The Silly Alchemist

Ye Lang obviously wasn’t thinking about that. "I'm going back to sleep, duh. I'll give you a break. Go on a few dates with your Moya then come back after a few days. Remember, if something feels wrong, come to me right away," answered Ye Lang casually.

Come back? What did that mean? Do you want Zhen Xiaoyan to live with you? Speaking of which, weren't you both technically living together for the past twenty days?

Was the real reason you helped her?

Ye Lang's words made everyone's imagination run wild, ignoring the words at the end of that sentence.

"I understand. What do you want to eat tomorrow?" nodded Zhen Xiaoyan in return. She understood what Ye Lang meant. He was worried about the after-effects, so he needed to be close by to observe her. Also, he had to be there to help her with her recovery process.

Ye Lang shook his head and replied, "I don't want to eat, I just need to sleep for a few days. Don't bother me, go on dates with your boyfriend. Oh, also remember to eat your medicine!"

"Got it, I'm not clumsy like you! Take care, I know you put a lot of effort into helping me, you just didn't want me to know," Zhen Xiaoyan looked at Ye Lang and said very softly.

There was no way she didn't know. Just imagine, to transform her into that state, into a cute girl that everyone would love. There was no way Ye Lang did that easily.

The potions that Zhen Xiaoyan had to take had to be formulated daily. This was because the functions of the potions were different every day as Zhen Xiaoyan kept changing every day.

As for medicine and other things, they had to be prepared early to catch up on the progress of Zhen Xiaoyan's changes. Ye Lang often had to rush to prepare them overnight while keeping watch over Zhen Xiaoyan in case of any side effects.

So, in the past twenty days, he rarely rested. He didn't want to let Zhen Xiaoyan know about this as he worried that fear would affect her progress, and naturally, he wouldn't want Liu Feiyan and the others to find out.

Because of that, everyone only knew of Zhen Xiaoyan's perseverance and inhuman pain that she experienced in the past twenty days, but nobody knew of the hard work Ye Lang put in except for Zhen Xiaoyan.

"Who said I put in a lot of effort? I didn't, I did nothing all day," said Ye Lang while softly smiling. He didn't want to add on to the topic, it was in the past anyways.

"I knew you'd say that. Alright, go get some rest!" She didn't say anything else, some things only needed to be remembered, not mentioned.

Then, he left. As expected, Zhen Xiaoyan got the title of the most popular girl, no one dared to object.

Of course, this wasn't only because of Ye Lang, it was mostly because of the emperor. Don't forget, the emperor bet on Zhen Xiaoyan to win, and he was present at the scene. Who dared let Zhen Xiaoyan lose the title of the most popular girl?

If Zhen Xiaoyan was slightly weaker than some other girl, everyone would've chosen the other girl as the titleholder. However, her performance today had surpassed every other girl without a doubt, the title was definitely hers.

Everyone watched Zhen Xiaoyan and Moya stroll away, nobody knew where they went. It wasn't because they didn't want to be found, or nobody could locate them, it was simply because nobody wanted to disturb their moment!

...

There was a small episode in Zhen Xiaoyan's house. 

"Xiaoyan? Is it really you?" said Xiaoyan's mother. She circled around Zhen Xiaoyan, taking in her daughter who had fully transformed.

As a mother who knew her daughter very well, she had reasons to believe this person in front of her was a fraud. However, she knew Zhen Xiaoyan the most and knew her situation very well.

Ye Lang's statement became reality -

Your own mother wouldn't recognize you!

"It's me, am I pretty or what?" chucked Zhen Xiaoyan as she held her mother's hands.

"Yeah, you are very pretty, but are you really my little chubby Xiaoyan?" replied her mother. Her mother's hand gently stroked Zhen Xiaoyan's face, not convinced this delicate face similar to a carved jade, was once the face that was round and fat.

"Hehe, yes. I am your chubby Xiaoyan. I'm no longer chubby, maybe in the future, I'll be fat again. Hehe..." giggled Zhen Xiaoyan. According to Ye Lang, her body would last like this for awhile. 

"This is incredible, how am I supposed to believe it?"

"..." Zhen Xiaoyan's mother didn't say anything, she just looked at Zhen Xiaoyan confused.

"Mum, do you remember when I was little? I was hungry so I ate mud as a snack..." Zhen Xiaoyan spilt some secrets that only they knew of, to which her mother replied - 

"Everybody knew, you know it didn't happen only once or twice..."

"..., then do you remember, once I was stuck in the bathtub..." Not a lot of people knew about that embarrassing incident. At that time, the bathhouse is unavailable, so Zhen Xiaoyan had to use an old bathtub to shower. The problem is that the bathtub was meant for her when she was young, so at that time, it's already too small for her.

"Although only a few people, you could still find out about it if you ask around. We secretly gossip about these things and spread them around. You just don’t know it..."

"What?! You...Ugh! Then did you also tell everyone about the birthmark on my chest?!" said Zhen Xiaoyan angrily, blushing after she said it.

"Not at all, only you and I know about that... Xiaoyan, you really are Xiaoyan?" said Zhen Xiaoyan's mother excitedly as she went in for a hug.

"Of course it's me, you can't even recognize your own daughter, ugh! Also... Mum can you loosen up, I can't breathe!" said Zhen Xiaoyan as she struggled.

Zhen Xiaoyan used to be hugged by her mother like this. Back then, she could've handled her mother's strength in the past, but now she couldn't.

"Oh, you’ve become so weak... You can't blame me, why did you have to change so much? Even your own mother couldn't recognize you!"

"Hehe..." 

"Quickly tell me, how did you do it? Tell mom your secret, I want to lose weight too, I want to be young and beautiful!" She couldn't resist the temptation.

Especially at her mother’s age, it was even more tempting...