CLS-Chapter 90

Chapter 90

The next morning.

“Wei Young Master

“…”

Jin So-ah, who was looking for Wei Yan-ho while opening the door, was hit by a flying pillow as soon as he opened it and rolled on the floor.

“Don’t you ever sleep!”

“It’s strange that Wei Young Master sleeps until this hour.”

“…I’d rather die than be sick.”

Jin So-ah looked delighted as he watched Wei Yan-ho get up without complaint. Usually, this was someone who would grab the blanket and lie down again, going on about dying and living, but now he was getting up on his own.

Jin So-ah, who momentarily checked if the sun had risen from the west, confirmed that it had properly risen from the east and looked at Wei Yan-ho again.

“Why?”

“Nothing.”

‘Is he sick somewhere?’

Though he couldn’t say it out loud, Wei Yan-ho pulling back his own blanket looked equivalent to a blind man opening his eyes and a cripple standing up.

“Ugh.”

Wei Yan-ho, who also seemed unfamiliar with his own behavior, kept sighing and shuffled outside.

“Let’s go.”

“What? Where are we going?”

“You said you wanted to succeed, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Then don’t argue and follow me.”

“Yes.”

Jin So-ah, who already had absolute trust in Wei Yan-ho, didn’t ask any more questions and followed him.

“But shouldn’t we tell Sister?”

“No need to worry about it.”

“…”

Jin Ye-ran was watching the two disappear outside the main gate from afar with anxious eyes.

“But where are we going?”

“…You, you talk too much for a man.”

“Then at least walk faster.”

Wei Yan-ho’s walking pace was truly that of a gentleman.

Never hurrying, very slowly but surely walking toward his goal – it was worthy of being a model for countless scholars.

‘If only he’d straighten his back and lift his shoulders a bit.’

With half-closed eyes, shoulders drooped, and back half-bent like a hundred-year-old old man, if only he didn’t look so pathetic, it might have been tolerable. But why did someone who looked perfectly normal walk like that?

“But this road is…”

Thinking the path seemed familiar, he looked up and saw the Silver River Trading Post in the distance.

“Are we going to the Silver River Trading Post?”

“Yes.”

“Are you borrowing money or something?”

Even as he said it, Jin So-ah thought he had said something ridiculous. Wei Yan-ho was already incredibly rich. Of the two hundred nyang he had earned that day, he had repaid the hundred nyang borrowed from Ha Dae-bung on the spot, and after paying back the twenty nyang gambling debt, he still had eighty nyang left.

And though it cost twenty more nyang to pay off Jin So-ah’s debt, he still had sixty nyang left – an enormous fortune. Why would such a person need to borrow money from a trading post?

“Ah, you’re going to withdraw the money you deposited.”

“Not money…”

“What?”

“But it’s right that I’m going to collect collateral.”

“Are you starting a business?”

Wei Yan-ho just smiled without answering.

“You’ve come?”

Wei Yan-ho, looking at Ha Dae-bung who greeted him warmly, thought that one person really has many faces.

When he first met Wei Yan-ho, he had shown the perfect example of a loan shark, but after learning that Wei Yan-ho possessed an Imperial Inspector’s Golden Sword, he had shown the extreme of obsequiousness. Then at the gambling house, he had transformed into a wealthy investor, and now again…

“Your back will break.”

“I believe that’s usually said to people who walk around with their backs too straight.”

“…Let’s bend it halfway, halfway.”

Watching Ha Dae-bung bow so low his head nearly touched the ground while groveling, Wei Yan-ho could truly feel how hard it was to make a living through business.

“What about my sword?”

“You mean the golden sword? I’ll have it brought right away.”

“Yeah.”

“What kind of tea would you like?”

“Give me anything. I have cheap taste, so I can’t tell the difference even if I drink expensive stuff.”

“Haha, you joke well.”

“I’m serious though.”

Seeing Wei Yan-ho’s face without a trace of humor, Ha Dae-bung ordered a servant to bring cheap leaf tea. Unnecessary expenses were absolutely unwelcome.

“So what brings you here?”

“Have you thought about what I mentioned before?”

“Hmm…”

Being a merchant, Ha Dae-bung immediately understood the situation from that single remark.

“Actually, it’s not that difficult a task…”

“Yes.”

“But there’s no capital, is there?”

“Capital?”

“Yes. There’s no capital. No matter how much people, technology, and management ability you have, business is impossible without money.”

“But we have money.”

Ha Dae-bung wore a bitter smile.

“That’s nowhere near enough.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Of course it’s nowhere near enough. Think about it. No matter how much money you’ve made, Young Master, if you lined up all the people in Hubei who have that much money, it would span infinity.”

“…Come on, surely not that much.”

“Don’t underestimate the wealthy.”

Ha Dae-bung’s face was serious.

“Of course, what I said was exaggerated, but there are many people who think nothing of eighty gold nyang.”

Wei Yan-ho thought there was logic in those words.

In fact, hadn’t his own father put up a hundred gold nyang as reward money just to find him? It meant the Guangdong Wei Family had enough money to spend twice what Wei Yan-ho possessed just on finding their son.

The problem was that, as far as Wei Yan-ho knew, the Wei Family was famous as a prestigious family, but not particularly recognized for wealth.

Even the Wei Family could readily spend a hundred nyang fortune.

And if it was Jiangbei, where incomparably more money circulated than Jiangnan, it wouldn’t be strange at all if many people thought nothing of sixty gold nyang.

“Hmm, so this money isn’t enough?”

“There are ways. You could open a clinic. But it would end up as just an ordinary clinic. What Wei Young Master wants from me isn’t to lead such a small clinic without it failing, is it?”

“Mmm…”

Wei Yan-ho made a contemplative sound, having hit a major obstacle from the start.

“Um, but…”

Then Jin So-ah raised his hand.

“What?”

“Could I know what you’re talking about?”

Wei Yan-ho clicked his tongue.

“I told you everything last time.”

“What?”

Wei Yan-ho grinned and declared:

“We’re rebuilding the Sacred Hand Hall.”

***

“Hey, you bastard! Let’s go slowly!”

Jang-il was in agony.

Who was he?

A Small Beggar of the Beggar’s Sect.

Originally, beggars needed strong legs to survive. Vagrants who just begged in one place usually died within a few years.

When it’s cold, you just go to a warm place, and when times are bad for begging, you need to be able to climb mountains and at least pick grass to eat to survive as a beggar – it’s natural.

That’s why the Beggar’s Sect has been famous for lightness skills since ancient times.

As someone who had traveled all over the Central Plains, Jang-il was always confident in walking.

But this was a bit much.

“You should let me sleep before we go!”

Though Jang-il was talented at running short distances quickly, this kind of long-distance march didn’t suit his body at all.

Moreover, since his companion was someone who pressed forward without letting him sleep, advancing and advancing again, his fatigue was doubled.

“There’s no time.”

“Your brother won’t die! Even the King of Hell would have some sense and wouldn’t take someone like that.”

When Wei San-ho’s eyes turned menacing, Jang-il flinched.

“Did I say anything wrong?”

Well, it was the right thing to say – what could happen to Wei Yan-ho?

Incidents come to those who move around. How pointless it was to worry about someone who, if left alone, would spend year after year in his room without a care.

“Let’s rest a bit, you bastard!”

“That beggar really.”

Wei San-ho frowned.

Though he had brought him along as a guide, a beggar was still a beggar.

Noisy, dirty, and complaints that pierced the sky.

“Once we reach Hubei, you can rest all you want.”

“I feel like I’ll die before we get there!”

“You won’t die.”

At Wei San-ho’s firm words, Jang-il sat down right there. Even though it was the middle of the main road, beggars have no shame.

“Oh, I can’t go any further. Drag me along.”

“Ugh.”

Wei San-ho let out a deep sigh.

He had pushed the pace a bit because he wanted to see his brother, but what use was a Small Beggar of the Beggar’s Sect if he was this weak? A Small Beggar of the Beggar’s Sect should be able to walk a thousand li as if it were one step.

“And you call yourself a hugijisu of the Beggar’s Sect?” [TL/N: Hugijisu (후기지수) refers to a top or elite disciple from the later generation of the Beggar’s Sect in murim ranks.]

“I’m a Fox-Dog! Not a Fox-Horse. That’s why I told you to bring that Flying Eagle Beggar guy!”

Wei San-ho shook his head watching Jang-il lying on the road as if it were his bedroom, throwing a tantrum.

“Get up. There’s a carriage coming.”

“A carriage?”

Jang-il’s head shot up, then he was immediately disappointed and lay back down.

He had hoped to catch a ride if it was a carriage going toward Hubei, but that carriage was coming from the Hubei direction.

“Please move aside.”

“Ugh.”

Jang-il sluggishly got up from his spot and moved to the roadside.

“But what kind of carriage is so damn flashy?”

Jang-il’s mouth fell wide open seeing the massive four-horse carriage pulled by four pure white horses.

Even one of those horses would be too expensive for ordinary people to even dream of. A carriage running with four such glossy, obviously fine horses couldn’t be an ordinary carriage.

“Did some minister get in?”

Jang-il showed his curiosity.

“Don’t cause trouble.”

“Trouble!”

Jang-il muttered under his breath.

A proper beggar of the Beggar’s Sect should be interested in anything even slightly unusual. Only then could you call yourself a member of the Beggar’s Sect that survives by selling information.

“Hmm…”

Jang-il threw his bundle into the middle of the road.

“Heave-ho.”

Then he waited for the approaching carriage with a sly smile.

“Whoa!”

The coachman stopped the carriage upon seeing the bundle that had fallen on the road.

“Who’s there!”

Then he looked sharply at Jang-il and Wei San-ho standing by the roadside.

“Oh my, sorry. I was trying to move aside and accidentally…”

“Hurry up and clear the luggage and move away.”

“Yes, yes.”

Jang-il waddled forward to the carriage, picked up his bundle, and slowly moved aside.

“Giddyup!”

The carriage began moving again.

Jang-il straightened his back watching the carriage move away. Wei San-ho scolded Jang-il.

“You did all that just to see the coachman’s face?”

“Tsk tsk tsk.”

Jang-il looked at Wei San-ho as if he were pathetic.

“This is why guys who only have strength die early.”

“Huh?”

“If you don’t know how much information I just gathered, just keep your mouth shut.”

“What information did you gather?”

“With just words?”

“…Never mind.”

Thinking he was just messing around, Wei San-ho tried to hurry along the road without engaging, but Jang-il spoke up.

“Even though the carriage wheels stopped briefly, they barely dug into the ground, which means there’s only one person inside. And that person has learned martial arts.”

“Hmm?”

“The carriage had no imperial markings, so it’s not royalty, and there’s no case where one coachman would escort a high-ranking lady alone, so it must be a man.”

“What’s important about that?”

“Ha, this guy.”

Jang-il looked at Wei San-ho as if incredulous and continued.