Chapter 16: Family Matters
When Shen Yue arrived to his family's mansion, he immediately went to see his mother. When he got to her room to knock and call out "Mother," she quickly opened the door and seemed to be in a daze when she saw him. She then hugged him tightly repeatedly muttering, "You are okay…you are okay…you are okay." Shen Yue was touched by her affection and remembered his own mother back from earth and decided to treat this lady in front her as well as he can. After he repeatedly assured her that he is fine, he delved into the serious topic.
"Mother, I have purchased a mansion at the outskirts of the city. I have also just had a meeting with the city lord. and he allowed us to move in there including all the surviving family members of the elders. I also have some funds taken from the treasury to survive us for a few years. The rest of the treasury will be donated to the city lord to use for victim families and Glory city."
Shen Yue patiently explained to his mother about what he had planned and his conversations with City Lord. He left out his betrayal of the family to not distress her. Shen Yue's mother was shocked to see her son planning everything out. As far as she knew, her son was always involved in immature tactics and only followed his brother around to cause troubles. She felt relief and gratitude to see her son grow up and take care of the family.
"Mother, you will now have to lead the family. You have to be strong for all of us. Right now, the situation is volatile and our family's reputation is very bad. We need to move out of this place soon."
"Yes, son, don't worry. Mother will gather everyone and we'll try to move out in three days." A resolute light could be seen in her eyes. Even her son was doing all he can, she felt that she can't let him down.
After talking with her mother for some time, Shen Yue went to see Yang Xin at the alchemist guild. Now that his family is in a delicate state, he knew he can no long stay low-key and out of sight. The family needed support from a strong faction within the city. The City Lord is not likely to be a strong supporter with Nie Li constantly besides him. So he set his sights on the alchemist guild.
He decided to make his identity as a primary alchemist public and even take the exams for intermediate and advanced alchemist exams. He had already compiled all the books in the alchemy guild with Yang Xin’s help and he was already at the level of master alchemist able to compete or impress the most experienced alchemist.
After taking the tests for two days, the shocked president and elders gave him the title of Alchemist master. He then negotiated with them to post some gold rank and even a couple dark gold rank guards at the new mansion and made his title public. In return, the guild would receive guidance on their alchemy issues which can be arranged with the help of his system. Among the surviving family members, the highest was now only silver rank. Since the public anger against his family was great, he didn't want to take any chances with his family's security.
When he returned to his mansion, he found that his mother had settled most of the surviving members in the small mansion. Shen Yue had handed all matters regarding household management to his mother and majority of the family accepted her position as head of the family without resistance. He then recounted the promise from Alchemist Guild and her mother was both shocked and delighted. Her son was becoming more reliable even if a bit mysterious.
Shen Yue felt relief after taking care of the issue of his family. There was still public anger against the family but there was no physical violence. The City Lord mansion had announced the ‘charity’ of his mother and it calmed people down as it showed their intention to not pursue the survivors for more reparations. Also, his title of master alchemist and black gold rank cultivation greatly shocked the public. At first, many were skeptical until they saw the guards posted by the Alchemist guild around their family’s place. This meant the alchemist guild was serious about protecting the surviving Shen family. Many of the great nobles who were oppressed by Sacred Family in the past gave up any thought of revenge on the Shen family and decided to adopt a wait and see approach. The public commotion also calmed down after a week.