The Silly Alchemist

“… Little brother, don’t you trust me?” asked Princess Longji.

“Of course I do!!” said Ye Lang

“Then let me tell you this, she’s your grandmother!”

“No!” Ye Lang immediately shook his head.

“…So do you trust me or not!!”

“Yes!”

“Then she’s your grandmother!”

“No!”

…

It didn’t matter what she said, Ye Lang’s answer was always the same. He trusted her but wouldn’t recognise the empress dowager as his grandmother.

“You little troublemaker, your skin must be itching! You wouldn’t listen, yet you say you trust me!!” Princess Longji glared daggers at Ye Lang.

“I trust you, but she’s not my grandmother!”

“If you trust me, then she is!”

“Why? What has me trusting you got to do with that?”

“You…”

“It doesn’t matter what you say. My mom didn’t mention her, so we’ll talk about this when I ask my mother!!”

Princess Longji couldn’t do much now. She knew he wouldn’t agree no matter what she said. She understood that while Ye Lang was a clueless person, he had his own rules he stuck by.

However, she sensed that Ye Lang’s denial was related to Long Anqi too. Since she’d never mentioned this, never told Ye Lang and his siblings about their grandmother nor talk about her own family, this meant she didn’t want to associate herself with her family at all.

Then Ye Lang would have to respect Long Anqi’s decision!

Since young, Long Anqi never returned home, while not a single person from her family-other than Princess Longji- visited. They didn’t even write. The problem here is already very obvious!!

Ye Lanyu and the rest were smart, they must have noticed a problem early on although they never asked. Ye Lang, on the other hand, was just a clueless person, he never even noticed a problem!

No one would’ve guessed that although Ye Lang was clueless, he was very clear about this one point. Perhaps even clearer than Ye Lanyu and the rest.

If Ye Lanyu was here and heard what Princess Longji had to say, she would’ve recognised the empress dowager as her grandmother, even calling her ‘grandma’. Unlike Ye Lang!!

Ye Lang was more stubborn with his rules than anyone else!!

“Fine, whatever. Our aunt will deal with this!” said Princess Longji. It was clear now that this situation required Long Anqi’s help.

As for the problems between mother and daughter, they should solve it themselves!!

“Sigh. Looks like I’ve got to pay a visit to Anqi. It’s been years, but we’ve never met once! She’s left the Soaring Sky Empire, so the problem should have been gone by now!!” the empress dowager gave a long sigh, thinking about her own problem.

This problem was something that had been worrying her for a long time. It wasn’t her first time thinking about solving it, she just never had the opportunity!!

“Little brother, when are you going back to see auntie?” asked Princess Longji.

“I don’t know!” Ye Lang shook his head.

“?? Why don’t you know?” Everyone was puzzled.

“I’m here to tour the mainland, I’m not sure when I’ll return,” answered Ye Lang.

Princess Longji looked delighted upon hearing this. No one knew why she was happy but she soon asked a question—

“And your first thought was coming to Vermilion Bird Empire to visit? Looks like I didn’t waste my love on you!”

“No, I was supposed to visit Tigress!” he said honestly, shaking his head and smashing her hopes.

“…Hmmph, I knew you wouldn’t be that good… Wait, you said you wanted to see Tai Ya, but I remember her returning to the Tiger Race Tribe. That’s in the North, why are you here? You mean you’re lost again?” she said, looking at Ye Lang. She was almost certain he was lost, but she had to be sure.

If he weren’t lost, why would he be in the Southern region!!

“No, I’m not lost but I followed the wrong mercenary group. I thought they were Anna’s men,” he replied, shaking his head.

What’s the difference? This is even worse, how could you recognise the wrong person!!

“I’m worried. You should quickly visit Tai Ya so she can take care of you, then you won’t have a problem like this!” she said, exasperated.

At this point, empress dowager and the rest had a little more insight into Ye Lang’s personality. Other than being clueless, he had a tendency to get lost.

“Yeah, I’ll prepare to leave for Sheng City later, then to the tribe!”

“What? You’re leaving so soon? No!! You have to keep me company for at least a few days, seven… No, at least ten days!!” came her answer, snatching Ye Lang from the empress dowager’s palms.

“No, I’m running out of time. If I don’t make it to the ranking competition, my sister will scold me!”

“The ranking competition? Are you referring to the one between the mainland academies? Are you participating?” Princess Longji was surprised Ye Lang would participate. He would usually watch.

He nodded, “Yeah, I’m representing the Ye Academy to advertise its name. My sister, little Qi and Zhen Xiaoyan are all going!”

“Oh, then take care. Perhaps I’ll go too!” Princess Longji wasn’t sure if she had the time.

“Okay. Talk to them, don’t keep talking to me. I want to leave early!” He was reminding her to get down to business instead of chatting.

Ye Lang thought that since the emperor had already asked her to stay, there must be something important. It definitely wouldn’t be just for family-tie claims. Yeah, Ye Lang still thought the emperor was trying to associate himself with Ye Lang’s family!

“I wasn’t looking for Longji, I was talking about you, we need to discuss something!” said the emperor slowly, as if embarrassed- but he couldn’t remain silent either.

“What’s the matter?” asked Ye Lang, puzzled.

“Have you forgotten why you came?”

“I know, it was to kill… Cousin, what are you doing?” he saw Princess Longji waving her fist in front of him, “I wanted to kill her but it’s all fine now!”

Thud! Princess Longji flicked Ye Lang, causing him to do a few air flips again.