The Silly Alchemist

Floating Chopsticks (1)

At this moment, it seemed like this group of people had found out something new about Ye Lang again – he was a little blur. Of course, they found out later that he wasn’t just a little blur, he was indeed a very... dopey... person.

However, this personality of Ye Lang made everyone more protective of him. They didn’t let anyone fool him because they all thought he was gullible.

Although it was sometimes said that the ones who targeted Ye Lang had dug themselves a hole for them to jump in (as Ye Lang would always put them in a difficult position in the end), it didn’t seem like Ye Lang was pretending to be a pig to prey on the tiger, it was merely a pure coincidence. This made people even more dejected.

[Note: pretending to be a pig to prey on the tiger (Chinese idiom) = playing dumb to lull your opponent into a false sense of security]

“Why are the drivers like this? They drove off immediately after taking my money! If that’s the case, I’ll pay them a deposit first and then rest only when I reach my destination!” Ye Lang had already been abandoned twice by his coachman now, hence was having the thought to change his payment method.

Everyone fell silent. There was nothing to do with the deposit. Even if you didn’t give a penny, you’ll eventually have to pay after you’ve arrived. In this case, it’d still end up being the same.

“Well then, sir, can you walk?” asked the skinny dark man. He was afraid Ye Lang and Little Xin who had a delicate body might not have ever walked before, which was why he went to find a carriage for them.

“Yes, let’s go! Lead the way!” Ye Lang nodded. He wasn’t the kind of rich and pampered person. He had walked hundreds of miles or even further before in the past, and as for Little Xin, well, she was ‘different’.

After Ye Lang’s reply, everyone proceeded to bring Ye Lang to the nearest town immediately. Ye Lang was surrounded by them and they were all talking to him.

During the conversation, Ye Lang got to know more about the situation. He understood that these thousands of people were only a small part of it. There were at least a hundred thousand people who fled here.

The entry of these people seemed to bring a great burden to the Sacred City and also had a massive impact on the Ai La Empire.

At the same time, Ye Lang also heard more about Gomera, learning about their cultures and their odious leader.

Ye Lang said a few words regarding what he heard about the leader, “You all don’t have to hate him. He won’t be having a good life after losing you all.”

The skinny dark man was still next to Ye Lang when he replied, “They will still be able to live happily. In fact, they will be happier without us. They think of us as lowly citizens!”

“How are you so stupid? He can’t maintain his regime without his people. After this, even if your emperor doesn’t kill them, they’ll still die very badly.”

“If I was your emperor, I would definitely let them stay there and would never allow them to leave. I wouldn’t provide any help to them as well,” said Ye Lang.

“Why is that?”

“Think about it, there’s already a problem without one or two thousand of you all there as no one is working in Gomera right now. And we’re talking about losing everyone, so there would be no new food producers. Even if they’d already saved up some food, they’ll run out eventually! Oh, I’m going to inform my seventh brother, hehe...”

Ye Lang suddenly thought of a way that would allow the Ye family to earn money and to punish the leader at the same time. The ones left in Gomera right now were the aristocrats and those refugees who couldn’t escape.

Now it was time for the people to stock up on food and then resell back to them at a higher price. This would be more comfortable than stealing money. They should also hire people to purchase the infertile land at the same time as it should be very cheap now. After fertilizing it for a few years and planting crops, they could then steal money again instead of earning money.

Of course, Ye Lang also instructed the civilians to look after their own land.

Originally it was thought this plan could have only taken away a small part. However, it turned out to be a huge success in the end. Ye Family had taken up the wealth of the whole Gomera and they now owned a thousand more acres of land!

This couldn’t be done without the perfect cooperation of the Seventh Brother, Third Brother, and the unintentional help from the emperor of Ai La Empire. As what Ye Lang said, the emperor of Ai La Empire did leave the Gomera district alone, cutting off all the supplies entering the region.

Because of this, Ye Family got to kill two birds with one stone!

This was probably the punishment from the skies!!

...

Ye Lang and Little Xin were surrounded by people along the way so that outsiders would think they were just ordinary refugees. They’d mingle in plain sight and nobody would care.

However, some would approach closer to them, for they felt like finally there was someone taking care of them. Of course, there were people who thought that it would be easier to survive alone so they didn’t join the group.

There wasn’t a need to pay much attention to this kind of people. Ye Lang and the group focused more on the refugees they met along the way who were starving to death. They gave them food and brought the refugees along with them. This was the power of a big group.

Though this credit was given to Ye Lang because if it wasn’t for him, these people wouldn’t even bother to save others as they could already barely look after themselves.

This also made some people reflect on themselves. The conditions had been the same with or without Ye Lang- it didn’t make a huge difference even if after he brought some supplies. They had even more supplies with them once, but even then they did not form an orderly organisation like this.

Why weren’t they able to save others before if they always had the same conditions? Why were they able to do it now? The reason was actually very simple. It was because they hadn’t thought that they could save others just like how they had saved themselves. All they ever cared about was surviving on their own.

It was human nature. They could obviously do it, but they didn’t- making things worse instead!

Ye Lang’s appearance had brought some changes to this matter. In fact, it had changed for the better. It was believed that they wouldn’t need the help from the Sacred City when the time came. They would be able to survive themselves and would also have the ability to help others.

This was a miracle indeed!!

“Move along, people! Don’t enter! Finish up your porridge and move on with your journey. We’ve done our best!”

Although the gate of the nearest town was open, the refugees weren’t allowed to enter. It was clear this small town was prepared to help these refugees just enough to keep them alive and carry on towards their destination.

It wasn’t too bad for such a small town. Some towns didn’t even care. They only shut people out and didn’t bother to help.

“We’re very sorry for what happened, but we can’t afford to feed so many people here!” said the one who gave the porridge. It was also, in fact, the current situation of the small town.