The Silly Alchemist

Rumours (2)

"What? Did he escape AGAIN? Whatever. Look for him!" said Princess Longji to her subordinates, furrowing her brows. These subordinates were her private mercenary group.

"Yes, Ma'am!!"

Looks like Princess Longji and the rest finally noticed the child's absence. And from her tone, it wasn't the first time he'd slipped away.

However, how could a child leave without a trace under such intense supervision? Was the child who we think it is?

Ye Lang's no child though, he just shrank. How could he be called a child?

When this child was eating a bowl of fish ball thick noodles, the noodles stall was suddenly surrounded by Princess Longji's mercenary group. They didn't do anything to him though, it was only protection--or supervision.

They were waiting-- for Princess Longji!!

The child looked around him, but he didn't care. He continued slurping his noodles. At his table, there was another tiny human eating with him.

That tiny human looked like Coldblood Five…

Why was Coldblood Five with the child? Where was Ye Lang?

"You little troublemaker, I'm warning you! If you slip away again, I'll spank you!!"

Very soon, Princess Longji arrived. She roared at the child, then sat next to him and said---

"Boss, give me a bowl of noodles too!!"

"..."

At this point, the owner of the noodles stall was in a state of shock. He stood, not moving.

When the riders of the mercenary group surrounded the stall, he was already panicking. He thought he'd accidentally offended someone, or done something he wasn't supposed to do. Soon after, he realised the riders were only there to surround the stall. They weren't doing anything.

He was very confused, he didn't understand what the riders were here for. If they were here to cause trouble, then they would've done something already!

All his customers had left save for one child. The owner thought it might be because the child was too young to understand, that was why he didn't leave. As for himself, he couldn't do much either. What would happen to his stall if he left?!

He'd attempted to ask the riders. He asked them what they were doing but all he got was silence. Everyone ignored him!

Upon seeing this, he naturally stood aside quietly without further questioning their duty. He didn't want to attract trouble to himself.

When the owner saw Princess Longji, he thought it was HIS moment. O Princess Longji, she had many admirers- and the owner was one of them.

Although there was obviously a huge gap between them, some people tend to ignore this point. So many people would imagine themselves as the lucky white knight!!

Of course, this daydream only lasted a moment for Princess Longji's reaction showed that the 'child' he'd forgotten about was the real star of the show!!

And with the gossips going around, the owner started to suspect. Were the rumours true? Did Princess Longji really have a bastard son?

This was a knife to his heart!!

And when Princess Longji sat down to order, his mind couldn't stop spinning. As a commoner, he knew that she wouldn't usually eat food outside, especially commoner's noodles like the food he cooked.

At this moment, Princess Longji gave him an aura of pleasant friendliness that he would never forget for the rest of his life. Even after his incident, he would continue spreading warmth like her and protecting her name.

This caused Princess Longji's popularity to increase. Everyone liked this friendly, grounded princess even more now!

Although that didn't seem like the truth, but this was a legend that would continue to spread. Sometimes, rumours can also beautify a person…

"Oh… Oh, alright!! Alright!!" Once the owner came to, he did his very best to cook a bowl of his famous noodles- he must make the best bowl of noodles he's ever made today!

Of course, at the same time, he was straining his ears to listen to the conversation between her and the child!!

"Little troublemaker, give me a fishball! Don't just eat alone!!" she said casually, looking at Ye Lang.

"Oh!" The child grunted, then shoved a fishball into her mouth. Shoved was the word for it.

"Ummph…" Princess Longji bit down, then hit the kid with a huff to show her irritation.

The child ignored her show of irritation as he continued to eat…

"...Little troublemaker, you're not actually afraid of me stealing your food, are you? Is that why you're eating so quickly?" she suddenly noticed that it was odd how the kid was devouring his food non-stop.

"..."

The child didn't answer. He ate, and ate until he finished!!

"Sigh… This feels so good! Yep, I was definitely afraid of you stealing my food. You'll have your bowl later, why would you want mine?!" said the child, sighing deeply and patting his belly.

"Only you would think I would take your food. When have I ever taken anything from you?" asked Princess Longji, annoyed.

"When I was six, you took my lollipop. You said 'one bite' but it disappeared…

"When I was eight, you took my chicken drumstick… And corn…"

"When I was eleven…"

"Alright, alright! What kind of memory do you have? You're always so clueless but you remember things like these so clearly!!" her face reddened, as she hit him again.

"Ah…" The stall owner jumped again. He wasn't like the riders- they knew how the dynamics worked, they'd already gotten used to it.

It wasn't the same for the stall owner. He didn't know Princess Longji had a mischievous side too- that she would take a child's food.

Looks like this child wasn't Princess Longji's bastard son. If he were her child, she wouldn't have taken stuff from him- not many mothers would do something like that.

Then again, the way both of them spoke didn't feel like mother and son- more like siblings!

"Of course. I remember bad things done to me, so you should never, ever cross me!!" As the child was speaking, he was preparing to leave. At the same time, he grabbed a tiny human next to him like grabbing a doll.

The tiny human seemed a little angry at this from the clenched jaw and a face of exasperation…

The tiny human looked adorable though. If someone had seen them, they would definitely want to hug them both.

At the same time, from the tiny human's expression, looks like this happened quite often!!