After transporting into a game, I became the Family Head

Chapter 5

"Azalea, sit." I gestured her to take the seat in front of me.

Azalea shuffled into the seat in front of me.

"How's school?" I asked with a grandmotherly smile.

She trembled. Why was she trembling? Wasn't I nice enough?

"School? What's school?"

Ah, right. I thought of them as studying in school. But they thought they're just having lessons. Well lessons in a complex and a tight schedule from eight till three.

"How are the lessons?"

"I... I... I tried my best," she mumbled as she lowered her head in shame.

Azalea was the eldest grandchild, her father was the stupid first son that I had banished to the west. But her mother was not the wife of the first son, but a mere concubine. That's right, a concubine's daughter was born before the wife's. That's why she was not liked by the wife of her father. Her mother was also simply a fisherman's daughter, so she was forgotten. She was barely literate and that's because Lily, her smart younger sister, taught her.

"This is your first exam and this is your second." I indicated the two stacks of paper on the table. "Although you failed in both your first and second exams, you have made an improvement. I am satisfied with that. Do you know why you have to learn to write and calculate?"

Azalea gave me a quick glance and lowered her head again.

"You have to think of the answer yourself." I took a sip from my teacup. "Sparrow," I called.

Sparrow entered with a few notebooks in her hand and bowed in front of Azalea.

"It's for you. A tip for you, writing a dairy can help with learning words." I had flashback to the terrible time when I had a homework known as writing your journal from school. I took another sip of tea to clear this terrible flashback from my mind.

"And your drawing teacher praised you."

A blush appeared on her face. Azalea suprisingly had quite a talent in drawing. I had seen her work, the drawings might still need quite a lot of polishing, but one could still recognize the talent in them.

"If you agree we will add more drawing lessons for you. But that means taking half of your rest day away."

She nodded her head.

"Go enjoy your rest day then."

Azalea was still a bit too timid. I sighed. She needed more training. But where to find?

-----------------

The boys and girls had started their schooling for three months, everything was on track. But if you asked me if there's any increase in splendor, of course not. Currently everything was still in investment process.

Lily, not surprisingly, was actually the smartest of them all. If girls could take the imperial examination, I would be the first to send Lily. But alas I was just a mere old lady, I did not have the power.

Azalea showed talent in drawing, while Ivy, daughter of my second son, showed talent in mathematics. As for the other grandaughters, they're still young.

As for the boys, Silver and Copper were just average at best in literature. Silver seemed more interested in martial arts while Copper in doing business. Jade, the 10 years old son of my third son, had the most potential in taking the imperial examination. But he was just 10 years old. That meant it's going to be a very long time before our family could enter the field of government and mid ranked officials. Most importantly entering the eyes of the Emperor thus raising our splendor.

The Imperial Examination was really the only method, money could not even buy you that. The method my third son did, buying himself a post in the government, only worked for low ranked officials. They had next to no chance in their entire life to meet the Emperor.

I had to think of other methods.

"And I thought you're going to sit here like a retired old lady until your precious Jade can enter the field." My long forgotten system appeared.

"And you finally decided to grace me with your appearance!"

In other games, they had missions to complete. They got rewards for completing missions. What did I get from my system? Nothing! He hibernated!

My head was once again being slapped by his wing.

"Tracherous thoughts."

The crow flapped his wings angrily and cawed.

"You do not even level up and you dare to demand for reward?"

"Do you think it's so simple? The imperial examination takes time. And it's hard to find good and prestigious husbands for a family like ours! We're butchers!"

"Do you have cheese for your brain? Or the memory of a gold fish?"

"Excuse me?"

"What's the definition of splendor?"

"Huh?"

"Seems like you haven't even read the instruction clearly," the crow humphed while rolling his eyes. I was sure now, he was definitely rolling his eyes. "A waste of my time."

And I was thrown out of the white room.

I missed certain instruction regarding splendor?

I recalled my game panel immediately.

Name: Old lady Lau

Number of family members: 23 + (1)

Wealth: 995000 gold

Splendor: Insignificant [expand]

Wait, what did that +(1) mean? Someone was pregnant? Who?

My heart stopped for a moment at the amount I spent in just three months to renovate their school complex and dorm room and to hire tutors. But with the first son being banished and the pocket money of the rest of the family members controlled. We still had quite a lot of money. Sooner or later, we really needed to start doing business ourselves.

The only thing I missed last time was the [expand].

I clicked on the word.

[Renown: -10

Prestige: 10

Legacies: 0]

I hovered my finger over [renown].

[The Chius have a bad reputation among the population.]

Bad reputation? Most certainly the gift left behind from my first son. Gambling, fighting, prostitution he had it all. And we're butchers suddenly being awarded an enormous sum of money.

How to raise our reputation among the population?

A word appeared in my mind. Charity.