Joys and Sorrows
"Caravan Master, judging by the flag, it looks like a new inn has opened in that forest."
"So it does. Since we set out before dawn, let's eat breakfast there before entering the Murim Alliance."
At the caravan master's decision, the merchants halted their horses and carts along the roadside.
What's going on here?
Jiang Zhou and Yang Jeong hurried outside. Even by a rough count, there were more than twenty merchants from the upper caravan.
"Big Brother, it seems business is finally picking up."
"About time customers started flooding in."
Jiang Zhou's chest swelled with anticipation. As the merchants crossed the Stone Bridge, he bowed quickly at the waist.
"Welcome, most honored guests."
"We're thinking of having a simple bowl of noodles each before moving on."
The caravan master spoke on behalf of the group, and Jiang Zhou inclined his head.
"I'll prepare you something absolutely delicious."
"We're short on time, so make it quick."
"Of course. Please, take your seats right away."
The merchants filed into the inn and gathered at tables in twos and threes. Jiang Zhou was about to head into the kitchen when, on the off chance, he spoke up.
"At this inn, a bowl of noodles costs one silver tael. Will that be all right?"
The color drained from every seated merchant's face at once.
"Did you just say... one silver tael?"
"Yes. In exchange, it's incredibly delicious."
His words never reached their ears. Red-faced, the merchants all rose from their seats.
"Delicious or not, that's outrageous— one silver tael for a bowl of noodles? Did you pull the noodles out of gold dust?"
Aigoo...
"What a waste of a stop. Let's just go."
"One silver tael for a bowl of noodles? There's never been a bigger swindler under heaven, I swear."
Jiang Zhou and Yang Jeong stared blankly at the merchants' retreating backs as they crossed the Stone Bridge. Once the last of them had gone, Yang Jeong spoke up.
"Big Brother, didn't I tell you from the start that one silver tael was too expensive?"
Jiang Zhou knew perfectly well that his prices were steep. But he had no intention of backing down.
"Shut up, you brat. Go finish fixing the stable."
* * *
"Stubborn as an ox, like I keep saying."
Yang Jeong grumbled his way into the kitchen. He wanted to knock back a drink before starting any work — and there, in the corner of the kitchen, sat a martial arts manual.
"Big Brother, why is this in here?"
It was the manual the Demonic Cult leader had left on the table. When the man departed, Yang Jeong had noticed the manual was missing from the tabletop and assumed he'd taken it with him.
"It had fallen under the table."
Taking Jiang Zhou's answer with a grain of salt, Yang Jeong began examining the manual — and found no annotations in it at all.
"What is this? A pretty peach with no pit inside."
He tossed the manual back into the corner. Martial manuals were written in such dense, archaic language that deciphering them was genuinely difficult. The same manual interpreted by different people could yield entirely different martial arts. Yang Jeong knew how to interpret one, but it would take months of tedious work, and he loathed tedium.
Besides, he had already carried the Moonlight Sword Manual home for his clan. He had no appetite to covet this one as well.
Mmm...
"Fine, then. Big Brother, I'll go work on the stable."
Two drinks in, he grabbed a hammer and left the kitchen. The moment he was gone, Jiang Zhou picked up the manual from the corner.
An extraordinary sword art.
The Moonlight Sword Manual had been impressive, but the Purple Heaven Red Demonic Sword Manual was a cut above it.
If the Demonic Cult leader can just toss this away like it's nothing, that means they have even stronger arts in abundance.
Just how strong were the Cult leader's and the Alliance Leader's martial arts, then? His master had spent years boasting, until his mouth went dry, that his own skills were the greatest under heaven. Yet reading through this manual, that claim seemed rather doubtful.
Yeah. Master really was full of it.
* * *
"Take these eight banknotes to that man."
Baek Won-young couldn't help but stare at the notes his father handed over. Eight notes of a thousand taels each — eight thousand silver taels in all.
"Father, may I ask what business requires delivering this much silver to the inn?"
"It's payment for the liquor."
Just how much did he drink for the bar tab to come to eight thousand taels?
When Baek Won-young's face twisted in bewilderment, Baek Mun-do wore a look of deep satisfaction.
"It was worth every tael. Think of it that way."
"I... I understand, Father."
Baek Won-young tucked the notes into his robes.
"How goes your Upper Dantian?"
"Still far from adequate, Father."
Two years ago, he had achieved a great enlightenment and opened his Upper Dantian. To reach that realm at so young an age made him worthy of being called the finest late-blooming prodigy under heaven — but the opening was incomplete, and even now he could only draw upon his Middle and Lower Dantians.
"You should have been the one to drink that liquor, and yet somehow I ended up drinking it instead."
His heart ached to drag his son straight to that inn and strong-arm the man into serving him the wine. But that stubborn innkeeper was hardly the type to hand it over willingly, and Baek Mun-do had no desire to behave like some common street thug.
"What do you mean, Father?"
"Nothing. Fate didn't grant it, so there's nothing to be done."
Baek Won-young asked no more.
"I understand, Father. I'll take my leave now."
"Have the silver delivered by the end of the day. If you're late, that man will curse me as a swindler for certain."
"Yes, Father. I'll go this evening."
* * *
"Alliance Leader, how could you do this to this old man?"
After Baek Won-young had left, Sin Pung-gae stormed into the Alliance Leader's chamber.
"What do you mean, Sect Leader?"
Baek Mun-do was utterly bewildered. He had treated the man to delicious food and liquor — what could have put him in such a rage?
"Do you know where this old man spent the night? In the grass."
Hahahaha...
Sin Pung-gae seethed, but Baek Mun-do burst out laughing. The master of that inn truly was not one to be trifled with. An inn, of all places — and it had turned away the very leader of the Beggars' Sect to sleep outside.
"Shouldn't you be raising that grievance with the fellow himself, rather than me?"
Sin Pung-gae, who had been fuming to the tips of his hair, suddenly deflated.
"You're right about that, Alliance Leader, but... this old man is in no position to show his face there."
The Alliance Leader could only tilt his head.
"Isn't the heir you've been hunting high and low right there? Don't tell me you've given up on the Beggars' Sect's successor?"
"Give him up? Never. But the Beggars' Sect committed an unforgivable wrong against that innkeeper, and we cannot face him."
"What wrong could be so terrible?"
Sin Pung-gae had no wish to air the Beggars' Sector's dirty laundry before the Alliance Leader. But if he wanted the man's help, there was no other way. He opened his mouth and began to lay out the past.
"The truth is... long ago, in Hebei, some of our beggars did something utterly vile... and I believe that child may be the very master of that inn."
Hooo...
A long sigh escaped Baek Mun-do's lips as he listened.
So that's why his character is so hardened. After enduring something like that from childhood, he could hardly have turned out otherwise.
Baek Mun-do, too, had routed countless bands of bandits during his years roaming the rivers and lakes. And when you wiped out bandit dens, there were times you came face to face with the children held captive inside them. Those children looked less like human sons and daughters than like beasts — no, worse than beasts. Most horrifying of all, there had been no shortage of bandits who preyed upon those very children.
"How should I go about mending this?"
Sin Pung-gae was desperate. He had found a successor as fine as any in the world, and because of those wretched beggars, it seemed he might not even be able to speak to the man.
"What became of those beggars?"
"This old man cut off their heads personally."
"You killed them outright? You should have beaten them to death with your cudgel instead."
Deflated as he was, Sin Pung-gae lifted his head and stared hard at Baek Mun-do.
"Are you fanning the flames of a house already burning?"
Haha...
"I had no other choice, I tell you."
Whew...
"Wretched bastards, the lot of them."
Letting out a long sigh, Sin Pung-gae rose and left the chamber.
* * *
Kkkkk...
Kekekeke...
The laughter of children at play carried all the way to the inn. The village children had been playing without any sense of the hour, and it seemed their wandering had brought them here. Jiang Zhou trimmed a cut of pork to the sound of their laughter. A faint thread of internal energy whirled along his palm and seeped into the meat.
"Huh? An inn!"
"Don't go in there. They charge a whole tael of silver!"
"We're just looking. What's the harm?"
"Still, don't go in. They might make you hand over your silver."
Jiang Zhou sighed at their chatter.
Haah...
Even the little rascals of the village knew about it now — apparently there wasn't a single soul left who hadn't heard of his inn. The children's voices gradually faded into the distance, and Jiang Zhou washed a batch of rice and set it in the pot. Lunchtime was fast approaching, and Yang Jeong would come running breathless any minute, complaining he was starving.
Just as predicted, Yang Jeong burst in shortly after. But he was not alone. He had brought four grubby-faced children, one of whom carried a dead snake in his hand.
"What are those kids?"
"They snuck into the forest to play, so I brought them back to send them home."
Jiang Zhou stared hard at the limp snake. It was a venomous one.
"What's the snake for?"
At his question, the child glanced nervously about before answering.
"...We were going to roast it and eat it."
Another child chimed in.
"It's really tasty roasted."
Jiang Zhou smiled.
"Have some rice before you go."
The children's eyes went perfectly round.
"But this place... they say it costs one silver tael."
"We don't have any silver."
Hahahaha!
At their replies, Jiang Zhou laughed out loud.
"Just for today, it's on the house. Eat up."
He spooned rice into large bowls, ladled generous portions of Dongpo pork alongside, and set the table. The children, who had been hanging back shyly, gathered around it one by one, picked up their chopsticks, and began shoveling down the rice.
Whoa...
"This is so good, mister!"
"I've never eaten anything this delicious in my whole life!"
Rice grains flew everywhere as the children chattered between mouthfuls. Watching them fondly, Yang Jeong took a seat at another table.
"Big Brother, rice for me too, please."
Thwack! Thwack!
Jiang Zhou pounded dough against the cutting board as he spoke.
"Wait a little longer."
It seemed the entire pot of rice was destined for the children.
"I'm starving to death, Big Brother."
"I said wait, you brat."
* * *
Baek Won-young led a black horse out of the Murim Alliance — and Yeon Ja-seol immediately fell in beside him.
"You're going to the inn, aren't you, Senior Brother?"
"Ah... that's right. You want to come too, Junior Sister?"
"Yes. Today, it's my treat."
Hahaha...
"Well, looks like I'm getting a free meal out of nowhere."
While he was still smiling, Baek Ha-young — where had she come from? — appeared at his side as well.
"I'm coming too, Brother."
She shot Yeon Ja-seol a distinctly displeased glare, but Ja-seol pretended not to see it and looked straight ahead.
"So even Ha-young has fallen for that inn's cooking, has she?"
"Yes, it really is delicious. But why are you bringing the horse?"
At Baek Ha-young's question, Baek Won-young flushed faintly. Had he known both his junior sister and his younger sister would be coming along, he would never have led the animal out.
"Nothing of the sort."
They made their way at a leisurely pace toward the inn. As they walked, Baek Won-young stole a glance at Ja-seol's face. For some reason, she seemed wound tight with tension, and he took it in stride.
Already excited for the food, is she?
Smiling to himself, Baek Won-young kept walking. As the inn drew near, a faint glow became visible leaking from deep within the forest.
"Come on, Big Brother, just let me have one drink!"
"You little punk... shut your mouth and eat your rice...!"
Then the voices of the two brothers drifted faintly toward them. Baek Won-young burst out laughing and hurried across the Stone Bridge.
Hahaha...
"We're back again."
Before his laughter had even died away, Jiang Zhou emerged to greet them.
"Welcome."
Baek Ha-young stepped inside, looked at Jiang Zhou's face — and turned her head toward the table. The moment she did, her eyes went perfectly round.