The Silly Alchemist

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

“…” Her face darkened.

“All I want is your approval, is it so important that other people approve of this?” asked Ye Lang.

Was it?

This was a matter between two people, approval from other people was just extra icing on the cake but not the key. She felt like she might’ve gotten too distracted, her family’s attitude should not affect her too much.

She believed that when the time came, when paddy has been cooked into rice, they would accept him the same…

Wait, what am I thinking? When paddy has been cooked into rice?! We aren’t even at that level yet, this is so embarrassing!

[TL Note: when the paddy is cooked into rice- when the deed is done; implies when she’s already married / pregnant]

After a minute of overthinking, her face turned very, very red like the evening sky.

“What’s the matter, your face is very red! Are you having a fever?” Ye Lang touched her forehead. “It’s a little hot but I don’t think it’s a fever yet. Take care of yourself.”

“…” Li Yue felt her face grow hotter, though she seemed to like this feeling.

“You… Don’t you both think this is inappropriate? You’re in public, what’s the meaning of this?” Animal Man appeared once again, he seemed to have been following Li Yue.

“Is this inappropriate?”

“This is none of your business!” said Ye Lang and Li Yue at the same time with no intention to step away from each other. Li Yue’s question had a stubbornness to it that surprised Animal Man.

Although Li Yue was a soldier, she was never stubborn with anyone. Instead, she was gentle and warm– alright, maybe not gentle but she was always polite and mild. Not like this.

However, even without harshness, she still had the aura a soldier should have. She did not need to use anger to show her status.

“Mr Fox, right? I challenge you to a duel!” Animal Man was furious indeed, making a request that was very common on the mainland. Yeah, duel challenges were very common, something that happened every day.

“I’m not interested!” Ye Lang waved, the expression on his face seemed to say ‘please stop annoying me’.

This was unexpected, to decline a challenge so directly. This was rare on the mainland for accepting a duel was a matter of dignity.

“…” Li Yue looked at Ye Lang, thinking.

“Haha! Do you see this? Miss Li Yue, he is a cowardly pretty boy, how could he be worth your time?!” Animal Man grew more arrogant upon Ye Lang’s refusal, laughing loudly as if he had to tell everyone in the world.

And because of his tone, people started to walk out to the yard to take a look at Ye Lang, giving him condescending looks.

Mainlanders respected strong warriors and looked down on weaklings with such behaviour. To them, he could not even be called a weakling, for a weakling would at least agree to the duel.

It was not a death duel, merely a fight to determine the winner. That was why weaker individuals did not fear duels either. So what if they lost, a barefooted man has no shoes to lose!

“Mr Fox, why don’t you accept his challenge?” asked Li Yue, her tone so mild no one knew what it meant.

“Why should I? If I accepted every time a random cat or dog challenged me to a duel, I would either die from exhaustion or from the fact that they’re so annoying!” said Ye Lang casually.

“…” Oh, so that was what he meant. He looked down on Animal Man.

“Pretty boy, who are you calling a dog? I’ll make you die a horrible death!” roared Animal Man. He had been humiliated badly, for Ye Lang did not even look at him.

“Li Yue, the moon tonight is so pretty, it looks like your eyes when you smile,” Ye Lang said suddenly to Li Yue.

“??” In a moment, she couldn’t understand what Ye Lang was trying to do, so she was stunned. However, very quickly, she realised he was complimenting her and she blushed again.

Li Yue’s response stunned the Li family members. They had never seen her act like a shy girl.

Looks like she liked this fox kid a lot…

“Pretty boy, you’ll die today!” roared Animal Man as he slashed his broadsword at Ye Lang.

There was a huge wave of douqi coming from his sword and overflowing fury, this made this one slash an extremely powerful one. People who knew him wondered when he’d become so strong.

This slash was possibly the most powerful slash he had ever made in his life. Perhaps he never knew he had such power in him either. However, he did not notice for he was currently filled with blind rage.

That was powerful! thought the masters who were present, worried for Ye Lang for they felt like Ye Lang would either die or be severely injured from this.

Ye Lang looked at the sword calmly, then did something very, very undignified…

“Li Yue, go…” he shouted then hid behind Li Yue in a flash. It was obvious he wanted Li Yue to protect him.

Fuck, he really was just a pretty boy! To hide behind a girl like that, then need her to block the attack… They wanted to spit on him!

Ye Lang had lost all respect, their impression of him was that he was just a weakling, a weak boy with a pretty face.

However, Li Yue didn’t seem to care. She merely grinned, then unsheathed her sword and thrust it forward. She parried Animal Man’s blade away with just the tip of her sword.

This block was impressive, the audience liked Li Yue even more!

“Amazing!”

Cheers rang across the halls, the Li family was proud of her. However, Li Yue, the main character, was still as calm as ever. The cheers did not get to her.

She merely turned around to look at Ye Lang behind her. “Alright, it’s fine now!”

Although everyone was giving him patronizing looks, his expression was still the same as if this was a very normal thing.