The Silly Alchemist

Anyone more intelligent would be able to tell that Li Yue wanted to hold his hand. This was no accident.

However, when Ye Lang noticed that his hands were touching hers, he decided to put his arm behind him!

“…”

Li Yue was going mad, her hands now at his neck as if she wanted to strangle him but she held herself back and sulked.

And just like that, one sulking and the other with his hand behind his back, they were a hilarious couple but also made you feel warm inside.

Sir Tie Jing laughed and shook his head when he saw this. He could tell that Ye Lang was the kind of clueless idiot when it came to relationships. This kid did not catch the opportunity when it was in his face, Li Yue’s hints were very obvious!

If Coldblood Five were here, she would’ve called him a huge idiot. He’d missed such a good opportunity, did he really need her to watch over him every second?!

As they walked, Li Yue noticed a small problem.

“Eh, where are we going? Mr Fox, are you very familiar with this place? You look like you’re very used to being here,” Li Yue looked at him incredulously.

Everyone was walking behind him too, which meant he was leading the group. Although they didn’t know where they were going, they had a feeling…

A feeling that Ye Lang seemed to be very familiar with this place. He did not look twice when he stepped in here, unlike a newcomer at all.

Usually, a person would look everywhere the first time he was here. This was the palace after all, there were many things that would attract one’s attention.

“Ah, I’m not familiar with this place at all! What makes you think I come here often? Where are we? I don’t know either.” Ye Lang suddenly realised he should not behave so calmly in this place.

However, thank goodness there was one thing that proved he was a newcomer. A habit he had even if he’d visited a place countless times…

He did it again, he had lost his way!

He sometimes lost his way in a familiar place too, though chances of it were lower. However, he hadn’t been here in two years so its probability was on a steady rise!

And because of him being lost, they were sure he was a stranger to this place!

“Hey you, don’t walk so quickly if you’re not familiar with this place. What if you accidentally enter a forbidden area?” Li Yue was exasperated as his response and pulled his arm very naturally. And when she pulled him towards herself, she very naturally slipped her hand into his.

“There are forbidden areas in this palace?” asked Ye Lang. He’d been to every corner of this palace, why didn’t he know there were forbidden areas?

“There didn’t use to be any but there are several forbidden areas in the recent two years. These are the previous prince and princess’ quarters, all sealed up by the empress now. She did not want people going near them, especially not people living in them,” replied Li Yue.

At the same time, she thought to herself, to be honest, there was nobody around even if the empress allowed it. There were only three royals left and two of them had already cut ties with the Soaring Sky Empire. All that was left was the empress herself. 

And the empress had no heirs either. Who would qualify to live in the palace anyway?

“Oh…” Ye Lang replied.

“Mr Fox, Miss Li Yue, please follow me!” Sir Tie Jing took over the job of leading the group when they realised Ye Lang had lost his way. He did not want to walk randomly in this place.

He did wonder if this was Ye Lang’s first place here, and wondered where he was heading to.

Ye Lang had intended to head towards the seventh princess’ quarters out of habit but literally lost his way there. That was why his expression of confusion was very real and did not feel like he was lying.

After walking some time, Ye Lang and Li Yue arrived at an open space. This was one of the yards within the palace where outdoor events would be held.

There was a feast spread out here, plus ornaments everywhere. Ye Lang understood that there was going to be an outdoor gala here. This was where Zhao Yarou’s birthday party would be.

Although the party would start at night, there were already many people present to make preparation. In fact, it wouldn’t be a problem if the party were to start now. That was why Ye Lang directly walked over to ask for some food.

As for his requests, the workers naturally fulfiled them. They did not want to offend anyone in the palace. Very quickly, a meal was delivered to Ye Lang.

However, before food could enter his mouth, he was stopped!

“Bring that back!” cried Sir Tie Jing, then turned to Ye Lang. “Mr Fox, it’s not time to eat yet! The empress said to eat with her if you arrived early.”

“There’s no need for that!” Ye Lang was teary-eyed as he watched the workers take away his food, as if something precious had been taken away.

“It’s necessary! The empress has already prepared lots of exotic food, I’m sure you’ll like it,” said Sir Tie Jing.

“Really? Then let’s hurry, I’m starving,” said Ye Lang immediately.

Starving? You haven’t even done anything, and you never even mentioned food before this. If you hadn’t seen food, you probably wouldn’t have thought of it anyway. Now you’re starving? Well, this escalated quickly.

Sir Tie Jing shook his head but did not say anything. He brought Ye Lang and Li Yue to Zhao Yarou’s study.

Ye Lang had been here too. The former emperor once invited Ye Lang over to solve a couple of problems.

When he arrived, Zhao Yarou had been dealing with paraphernalia and miscellaneous matters. She let him in when she heard of their arrival.

“Your Majesty, is it time to it yet?” Ye Lang asked directly upon seeing her.

“…” Zhao Yarou had planned to deal with a couple of things while Ye Lang waited aside. However, this kid had asked if it was time to it so openly!

“We’ll eat immediately, please sit here! Start serving the dishes!” Zhao Yarou immediately instructed her people to serve the food while the took the time to sign a few documents.