The Silly Alchemist

“I just said that the old man told me to do that. That didn’t mean that I wanted to,” said Ye Lang.

“What do you want then? Someone else?” asked Migen.

“No!” said Ye Lang bluntly.

That made everyone much more relieved. What they dreaded the most has passed, anything else he would request should be fine to them.

But Ye Lang’s bluntness left everyone with mixed feelings. It seemed that he didn’t even consider marrying them at all, which left everyone wondering why.

Why would a poor man like him not even think about marrying into a powerful family like them?

“Then it’s the three requests. We’ll be able to do anything you want,” said the head of the household immediately.

They made a guarantee then, with his words but here were limits to these requests that Ye Lang made. That meant if they couldn’t achieve what Ye Lang wanted, they wouldn’t even do it.

The only thing was that these restrictions didn’t mean anything to Ye Lang because he didn’t even want anything.

“I don’t need it!” said Ye Lang.

The rest were dumbfounded. What did he just say? Not wanting to marry a lady of Ha De house was fine, they had expensive taste, it would be tough to have a poor husband for them.

But the requests, they could be anything. Wealth, power, women, anything.

Yet, Ye Lang didn’t want any of that. That was beyond everyone’s expectations.

“What?! You don’t need it?” asked the head of the household, a little agitated.

“Yes! I don’t need it! Ye Lang nodded.

“Do you need anything else?” asked the head of the household. He felt dumb when he asked that question.

“Nothing!” said Ye Lang.

“If you don’t need anything, why are you here?” asked Debbie.

“Dummy! I’m here to return the jade pendant, isn’t it obvious? Well, that’s done, I’m leaving. I’m a busy man,” said Ye Lang as he stood up. He grabbed a desert and shoved it into his mouth.

“Ye Lang, do you really not need anything?” asked Migen.

“Nope! The old man said a poor man should have dignity too!” said Ye Lang as he looked around his surroundings blankly.

His words took the listeners by surprise. They didn’t expect this, they just assumed that the poor would try to take advantage of this situation in any way they could.

They didn’t know that in this world many of the poor lived with dignity. They get by each day by their own effort with their heads held high. They didn’t expect help nor did they want it.

Many current nobles and wealthy merchants came from commoner roots as well, even the Ha De family was once commoners.

Since they established themselves as a powerful and wealthy household, their descendants started getting cocky and forgot their roots.

At that moment, the group could feel a disdain in Ye Lang’s gaze.

“Sir Ye, if you don’t mind, why not stay the night here,” asked the head of the house sincerely.

“No need, I have a place...” replied Ye Lang.

“Is it the square? We offered you a nice place to stay but you rather sleep on a sidewalk, this is just stupid!!” said Debbie. She knew that Ye Lang had no money on him from yesterday.

“I’m not being stupid, I just don’t want to stay with you all. From your looks, I know you all don’t like me,” said Ye Lang.

“This...” The group felt their faces heating up from embarrassment.

“I’m leaving! I believe we won’t see each other again!” said Ye Lang as he left.

“...”

The four stayed silent for a long while, absorbing the lesson Ye Lang just told them. They would think twice before judging anyone again.

“Debbie you mentioned that he sleeps on the sidewalk and got happy over a bronze coin, what’s that about? Did you meet him before?” asked the head of the household, finally breaking the silence.

Debbie quickly told him about what happened yesterday.

“... if he wasn’t homeless, I would think that he was the Ye Lang I heard about. But it seems impossible now that Ye Lang would be in the Vermillion Bird Empire. This family and Vermilion Bird’s family finally acknowledged each other as in-laws. Who knew the princess married into the Ye Family?” said the head of the household.

Many were shocked to learn about the Vermillion Bird royal family’s relationship with the Ye family. That meant Ye Lang’s grandmother was the empress dowager.

“Father you’re talking about that Ye Lang, right? No way! Although rumours say that he is maybe quite clueless about things, he likes to spend his money. I heard he only stays in the most expensive hotels and eats the most expensive dishes, there’s no way that was him!” Qi’er has heard many rumours about him, she was convinced that the man she just met wasn’t him.

“Yes, probably isn’t him! There are many Ye Langs in the world. In just our empire alone, there are probably thousands of them,” said the head of the household as he nodded.

“Didn’t he mention that he passed a test? What test was that?” The head of the household suddenly remembered.

Hence, the four of them headed to the main hall and called over the head examiner to find out more.

“What?! You’re saying that he defeated that level nine guard in one move? Using that thin sword?” asked Debbie.

She previously thought that Ye Lang’s sword was unfit for any sort of combat. It was most probably just for show, she even said it couldn’t kill a chicken! It looked like she was proved wrong by him again. It could very much kill a human.