The Silly Alchemist

Why were they supporting him? Well… to be frank, everyone was only there to look at beautiful - wait no, talented girls!

They had no concerns as to who the contestants were. All that mattered was that the girls were beautiful and charismatic with a hint of talent.

In regards to Zhen Xiaoyan, who was currently fidgeting on stage under fire, they didn’t mind the fact that she might be a dupe. She was genuinely gorgeous and didn’t look out of place at all amongst the other contestants. Heck, she even had surpassed them in terms of beauty! To them, the ongoing vigorous debate regarding her authenticity was unnecessary.

“Oh, the thirteenth prince. So shameless but yet, so impressive! We support you!”

It’d be even better if Ye Lang brought along a few more girls like this…

“Wow… this is actually impressive… Chengtian, your son is simply outstanding!” exclaimed the emperor, bewildered by the scene. The emperor gave a firm pat on Ye Chengtian’s shoulder. After all, he really meant what he said.

“Thank you for your support!” expressed Ye Lang, full of gratitude to the crowd. He didn’t realize that the audience hasn’t fully acknowledged the girl as Zhen Xiaoyan with their support. 

“Ye Lang! You…” roared an experienced judge, standing up from his seat abruptly, only to pause to think of the right word to go along with his sentence. There was no new offensive vocabulary left to use as everyone else had used them all.

“You… can’t pull a move like this! We forbid you from competing. Bring forth the real Zhen Xiaoyan and have her show us her genuine potential!

“Why is it that I have to keep repeating myself that this girl is none other than Zhen Xiaoyan?! She IS Zhen Xiaoyan!” said Ye Lang begrudgingly. This was starting to get on his nerves.“All this competition nonsense was just for fatty to defeat Sha Lan! Oh, right. Did Sha Lan manage to enter the finals?” 

…

His resentment towards Sha Lan was rather obvious from the fact that he didn’t even bother finding out whether she was competing in the final round.

“Ye Lang, if you say that she’s Zhen Xiaoyan, where’s your proof?!” raged someone from the audience. Once again, everyone started to make noise again in support of it. They wanted evidence!

“If I said she is, she is! I’m telling the absolute truth!” stated Ye Lang, brows scrunched up.

His tone sounded calm but had carried a high-handed message to the crowd to stop testing him.

The sudden display of status and authority silenced everyone present. It was the first time anyone had seen such behaviour from Ye Lang. It was overbearing but natural, given his birth status as an aristocrat. No one dared to press the matter further, stopping the debate.

“Ugh, fatty, just go sing the song. Let’s end this as soon as possible, I hate it here!” said Ye Lang full of annoyance, fleeing the stage in a flurry. How dare they question him when he was simply an honest boy, telling nothing but the truth?!

“A-alright. Hey, wait up! Aren’t you supposed to accompany me?” asked Zhen Xiaoyan as soon as she noticed Ye Lang fleeing the stage.

Their initial plan was to have Ye Lang play the tune to accompany Zhen Xiaoyan, allowing her to utilize her timbre!

“You can just sing a few lines in acapella. You’ve already managed to attract so many here, you don’t need my help anymore,” stated Ye Lang. Truth be told, Ye Lang had been observing the crowd’s reaction towards the current Zhen Xiaoyan. If this went smoothly, she’d definitely win this competition!

“P-please don’t leave me alone here… I’m not ready to perform solo…” said Zhen Xiaoyan as she rushed forward to pull Ye Lang’s shirt, giving him large puppy eyes. She looked so timid and delicate like this, the audience had the urge to protect this precious girl in their gentle embraces.

Oh my gosh, I’m about to die! She’s soooooo cute! She’d definitely be the winner even if she had no talent!

The crowd went crazy at that split second, screaming their lungs out for Zhen Xiaoyan. Despite the need to authenticate her identity, everyone was willing to take a leap of faith and believe in Ye Lang. After all, he was widely known for being honest. It was just that the stark differences between the girl and Zhen Xiaoyan were way too obvious.

“There was no way she wouldn’t win at this point,” thought Ye Lang as he took in the fan cheers and screams from the audience. He was definitely no longer needed here. These rascals were not worthy of his time and talents anyways.

“But… I don’t have my guitar…” said Ye Lang, making up a lame excuse.

“...” Zhen Xiaoyan was getting irritated. “Don’t you dare think you can get away with this! You promised to play the flute for my piece!” gently pestered Zhen Xiaoyan, gulping down her rage.

“Me… the flute?”

“Yeah!” 

“You sure?”

“I’m sure about that!”

“Fine, then let’s get this over with. Women sure are fussy!”

“Hmph!”

“Hey, brother… you…” Ye Lanyu finally spoke up. Ye Lang completely forgot his sister and the seventh princess standing by the side of the stage.

“Eh? Why are you both still here? Do you want to join us? You can sing along and dance for them…”

“Buzz off!” said Ye Lanyu and the seventh princess in unison following up with a punch to Ye Lang. How dare he suggested it again!

“If that wasn’t your plan, you should exit the stage now. We’re about to start,” said Ye Lang to the two girls while he rummaged for his flute from his space ring.

“Hmph! This is not over yet!” replied Ye Lanyu, showing her little fists before exiting the stage with the seventh prince.

Before they left the stage, they looked back. 

“Is she really Zhen Xiaoyan?” they asked with genuine concern.

“Yes, of course she is,” nodded Ye Lang in reply.

“I still find it hard to believe though, I trust that you won’t lie to me. Tell me how you managed to do this after the competition, okay?” they replied, walking away.

They both chose to believe in Ye Lang. They just wanted to confirm if Ye Lang was lying to them and to authenticate the credibility of his bold statement.

He wasn’t lying at all. The girl with the hot body and gorgeous face? That girl with the elegance of a noble but cheeky like your next-door girl on stage? She was none other than the ugly, out of shape Zhen Xiaoyan. She wasn’t like this twenty days ago, but this was her final form.

The change was too jaw-droppingly impressive, which made it hard to fathom. It was literally a metamorphosis!

How did Ye Lang achieve this?

Ye Lanyu was dead set on finding out how Ye Lang did this, that way she’d never need to worry about gaining weight anymore! That was her goal for today, nothing else mattered now.

After hearing that the girl was indeed Zhen Xiaoyan, all the ladies among the audience started to ponder how Ye Lang managed to help Xiaoyan. Everyone was envious and jealous of her. 

Especially the plumper ladies. The urge to purchase and get their hands on Ye Lang’s secret formula no matter what was simply too strong.

No one was ready for what the duo on stage was about to do. As soon as the melody came out from Ye Lang’s flute and Xiaoyan’s voice was heard, the audience froze. Their hearts stopped, it was breathtaking.

They were about to witness the birth of a miracle!

…

“Your Majesty…” said someone, still sceptical about the whole thing.

“Just let them perform. I have some faith in this boy. He’d never lie to his sister and my daughter!” affirmed the emperor.

“But…”

The first note of the flute demanded the silence of the audience, prompting the audience to listen to what the instrument had to express. The melody was soft and light, telling everyone a beautiful love story… 

On the stage, Ye Lang sat further to the side of the stage intentionally, letting Xiaoyan have the spotlight to herself. As he started playing the melody, Zhen Xiaoyan slowly closed her eyes and immersed herself in the music.

Today, she was the superstar!

As the last note rang for the piece’s intro, Xiaoyan lifted her head, eyes staring into the distance affectionately…

“Every night in my dreams, I see you, I feel you… That is how I know you go on… Far across the distance, and spaces between us…”

It was the iconic theme of Titanic, a beautiful song overflowing with feelings, coherent to the story with the composition of the tune. The song started off calm, but soon, it came to the climax, before coming to an end, leaving the audience with lingering sadness. The song itself had summarized the tale of the Titanic.

The reason why Ye Lang had selected this song for her was that the tune provided a great platform for Xiaoyan to express her feelings. The tune was sophisticated and yet, explosive. With that, her feelings would surely reach everyone.

Particularly, Moya.

Of course, to make this song befitting of Zhen Xiaoyan’s situation, Ye Lang had to rewrite the lyrics, of which the process had given him a massive headache. After countless pondering and correction, he finally did it! It had only taken him an hour in real-time, but the process felt like an eternity to him.

Honestly speaking, the true reason as to why he rewrote the lyrics was because he couldn’t recall the true lyrics to this iconic masterpiece. The lyrics were in English, which proved to be difficult to memorize. Although he couldn’t remember them, he still remembered how it felt to listen to this song.

He had the full intention of ensuring his lyrics were memorable. Through the lyrics, he hoped that the audience would find Xiaoyan’s singing remarkable and for them to feel her sorrows.

His goals were achieved as everyone felt the clenching and dull aches in their hearts. Everyone felt and could picture her story… of her hiding in the corner peeking at Moya, of her hiding her feelings towards him within her heart… of her painful, longing stares at the happy, picturesque couple Sha Lan and Moya joining hands together… 

How heart-wrenching… Her song revealed her feelings throughout the years to the audience!

One-sided love and crushes were just a part of life everyone had been through, where both success and failure was common. One thing was for sure though, these experiences were sculpted into what they were and would remain forever in their memories for years to come. These little bits were carved into everyone’s hearts.

With this song, its lyrics resonated deep within them...

With this song, tears gathered, threatening to fall…

And with this song, they witnessed the birth of a miracle…

…

“The furthest distance in the world is not between life nor death, but between us when you remain clueless about how much I love you... As I stand proudly in front of you…”

She sang, deeply moving the audience.

Did you cry? Did you heart clench painfully?

I guess you did because I did too…

…

What the heck?! I wasn’t expecting the results to be this intense. There was no way fatty wouldn’t win this competition now. Not only did she win over her love rival, she even touched the heart of her crush!

That was awesome, but-

My plan to spend money! Oh crap!

Ugh, nevermind, I guess I did a good deed linking up Zhen Xiaoyan and Moya. Man, I’m such a great person!

...