Chapter 7
Chapter 7
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: The Playboy Sticks Around Too Well! (3)
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Before Yin Xia Lian could even finish saying that if I had nowhere to go, I should rely on the Silver Radiance Merchant Group, I cut her off with, "I have things to do and places to go," blocking her words.
I continued.
"But why did you assume I have nowhere to rely on?"
"……."
At my words, Yin Xia Lian—who had called me Silver Hero while investigating me behind my back—instantly clamped her mouth shut.
Watching her, I barely suppressed a smirk that threatened to escape.
'She must have lightly checked my background.'
It was a natural precaution, all things considered.
'Yin Piao-du's solo coverage of Jinreung was just too lax.'
The fact that I possessed the genuine family badge of the Pearl Eon Family.
And with her caravan struggling for manpower, the promised meeting with the judge at Shangju Mansion growing perilously tight on time—that laxness had probably encouraged it.
Well, whatever.
Time was pressing, and since Yin Xia Lian coveted me, if word spread that "Thousand Gold Smile investigated some guy named Eon Yong-un," it would ruin her shot at an exclusive talent she wanted to keep to herself.
'She wouldn't have dug too noisily.'
Yin Xia Lian had likely just skimmed the martial world trend reports that her branch offices routinely compiled and sent to headquarters—the ones covering Hubei, where the Pearl Eon Family was located.
'Since the caravan passed through Jin-gang-bu midway, even info-savvy spots in Southern Jiang would have picked up the rumor that the Eon Family playboy got kicked out.'
Basing it on that, she applied the murim principle that true experts don't just drop from the sky.
And pegged me as that very kicked-out playboy from the Eon Family.
'In truth, I'm not the type of expert she's imagining right now.'
Anyway, her skimming my background like that posed no harm to me.
'So it's not incomprehensible.'
But I'd play dumb anyway.
Pretend not to know and paint her as the shameless one.
"Did you investigate my background?"
"……."
"Is this how they treat a Silver Hero in Southern Jiang? Ah, as you know, this is my first time leaving Hubei, so I'm a bit in the dark about out-of-region customs."
The hilt was in my hand, after all.
Might as well use it to rack up some mental debt with Yin Xia Lian, who would soon grip Southern Jiang's commerce in one hand.
'Since we're tied by the connection of me saving her life, she can't just pretend it never happened.'
In that case, I needed to lay a solid foundation to milk her for favors down the line.
'And playing it this way lets me subtly bury the fact that I hid my disownment from the family registry when applying as a guest escort.'
Smirking inwardly like that, I first counted the dull yellow gold ingots inside the chest she had presented.
'Two-four-six-eight rows. Two-four-six-eight rows.'
Twenty gold wonbo?
Yin Xia Lian had opened the chest of gold wonbo and said it was her showing "a bit" of sincerity.
But the number of dull yellow gold wonbo inside made "a bit" of sincerity sound like an understatement.
'Twenty wonbo.'
In gold nyang, that's a thousand.
Gold nyang being ultra-high denomination, converted to the widely used silver nyang, it's a whopping twenty thousand.
'In this world's setting, an average commoner adult male's yearly living expenses are about two silver nyang, as I recall...'
Which means the amount Yin Xia Lian handed me could sustain the protagonist of a classic Journey to the West movie through that recited "ten thousand years" of love's shelf life and beyond.
I had told Yin Piao-du to express gratitude with gold wonbo if thankful, but this was two or three times more than I'd anticipated.
In this world's merchant world, Yin Xia Lian was genuinely top-three material.
Her calculations wouldn't be as naive as mine, just some novel-obsessed guy deep into the original story.
'So there must be another motive behind her sincerity.'
She threw big to tempt me into signing on.
'Feels like advancing the signing bonus?'
It wasn't incomprehensible.
In the report she'd read, I was marked as kicked out of the family for the crime of article annihilation command, homeless, indulging in wine, women, and gambling.
'So if Southern Jiang's top beauty casually shells out this much?'
A roofless wretch named "Eon Yong-un" would surely bite and become her man, or so she'd calculated.
'My un-aristocratic money-grubbing display probably fueled that misconception too.'
If she could make me hers that way, she'd deem this long-term investment worthwhile.
'Grateful she rates me higher than public opinion.'
But she was still off the mark.
Alright, then.
Here's the question.
What if I just swallowed the twenty gold wonbo and bolted?
I firmly pulled the chest she'd shown toward me, closed the lid,
and said in a dry voice as I rose from the chair,
"I'll gratefully accept it."
"If there's nothing more to say, may I take my leave?"
At that, undisguised panic filled Yin Xia Lian's pupils, and soon a frantic voice burst out.
"...Mo-more to say... Ah! The favor! Didn't I say I'd grant you a favor?!"
At her tone, I paused, settling my buttocks back onto the chair.
"Ah. Right, we did."
"Yes! We did!"
An awkward smile formed on Yin Xia Lian's face.
Thousand Gold Smile.
They say it takes a thousand gold to earn her smile.
If even an awkward one was worth the same, I'd just witnessed a thousand-gold smile.
Ah.
Come to think of it, the chest in my arms was worth exactly a thousand gold?
'Thousand-gold smile, indeed.'
Bonus one pops out when you open it!
In truth, I'd never planned to just gobble the gold wonbo and run from the start.
'Why lug around this heavy baggage when Yin Xia Lian, a skyrocketing coin, is right in front of me.'
To pinpoint the First Heavenly Demon's tomb, I'd need to spend a bit of coin.
But Mother's silver wonbo would more than suffice.
Even figuring very generously for living expenses until entering the Righteous Martial Academy next year, one gold wonbo would multiply like mad.
So from the moment Yin Xia Lian showed me the chest of gold wonbo, I'd planned to reinvest it all back into her.
'True creation economy, the kind everyone was chasing!'
But humans are cunning creatures.
Tell someone you're investing their own offered gold back into them, and they're liable not to appreciate it.
'Worse, they might think, "It's my money anyway, why take credit?"'
In my past life, I'd lent money to a fellow hunter, he paid back ages later, I bought him a meal that day—and he reacted just like that.
Thus, to ensure Yin Xia Lian harbored no such thoughts, I'd painted her as the shameless gold-digger and acted like I was about to eat and dash.
'Judging by her expression.'
It had landed perfectly.
Pretending calm as she sipped her tea, but I could tell her brain was in overdrive on how to persuade me.
No wonder—for current Yin Xia Lian, a thousand gold was no small sum.
Dozens, hundreds more than this chest rose and fell along the Yangtze at her gesture or step.
'But strictly speaking, that's Silver Radiance Merchant Group money, not hers.'
Plus, to claim the vice-chair of Silver Radiance, she'd poured her private funds into businesses and retained many guests under her.
Factor in losses from this caravan crisis, compensations to other escorts and caravan servants excluding me?
'The thousand gold she offered me is basically every spare private coin she scraped together.'
Alright, then—time to return the fleeced money under the name of investment?
I tapped the round table between us and her with my fingers for a moment, then casually pushed the chest in my other hand toward her and spoke.
"Hmm. Let's call this an investment in the little madam."
"Kek... kehk...?"
Evidently never expecting such a proposal, Yin Xia Lian choked on her tea mid-sip.
She quickly covered her face with her sleeve, steadied her breathing, and opened her mouth.
"I-investment, you say?"
"That's right. Little Madam, your funds aren't in great shape, are they?"
"...N-no, they're not?!"
"No toughing it out. You'll cover these losses from your own pocket, and you have to share compensations with the other caravan members too, right?"
"……."
"Anyway, I plan to hole up quietly and prepare for next year's Righteous Martial Academy exam, so I don't need this much cash right now. And I don't know the first thing about turning money over."
"...If that's the reason, there are plenty of other merchants besides me?"
Plenty, sure.
But finding someone who'd ethically invest a disowned scion's coin? Tough.
I couldn't recall any merchant mooning quite like Yin Xia Lian.
But no need to spell out my thoughts.
"Not borrowing—giving it outright. Do I need to explain at length? Ah, one thing we settle clearly."
"...What?"
"I'm investing in Yin Xia Lian, not Silver Radiance Merchant Group. You take responsibility, multiply it, and return it later."
"……???"
Hmm.
If a smile costs a thousand gold, how much for that dumbfounded look on Yin Xia Lian's face right now?
Having wrapped up the aftermath of the Northern Deer Bandit Lair incident, business at Shangju Mansion, and the fuss at the Shandong branch office cleanly, Yin Xia Lian returned to Hui Prefecture.
And formally reported to her father—the Southern Jiang Merchant King Eun Se-pyeong, master of Silver Radiance Merchant Group—on the outcomes of matters she'd sent via homing pigeons and the progress of ongoing ventures.
No questions like "Are you alright after brushing death and your life's worst failure?"
The Southern Jiang Merchant King merely tossed a few account queries, clicked his tongue with a "Tsk," and ended with his usual curt words.
"Good work."
For one aiming at the pinnacle of Southern Jiang—and ultimately the world's—commerce, such setbacks and threats were par for the course; failing to handle them meant unworthy of the merchant king's dragon blood, no doubt.
Having chased after such a father since she could remember and plunged into the merchant world, she knew his temperament well.
Yet today, for some reason, it felt just a tad harsh.
She'd truly nearly died.
And with it, everything she'd built nearly gone up in smoke.
Even now, some time later, the dizzying ordeal still haunted her dreams.
Harboring that faint resentment as she left the hall, Yin Xia Lian suddenly recalled a certain man entangled in this caravan.
The man whose name she'd deliberately omitted from all reports, lest someone else spot his value.
'Eon Yong-un.'
...What in me did he trust to so readily entrust a thousand gold?
This caravan had even drawn a tongue-click from her own father.
Watching it unfold beside her, Eon Yong-un must have seen her as all the more pathetic.
'I'd made one foolish choice after another right in front of him.'
Thus, she'd been rebuked by him multiple times at Northern Deer Mountain.
At the Shangju branch, desperate to recruit him, she'd rushed and nearly lost her entire stake—not to mention writing her life's blackest history, stuttering unbecomingly for a thousand gold nyang despite her fame as the Southern Jiang Merchant King's daughter.
'If I'd been Young Master Eon...'
I'd have cut ties, deeming her a nepotistic hanger-on.
Yet Eon Yong-un had entrusted her with a thousand gold.
Even seeing through her not-so-great finances, contrary to public knowledge.
'...What if it all went up in smoke again, like at Northern Deer Pass.'
Disowned from his family, he must be desperate for his next meal.
Yin Xia Lian thought.
Maybe Eon Yong-un was one of those true heroes she'd only heard of in tales.
'But a stamped playboy, kicked from his family?'
His mouth was a bit rough, and he had a pushy air.
But no matter how she turned it, Eon Yong-un seemed closer to hero than scum.
If he was a playboy, then what did that make her, who'd owed him time and again?
"Are the Eon Family's standards insanely harsh?"
Otherwise, some hidden circumstance.
Anyway.
No time to mope.
Eon Yong-un said he'd take next year's Righteous Martial Academy entrance exam.
The academy offered natural connections with the next-gen talents leading righteous murim's future—a merit that had her vaguely planning to take it someday too.
But that vague plan now advanced in her mind.
Thus, no time to dawdle.
To show him a different side and rebuild ties, their second meeting had to differ.
Yin Xia Lian swung her horsewhip and hurried toward Radiant Prosperity Hall.
"Well, this should do it."
Invested Yin Xia Lian's money back into Yin Xia Lian—establishing the miracle creation economy where she does the work and I reap the gains.
Casually hinted at the Righteous Martial Academy just in case.
'She, dreaming of world's top merchant, won't pass up a networking spot with righteous murim's future leaders.'
Anyway, paved the way for her to follow the original story's path as closely as possible.
'Can't turn your investment into a favor.'
'Hmm. No favor comes to mind now.'
'Then take this token of debt. Call it in anytime.'
Secured the debt token to draw unconditional support from Silver Radiance anytime.
'Ah, by the way, could you procure some herbs? Thought of buying in Shangju, but figured Silver Radiance might handle them. I'll pay.'
'What kind?'
'Cinnabar and opium poppy. Ah, does this count as the favor?'
'...No. Keep the token. Cinnabar and opium... I can provide immediately, but wherever for? Got a leprosy acquaintance?'
'None of your business.'
'...Ugh. Another... escort.'
'Pardon? What was that?'
'Nothing. I'll provide them.'
Got the herbs needed to pinpoint the First Heavenly Demon's tomb.
Tricky stuff; planned to pay a premium out-of-pocket, but she gave them free.
"Lucky."
Wrapping up my first meeting with Yin Xia Lian like that, I headed south alone, south.
Arriving at the vast lake Taeho at the southern edge of Shangju Mansion in Namjikyesong.
"Already smells like fateful encounter."
Wonder if it's because the First Heavenly Demon's tomb slumbers here?
The air around feels oddly sweet.