Water Knows the Answer
Water knows the answer. A shadow seeped into the guest room where Jayu lay. Clad head to toe in black, it sat silently beside his bed and gazed down at his sickly face. Jayu opened his eyes at the presence and scowled.
“Gyeon No, can’t you wake me like a normal person for once?”
“How could this humble one dare lay hands on the prince while he sleeps?”
“What if I didn’t wake up at all?”
“A dog’s proper place has always been by its master’s bed, has it not?”
He called himself a dog, yet there was no servility in his tone. After all, Jayu was the one who had named him Gyeon No—Old Dog.
“Honestly. So, what happened? How did he die?”
“Blood poured from every orifice. He was gone before anyone could do a thing. Even someone who knows nothing of poison would have called it poisoning.”
“Tsk. He wasn’t someone who deserved such a wretched death.”
“Wasn’t he just some gambler crawling around the den? Even with Your Highness’s permission, he lived like a king off your name. The world must have felt like paradise while he was alive, and after death he took Your Highness’s calamity upon himself. If anything, he ascended to paradise.”
“Make sure to look after his remaining family. I’ll need something to say when I meet him in the afterlife so I don’t lose face.”
Jayu fell into deep thought.
“For the time being, I’ll have to impose on the Tang Clan.”
“Your Highness. You mean to stay in this den of insolent parasites who gnaw away at your wealth?”
“I saw the Tang Clan leader today. He looked genuinely startled when I burst in, and he didn’t seem the least bit flustered. This poisoning wasn’t their doing. In that case, is there any safer place in all of Sichuan?”
“But they are still poison ants who dare nibble away at Your Highness’s fortune.”
“Even poison ants have their uses, it seems.”
Jayu answered with a faint smile. Just then, Gyeon No lowered his voice.
“Your Highness, about that young lady… Has a mistress finally come to the royal residence? Can this old dog finally attend a madam in his twilight years? She is a beauty who could make birds fall from the sky. If she bears a young master, he will surely be the finest man under heaven. If a young miss, she will be the very incarnation of the realm’s greatest beauty, no?”
Jayu nodded before he could stop himself. A beauty was a beauty, after all, and any child of hers would… In truth, children of famous sects and clans were always refined young lords and ladies whose appearance alone radiated nobility. Because the women of Murim practiced at least the basic Fairy Art, their grace passed down through the generations and dramatically raised the overall standard of beauty.
Of course, no matter how much one cared about appearance, no one could train in the Fairy Art as ridiculously as Cheong. Internal energy cultivation methods were built step by step, replacing lower levels with higher ones. There were occasional jokes about collecting every variety of Fairy Art to become the greatest beauty under heaven, but anyone who actually tried it would be stopped by people asking if they couldn’t choose a more comfortable method of suicide.
“Ah, if only this old dog could see that noble bearing before he dies! Even if I fell into a pit of a thousand flames, I would go laughing.”
Gyeon No’s voice burned with sincere longing. Jayu snapped back to his senses. He had been worrying about a daughter who didn’t even exist yet—how the vicious emperor might covet her if she was too beautiful.
Jayu waved his hands in alarm. “No, no. It’s not like that. That friend is… just a friend. I still don’t know what kind of person she truly is.”
Having grown up in the imperial palace, Jayu was not the type to be swayed by beauty. Still, she was certainly better than the daughters of high officials who only ever showed the top of their heads out of excessive propriety. About that much.
---
It was a morning when the pedestal rose. In truth, she missed it every single morning. Having to dress herself—what kind of nonsense was this? It had been so convenient when her senior brother Ho So-in was around…
Cheong rose lazily, threw on her clothes, and stepped out of the guest hall. Like any other freeloader, she had nothing in particular to do. Guests were essentially loafers who stayed put and only helped when needed. The host gave them food, shelter, and even pocket money. This was why the ultimate goal of most wanderers was to become a guest at a decent clan or sect after making a name for themselves.
The wanderers enjoyed the treatment, and the host gained emergency forces or temporary instructors. If they stayed long enough to settle down, they either became true family or took on an official position. That was how the guest culture worked. Of course, overwhelmingly powerful sects and clans were the exception. They had no need to import outside help, so they were extremely selective about who they accepted.
Naturally, Cheong’s seniority meant she could be treated as an honored guest anywhere, but her face wasn’t thick enough to barge into a completely unfamiliar place and demand food. That was why she had diligently worked as one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Underground Death Match Arena.
Oh. She still had to explain the whole Yeo Hang-jeok thing. She had meant to bring it up yesterday while the mood was good, but the duck had been so delicious that she had gotten completely absorbed and forgotten all about it.
Hmm. The duck was good, but the Extreme Marinated Duck Soup kept bothering her. The greatest chef under heaven, Baek Chang-ja, had said that flavor was power. Cheong had agreed. No matter how dogshit the business practices were, if the food was that good, what could you do? If a dish you paid for and suffered indigestion over still gave you more satisfaction than its price, then pride had to take a backseat.
So she decided she would make another reservation today. Come to think of it, when she had traveled with the Anhui Province’s prince, Namgung Sinjae, they had apparently broken quite a few people’s reservations. But Cheong hadn’t known the details. Besides, if Dang Nan-a had brought her entire Tang Clan family and filled the Blue Dragon, Cheong would have simply assumed it was a company dinner.
The only reason she had gotten angry was that the two of them had rented out the entire place, and she had gotten caught up in it and lost her own reservation.
That was what Cheong was thinking as she crossed the Tang Clan grounds with Choe-ri-ong—who had somehow started following her—trailing behind.
“Oh, friend. You’re finally awake? Where are you off to in such a hurry this early in the morning?”
Of course, the sun was already high in the sky.
“To make a reservation at the Blue Dragon. Who knows when I’ll be in Sichuan again? It’d be a shame to miss it. By the way, who is the gentleman beside you?”
An old man stood next to Jayu. Jayu answered with a strangely triumphant air.
“Ah. No need to mind him. He’s just an old servant who attends me.”
“What? That’s rude. You don’t talk about elders that way. I didn’t think you were like that, friend.”
Jayu looked back and forth between Cheong and Choe-ri-ong in disbelief. But to Choe-ri-ong, the old man had been a great demonic head from their very first meeting. Even now that they had grown close, his past misdeeds hadn’t gone anywhere. However, this old man had accumulated far more good karma than bad over his decades, so he was indeed an elder.
“Hello?”
“What a heart as gentle as silk. This old servant is called Gyeon No, and I attend Young Master Jayu. I am merely repaying the great kindness he has shown me by devoting my loyalty like a dog or horse.”
One glance told her he was a master on a completely different level. Cheong tilted her head. She was usually confident against older opponents. But from the first meeting, he was looking at her with the eyes of a grandfather watching his granddaughter. What was this? Did this old man have dementia too? Was dementia trending among the masters of the Central Plains? In that case, was the future of the Central Plains going to be okay?
“So, where are you headed? Wandering around someone else’s house without permission is hardly proper etiquette. Do you even know the way out?”
“Wouldn’t going out the main gate be enough?”
“Hmm? Is that so? I suppose it is.”
“I’m going to make another reservation at the Blue Dragon. Since I’ve come all the way to Sichuan, I should eat there at least once. I was thinking of making the reservation, visiting Mount Emei, and coming back on the right date.”
After all, since some prince or other had died, she had to abstain from alcohol for forty-nine days. She planned to make the reservation generously after that, visit the Emei Sect, then have a glass of white liquor with the Extreme Marinated Duck Soup on the way home.
“Mount Emei. Ah. You had business with the Emei Sect.”
During their conversation, the two old men met each other’s eyes. Both being masters of the Harmonious Realm, they instantly recognized each other’s level. Employing a Harmonious Realm master as a servant. Fifteen points added for belonging to an apparently powerful family. But fifteen points deducted for the power being too great. A family that rose too high in the world wasn’t good either.
In the end, Choe-ri-ong gave Jayu a net gain of one point. It was a score as fickle as the ocean itself.
Gyeon No immediately noticed the shift in mood. Yikes. This old man is strict. He’d better not offend him.
The clash between the two Harmonious Realm masters ended in Choe-ri-ong’s victory by decision. As expected, the one with more to lose had to bow his head.
---
When they reached the street, it was—to exaggerate only slightly—a complete sea of tears. There were even people openly wailing. To Cheong, it was simply fascinating.
Was the death of a prince really that sad?
Of course, Cheong didn’t hold back her curiosity. When she asked, Jayu turned his head away with an embarrassed expression for some reason, and Gyeon No answered in his stead.
“Aigo, young lady. Is there a single person in all of Sichuan who has not received Prince Deokhyun’s grace?”
Prince Deokhyun was a man as virtuous as his title suggested. He didn’t collect excessive taxes to begin with, and every coin he did collect was poured into relief efforts and public works. Gyeon No passionately explained how many hundreds of people had been saved because of it and how much the common people’s harsh lives had improved.
“Moreover, he was extremely sensitive to corruption among officials. At the very least, within Sichuan, he uprooted all the usual evil practices that government offices engaged in. He was truly a sage king sent by heaven.”
Cheong thought about it and realized that the public officials here did seem to have relatively fewer misdeeds.
“Ah. He was a truly excellent person.”
“Of course. Not only that, he was full of affection and had tremendous loyalty. Once he gave someone his heart, he would cherish them for life and never betray them.”
“Ahem. That’s enough, Gyeon No.”
At any rate, Gyeon No’s words weren’t wrong. In just one night, the entire city’s atmosphere had sunk completely. Everyone looked grief-stricken and made no effort to hide their sorrow. Of course, looking happy would have been considered treason.
Only outsiders like Cheong were standing around with bewildered, awkward expressions, wondering whether they should just go home. But Cheong paid it no mind and finally arrived at the Blue Dragon, the greatest chef under heaven’s ultimate culinary restaurant.
However, all her hard work crossing Sichuan had been in vain. The doors were firmly shut.
“What? Are they not open…?”
“Goodness, young lady, please don’t be too disappointed. This small one will inquire for you. These people should be flinging the doors wide open and bowing in greeting, yet they dare—”
“It’s fine. They must have their reasons. There’s no point in causing a nuisance.”
“Aah. Your heart truly is like silk. This Gyeon No is deeply impressed.”
At this point, it was getting hard to tell whose servant he was. Just as Cheong was about to turn around with slumped shoulders—
“Wait, young miss! Aren’t you the guest who came yesterday with that flute-playing—no, with the Understanding Poison Flower?”
“Oh? Greatest Chef Under Heaven?”
“Ah, it really is you. The veil made it hard to tell.”
The person who came running was none other than Baek Chang-ja, the greatest chef under heaven.
“What’s going on? Not open today?”
“It’s because I kept inspecting the ingredients yesterday. In the end, I found the cause. However, it isn’t something that can be easily resolved, so I closed the restaurant entirely.”
“Hmm? This was your restaurant, sir?”
“Not exactly. But if the greatest chef under heaven says he can’t do it, what can a mere restaurant owner do? Flavor is power. If you’re dissatisfied, cook it yourself.”
Being the owner of the most prosperous restaurant in Chengdu while having the greatest chef under heaven on staff made “mere” sound a bit ridiculous. Still, his bold attitude was remarkably consistent.
“Anyway. So? You didn’t grab me just to say hello, right?”
“Ah. That is… I was wondering if you might have some connection with the Tang Clan’s experts.”
“What if I do?”
“If you are acquainted with the Tang Clan’s experts, perhaps this problem can be solved.”
Baek Chang-ja continued with a grave expression.
“The water. The water has gone bad.”