The Prodigal Son

If the eastern half of Can Guang City was its bright and prosperous side, with the royal palace, noble quarter, churches of every major faith, and commercial districts all gathered in the east, then the west was home to Can Guang City's lower and middle classes, where ordinary residential areas, workshop districts, and rundown streets lay intermingled.

Among them, Lan Gai Street in the western district was one of the most decrepit and neglected places. Even the patrolmen usually could not be bothered to spare it a glance, so it naturally became a gathering place for gangs and vagrants.

But Lan Gai Street was a little different today. To the rumble of wheels, an exquisitely decorated four-wheeled carriage drawn by two tall horses slowly entered the street.

The low houses lining the road looked especially dilapidated. Their dark doors and windows were tightly shut, seemingly expressing their hostility toward outsiders.

Even the beggars by the roadside hurriedly shrank aside, not daring to approach for fear of angering the distinguished person inside the carriage.

As the wheels rolled over gravel and muddy water, Bende disdainfully glanced at the vagrants lying in the corners by the walls. He flicked the whip in his hand, but felt a little heartache over the mud splashed onto his carefully tended horses and carriage.

Before long, the carriage stopped beside a small two-story house. Bende carefully jumped down, took out a stepping stool and set it in place, then opened the carriage door.

"Young Master Li Si, we're here. Please watch your step."

"Thank you, Bende."

Li Si stepped out of the carriage and looked at the rundown street, unchanged from his memories. Someone visiting for the first time might not even realize that this place was separated from the gleaming streets of the eastern district by only half a city.

Looking at the brick house and metal door before him, which were clearly different from the surrounding buildings, Li Si smiled lightly and habitually knocked hard on the door. Bang, bang, bang.

After knocking for quite some time without receiving a response, Li Si frowned.

That's not right. Whenever I used to knock like this, Old Jess would have come out to curse me already. Why was there no movement after all this time?

At that moment, the wooden window of the house opposite opened a crack. A timid eye peeked out, and a soft voice said to Li Si,

"Um... if you're looking for Uncle Jess, he went out. He won't be back for another month."

With a bang, the window immediately slammed shut, as if some terrifying beast lurked outside.

Why did they seem so afraid of me?

Li Si sensed several pairs of eyes secretly watching him from the shadows, but when he swept his gaze around, they all vanished.

Only after looking down at his clothes did he suddenly understand.

In his past life's game, he had pursued maximum profit and calculated every coin down to the last detail. Unlike those casual players, he had never spent heavily on clothing, so he had not realized what his attire and accompanying carriage meant on Lan Gai Street.

Looks like I'll need to change into ordinary clothes next time. I can't come here by carriage either.

Li Si silently made his plans. Although Old Jess was not here, the trip had not been entirely fruitless.

"So that little hidden gem was living right across the street already!"

Ashley patted her chest. After hesitating for so long, she had finally gathered the courage to say one sentence, and it had drained all her courage away. If Uncle Jess had not asked her to inform anyone who came looking for him, she never would have dared speak to people who looked so formidable.

After waiting for a while and hearing the carriage leave, Ashley cautiously opened the window. Only when she saw the carriage swaying away into the distance did she finally relax.

"Ashley, you did great. The thing Uncle Jess asked you to help with wasn't that hard after all!"

Was that person a noble?

Probably. Only nobles dressed so beautifully and cleanly. I've never seen such a beautiful carriage before, and it even had the image of a silver-white eagle with spread wings on it.

But that person didn't seem as frightening as Aunt Anna said. Would nobles really seize girls like me and eat them?

Ashley's little head was filled with enormous doubts. Without dwelling on them, she closed the window again.

Whenever Aunt Anna was away, she kept the doors and windows tightly locked. Although that made the room very dark, Ashley was not afraid at all. She even liked staying quietly alone in the shadows. The darkness around her made her feel safer instead.

Kane Family Estate.

The moment Li Si stepped out of the carriage, he saw the butler Joyce already waiting nearby. His impeccably groomed black-and-white tailcoat, paired with gold-rimmed glasses, was flawless. Even the angle at which he bowed was exact, making him the very embodiment of elegance.

"Joyce, come to the study with me."

"Yes, Young Master." Joyce perfectly followed a butler's rule of asking little and speaking cautiously, following one step behind Li Si toward the second floor of the estate.

After taking a seat behind the desk, Li Si looked at Joyce standing beside him and spoke in the same tone as his former self.

"Joyce, how are the family businesses doing now?"

Indeed, Li Si was the only remaining member of the Kane Family. Yet his former self had been so absorbed in magic that he had entrusted all of the family businesses to the butler Joyce, simply asking Joyce to prepare whatever he needed.

However, Joyce was worthy of Li Si's trust. The Kane Family had only been ennobled for three generations and was a rising noble house aligned with the royal family. Yet Joyce had served as the Kane Family's chief butler since the time of the second Viscount Kane, never making the slightest mistake. One could say that he knew the Kane Family better than Li Si himself, the current Viscount Kane.

Joyce had also personally raised Li Si's former self after his parents died when he was young, so Li Si naturally did not doubt Joyce's loyalty.

Although Li Si had rarely concerned himself with the family's operations before, Joyce did not overthink it. After a brief moment of consideration, he replied,

"The family's current annual income is approximately 7,500 gold coins. Of that, 5,000 gold coins come from the royal family stipend, the three shops on Fiss District Street bring in around 2,000 gold coins annually, and the two estates outside the city generate roughly 500 gold coins from crops."

"Normal annual expenditures are approximately 4,800 gold coins. Estate and manor repairs and maintenance require 1,000 gold coins each year, servant wages are around 300 gold coins, food and daily necessities cost 1,000 gold coins, maintaining the Kane Family's social relations with the royal family and other nobles costs around 2,000 gold coins, and other expenses come to roughly 500 gold coins."

(Note: 1 gold = 10 silver = 200 copper. Commoners earn around 10 gold a year, while an ordinary meal of black bread and vegetable soup costs two copper outside.)

Because the Kane Family's title was that of a Court Viscount and came without an actual fief, its primary source of income was the yearly stipend issued by the royal family.

Li Si clicked his tongue. Nobles truly were different. This was quite the starting point. He still remembered how, when he had first entered the game in his past life, he had worked himself to death for days just to complete a quest that rewarded a single gold coin.

Still, high income came with high expenses. Most of the spending went toward preserving the family's noble prestige.

But there was nothing to be done about that. Such expenses could not be reduced. If he, as a court noble, lived like a commoner, it would be considered an insult to the Fiss Royal Family. At best, he would be punished; at worst, stripped of his title.

The class divide is so clear. Nobles really are extravagant and indulgent, obsessed with luxury!

Li Si took a contented sip of the hot chocolate Rosie had just brought in and fiercely condemned the luxurious lifestyle of the nobility in his heart.

"How much savings does the family still have?"

Li Si estimated that, after three generations, they should at least have a decent amount of wealth saved up.

"Because you have purchased many precious materials for magical research in recent years, the family has only 500 gold coins left after setting aside this year's necessary expenses."

"Cough!" Li Si scalded himself on the hot chocolate.

Good grief, the prodigal son was me all along Σ(°Д°;)!