CLS-Chapter 105

Chapter 105

Jwa-geol urgently handed something to Ha Dae-bung.

“Y-you need to see this.”

“What is this?”

“It’s a letter found in the Supreme Elder’s room.”

“A letter?”

Ha Dae-bung tilted his head and reached for the letter that Jwa-geol held out.

“You’re saying this came from the Supreme Elder’s room?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Hmm…”

Having grasped the situation, Ha Dae-bung headed to Jin So-ah’s room with the letter in hand.

“May I come in?”

“Yes, please enter.”

Ha Dae-bung entered Jin So-ah’s room with Jwa-geol and placed the letter on the desk.

“What is this?”

“It’s a letter left by the Supreme Elder.”

“Left? Where did he go?”

When Ha Dae-bung gave him a meaningful look, Jwa-geol began to explain.

“Today I heard there might be a shortage of rooms, so I went to the hall master’s quarters to secure rooms for patients. There was no one there, and only this letter was left behind.”

“What?”

Jin So-ah looked at the letter with trembling eyes.

“He’s not the type to do such a thing…”

When he opened the sealed envelope, a letter written in crooked handwriting emerged. Jin So-ah frowned once at the indescribably poor penmanship and began reading.

I’m leaving.

I wanted to stay a bit longer, but if I keep this up, I feel like I’ll rot here for a thousand years, so I’m departing now.

I thought about staying longer if I could be of some help, but no matter how I look at it, I don’t think I’d be much help even if I stayed. So I think it’s right to just leave.

Please run the medical hall well on your own. However, if there’s one thing I’d like to ask, don’t be too greedy for money. Money is good, but if you become too obsessed with it, you won’t be able to see what you really need to see, as my master said. So please keep that in mind.

So-ah will become an excellent physician, and the manager will run the medical hall splendidly, I believe.

By the way, make sure to properly collect the profits. If I find any trace of embezzlement, I’ll chase you to the ends of hell. I’ll come back to collect when the time is right.

Well then, I’m off.

“…What is this supposed to mean?”

Jin So-ah gripped the letter with trembling hands.

“Where is he going!”

When Jin So-ah looked up, Ha Dae-bung shook his head.

“He’s someone who normally doesn’t move much, but when he sets his mind to something, he always follows through. Since he’s already decided to leave, there would be no point in trying to stop him.”

“Still…”

Jin So-ah still looked at the letter with a face unable to control his emotions.

Though it was bothersome and there were many annoying things, he had never once thought that Wei Yan-ho would leave like this. He thought Wei Yan-ho would stay here with him and live as a parasite.

“To leave so suddenly like this.”

Jin So-ah bit his lip hard.

“Manager!”

“Yes, Hall Master.”

“Deploy people to search.”

“Pardon?”

“Considering his temperament, even if he set out early this morning, he couldn’t have gone far. There’s a high probability he’s still nearby, so please find him.”

“But Hall Master, the fact that the Supreme Elder left like this means he didn’t want to see our faces before leaving, doesn’t it? If we go looking for him, wouldn’t that go against the Supreme Elder’s wishes…”

“Still, please find him.”

Jin So-ah said with a stern face.

“This won’t do. I can’t send him off without even saying goodbye.”

“It’s not the end. He’ll return someday.”

“Will he?”

“Pardon?”

“He doesn’t seem like the type who would come all the way back to Hubei just to see us…”

“…”

Jin So-ah’s words made sense.

They thought he might come back for the money, but thinking about it, that was something that could be done without him coming personally.

Wasn’t he the heir of the Guangdong Wei Family? It was something that could easily be done just by sending family members.

“I-I’ll search for him.”

“Hurry! Please make haste!”

“Yes!”

“Hmph.”

Wei Yan-ho was sulking with a face that showed he was very displeased.

“Grr.”

It’s truly a good thing for a person to be kind.

Doesn’t it say that the benevolent are invincible?

Good people are bound to receive blessings.

But there’s also a saying in the world: excess is as bad as deficiency.

Even kindness should have limits. When kindness goes too far, it becomes a pushover.

Right now, Wei Yan-ho was looking at a pushover.

“Grr.”

Wherever there is light in the world, there is also darkness. Since Wuhan was the most prosperous city in Hubei, slums had formed accordingly.

A slum is just a place where poor people live together, but due to the nature of slums, dangerous incidents often occur. So it wasn’t a place for an unmarried young woman to wander alone.

Whether she knew this fact or not, Jin Ye-ran was moving throughout the slums here and there, providing medical treatment.

“Grandmother, your knees are quite bad, aren’t they?”

“Oh my, I can’t even describe it. I should just die instead of living so long like this.”

“Wait a moment. I have good ointment. Apply this and…”

Jin Ye-ran directly applied ointment to the old woman’s legs and wrapped them with bandages.

“Normally you wouldn’t need to wrap it like this, but since the ointment could get contaminated, please wrap it with clean cloth.”

“…Will there be more occasions to apply it?”

“Of course there will. Here’s the ointment.”

Jin Ye-ran took out the entire container of ointment from her bundle and gave it to the old woman.

“I have no money!”

“I’m not taking money.”

“You’re not taking money?”

“Yes, I’m not taking any. What money would I take when you don’t have any?”

“…Really?”

“Of course.”

Jin Ye-ran smiled brightly.

Wei Yan-ho couldn’t help but beat his chest watching this scene.

“Grr!”

As irritation surged up and he turned his body, the branch of the tree he was sitting on swayed.

A stuffiness like having eaten a hundred boiled eggs in a row washed over him, but when he thought about it, it was the path Jin Ye-ran had chosen.

“Then grandmother, I’ll come again next time.”

“What do you mean come again! Go treat other people instead.”

“Yes, I’ll see you next time.”

When Jin Ye-ran greeted her with a smile all over her face, even the gruff old woman nodded and waved her hand.

“Be careful going. There are many bad guys here. You shouldn’t wander around with that face.”

“Yes, I’ll be careful.”

Jin Ye-ran left the house and headed to the next one. Like this, Jin Ye-ran visited houses in the slums one by one throughout the morning, and only then found a quiet place and took out her lunch box.

When Jin Ye-ran sat down, Wei Yan-ho jumped down from the tree.

“Oh my?”

When Wei Yan-ho suddenly dropped down in front of her, Jin Ye-ran was startled and opened her eyes wide.

“Were you up there?”

“…Yes.”

“Why?”

Wei Yan-ho vented his frustration.

“Are you crazy?”

“Why are you saying that? All of a sudden?”

“Do you know how much money you’ve spent so far? That ointment and medicine were all bought with Miss Jin’s money, right?”

“Are you upset about that?”

Jin Ye-ran quietly looked at Wei Yan-ho and smiled.

Receiving that gaze, Wei Yan-ho felt somehow diminished and said indignantly.

“If you want to continue treating patients, reduce your expenses. How many days do you think you’ll last giving everything away like that?”

“You’re right. But if I keep making rounds consistently, won’t the need for medicine expenses decrease? The people here need medicine urgently because they haven’t been able to receive treatment for too long.”

“Grr.”

Wei Yan-ho ended up shaking his head.

It was a strange experience that watching someone so pretty and kind could be frustrating.

“Why do you try to live sacrificing like that?”

“Sacrificing?”

“Yes.”

Jin Ye-ran smiled brightly.

“It’s strange that you call what I do because I like it a sacrifice. I’ve never thought I was sacrificing anything.”

“That’s not a sacrifice?”

“I just like seeing sick people get better and smile brightly.”

“Sick people get better even when you charge money.”

“Those people can go to other physicians. But there are too many people in the world who can’t receive treatment because they have no money.”

Wei Yan-ho looked at Jin Ye-ran with an unusually stern face and said.

“You can’t change the world by yourself.”

“I know.”

Jin Ye-ran also looked back at Wei Yan-ho with unwavering eyes.

“I didn’t start this with the grand idea of changing the world. I started this because I didn’t want to turn away from the one patient in front of me.”

“Grr.”

Wei Yan-ho let out a deep sigh.

“Still, you could at least receive minimum treatment fees.”

“When you run a medical practice…”

Jin Ye-ran began explaining in a gentle voice.

“There are people who endure and endure because they’re in so much pain, and then come to the physician when they can’t bear it anymore. As a physician, could you just turn away from such people?”

“Hmm…”

“I couldn’t do that. So when I treat them, eventually word spreads and people gather again. Even people who used to pay for treatment ask why I charge them money. Then ultimately, if you’re thinking of treating even one person for free, you can’t charge treatment fees.”

Wei Yan-ho scratched the back of his head vigorously.

“Even so, there’s no need for Miss Jin to take that path.”

“I’m not taking that path on purpose. I’m becoming one of the people who walk that path. I’m not starting with some great sense of mission. I just…”

Jin Ye-ran smiled brightly.

“I just do it because I like it, because I like it.”

Wei Yan-ho looked at Jin Ye-ran’s bright smile and let out a deep sigh.

No matter what he said, it would be useless. People with faces like that always walk their own path.

“I don’t understand, I don’t understand.”

Wei Yan-ho took something out from his chest and held it out to Jin Ye-ran.

“…What is this?”

Jin Ye-ran’s eyes wavered.

“Seeing you keep selling it, it doesn’t seem that important, but I still felt uneasy about it, so I brought it for now.”

A white jade necklace.

Seeing her mother’s keepsake, a tear welled up in Jin Ye-ran’s eyes.

“Now promise me.”

“Pardon?”

“I found and brought this back for you, so don’t sell it anymore. Even if you urgently need money.”

“…Last time too, perhaps?”

“Just promise me.”

Jin Ye-ran nodded and took the white jade necklace that Wei Yan-ho held out.

“I promise.”

“Tsk.”

Wei Yan-ho lowered his hand and quietly looked at Jin Ye-ran.

An incomprehensible woman.

“Well then, I’m going.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’ve finished my business, so I should go. I can’t live here forever.”

“Weren’t you staying at the Sacred Hand Hall?”

“I’d like to, but…”

Wei Yan-ho sighed. He couldn’t explain all the matters involving his master one by one.

“Anyway, I can’t stay in one place for long. If there’s a connection, we’ll meet again someday. Well then.”

When Wei Yan-ho waved his hand, Jin Ye-ran also waved back in confusion. Wei Yan-ho turned around without lingering and walked away.

Jin Ye-ran, who couldn’t collect herself from the sudden situation, shouted.

“Young Master Wei Yan-ho!”

Wei Yan-ho turned his head.

“Thank you!”

In the distance, Wei Yan-ho could be seen waving his hand. Jin Ye-ran silently watched him fade into the distance and murmured softly.

“Thank you.”

A gentle breeze blew and brushed through her hair.