Opening the Inn
Thruk...
As the sword was drawn, its black blade let out a dull, leaden gleam.
Swaaak...
The moment the somber black light flashed, a towering tree tilted sideways and fell.
Craaash...... Thud...!
The great trees came crashing down to the ground with a tremendous clamor.
Once five or six of them had been felled, the view beyond opened up clear and bright.
'A better sword than it looks.'
Jiang Zhou studied the blade with fresh eyes. The color of the steel was as dark and drab as a fire-poker from a stove, yet the edge gave off a chilling, razor-sharp aura.
Whoosh...
Done inspecting it, Jiang Zhou casually tossed the sword down in front of the inn. Then he wrapped both arms around one of the massive logs.
Nnngh...
With a single heave of effort, the huge log rose slowly into the air. He hauled it over in front of the inn, then picked the sword back up.
Swaaaak... Swaaaak...
Each swing of the blade carved the log cleanly into lengths of about two feet.
Just then, Yang Jeong returned from his trip to the village and asked, "Big Brother. What are you doing?"
"Making chairs."
"Chairs only cost a few coins, and you're going to the trouble of felling whole trees..."
Yang Jeong looked dumbfounded, but Jiang Zhou paid him no mind whatsoever.
"They're sturdy and good. And did you buy the strongest liquor they had?"
"Yes, sir. The strongest brew in the village. The brewer's wife even threw in an extra jar for free."
Jiang Zhou stopped mid-swing with the sword and stared hard at his face. There was no such thing as a free lunch in this world — but a handsome man could walk down the street and have free things simply fall into his lap.
"Must be nice, you little punk."
Yang Jeong grinned sheepishly and carried the liquor jar and meat into the kitchen. Having stowed them away, he went and sat down on one of the log chairs. When he turned his gaze from his seat, the world beyond the collapsed fence was laid out plainly before him.
"Big Brother, I think we can open the inn starting tomorrow."
At his words, Jiang Zhou nodded. "Right. Tomorrow's the beginning."
When Jiang Zhou opened his eyes, he stared up at the morning sun rising bright and clear.
Today was the first day.
Other dishes he couldn't speak to, but Dongpo Pork, Pork Noodles, and Chicken Noodles — those he was confident in.
'I hope it goes well...'
He turned his head to find Yang Jeong still deep in his breathing meditation. Slipping quietly to his feet, Jiang Zhou headed for the inn. By the time he had washed the rice, set it in the pot, and begun roasting the meat, Yang Jeong finished his meditation and appeared.
"Do you really think it's fine to leave home abandoned this long? Doesn't your family come looking for you?"
Yang Jeong flashed an insufferably smug smile. "My father says that going out to harvest spirit herbs is several hundred times more valuable than hauling escort cargo. So he doesn't so much as bat an eye when I'm away from home for a long while."
Aigoo......
Jiang Zhou heaved a long sigh and set the Dongpo Pork down on the table. What Yang Jeong had taken home last time was a single root of snow ginseng, aged roughly a thousand years. Selling that alone would have let his whole family live in comfort for a lifetime. And yet the brat, on his way back out to fetch a cart, had gone and dug up hemlock root five or six hundred years old besides.
Given all that, it was obvious his family would keep sending him out the door with open arms.
"You'll have to study properly if you want to inherit the escort agency someday."
Hehe...
"My younger brother's there, so it's fine. He's clever enough — better than me, honestly."
Yang Jeong chuckled and lifted the pot's lid to scoop out the rice. Once the meal was laid out, he raised his chopsticks and went straight for the Dongpo Pork first.
Munch munch...
"Big... Big Brother. It's like... like pigs are frolicking in my mouth. It's so divine that even Master Wu Hua, who ascended to heaven, would remember this Dongpo Pork and come back down to the mortal world. How does pork taste like this..."
Jiang Zhou glared at the chattering Yang Jeong with narrowed eyes. Every single meal, it was the same performance. At first, the lavish praise had pleased him. Now, it did not. Even flattery has its limits — hearing it over and over only made his irritation boil up.
"Can you just eat quietly? Quietly."
"Yes, sir."
"When you're done eating, go out to the road and bring some people in."
The instant the words left Jiang Zhou's mouth, Yang Jeong's eyes flew wide open and he gulped down the Dongpo Pork in his mouth.
"Big... Big Brother. What... what did you just say? Don't tell me... you want me... to solicit customers?!"
Flustered, he couldn't even string his words together properly. But Jiang Zhou only regarded him with a blank expression.
"You can't run a business without customers, can you?"
The man who would make the legendary Pan An and Song Yu weep with envy was none other than this fool. If he became the inn's solicitor, women who'd lost their minds over his face would flock through the door without fail.
At this, Yang Jeong sprang up from his seat and roared in protest. "Big Brother! An inn competes with its cooking, not with faces!"
"You little... Who gave you permission to shout and carry on? Even if we compete with the cooking, we still need customers, don't we?"
When Jiang Zhou's eyes flashed dangerously, Yang Jeong deflated at once. "It's not that, Big Brother. It's just... if I happen to run into someone who knows my face, my father will beat me to death."
"Fine, fine. Just do it for a few days. Once word spreads, customers will pour in on their own — no soliciting needed."
"Understood, Big Brother."
Yang Jeong sat back down with his head hanging low and finished the rest of his meal in silence. Then he trudged out of the inn.
"Work hard."
".....................Yes."
Yang Jeong stood staring blankly down the wide road that led toward the Murim Alliance. It was still early in the morning, so not a single martial artist or guest heading to the Alliance was anywhere in sight.
'I'm not a male courtesan. Selling my face to drag in customers...'
Honestly, there was nothing he couldn't do. The courtesans of pleasure houses did it every day; if he just shut his eyes tight and slapped an iron plate over his dignity, it wasn't that difficult a task.
Just then, a group of elderly martial artists came walking along in the distance. Judging by their fine robes, they looked like elders or noblewomen of some great clan. Yang Jeong shuffled hesitantly toward them.
"Um... if you haven't had breakfast yet, I know a very fine inn I could recommend."
The old martial artists stopped and looked him up and down.
My oh my........
Then they let out a low, collective sigh. They had seen countless handsome young men in their time, but one this striking was a first.
"What a remarkably fine-looking young man. To think such a beautiful boy works as an inn's solicitor... Truly a pity. Such a pity."
The elders wore expressions of deep regret as they resumed their interrupted walk. Yang Jeong watched them pass by, his face burning red.
'Maybe I should just run home?'
But he shook the thought off at once. His father would inspect his hands the moment he stepped through the gate. Every time he'd returned home, he'd brought back precious spirit herbs, so the old man was surely expecting more this time as well.
Shoulders slumped, he rolled his eyes about — and found himself studying the inn. In the distance, beyond the broken fence, he could see the inn's upper pavilion and the gaping hole where the open kitchen had been.
'I'll run off and come back around lunchtime.'
Yang Jeong began slinking away toward the village. And once a bit of distance had opened up, he kicked off his lightness skill.
Whiiisssh..................
Jiang Zhou was trimming dried mushrooms when, feeling a sudden emptiness, he turned his gaze outside the inn.
'Huh? Where did that brat go?'
Whoosh...
He darted out of the inn in a flash, but Yang Jeong was nowhere to be found.
"That little..."
Jiang Zhou ground his teeth. The rat had fled. Told to solicit customers, he'd found the idea so distasteful that he'd simply run away.
"Just you wait till you come back."
After fuming for a good long while, Jiang Zhou returned to the inn. His heart wanted nothing more than to catch the brat and beat him senseless, but there was too much work to do.
Back at the inn, Jiang Zhou picked up an old basket and headed into the forest. The one blessing was that the whole area was surrounded by woods. A forest always had edible greens — wild herbs that his ascended Master Wu Hua had loved, but that Jiang Zhou loved too. The forest was far vaster than it looked, and the greens were plentiful.
By the time he'd gathered a full basketful and returned to the inn, Yang Jeong was hammering away at something with great industry. And beside him, some twenty live chickens were lined up, tethered to a rope.
Tap tap....... Tap tap........
The moment Yang Jeong spotted Jiang Zhou, he scrambled to his feet. Hehe...
"Big Brother, I bought some chickens from the village. If we raise them at the inn, we'll have eggs and meat besides."
His mouth was grinning away, but his eyes were trembling violently.
"Today, one of us dies."
Whoosh...........
The instant Jiang Zhou raised his voice, Yang Jeong flicked a stone out with practiced speed. But this time, things did not go his way.
Ping...!
The stone, flying faster than sight, cracked squarely against Yang Jeong's thigh.
Aw no........!
As he collapsed shrieking, Jiang Zhou's own stone was already in motion. Whoosh........ Closing the distance in a single breath, Jiang Zhou stomped down on Yang Jeong as the boy scrambled desperately to get up.
Wham...! Wham! Whamwham...!
"Aigo, Big Brother, spare me! Please, forgive me just this once!"
He clung to Jiang Zhou's leg, wailing. "You're worse than a bandit, you're worse than a bandit!"
When the melee finally ended, Yang Jeong lay sprawled on the ground, letting out thin, pitiful moans.
Uuuuugh... Nnngh............
"Stop milking it, you brat."
"It really...... hurts so much I could die, Big Brother."
Jiang Zhou left him there moaning and went back inside the inn.
Tak..! Tak....!
By the time Jiang Zhou had begun pounding the noodle dough, Yang Jeong reappeared, his face mottled with dark bruises.
"Big Brother...... give me any other job. Anything but a solicitor — I absolutely cannot do it."
Hearing his whimpering, Jiang Zhou's heart softened. After all, the inn was entirely his own stubborn dream, and the brat was only helping out because he was fond of him.
"Fine. Go build the chicken coop."
Truthfully, Jiang Zhou got bored when Yang Jeong was gone. Even back when he was with his master, the days Yang Jeong came to visit had somehow felt brighter.
At Jiang Zhou's concession, Yang Jeong recovered his smile as if he'd never been moping at all. Hehe...
"Thank you, Big Brother."
"When you finish the coop, go home and bring back one root of snow ginseng, one root of hemlock root, and ten drops of gongsun stone oil."
Yang Jeong's eyes went wide. "What are you going to use those for?"
"The liquor jars are running dry, aren't they? I have to steep more. Hurry back."
Yang Jeong seized on the errand with delight. "Big Brother, might I stop by my family home for just a moment on the way?"
"You. You're planning to sneak off and dig up spirit herbs again, aren't you?"
Ahahahaha............
Yang Jeong laughed awkwardly. But somehow, that sly little streak of his wasn't so hateful to watch.
"Dig up ones around a hundred years old, no more."
"Yes, Big Brother. Thank you."
Jiang Zhou stared down at the boy as he bowed his head in a deep bow. That fool was almost certainly going to dig up ones aged two or three hundred years instead of a hundred.
"I'm going to check. Later. For certain."
"Have no fear."
Three days had already passed since Yang Jeong left.
And in those three days, not a single customer had come.
Shaaaaa........
When the rain began to fall, Jiang Zhou surrendered entirely — let the heavens do as they pleased. It wasn't a downpour heavy enough to blind the eyes, but the rain came down in strong, steady sheets.
"Do whatever you want, do whatever you want."
Rain kept people indoors, and not even a lone traveler passed along the road.
'So the heavens really have decided to kill me, haven't they.'
Jiang Zhou, sitting there with a hollow look on his face, jabbed his finger at the rain-dumping sky.
"Are even the heavens determined to torment your disciple like this? Isn't this going too far, Master?!"
He vented his fury at length, but the sheets of rain showed no sign of slackening.
"Gah...!"
Sulking, Jiang Zhou slumped down and picked up the dried mushrooms he'd set to one side. Then he began slowly trimming the greens.
"What am I supposed to live on if the inn goes under?"
Even without customers, he could still hold out for a while. The wealth he'd reaped from executing Buk Yeomra was still sitting there.
'Maybe I should just go out into the jianghu and make a living hunting down bandits?'
Lost in these idle thoughts, Jiang Zhou soon shook his head.
'Come on. Just one customer. Just one.'