The Silly Alchemist

“Is it too little? I shall place one million gold coins then!” it was obvious Ye Lang had misunderstood her. To be honest, he had found his initial amount of a hundred thousand gold coins a little small, it was a rare chance for him to squander money! 

A hundred thousand was too small of an amount for such a rare occasion. 

Now one million gold coins sounded a little more like it. 

“No, no, I didn’t mean that. That’s way too much! Please don’t place a bet, I’m destined to lose. Wait… I hope you’re not taking this as an opportunity to squander money,” Xiaoyan was suddenly reminded of his prodigal tendencies, that boy was unstoppable when he saw a chance to spend money.

Not again… 

“That’s right, there’s no way I’d miss such a great opportunity to spend my money! Hahaha, let’s see what will happen this time!” Ye Lang got extremely excited at the thought of it, not noticing Xiaoyan’s face darken. 

“Ye Lang, you jerk! You’re trying to say that there’s a 100% chance I’ll lose, right?!” roared Xiaoyan. Her voice echoed across the hallways. 

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I meant. You have no figure, no face and no talent, you’re not going to make it through the preliminary round!” answered Ye Lang as he fled from the scene, the latter half of his sentence was almost inaudible. 

“Ye Lang!!” Xiaoyan was fuming now. His name could be heard throughout the campus but had fallen to deaf ears. Ye Lang was way too excited to place a bet. 

Zhen Xiaoyan gritted her teeth, she finally realized that Ye Lang wouldn’t spare her any help. He was just in for the squandering, now he’d probably want her kicked out from the competition earlier! 

Her hands itched to strangle Ye Lang. However, he was right, she was no match for the other girls. She had no slim figure, no delicate features and no impressive talent! 

How was she going to beat the other aristocrat girls?

But one thing was for sure, she wouldn’t regret her choice to enter the competition! 

To her, to give her all, to love and to get hurt was all she needed from this experience! 

… 

“Brother, what’s going on? Why are you in such a good mood?” Ye Lanyu had noticed the smile on Ye Lang’s face when she returned home that night. 

“Sister, let me tell you some good news! In another month, I’ll get to squander one million gold coins with nothing left! Hahaha!” beamed Ye Lang. His happiness was as if he had received one million gold coins in contrary to reality, he was about to lose it. 

Normally people would cry over such a loss, but this was nothing for the prodigal thirteenth prince. Ye Lang really was no regular person. 

An absolute prodigal, as expected of him! 

“...You’re really one of a kind. But maybe, just maybe, you’d actually earn something from it,” Lanyu shook her head, there was nothing she could do with her prodigal brother. Only someone like Ye Lang would be so happy in the face of a big loss. 

“Nope, not this time,” denied Ye Lang firmly. 

Though there were times where he had gotten lucky and actually secured some remnants from the huge amount, he was sure it wouldn’t happen this time around. 

“You say that all the time but it still would happen anyway,” said Lanyu as she gave her brother a gentle pat on his shoulder. 

“It’s different this time. Let me ask you something if Zhen Xiaoyan were to run for The Most Talented Girl of the Royal Institute of Education, do you think she’ll win?” questioned Ye Lang in an attempt to prove his point. 

“Absolutely not! She’s probably not eligible to enter the competition anyway. If she joins it she’ll be the joke of the kingdom for the rest of her life! Her actions recently had already garnered so much unnecessary attention…” answered Lanyu, she felt a little sorry for Xiaoyan. 

Lanyu was unaware that her brother had made Xiaoyan even more pitiful than she already was!

“Here’s the thing, she’s running for the competition and if I were to place a bet for her winning the champion, do you think I’ll lose my bet?” smiled Ye Lang.

“What? Really? What was she thinking? Is she not aware that this would turn her into the butt of the joke forever?” Lanyu was utterly shocked. 

“She’s aware of the risks but she still wanted to do it. She’s too high on the fumes of love, perhaps she’ll wake up from it through this fiasco,” sighed Ye Lang whilst slowing shaking his head. 

He knew he was one of the driving forces behind her outrageous decision, but he was also sure that no words could steer Xiaoyan off her course now. Not to mention, it was just another dose of embarrassment, that was just another day for her at this point! 

Though her actions were crazy, she had caused no harm to others while trying to woo her dream lover. Perhaps, one day everyone else would understand her, she was just giving her all to achieve her goals. 

“If that’s so, why are you joking about this? You shouldn’t have placed a bet,” scolded Lanyu. 

“Can’t you tell? I’m actually serious about this! She loses her battle, I squander my money. It’s nothing shady!” defended Ye Lang firmly. 

It was two different matter to him, he had no concern for Xiaoyan’s situation, his attention now was all focused on losing off that huge bet! 

“You’re not wrong but you shouldn’t say that. It feels rather inappropriate,” muttered Lanyu. 

“It’s alright, she won’t hold a grudge against me. I find her cute and likeable because of that,” said Ye Lang with no hint of concern. No matter how many times he had offended her, she would just be mad for a while then forget about it later. 

It happened today too, she made him lunch even after he had offended her earlier. Everything remained the same- the daily banter and laughter. 

And just like that, a few days passed by in a blink of an eye. Zhen Xiaoyan had not felt the stress of the approaching competition. It wasn’t that she had completely given up on it, but in fact, she was doing her best in her own preparations, she just didn’t want to inflict her stress on the people surrounding her.

Seeing Xiaoyan like that made Sha Lan felt a little imbalanced. 

Sha Lan was doing her absolute best to win- she had trained every single day to become the most outstanding contestant on that day! 

While the other girls were giving their 100% effort into planning their entertainment routine and talent practises, Sha Lan made sure to give her 110%. She was determined to win! 

She even had to work out more in order to shape her figure better, ensuring herself to be in the best condition when that day came. 

The blood, sweat and tears would be worth it soon! The other contestants continued to push on.

Comparatively, Xiaoyan was still sitting around carefreely eating her snacks. Her already big body had seemed to have gotten even rounder. The sight had irritated Sha Lan a lot. 

Though she was certain Xiaoyan wouldn’t even stand a chance against her, the way she acted was irritating. Absolutely irritating!