The Silly Alchemist

Recently, Ye Lanyu had been finding it difficult to annoy Ye Lang as there was too much going on in her life. She hadn’t thought about confronting him for clarification if he was fooling everyone else with his behaviour before. She just found it odd to hear her brother speak with such a tone. 

His brows were furrowed, a wave of melancholy washed across his face. She had never seen Ye Lang like this. He was never worried since young, though he was intellectually challenged back then. 

Now, he was just normal, very normal. He spent his days carefree, studying up on alchemy in the morning and hugging Tigress to sleep in the night. 

What was the matter? Why did he look like that? 

There were so many questions Lanyu wanted to ask but she hadn’t gotten the chance to. 

At that moment, as Tigress emerged from the room, a subtle waft of fragrance trailed around her after the bath. There was something peculiar going on. She approached, staring curiously at the siblings.  

What happened? Why did both of them look so… off? 

Her sense of smell was sensitive and could pick up even the slightest things. She wasn’t sure if she was gifted or that she was only that sensitive when it concerned her master.

Ye Lang stood up and approached Tigress silently, gathering her in an embrace. He stood there unmoving, no words were spoken. 

“??” Lanyu and Tigress were weirded out by the sudden display. What was wrong with him? 

Though Ye Lang always hugged Tigress to sleep, he had never hugged her in broad daylight, especially in front of others. 

“Master? What’s wrong? Is everything alright?” Tigress remained silent at first, but Ye Lang had his arms around her for so long that it was weird. 

Her master was still silent. Tigress was getting increasingly confused by the minute. 

It felt like forever until Ye Lang was willing to peel himself off her, he grasped her shoulders and they locked eyes. “Tigress, please don’t blame me and please don’t get angry either. It’s all for your own good,” said Ye Lang gently. 

“W-what? Master, what do you mean?” that made absolutely no sense to her. 

“Today, I…” before Ye Lang could explain himself, someone barged in through the doors again. 

“You brat! What have you done?! Why is the mercenary group here? What's so precious you need the entire Anna Mercenary Group to send off? They’re charging you a commission of one million gold coins, are you insane?!” yelled Long Anqi. His mother took a deep breath and continued “And here I thought that you’ve changed since you’ve not squandered for three whole months. Then this happens!” 

Normally, regular missions carried out by the mercenary group would only cost a few gold coins, high-tier missions would cost more than ten gold coins while high-risk ones could go up to triple the price. Dangerous, time-consuming missions would have the most expensive commission prices. 

Even missions that involved slaying a dragon wouldn’t exceed the price of one million gold coins, and these missions were considered as top-tier and extremely dangerous.

Of course, it would be reasonable to assume that it would be extremely expensive as the Anna Mercenary Group was highly-skilled professionals in the field. Plus, this mission couldn’t be accomplished by one or two warriors, it required the joint effort of an entire mercenary band.  

In better words, the mission was going to offer an amazing experience, the mercenary group had seen this as an opportunity to exponentially hone their skills as warriors. 

After the Anna Mercenary Group had completed this dragon-slaying mission, they had improved their standards rapidly and even made up into the top ten ranks in the kingdom within a year.

It could also be considered a form of investment. Delighted with the possibility of a grand reward, the mercenary group was able to briefly gather all their warriors in just two months. Without this mission at stake, they would’ve probably taken more than half a year to gather their band of mercenaries. 

The warriors had the utmost respect towards Ye Lang and treated him as a very important client. He was even given the position as their captain. They even resorted to catering to all his needs and requests, trying to offer free services for things they could, though the prodigal son wasn’t all too attracted to the free items. 

What could Ye Lang benefit off them? Well, he’d acquire priceless intel from the mercenary group. He was aware of how much they were worth, one million gold coins and for that price, it was a steal. 

Aside from that, the whole troupe consists of only women, there were so many beautiful ladies, especially the leader, Anna. Ye Lang, now the captain, was utterly delighted. 

Everything was worth the one million gold coins. 

However, everyone was just very focused on him squandering but had not thought about the hidden benefits yet.  

“One million… Master, that’s insane. What treasures are you planning to deliver?” asked Tigress. She was stunned upon hearing the amount, this was Ye Lang’s largest spending yet. It used to be only six digits at most but now… seven digits?! 

“I’m delivering off the most precious treasure I’ve stumbled upon in my lifetime. I’ll protect it with my life,” replied Ye Lang with a smile.

“What? A treasure, really? Do you really have something like that? You used the legendary notes of Great Alchemist Ban as a coaster, and you’ve never treasured anything so much…” said Tigress, evidently confused. She had never seen her master deem anything as a treasure since young. 

If the Great Alchemist Ban had heard her just now, he would’ve cried and clawed at Ye Lang. How dare he used his blood, sweat and tears as a coaster! It was even an original copy.

“Those are just texts, they’re dead. And I've memorized all of it anyway. My treasure is you, you're so precious to me,” said Ye Lang with a smile, his tone was a little casual with a hint of humour but everyone else could tell that he was serious, he really meant it. 

“Hmph, is that supposed to be a joke? Me, your treasure? That’s impossib-... what?” Tigress hadn’t detected the essence of his statement, but she was quick enough to sense it. 

Hold on a second, he was trying to escort her off? 

Suddenly, the things he had said to her earlier began to make sense. No wonder he told her not to blame him or get angry, he was planning to send her off. 

Her heart clenched at the thought, “Master, you’re sending me off? You’re getting rid of me?” her voice shook slightly. She was afraid of his answer. 

“Silly, I wouldn’t do that!” Ye Lang quickly embraced her and coaxed her gently. 

“Then why are you sending me away?” she trembled a little in his arms, as anxiety gripped her.