Genshin Impact: I am the Great General of Liyue

Zhong Li, who was pondering while pinching his chin, looked like an 80-year-old man.

He spoke right after Huiyuan finished saying that he knew Zhongli.

"That's true. I hadn't thought of that earlier; it was an oversight on my part."

Paimon glared angrily at Zhongli and started complaining.

"Huh? How can you buy things without considering Mora!"

"If you always consider Mora first, it's the same as having Mora tied your hands and feet in everything."

Paimon looked at Zhongli with a puzzled expression, as if a big question mark had appeared above his head.

"The morra is naturally a currency, but currency is not naturally a morra."

After Zhongli finished speaking, the question mark above Paimon's head turned into three.

The clever Ying already knew what Zhongli was talking about, so she explained it to Xiao Paimeng:

He was talking about economics.

"Is this the world of the rich...?"

Paimon couldn't understand at all, rubbed his head in exasperation, and then looked at Zhongli with a accusing gaze:

"Although I understand macroeconomics very well, I don't know how to save 'small amounts of money'!"

"Alright, alright, since it's D'Artagnan's money anyway, let's not make a fuss. By the way, 'Young Master's' real name is D'Artagnan."

Huiyuan said indifferently.

"Please dispose of the two extra portions for me."

Although it wasn't their own money being spent, Paimon and Ying had been living hand to mouth for too long, so it was understandable that they were a little reluctant to spend money. After all, they had just joined the Adventurers' Guild and needed to climb the ranks step by step before they could take on higher-paying jobs.

"But..."

Just as Paimon was still struggling with the Mora issue, Zhongli spoke up.

"Don't waver. Even if Mora restricts my actions, I still have ways to solve the problem. Identifying the quality of 'Nightstone' is indeed tricky. Regardless of its quality, a piece of raw ore won't differ much in its texture, color, or internal rock patterns. Only after the artifacts made from Nightstone are completed will you discover that some of the finished products are simply unpresentable. If you then try to reason with those unscrupulous merchants, they'll just use excuses like 'your synthesis platform is bad' or 'the firing temperature is wrong.'"

After Zhongli finished speaking, Huiyuan used rock element to create a teacup, released water element into the cup, and handed it to him.

"Mr. Zhongli, don't die of thirst."

"Thank you..."

Zhongli took the teacup, drank the tea, and then crushed the rock-element teacup, turning it into rock-element energy that he absorbed.

Paimon sighed with lingering fear.

"So this is how easy it is to be fooled..."

After Paimon finished speaking, Zhongli continued with his explanation.

"However, genuine methods of identification still exist—true experts can still distinguish them. 'As the saying goes, "When pointing at the moon, one observes the finger, not the moon."'"

"what does that mean?"

"I'm so confused," Paimon asked.

Zhongli quickly provided a translation of the poem.

"If you point your finger at the moon, a wise person will understand that you are pointing at the moon, but a foolish person will only see the finger in front of them, not the moon. The texture, the outer shell... these are all like the finger. Noctiluca is a special stone used for nighttime illumination; its 'brightness' is as important as the moon in the sky. High-quality Noctiluca has a better affinity for the element of fire. In other words, under high temperatures, the brighter and bluer the luster of the mineral, the better its quality."

Staring blankly at Zhongli, Ying felt as if she were in an advanced mathematics class, her mind drifting into the universe.

(I don't understand the world of the rich...)

Unaware of Ying's expression, Zhongli continued speaking.

"I have told you the secret of jade's immense value; all that's left is to put it into practice."

Although Ying didn't understand what was said before, she still understood the meaning of the last sentence.

(Shouldn't it be fine to just heat up the night-blooming jasmine?)

Paimon, on the other hand, was so disoriented that he couldn't even see the road clearly, the world was spinning before his eyes, and his mind went blank.

Huiyuan patted Paimon on the back, like patting an old-fashioned television set. After the pat, Paimon regained some of its intelligence.

The group returned to the stone owner's stall. Paimon waved to the stone owner and began to speak to him in a serious tone.

"Boss, we're back to choose stones. Could you please lend us all the stones so we can burn them?"

"Burn, burn it?! You can't burn it, gentlemen! What am I supposed to sell if you burn it all?"

After hearing Paimon's words, Stone Boss leaned back in fright.

Ying also realized how outrageous Paimon's words were, so she gave the Stone Boss a way out.

"Can we just have a small sample?"

"Well... never mind, let's just listen to the men."

The stone shop owner reluctantly agreed to Ying's request, then, suppressing his heartache, looked at everyone and returned to his original appearance, saying:

“In that case, I will take some samples from each of the three stones. I, Lao Shi, will accept any loss as a matter of making friends.”

After the stone shop owner finished speaking, Zhongli noticed his worried expression and said:

"Don't worry, I understand the rules of the business world. As long as it's proven to be a good mine, I certainly won't let you suffer any losses."

......

After a while, the stone owner took out samples and showed them to everyone.

"Okay, let's use these as samples. I cut them out with a carving knife and labeled them."

Paimon complained about the sample, which was so thin that light could almost pass through it and you could almost see the scenery on the other side.

"...It's so thin! Thinner than paper...no, thinner than an insect's wing, it's almost transparent!"

Ying didn't know how to complain, so she just joined Paimon in, saying, "The boss is so stingy..."

After listening to Paimon and Ying's complaints, Boss Stone retorted.

"Stingy? You've already been very generous. Taking any more would be the death of me!"

"But if it's this thin, won't it turn to ashes immediately if it gets into a fire?"

After Paimon finished his rant, Zhongli started explaining some scientific facts.

"Asking businessmen to give up their profits is like asking a hungry wolf to spit out the meat it just ate; there's no way around it. But actually, under special circumstances, these thin slices are enough."

What kind of special conditions?

Paimon turned to Zhongli and asked.

"By applying the high temperature of 'fire' while protecting it with the elemental power of 'water,' the sample can be prevented from burning instantly."

Huiyuan silently complained in her heart: (No wonder it's Zhongli, she makes the simple word "cook" sound so high-class.)

After hearing what Zhongli said, Boss Stone expressed his gratitude.

"Oh? This gentleman is so knowledgeable. Thank you for your understanding, thank you for your understanding..."

"To be fair, it's unfair to ask for samples without making a promise to buy... Liyue's code of 'contracts' must always be based on fairness."