The Silly Alchemist

“Alright. I swear it. I swear that if I’d known archery before this, I would be struck by lightning!” swore Ye Lang. He was very confident because it was true he’d never done archery in his life.

“You’re really new to this?” Li Yue started to relax when she heard Ye Lang’s solemn swear.

“Yep!” he nodded.

“Then you really are the prodigies of prodigies!”

“Of course!” he accepted the compliment with full honesty.

“Wow, you’re not shy about it at all! Alright, let’s deal with the wolf…” Li Yue did not probe further either. The huge grey wolf before them was the most pressing problem. How were they going to deal with it?

“It’s simple. Skin it, take out the magical core, remove the organs, cook the meat and we can eat it,” said Ye Lang with no intention to move.

“Alright!” she nodded and turned looked at Ye Lang. At this point, they had already arrived next to the wolf.

“We hunted this wolf, cooking it wouldn’t be breaking the rules, right?”

“Nope, eating the animals we hunt during the event isn’t breaking the rules!” Li Yue was still looking at Ye Lang.

“That’s great. This wolf will last us a very long time. Hurry, let’s not waste our youth,” he said as he stared at the wolf.

“Hurry? Does this mean you want ME to deal with the wolf?”

“Nonsense, if it’s not you then who? Me? Hurry, you’re Li Yue! You must be awesome at this,” replied Ye Lang, not noticing the problem at all.

“So you want me to deal with the wolf. What about you?” she was still looking at him.

“I’ll watch, what’s the problem with that? I’ll direct you, hurry up!” he said matter-of-factly.

“Do you really intend to date me?” she asked with a very strange look in her eyes.

“Yeah, I do!” Ye Lang didn’t understand what this had to do with anything.

“If you intend to pursue me, you should be the one doing it! I can’t believe you even have the audacity to let a girl do such work?! Let’s not talk about you pursuing me- even if you weren’t, you still shouldn’t let me do such work!” huffed Li Yue. She couldn’t believe a person could give her instructions to get to work while he watched without a hint of shame.

“Is that a problem? I’m not very familiar with that. Other people have always done it, including girls.” Ye Lang did not understand what the problem was.

In the past, as the thirteenth prince, why would he ever have to do anything? There were so many servants available, then there were Tigress, Zhen Xiaoyan, etc who were willing to help. He never had to do anything much.

“Silly, of course you’re supposed to be the one doing it! You have to be a gentleman, you’re with a girl!” Coldblood Five could not bear to watch any longer. If she could, she really wanted to smack him now.

“I’m not a gentleman! Little Five, you used to deal with things like this too. Why can you do it but not her?” came his reply.

“You idiot, I’m me and she’s her! Are we the same?” huffed Coldblood Five.

“Not the same! We’re close, she’s an outsider… Oh, I guess I understand.” Ye Lang nodded as if he understood.

Upon hearing this, Coldblood Five was a little calmer. At least her efforts paid off, he thought they were ‘close’ and she wasn’t an outsider.

“Alright, I’ll do it!” Ye Lang had no choice but to step up. He’d originally wanted to retrieve a tool from his space ring but he realised that taking it out would just invite a lot of trouble.

That tool was an alchemy item he made on his own, it would probably cause unnecessary trouble.

That was why he merely took out a very simple dagger. It was a normal dagger he’d bought on a whim. He had more than ten in his ring.

Although it was a regular dagger without any special properties, a prodigal son’s purchase would never be a dull one. The craftsmanship was exquisite, it glittered coldly and looked very sharp.

He dragged the wolf down to the edge of a stream then chopped it into sections. With a few slashes, he separated the wolf, which was as big as a bull, a few segments.

“..Did you use to work as a butcher?” Li Yue was stunned when she saw him.

“Nope!” Ye Lang obviously said no. How could he ever be a butcher? Even if he was willing, the people around him would never let him be one.

“Then did you often do things like this?”

“Nope, this is my first time!”

“Are you lying again?” Li Yue’s expression indicated she did not believe him at all.

“I’m not! This really is my first time. Other people usually do this for me, I’ve never had to do it myself,” he answered as he washed his hands in the stream. The water turned red for a moment but soon cleared.

She believed this part. He was a young master of a rich family, why would he need to do anything himself? However, the front part was hard to believe. How could his actions be so smooth if this was his first time? <i> Are you going to say it’s because you’re the prodigy of prodigies again? </i>

“Please don’t tell me it’s because you’re the prodigy of prodigies again!”

“That’s kinda true though. Then again, it’s because I’ve watched many people deal with game, it’s only natural I know how to do it too! Isn’t there a saying about how the man who hasn’t eaten pork has watched a butcher slaughter a pig…”

“…I think it’s ‘the man who hasn’t eaten pork has seen a pig run!’” corrected Li Yue.

“Oh, something like that. I meant something like that!” nodded Ye Lang.

“…” She thought there was something wrong with his statement but did not dwell on the topic for there was no need to.

…

A huge wok was placed on a stove made of wood. Ye Lang threw some wolf meat inside to cook it, then added water, some salt and some garlic. He didn’t add anything else though. This was actually his first time cooking in this world too- but he’d watched people cook a lot and he used to cook a little in his previous life.

Li Yue was the one who’d prepared the salt, garlic and wok. She’d brought many condiments too but Ye Lang didn’t use them because he didn’t know how to use complicated ingredients. Only the simplest ones.

And based on their prior conversation, he felt like he should be the one cooking too so he didn’t let Li Yue cook!

To be honest, although Li Yue wasn’t very good at cooking, she could still cook a little. She was especially adept at cooking in the wild because she’d undergone specific training.

At least she was better than him in this aspect!

As she watched him cook, she was sure her cooking wouldn’t be worse than his,

“How many points for this?”

Ye Lang was humming as he cooked, looking very relaxed. It was a very simple tune, the kind that was common in the mainland and she did not find it odd at all.

“A large grey wolf’s a level 7 magical creature. Five points!” she replied.