The Silly Alchemist

“Do you want to fight? Let me tell you, even if a minister eats here, he would have to pay the full price, what more a poor bum like you? I know you have no money so go wash the dishes!” said the shop owner. He was relentless, it seemed that he encountered this situation before.

“I’ll wash them because I ‘owe’ you. Once I’m done, you wait and see, I’ll burn this shop of yours down!” said Ye Lang furiously.

“As if you would!” said the shop owner. He felt that Ye Lang would just burn it already if he wanted to, why would he wait until the dishes were done?

“You wait and see…”

Ye Lang stormed off and washed the dishes. After he was done, he said to the shop owner, “I don’t owe you anything now. If you want to live then run. I’m going to burn your shop!”

“Let’s see you do it then!”

“Okay!” Ye Lang took a bottle of alcohol and threw it. The shop filled with the sweet smell of rice wine. Ye Lang stopped breathing, he was scared of getting drunk from the whiffs of alcohol.

“Aren’t- aren’t you afraid of the emperor? This is the place he personally recommended!!” The owner was starting to feel scared. He didn’t expect Ye Lang to act like this.

“Afraid? Who’s afraid! I’m not from here, no matter what I do here, nobody will be able to find me!!” said Ye Lang as he continued to splash alcohol around.

“Don’t! Please don’t! Stop, don’t do this. If you’re going to burn the shop, then burn me with it!” said the shop owner as he rushed in and stood between the alcohol and the Ye Lang.

Of course, he tried to stop Ye Lang before things got to this point but he failed. He could tell that Ye Lang was a highly skilled swordsman.

If I knew that he was so strong, I wouldn’t even provoke him. This crazy man, why did he even bother washing the dishes when I told him to!! 

He didn’t know that Ye Lang just wanted to pay off his debt. It was that simple. His mind went on with a case by case basis, he didn’t mix events together.

Therefore, if he owed anyone money, he would definitely pay them back and settle it!

“I won’t stop you if you want to die!” said Ye Lang calmly as he lit the match and threw it. He didn’t spare a second for the shop owner to rethink his choice.

“AH!” The shop owner ran out of the store as quickly as he could when he saw Ye Lang flick the match.

Ye Lang knew that this kind of person won’t own up to what they said. The shop owner just said that he’ll die with the store but now he’s running as if he’s in a 100-meter dash!

It didn’t matter if he didn’t run, he would have no use to the world if he continued living anyway…

The spark burst into flames and consumed the whole store. It was lucky no one was in it at that moment, well the store had very little customers in the first place.

The store and the signboard were soon engulfed by the flames!!

“Are you crazy?” shouted the shop owner.

“I do whatever I want. This is the compensation!” said Ye Lang with a crazy smile as he tossed the owner a bronze coin.

“…”

Usually, Ye Lang would give him more, much more to the store than what the bowl of noodles was worth to prove a point but he didn’t have much to spare.

It could only be said that the owner was unlucky to meet such a special customer like Ye Lang and unlucky enough to meet Ye Lang when he’s disgusting as a poor man.

Well, he deserved it too. It would be fine if he served the nobles, they paid for the full price willingly but he scammed the commoners too. Cases like Ye Lang wasn’t the first and it certainly wouldn’t be the last if the store continued.

Hence when the store burned down, many cheered!

“You crazy dude! Pay for all this!” The shop owner jumped forward with tears and snot dripping down his face. Ye Lang couldn’t help but kick his pathetic ass away.

“Didn’t I pay already?” said Ye Lang.

“Those coppers? You think that’s enough?” roared the owner. Many started to gather around them to observe the commotion.

“A copper is still money. That’s how much your store was worth, it was old, run-down, it’s even literally burning now…” said Ye Lang as he pointed at the burning store.

“…You were the one who did that!” The owner wanted to beat up Ye Lang but he knew he couldn’t win so he held back himself.

“…” The crowd was silent. They knew that Ye Lang was the one that burned the store and he even insulted the owner by saying it’s valueless because it’s burnt!!

However, this store deserved to be burned!!

“Yes, I set it on fire! That saved time … Wait, time, fuck! Ugh, I have something to do yet I wasted so much time here because of you. Tell me your address!” said Ye Lang.

Ye Lang didn’t know that the whole city was waiting for him to show up. His presence and eventually his elimination would finally end the boring game.

“My address? Are you going to send money over?” asked the owner in confusion.

“No! I’m going to burn it!” said Ye Lang calmly.

“…”

Everyone was silent again. Who the hell was this person?!?!?

“Whatever, I have no more time. You got lucky, don’t let me meet you again! I’m leaving!!” Ye Lang turned and left as he left it was meaningless to stay any longer.

He didn’t disappear like a master, just like a commoner, he slowly walked away!!

The owner, displeased with how things ended, jumped onto Ye Lang. However, he was flung to the side by Ye Lang with just one move.

The owner gave up on pursuing Ye Lang. What was the point? He wasn’t stronger than him nor could he fight against him. Picking a fight would mean suicide for him.