The Silly Alchemist

After this, besides being a prodigal son, the thirteenth son went on his way to become an amateur alchemist. He did not have any qualifications though, he only studied alchemy on his own.

This path of becoming an alchemist also gave him another opportunity to spend his family’s fortune, as he now had the right excuses to purchase materials for his work. It didn’t matter how expensive they were, he’d still buy them.

The other alchemists- other than a minority sponsored by royals and wealthy families- all envied his fortune. Most of them often worried about the high costs of the materials. Without materials, their skills couldn’t be put to use even if they were the best in the industry.

There was an old Chinese saying: Even the best housewife can’t cook without rice!  

No one knew if the little thirteenth prince truly was talented in alchemy or his improvement was due to his enormous financial support. Nonetheless, Ye Chengtian and his wife were over the moon. They supported his prodigal behaviours even more enthusiastically.

To them, as long as their son could have some sort of achievement, they didn’t mind spending any amount of money. Anything that could be solved by money wasn’t a problem for them at all.

While the little thirteenth prince found a small niche he could excel in, other people started to treat him differently. Perhaps it wasn’t very obvious when he was younger, but as he grew older, this became more and more obvious. 

Although no one dared to stand in his way due to his family background, there were still some children around his age who were unafraid and unaware of this fact. As the saying goes, “Newborn calves are not afraid of the tigers.” Hence, they couldn’t care less about the thirteenth prince’s family background.

There were those who were jealous of the little thirteenth prince too…Wait, not ‘little’. He wasn’t little anymore... They were extremely jealous of the thirteenth prince’s luck for him to be born into the wealthy Ye family. 

Many people thought the same. Why did this idiot get to be born into the Ye family? He was wasting such good resources! If it were them instead, they’d definitely become the most powerful in the empire.

Indeed, this fact had made a lot of people became jealous of the thirteenth prince to the point of insanity. The jealousy stewing in the hearts of these people would eventually transform into anger and rage towards him. This saying completely illustrated the thirteenth prince’s situation, “A precious stone lands its possessor in jail.” The identity and family background of the prince was undeniable the ‘stone’.

This jealousy drove many people mad, slowly deepening into hatred. Perhaps money was indeed the root of all evil. In this case, the thirteenth prince’s family background was the root of THEIR evil. 

Still, there were still a few people who still cared for him lovingly. Tigress was one of them. She had grown into a young beauty now, as she began to mature into a true beauty.

The young beauty, Tigress, would always repeat the same routine every single day. Her routine doesn’t need to be mentioned anymore as it always revolved around the very lucky thirteenth prince. 

She would prepare breakfast for the young master the moment she woke up in the morning, followed by his clothes, his bath...

By the time she finished her preparations, the thirteenth prince would have already woken up. Tigress would help him with his clothes, then he’d wash his face, comb his hair, shave, eat breakfast, and finally read in the courtyard.

Speaking about reading, the thirteenth prince read a wide variety of books, though he mainly focused on books related to alchemy. He didn’t know why either, but the feeling of familiarity grew as he read more books-regardless of operations, materials or even formulas.

The thirteenth prince was puzzled as he didn’t think that these were stuff he already knew, and he didn’t know what he knew. Being himself, things that he couldn’t figure out were of course thrown to the side. Days passed by and he was already getting used to it.

Whenever the thirteenth prince was reading in the courtyard, Tigress would spend time by practising martial arts and her douqi as she’d done every single day. Her techniques were not learned from the Ye family, instead, she had been practising since young. She might’ve even be born with it. 

The majority of the beastman clans inherited certain powers from their ancestors, hence they possessed these powers the moment they were born. The descendants from the Tiger clan, who were known for their strength, inherited the douqi martial arts from their clan.

Of course, the inherited strength was only part of the basics. To improve, they had to practise a lot and gain experience from others.

Undeniably, practising their strength as part of their basics was very useful, as their fundamentals could be strengthened with more practice. And Tigress only had to perfect her basic skills, as she didn’t have to consider about the rest yet.

As for protecting the thirteenth prince, it was a piece of cake for Tigress. Her ability was considered the best among her peers, and the incredible strength she inherited from the Tiger clan gave her a lot more advantages. Due to this fact, she could easily go up against young fighters her age.

To be honest, she only had to deal with these people, as other people wouldn’t want to mess with the thirteenth prince. Besides, if there were others who were looking for trouble, naturally the skilled ones at the same level would take care of them.

In fact, the person she had to be the most aware of was still her young master, as he would often give people a headache, just like what was about to happen now.

“Young master, what are you eating?” Tigress suddenly realised the thirteenth prince was eating something odd. It looked like pills.

“I’m taking some cold medicine,” replied the thirteenth prince.

“Are you sick? Did you catch a cold yesterday? I’ll call for the doctor to come now,” said Tigress worriedly.   

“No, it’s fine. I’m not sick.” He shook his head immediately.

“You’re not sick? Then why are you taking cold medicine?” Tigress asked, confused. She didn’t understand why anyone would take medication if they weren’t sick.

The thirteenth prince then gave a shocking reply which stunned Tigress.

“The cold medicine is about to expire soon; it’ll be a waste if I don’t eat it,” the thirteenth prince explained, looking dead serious.

“……”

‘What was this all about? Who would take any medicine just because the medicine was about to expire? Even if they weren’t sick?’ thought Tigress faintly. She supposed only her foolish young master would do such an idiotic thing.

And now this foolish young master was still continuing to take the medicine-no, WAIT a minute- yes indeed, he was still...

“Young master...” When Tigress noticed he was still popping the pills, she rushed forward to snatch away the expired medication.

“Why? Are you going to eat it too?” asked the thirteenth prince, looking at Tigress.  

“Of course not!!” exclaimed Tigress petulantly.

“Then give them to me.” The thirteenth prince stretched his hand out.

“No!!” said Tigress sternly, then explained with a softer tone, “My dear young master, medication cannot be taken without prescription, cold medicine is not food! You can only take them when you’re not feeling well, or you’ll harm your body.”

“What harm? I’m still fine, no?” The thirteenth prince used his current state to prove that taking random medicine would not be a problem for him. Of course, there were no problems… for now.