The Silly Alchemist

“Do you want me to help you cleanse too?” Ye Lang looked at Li Yue. She looked like a crazy but beautiful girl, someone who’d just woken up.

“No, I still prefer to do it myself! Using the regular method!” she shook her head.

“Hurry up then. I’ll get us some breakfast.” as he spoke, he produced a vanity and then condense a tub of water for her.

She stared at the vanity, wanting to know what other random items he had in his ring. How could he have this too?

“What should we eat? Boiling porridge will be too slow. Let’s eat some dumplings, fatty made a lot for me.” Ye Lang produced a wok and an alchemy stove, then started to cook dumplings.

“Li Yue, do you want soup dumplings or dry ones?”

When the dumplings were ready, Ye Lang realised she was still washing up. This wasn’t because Li Yue was slow- the dumplings were quick to cook. But still, Ye Lang thought she was taking too long.

What is she doing? Ugh, this is troublesome!

“I like them dry with some vinegar. Did you bring any vinegar?” Li Yue tied her hair up in a simple ponytail then approached Ye Lang.

“Of course, I brought many bottles!” said Ye Lang as he pulled out a table, two chairs, chopsticks and placemats.

“Woah, you really have everything!” gasped Li Yue. He really was a walking sundry shop- a very top-tier one too, he had everything.

“Not really, I don’t have many things, like…” Ye Lang listed a lot of objects, they were all rare treasures, the kind you wouldn’t be able to find even if you had a lot of money. He was a prodigal son, not a god.

Some things cannot be bought even if you had the money!

“Shut up, eat your dumplings!” Li Yue said exasperated, not wanting to further dwell on the topic. She did not mean it that way.

“Oh, I want soup, it’s more comfortable… I’ll add some salt, some vinegar, sesame oil, a sprinkle of pepper…” after Ye Lang served Li Yue her plate of dumplings, he got himself a bowl of dumplings and added more ingredients.

Li Yue stared as he added more ingredients….

After he ate a few, she wanted some of his soup dumplings too.

“I want that too!” she pointed at Ye Lang’s bowl.

“I don’t have anymore, plus I’ve already poured away the soup…” Ye Lang shook his head. While he packed up, he’d cleaned his utensils in a second with the purification formation.

“Give me some from your bowl…” she said immediately, though when the words left her lips, she realised there was something very wrong with her statement.

If she ate food from his bowl… That was something only people very close to each other did. It was obvious their relationship wasn’t like that.

But Ye Lang did not care, of course. He nodded, “Alright, I’ll give you a few of mine, you give me a few of yours too…”

As he spoke, he picked up a dumpling from Li Yue’s plate with his chopsticks, dipped it in vinegar, then popped it in his mouth.

“Mmph… this one is delicious too! Dumplings are awesome, you can boil them, steam them, with soup, without soup, add different flavours…” Ye Lang started talking incoherently because he had stuffed a few into his mouth.

Li Yue did not have a problem with him taking the dumplings form her plate. Although that was also something very close people did, they were still just dry dumplings, all individually separated.

“You want some? Here you go…” Ye Lang pushed his bowl to the center of the table, gesturing for her to eat.

<i> Fine, you think I’m scared of you? I’ve shared food from the same bowl in the military too! </i> She clenched her teeth, then ate the dumplings and even drank some of the soup.

Li Yue’s face was a little red but Ye Lang thought it might be because of the hot soup.

Li Yue had shared food in the military before but they were all females. Men and women were separated in the military unless they were part of the special forces.

“What do you think? It’s amazing, right? Fatty’s dumplings are the best!” praised Ye Lang proudly.

“What are you so proud for? Zhen Xiaoyan’s cooking is great but that’s got nothing to do with you!” she scoffed, for she felt like Ye Lang acted as if he was praising himself.

This was interesting. This meant him and Zhen Xiaoyan were very close, their relationship was not just a regular friendship.

“Nothing to do with me? Fatty is my cook for life, it has everything to do with me!” said Ye Lang.

Li Yue was silent. She’d heard of this too, she knew Ye Lang had shamelessly roped Zhen Xiaoyan into this position.

“Meal’s over, time to go. Oh, right. Li Yue, do you want to pass your Tianji Armour to me first? I’ll bring you to a nearby town and you can get back to the city on your own,” said Ye Lang when he was done packing. This was an unfinished conversation from last night.

“No, I watch you using the armour, or I wouldn’t know if you’d damage it.” she shook her head as if she had already made a decision.

His brows furrowed with thought. “Alright! Then we’ll visit the tiger tribe together. You don’t have anything much going on anyway, it’ll be like a few-months-long vacation!”

If Li Yue had made her decision, Ye Lang decided to go with it. She was still the owner of the Tianji armour. As long as she let him use it, she could watch if she wanted.

“Alright!” Li Yue nodded.

“This is better too. With you here, I don’t think I’ll get lost!” he said with a grin.

“Get lost? What do you mean?” only people close to him knew of this.

“Not knowing the way, ending up in the wrong place,” explained Ye Lang, though it sounded more like he was explaining the definition of the phrase.

Whatever, it was pointless talking to an idiot.

“Li Yue, in which direction should I travel to go to the tiger tribelands?” Thankfully, he was talking to Li Yue. A regular person would not be able to find his/her bearings in the middle of this vast grassland, especially not point where the tiger tribe was.

“Walk in that direction. You’ll arrive at the empire’s borders once you exit the grasslands, then you’ll get to Afton Kingdom, then pass through… Ahh…” before she could finish, Ye Lang had picked her up again, startling her.