The Silly Alchemist

“Hey, if you like him, tell him,” suggested Ye Lang as he stared at the heart-eyed Zhen Xiaoyan. What an absurd idea. 

“Confess? That’d be setting myself up for failure!” muttered Xiaoyan. “There’s no way he’d be interested in someone like me.”

“I… can’t deny that. There’s an incredibly low chance he’d be interested in you but there's still a possibility he might! If you don’t try, your chances will always be zero. Be brave my friend!” said Ye Lang with a slap to his chest, trying to encourage her. Everyone had the freedom to love and confess. 

However, he wasn’t expecting Xiaoyan to take his advice seriously. This girl was actually going to do it! 

“You’re right. If I stay silent, I’ll never have the chance,” mumbled Xiaoyan as she stood up from her seat. Was she really planning to go on with this or was she simply out of her mind? No one knew. Whatever it was, everyone was already screaming. 

“Xiaoyan, stop! Don’t listen to him!” yelled the classmates who saw the exchange. They tried to stop her but to no avail. 

Zhen Xiaoyan stood proudly in front of the handsome Moya. She looked straight into Moya's eyes.

"Moya, I like you. Will you go out with me?” Xiaoyan said full of confidence.

“Ah…” everyone else aside from Ye Lang had their jaws on the ground. Unbelievable! Ye Lang turned his back to the scene, took out a book and even a pot of tea. He acted as if nothing happened. 

“...Is this real? Am I seeing things? Fatty Yan is confessing to Moya in front of Sha Lan?”

“I wanted to ask too. Since you’ve seen it, I guess this is real...”

The classroom was filled with chatter and discussion after a pregnant pause. Everyone made guesses as to why Xiaoyan decided to pull such an outrageous move. Some commented that she was crazy, others said she must be sleep-walking while some were worried she had a high fever today. It was a ruckus. 

Though there were many theories to this peculiar display, everyone had expected her to get rejected. It was an unavoidable outcome. 

There was absolutely no way Moya could be interested in a girl whose size was as big as an elephant. He was already such a gentleman to not vomit in response to her confession. 

“I’m sorry but I already have a girlfriend,” replied Moya gently. Everyone was rather impressed at his gentlemanly behaviour. 

“I know, but have you considered having another girlfriend?” replied Xiaoyan promptly. That was too straightforward! 

“Pfft…” the thirteenth prince who was sipping on his tea, trying his best to not get involved in this incident. He couldn’t help but spit out a mouthful of tea. Xiaoyan was mirroring what he told her prior to this.

Before this, he was talking to Xiaoyan about Moya, pestering her to talk to him and to drop the bashfulness if she really liked him. 

Xiaoyan did ask how to strike up a conversation with him, and Ye Lang had answered word for word…

“You could walk over and go “Hey handsome, are you single?” and if he says no, you could then offer to be his girlfriend.” 

“But what if he’s not single?” 

“Well, you can then ask if he could consider you as a second girlfriend,” 

“...” 

…

“I… don’t think that’s appropriate,” Moya was shell-shocked by her offer. 

“Zhen Xiaoyan, what do you mean by that?!” yelled Sha Lan through gritted teeth. Sha Lan’s expression was hard, obviously triggered by her words.

“I’m going to steal your boy,” challenged Xiaoyan. 

“What makes you think you can steal him away from me?! I’m going to give you a chance since you so kindly challenged me. Go on, show me what you’ve got,” Sha Lan was positively fuming, perhaps this was her true colour, such a tone would definitely hurt Xiaoyan. Not to mention, this was very unlike her to say something like that in this manner. 

“Well, you’ve said it yourself. Don’t you dare have any second thoughts about chickening out!” Xiaoyan got very excited, she might stand a chance now! Seeking the support and approval of her best friend, she looked towards her direction only to find her friend’s disapproving expression. 

Her eyes were trying to tell her to stop this nonsense, there was no way she and Moya could ever be together. It was just a fruitless dream as they were so different from one another. 

Xiaoyan’s friend was just concerned for her. She feared that Xiaoyan would get hurt chasing after an impossible love interest. All of these happened because of Ye Lang, it was his fault! Her friend sent him a sharp glare. 

“Hmph, you really don’t know where you stand in this world. Look at yourself in a mirror,” taunted Sha Lan. 

Not wanting to stay silent anymore, Ye Lang decided to voice out. “I-I think she stands a chance against you. She deserves the right to challenge you!” 

“Ye Lang, stop this right now! Are you trying to make this worse?” Xiaoyan’s friend was absolutely irritated. He was just going to bring Xiaoyan more harm! 

“I know this may hurt her but if she intends to do this, why not show her some support? We should support her and let her give it her all with no regrets later on,” replied Ye Lang calmly. His reply made sense, making everyone ponder. 

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, I believe she’s not that fragile!” continued Ye Lang before her friend could even say another word. 

Thanks to his support, Xiaoyan now had a chance to prove herself worthy of Moya’s love. On the other hand, this fed Sha Lan’s hatred towards Ye Lang, but little did she know that this was just the beginning… 

“Fine, prove yourself then. Let’s see how you’ll make him yours,” said Sha Lan nonchalantly, her tone totally different from her outburst moments ago. She was aware she had nothing to be afraid of.  Clearly, Zhen Xiaoyan had nothing against her! 

With an appearance like Xiaoyan, stealing away a regular-looking boyfriend from another girl was already impossible. There’s no way she’d be able to snag someone like Moya away from Sha Lan. On the off chance that Moya so happened to be into exquisite women, however, Xiaoyan would've had a chance. Sadly, this didn’t seem to be the case.

Sha Lan’s last reply to Xiaoyan’s challenge had said a lot about the possible outcome. There was simply no way Xiaoyan could actually succeed. She was bound to experience failure and embarrass herself. 

Despite all of that though, everyone couldn’t deny the fact that they were impressed by her courage.