Chapter 28
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Gold Silk Market
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The guards, eating without any precautions, lost their lives in an instant to the cleavers swung by the merchants.
The Gold Guards, startled, tried to immediately counterattack, but they staggered and collapsed one by one without even putting up a fight.
Ban Taeyu glared with bulging eyes and growled through gritted teeth.
“What did you do to the liquor and meat just now?”
“We gave alms to wretches who’ll soon be ghosts, so they won’t starve on the road to the afterlife.”
Elder Jang replied coldly and slit Ban Taeyu’s throat.
Then he approached Han Sojung and removed the sword strapped to his neck.
“Young master, this old servant has been remiss, causing you such hardship. Please punish me.”
“I was waiting for you, old man. I was worried you might not come...”
“How could that be? I was just a bit late collecting the general’s remains. I’ll serve you from now on. Don’t worry.”
Elder Jang tore a piece from his collar and wrapped it around Han Sojung’s forehead.
“What about Mother?”
At Han Sojung’s question, Elder Jang let out a deep sigh before answering.
“The lady of the house took her own life.”
Han Sojung stopped chewing the food in his mouth for a long while and shed tears.
“What should I do now?”
“You must seek revenge. How can you live under the same sky as your parents’ enemies?”
At Elder Jang’s resolute answer, Han Sojung stared blankly at the sky for a moment before resuming chewing the meat in his mouth.
He wanted revenge too. But...
“Who are those enemies...?”
“The emperor above, and those dog-like treacherous officials below.”
“The emperor? That’s my maternal grandfather. And the court ministers... That means the whole Ming Dynasty.”
“Young master, from now on, we prepare slowly...”
But Han Sojung thought differently from Elder Jang.
When he recalled his parents who died unjustly, his blood boiled in reverse, and thinking of the abuses he suffered at those bastards’ hands made him tremble with rage...
But the opponents were the entire nation and his maternal clan.
The thought of fighting them his whole life filled him only with doubt.
Killing kin of the same blood, dying and killing...
Did he really have to seek revenge?
Couldn’t he just live mining gold or something?
* * *
No sooner had Han Sojung finished speaking than the maid from earlier entered the garden again, as if she’d been waiting, with Elder Jang following behind.
Seonwoyong jumped to his feet at the sight of them and bellowed at Elder Jang.
“What’s with showing up only now?”
Elder Jang, momentarily taken aback without understanding, quickly caught on and bowed deeply in apology.
“I’m sorry. It’s my first time in Xi’an, so we were a bit delayed. Please show mercy, young master.”
“Good, you must have brought what I asked for without fail?”
“Of course. It’s all prepared.”
Elder Jang dragged out his words while giving the maid a sidelong glance.
“You, leave us now.”
At Seonwoyong’s word to the maid, she bowed her head at once and withdrew.
A moment later, Elder Jang prostrated himself before Han Sojung.
“This servant has been remiss, causing the young master repeated hardship. Please punish me.”
“Oh man, old man, please stop that. You’re embarrassing me, doing this over and over.”
As Han Sojung recoiled and helped Elder Jang up, the elder prostrated himself again.
This time, it was Seonwoyong.
“This grace is etched in my bones and marrow. I’ll never forget your benefactor’s kindness. You saved the young master’s life...”
“Get up and sit over here.”
Seonwoyong casually pulled Elder Jang up and seated him at the low table.
“Oh, just now, this brother and I became sworn brothers.”
At Han Sojung’s words, Elder Jang sprang up again and bowed.
“My deepest congratulations. This old man offers greetings once more.”
“Ah, come on. Hey, little brother, can’t you rein in this old man?”
At Seonwoyong’s scolding, Han Sojung stepped in again.
“Old man, please just ease up, okay? People are gonna laugh. Seriously...”
Only then did Elder Jang sit back down, and the three began a quiet conversation.
“So, I’m now a servant of the Seonwoyong household?”
“That’s right. This little brother here becomes my cousin Seonwo Sojung, and you’re a servant of that household.”
Elder Jang was quick on the uptake, sharp as a tack.
“Now, I have to continue west. I plan to follow the Shenzhou Merchant House’s western trade route. Need to buy our share of silk too...”
Elder Jang slapped his thigh.
“You’re going west? Ah... What luck is this? This servant was planning to escort the young master to Dunhuang anyway.”
“Dunhuang... That’s the gateway to the west, the end of the Central Plains. What business there?”
“West of Dunhuang is Anxi Protectorate. It’s crawling with the general’s old hands and allies like clouds.”
“Hmm. I see. So heading there naturally opens a path for this little brother.”
“Of course. If we set up base there and bide our time...”
“Ah, I don’t want that stuff.”
Han Sojung, who’d been listening, cut in.
“Young master! How can you speak so childishly...”
“Anyway, let’s drop that. Alright, it’s strange how these connections keep cropping up.”
“But that question you asked me earlier was about funds for buying silk, right?”
“Exactly. We’ll say I traveled with Shenzhou Merchant House’s Pavilion Master Jin, contacted my cousin’s house nearby, and brought you and the little brother along on the trade route.”
“Silk’s such an expensive luxury...”
“They say it fetches a huge profit taken west. I heard it nonstop on the way here.”
“Well, true, but... I wonder if it’ll really pay off.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got enough for that.”
Seonwoyong’s casual address felt natural, and Elder Jang’s deference equally so.
“But young master, how far do you plan to go? You can’t go all the way to the end of the west, right?”
“Why? Worried about dragging little brother Sojung along? In his situation, maybe snag a golden-haired, blue-eyed beauty out in the boondocks...”
“No, that won’t do.”
“Just kidding. Kidding. Haha...”
“Even in jest, no. The young master must revive the Han clan and avenge the family head.”
“Hey, why’s the old man deciding that? I’m just gonna follow big brother.”
Han Sojung jumped in again.
“Young master, you’re no longer a child. This old man can’t let you throw tantrums. How can I face the family head who died unjustly? Even in the afterlife.”
“Hey, I said I don’t like that stuff. Revenge, fame and glory, whatever.”
“Young master, how can you...”
Elder Jang’s eyes welled with tears.
“Enough. If that’s how it is, old man, go your own way. I’ll go mine.”
At Han Sojung’s curt dismissal, Elder Jang wept and prostrated on the floor.
“Please take back those words. How could this old man abandon the young master...”
Seonwoyong, who’d been silent, spoke up.
“Cut it out, both of you? Not something to decide right now... For now, we part at Dunhuang. I’ll go farther west, handle my business, and come back. We’ll figure it out then.”
And so the three reached an accord.
“Understood. Staying under Shenzhou Merchant House’s wing for now is safest, naturally. This old man will follow your lead, young master.”
“Good. Now, let’s go pay respects to Pavilion Master Jin. He already knows your identities, so no hiding, old man—just follow my introduction.”
“Yes. Understood.”
“But seriously, old man, how much money do you really have?”
“Huh? Money? Right. I have some, but...”
“Hand it over.”
Elder Jang began fumbling silver taels from his bosom and belt pouches.
“Whoa... This as trade funds? Not even close...”
The silver Elder Jang produced totaled barely a hundred twenty taels. Enough for travel expenses, but not for silk trading.
“Well then... This’ll cover your fares, and I’ll buy the silk myself.”
“Sorry, big brother.”
“What’s to be sorry for? It’s my business.”
The three rose shortly after and headed to the main building where Shenzhou Merchant House’s Pavilion Master Jin Ichang was staying.
Jin Ichang stared wide-eyed at the promissory notes Seonwoyong laid out.
“A thousand taels in gold notes... You’re quite the rich man.”
The hundred-tael gold notes issued by the Central Plains Money House were something ordinary folk couldn’t even dream of seeing in a lifetime.
And there were ten of them.
Of course, Seonwoyong still had another thousand four hundred taels in gold notes from the Sichuan Gold Soul Money House tucked away.
“I know nothing about silk, so please handle it well.”
“Don’t worry. Shenzhou Merchant House is the best in the world for silk, Central Plains or beyond. Come with me to the Gold Silk Market. You’ll see our true colors there. Haha...”
As Jin Ichang rose, Seonwoyong and Han Sojung stood and followed.
Elder Jang, waiting outside Jin Ichang’s office, trailed behind.
Jin Ichang was a seasoned master of the jianghu and a shrewd merchant leading a vast trading house.
He paid no heed to Han Sojung and Elder Jang from the start, asking nothing.
And he was highly pleased with Seonwoyong’s plan to buy silk and head straight west.
* * *
In central Xi’an, right in the heart, lay a vast open square enclosed by walls of blue bricks.
For a market, it was luxuriously paved entirely with bluestone, dotted with silk shops topped by black tiles.
Between the shops, hand carts loaded with rolls of colorful silks and brokers bustled every which way.
This was the famed Gold Silk Market of Xi’an, where all the silks of the Central Plains gathered.
“No, just five taels per bolt? As you see, it’s top-grade Hangzhou gossamer. At least ten taels...”
“That’s the market rate—what can I do? Suit yourself. Sell or shop elsewhere.”
A deal was going down inside a large shop at the market’s center.
“Silk doesn’t rot—how can you slash the price like this? We came all the way from Hangzhou a myriad li—is this how you treat us?”
“Hey, that’s why I said do as you please. I guarantee no shop in this Gold Silk Market will pay over five taels.”
The silk merchant from Hangzhou had already tried several stores.
As if by agreement, every one had offered five taels.
‘Ugh... No choice... Have to sell at five taels...’
Then a man sidled up, poked his side, and whispered in his ear.
“Hey, over there—Shenzhou Merchant House.”
The silk merchants, sharp as they were, needed no more than that brief whisper.
“Agh... Well then, next time.”
The Hangzhou merchant hastily gathered his displayed silks and left the shop.
He made his way, groping his memory, to the Shenzhou Merchant House branch where he’d sold silk once before.
It didn’t take long.
Carts were clustered thickly in front.
“This the place that pays top dollar?”
“Yeah. Not quite peak prices, but they say it’s pretty good.”
“Looks like the others colluded... Lucky for us, at least.”