20 Chapter 20

Two hours later Su Mei was greeted with the sight of her young master appearing from thin air. He was extremely haggard looking and smelt terrible. She summoned some of her subordinate maids, ordering them to bathe Shen Yue while she went to the kitchens to prepare a full meal for him. An hour later and Shen Yue was tucked into bed sleeping like the dead.

While Shen Yue was peacefully sleeping, the rest of the City was full of activity. Ye Zong, in particular, was thinking he would never sleep peacefully again! Two days ago he had been on top of the world, the City was peaceful and his beautiful wife and daughter smiling and content.

Then out of the blue, his daughter had shamed his whole family by being mounted by a penniless farmer in front of a crowd! She was not even regretful about her actions, only admitting to being embarrassed at being caught in the act!

In his rush to minimise the fallout to his Family's reputation, he had used his position to keep her from being expelled from the most prestigious institute in Glory City. His cousin Ye Sheng had helped but had been angered at the blow to the Family's face.

Ye Zong had then done his best to stop any word of the event from disseminating into the City, but alas, every man and his dog was already talking about the most beautiful whore in the city being cheap enough for a talent-less farmer to afford!

*CRACK*

The arm of his throne had been snapped off in his rage at remembering the brazen lout that had shouted out asking how much the 'whore princess' cost and if every hole was rentable!

Ye Zong had immediately sent his men to find the mongrel responsible, but they returned empty-handed. Unable to locate the offender in the crowd that had gathered to laugh at the most respected man in the City with the cheapest daughter.

Unknown to Ye Zong, the 'brazen lout' was one of Shen Yue's men. He was ordered by Mei to destroy Ye Ziyun's name, they had no chance of catching a legend rank expert.

If his daughter's shameful behaviour infuriated him, his wife's cold demeanour frightened him. When Ye Ziyun had yelled at Ye Rou when she reprimanded her, his eyes nearly popped out of his head in disbelief! Ye Ziyun had never been punished before, but that night she learnt the hard way. Ye Rou had a temper and a mean bitch-slapping hand.

Even after confessing, Ye Ziyun had remained unrepentant. Declaring she was in love with Nie Li, and there was nothing wrong with a couple acting like a husband and a wife.

Speaking of wives, Ye Zong's wanted nothing more than to slap Ye Ziyun every time she laid eyes on her. When he had got back from meeting Ye Sheng, he had tried to comfort her, getting her to try and reconcile with their wayward daughter. But Ye Rou had said something that had sent a chill down his spine.

She couldn't comprehend how Ye Ziyun had thrown away her mother's benefactor, for a talent-less farmer that she met at school for the first time! Ye Zong had completely forgotten Shen Yue, the most prosperous child in Glory City. In his haste to calm his daughter and keep any shred of dignity she still held, he had granted that little shit Nie Li his blessing to marry her.

He would have to summon Shen Yue and apologise for the shameful behaviour of his daughter and try and appease him. Just as he was trying to think of a way to ask forgiveness, a servant announced that Ye Sheng was here to see him. When Ye Sheng entered, his face warned him that the news would not be pleasant.

"Ye Zong, we have overlooked something this morning that might cause a bit of a problem. Shen Yue was enraged to hear that Nie Li and Ye Ziyun went unpunished and were sitting together as if nothing had happened. Nie Li antagonising him didn't help. He has declared war on our Snow Wind, the Winged Dragon, and the Heavenly Marks Families."

"What! How dare the little bastard! Our Family has been nothing but caring to the ungrateful rat, I even wanted him to marry Ye Ziyun!" Ye Zong raged.

"Are you even listening to yourself? He was supposed to marry your daughter but instead finds out she was defiled and sitting in class next to her lover like it was the most natural thing in the world! He then finds out from some nobody that you had even blessed the marriage! What would you do? Ask him for money while you were already spitting on your honour?" Ye Sheng was also infuriated, how was this idiot the City Lord?

Ye Zong was stupefied by Ye Sheng's outburst. His mouth was opened, and his eyes bulged in his disbelief, what he was just told struck him as if slapped! He would want blood if someone disrespected him like this!

But even after having his eyes opened, it was far too late to do anything. Shen Yue had already publicly declared war so Ye Zong would show him the power of a City Lord!

Seeing the thought flash across Ye Zong's face, Ye Sheng voiced his thoughts to the City Lord. "Even if he is just a child without power now, do you really think he will always stay that way? At the age of eight, he had already created his own family. What do you think he will do in ten years?" After saying this, he left, not bothering to say anything further.

Hearing this was another wake-up call for the City Lord. Indeed, with the new powers now gathered in Glory City, he would be able to find a backer easily. Just as Ye Zong was pondering over how to deal with this situation another servant entered. Chen Zhenlong had come to see him.

"Brother, just the man I need to talk to. I need your help with Shen Yue." Ye Zong was glad to see an old friend, he was the perfect man to help him put Shen Yue in his place.

"Ye Zong, you have really messed up this time. I thought I told you not to anger that little devil all those years ago. He appears to be the instigator for every new disaster in Glory City!" Said Chen Zhenlong with a sad smile.

"Surely it's not that bad? Without your support, the little bastard would be suppressed quickly!" Ye Zong could not understand why Chen Zhenlong was so worried about this situation.

"If was just me, yes. Unfortunately, Shen Yue came prepared. He has the backing of the masked man, and I was forced to raise the price of the Holy Dark Grass pills to you and your allies. It was either that or cut you off completely. I told him that I would not support any attack on your Family and he was quick to say he would only retaliate." Said Che Zhenlong, a bit embarrassed he was put into a position where he had to choose Shen Yue over his sworn brother.

"What! How has this happened so quickly? Ziyun and that little shit swore that they were influenced by something, could this be a plot?"

"It seems that the masked man has been waiting for an opportunity to make his move. Your daughter's choice to throw the Runaway Prince's face on the ground, and chase the poor farmer, gave him the perfect opening to act. I'm afraid that you will have to bear this quietly Brother Zong, he is surely waiting for you to take action so he can use force." Chen Zhenlong replied.

"So it was a scheme for the City Lord title. That stupid girl! How could she choose Nie Li? Is he part of the conspiracy?" Possible schemes were running through his mind, how was he going to counter this? Why had Ye Mo decided to leave on one of his trips at such a crucial time!

"I doubt it, he is most likely just a money grubbing fool. Trying to use your daughter as a way to leverage his Family out of the dirt. But you will face the combined might from the Immortal Elixir Guild, Celestial Brotherhood and Heavenly Crafting Guild. Shen Yue confirmed that the masked man owned the alchemy guild and they would have a new range of pills out soon." Chen Zhenlong informed Ye Zong about his biggest problem, some dirt poor farmer turned gold digger, was the least of his worries.

Ye Zong looked like he had just been punched in the stomach, his earlier bravado gone as he was hit with the full repercussions of the mess he was in. He continued to talk with the Divine Family patriarch further, not forgetting to thank him for letting him know the terrible situation about to assault his Family.

After Chen Zhenlong left, he sat on his damaged throne, hoping that Ye Mo would quickly return. All he could do now was call a Family conference and stress heavily the importance of not making the situation worse. But how was he going to tell them that him not punishing his daughter, had likely led to the City Lord seat being taken away? Worse, how was he going to tell his wife? She already was on his case for not punishing her!

"What was that worthless girl thinking! She had single-handedly caused their Family's downfall from the highest position! She was not even sorry about the mess she had made! Maybe Rou's proposal to punish her was the correct action, yes, he would leave his daughter to her mother!" With that thought, he called a servant to send out a summons to all the leading members of the Family. Sleep would not come easily tonight.