The Silly Alchemist

The performance ended, yet the crowd didn’t leave. Everyone stared quietly at the stage. No one dared to make a sound for fear of losing this memorable feeling.

At that moment, Moya appeared on stage in front of the audience. That was when Sha Lan knew she had failed miserably. Now, there was only one thing that she wished for to be confirmed.

That the Zhen Xiaoyan here now was a fake!

If she wasn’t, then Sha Lan would have to accept the fact that she might have to share Moya with Zhen Xiaoyan. She could only hope to be of higher priority in Moya’s heart compared to Zhen Xiaoyan.

We will soon find out!

Just like that, with the audience rooting for Xiaoyan, Zhen Xiaoyan and Moya glanced at each other, while time seemed to pass slowly.

Come on! Move! It’s been ten minutes!

“Fatty, go! Didn’t you work hard for this day? For this exact moment?” Ye Lang said, looking at Zhen Xiaoyan who just stood on stage, not walking towards Moya. She constantly looked back at Ye Lang, as if she was seeking his approval. 

That was probably true since Zhen Xiaoyan mostly required Ye Lang’s approval for everything that she did. She was used to it. Even little things depended on his approval.

It could also be due to her being overwhelmed by what just happened. While she had looked forward to this, when it really did come down to it, fear and hesitation were only human nature.

Perhaps there were other reasons, reasons she may not even know of.

“I… Soon...” Zhen Xiaoyan continued looking at Ye Lang. Then, she turned and walked towards Moya.

“What’s there to hesitate? Isn’t this the moment you’ve been waiting for? I don’t understand women at all, I’m going home!” Ye Lang said, barely understanding what just happened. Then he walked off the stage slowly and prepared to head home. 

“Brother? You’re leaving now? Don’t you want to watch?” asked a curious Ye Lanyu. Ye Lanyu had been waiting down by the stage too.

“What’s there to see? It’s just going to be some mushy couple thing, I’m not interested. Plus, I’m tired. The past twenty days have been exhausting,” said Ye Lang. 

“Tired, huh? Go home and rest then. The carriage is waiting outside, so you can sleep for a while,” Ye Lanyu said gently. She stopped herself from asking him questions, even if she had many running through her mind because Ye Lang expressed he was tired.

At this very moment, they heard a voice...

“Hehe, you’re lying. You’re always doing nothing when you watch Zhen Xiaoyan work hard. Plus, you never gave her any support or comfort.”

“... Liu Feiyan, what are you doing here?” Ye Lang turned to see Liu Feiyan, looking ever so elegant and beautiful in the most recent version of her appearance, of course.

“How could I miss this? I’ve worked so hard for twenty days, of course I have to be here for the results. And since we’re on the topic...I had faith you could pull it off, but I still find this unbelievable. Xiaoyan this good three days ago. What did you do to her to achieve this level of beauty?” Liu Feiyan asked, smiling. She knew the message she wanted to send was received by everyone standing there.

Ye Lang hadn’t disappeared without a reason. He was the one who put the final touches to make Zhen Xiaoyan look this good so this moment could be perfect.

“Anyway, are you going to leave without waiting for the results?” Liu Feiyan asked Ye Lang. Everyone had planned to ask him this but forgot after Liu Feiyan appeared. 

Ye Lang yawned and replied lazily, “Do I need to? Fatty’s performance was perfect, it’s a sure win! Unless the judges cheat, but would they dare? Besides, even if she doesn’t place first, she achieved her goal anyway. Look at how they’re flirting. The rest is not important!”

“Flirting? How could you say that?!”

“Am I wrong? Isn’t that considered flirting? She’s the mistress here, this Moya will forget his girlfriend for something new and shiny…”

“...”

Was this appropriate? Well, having multiple spouses was allowed on the mainland. And since all parties, in this case, weren’t married, that meant everyone still had a choice! 

Freedom!

“Forget it, I can’t explain it to a little shit like you!”

“Sure. Fatty achieved her goals anyway, so we can forget about the rest!”

“Yeah, Xiaoyan was here to woo Moya. She only needed to win his heart, being the most popular girl is just an added bonus!”

A person’s ‘goal’ can often be a trivial one, they could easily neglect or forget their real goals for something like that! Just like Zhen Xiaoyan. She was so focused on the goal to prove herself to Moya and get his approval.

Xiaoyan’s current situation had already exceeded her expectations, so of course, being the most popular girl was not on her mind!

No one saw it coming. No one thought that she could become so seductive, so cute… so perfect.

Everyone was curious… How did Ye Lang do it?

The seventh princess couldn’t help herself but ask, “Ye Lang, how did you manage to transform Zhen Xiaoyan like that? It was as if you turned decay into magic!”

[Turned decay into magic: a Chinese idiom meaning performing a miracle]

Ye Lang shook his head and sighed softly, “It’s not really about me, all I did was give her medicine, soak her in potions and help a little. She did most of the work. If she hadn’t put in all the effort she did, I wouldn’t have been able to help her even if I was a god.”

Ye Lanyu and the seventh princess both fell silent. Liu Feiyan was in deep thought. She knew Zhen Xiaoyan’s efforts were not something achievable by a normal person. 

To her, Ye Lang looked like a very laid back person, perhaps he didn’t even care about Zhen Xiaoyan’s hard work. It was as if he had provided her with the bare minimum and then proceeded to completely not care.

However, Liu Feiyan always felt Ye Lang was some sort of support system for Zhen Xiaoyan. It was a support system only understood by the two of them and no one else.

Liu Feiyan also felt the relationship between the two grow stranger these past twenty days. They went back and forth from friends to enemies, occasionally bickering to the point of breaking out into a fight… And yet they would always be friends again in the end.

She thought perhaps there was a reason for this strange behaviour between Ye Lang and Zhen Xiaoyan. Perhaps Ye Lang wanted to help ease Zhen Xiaoyan’s pain. 

A bicker here and there was enough to make her forget her pain for a while.