CH 129

Joe rubbed a hand over his face. “Where should I start… Gu?”

He glanced at Gu Yan, then shook his head, saying, “Forget it. I don’t remember what I’ve gone on about to you and what I’ve mentioned. I usually just blab about whatever is on my mind. You must be aware that my and the Manson family are old friends, right?” 

“Naturally,” Yan Suizhi nodded. “Very few in the alliance wouldn’t know that. If even 30% of what those media articles say constitutes the truth, then… your families have been on good terms for three generations now?”

Joe said, “It’s three generations if you exclude mine, maybe 3.5 if you count my rough relationship with George Manson. My great-grandfather’s generation knocked it off when they got their start in the raw metals industry, riding on the boom created by the Alliance Military’s equipment upgrades.”

Interstellar piracy was rampant during that age, further exacerbated by some planet clusters having falling outs. The conflict and warfare never ceased for a century, consuming and heightening demand for resources. Joe’s great-grandfather worked together with his younger brother to become the family on the up and up, known to all as the Yves brothers.

During the decade when conflict was at its peak, they’d not only supplied raw materials, but also used their private orbital route in times of emergency to transport weapons and equipment to De Carma’s tactical battlefronts, making considerable contributions to the alliance’s war efforts. 

The Yves brothers were shuttling back and forth between the battlefronts, essentially passing their days with their heads in their hands, which unavoidably put their lives in danger.

“They said that my great-grandfather was a stickler for morals and justice, a very forthright person led by his emotions, whilst his younger brother was particularly shrewd and smooth, with lots of ideas. They had close shaves twice, nearly getting blown to smithereens on the Helan to De Carma route. It’s like fate; the same band of vagabonds saved them both times.” Joe had probably heard this many times over when growing up; every line flowed smoothly off his tongue.

Due to the devastation to some planets during that chaotic period of war, the affected people didn’t have fixed homes, frequently attempting to migrate elsewhere. Among them were those who couldn’t find a place to settle, yet also had an appetite for adventure. They became known as ‘vagabonds’ that wandered between the galaxies, scavenging for supplies from the remnants of war. Besides the fact that they were always on the move, it was actually quite a good living.

The leader of the band of vagabonds who saved the Yves brothers twice was Manson’s great-grandfather.

“Speaking of which, I just remembered. The tabloids seem to call the Mansons’ great-grandfather by his full name, right?” On the exercise bike, Joe’s pace slowed as he carefully recalled it.

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Vlwlijgis, Tjc Velhtl jirb vlvc’a tjnf atlr tbyys. Lbkfnfg, vef ab atf joojlg klat tlr qjgfcar, tf’v vfnfibqfv atf tjyla bo rmjcclcu fnfgs jgalmif, gfujgvifrr bo lar cjaegf.

The two of them gave it a thought. “It seems so. Does he go by another name?” 

Joe nodded. “I was born too late to have met him, but my sister did when she was young. According to Ms Eunice’s gossip, she used to frequently stay at our great-grandfather’s for about a week each time in her childhood. By then, he was already too old to move around freely and he wasn’t completely cogent in his head; he would confuse his memories a bit. She heard the old man vaguely refer to Mansons’ great-grandfather as Old K of Clubs twice. Eunice and I guessed that this was the nickname he went under when still a vagabond.”

After that, the Yves brothers pulled some strings as a show of gratitude, allowing Old K to kick-start a business relationship with the military as well.

They initially settled on Tian Qin, but perhaps the allure of war kept calling out to the vagabond’s restless heart. Old K ended up moving to Helan, the planet with the most intense conflict, collecting a number of mining lines and slowly coming into prominence as well.

Thereupon, the Yves brothers and Old K developed down different paths. 

The Yves brothers appeared to follow mainstream conventions as they had assisted the interstellar alliance amidst the turmoil. They had made grounds in various spheres, but were mostly associated with the military and government.

On the other hand, Old K took the road off the beaten path. He built his business entirely on those mining lines. At the same time, the connections he maintained with the vagabonds also, in a sense, subtly tied him with interstellar pirates, treading neatly in the grey area of legality.

“In short, that Old K was both loyal and shrewd, and with the trials they underwent as well as the gratitude from saving their lives on top of that, the three of them had always been close. The initial agreement was to have the generation under them tie their families together through marriage.” Joe tutted here. “Too predictable. So, Old K worked hard and had three, all sons. My side did even better—five in total, but only one daughter, who was the youngest of the lot. Unfortunately, she was born too late; the age gap was too wide. Old K’s sons weren’t perverts, so the plan didn’t go through.”

That was three generations ago. The Manson family presumably had a tradition of internal strife. There wasn’t much rivalry between Old K’s three sons, so Old K pulled a trick, assigning them a mining line each based on their individual personalities. The result of this open strife and veiled struggle was that all three of them gave it their all, developing the family business well. 

One was a metal mine used in components of all smart devices across every habitable corner of the alliance. Another was an energy mine, which bore faint resemblance to an antimatter fountain, forming the main energy source for space shuttles. The last was a medicinal mine.

The three mining lines developed so well that it propelled the Manson family to the top, and their renown even barely discernibly overtook the Yves family’s.

“Even so, the medicinal mine wasn’t able to match up to the metal and energy mines. But somehow, afterwards—” Joe held up three fingers and then bent one of these three down. “The Manson with the medicinal mine couldn’t keep up. As word had it, he became mentally unfit in his old age and his medicinal mine went kaput. But I also heard another rumour that this Manson attempted to use his medicinal mine to develop narcotics. It was an incredibly profitable venture but also came with its risks, so the other two Mansons seized the opportunity to take him down.”

After that, no one in the Manson family touched medicinal mines. 

When it came to Devore Yves’ generation, the Manson family saw an unprecedented number of offspring. The family head after that was Ken Manson, the third youngest and hanging right in the middle, in a spot neither too high nor too low, easily neglected by accident.

“Purportedly, Old Manson was the forgotten child. Every time the socialites gathered for high tea, he was always on his own. His siblings also often picked on him because he had a stammer when he was young.” Joe said, “I’ve seen the tabloids blow praises, saying that he was always the family’s handpicked heir—it’s all bogus.”

Devore Yves didn’t spare Ken Manson a second glance at first, he was more than tired of waiting for that boy to stammer out his sentences. But he disliked the other Mansons even more, and had helped Ken a few times just to stand contrary to them.

So, the reason they got along well was built upon the work of others. 

It was hard to say who was the one who influenced the other first; regardless, after spending more time together, Devore Yves and Ken Manson slowly grew into the Old Fox and the Smiling Tiger.

Ken Manson would later slow his speech to correct his childhood stammer, so slow that it became a trademark of his. When the Manson family flourished to new heights, Ken Manson’s speech mannerisms only added to his authority.

In the years that Ken Manson was in power, the Manson family remained unswerving on metal and energy, paying attention to their connections in the interstellar freight industry, growing a network of people with mutual interests that the Manson family regularly met.

However, no matter how much they expanded, the Manson family never touched medicinal mines again. 

“I don’t know if they are not touching it because they feel it isn’t profitable or if they are still impacted by the shadow of the previous generation,” Joe said. “I don’t really get it, but this is actually an unwritten ironclad rule of their family. Then, Brewer and Miller Manson turned of age, and Old Manson started bringing them into the family business. They’re some years older than my sis.  Those two, you know… the eldest doesn’t look like the kind you’d want to mess with, and the second-in-line is obnoxiously arrogant. I heard that they grew up listening to stories of their forefathers and greatly admired their great-grandfather, Old K of Clubs. If you ignore how shady they look, they’re actually pretty capable. After a few years of work, half of the family business is under their charge.”

“It was around that time that Eunice graduated and first got involved in the family business. I was around two or three at that time, and Old Fox had a recurring disease that never quite went away. It persisted for about a year before he slowly got better, and after that, the Manson family suddenly changed their stance, beginning to take an interest in medical technology and medicinal mines. It shocked a lot of people when they did that, Old Fox included, because it was really too abrupt. My family is heavily involved in healthcare and has wide networks in this industry. The Mansons hoped to get connected with relevant parties through Old Fox, especially over at Helan.”

Joe held the bike handles and thought, counting on his fingers, “From when I was around the age of four until I turned eight or nine, in those four or five years, some unfamiliar faces started to appear at the social gatherings. I remember a few that were more soft-spoken and mild-mannered… it’s hard to describe; basically, they seemed very cultured, like they would make good company. They didn’t really look like businessmen, you know, the sort unique to Helan. It’s their presence that brought a problem to the attention of my sister and I…”

As he spoke, he seemed to think of something and got off the exercise bike. He projected the screen of his smart device, saying, “She had even dug up several dynamic photos last night that she’d shot way back then. Because I don’t know their names either, I think that it’ll be clearer if I show you their pictures instead.” 

“Here.”

Joe changed the view mode to virtual landscape, and clicked on play.