Chapter 2 - Chapter 2

"Mother! Why are you here?" cried the foolish first son. "I can handle this myself." 

As if. I snorted. 

The baron's son was nowhere in sight. A few muscular men walked towards me. 

"You come to save this guy?" The muscular man glanced me up and down in contempt. "Do you know who he hit? The son of a Baron!" 

My foolish son spat out in contempt. "He's just the son of a baron, I am the son of the sa..."

"How much do you want?" I cut in before my foolish son could finish the treacherous line. 

The muscular man raised his eyebrow. 

"You did not send him to the officials, but detained him here. I thought that's what your master wants?" I rasied my eyebrow in return. 

I had asked Sparrow to brief me on the background of this son of baron before coming here. In truth that son is the counterpart of my own stupid son. A foolish prodigal who liked to gamble his money away. The two of them were once great gambling buddies, but they fell apart recently due to a prostitute. My eyes rolled to the back of my head. 

The muscluar man continued to stare at me. 

"How much do you want?" I asked again. I had nothing but money and numerous stupid sons and grandchildren. 

After paying the muscular man a sum of money, they left happily to report to their master. I snapped my fingers. The servants I brought with me rushed forward and took hold of this stupid first son. Two of them grabbed him at his arms as one tied him up. 

"What are you doing, Mother!" 

I flicked my finger. The servant tied a cloth around his mouth as well. I nodded in approval and walked out of the house. 

Time to set my plans into action. 

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The living room in my house was filled with people to the brim. I had a headache just looking at my numerous grandchildren and their mothers. 

I had just called a meeting. To facilitate my return to my world, I had to take action.

Although I had money and numerous descendants, I wanted my phone, the aircon and toilet with plumbing back. And this world was by no means gentle to my gender. This was a world ruled by men and dominated by men. Women were just their property. I was just lucky to be able to play as the matriach of this family. 

"Mother, what's the matter?" asked the soft spoken third son. 

He was the only normal son, well at least at the moment I had not yet discovered any wrong doings of him. The third son was the only one of them who could write and read. With the money given to us by the Emperor, the third son paid his way and bought a tiny spot in the government. He became a lowly official. Yes, this is a legit route to become an official in this world. 

My third son was the only one with a job in this family. And the only one not yet fallen into the temptations of being a rich man. He was also the only son in this family without a concubine and did not gamble. 

Yes, my standard was this low. As long as he did not gamble and work, he was a good son in my eyes. 

I gave him a reassuring smile. He responded by trembling.

"Has everyone arrived?" I asked Sparrow. 

Sparrow nodded. 

"Asked them to shut up, it's too noisy." I ordered. 

"Silence!" Sparrow shouted. 

Luckily, the matriach of this family still had some power over them. 

The wife of the first son opened her mouth, probably trying plead for her husband. Before she could say anything, she was stopped by my glare. 

"Today, I had something important to tell you," I said with bone deep tiredness, just like when I was telling my junior the third times what the correct way of handling certain matters was. 

All eyes were on me. 

"Azalea, tell me, why can we live the way we are now?"

Azalea, the eldest of all my grandchildren, turned bright red. She shifted uncomfortably. The voice coming out of her mouth quivered. 

She lacked confidence. She was timid, but this would not do. This world was brutal to us female. Especially, she's already 15, she soon had to leave to marry into another family. 

"Azalea?" I prompted her again with the most gentle smile I could muster. 

"Grandfather... grandfather saved the Emperor. We're granted... granted a sum of money."

"Thank you, Azalea. You did a great job." I offered her another smile, but she responded with a shiver. Why were they all responding like this? 

My eyes glared at the family I had now. "Do I have to repeat again?"

Everyone glanced back with foolishness and confusion in their eyes. 

"General Lam who fought with the Emperor, what was he granted? Silver?" I asked the eldest grandson of mine. 

That's right, the names of my grandchildren were of the worst of the worst. To showcase how uncivilized we were, all my grandsons were named after precious metal or gems. My granddaughters had more normal names, they're named after flowers. 

"General Lam was granted the title of an Earl."

"Copper," I bit down the snort I was about to have after saying his name, "how about General Chan?"

"General Chan was granted the title of a Duke." 

"Then what about us?" I asked. "My husband died saving the Emperor. Are we even a baron now?" 

They shook their head gingerly. I could see a few grandchildren of mine finally understanding the meaning behind this. But their parents were as dense as pigs. 

"But we're awarded with treasures!" The wife of my first son said. 

"And the Emperor praised our family, saying we're very brave," my second son said. 

"The Emperor does not favor us," the soft spoken third son finally said. 

"We have neith power nor favors, all we have is money. How long could that last?" 

"But the Emperor granted us a lot!" Second son shouted. 

"Are we investing?" I asked. "Oh we bought several streets and are renting out stores. But are those stores generating a huge amount of rent? We're spending money lavishly day in day out, sustaining your lavish clothes, jewleries, concubines and your gambling fees. Do you think the rent enough is sufficient?"

"And most importantly, as a family with no favors nor power, do you think we can still hold onto the treasures safely for a long period of time? We're just toddlers holding chunks of gold waiting for people to steal!"