Chapter 122: Earth Escape (3)

Ye Lang nodded. “Yes, it’s all the same to me. I don’t know where else to go, anyway!”

“Then come with us. We happen to be heading to Fire Dragon City in the Vermilion Bird Empire,” the older woman said.

If Ye Lanyu and the others had been there, they certainly would have stopped Ye Lang and warned him not to go off with strangers, lest he be kidnapped.

But they were nowhere around, so Ye Lang nodded readily. “All right. That sounds perfect!”

And so, Ye Lang was “kidnapped” by this unfamiliar older woman...

When Ye Lang followed her to an inn, several mercenaries who had been drinking there suddenly leaped to their feet. They looked at him as though he were a fat lamb waiting to be slaughtered and asked in an extremely strange tone:

“Sis Mandy, is this the new boss?”

The situation made it very easy to draw one conclusion: this was a trap!

“You’re not bad people, are you? If you want money, I can give you some. But don’t even think about anything else!” Ye Lang blurted out exactly what he was thinking.

“...”

The older woman, Mandy, fell silent. Her face darkened as she roared at the drinking mercenaries, “You bunch of bastards! If you have nothing to do, don’t sit around drinking here! We still have work to do! We take people’s money and solve their problems! And remember, this is a young friend I just met. He’s traveling with us to Fire Dragon City. He isn’t some new boss!”

“I’m sorry, little brother. My men are just like this. Don’t misunderstand—they’re all good mercenaries!” Mandy hurriedly explained to Ye Lang, utterly mortified.

“Ah, no, I only thought he looked like a noble young master from the way he dresses. How could he not be the new boss you found to make some extra money... Ahem, we’ll go protect the boss right away...”

The moment those men saw the fury in Mandy’s eyes, they vanished as if the soles of their feet had been greased.

“So you’re all mercenaries. That’s even better. Now I’ll have people to protect me. Once the job is done, I’ll give you a suitable commission as well.” Ye Lang finally understood. This older woman made her living as a mercenary, and she happened to have a job that required her to go to Fire Dragon City.

As for how Ye Lang responded, surely everyone could guess:

“No. Whenever money can be spent, I absolutely refuse to hold back. I’m a spendthrift, so you don’t need to save me any money.”

Just as expected, Ye Lang continued to live up to his ambition of squandering his fortune.

“...”

Mandy had seen plenty of spendthrift young masters, but this was the first one who squandered money with such righteous conviction.

“It’s settled! Innkeeper, give me your finest Heaven-Class First-Rank Room... What? Someone’s already staying there? Then make him give it up. This young master has plenty of money!”

Ye Lang seemed determined to spend every last coin in his pockets, and to spend it thoroughly.

The Ye family no longer had any place for him. As long as he spent all his own money, he would be completely unable to make a comeback. Then he could fulfill his greatest dream: squandering his fortune until he was utterly penniless, with nothing but the clothes on his back!

“...”

Mandy suddenly began to wonder why she had ever felt this boy was so amiable. At that moment, he was clearly doing something utterly detestable.

Under Ye Lang’s relentless spending campaign, the guest staying in the Heaven-Class First-Rank Room gave up the room willingly and happily, because he had received benefits beyond imagination.

“Innkeeper, bring me a bowl of shark fin so I can rinse my mouth...”

That was something Ye Lang said at every meal. He really did rinse his mouth with shark fin each time, then tossed it aside without eating any of it.

“Sis Mandy, where did you find a young master like this? Is he at war with money?” one of the mercenaries muttered after witnessing the scene.

“At war with it? Not at all. It would be more accurate to say that he doesn’t regard money as money in the slightest. He uses it like toilet paper!” another mercenary put it crudely.

“That’s right, Sis Mandy. You should charge him a higher commission. Whether you take it or not, he’ll spend it all anyway. Better that we benefit than someone else!”

“Agreed!”

“I second that!”

“...”

“Stop talking nonsense. We’re mercenaries. The most important thing is keeping our promises. Since I said I wouldn’t charge him a commission, I won’t charge him one!” Mandy declared firmly.

As a mercenary, she had professional ethics. Though hers was only a small, unknown mercenary group, it still had principles.

In truth, she was already regretting the words she had spoken. Otherwise, she could have collected a handsome commission, one that would surely have been worth more than the original job.

“Ah, what a pity. What a terrible pity...” The entire group shook their heads and sighed, creating a truly spectacular scene.

“It isn’t such a pity. At least everything we’ve had along the way—food, clothing, lodging, and transportation—has been the very best. We’ve been living in comfort!” Mandy said.

“That’s true. The young master has paid for everything, and all of it has been top quality.” The others nodded in agreement.

“Exactly. One must learn to be content!” Mandy scolded them.

“Sis Mandy, you’re content because you’ve tasted all those delicacies he brought with him, while we haven’t had any!” One of the group’s great food lovers gritted his teeth, clearly furious at being unable to taste Ye Lang’s food.

Everyone here knew that although Ye Lang ordered plenty of dishes, he himself never ate them. He only ate the food he had brought along. The only person fortunate enough to have tasted it was Mandy, who even flaunted the fact in front of everyone.

In the end, Ye Lang generously shared a little with them—but only the tiniest bit. They merely got a taste, which could hardly be called eating at all!

Ye Lang treasured that food dearly. Zhen Xiaoyan had only prepared enough for one year, and even that was not enough for him...

Wait a moment. Zhen Xiaoyan had fled with him this time instead of going into training. That meant she could continue making food for him afterward.

In fact, Ye Lang had forgotten that. He still thought Zhen Xiaoyan would be unable to cook for him for quite some time, so he cherished the food all the more and guarded it miserly.

Naturally, one should treasure anything someone had specially made for them. It represented that person’s feelings, and it could not be casually shared with others. Otherwise, the person who had prepared it would surely feel uncomfortable.

That was exactly how it was. If Zhen Xiaoyan learned that Ye Lang had shared the food she had painstakingly prepared for him, she would certainly lose her temper.

“If they want to eat it, they can make it themselves. If they can’t, I can help them—but they absolutely cannot eat what I made for you!”

Those were Zhen Xiaoyan’s words. In the past, and in the future as well, whenever she discovered that Ye Lang had given her food to someone else, she would lose her temper and say the same thing.

It was not because she was stingy, but because she cared about Ye Lang too much!

And so, although he set out a little later, Ye Lang eventually embarked on the road to the Vermilion Bird Empire. As for Ye Lanyu and the others, they too were now making their way toward the Vermilion Bird Empire.

Both groups were headed for the same destination, but the chances of their paths crossing were exceedingly small—not only because of the difference in timing, but also because Ye Lang’s destination was random.

If the two groups did happen to meet, it could only be called a coincidence.

An extraordinarily, astonishingly unlikely coincidence.