The Silly Alchemist

Selfish (1)

“...You don’t even know her last name? Don’t you know Alexandria’s history?” Johnny shook his head, as if very tired.

Ye Lang answered, “I think I’ve read somewhere that Alexandria city was founded by this person called... Alexandria? ... Nikola. It was said that there was a war so he and some people escaped here. They built a little village, but because of its location, it slowly grew into a town, then a city-town, a city and now a metropolis!

“And this village used to be called Alexandria, hence it’s now Alexandria City. The head of the city has always been the Nikola family, and they are Alexandria City’s only family line that lasted until today. Oh, I know, her last name is Nikola. Kesha Nikola, right?”

“...Yes, looks like you’re familiar with the history here,” said Johnny.

“I’m familiar with all of history. As long as it’s recorded in text, I will be familiar with it!” said Ye Lang cooly. Although this was something that could be interpreted as arrogance, the coolness in his tone didn’t feel like arrogance at all.

“Are you an academician who does research on history?” asked Johnny.

“No, I’m just interested in it!” said Ye Lang.

“Then what do you do?”

“I’m a prodigal son!”

“?? What?” Johnny suspected he’d made a mistake, or Ye Lang did.

“My job is being a prodigal son!!” confirmed Ye Lang.

“Are you joking?”

“No, I’m serious!”

“...”

At this moment, a line of people, led by the duke himself, entered the room. Lady Kesha was there too. She was beautiful indeed. No wonder there were so many people pining after her.

Of course, Ye Lang thought she was just very regular. She wasn’t as pretty as Little Xin, and especially not prettier than Ye Lanyu!

There was another teenage girl with Lady Kesha. They were both equally pretty!

“Sigh, it’s like a flower in cow dung!” said Ye Lang pitifully. Edward seemed to have heard him, for Edward was clenching his teeth.

[‘A flower in cow dung’ is a saying for very pretty women who marry average-looking/ugly men]

“What?” asked Johnny, confused.

“Nothing much. I was thinking of something. Some toads want to taste swan meat. If these toads succeed, wouldn’t it just become a flower in cow dung?! It’s a pity, a pity indeed!!” Ye Lang shook his head.

[A toad who dreams of tasting swan meat = a person who can only dream/has crazy ambitions]

“You’re not wrong. Some people don’t even acknowledge their own status and dare to come participate in the matchmaking. They should look in the mirror first,” once a person started the conversation, someone would usually agree.

Some of the aristocrats agreed with Ye Lang’s words, some even voicing their opinions as if scorning the commoners who also came to compete.

Ye Lang shook his head, then said cooly, “I wasn’t talking only about them, you all too!”

“What?!” Someone questioned Ye Lang in fury, “You’re saying we’re all toads dreaming of tasting swan meat?”

“Yep! Since you know you’re all just toads, then you’d know you need to leave so you wouldn’t embarrass yourself!” scoffed Ye Lang, gesturing.

“You... Are you looking for death!!” threatened someone through their teeth.

“Cough cough, everyone, please calm down. Please listen, then deal with your problems later,” reminded the duke. Ye Lang and the rest had forgotten his presence, starting a fight right in front of him!

That was a disrespect towards him as the duke, at the same time a disrespect towards him as their potential father-in-law!!

“Apologies! Please!” apologized Ye Lang with a smile.

Ye Lang’s tone made the duke happy. The duke turned towards the other man, the guy who argued with Ye Lang. At least he was smart enough to make somewhat of an apology immediately.

“We know you’re all here for my daughter. The fact that you’re in this hall means you’re all outstanding, talented people. I’d take all of you as my sons-in-law if I could, but, I have only one daughter. Therefore, you will have another test!!”

The duke continued, “Since this is a matchmaking event for my daughter, she decides what the test would be, and she would be the main judge. I will be watching, and the assistant judge.”

He was the assistant, but that didn’t mean he held lesser power than the main judge!

“Kesha, I’ll pass this to you!” said the duke, pointing towards Kesha for her to continue.

At this point, Kesha was looking for Edward, the one she cared most about. She made this event just for him to attend!

However, she couldn’t find him. Although her gaze did stop on him, and she’d thought about it, but he was too dark to be Edward! She gave up looking.

“Edward, where are you?” mumbled Kesha. Only the girl next to her heard Kesha, she didn’t make any attempts to hide it from the girl.

It seems like the girl was a very close friend of hers. They must not have any secrets between them!

“Kesha, Kesha, it’s your turn to speak...” reminded the Duke gently, plus with the other girl’s whispers, Kesha woke from her deep thoughts.

“Ah, apologies!” Kesha apologised, “The question today is very simple. I want to see how capable you are! I’m a martial artist, my husband needs to either be smarter or stronger than me– or how would he keep me in check?”

Hey, why did this sound so familiar? Right, wasn’t it something my sister said?

Ye LAng suddenly recalled Ye Lanyu saying something similar. This was what she said when Long Anqi asked what sort of person she’d want to marry.

This worried Long Anqi, because, with Ye Lanyu’s standards, only a very tiny portion of people qualified. And some of them might not even end up with her. What would they do if she couldn’t find a partner?

That was what Long Anqi asked, and Ye Lanyu’s answer was: “So what if I can’t find a husband? I have my little brother to give me money, I’m not afraid!”

And that was when Ye Lang said, “Sis, I think you should lower your standards. I don’t want to feed you.”

Then, it was another huge argument between them!

This made Ye Lang like Kesha more and even more for Edward to be with her. At the same time, he gave Edward a thumbs up!