The Silly Alchemist

Liu Feiyan gave a smile in reply to the seventh princess’s question. 

“This, I’ve asked before. He said that since men dominate the proportion of judges and audiences, Xiaoyan would need to grab their attention to win. Therefore, it’s definitely a good strategy to visit the Green Mansion. He said the Green Mansion is where Xiaoyan could learn to ‘seduce them all’! That way, she’d emerge as the champion.”

“...”

T-true… There was no flaw in the idea. Despite this competition being marketed as a talent competition, beauty and lust played a much larger role in it; the latter being a more prominent role.

However, most of the aristocrat girls didn’t fancy the idea of seducing people through looks. Instead, they were confident that it was because of their talent that many were attracted to them. Therefore, there was only a small percentage of them who went out of their way in attempting to seduce the audience.

There was a problem though. Was Zhen Xiaoyan capable of seducing the audience? If she were to sacrifice her reputation and dignity, would anyone even buy it?

“If you were Zhen Xiaoyan’s mentor, I’d believe that she could do it. However, I feel like she’d need more than a miracle to make this happen,” said the emperor. The audience thought the same as well.

“Yeah, she'll definitely need another year or two to change everything from head to toe. He won’t be able to change her much with just twenty days,” continued Ye Lanyu.

“Honestly, when I first saw her, I had the same thoughts as well. However, I’m positive that she can do it in twenty days. It’s possible, I’m sure. She and the thirteenth prince made extremely surprising progress,” sighed Liu Feiyan in relief.

Extremely surprising progress? That seemed to pique everyone’s interest.

Before anyone else could ask anything further, Liu Feiyan interrupted them gently.

“I believe they can achieve their goals today! Xiaoyan went through excruciating pain to become what she is now. From her persistence alone, I can tell that this girl will win!”

Excruciating pain?! From that statement, many could say that Zhen Xiaoyan had sacrificed plenty for this competition. 

“I also believe in the thirteenth prince. This boy… he really has the ability to change someone from deep within. I’m one of them. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have looked like this! But I also really hate him…” the latter half of her sentence gradually got softer, almost as if she muttered it to herself.

After being with the duo for twenty days, as Liu Feiyan mentored Zhen Xiaoyan on lessons of elegance, there was a spark that seemed to have ignited within her. In the end, she realized that it was Ye Lang who had influenced such a change in her. Xiaoyan’s miraculous flip wasn’t just a product of her teaching, it was Ye Lang’s effort as well.

When she was with Ye Lang, she’d always feel close to him thanks to his approachable personality. Slowly, she started to let go of her alter ego and started recovering her other side that she had buried deep in the corner of her heart - her true innocent self.

“What?” no one could comprehend what Liu Feiyan said.

As if they had interrupted her from a dream, Liu Feiyan quickly adjusted her composure and smiled, giving them a slight shake of her head.

“Oh, that was nothing. Just be prepared for the surprise. Zhen Xiaoyan is bound to make your jaws drop!”

“Can’t you just tell us about her? How does she look like? What did Ye Lang do to her?” questioned the seventh princess. She was getting impatient, brows furrowed and arms crossed. She hated assumptions, especially when it concerned Ye Lang. She wanted answers.

“Well… I don’t quite understand what the thirteenth prince did to Zhen Xiaoyan. I only know for a fact that he had to have used some kind of odd alchemy technique that made her experience significant changes in her body, also causing immense pain. She had suffered all that pain while receiving our vigorous training too,” answered Liu Feiyan.

“Odd changes?” no one could grasp the idea of odd changes. In fact, no one was aware of how Ye Lang was even capable of doing such a thing. Had he always been this smart?

Although it was common knowledge that the thirteenth prince of the Ye Family practised alchemy, everyone only knew that he was simply a regular student with no remarkable achievements whatsoever.

No one would’ve thought that Ye Lang had such potential of brewing up such stuff. This was mostly because Ye Lang had laid low these recent years, never once showing to the world that he was indeed capable of doing such things.

Therefore, the news had come to the surprise of many. They were in awe of Ye Lang’s alchemy skills.

“Yes, it’s unbelievable just how impressive he really is. In just twenty days, Xiaoyan…” Lie Feiyan stopped before she could give her full reply. Someone had just arrived at the competition venue, someone influential enough to silence everyone.

If nothing had popped up, the competition would’ve just ended after the current act.

However, at the very last moment, the event everyone had been waiting for finally occurred! All according to plan!

“I’m so sorry for being late! So sorry!” apologized a young boy, running from outside the venue towards the stage with a young girl in hand. He kept apologizing as he made his way over.

Now, who was this young boy? Everyone present knew the answer to it. He was the most anticipated figure that had been missing for the past twenty days.

The Ye Family’s thirteenth prince, Ye Lang!

But who was that girl stumbling alongside him? How peculiar. Where was Zhen Xiaoyan? Why isn’t she here?

There was certainly no way that girl could be Zhen Xiaoyan. There was way too big of a difference! This girl had a lean figure with curves at the right places along with a beautiful delicate face on par with an angel. This definitely isn’t Zhen Xiaoyan.

“So sorry for the delay, we had a slight accident on our way here. Looks like we still made it in time though. Thank god,” apologized Ye Lang calmly as he got on stage. 

Knock! Ye Lang’s head was struck by a small delicate fish.

“Ah… sister, what are you doing?” moaned Ye Lang in pain, looking at his aggressor.

His aggressor was no other than his sister, Ye Lanyu - hold on, wasn’t she with the bunch over at the emperor’s seat? When did she get here?

My god she sure was fast!

The company she was with finally realized she was on stage. No one had any idea when she got here. At the same time, they realized that the seventh princess was no longer by their side too, appearing next to Ye Lang’s side!

“Why don’t you answer that yourself?! If you ever dare disappear without letting me know next time, I’ll beat you up really bad!” threatened Ye Lanyu, tightly clenching her firsts.

“But aren’t you already doing that?” Ye Lang replied confused.

“Well, I assure you this is nothing. That wasn’t even a worthy hit!” mumbled Ye Lanyu through gritted teeth whilst checking Ye Lang’s body for any sign of injury. After all, she wanted to make sure he was alright and well!

“...”