The Silly Alchemist

The Jewel Moon Palace lived up to its name. The level of luxury it provided was considered one of the best in the mainland. Even the pickest people would agree it was an amazing place.

However, as a walking cliché rich boy, he felt like it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t as extravagant, as shiny as he thought!!

“Little Black, this is the hotel you were talking about? The best hotel you’ve ever seen? You said it was a magnificent palace for the rich, and it was the best place here. This is disappointing!” sighed Ye Lang as he looked at Jewel Moon Palace, displeased. Perhaps getting his hopes up only made him more disappointed. If it weren’t for Edward hyping the place up, he probably wouldn’t have been upset.

Along the journey, he did stay in a few awful motels because he understood his options were limited. Different conditions asked for different standards.

He wasn’t one of those rich people who exclusively lived in luxurious places- he could be flexible. But Edward had said this was the best, the most expensive place in town…

“… Is this not enough?” asked Edward in surprise. He felt the Jewel Moon Palace couldn’t get any better than this.

“Of course it isn’t! Look at these sculptures- you can tell they’re gold-plated, not solid gold! These chairs, they’re not made from Black Wood, it’s something not as good! These chopsticks are not ivory, they’re too white to be….” Ye Lang pointed out every single thing wrong with the place. Everyone around him was exasperated, especially Edward.

Hey, hey who do you think you are? A place with everything you mentioned would be a hotel owned by the royal family. Only a hotel for the emperor would be that posh!!

No, only an actual palace would have that (not just any palace)!

“O Master, that’s not a hotel, you’re talking about a palace! Where would you get such a hotel…” came Edward’s reply.

Exactly!

Everyone around them nodded in agreement!

“There’s one! I remember the Romantic Floor being something like that!” said Ye Lang.

“Romantic Floor? I’ve heard of that place, but I don’t think that’s a hotel…” said someone. The people here were well-travelled businessmen and aristocrats, so naturally, they would’ve been to the Soaring Sky Empire.

“What’s that?” asked Edward curiously. He didn’t seem to have heard of that place.

“It’s a brothel. Basically the same thing, no?” asked Ye Lang casually.

“…How is that the same? A brothel can have practically anything inside just to attract customers. Not all of them have the things you mentioned anyway, maybe only one or two rooms inside. You must’ve been to one of those rooms!” spat Edward, starting to look down on Ye Lang.

“Really? Alright, whatever!” Ye Lang shook his head, then entered. “Hi, give me two of your best rooms and a table of your signature dishes. What? The best rooms are taken? Then get them to move out…”

“Sigh, not again…” Edward felt a headache coming. It wasn’t the first time something like this happened.

Every time the hotel’s best rooms were taken, Ye Lang would request for them to move out. Of course, he would pay a handsome compensation at a price they couldn’t refuse.

Then again, under exceptional circumstances with sufficient reasons, Ye Lang wouldn’t make their lives miserable!

Old habits die hard though. Edward was a little worried this time. The previous places weren’t huge and there weren’t many powerful clients. This was different. It was still one of the largest cities in Ai La Empire so this hotel would have a powerful clientele.

“Sir, our rules don’t allow that…” said the concierge politely. It wasn’t his first time meeting people like Ye Lang. There were many people who’d pull something like this, wanting to show off their power and riches.

Among these people, some succeeded in attaining their goals while the rest were sorely embarrassed!

Soon, everyone wanted to see what fate Ye Lang would meet!

“I don’t care what rules you have, move them out. I have the money. I’ll pay a thousand gold coins per head for anyone who is willing to move out!!” declared Ye Lang airily.

“What?!”

“A thousand?!”

“Now that’s just ridiculous…”:

“…”

The tables had turned. Although it was a place for the rich, there were still very few who’d fork out a thousand gold coins this casually.

A thousand gold coins just to take their room? That was a little too wasteful!

Let’s not forget the best rooms only cost 2 gold coins per day. With Ye Lang’s lavish spending habits, everyone around him would forget the value of gold coins- accidentally treating them like silver, no, maybe even coppers!

Two gold coins were enough to feed a middle-class, one-child family for a year!!

“I’ll… I’ll let them know immediately!!” The concierge shot up, then ran.

With a customer like this, according to experience, he’d probably get a fortune from a small tip. This was also why he loved his job so much.

Very soon, someone ran out- not just one person. They were all the customers staying in the best rooms. Although they were all rich people of high status, the money offered was too tempting. They were willing to put down their dignity for this.

“Why are people like this? They always talk about how their dignity is the most important thing to them, that they won’t be bought over by money. They were just offered the wrong price!!” sighed Edward again. It wasn’t the first time he witnessed the ugliness of human nature from his time by Ye Lang’s side.

While some of them couldn’t be bought by money, they still had a different price. Power, name, connections…

Perhaps we can’t put love in there, because to him, at least that wasn’t too ugly. In fact, that was romantic!

Ye Lang was now facing a dilemma. Who should he give the thousand gold coins to? How could he choose? There were so many of them!

The answer was simple. He didn’t even need to think!

“First come first served. It’ll be you and you!” Ye Lang didn’t take matters like this very seriously. Sometimes he ran by first come first served, sometimes it was the prettiest, or the tallest, or…

He did whatever he wanted!!

At the same time, he paid the two thousand gold coins without so much as a furrow of a brow. At this point, everyone knew he was a prodigal son, and he was very, very, very rich!