The Silly Alchemist
chapter-4

Chapter 4 – Exceedingly Strong Memory

Translated by imakeussmile

After discovering the thirteenth prince’s below stellar aptitude, it gave his parents an obvious and considerable shock. However, they were able to comfort themselves thinking that if their child was safe, and had no worries in life, his aptitude really didn’t matter.

Of course, they would not give up on nurturing their son, as they still believed that, by putting in great effort, he would be able to make up for his poor innate talent. Even if the thirteenth prince couldn’t become an outstanding individual, at the very least, he should be proficient and skilled in a particular field.

Fortunately, their three other children had excellent innate talent, especially Ye Hui who was the oldest child in the family and also the only other male. Ye Hui’s growth let others feel ecstatic and he could be considered the complete opposite of his little brother, the thirteenth prince. He, with no doubt was 100% a genius.

Because of Ye Hui’s existence, Ye Cheng Tian and his wife’s hearts were at least a bit at ease, and focused mainly on Ye Hui’s nurturing, and secondarily their two daughters. As for the thirteenth son, they would not give up on him and would equally love and dote on him, but with regards to nurturing him, it would be much more casual.

If the thirteenth prince were to stay like this, then he would live the rest of his life peacefully. With the Ye Family’s power, even if he was not able to marry the empire’s little princess, they would still be able to find a very good wife for him, who would love him and he would live happily with no worries.

Why couldn’t he marry the empire’s little princess, even though they’re engaged? What a pointless question. Due to the current situation, both sides would cancel the engagement between the thirteenth prince and the little princess. No matter if it was the Ye Family or the Imperial Household, both parties would definitely not let the thirteenth prince marry the empire’s little princess.

There were many matters which were implicated within the engagement. If the Ye Family was to not care about anything, and let the thirteenth prince marry with the empire’s little princess, then they would not be able to stand tall within the Soaring Sky Empire and fall.

Also, no matter what, being a courtier, the Ye Family would not let the imperial household lose face. Even if the imperial household was to give the Ye Family face and insist on the marriage, the Ye Family would still decline.

What’s more, as long as there was a way to dissolve the marriage engagement, the imperial household would immediately agree and wouldn’t continue insisting on the matter.

Of course, while the thirteenth prince and the little princess were still young, this matter would temporarily be put aside and no one would, for the time being, mention it. In other words, the thirteenth prince and the empire’s little princess were still regarded as unmarried husband and wife.

Returning back to the main topic, the thirteenth prince did possess an aspect which makes him stand out from the rest of the masses. Naturally, this wasn’t about his intellectual growth, which was already known by everyone. It was instead something else.

Some very strange things would occur, and no none would be able to explain them at all. It was just like the multicolored sunlight which appeared when the thirteenth prince was born, where no one was able to understand the reason for it appearing.

Bringing us to the subject at hand, the first to discover the thirteenth prince’s strangeness weren’t other people but was instead the thirteenth prince’s active big sister, Ye Lan Yu. There was a day when she was carrying the thirteenth prince around to play and at that time, she discovered that the thirteenth prince’s memory was the complete opposite of his intelligence.

At that time, the thirteenth prince was already barely able enough to be able to communicate with others. Although this growth was still a bit slow, it was still at least to an extent still acceptable by everyone. Right now, no one had very high expectations of him and they just wished that he would be able to live the rest of his life both peacefully and happily.

Even if he did not know how to take care of himself, it didn’t matter at all, as the Ye Family could take good care of him for his entire life. Furthermore, some people had already had this intention.

Just that, at this time, little Lan Yu had discovered the thirteenth prince’s strangeness. At that time, she was playing with a kind of jigsaw puzzle game, which tested one’s memory skill and ability to judge. Originally, the jigsaw puzzle which she played with would be relatively easy, a suitable brain racking game for children.

However, little Lan Yu herself felt that she was smarter than the typical child, and this was also the shared opinion by the majority of people. Therefore, she chose a jigsaw puzzle which was relatively harder. The difficulty of the jigsaw puzzle game was definitely exceedingly hard for children, and even the typical adult would find it somewhat challenging as well.

That’s right, little Lan Yu was definitely exceptionally intelligent, but she was still a child after all, and there was a limit for a child’s intelligence. Therefore, even after trying to solve it for half a day, she still wasn’t able to solve it, and in the end, being annoyed, she threw the jigsaw puzzle onto the floor and sat down at a side while panting with anger.

During this time when little Lan Yu was angry, the thirteenth prince who was at one side started to move. Looking at the jigsaw puzzle on the floor and then looking towards his big sister who was currently angry, his expression appeared to be somewhat muddle-headed.

He somewhat understood that his big sister was angry because she wasn’t able finish the jigsaw puzzle, and thus he extended out his tiny hand and started picking up the pieces that were scattered on the floor, placed them onto the picture, and then attempted to try piecing it all together.

“Little brother, stop playing already, it is not fun at all. Big sis will bring you……” After getting over being angry, little Lan Yu discovered that thirteenth prince was crawling on the floor and playing with the jigsaw puzzle. At the start, she thought that he was just casually playing around with the jigsaw puzzle, but very quickly, she discovered that something was off.

At the corner of the picture frame, where her eyes swept past, it seemed like there was the appearance of a complete jigsaw puzzle, and this made her feel very shocked. Looking at it carefully, she discovered that half of the jigsaw puzzle was already completed.

“This…this…” Little Lan Yu’s expression was as if she had just discovered a new continent. She was able to confirm that this was definitely done by thirteenth prince as there were currently only the two of them there.

Just that, she wasn’t able to piece together this jigsaw puzzle even after spending half a day on it, and right now, her silly little brother was instead able to complete half of it. This was just too unbelievable already.

Little Lan Yu was stupefied. She was looking at the thirteenth prince with a dazed look.

“Look big sis, it’s finished already. Don’t be angry anymore.” The thirteenth prince spoke very slowly. Every single word that he would want to say, he would have to think for a while, trying hard to express his own opinion.

At this, little Lan Yu was already used to it, as he had always been speaking like this.

A coincidence, this must have been a coincidence, is what she thought.

Little Lan Yu looked at the complete jigsaw puzzle, somewhat not being able to believe it. Firstly, she was not able to believe that her silly little brother was able to complete this jigsaw puzzle. Secondly, she was not able to believe that she was worse than her own little brother. This let her as the big sister, not know how to show her face.

“I’m not angry. Little brother, let’s play one more time together.” Little Lan Yu smiled and then once again scattered apart the jigsaw puzzles, wanting to see whether it was a mere coincidence or not.

The thirteenth prince looked at little Lan Yu and then squatted down to continue fiddling with the jigsaw puzzle. As the jigsaw puzzle slowly started to come together, little Lan Yu’s mouth began opening wider and wider.

“Mom, mom! There’s something serious, little brother he……” At this time, little Lan Yu quickly ran to report what had just happened to Long An Qi.

As a result, this matter caused a sensation in the whole Ye Family, albeit a very small one. Everyone discovered that the thirteenth prince’s memory was not comparable to an ordinary person’s and could be said, that with just one look, he would be able to remember it all.

This final conclusion, which made others feel that it was somewhat unbelievable, was determined after trying out many kinds of test on the thirteenth prince.

The thirteenth prince’s standard of intelligence was still not up to their expectations, as he still did not have the standard which he should have at his age, however his ability to memorize caused even adults to feel inferior and ashamed.

So was this a case of being both a genius and an idiot which was said to have occurred in the legends?

Perhaps this was the case, or perhaps it was that the thirteenth prince was lacking something which prevented him from being able to fully use and showcase his abilities.