Chapter 14 – The Ye Family (2/2)

Ye Wei saw and felt something was not right with the family, having overheard the conversation between his mom and the butler, Ye Wei came to a conclusion: The Ye family is going through a crisis!

And it was not a minor one, or his father would not be away for five days, nor would they have only four guards at the front gate instead of normal eight, nor would grandad have sold his green-maned unicorn and carriage!

“My child, why are you worrying about these little matters? You should just pay attention in school and focus on your own problems!” Joe Wan wanted to change the topic, flustered her eyes were darting around.

“Mom, I am grown up and Ye is my last name so the family’s business is my business!” Ye Wei declared solemnly in a deep voice while keeping eye contact with his mom.

“Oh my child, if you insist…” Joe Wan walked to her son. Patting his head and sighed, mumbling to herself as she was still a little hesitant wondering if it was the correct thing to do, being completely open to Ye Wei.

“Have you heard of the Du family?” Joe Wan asked after taking a deep breath.

“The Du’s are one of the ‘Big Three’ in Green Moon City, right? Is our family business being challenged by the Du’s?” Ye Wei asked with a big frown on his forehead.

“Unfortunately,” His mom nodded.

“Mystic scrolls, arms, restaurant, cloth and the horse ranch, everything was affected, especially our scoll business, seventy percent of our family’s revenue comes from scrolls. The Du family just hired a Runemaster’s first apprentice to personally inscribe all the scrolls in their shops. Whereas the scrolls on our shelves were inscribed by a regular student from the Runemasters’ Union. On top of that, they are undercutting our price by thirty percent, the scrolls are basically stuck on our shelves.” Joe Wan was upset and it was visible all over her face.

“We had to lower the price because the scrolls weren’t selling. but we won’t be making any profit on them. We are not as wealthy as the Du family, they can use their money like this to hit the Ye family’s business, but we can’t do anything about it!”

“We have been struggling for two months now and the family is running low on resources, your grandpa even had to sell his unicorn carriage. It is a crisis like none we have faced before.”

“Little Wei, your grandpa, dad, and uncles are supporting the family so you should not worry about the ins and outs of everything just focus and practice on your studies at South Star. Because only when you are strong will you be able to help the family, when you are as strong as say… your cousin, Ye Zhong!

“Nor should you worry or feel guilty about your expenses if worse comes to worst your mom’s dowry will be enough to support you until you finish your education!”

Joe Wan patted her son’s shoulder, trying to comfort and reassured him with transparency and proposing a backup plan.

“Why did the Du family do this to us all of a sudden? Did one of us step on their toes?

Ye Wei wasn’t really worried about his expenses. All he cared about was his family’s wellbeing, because he knew he could trust Lin Zi Yan to put in a good word with the right people and that she will inform the vice principal when school starts again, which could possibly score him a scholarship making money not a problem.

‘There are around three hundred people under the Ye’s roofs including family members and employees, if the family collapsed what would grandpa do? What would dad and my uncles do?’

Ye Wei felt the weight on his shoulders wishing to be of help in the dire situation.

‘Although I am just a two star Student, and though I am far from as useful as my cousin Ye Zhong, I should be able to do something with my excellent soul sensitivity!

It’s not impossible for the family to get out of this slump, what bothered Ye Wei was the mysterious motive behind these economic attacks from one of The Big Three. The Ye family is hardly big enough to be considered a threat to the Du family and their bullying simply did not make sense.

“We didn’t and are in no position to mess with them, the dispute started when grandpa refused to sell our plot of land next to North Hill Bay. That land was passed down through generation after generation selling it was out of the question for your grandpa, which was more than reasonable and should be respected. Do you understand?”

“Ever since the refusal, the Du family started to take action against us. They started by ruining the restaurant, horse ranch, and other minor sources of income which was not a huge problem. But two months ago they started undercutting our scroll business, the lifeblood of the Ye family!” Joe Wan was filled with indignation.

“What kind of behavior is that!?”

Ye Wei too, got emotional. ‘Just because you want to buy it we have to sell it? That is a disgusting attitude! They know very well that plot of land belonged to us since forever and that our family’s tomb is there at North Hill Bay. I know technically it’s grandpa’s decision not to sell it, but I am sure the rest of the family would think the same in the name of our heritage and family history!’

“Don’t worry about it son we have something to celebrate tonight! Your little aunt Ye Jing Jing has broken through, she just became a seven star Warrior, and we are throwing a dinner party tonight for the occasion!” His mom smiled.

“Little aunt is that good now?!”

Ye Wei too, smiled enthusiastically. Like star levels with Students, breaking through the fifth and seventh star level are major obstacles, but the power one gain after breaking through is significant.

Students can perform stances once they reach seven stars. When Warriors reach the seven star level they gain a thin layer of Qi, primal feathers, which will permanently cover their body as an extra layer of armor, and it grants them the ability to levitate making them stronger and faster fighters!

Some say it takes more than a dozen six star Warriors to take down a seven star Warrior.

Ye Jing Jing was Ye Wei’s youngest aunt, she was twenty-five years old and she is even more gifted than Ye Zhong, because condensing prime stage was within reach for her now that she is a seven star, only three stars away!

To establish a family, getting to condensing prime stage was an unwritten cultivation requirement, and there were only two Warriors at that stage in the entire family: grandpa, a three star condense prime Warrior and big uncle Ye Hai at one star.

Other than his parents, Ye Jing Jing was the closest to Ye Wei in his family because of this Ye Wei was ecstatic about his little aunt’s progress.