Chapter 14
Chapter 14
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: The Uncle's True Colors Gradually Revealed
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5,000-year-old wild ginseng, one root.
2,000-year-old wild ginseng, one root.
1,000-year-old wild ginseng, three roots.
It wasn't just one root.
I dug up a total of five roots.
I harvested those five roots of wild ginseng with the utmost care, digging them up as if in prayer.
Carrying them back to the village, my hands and feet trembled from the shock and tension.
My heart is still pounding even now.
So I came to the uncle's house first.
The problem is...
How to divide them.
Divide?
If I ask him to share these, wouldn't that mean my conscience has run off?
Besides, the uncle wouldn't share them in the first place, right?
What should I do?
Right now, those five roots of wild ginseng are sitting on the dining table.
Just looking at them makes my eyes spin.
Honestly, at this point, wouldn't even murder be justifiable self-defense?
If I were any other martial artist, I'd have killed him already and taken them.
Ah!
I've been struggling with my lack of internal energy, and seeing the ginseng must have driven me mad.
I'm even having ridiculous delusions like this.
Whether he knows my inner thoughts or not...
The uncle is out in the yard right now, busy drying the bellflower roots we dug up earlier, saying they need to be dried properly.
No way... he's not sharpening a sickle or something under the pretense of drying bellflower roots, is he?
Ah!
I've gone mad, mad!
I'm really losing it!
Should I just swallow one root whole?
Since I'm already crazy, should I pretend to be insane and eat just the 5,000-year-old one?
"...Ah!!!"
Argh, whatever!
Just one, only one.
I'll pay it back tenfold later!
Just eat the one 5,000-year-old wild ginseng root... eat... eat!
"Whew! I've finally hung them all up. If you spread them out in the yard like this, the bellflower roots will dry in no time."
The moment I grabbed the 5,000-year-old wild ginseng and was about to shove it into my mouth.
The uncle walked in.
Caught red-handed.
"But, Village Chief. Is that really wild ginseng?"
I quietly set the ginseng down.
"I've examined it closely from every angle just now, and yes, it's wild ginseng. Three roots that are 5,000-year, 2,000-year, and 1,000-year-old."
"Whoa! Then how much is all this worth? I've only ever dug and sold bellflower roots before; this is my first time with wild ginseng, so I have no idea about the price."
Should I tell him?
Tell him the value of these ginseng roots?
Then his eyes would spin just like mine.
He might even try to kill me and take all the ginseng for himself.
No, these ginseng roots are all his to begin with!
Damn it!
"You know those prime plots in Chang'an?"
"Of course. The rich neighborhood where all those palace-like manors cluster together."
"You could probably buy ten of those manors with..."
"Heh heh heh heh heh heh guk!"
The expected reaction came.
The uncle's eyes were spinning.
"I knew wild ginseng was rare and expensive, but I had no idea it was worth that much."
"Other things I can't say for sure, but a 5,000-year-old one—you can't even buy it with money. It's worth whatever someone will pay. If the martial world finds out, there'll be a bloodbath. Those people would do anything to increase their internal energy."
"Ah... I knew it was something amazing, but did I really dig up something this incredible?"
Did you hear that?
He definitely said "I dug it up."
Emphasizing that he was the one who harvested it.
His true colors are starting to show.
He played the innocent act all by himself, but when money's on the line, he's a merchant through and through.
"Let's split it half and half."
"Pardon?"
"Half and half. I told you before we went up the back mountain, didn't I? Half of whatever we dig up today goes to you, Village Chief."
"B-but... this is wild ginseng... and a 5,000-year-old one at that..."
I was so shocked I could barely speak.
My heart felt like it would burst.
This uncle suddenly looked like a Buddha to me.
Namu Amida Butsu.
"But you're a martial artist who cultivates martial arts, right, Village Chief?"
"Y-yes."
"Then shouldn't you eat this too?"
"Y-yes."
"Ah... the situation is a bit tricky."
"Y-yes?"
Ah!
This uncle is playing me like a fiddle.
My heart still feels like it's about to explode, and tears are welling up in my eyes.
But the uncle didn't say another word.
He just started staring intently at the five ginseng roots on the table.
He'd blurted it out without thinking, but now he seemed to find it a shame.
Can't blame him.
Just selling one root would fetch an enormous sum.
I get it.
I get it, but I couldn't help hating him for suddenly changing his mind.
"How about this?"
There it is!
He's laying the groundwork to back out.
No helping it.
The ginseng belongs to the uncle, and whatever he demands, I'll have to agree.
"Don't martial artists need to build up their internal energy or whatever to become masters?"
"You... know it well."
"Then you need to eat this to become a master, right, Village Chief?"
"Y-yes."
"Then eat it. All five roots."
Uncle!
I'm sorry!
I just called you a greedy materialist in my head.
No!
He wouldn't give it away for free.
What is it?
What does he want from me?
Revenge?
Is he going to ask me to kill someone?
Or make me eat the ginseng, become a master, and steal some incredible treasure?
Or maybe, while I'm thrilled and off guard, he'll slice my throat with that sickle?
"In exchange..."
There it is!
Now he's finally showing his true colors.
Stay sharp.
Don't get played like a sucker.
"Do you have a land deed?"
"A land deed?"
"Yeah. For our Martial Mystery Village land."
"No way something like that exists. No one lives here, no one even knows about it, no one would buy it even if you tried to sell, and owning it just means paying taxes to the government."
"Hmm. Then let's make one. In my name."
"Putting it in your name is no problem at all, but why a land deed all of a sudden?"
"It's always been my dream. To have some decent fields and paddies in my name, and live happily with my family and the villagers without starving."
"Well, that's not hard... Wait a minute! Uncle, you have a family?"
"Of course. You think a guy my age doesn't? I've got a wife so beautiful she makes my eyes hurt, and a son who's still a bit immature... That's right! My boy's just like you, Village Chief. He's got a son too."
"Then why do you live alone?"
"Sigh. Clearing this weed-choked land, digging a well, farming—do you think that's easy? I told them to come once I've settled things a bit. They'll be here soon."
"Ah..."
This uncle has a family, after all.
"What do you think? Am I being too greedy?"
As if.
Selling just one 1,000-year-old root—not even the five—would buy dozens of plots like Martial Mystery Village.
"No, greedy? If anything, it feels like you're the one taking a huge loss."
The uncle grinned.
Is there some other scheme?
Of course there was!
There has to be another angle!
"Just put the name on me, and let anyone who wants to come farm do so freely. No sharecropping cuts—just like that. Make it a village rule set by you, Village Chief, so even if I pass it to my son, and my grandson, and his son, that rule never changes."
"Ah..."
"I want my kids to live prosperously and happily here with the villagers, generation after generation. Haha!"
That's my dream.
That's why I've risked my life dozens, hundreds of times doing rogue warrior work up till now.
It was the dream of my late mother, the previous real village chief, and all the villagers too.
I've come this far, running like a madman, to make that dream come true.
"But how do we make a land deed?"
"Huh? You don't even know that, Village Chief?"
"I've never made one."
"Easy. Go to the government office in Chang'an, slip three or four taels of silver to an official, and they'll whip one up. Sometimes a bad one demands eight taels, but that's just bad luck—nothing you can do."
"Ah, that sounds simple?"
"You'll have to vouch for it, Village Chief. Without you, they'd demand double."
"Then I'll go with you."
"Yeah. It'll be done in a flash."
"Really simple, huh?"
"Told you it's easy. It's just that we don't have the money to bribe the officials."
"I have a little silver."
"Oh man, then I'd feel too bad."
Haa!
What kind of person am I?
Why did I suspect this pure, kind-hearted uncle all this time?
Is my soul twisted that badly?
I suddenly felt sorry toward the uncle.
"Actually..."
"Yes."
"I've been thinking."
"About what?"
"This wild ginseng. I don't know the details, but I know how incredible it is. So..."
"So what?"
"We'd have to go all the way to Chang'an to sell it, right?"
"Yes."
"To an apothecary, or maybe a martial sect or clan."
"Th-that's... right?"
"You think I can make it back alive?"
"Hmm..."
"It's more likely I'll die without a trace."
"Well, it's not guaranteed, but yeah, denying the danger would be hard."
"So eat it, Village Chief. Eat it and become a master. Once you're a master and our village prospers, you can take care of any bandits or brigands. To me, that's worth way more than the ginseng's price."
Whew.
I'm so pathetic for doubting this uncle.
I feel like crawling into a confessional cave and repenting against the wall.
"One last question, Uncle."
"Sure."
"Are you sure about this decision?"
"As long as you agree, Village Chief, my mind won't change."
"Good. Then I'll make one promise too."
"What? What promise?"
I straightened my posture.
Took a deep breath.
Then looked at the uncle and spoke firmly.
"As long as I live, no matter what scum comes to this village, I'll protect you and your family's safety. Even if it costs my life. I swear it."
"Whoa! You don't have to go that far. But your words alone make me feel secure, Village Chief. Haha!"
From that day, I began consuming the wild ginseng.
One root at a time.
Very little by little, slowly, with reverence.
The uncle didn't rush me.
To sell the bellflower roots properly dried, it would take at least ten days, so he told me to take my time.
So I took even more leisure, consuming the ginseng slowly.
I could circulate my energy and meditate with utmost care.
Exactly ten days later.
Finally, in my dantian!
Half a jiazi—thirty years' worth of internal energy—had accumulated.