After Transmigrating Into a Scummy Alpha, I Have Unlimited Krypton Gold (GL) - Chapter 19

The matriarch had the final say. Even if Xue Tingwei was unhappy, he wouldn’t dare to repeatedly defy his own mother. Even if he wanted to fight for his daughter’s future, the other elders weren’t so selfless as to go against the matriarch on his behalf.

He had been a coward for most of his life, and for his daughter, he had been brave for just a brief moment. But that initial burst of courage had already faded, leaving him exhausted and defeated. Xue Tingwei could only give Xue Bai Guang a helpless, apologetic look, showing that he hadn’t given up—it was just that the matriarch’s favoritism was too extreme.

Xue Cheng had only shown a slight change—a half-month without going to brothels, which was probably just because she was out of money—yet the matriarch saw it as a sign of progress. This astonished Xue Cheng herself. It made her realize just how strong the concept of social class was in this era, a truth that was on full display even within a small family.

After all, if she wanted to take Liu Wuyuan to the capital, Xijing, and make a life there, a single misstep could be fatal.

Having money didn’t equate to having power. Xue Cheng began to wonder if she could use money to buy some power, perhaps a noble title. In this society, scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants were the four classes, with scholars—the noble class—at the top. If she could buy even the lowest-ranking title, she would be a part of the nobility. She heard that the laws of the Chu Kingdom gave nobles certain privileges, and with that status, she wouldn’t have to be so careful about how she spent her money.

With this new plan in mind, Xue Cheng put her own thoughts aside and began to seriously study what she needed to do for the ancestral ceremony. It was so simple that it made her wonder if the original owner was truly that mindless in everyone’s eyes—how could an event that just required her to walk around twice need so much rehearsal, as if she was guaranteed to mess it up?

As the sky grew dark, the matriarch suggested that Xue Cheng and Liu Wuyuan stay for dinner. Xue Cheng knew the old woman probably wanted to see if she had really changed. But Xue Cheng didn’t want to eat under the critical gaze of her family, knowing she wouldn’t be able to digest anything. She politely declined and left with Liu Wuyuan.

As they reached the gate, they ran into Xue Lingyu, the original owner’s aunt, who immediately greeted them with a sour remark.

“Ah Cheng, why aren’t you staying for dinner? It’s not like you get to have many good meals at home.”

It was true that the original owner was a useless person with no real skills, relying entirely on the family’s monthly allowance. But if the original owner hadn’t spent all her money on brothels, it would have been more than enough for a comfortable life. However, since Xue Cheng arrived, she hadn’t needed the family’s money at all. This was one of the reasons the matriarch believed she had changed.

Xue Cheng couldn’t be bothered to engage. She wasn’t in the mood to play a part in this family drama. She simply left them with a parting shot: “You should eat more, Aunt. Maybe it will sweeten that bitter tongue of yours.” Then she took Liu Wuyuan’s hand and walked away without looking back.

Throughout the entire day, Liu Wuyuan had been almost invisible. As a mute, she could easily lower her presence to the point where others forgot she was even there.

But Xue Cheng had no affection for anyone in the Xue family, not even the matriarch, who had shown her kindness. It wasn’t because of anything specific; it was just that her modern, free-spirited soul felt suffocated by the rigid class system. She wasn’t naturally a sharp-tongued or confrontational person, but this emphasis on legitimacy and hierarchy was a direct challenge to her core beliefs. She despised the idea that a person’s worth and character were irrelevant if their birth was good. This made her think of how Liu Wuyuan was bullied in the original book simply because she was an orphan with an unknown background. Anyone could take advantage of a person like that.

This thought made Xue Cheng feel sick to her stomach, with a lump of frustration stuck in her chest. She walked home in silence, her dark mood lingering. Liu Wuyuan didn’t understand why Xue Cheng was suddenly so emotional, but she didn’t ask, simply following her quietly.

Once they were home, before they went their separate ways, Xue Cheng finally couldn’t hold it in anymore. She took Liu Wuyuan’s hands and said earnestly, “I’ll give you a good life. I promise.”

Her train of thought was something no ordinary person could understand, but Liu Wuyuan somehow did. She paused for a moment, then smiled and nodded, letting Xue Cheng know she heard her. The two of them then went to their separate rooms to rest.

Later, Xue Cheng started a fire and began preparing dinner. Liu Wuyuan, hearing the commotion, changed into more comfortable clothes and came out to help. After all, the most Xue Cheng could do was cook the rice; the actual cooking was still up to Liu Wuyuan.

Half an hour later, they had two dishes and a soup. As they ate, Xue Cheng started muttering to Liu Wuyuan about her plans. She decided not to hide her intentions anymore, since she’d already made up the story about her parents leaving her a fortune. Now she was just adding to it.

Her eyes darted around as she lowered her voice. “My parents left me a sum of money. I’m thinking of donating it to buy a noble title.”

She had spent a lot of time learning about this world. Selling titles was a perfectly normal thing in the Chu Kingdom. While the ranks weren’t very high, it still granted a person noble status. Though they wouldn’t receive land or an official salary, the title alone came with many benefits. For example, if you went to the government office, even with the lowest ninth-rank title, the clerks would treat you with respect.

If you were a merchant, you might have money, but you were restricted in many ways because merchants belonged to the base class. They couldn’t wear fine clothes outside of their homes, and they couldn’t ride in horse-drawn carriages—only donkey or ox carts. It was incredibly difficult for a merchant to change their status. It was even harder than for a commoner like the original owner, who came from a peasant background and could rise in class by simply buying a title. Most merchants who wanted to change their status had to marry their children into noble families, which would allow their descendants to rise in class. If you were well-connected, you could get an official document to change your status, but without those connections, it was nearly impossible. To the officials, merchants were like fat sheep waiting to be fleeced; why would they let them go so easily?

Xue Cheng had wanted to start a business, but she quickly learned that becoming a merchant would put her in the lowest and most vulnerable class of society. But with the protection of a noble title, it would be a completely different story.

Liu Wuyuan ate her dinner, listening to Xue Cheng chatter—one moment talking about buying a noble title, the next about finding a trustworthy person to run a business for her. When Xue Cheng mentioned that they should go to Xijing as soon as possible, Liu Wuyuan finally put down her chopsticks and looked at her. Xue Cheng immediately fell silent and focused on her food.

After they finished dinner and cleaned up, they sat together in the courtyard, enjoying the cool evening air. The summer heat was still lingering, as the sun had just set. Xue Cheng fanned herself with a palm leaf fan while Liu Wuyuan drew and wrote on the ground with a stick. Some things were better not written on paper, as they could be erased with a single swipe of a foot.

Liu Wuyuan, knowing much more about this world than Xue Cheng—whom she suspected was some kind of mountain spirit who had just taken human form—carefully corrected her.

While selling titles was common, a low-ranking ninth-grade title cost an outrageous 50,000 taels of silver. Not only did she doubt the Xue family had saved up that much over the generations, but even if Xue Cheng did have the money, wouldn’t showing it off make her a target for malicious people who would assume she had even more? Liu Wuyuan had already told her repeatedly to be careful about showing her wealth. Now she was just making sure Xue Cheng understood before she acted.

And even if Xue Cheng bought a noble title, that didn’t mean she could just start a business. The Chu Kingdom had a strict hierarchy, and while nobles were at the top, they couldn’t just do whatever they wanted. The emperor was no fool; he didn’t want the nobility to have both power and money. Nobles who wanted to engage in business needed a special business permit from the court. These permits were divided into five ranks, corresponding to different annual income levels. For instance, a fifth-rank permit meant the business’s annual income couldn’t exceed 100,000 taels of silver, and taxes were twenty percent. Nobles with a permit only had to pay ten percent, which was why the court restricted their income. Of course, if you could get a first-rank permit, that was a different story—you could earn as much as you wanted. The catch was, you had to have a permit.

And for a person who had a low-ranking title bought with money, getting a business permit from the court was incredibly difficult. It wasn’t impossible, but a permit allowed you to earn tens of thousands of taels of silver legally. How much would you have to pay to get a permit like that?

Xue Cheng suddenly understood. “It seems I underestimated how difficult this is.”

It wasn’t that spending money was hard; after all, she had the cashback system. If she spent 10,000 taels, she would get at least 20,000 in return. But as her spending increased, Xue Cheng noticed that the system would lower the cashback multiplier. She had been foolish to think the system was so great that it would always give her ten times the return. The system, hearing her complaint, silently “turned off its mic,” feeling a little wronged that its host was still not satisfied with how amazing it was.

“It seems we need to think this through more carefully,” Xue Cheng said. “My dear wife, do you have any good ideas?” Her eyes were bright and full of expectation.

Liu Wuyuan froze. She trusts me that much?