone who didn’t want to be connected to the crime but definitely wanted their mark dead. It could be detonated either by hand (which Lumine doubted since there were no other bodies found nearby) or remotely. 

Disrupting  her gruesome train of thought was a knock on the door and a voice calling out, “Hi! Pizza!”

Shooting Qiqi a glance to find her still on task, Lumine got up to answer the door and to tip the delivery driver. She opened it to find a  young man of about 18 with light blue hair and a black shirt. He held out the box and said, “I have a large cheese pizza for-”

He checked the name again before coming to an apparent realization, looking up to make eye contact, and gasping, “Oh my gosh, Lumine?”

Lumine, obviously shocked and surprised, squeaked, “That’s me!”

The boy fumbled slightly with the box before yelping, “My friends and I are big fans of your blog!” 

Lumine let out a sigh of relief before chuckling and admitting, “Celestia, I thought you were some kind of stalker.”

The boy quickly cleared up, “Oh my gosh, no of course not. I just got a little too excited, haha.” He rubbed down his arm as if to cool it down, “I honestly thought my friend Xiangling was lying when she said she you were here in Liyue.”

Lumine, pleased, said, “Oh I met Xiangling! She’s very sweet.” Lumine chuckled and said, “I’m even supposed to meet her for drinks tonight if the kid I’m babysitting isn’t too tiring.” 

Chongyun, now a lot calmer, said excitedly, “Me too! I’m actually heading there after my shift ends.”

He held out a hand for Lumine to shake, alllmost expertly balancing the pizza box before it tilted harshly too one side and he had to catch it with his other hand. Face red, he got a tighter hand on the box and held his hand out again before saying, “Since we’ll see each other later, I’m Chongyun!”

She shook his hand, smiling warmly, and saying, “I’ll see you around, Chongyun.”

They exchanged pizza and money and Lumine waved goodbye as she shut the door behind her. Qiqi was still clacking away, though she’d found her way to a game instead of an article. Rolling her eyes, Lumine placed the pizza box on a nearby table and called out, “Qiqi! Pizza!”

Qiqi softly closed the laptop, which Lumine appreciated, and put it on the couch before wandering over to the table to grab a slice. As they ate, Lumine questioned, “How’s the project going? Before the game, I mean.”

Qiqi, either not understanding or ignoring her sarcasm, said, “Good. I’m almost done. I just need to print everything out.”

So, after they ate and Lumine chatted with Qiqi for a little, Lumine helped Qiqi to print out everything and helped her paste them onto the poster, admiring the vivid colors and the swirls she had decorated the paper with. 

“Hey Qiqi.”

“Yes?”

“What do you think about Rex Lapis?”

Qiqi wiped glue on her lavendar-colore overalls (which made Lumine cringe slightly) and responded simply, “I liked him. He visited Bubu Pharmacy one time.”

Lumine perked up at this, asking, “Really? What was he like?”

“He was nice,” Qiqi replied, “and so was his best friend.”

Confused, Lumine stopped the pasting and asked, “Best friend?”

Qiqi, apparently already bored by the conversation, turned back to her project and said, “The orange hair man and Mister Zhongli came to get something from Bubu Pharmacy” where Baizhu worked and Qiqi lived, Lumine remembered, “and I asked if they were friends. The orange hair man said they were best friends. And because they were best friends, he paid for Mister Zhongli.” 

Lumine sat back, absorbing the information while Qiqi handed her things to cut out with a pair of kiddie scissors. As she sawed through the paper, a lightbulb suddenly flicked on in her head and she ran over to grab her phone. Running back over to Qiqi, she looked up a picture of Ajax Tartaglia and showed it to Qiqi asking, “Was this the orange haired man?”

Qiqi looked up, nodded, and went back to her work, almost finished. She waved Lumine back to the couch, apparently finished needing her help and wanting to finish the rest “on her own”. 

Lumine sat back in her chair, stunned. When Baizhu had mentioned the pair being “close personal associates”, she’d assumed that they’d worked together frequently, not that they’d been “best friends” as Qiqi had said. Maybe Ajax Tartaglia was a bigger lead than she thought. 

She wanted to get her mind off things, so in a rare moment of self-indulgence, she texted the number she’d taken a picture of on Hu Tao’s business card.

hu tao 👻

hey hu tao! 

this is lumine

When Qiqi finished her project, Lumine helped her to put away all the supplies she’d taken out and came back to a message from hu tao, who’d responded in record time with an enthusiastic amount of messages.

hu tao 👻

hiiii lumine :D

are u still coming for drinks? 

i called xiangling and she said we should get there around 8 ish and that she’d save u a seat!!

u should come!

i have the BEST drink recommendation

itll blow your socks off!!!

Lumine laughed out loud, replying immediately.

hu tao 👻

 im definitely a little scared now, but ill be there! 

see u at 8

Putting her phone away, she asked Qiqi, “Alright, no more homework right?”

Qiqi nodded her head no, then after thinking for a second asked, “Does that mean I can play with my soda bomb?”

“NO!”

Qiqi grumbled until Lumine offered, “Wanna play cards?” After Qiqi nodded yes, she grabbed her cards and set them down on the table to play. The two played Go Fish for about a half an hour before Lumine heard the door unlocking. 

In came Baizhu, still wearing his scrubs, which Lumine had never seen him in before, grinning tiredly and asking, “Hello dears! How was your night?”

He looked expectantly at Lumine, who laughed and said, “Qiqi, you want to tell Baizhu?”

Qiqi pretended not to hear her as she mixed up her cards, pretending to shuffle them. Lumine was sure Qiqi wouldn’t be in trouble, so she turned to Baizhu and recounted, “We played cards, had pizza… and did a project, which is due tomorrow apparently.”

Baizhu put his head in his hands and asked, “Qiqi why didn’t you tell me about this project of yours?”

Qiqi, still avoiding eye contact, muttered, “I forgot.”

Lumine covered her smiling mouth with her hand and turned to Baizhu, “It’s not a problem though, Qiqi was able to finish everything. It turned out very lovely. It’s just got to dry a little.”

Baizhu looked over at the finished project, snapping his fingers with a sudden thought, “I almost forgot!” He turned to Lumine, “Ajax Tartaglia agreed to an interview.”

Lumine jumped up out of her seat, exclaiming, “No way!! Really?”

Baizhu laughed, before confirming, “Yes, he’ll still be at the hospital for a while so he agreed to be interviewed on Friday, if you’re also available, and I can let you know a good time.” 

Lumine cheered, thanking Baizhu profusely. He laughed and said, “It’s no problem, dear. Let me get your payment and I’ll accompany you out.”

As he went to the kitchen to grab the payment, Qiqi went over to Lumine and tugged her sleeve to let her know she wanted to whisper something. Lumine knelt down curiously, only for Qiqi to whisper into her ear, “Next time, please bring coco goat milk. Don’t tell Baizhu, he said too much will make me sick.” 

Lumine stood up laughing  and replied, “No promises, Qiqi.”

She walked out with Baizhu, but before she forgot, she wanted to ask a question. She whispered, “Baizhu, Qiqi was telling me that Zhongli visited Bubu Pharmacy with Ajax Tartaglia. She said they were”, Lumine hesitated, “best friends?”

Baizhu sighed, before admitting, “I tried to tell Qiqi not to mention that to anyone.” Lumine held his gaze, encouraging him to continue, “The pair wanted to keep their visit on the down low. They were just buying incense, but two political figures from different nations visiting places on their own would’ve sparked a media frenzy.”

Lumine contemplated this, before finally saying, “So were they friends or just work associates, then?”

Baizhu shrugged his shoulders, “I’ve no idea. Your guess is as good as mine.” 

Lumine doubted that, but she pressed no further. She thanked Baizhu for the information and the payment, and went back to her temporary home next door. 

Lumine, oh mighty traveler of nations, was so very experienced in traveling. So very experienced in fact, that she brought literally nothing but work clothes because she never learned her lesson about bringing at least ONE cute outfit. 

Luckily, she was able to pull together an outfit that wouldn’t be considered “business casual” or “travel chic” with the clothes she had packed, but it was cutting it close. She sighed, wishing she had her old “going out” outfits.

She reminisced about when she was 18 in Mondstadt. She and her friend Venti would get all dressed up and tear up taverns and bars in the area, drinking so late into the night that the birds tweeting the dawn was usually her sign to go home. 

Thinking about those days usually did her more harm than good though, since that was only a year or two after she’d lost…

sigh

What was she doing? 

Was she really going to go drinking with some random people she’d just met when she should be working?

When she should be finding clues or researching the disappearance or helping someone else?

She stopped her trek to sit on a bench right outside the Heyu Tea House.  She stared at her knees in despair, her lip gently wobbling as she thought long and hard about what she should do. She was already at her destination, far from her residence and she’d promised Hu Tao, Xiangling, and Chongyun that she would come.

 But she could also just cancel, give an excuse, work on what she had to do. 

Or you could relax, like literally everyone is telling you to do , an internal voice that sounded suspiciously like Paimon scolded. 

“Hey, are you alright?”

Lumine’s head shot up, throwing her hair (which she’d worked so hard on) back and disrupting her gloomy thoughts. She found the source of the voice, a smiling woman with dark bangs in what looked like her early to mid-twenties wearing a tidy Heyu Tea House shirt with cute reverse stitch pants and skater shoes. She looked at Lumine with kind, but concerned amber eyes as she waited for her to answer.

Lumine didn’t want to worry a stranger, so she tried her best to clear her voice of any emotion and croaked, “Yeah. I’m fine, thank you.”

The stranger sighed and gestured to the space next to Lumine on the bench. “Mind if I sit?”

Lumine shook her head no, scooching over to allow the woman space to sit down. She turned to face her and asked, “What’s your name, love?”

Lumine answered, “I’m Lumine. What’s yours?”

The woman hesitated a second before saying, “I’m Yun Jin.” She looked cautiously at Lumine as if expecting her to recognize the name, but when she received no confirmation, she relaxed slightly. 

“Now that we know each other’s names, you have to tell me what’s wrong”, she teased, “I had to step in so you wouldn’t ruin your beautiful makeup.”

Lumine blushed, laughing as she tucked her hair self-consciously behind her ear. She admitted, “I’m just… not sure if I deserve a night out.”

Yun Jin laughed at this and said, “Lumine, if everyone waited until they deserved a night out, the tea house would be empty!” She looked Lumine in the eyes and said, “What’s making you feel like you don’t deserve this?”

Lumine hardly believed she was telling this to a stranger but she’d just been keeping it in for so long, and just like Qiqi’s soda bomb, it exploded out of her (just like Paimon said, but she’d never let her know that). Tears ran down her cheeks as she explained to Yun Jin about her blog and the pressure she was under.

As she cried, Lumine avoided the eyes of passerby, who weren’t paying attention to what they figured was another drunk girl crying her eyes out outside of a bar. 

After she was done spewing, Yun Jin- who had been listening intently and rubbing Lumine’s back as she cried herself out- offered a token of wisdom, “Love, it sounds like you, more than anyone, deserves to relax.” She looked her in the eyes as she said, “You’ve helped so many people, from what you’ve told me. I’m sure everyone, your brother included, would just want you to relax and celebrate your victories before you plunge into another battle.”

“Take a deep breath and just live for a second.” 

Lumine sniffled, completely taking in Yun Jin’s words and attempting to internalize them the best she could. She still wasn’t completely absolved of her guilt in having a night out, but she was willing to put it aside to, in Yun Jin’s word “celebrate her victories”.

Lumine whispered, “Thank you, Yun Jin.” 

With a giggle, Yun Jin whispered back, “Of course, friend.” 

Lumine wasn’t quite ready to head in yet and Yun Jin’s shift didn’t start till later, so the pair talked about anything they could think about for a while. Lumine complimented Yun Jin’s bangs and they talked about Xinyan the rock’n’roll performer (“I watch her performances every week! I was upset that they canceled them for a while after Rex Lapis’s death, though I completely understand why.”) and what drinks Yun Jin recommended off the Heyu Tea House menu. 

After she was ready, Lumine asked to hug Yun Jin to which she replied with an enthusiastic “Of course!” and grabbed her in a bear hug. 

Finally, the two entered Heyu Tea House, which had Lumine taken aback almost instantly. It was gorgeous, especially for an establishment that served alcohol (translation: Lumine had been in some nasty bars, and this was definitely not one of them). 

The one word Lumine could describe it as: maximalist. But it wasn’t cluttered; it felt like every single piece of decor deserved to be there and felt like it belonged. 

There were beautiful lighted lanterns and paper lanterns hung up in strings over everyone’s heads and strings of star lights hung up over the bar. Photos both in and out of picture frames decorated the wall and everything had a soft, woody glow. Velvety red curtains dotted the stage area, which was set up for live music, though nobody was playing. 

Lumine was so busy gawking at the beautiful tea house that she didn’t notice Hu Tao coming in behind her, yelling “Boo!” in her ear. Lumine let out a squeak and jumped so high that she thought her head would hit the ceiling. 

Bent over laughing, Hu Tao could hardly form a word with her mouth, clutching onto her companion’s arm for dear life. Speaking of her companion, Lumine glanced over to the girl standing next to Hu Tao, who wore her pink hair in shaggy bangs and a long sheet down her back. She had a slightly frowny expression, studying Lumine with intelligent teal eyes as she supported Hu Tao’s giggling form. 

Hu Tao wiped a tear from her eye and chuckled, “Lumine, you scare easier than a granny!”

At this, the pink-haired girl shoved her elbow (none too gently, mind you) into Hu Tao’s ribs and scolded, “Hey, don’t talk about Granny like that! You scare much easier than she does.” 

Hu Tao apologized, “Sorry, Yanfei. You know I love Madame Ping” my landlady? Lumine thought ”to Celestia and back.” 

Yanfei harrumphed playfully and turned away as Hu Tao turned to Lumine and said, “This is Yanfei! I told you about her during the interview, remember?”

At this, Yanfei turned back to the two and interrupted, “By the way, I’ll need to ask you some questions about that interview. Hu Tao has no idea about any of her legal rights and I need to make sure you’re abiding by Liyue legal cu-”

Hu Tao rushed in to interrupt, placing a hand over Yanfei’s mouth “Fei, please! We can talk after, but it’s totally fine. Lumine was just- EW! DID YOU JUST LICK ME”

Lumine was glad to have a distraction as she heard a familiar voice call, “Lumine! Over here!”

She turned to find Xiangling waving at her, already seated at a booth table, with two boys seated next to her. One Lumine recognized as Chongyun, who was also waving shyly with a small smile, but the other was unfamiliar to Lumine. He was a skinny boy, about the same age as Chongyun with chin-length Prussian blue hair and a starstruck expression on his face. 

Lumine laughed to herself, guessing she was about to meet another fan of her blog. And she was right. 

Once Lumine reached the table, Xiangling introduced her to Chongyun, who explained that they’d met already,  and Xingqiu, the other boy at the table. He gushed, “I’m sure you’ve heard this way too much today from them two, but I’m a huge fan of your blog!” 

Lumine laughed good-naturedly and assured, “Don’t worry, I haven’t been to a nation where I’ve been recognized this much for a long time.”

The group laughed, and Xiangling asked, “What nation did you come to Liyue from?”

Lumine shuddered, feeling the phantom breezes and cold settle on her as she answered, “Dragonspine.”

“No way!” Chongyun said, “I just came from Dragonspine!”

Lumine looked at the boy, shocked, as she questioned blatantly, “Why?”

Xingqiu laughed as he exclaimed, “That’s what I said!” He placed a hand on Chongyun’s shoulder as he explained helpfully on his behalf, “It’s because he’s really hot.”

Lumine and Xiangling burst into laughter at Chongyun’s blush at the boy’s words before he shoved Xingqiu and yelled, “You know that’s not how to explain it, idiot! It’s a health condition.”

They were still laughing as Hu Tao and Yanfei came over, bearing drinks for themselves and the others. Hu Tao handed Lumine a drink as she explained, “Yun Jin says this one’s on the house. I tried to get her to make you my special drink but she refused. I have no idea why!”

Lumine looked around Hu Tao pouting, and was able to make eye contact with Yun Jin as she mouthed “Thank you!” Yun Jin, wiping down glasses at the bar, held up her rag in acknowledgement. 

Xiangling laughed as she said, “Lumine, how do you know so many people after being in the city for less than a week?”

Hu Tao chimed in, “And famous people too! Yun Jin’s usually very picky about what friends she makes.” 

Lumine exclaimed in protest, “What’s that supposed to mean?!”

 Yanfei laughed lightly before explaining, “Yun Jin’s a famous opera singer. All the elders in the opera community judge her for her job, her friends, her taste in music, everything!” Yanfei appraised Lumine with eyes that made her feel like she was being looked through like an x-ray. “So for her to make friends with anybody, they’d have to be worth the wrath of the opera community.” 

Lumine sipped her drink thoughtfully, glancing up at Yun Jin who was helping another customer. 

The group chattered for a while about anything they could think of: tv shows everyone was hooked on, different nations each person in the group had been to, before they settled on the topic of jobs. 

Everyone at the table was already aware of Lumine’s job, so she listened as the others explained what they did. Hu Tao and Xiangling were, of course, a funeral parlor director and a chef, Yanfei was a lawyer (“One of the youngest in the city”, Hu Tao proclaimed proudly), Xingqiu was an author, and Chongyun held two jobs. Chongyun explained that he worked part-time as a pizza delivery driver, as she had seen today, but his true passion was ghost hunting.

“It’s fascinating! I set up my equipment to capture ghosts on camera and cleanse haunted places so that their owners can live peacefully. My family’s been doing it for generations!”

Lumine, spurred by Chongyun’s excitement, leaned forward enthusiastically and asked, “Have you caught any on camera? Can I see?”

At this, Chongyun deflated, replying morosely, “No not yet, so, no not yet.”

Xingqiu stepped in, placing his hand on Chongyun’s as he reassured, “But he will soon! He just got some cool new equipment he was showing me and I think this should be the time.”

Chongyun smiled and nudged Xingqiu with his shoulder as the other boy wrapped an arm around him. 

Lumine took a sip of her drink and chuckled, “You two must be dating, you guys are too cute.” 

Chongyun reassured her, “Two months. It was Xingqiu who asked me out first, no surprises there.” The table laughed as Xingqiu pumped his fist in a mock victory celebration. 

Yanfei, who’d loosened up after a drink or two, piped in, “It was agony for the rest of us. It was way too clear they were crazy about each other, but obviously we didn’t step in because it would’ve ruined the moment.”

Xiangling teasingly kicked Yanfei under the table as she said, “Ha, that’s rich coming from you.  It took you and Hu Tao three whole years before you started dating!” She divulged to Lumine, “I was this close from starting a betting pool on when they were getting together, but I know Yanfei would’ve busted us as soon as she found out.”

Lumine laughed as Yanfei scoffed and put her head on Hu Tao’s shoulder, ignoring Xiangling and her outrageous claims. 

This brought up something that Lumine had noticed on her travels, so she voiced it with the group, “It seems like Liyue is very chill about LGBTQ+ stuff, right?”

Hu Tao snorted, recognizing the opportunity for a joke, “It’s because the L in LGBT stands for Liyue!” 

They cracked up, Yanfei whacking Hu Tao gently with a napkin as she proclaimed, “Corny!”

Xinqiu asked Lumine, “Was it different in other places you’ve visited?” 

Lumine nodded, mood suddenly sombering, before replying, “Yeah, I remember Schezhnaya was a big one; gay marriage isn’t even legalized there. Inazuma used to be pretty close-minded up until a couple years ago.”

Chongyun commented sympathetically, “That must’ve been nerve wracking to visit.”

Lumine nodded. She herself was bisexual, which was something that she’d come to terms with pretty early in life, but had to reckon with when she’d visited constrictive nations. Luckily, she wasn’t one to engage in any romantic activity while she was working (which was pretty much always) so she’d avoided any dangerous encounters. 

Even so, she’d felt a lot of sympathy whenever she’d heard of people being persecuted for something as simple as being themselves. 

Careful not to put a damper on the table, Lumine said, “It was, but I’m glad to be here for now.” The table smiled at her, and Xiangling said, “Speaking of ‘glad to be here’, who’s ready for another drink? Bogo night!”

The group echoed her, yelling, “Bogo night!”

They ordered at the bar from Yun Jin, who was smiling at Lumine having fun with friends, tossing them a variety of delicious drinks. Maybe too many delicious drinks, now that Lumine thinks of it.

They all clambered back to the booth they’d chosen, just talking loudly, and laughing, and drinking until someone (it was probably Hu Tao) came up with the brilliant idea of going onto the dance floor.

Newsflash: there was no dance floor. 

They had managed to find an empty enough space in front of the stage to dance to the pop music playing over the speakers and were bopping along as best as they could to the beat. Finally, after too many minutes, the owner of the tea house, Fan Er’ye, had to usher them out as they were being a little too rowdy and the tea house was only fifteen minutes from closing. 

The group tumbled out and after checking that they all had a clear enough head to walk back, they all headed back their respective ways, Yanfei giving Hu Tao a sloppy kiss before turning to walk with Lumine since she lived close to her granny’s house. 

Along the way, Lumine attempted to bring up, “Hey is your burp sorry, that was rude.”

Yanfei laughed a little too loudly before she could guess what Lumine was going to ask, “Are you asking if Madame Granny- haha, Madame Ping is my granny?”

Lumine shook her head vigorously, leading Yanfei to exclaim, “She is! She’s the best, the best granny ever!”

The two girls giggled as they waved goodbye to each other, Yanfei toddling over to the road leading to her flat, Lumine walking over to Serenitea. Luckily for her neighbors, Lumine had recited what color house she was renting the entire walk over in her head, so she was able to unlock the door with minimal difficulty. She barely remembered to take off her makeup and change before flopping onto her bed. 

Checking her phone, she realized she’d been added to a group chat of everyone who’d come to drinks that night. It seemed like a checkpoint to make sure everyone’d gotten home safe and Lumine drunkenly teared up at the kindness of the gesture. So, she let the group chat know how much it meant to her. 

heyu crew 🧋🍹

u guys ar the swetest nicest ppl i have met eber 

i am giving hug s to all of u ppl

right now

alos i am at home

Not my home

granny pings home

:)

Satisfied with her message, Lumine tossed her phone onto her nightstand and almost immediately started snoring. 

Yun Jin was right, it was worth it to celebrate her victories.

Chapter Text

As a relic from her  avid partying days in Mondstadt, Lumine had picked up quite a few hangover cures. Drinking a foamy reef (a mixture of coffee and fizzy water) as soon as you wake up. Eating cabbage straight from the leaf. And, of course, drinking gallons of water.

However, none of these supposed “miracle cures” had any effect on Lumine’s humongous hangover from the night before. It seems that in her excitement, she’d forgotten one of the cardinal drinking facts: it’s easier to get drunk on drinks that don’t taste like alcohol. And oh boy, had she had a couple of those. 

Lumine groaned, clutching her head as she swigged another sip of her water, before hissing at the overly cold temperature. 

She threw herself back onto the bed, bemoaning how much work she had to do, and all the research she had to conduct, and…

RIIIIING

On instinct, Lumine picked up a pillow and threw it as hard as she could at whatever was making the infuriating noise at this ungodly hour (the ungodly hour being noon, of course). It turned out the sound was coming from her phone, right next to her on the nightstand, so her aim was way off. 

Remembering that she was on business, Lumine reached over and answered the phone with as unaffected of a voice as she could muster.

“Hello, this is Lumine.”

“LUMI!!”

Lumine cringed at the overly loud voice of her best friend, before dropping the voice charade and saying, “What do you want, Paimon?”

No voice was heard over the phone for a second before her companion questioned, “Lumi… are you hungover?”

Lumine flushed, ashamed at herself for overindulging. She should’ve been working, Paimon was going to be so disappointed, she should’ve been researching, why did she- 

“I’M SO GLAD!” Lumine groaned as Paimon issued a quick apology before continuing at a lower octave and volume, “Lumi, I’m so glad! You deserve to have fun. How was it, did you meet-”

Lumine smiled gratefully at Paimon’s interest before interrupting gently, “Before we get into all that, what’d you call me for? That ‘Lumi’ sounded pretty urgent.”

Paimon was heard giggling over the phone before gasping and saying, “You’re so right! I was gonna tell you.”

“The footage came in!”

Lumine immediately straightened up and clutched at the phone in her grip before clarifying, “The one from the assassination?!”

“Duh!” Paimon emphasized, “Go check out your email and screen share with me.”

Lumine quickly flipped open her laptop, shaking out the bit of glitter that had transferred itself from Qiqi’s sticky fingers yesterday. She rapidly signed into her email before clicking on the message she’d received from “Liyue Millileth”.

She skimmed over the  message she’d received asking her not to share this on any social media platforms just yet and that they’d compiled this video from the news cameras that were there that day along with the security cameras in the area. 

Reaching the MP4 file that held the video, Lumine called Paimon on the video platform they communicated on, shared the screen, and waited for Paimon’s face to show on her screen. Paimon smiled at her when she was able to see her, violet eyes crinkling. She was out in what looked like the plaza in Mondstadt near Good Hunter and With Wind Comes Glory, pink headphones perched on her soft white-blond hair. 

When asked if she was ready, Paimon eagerly nodded, and so Lumine pressed the start button on the video, while the screen turned into fullscreen. 

Instantly, their screen filled with the handsome face of the Rex Lapis Zhongli, mid-speech. Lumine studied the man intently. He had a sharp jawline and high cheekbones, which complemented his dark brown-black hair nicely. He spoke confidently, but not arrogantly and his voice was smooth as silk flowers. 

“-relations with Mondstadt. Their imports are an important commodity in the thriving economy of Liyue.” 

The feeling of dread washed over Lumine, the result of knowing that a devastating event was about to occur, yet having no power to stop it. She had to remind herself that this was all in the past, that the only thing she could do now was to investigate his death and find out who committed this atrocious act. 

Lumine was half-watching the video before an outpouring of smoke brought her attention back to the video in front of her. She desperately tried to follow Rex Lapis’ figure before the smoke obscured him. 

Then, a loud boom resonated, leading Lumine to jump and Paimon to yelp over the video screen. 

Lumine could barely follow the chaos as fire engulfed the podium  where Zhongli had been standing, smoke still obscuring most of the camera’s vision. Voices yelled, a baby cried in the audience, the crowd was clambering over themselves to get out of Yujing Terrace. 

Finally, the video cut to black. 

Paimon and Lumine held a moment of silence, both thinking over the footage they’d just reviewed, before Paimon spoke softly. She cleared her throat, commenting, “Well, that was bad.” 

Lumine nodded sagely before replying, “Just as bad as it could get. Thank Celestia more people weren’t injured or killed.” 

They both pondered this quietly before Paimon prompted, “Thank Celestia, yeah. But that is weird, right?” 

Lumine nodded again, not able to find her words due to slight shock. She steadied herself before answering, “That is definitely weird. I wonder what kind of bomb could be so precise?”

Lumine thought to bombs she’d studied in preparation of this case. Most bombs had a fairly wide impact radius, with a lot more firepower and less ability to zero in on a single target like this one had. 

“Better ask Klee about this one” Paimon remarked, “she of all people would know more about a specific kind of bomb like that.”

Lumine agreed. She was planning to visit Dragonspine next week anyways, since she’d wanted to check on Albedo after his “evil twin” (Paimon’s nickname, not Lumine’s) case had been solved. She might as well ask Albedo to bring Klee so she could ask about the bomb. 

Paimon sighed before suggesting, “Let’s rewind and watch from the beginning.”

This was Lumine and Paimon’s ritual every time they received any kind of footage for a case. Paimon was a pivotal part of the FINDING AETHER blog. She’d even met her brother once or twice before he’d gone missing. Seeing Lumine so invested into a single cause had led to Paimon lending her a hand at whatever she could do. And Paimon excelled at reviewing video footage as she was “kinda a whiz at computers” (self-described). 

The two rewatched the video quietly, both taking frantic notes before it faded to black once more. 

“One more time.” Lumine said. 

And so, once more, the video looped before Paimon cried out, “Stop!”

Lumine jabbed the space bar to pause the video before questioning, “What? What did you see?”

Paimon moved her mouse, which Lumine could see on her screen, and used a digital marker to circle one individual: a man with…

Red hair. 

Running towards the fire. 

Paimon and Lumine made unsteady eye contact before Paimon questioned, “Didn’t you say they were just business associates.”

Lumine rubbed her neck, forgetting that she’d forgotten to share the newest information she’d gotten before she went out. 

“About that-”

She explained to Paimon what Baizhu and Qiqi had disclosed yesterday and Paimon listened, writing down what Lumine was saying on a notepad that she had handy.  After she had finished, Paimon looked up and thought aloud, “This video is confirmation that they were a lot closer than the public thought, but does that affect our case in any way?”

Lumine rubbed her chin, deep in thought before admitting, “I have no idea. Let’s watch one more time, keep your eye on Ajax this time.”

She rewinded back to the beginning, keeping a close eye on the ginger, watching his every movement. He was listening to the speech with no particular worry or anticipation, which helped to clarify that the explosion was most likely a surprise for him as well, unless he was a particularly gifted actor. 

As soon as the smoke erupted around the stage, Ajax reached into his pocket, looking around wildly before bringing out a small-ish item. Lumine paused the video to zoom in on the weapon before hastily glancing at Paimon to make sure her eyes were working correctly. Paimon’s look of shock confirmed it. 

Ajax Tartaglia was carrying a weapon. A compact crossbow, in fact. 

Paimon sputtered in shock, “Is he??”

“He is!” Lumine confirmed. 

She quickly zoomed in on the image, blurring it slightly but showcasing the weapon that Ajax was holding onto firmly. She pressed play, watching as his eyes darted rapidly around to find where the smoke was coming from. After the fire erupted, they watched as his face crumpled and he mouthed “NO”, sprinted towards the source of the flame. 

The pair shared a glance before Lumine broke the silence with, “I’m guessing Qiqi wasn’t too far off when she said they were best friends.”

“But how did a Scheznayan diplomat become besties with a Liyuean archon?” Paimon scrutinized, “It’s not like the two nations are exactly friendly with one another. Liyue’s always been cautious of Scheznaya because of the Fatui.”

The lightbulb popped into Paimon and Lumine’s head at the same time as the stumbled over each other, coming to the same shared question: was Ajax connected to the Fatui?

Lumine knew from her other cases and from her research that the Fatui were nothing to mess around with. They were a militant force from Scheznaya, filled to the brim with dangerous operatives spread around Teyvat. Lumine had had a few encounters with them,  most of which had not been friendly. 

Lumine frowned as Paimon typed “Ajax Tartaglia fatui” into the search bar. Unsurprisingly, there was nothing directly saying yes, seeing as the Fatui weren’t exactly a “publicly endorsed” part of Scheznaya. Instead, Paimon searched “ajax tartaglia fatui rumors”. This time, there were a few options in forums and gossip magazines. Not exactly the most reputable sources, but now wasn’t the time to be picky. 

The two picked through different posts before Lumine exclaimed, “Got one!”

She quickly shared her screen again, displaying a Scheznayan tabloid. It had a picture of a much younger-looking Ajax with a telltale Fatui mask on his face. He had bruises on his arms, legs, and face, with a dark, downcast look from what Lumine could see through his mask’s eye holes. The expression was so full of resentment and melancholy that it sent a shiver down Lumine's spine. He was in handcuffs, being escorted by two burly Scheznayan officers to his left and right. 

The caption said, “Younger photos of Scheznayan Diplomat Ajax Tartaglia have come to light. Does the diplomat remain in the clutch of the Fatui?” 

But strangely, the tabloid was only a photocopy of a tabloid, not even published, clearly leaked. But nowhere else on the internet was there a public outcry. It was certainly strange. 

Paimon and Lumine shared a look before Paimon concluded, “Someone’s covering this up.”

Lumine agreed silently, pondering, “Whoever did it must’ve done a really good job if this wasn’t spread all over the internet.”

"Especially since he still has a job in government." 

“The biggest question is: do you think he’s still part of the Fatui?” 

The two took a second to mill this over, before mutually agreeing that this would be something for Lumine to tactfully bring up tomorrow during her interview. 

Lumine and Paimon spent the next hour planning for what questions Lumine would be asking Childe the next day. They had to make sure not to push too hard with Ajax, seeing as so much of his background seemed to be a loaded subject. They were just wrapping up with Lumine was startled by Paimon’s screen getting blurry, and indignant “Hey, watch it!” ringing out.

Suddenly, she was face to face with her old friend Venti, smile almost reaching both sides of his face as he yelled, “LUMI!”

Lumine laughed as she answered, “Hi Venti.”

Venti had stolen Paimon’s headphones and sat next to Lumine’s now-grumpy companion, looking into the screen before reminding the girl, “We have Teyvat Idol tonight, I hope you didn’t forget.” 

He seemed no different than the last time Lumine had seen the boy, bright teal hair tied into loose braids gracing his shoulders. He wore a particularly lederhosen-inspired outfit that was absolutely filled with cat hair, which clued Lumine into the fact that he’d just come from his part-time job as a bard at the nearby Cat’s Tail Tavern. He raised his hand to his mouth to just catch his sneeze, almost smacking himself in the face with the gold bangle he was wearing. 

Lumine thought for a second before almost replying, getting cut off by Venti before she could say something, “You did forget!”

Lumine rubbed her neck awkwardly conceding, “Sorry Venti, I totally did. I just got swept up with work and… Liyue.”

Venti huffed, crossing his arms and declaring, “It’s fine.” (It was not fine)

“As long as we’re still on for tonight at EIGHT” Venti widened his eyes to show his seriousness, which Lumine could not take seriously because of how close his nose was to the screen, “I’ll forgive you.”

Lumine just laughed and promised to log on before asking Venti to return the headphones to Paimon. He haphazardly placed the earphones back onto Paimon’s scowling head before saying something Lumine couldn’t hear, sneezing, and running off to wherever he came from. 

Paimon rolled  her eyes, informing Lumine, “He said he would’ve asked me to watch Teyvat Idol too  but he wants to sing-slash-spoil it for me when I show up tomorrow.”

Lumine laughed, glad to see Venti hadn’t lost his enthusiasm. She waved goodbye to Paimon, promising to let her know how the interview went tomorrow. Paimon blew her a kiss goodbye before Lumine’s screen went black. 

She cracked her knuckles, before going up to grab coffee and a wrist support. She had a lot of research to do before going in tomorrow.