135. Shanxi (5)
Shanxi (5)
135. Shanxi (5)
When we left the Wine Immortal Sect, I had hoarded the wine those kind-hearted old gentlemen packed for us, drinking it in tiny sips—and now the very last drop had finally fallen onto my tongue. No matter how much I shook the bottle, only the ghost of the fragrance remained; the bottle was completely empty. The really ridiculous thing about me was, back in the Wine Immortal Sect's alcohol hell I'd thought I wouldn't want to even think about liquor for a long while—but that notion had vanished completely in just a few days.
It was exactly how, during those school retreat endurance drills, or night sentry duty in the military, I would vow that the moment I got home I would truly be good to my parents, and then the instant I returned to everyday life, I forgot every last one of those resolutions like someone with amnesia.
"Is it really that delicious?"
Lee Eun-ha asked, looking a little baffled as she watched me tipping the bottle upside-down over my open mouth, shaking it furiously on the off chance that just one more drop might still be clinging to the wall.
"It is far and away the best wine I have ever tasted. I never saw anything of this caliber even at Murong Clan or Seungdeok Estate. Well, there might be wine like this hidden away in the Murong or Peng Clan treasure vaults, but they never served it to me."
At my words, absolutely drenched in regret, Lee Eun-ha smiled warmly.
"Junior Brother, you truly are an impressive man, greater and stronger than anyone under heaven, but sometimes you look incredibly adorable."
Being called adorable by a younger woman. Come to think of it, not just by a younger woman—this might be the first time I'd heard it in this entire life. My childhood at Baek Clan Estate had been that of a little old man. I'd been told I was bright, but never adorable. Well, physically I was a hairless little brat, but the contents were a man past thirty, so being called adorable would have only been awkward anyway.
"Are all men like that? Sometimes you do tremendous things as if they were nothing, and then other times, watching you obsess over something this small, you seem younger than Junior Sister Cho. Did that offend you?"
"Not in the slightest. You are my Senior Sister, literally. Who could fault a Senior Sister for doting on her Junior Brother?"
Lee Eun-ha let out a soft laugh at that. As I'd always thought, this woman was truly captivating when she smiled. Jeong-hyang was most alluring when her eyes shone with affection, Son Yeong when she was focused on martial arts, but Lee Eun-ha was most beautiful in moments like this, when she laughed openly.
"Don't be too disappointed. You did bring back the Wine Immortal Scripture, Junior Brother. I'll brew some for you once we return to Yeongsan. Master was absolutely delighted too—she said she'd never encountered brewing methods like these before."
"If you manage to brew that, Senior Sister, you will be both the Medicine Immortal of our age and a Wine Immortal."
"That doesn't sound bad. Actually, I am a disciple of the Daoist sect too, but I've had no connection to Daoist studies all this time. If I carry on the Wine Immortal Sect's secret tradition of pursuing the Way through brewing, I might not be so ashamed to bear the name of our Daoist sect after all. Someday, when I take on disciples of my own, I intend to have any child without talent for martial studies master the Shennong Art, the Medicine Immortal's pharmacology, and my own cooking methods—alongside the Wine Immortal Scripture."
Lee Eun-ha spoke softly, her face brimming with a pride unlike the past. In the Martial World, strength was everything, but strength was never only martial force. At the center of the events at the Peng Clan, she had stood beside me. Even if I had been alone, Yeongsan Sect would likely have won, but without the Medicinal Pills she had used to treat Peng Seok, the Peng Clan elders, and the Peng Clan warriors, a clean reconciliation like the one we achieved would have been utterly impossible.
And then there was the enormous sum we had extracted from the Peng Clan. That astronomical six hundred taels of gold was money we could never have earned without her. The Peng Clan Head and elders regarded Son Yeong as merely a talented young woman worth keeping an eye on, but the name of the Medicine Immortal was something they would now never be able to forget.
Once she gained confidence and stability, she stopped worrying only about the next bowl of rice and began calmly planning for Yeongsan Sect's distant future, even for the generations after us. It was precisely the future the sect needed. No matter how martial the organization, people living together required someone to perform the thankless work. Usually, those duties fell—willingly or not—to disciples of low status or little martial talent. But no disciple assigned to the Medicine Immortal Hall would be looked down upon. It was not a servants' kitchen that merely cooked meals; it handled the sect's secret elixirs.
"It's a quiet region. It feels just like Yeongsan."
Lee Eun-ha spoke with nostalgia, gazing out at the garden blanketed in pristine snow.
"It does. Now that I think about it, this is the first truly tranquil place we've been since this journey into the Martial World began."
"You must be bored, Junior Brother. You're from Jilin, so snow scenes must feel tedious to you by now, and you've run out of that fine wine. Since we've decided to stay here until the snow stops, how about visiting a pleasure house?"
Lee Eun-ha asked, a hint of mischief in her voice as she slipped the suggestion in.
"It's the Spring Festival, when the entire family gathers. Beijing might be different, but what pleasure house in a village like this would open for business from the first day of the year?"
"Well, that's true. Then how about enjoying yourself here, as you did at Red Flower Pavilion? Sit Senior Sister Jeong beside you to pour your wine, order Senior Sister Son to dance naked, and I'll sing with accompaniment."
Lee Eun-ha joked cheerfully—apparently her Red Flower Pavilion experience hadn't been entirely unpleasant. It did sound rather delightful, but it was out of the question at the moment. For one thing, we were a party traveling with a child.
"We don't have any wine, do we?"
"The inns should be opening back up around now. Would you like to visit our village with me?"
Cho-ryeong seemed to have gone off to fly kites with the village children, and Master had said she would tour a nearby Daoist temple that was closed and offer prayers there. Jeong-hyang hadn't been enthusiastic, but since she had participated in the New Year Rite ceremony as a Daoist the day before, she had been told to conduct herself like a proper Daoist from now on and had no choice but to follow Master. And Son Yeong, having drunk her fill of moonlight the night before, was still taking a nap.
I almost never traveled anywhere alone with Lee Eun-ha, so her suggestion that we go into the village together sounded wonderfully fresh. I lived with her every day, but this felt somehow like a date, and my heart even fluttered a little. After asking me to wait a moment, Lee Eun-ha returned beautifully dressed. She had lived in poverty, but while working as a maid in a great household, she had become thoroughly accustomed to dressing the young ladies she served. Among the women of Yeongsan Sect, she knew best how to present herself.
On top of that, she had learned the art of makeup at Red Flower Pavilion, which was like adding wings to a tiger—and even though I saw her face every day, she made me feel just a little sheepish. Her Formal Martial Attire was a soft violet, the color of a rabbit-ear iris, matched perfectly with a slightly ornate hair ornament. That had been a bribe from the Liaoning Branch Head, hadn't it? In truth, her figure was so striking, and Jeong-hyang was always beside her, so it was easy to overlook—but even judged by her face alone, Lee Eun-ha was a considerable beauty.
If I were a truly cool man, I should have lightly complimented her appearance at that moment, but seized by a slightly awkward feeling, I ended up blurting out something completely random instead.
"What about the Medicine Immortal?"
Behind her back, the trademark iron rice paddle and enormous pot were missing. She had obviously left them behind because she wanted to dress prettily, obvious even to a fool, and yet I'd gone and said something idiotic.
"Going on an outing alone with you, Junior Brother, made me feel a little shy, so I had a good talk with Master and asked her to let me leave her here to rest. You should let the elders rest here too and come away."
Even at my stupid blunder, Lee Eun-ha smiled at me kindly. It was truly strange. Master, who was seven years my senior, looked incredibly adorable to me—but Lee Eun-ha, three years my junior, sometimes seemed almost like an older sister. Ever since I had acquired the four heroes, I had not once let them leave my body except when I slept, but now that I thought about it, I was a first-rate Master now. Jilin had possessed no first-rate Masters at all, and even in Liaoning there had only been the Murong Clan. Hebei was the capital region, so I had certainly met several Peng Clan first-rate Masters there—but in truth, a first-rate Master in the Martial World was not someone who needed to fear others. At the very least, it meant there was absolutely no need to wear five swords just to go on a date in a little village like this.
Besides, she had just called it an outing for just the two of us. She was telling me that even if they were spirits inside swords, she did not want our date interrupted. Following her lead, I too asked for the four heroes' understanding, then left every sword in the room, straightened my attire, and set out from the manor with Lee Eun-ha. It had been a very long time since I had stepped out this lightly.
"I hope there's pheasant at the market today. In Joseon, when the new year comes, we boil clear broth with pheasant meat."
She began cheerfully, starting with light domestic talk. White broth? Was she talking about tteokguk?
"If there's no pheasant, we use chicken instead."
"Ah, in Joseon we have a saying just like that. Using a chicken in place of a pheasant."
Lee Eun-ha avoided bringing up stories of Joseon whenever she could. She had entered Yeongsan Sect as a child, but having known the world's harshness better than anyone, and unlike the other women, she understood precisely the reality of being a female disciple of Yeongsan Sect. Yet the reason she had willingly entered Yeongsan Sect regardless was that outside of it, things had been far more cruel to her. The contempt and suffering she had endured as a foreigner. It was the same suffering that the 13th-century Medicine Immortal, or a 21st-century foreign worker, always experienced.
That was why she avoided telling stories of Joseon as much as she could—but sometimes, only in front of me, she would reminisce fondly about her homeland. Perhaps it was because I respected Joseon's culture and understood the language of Joseon, which made me feel to her like someone from her hometown. Although in truth, I had lived in the Republic of Korea—I had never even been to Joseon.
"You know that Joseon Tofu House in Beijing? Someday, once I descend the mountain from Yeongsan Sect, I might open a Joseon restaurant myself."
"You don't want to go back to Joseon?"
"I wonder? I would like to visit at least once, but there's no place for me there anymore."
By now, the time she had spent living in the Central Plains far exceeded the time she had lived in Joseon. In the past there had been no choice, but now that she possessed power, she could choose between Joseon and the Central Plains, and she had decided to sketch her future in the Central Plains. A few years from now, the time I had lived in 15th-century China in this life would likewise grow longer than my time in 21st-century Republic of Korea. Would my own identity shift a little too when that day came?
There were people who spent their whole lives in their hometowns, but not everyone did. The way a person carved out a life in a new place they had chosen for themselves deserved respect just the same. If she chose a life in the Central Plains, I would simply cheer her on. Still, I did want to visit her homeland, Joseon, at least once.
"A Joseon restaurant, huh... With your skills, Senior Sister, it would definitely have a crowd at the gate every day."
No matter how profound her Internal Energy was, Lee Eun-ha herself was neither a Daoist nor a martial artist. If Yeongsan Sect were still in dire straits, she would willingly sacrifice herself to feed the sect, but now that such a sacrifice was no longer necessary, she was formally washing her hands of the Martial World and planning to retire from the life of a martial artist. Perhaps her own master, the Medicine Immortal, had also possessed a nature far removed from the martial, and had left the Central Plains early to aid the suffering people of Jilin in her old age.
"Oh my? You speak as though it has nothing to do with you. Junior Brother, are you telling me you don't plan to be part of my future?"
She looked at me with a rare, alluring eye-smile. I had forgotten, but she too was a practitioner of the Yin Blossom Art at the Third Stage. This gaze that fascinated the opposite sex was hidden within her as well. Embarrassing to admit, but it made my heart pound a little.
"Absolutely not. As a matter of fact—this is a secret—but I'm a passable hand at basic cooking myself, even if I'm not your equal, Senior Sister. And I'm even hiding a few secret recipes up my sleeve."
Naturally, having been born a young master and entered a male-dominated sect, I had never been given a chance to set foot in a kitchen. But in my previous life, I had taken the place of my mother—busy with her working life—and handled making snacks or lunch on my own. My younger sister had taken after my mother and had a talent for cooking, but her legs were paralyzed and she could not rise from her wheelchair.
But Lee Eun-ha had no way of knowing about that past life, so she simply took it as me joking and laughed softly, her face breaking into a bright smile. Whether I truly knew how to cook or whether it was just a light joke, it mattered not a bit to her. She was simply that happy, smiling like that, just from imagining me beside her in her future.
I hadn't intended it, but with the proud feeling that I, as a man, had perfectly delivered the hidden right answer she had wanted, I felt I had matured a little, and the outing felt just a little more enjoyable.