Chapter 14 – The Ye Family (1/2)
Chapter 14 – The Ye Family
After trashing Ye Wei’s room and emptying themselves, Du Ming Ze and his gang left Ye Wei’s room behind.
A few hours later, Ye Wei finally arrived at the Ye Manor’s front gate after walking through the streets that were lit up by starlightt.
The Ye family was not quite that known in Green Moon City, but they were relatively well established in the southwestern district as their manor encompassed ten acres of bright and open land. The blood-red wooden gate was adorned with two well polished copper ring handles. Two grand marble lion statues decorated each side of the gate and standing in front were four sharp looking guards dressed in fancy uniforms.
To regular citizens, the Ye manor looked grand and majestic, but to Ye Wei it did not. He frowned in confusion as he looked at the four guards.
“Ehm, Why are there only four guards guarding the gate?”
Social status was very important for most families, and the strength, or more importantly the quantity, of guards symbolized the power and influence a family held; it was a show of vanity, after all.. ‘Usually there are eight four star Students guarding the gates. Why are there only four guards today?’
“Master Ye Wei!” They all called out.
The guards bowed and greeted the young master of the household. Ye Wei nodded back, wondering what happened to the rest of the guards as he headed towards the courtyard.
He stopped, however, when he overheard a loud conversation whilst entering the courtyard.
“Fu Shun, why is he only getting fifty silver? Our little Ye Wei is living and studying at South Star Academy, how could fifty silver possibly be enough? Don’t we normally send him a hundred and fifty silver? Why are we only giving him one third of what he usually receives?”
“Madame, truth be told, the family… We don’t have much money left! The master even sold his green-maned unicorn with the carriage and he had to let go of a handful of guards…”
“What?! This is outrageous! Are we really in such a desperate position?” Being on the other side of the wall, Ye Wei could only hear the muffled voices intermittently due to the noisy street. He frowned in puzzlement upon understanding what was being said…
The Ye family had always been financially stable and actually didn’t do too bad for themselves. Hearing about the financial instability of their family and how the master of the house sold his beast carriage, Ye Wei was shocked to the extreme as this had to be a fantasy.
Although Ye Wei had almost no presence in the Ye family, the family never forgot about him. His allowance always arrived on time and everyone in the family was very friendly towards him.
“Creak…”
Ye Wei, despite the heaviness he felt, pushed open the wooden door in front of the little yard.
“Pa, Ma, I’m home!” he said as he walked towards the house.
“Little Wei!”
The front door popped open, and a woman in her thirties threw herself at Ye Wei. She was plainly dressed, but it worked together with her light and natural makeup complimenting her well as she gave off a warm and pleasant air.
She was Ye Wei’s mother, Joe Wan!
“Young master Ye Wei has returned.” Fu Shun, the butler, stood beside Joe Wan and respectfully greeted Ye Wei as he squeezed a smile out of his tired face.
Ye Wei was not naturally talented — not in his built nor his Sentient. The Ye family, with that in mind, did not mock or bully him. He was just inadvertently ignored from time to time because he had no chance of becoming a Warrior. The elders’ focus in the family fell on the more talented kids his age.
The Ye family didn’t have to worry about having a roof over their heads or food on the table, but these new internal and external problems made it more important than ever to stick together.
“Mister Fu!” Ye Wei was happy to see familiar faces again and greeted the butler with a smile on his face.
“Ma’am, excuse me.”
Fu Shun left the grey money pouch with Ye Wei’s mom, then bowed and left the house.
“Little Wei, why are you so sweaty? Did you walk all the way home? Come sit here and rest. You silly child, how many times do I have to tell you that the journey is too long a walk for your body? Your should have just rented a horse carriage for this trip. It’s just money, our family is fine and eating well!” Joe Wan raised her eyes and gazed at her son, nagged him while looking for a handkerchief for his sweaty face then she poured him a cup of tea.
“Where’s dad?” Ye Wei asked, glancing at the deflated money pouch butler Fu left his mom and started imagining the horrible situation in his head.
“Your father has been busy dealing with family business. He hasn’t been home for five days now he’s working on something… Don’t worry about him. Are you hungry? Mommy will go make you some food,” Joe Wan said with a smile.
Currently, the seventy-two year old three star condensing prime stage Warrior Ye Zheng Qing, Ye Wei’s grandfather, was the head of the family.
Ye Zheng Qing had four sons and three daughters. Ye Wei’s father, Ye Yi, was the oldest among his siblings and was responsible for the Ye family’s cloth trade. The oldest and second oldest sons were responsible for mystic arms and scrolls respectively, while the youngest son ran a restaurant. All three of Zheng Qing’s daughters except the youngest aunt were married.
“Mom, I’m not hungry stop making a fuss. Is the family doing okay?” Ye Wei couldn’t stand his mother acting as if everything was fine, as he stood up and looked right into his mother’s eyes as he asked sincerely.