The Silly Alchemist

“I’m not afraid. Since father has also agreed to this, it means that he’s also facing some difficulties. As his children, I think we should do something for him,” Ye Lang shook his head and voiced out another important reason. 

“You’re right. It’s just a matter of letting a few people die, and this is also quite common now,” Ye Lanyu and the seventh princess had the same thoughts. In this world, the weak were the prey of the strong, killing and being killed happened almost every moment that everyone was already numb to it.

And at this moment, they had seemed to realize that Ye Lang’s surviving abilities weren’t as weak as they thought because he was brave enough to agree to it without any emotional breakdown. 

Perhaps he’d already experienced this before, or he just didn’t have a response to it yet… “Although that’s the case, you shouldn't follow me. This isn’t something good after all,” Ye Lang waved his hand and walked towards a direction. 

“No, I want to be with you!” Ye Lanyu and the seventh princess expressed their opinions. When they were about to follow him, they were stopped by the people behind them. 

And the ones who held them back wasn’t any strangers, they were their fathers! 

“Father, hmph! You told him to murder someone, you all aren’t good people,” Ye Lanyu and the seventh princess vented their anger on their fathers. 

“Well it isn’t considered as killing, he’s just doing an act. We’ll do the rest of it. Also, he’s part of the Ye Family, he'll need to deal with these things sooner or later. You shouldn’t treat him like he can’t handle risks, else how is he going to survive in the future?” said Ye Chengtian emotionally as he stared off into the distance. 

“...” 

Ye Lanyu and the seventh princess finally understood why they instructed Ye Lang to do this. They had another intention of doing so. They didn’t just think that Ye Lang was the most suitable candidate, they wanted this as an opportunity for him to grow! 

But… Did Ye Lang really have to go through this to cultivate his surviving abilities? 

Maybe so… “We’ve been talking about this for a long time, so what did you actually tell him to do?” asked the seventh princess. They still didn’t know what was going on. 

“You both should know that our three empires may seem like its peaceful with no wars and conflicts, but that’s just the surface. Actually, we’ve always had military frictions and there are often small-scale battles at the borders. The spies of each empire have also been very active!” explained the emperor, briefly describing the situation. 

“Yes!” Ye Lanyu and the seventh princess both nodded. 

“Scouts and spies have always been an open secret among the empires. Some empires even know where the spies are, yet they still let them carry out their jobs,” continued the emperor. 

“That’s because they want them to get false information!” guessed the seventh princess.

“Yes, that’s right! If it was applied properly, a bad thing can also become a good thing!” The emperor nodded, very satisfied with what the seventh princess said.  

“This has always been the case for everyone, but there has been a bit of an anomaly recently. The spy’s scouting activity has started to be more frequent. It seems like something is going on,” The emperor furrowed his brows. 

The seventh princess didn’t ask anymore because she didn’t want to know. She’d never been involved in this business anyway!

“We still can’t figure out what their objectives are. These spies only know what they have to do, but they don’t know what the goal is. But what is certain is that they all have the same purpose and they're all working towards it!” The emperor continued, “Although we aren’t sure what their intentions are, or why they’re targeting us, we can use this to break the partnership between them!” 

“Maybe this’ll make them tell the truth!” 

Their plan was to kill a few of the spies, capture the rest, then let some of them go in perfect condition. Even if the spies themselves knew the Soaring Sky Empire was doing this to drive a wedge between them all, disagreement and suspicion will still arise among them. 

This was the aim of the emperor. They didn’t tell Ye Lang who to kill, capture or let go, because they were all chosen randomly. 

“Oh, I see. So do we just wait now?” asked the seventh princess anxiously. She was worried about Ye Lang, fearing that he would cause trouble again. 

“Of course not. We’ll follow him, and see how Ye Lang settles this. The emperor shook his head. Although they thought that Ye Lang was the most suitable person to do it, it didn’t mean they trusted him completely.

It was because Ye Lang often did things that were out of people’s expectations. And although this was good, it brought more drawbacks most of the time! 

He arrived at one of the buildings in a different wing of the palace. It looked very grand from the outside, but it was spine-chilling inside. This was the place where the imperial court handled their prisoners, and it housed all the instruments of torture needed to force a confession. 

As Ye Lang entered inside, he realized the hall looked very similar to other places in the palace. It was very clean and tidy. 

There was nothing except for a table and a chair in the hall outside, like a yamen! 

[Note: A yamen is like an office for magistrates/officers in imperial China. This is where the officers judged criminal cases, handled paperwork etc]

Ye Lang didn’t even think about it and went to sit comfortably on the chair. He then took out something that resembled a cube out of nowhere and knocked on the table loudly - 

“Bang!” 

“Bring the prisoners to me!”

“...” 

This kid treated this place like a yamen. It was just that no one here knew what he meant. They just stared at him dumbly and wondered, was the thirteenth prince from the Ye Family going crazy again?

However, despite this, everyone still understood what Ye Lang meant, and were ready to bring the prisoners out… Wait, that’s not right!! 

“Thirteenth prince, which criminal do you want to interrogate? I see you’re here to play today?” The duty officer responded quickly enough. This thirteenth prince wasn’t his boss, so he didn’t immediately agree to his requests. 

They obviously didn’t know Ye Lang was sent by the emperor. If they knew about it, this plan would be useless.

At this point, the people who were observing them from a dark room were praying in their hearts, hoping Ye Lang wouldn’t forget what they told him just a while ago. 

Unfortunately, because they were a little upset from the conversation just now, they’d forgotten to tell Ye Lang how to start the plan. 

“Play? Do I look like I’m here to play? I’m very busy, I’ve got no time for that! Hurry up and bring the prisoners to me! This is a handwritten order from the emperor, I have full authority to deal with this matter!” Ye Lang opened up the order. 

“Hey, when did I give him that?” The emperor was disturbed. He only gave Ye Lang a token. What happened next had left everyone speechless. 

“Thirteenth Prince, there isn’t anything written here...” The duty officer’s face reddened. It was his first time seeing a blank order, but the seal on it proved that it was genuine. 

The thing about handwritten orders was that it would be genuine even if it was just a random piece of paper, as long as there was the imperial seal on it. 

Was there ever a handwritten order where the seal was placed first and the content written afterwards? It seemed impossible! 

Could it be said that the emperor had such absolute trust in him that he wouldn’t do anything against the emperor? 

It seemed like this thirteenth prince from the Ye Family was adored by the emperor, and it might be best to not offend him. 

No! I don’t freaking know where he got that piece of paper either!! - what the emperor would cry if he could hear what they were thinking.

“Oh, there isn’t? Then I’ll write it. Give me a minute!” Ye Lang was about to write something, but he couldn’t think of what to write, “How do I write this?” 

He’d never written these things before! 

Ah, whatever. I’ll just write...

‘Ye Lang’s words are the law. As if I spoke them.’

Aargh, this kid was truly an idiot. Did this kid just forge a handwritten order? Just like that?! The emperor was speechless. He really wanted to know where Ye Lang got the paper from though.

But it was better this way. It was now clearer than ever that whatever this kid was doing had nothing to do with them! 

“Alright! Get me the prisoners. Then, get me a pot of tea and some refreshments,” Ye Lang put his legs on the table and leaned back against the chair, which was slightly tilted backwards. He made himself very comfortable.

“Uh...” 

“Why are you still standing there? Someone take his rude man away!” yelled Ya Lang directly. The guards outside rushed in and took the officer on duty, still hesitating, away.

The guards outside were different from the ones inside. Under the circumstances of the handwritten order and Ye Lang himself, they would naturally listen to Ye Lang and chose to believe him completely. 

“How should I punish him? He is to sing non-stop outside until I say stop!” When the guard asked about the punishment, Ye Lang proposed a punishment that rendered everyone speechless. 

“...” 

After all the commotion, Ye Lang finally got down to business… 

“There’s a total of thirteen people here… But I don’t recognise anyone,” Ye Lang looked at the people who seemed a little out of it. They must have been tortured. 

“Thirteenth prince, we’re all good people! We were framed!” they seemed excited to see Ye Lang. He gave them hope.

“?? You all recognize me?” 

Nonsense, who wouldn’t? Even ordinary citizens knew him- and these were spies! 

Perhaps it was because of this, they thought Ye Lang would let them go because he was famous for being a blur and a fool. They felt that they all had a chance no matter what.

“Yes! You are our favorite thirteenth prince, we all know you are a man with a good heart and you’re kind,” Those people started complimenting him. 

Do you really think I can be tricked like that?! Who do you think I am?!

Ye Lang looked at those people with disdain and said, “That was very good. Carry on, please continue complimenting me…” 

“...” 

After a moment of silence, they immediately started to praise and compliment Ye Lang,  eventually even turning his flaws into virtues. This only made Ye Lang doubt if they were still describing him or someone else at this point...