The Silly Alchemist

The most anticipated duo -- Ye Lang and Zhen Xiaoyan were still not in sight! 

“Say, the final round is about to start but this Ye Lang boy and Zhen Xiaoyan aren’t here yet... He’s crossing so many boundaries this time! This isn’t the only lowly thing he’s done, he even threatened to remove one of the finalists if his request was not met,” Seeing that Ye Lang had yet to appear, the judges, who were also the relatives of the contestants, started to voice their uncertainty. 

“If we were to judge this upon his past statement, I’d say there would be a possibility that he might actually do something awful…”

“That’s impossible, the Ye Family wouldn’t allow that!” replied one of them sternly. 

“But here’s the problem, do you really think the boy would listen to them? The Ye Family wouldn’t do much even if he did something very bad. From what we’ve seen, his family has always been there to protect and defend him- he’d only receive a very light punishment at most!”

“This is…” 

“Honestly, what does this boy want? He’s got absolutely nothing to do with this. Plus, isn’t Zhen Xiaoyan very fat and ugly? Why would he want to place himself in such a tight spot and try to help her?” many people were still very confused about his motives.

Zhen Xiaoyan’s family was not influential, she wasn’t slim and wasn’t a tad bit attractive at all. There was no way someone like this could have the chance to interact with aristocrats like Ye Lang but she was graced with his assistance out of luck. 

To be really honest, many had fantasized about how great it would be if their daughters or granddaughters had the luck to be helped by Ye Lang- they would certainly turn out better than the finalists here! 

Though Ye Lang was not taken seriously in the past, for no one had faith in his potential, his family background was no doubt one of the most powerful ones in this kingdom. His background itself made up for many of his shortcomings!

Even if he had remained as dumb as he was in the past, many would still offer their daughters in hand of marriage. Of course, only if the seventh princess wasn’t already betrothed to him. 

“I don’t know. But I do know for a fact that if it wasn’t for the daughter of the Sha Family, Zhen Xiaoyan wouldn’t have registered and we wouldn’t need to worry so much!” 

Just as that person finished his sentence, everyone around him turned to stare at the innocent, poor head of the Sha Family. He held strong authority before but now he had been shunned in light of recent events.

The head of the Sha Family was angry, of course, but he was aware he couldn’t put the blame on Sha Lan as it wasn’t her fault things turned out this way. However, this had caused him plenty of trouble in his relationships with the rest of the aristocrats. A problem with a crowd like this could be fatal!  

He had yelled at Sha Lan for not aiming for Ye Lang’s heart instead. She was this close to Ye Lang and yet she allowed Zhen Xiaoyan to enjoy the benefits of being Ye Lang’s friend! That was stupid!

Moya was a nice boy but he ranked below Ye Lang. If Sha Lan was with Moya out of pure love and nothing else, there was really nothing to be said about it. However, if she had intended to use Moya for connection, it was definitely a great loss! 

No matter what, even if Sha Lan won, she would still have to worry about many things. The same couldn’t be said for Zhen Xiaoyan as success or failure would still do her good, she wouldn’t suffer any loss. 

As Ye Lang had put it, if someone with everything fought with someone who had nothing, it would be the victory of the latter as they had nothing to lose. 

Albeit so, the current problem was that Ye Lang had yet to show up at the venue, the final round was about to end after a few more acts. Even if he had a strong influence, he wouldn’t be able to do anything if the competition had ended and everything had been finalised! 

What if he appeared after the winner was crowned, then kicked her off to let Zhen Xiaoyan win by brute force? 

As the competition approached its end, people started to speculate more. The last performance was ending and yet he wasn’t there...

“Dumbass, idiot, stupid… Why isn’t he here yet?” mumbled Ye Lanyu mercilessly as she kept her eyes glued to the entrance and exit of the venue. She couldn’t hide her concern.

“Hey, it’s alright. Don’t worry, Lanyu! If Ye Lang said he’d come, he will! He might be dumb but he has never broken his promise!” said the seventh princess in an attempt to comfort Lanyu. 

“I know, but that’s exactly why I’m worried. I’m afraid there might be an accident...” answered Lanyu in a soft voice. 

“...” The seventh princess went silent. She had tried her best to stay optimistic. No one in the Soaring Sky Empire would dare to mess with Ye Lang.

“Eh, hold on. That girl over there… Seventh princess, isn’t that the girl we met the other day?” said Lanyu suddenly, pointing. She was pointing at the VIP area and at the centre, sandwiched between rows of chairs, was the gorgeous girl who claimed to be Ye Lang’s messenger. 

The seventh princess was stunned. In the next second, the two girls decided to do something outrageous. Ye Lanyu leapt forward using her magic powers with the seventh princess in toll towards the girl. Everyone was amazed at their capabilities of controlling their emerald flame magic. 

“What on earth are our two girls doing over there? Jumping in front of everyone like this?! Do they have no shame?! Everyone’s looking at them! Why is my daughter following yours?” questioned the emperor in the front seat. Ye Chengtian quickly snapped his head around to witness the situation behind them. 

“Yeah, what are they thinking? They’re not usually like this... But the only thing that would make them act this way is that little idiot, Ye Lang! You think he’s here?!” 

“Seems like it, I think they’re headed for someone…”

“It’s happening, look! They even caught that person already! Also, what? Your daughter following my daughter’s example?!” 

“Cough cough…”

…..

“Princess, Miss Lanyu, so we meet again! Can you please be a little gentle with me,” pleaded the well-mannered girl in Lanyu’s grasp. 

“Tell me. Where the hell is my brother?” Lanyu had no time for bullshit, she needed answers now. 

The girl smiled bitterly, “Trust me, I would love to know where he is too. I was looking around for him just now and had figured that you’d be suspicious. But here is the only thing I know, I was only with him three days ago. I don’t know where he’s been these three days!” 

“Where was he three-” before Lanyu could form her question fully, a royal guard interrupted her. 

“Princess, Miss Lanyu, His Majesty demands your presence along with this lady right here. He would like to ask a few questions,” announced the guard. 

By the time the emperor had noticed the two girls, he had already deployed one of his guards to retrieve them. He feared they would do something reckless in front of such a big crowd. Other than that, he was curious to whom this mysterious girl really was. 

The emperor and Ye Chengtian had done their share of investigations in search of the girl’s true identity but to no avail. This was surprising to them as no one residing in this kingdom could hide from their radar. No one except this girl.