CLS-Chapter 91

Chapter 91

“Usually, men travel on horseback. How many men have you seen traveling alone in a carriage?”

“Hmm…”

Wei San-ho thought Jang-il’s words made sense.

Those of high status would prefer palanquins over carriages, and when traveling far, they would almost certainly have attendants accompanying them.

If a man was riding alone in that large carriage, it would indeed be an uncommon sight.

“Who’s riding in it?”

“Young Master.”

The coachman whispered quietly toward the interior.

“That beggar just now appears to be Jang-il, a lesser beggar of the Beggar’s Sect.”

“Did he notice and follow us?”

“It seems coincidental.”

After a moment, a quiet voice came from inside the carriage.

“I heard that the lesser beggar Jang-il rarely leaves Kaifeng. Moreover, he has the reputation of being fox-like. Would such a person encounter us without any particular reason?”

“But he truly seemed to know nothing. If the Beggar’s Sect had moved, they wouldn’t move in such a manner.”

“Is that so?”

The voice inside the carriage quieted.

The coachman drove the horses slowly so that his master inside the carriage could think.

“It doesn’t matter. Just in case, instruct them to erase as many traces as possible from Wuhan.”

“Understood, Young Master.”

The coachman nodded and continued driving when he carefully asked again.

“But Young Master.”

“Speak.”

“Aren’t you regretful about abandoning all the foundations built in Wuhan?”

“I am regretful.”

Though he said he was regretful, the tone that came through showed no such sentiment.

“But what’s more regrettable is losing everything by clinging to a small foundation that was built.”

“There wasn’t really any particular problem.”

“Everything went wrong the moment someone else interfered.”

The man’s voice was stern.

“Throughout history, small anomalies becoming great obstacles is common. What must be most guarded against in the Martial World are interventions of unknown intent and masters of unknown identity. Even if I personally stepped forward to punish him, the situation wouldn’t be restored. Such a master couldn’t have grown alone, and his backing would surely emerge. Therefore…”

The voice that came through slowly faded.

“It’s better to withdraw our hand entirely. It’s not a matter of winning or losing, but whether or not we draw attention.”

“Hmm, I understand what you mean.”

However, the coachman thought his master’s obsessive tendencies were too strong.

Normally, when an obstacle appears before one’s eyes, one would try to remove it, but his master would change the path he was taking when an obstacle appeared.

“Do you think it’s excessive?”

“Not at all.”

“Elder brother is already accumulating visible achievements. Though he’s lacking, younger brother is also doing his part.”

“…”

“Wasting time is the biggest problem, time.”

“I will comply.”

The coachman said nothing more and silently drove the carriage. However, the one riding inside the carriage was still gazing outside with sunken eyes.

‘What could that fellow’s identity be?’

Finding out who the young master that suddenly appeared and twisted all plans was the highest priority.

He began composing a letter to send to the main family, thinking that this could become a great obstacle to their great undertaking.

---

“You’re saying to rebuild the Sacred Hand Hall?”

Jin So-ah couldn’t understand what Wei Yan-ho was talking about.

Didn’t the Sacred Hand Hall already exist?

Then what was the place where he and his sister were?

“The Sacred Hand Hall is running well.”

“It would be an unknown medical house.”

Jin So-ah’s mouth stuck together as if he had eaten sticky rice cake.

“No one would think of the place where you are as the former Sacred Hand Hall. At best, there might be people who think it’s just a place where the descendants who were there live.”

“Your words are quite right.”

As Ha Dae-bung began to chime in, Wei Yan-ho put strength in his shoulders and continued speaking.

“That’s how people are originally. Sometimes a person becomes great and the scale grows, but when the scale is large, the people within it also appear great. No matter how great medical skills you might have, it’s difficult to receive recognition in your current state.”

“Hmm.”

Jin So-ah nodded.

Come to think of it, those who came to meet them seeking the past fame of the Sacred Hand Hall often turned away after seeing their shabby appearance and young age.

“To revive the Sacred Hand Hall, we must start by hanging a signboard in a large and beautiful place.”

“But we don’t have money.”

“Ugh.”

Wei Yan-ho groaned at Ha Dae-bung’s objection.

“Well, don’t you have some money saved up?”

“I’m a salaried worker. It may appear outwardly that I’m making a fortune through money-lending, but the one making a fortune isn’t me but the money-lender owner. I’m merely a branch manager.”

“But you must have saved up quite a bit?”

“Taking the money I earned for myself is called embezzlement in professional terms. Trust is important in the lending business. Trust with customers is important, but trust among employees is also important. If I had committed such an act even once, my head would have been cut off by now.”

“…Do you usually call that trust?”

“The meaning might be slightly different. But please accept it as meaning that trust is that important.”

Wei Yan-ho looked at Ha Dae-bung with pitying eyes. But Ha Dae-bung was utterly shameless.

“So you’re saying there’s no money to invest?”

“That’s what people don’t understand well. People think someone like me makes a lot of money, but actually I’m in the stage of building trust. Money can be earned later, but right now the earnings are quite unsatisfactory.”

“But your clothes are high-quality?”

“Imagine if someone who looked quite poor came out when you went to a money-lender to leave collateral.”

It made sense.

“So in the end, you’re saying you don’t have money?”

Wei Yan-ho turned his head to look at Jin So-ah. He knew well that this side’s circumstances were obvious.

“Sigh.”

Wei Yan-ho let out a deep sigh.

“But Young Hero Wei.”

“Yeah?”

“Can you really revive the Sacred Hand Hall?”

“If there’s money, there’s nothing that can’t be done.”

“But I’m this young.”

“Huh?”

Wei Yan-ho scolded Jin So-ah as if asking what he was talking about.

“You, did you see your original building?”

“Yes, I saw it.”

“Did your father alone treat all the patients who flocked there?”

“…That’s not the case.”

“Even now, aren’t there doctors in your clinic besides you and your sister?”

“That’s right.”

“Actually, the patients you need to see aren’t that many. I don’t expect great medical skills from young you either. You’re just, to put it simply… a signboard.”

“A, a signboard?”

“Actually, you’d be more efficient hanging on the front gate rather than sitting in the treatment room.”

“Making the treatment room outside the front gate also seems like a good idea.”

“Oh, is that a good idea?”

Jin So-ah sighed watching Wei Yan-ho and Ha Dae-bung’s antics that meshed perfectly.

“Even if it’s possible, isn’t it that there’s no money?”

“There is money.”

“Didn’t you say Young Hero Wei’s money isn’t enough?”

“That’s not what’s important. What’s important is your will.”

“Pardon?”

Wei Yan-ho looked at Jin So-ah with sleepy eyes for a while before opening his mouth.

“Do you have the will to make the Sacred Hand Hall the greatest medical house in the Central Plains again?”

“…I don’t think it was ever the greatest in the Central Plains?”

“Anyway!”

“Of course I do!”

“Even if any hardships and trials come with it?”

“A man is born to die once, not twice! If I could be called the greatest doctor under heaven, I’m prepared to endure any trial.”

“Really?”

Wei Yan-ho grinned.

“Bring paper, brush, and ink.”

At Wei Yan-ho’s words, Ha Dae-bung requested paper, brush, and ink from his subordinate. When the door opened and the writing materials were brought in, Wei Yan-ho held out the paper.

“Now, write.”

“…Write what?”

“I, Jin So-ah, swear that I will only practice medicine as a doctor of the Sacred Hand Hall from now on, and will follow the instructions of Wei Yan-ho, the Sacred Hand Hall master.”

“Why, why is Young Hero Wei the Sacred Hand Hall master!”

Wei Yan-ho spoke with a blank face.

“You, do you have money?”

“No.”

“Do you have a building?”

“No.”

“Do you have food to eat right now?”

“No.”

Wei Yan-ho let out a hollow laugh.

“Then are you asking me to take you, who has no money and no place, and make you the Sacred Hand Hall master?”

“…That sounds like a very shameless thing to do.”

“Well, that’s fortunate.”

Wei Yan-ho clicked his tongue and pushed the paper toward Jin So-ah again.

“Externally, we’ll say you’re the Sacred Hand Hall master. I’m not unaware that if someone like me hangs around a medical house, it only makes people look at it with harsh eyes. But the money I put in there will all be mine.”

“Then what do I eat and live on?”

Wei Yan-ho turned his head to look at Ha Dae-bung.

“What did you say?”

“Salaried worker.”

“Did you hear?”

Jin So-ah rebelled with a stunned face.

“Are you telling me, a descendant of the Sacred Hand Hall, to work receiving a salary? And in a newly built Sacred Hand Hall at that?”

“Yeah.”

“Young Hero Wei, this doesn’t seem right.”

Jin So-ah rebelled fiercely.

“Of course, my desire to succeed is earnest. My desire to revive the Sacred Hand Hall is also extremely earnest. My desire to show my sister, who tries to bind me, that I can stand on my own is also earnest. But that’s when I stand with my own strength.”

“Ooh.”

Watching Jin So-ah speak with eyes full of motivation, Wei Yan-ho kept nodding.

“Like a man.”

“Like a true man.”

It was as if they were watching a boy break out of his shell and become an adult right before their eyes.

“How refreshing.”

Wei Yan-ho agreed with Ha Dae-bung’s words. Such a sight was something that could only be shown by a boy of that age.

“I’m grateful for the proposal, but I’ll find my own path. Following Young Hero Wei’s words doesn’t seem to be my path.”

Jin So-ah’s eyes were full of spirit.

This was a scene where the strength of a prestigious medical family could be felt. Though Jin So-ah was suffering, Jin Ye-ran’s education was certainly raising him to be a doctor without any deficiency.

“Hmm, good.”

A very good decision.

Wei Yan-ho also acknowledged that a man should have that much spirit.

However, spirit is just spirit.

“But… don’t we have one problem to solve before that?”

Wei Yan-ho put his hand into his bosom and pulled out a document, holding it out to Jin So-ah.

Jin So-ah looked at the document Wei Yan-ho held out with a bewildered face.

“What is this?”

“An IOU.”

“What?”

Jin So-ah received the document with trembling hands. It was a document stating that Jin So-ah would repay twenty nyang of gold to Wei Yan-ho, which Jin So-ah had signed at the gambling house previously.

“…Young Hero Wei?”

Wei Yan-ho yawned and spoke.

“A man’s path, a true man’s path, all fine. Then pay back the money first.”

“…”

Jin So-ah deeply felt in his bones that life is real combat.