Chapter 201: 'Ordinary' Noble Gathering
Godoy Saka: "Fai, are you ready to accept your new life as a noble? Hiss."
Yang Ming: "Of course, I have been preparing for this for several years. Hiss."
"Deli is out shopping. While I'm here, I'll teach you some basic etiquette for nobles. This isn't the rigid teaching from those online videos. When real imperial nobles watch those online celebrity videos, it's like watching clowns. Hiss."
"But," Yang Ming stopped slurping the sweet, delicious and hot liquid food in the bowl and frowned, "Is this how all the nobles of the empire eat?"
"This is for concealment. Do you understand?"
Godoy Saca stressed:
"Listen, my overly wealthy son, we have to hide this from everyone and start executing our plan now.
“I have accepted your commission, which is very important to me. Of course, if the family’s reputation can survive my destruction, I will try to pass it on.
"You don't want to be brought to the court of nobles as a commoner, do you? They might sentence you to decades of imprisonment! We must be cautious.
“This is the most hidden place. Even if there is some spy organization using remote equipment to spy on us, this metal-structured dining table can block most of the signals.
"I've been thinking about this for a long time. Hiss."
Yang Ming silently took out a badge from his shirt pocket and pinned it on Viscount Saka's chest. Godoy was stunned for a moment, and then he saw that both he and the young man in front of him were enveloped in a faint light.
"Things specifically for business negotiations," Yang Ming said calmly, "I have already prepared them."
The two people who were squatting under the table climbed out calmly and drank a mouthful of the nutritious porridge carefully prepared by Mrs. Deli.
Yang Ming had little demand for delicious food, but after being here for less than a whole day, he had already felt the satisfaction brought by the delicious food.
"It's really strange," Viscount Saka said, "You obviously already have so much, money, material things, the respect of others - I mean your little secretary - why do you still want this useless reputation?"
Yang Ming smiled and said, "What am I missing now?"
"A title?"
"Human desires are very strange. The more you lack something, the more you want it," Yang Ming said slowly, "I want to have new pursuits in life."
"Okay, then I'll start teaching you some details."
Viscount Saka pointed to his head:
“First of all, you need to change your hairstyle to a more aggressive one. You need to make people feel that you are not used to your new identity and feel awkward. You are too calm now. You don’t look like a young man who just came from a poor environment to an aristocratic family.
"If your own acting skills are not up to par, it will be a disaster for both of us."
"I see. I'll try to get a feel for it."
Yang Ming thought carefully, and his eyes soon changed, becoming eager to try yet fully restrained, with a rare sense of disguised maturity.
"Yes, that's right, your acting is great."
"Necessary skills for business activities," Yang Ming quickly adjusted himself.
Viscount Saka drank up the food in his bowl and smacked his lips with satisfaction: "The greatest achievement in my life is marrying my wife. She is very good, right?"
"A gentle and intellectual woman," Yang Ming responded gently.
"Next, this is what I plan to do."
Viscount Saka said slowly:
"First, we have to get along like this for a month or two to conceal our presence.
"We are going to have some family conflicts. The arrival of an illegitimate child will definitely have a huge impact on the original family relationships. We will start by announcing that you are my wife's distant nephew. I will take you to the Saka Star noble dinner held twice a month. This is a process for the nobles of this planet to get to know you.
"Don't rush into it, we must first deny the relationship and let those bored guys speculate on their own.
"Based on my understanding of them, if I openly say that you are my illegitimate child, they will definitely suspect that I took your money to resell the title.
“But if I vehemently deny that you are my illegitimate child, they will point fingers at me behind my back, saying that I, a poor viscount from a poor family, can actually afford to raise another son.
"A little circuitous."
Yang Ming gave a thumbs up: "I totally agree."
"And I'll have to inconvenience you later."
Viscount Saka smiled and said:
“Many nobles know my predicament. I will give you my most respectable coat and recommend you to several uncles in order to arrange a respectable job for you.
“It is very likely that I can get this job, as my ancestors were once glorious.
"After two gatherings, we will spread some rumors about family discord. I will find a chance to take you to the Noble Council of this planet... The chairman on duty of the council is my uncle. Don't worry, as long as we do everything perfectly, everything will go smoothly."
Yang Ming nodded.
He could sense that the middle-aged man with graying temples in front of him really wanted to make this deal happen.
"I will follow your arrangements in everything."
Viscount Saka went to the built-in refrigerator with a smile and took out two bottles of beer.
"Come on, I'll take you to a good place, come this way."
A few minutes later.
The two appeared on the terrace of the manor villa, looking at the gloomy and gray city ahead.
This place is like a steel jungle. There is not much light. At a glance, you can only see a few buildings with more than half of the windows lit up. The rest of the buildings mostly have only a few lonely lights.
Under the light red sky, you can vaguely see densely packed high-rise buildings.
The flickering lights on the top of the tall buildings formed a red light curtain, making the stars even more invisible in the already gloomy sky.
The two satellites of this planet are small in size and far away, so only two inconspicuous, dim stars can be seen, as dim as the bodies of those tall buildings.
Viscount Saka introduced the history of the city and told the story of the rise and fall of a family.
Yang Ming and Viscount Saka sat on the steps at the edge, swinging their four legs back and forth. Soon only the bottom caps were left of the two bottles of alcoholic drinks, which they held in their hands. It seemed that no one was too lazy to go down and get two more bottles.
"This planet is called Saka, is it because of the past?" Yang Ming asked curiously.
"This was once the fiefdom of my ancestors," Viscount Saka said with a smile. "About two hundred years ago, this was the 25th-ranked industrial base in the empire. It had a developed heavy industry and the 13th-ranked super-large shipyard in the empire. My great-grandfather was a local earl."
Yang Ming didn't intend to ask any further questions.
The gap between a hereditary earl with fiefdom and a deserted manor is really too big .
But the viscount beside him became talkative, sighed softly, and said slowly:
"It all started because my great-grandfather was unwilling to let this planet fall into decline.
“In fact, this planet is just an ordinary planet, otherwise it is unlikely to be designated as the earl’s territory. Although there are not many hereditary earls in the empire, there are still many powerful factions.
"In order to maintain the economic prosperity of this planet, for those beautiful data, and for the flattery of others at the annual noble gatherings, he accelerated the development of the planet's resources at all costs.
“However, due to the continuous excavation over the past thousand years, the resources on this planet and several nearby resource planets have been rapidly approaching exhaustion, and the environment has also been irreversibly deteriorating.
"Capital began to flee, and the shipyard planned to relocate. My great-grandfather tried desperately to save everything and make the planet continue to prosper. He gambled everything our family had on economic transformation. However, after more than ten years of hard work, the world was still in ruins.
"The planet fell into ruin almost overnight.
"Quality assets are fleeing, talent is rapidly draining away, and the value of fixed assets has plummeted. The value of this planet is only 4% to 5% of its peak.
“The most ridiculous thing is that according to the aristocratic laws of the Empire, when we work hard to manage this planet, the Empire will not increase your fiefdom or upgrade your title. But when you manage the planet poorly and cause public outrage, the Empire will take back your fiefdom and demote your family’s title.
"My grandfather was the most miserable. He was one of the few earls in the history of the empire who lost his title and fiefdom. He received countless cold stares and ridicules.
"My generation has actually walked out of that shadow. It's nothing, right? It's just a different life path."
Yang Ming sighed, "Let's talk about my brothers and sisters."
"They are eleven and thirteen years old, which is the age for rebellion," Viscount Saka shrugged. "I know that in their eyes, I am a useless noble father, but I have given them the best I can."
Yang Ming asked: "Can't nobles do high-income jobs?"
"Of course not," Viscount Saka said, "But as the empire has developed to this day, many conventional rules have been formed. The noble class and the commoner class are clearly distinguished. Moreover, as the empire continues to tighten the promotion channels for the nobles, the lives of the commoners are becoming more stable."
The viscount was obviously a little helpless:
“My father once ran a large enterprise, but due to poor management, he fell into the trap of other nobles.
“I once worked hard to learn hull design and shipbuilding technology, hoping to become a senior engineer, but the companies I applied to didn’t want to hire a nobleman who needed to be supported.
"I tried to apply for a loan from a bank, but banks don't care about your noble title or connections. They only review the value of your assets, and then... uh huh.
“If I hadn’t been able to outsource some design work through the Internet and Deli hadn’t been working in a clerical job under an assumed name, my family wouldn’t be able to function.
“Look, this building has more than 20 rooms, and we only light up five rooms all year round. Fortunately, noble boarding schools are free and only accept anonymous donations. Otherwise, my children might not have a suitable school to learn knowledge.
“The best part is that this estate is my private territory and I don’t need to pay property fees or land management fees.
"For the past twenty years, my family has been like a withered leaf floating on the water. If it encounters even a little extra weight, the leaf will sink to the bottom."
"well……"
Yang Ming sighed softly: "Our empire is so powerful, and the imperial aristocracy is called the Galactic Aristocracy. I didn't expect..."
Viscount Saka smiled and said, "In fact, many ancient families have disappeared. Today, 6% of the common people in the empire have ancestors who have obtained titles. According to the imperial policy, if I give up the title of viscount, my family will receive a large sum of compensation, about 3 million imperial coins. This is also my last resort."
Outside the manor, Mrs. Deli, wearing a windbreaker and carrying two bags of delicious food, walked towards the gate of the manor.
Viscount Saka quickly turned around and hid in the blind spot below.
Yang Ming smiled and asked, "What's wrong?"
"She will misunderstand that I am going to jump off the building," Viscount Saka muttered. "Okay, come here too. I still need to remind you about the nobles' gathering. It's called a nobles' gathering, but in fact, they are all our relatives, mostly barons, and there are also two respected old viscounts. Occasionally, there will be a few nobles from other families, but most of them are here to show off their power."
Yang Ming blinked.
Why do I feel like some bloody scenes are about to happen?
For example: 'Hey, isn't this Godoy? I haven't seen him for a few years. How come he is getting worse and worse?'
Or: 'Godoy, your nephew looks so ordinary. This is a noble party. Is he qualified to attend?'
etc.
If this was the only way for him to get the title by taking a shortcut, Yang Ming would go for it even if he had to hold his nose.
However, no one paid any attention to them.
…
Seven galactic days later.
Viscount Saka brought Yang Ming to attend a noble gathering for the first time.
Nothing happened in the first half of the reception.
Yang Ming even felt the love and care from several grandpas and grandmas who were about 130 or 140 years old, and these grandpas and grandmas gave him some commemorative gifts.
Apart from that, Yang Ming and Godoy sat in the corner of the hotel lobby, eating a delicious buffet and watching several triumphant nobles socializing everywhere.
Many young girls accompany middle-aged men;
Many handsome young men will also look at those old treasures covered with jewels with tenderness.
Here one can find the debauchery of the nobility as well as various rules of social occasions. Yang Ming even saw the exchange of female partners for dancing, and there were more than one such cases.
"Don't be discouraged," Viscount Godoy Saka said with a smile, "Although no one paid attention to us today, it may be because we are not dressed decently enough. We will make more preparations next time, and you will definitely be able to integrate into this circle."
Yang Ming: I don’t really want to hang out with these guys.
The main thing is...the quality of their female companions is not very high.
Yang Ming said softly: "They are discussing us."
"Be more embarrassed, yes, be more embarrassed."
Yang Ming's eyes began to wander around.
"That's all for today," Godoy Saka picked up the fruit wine in front of him and took a sip. "When the nobles start to leave, we'll follow them. Maybe we can even get a ride from someone we know."
Yang Ming then remembered that they came here by the intercity express.
Although 026 has been following nearby.
Um?
Yang Ming's nose twitched slightly, and he suddenly smelled a familiar scent.
Above the lobby, in the left corridor on the second floor of the hotel, there was a subtle smell of a large amount of human blood.
"Uncle, let's leave first," Yang Ming said softly.
Godoy Saka said: "This is not good, let's wait until everyone leaves before leaving."
"I'm a little sleepy," Yang Ming yawned.
He didn't want to be involved in weird things at this juncture, as that would only increase the risk of exposure.
But just as Godoy hesitated and had no time to nod, a shrill scream suddenly came from above, followed by the sound of a glass bottle being broken.
Well, I can’t leave.
