The Silly Alchemist

“If that is the case, I really hope you’ll like her. I don’t like my sisters mixing with... random men. At least you’re alright,” muttered the lady bitterly.

“We’ll see. Is your boss Li Yan?” asked Ye Lang.

“Yeah, he manages this place now.” She nodded. There was no need to hide the truth because everyone knew.

“When will he be here? Can I meet him?” Ye Lang asked calmly, so calm no one knew what he intended.

“I don’t know when Mr Li will be here. He usually comes when he can but he’s been very busy recently. There’s a new girl today so he might visit, why do you want to meet him?”

Ye Lang waved. “Nothing much, I just wanted to ask who gave him the right to use this piece of land with this name.”

“Oh, I see... Wait, what? You want to ask him that? Are you here to cause a scene? I suggest you don’t start anything here, maybe you should leave before he comes. The Li family is not a group of people you can afford to offend,” warned the lady, not because she was looking out for the business but out of concern for Ye Lang.

Perhaps Li Yan wasn’t the best boss, or she wouldn’t have warned Ye Lang like this.

“I’m not looking for trouble, I just want to ask him a few questions. How has the Li family been these years?” asked Ye Lang, once again with hidden intentions.

“It’s best you don’t ask. The Li family is currently the largest clan in Soaring Sky, the Ye family isn’t doing well– or I should say, the Ye family here isn’t doing well. The true Ye’s have left the empire,” said the lady. If she dared declare this in public, this meant it was something everyone knew and would not deny.

“I guess the Ye lineage here isn’t great but they can’t be so weak even the Li family could overpower them. What happened?” Ye Lang was perplexed, for he was familiar with the power struggles of the families. He knew that the Ye’s were much, much more powerful than the Li’s and even if his side of the family had already left the empire, the ones who were left were still enough to hold the fort.

“Let’s not talk about this here. If you’re interested, we can talk inside but you’ll be charged a fee. You don’t want our girls so guess I’ll have to do,” said the lady as she dragged Ye Lang inside.

This woman was cunning indeed. The customer didn’t want a girl and yet he was now paying a fee for a girl... who was the manager herself.

Then again, she wasn’t THAT old and she was an attractive woman too. Her position of leadership meant she didn’t have to engage in relations if she didn’t want to. Though a portion of the customers had requested for her, she never did entertain them.

Ye Lang was in for a treat! –Well, that was what some of the customers thought, jealous of the way he was pulled into a room for a chat with an attractive woman.

If only they knew Ye Lang would not let the lady touch him. What would they think? They’d probably guess that the fox kid had some peculiar preferences...

Very few beastmen showed up in places like this, especially such an intellectual, elegant tribe like the foxes. They would never be seen at a place that reeked of sin.

Was this fox gentleman not pure-blooded? Perhaps he was half-human, half-fox? He must be.

“Sir, is your last name Fox?” The lady spoke first. As the head lady of the brothel, she knew a lot about many people.

“Hey, how did you know? I haven’t told you but my name’s Ford Fox.” Ye Lang was puzzled. He hadn’t told her his fake name yet and had only introduced himself once at the auction. Had news of his purchases reached this brothel already?

Fine, it didn’t matter. It was a fake name anyway, it didn’t matter if they knew.

Ye Lang did not dwell on the matter, it was all fake anyway.

“So you ARE from the Fox clan! Why are you here? A holiday?” she asked politely.

“Yeah.” Ye Lang nodded, still confused.

Fox clan? Does this mean it’s an actual family? What a coincidence, I only made it up!

From the lady’s reaction, they must be quite influential, though not the kind with too much power. Perhaps influential enough for people to be polite but not enough to avoid trouble.

Ye Lang didn’t mind. It was one more family’s name to protect him.

“You’re from the Fox family, you won’t have trouble getting the girl you want tonight. All I request is for you to treat her nicely. Don’t make my sisters suffer, they have been trough enough,” said the lady.

“Alright. Hey, weren’t you going to tell me about the Li family?” Ye Lang didn’t want to dwell on the topic, he only wanted to know what happened between the Li and Ye family at Soaring Sky Empire.

“It’s just what it is. One power falls, another rises. It’s very common, it’s not much of a story to tell...” sighed the lady, about to elaborate when—

“...” Ye Lang was stunned for a moment. “What the hell, are you kidding me? ‘Not much of a story’?! Then why did you drag me in here?!”

“...”

“Sir, I didn’t say I wasn’t going to tell you the story! I’m just preparing myself!” huffed the lady, rolling her eyes flirtatiously at Ye Lang.

Ye Lang was completely immune to her advances and ignored her.

“Tell me when you’re ready... Hey, it still looks the same...” once he entered the Chamber of Hearts, he realised the room looked exactly the same as before. He took a chaise lounge out of the room into the yard, then lay in it, staring at the sky.

“?? Sir, you’ve been here?” From his tone and his actions, she could tell it wasn’t his first time here.

“Yeah, I have but this place didn’t belong to Li Yan then, it should belong to... Nevermind, you carry on...” Ye Lang stretched, looking for a comfortable position.

“Where should I start... The story begins when the Ye family split into two. At that point, the head of the Ye family didn’t stay to cooperate with the empress, he left the empire and brought Mr Ye Chengtian and the thirteenth prince with him instead. Soon, many descendants of the Ye family also left to follow the old patriarch.”