Chapter 102
The Youngest Son of the Silver Sea Trading Company Chapter 102
Chapter 102. Man-gyeol's Line (3)
My retort was met with loud laughter.
“Kukukukukuk!”
Man-gyeol laughed heartily and then showed me his face.
“You're not normal.”
“I hear that a lot.”
“Yes, yes, you're much better than the other guys who are sick inside.”
He stood up and said.
“Do you know who I am?”
“Yes.”
“Then did you come to greet me?”
“That too, but I also came to discuss how to use the relief supplies I brought.”
I continued.
“I thought you would know better than anyone else.”
“That's right.”
His answer seemed to show his confidence in his abilities.
“The patients now have heat in their stomachs and intestines, so they won't be able to digest properly. Cold food is hard to digest, but heat also prevents digestion.”
“I see.”
“Do you have any meat or vegetables?”
“I brought everything.”
“Grind the rice into flour, chop the meat and vegetables as finely as possible, cook them into porridge, and let it cool. Adults should eat at least two ladlefuls a day, and children should eat one ladleful.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Did you bring any medicine?”
“Our Trading Company specializes in medicinal herbs.”
“You are very well prepared. Do you have any herbs that are good for fever?”
“Yes.”
“Give that to me.”
“Yes, sir.”
Man-gyeol looked at me for a moment and asked, “What do you want to ask me? You look like you have a question.”
“So, what are you curious about? You look like you have a question for me.”
“Yes, that's right.”
“Since you're a guy I like, I'll listen to you. So, what are you curious about?”
This is my chance.
He told me to ask him directly, so I have to ask.
“How can we prevent this contagious disease from spreading further?”
“Huh?”
“I want this contagious disease to end here. So I'm asking you how we can stop it.”
“You're not asking because you don't know the answer, are you...?”
He thought hard for a moment, then continued.
“Actually, this epidemic is the first time I've seen it, but I do know how to treat it. That's because although the symptoms are different, the root cause is the same.”
“You mean the root cause is the same?”
“They are suffering from a fever, so we need to reduce their fever.”
Man-gyul continued.
“The problem is that we don't have enough medicine to reduce their fever.”
“If you tell me what herbs are needed, I will send someone to fetch them.”
Man-gyeol-seon told me the names of the herbs, and I wrote them down.
Actually, I could have memorized them after hearing them once, but that would have seemed insincere.
As I wrote down the names of the herbs, I understood why the epidemic had continued until winter.
Most of the medicinal herbs he requested were harvested in winter.
It was now September, and most of the medicinal herbs harvested last year had been used up.
By the way, I think our stock is running low, too.
Man-gyeol continued.
“Actually, the best thing would be a miracle drug.”
“What? A miracle drug?”
“I mean a medicine that contains yin energy. Among them, it would be best if we had some snow lotus.”
“There must be many other medicines with yin energy. Is there a reason why you specifically mentioned that one?”
“One of the effects of snow lotus is to restore the stomach. It restores organs damaged by excessive heat, making the treatment more effective.”
“I see.”
“If we had just two roots, we would have enough to cure all the people here.”
Man-gyeol sighed.
“But how can we get it now, when it only grows in the snow in the middle of winter?”
No, we can get it.
But I didn't let him know that.
Among the items I had traded with Jang Dae-soo, the boss of O-dong, there was some snow lotus root. And I had a considerable amount of it.
Furthermore, it didn't sell as well as other medicinal herbs, so I had quite a lot of it left in stock.
“I see. I understand.”
I immediately sent a letter to my father through a messenger.
Now it was time to get to work.
There were more workers needed than I had anticipated.
It was no easy task to cook rice porridge with the rice, meat, and vegetables I had brought, and then distribute it to everyone.
At first, I thought that someone like me wouldn't be needed.
But once I arrived, I realized that I was wrong.
In a situation like this, I needed all the help I could get. How could I just leave?
“Thank you, young master. Thank you for bringing food to such a rough place...”
“Don't mention it.”
“How can I ever repay you?”
“You can repay us by buying a lot of goods from the Eunhae Trading Company.”
“I will definitely do that.”
“Then you must recover quickly. Please eat.”
Everywhere I went, I had similar conversations.
Of course, there were disputes over the distribution.
“I saw it! They gave more to that house!”
“We are distributing the proper amount.”
“Don't give me that! The son of that house works for Eunhae Trading Company, right? Why else would he be here? Didn't he come to give them more?”
“That's right! You're right!”
“People shouldn't do that!”
When the situation unfolded as I had expected, the employees who came with me sighed.
Then they looked at me.
It was as if they were looking at a great figure, which made me feel a little uncomfortable.
First, I had to calm them down.
If this happened repeatedly, it could even lead to a knife fight.
“You said you gave him more at his house earlier, right?”
“Yes, I did!”
“What did you give him more?”
“He gave him more porridge!”
“When did you see that? Actually, I warned the employees before I came here. I told them that if something like that happened, I would fire them.”
Of course, that was a lie.
“I can't fire someone unjustly, so I need a witness. Please explain in detail when, where, and how it happened.”
When I held out my hand, Pal-gap quickly handed me a piece of paper and a brush.
I placed the paper on the writing board and picked up the brush.
“I'm ready to take your statement. So when was it?”
He hesitated at my questioning.
Just as I expected.
The author's words are a lie.
Just in case, I had everyone keep accurate records of the rations distributed to each household.
And every day, I checked the records in front of everyone, so there was no way to cheat.
Seeing this, Pal-gap asked, “If this is how you are going to act, why did you scare us so much in the first place?”
Even if I had ulterior motives, it was important to show respect to the other party in this situation.
“Why don't you say anything?”
“That's because...”
“If an employee makes a mistake, you take responsibility and fire them, so why are you acting like this? Please tell me.”
“No, it's not something that warrants firing...”
That was when it happened.
“Are you saying that the son of this house really did that?”
“I don't think so...”
“Earlier, when his mother asked for more, he firmly said no, didn't he?”
“Even I could see that he was rude.”
Hearing that, I turned my head and looked at the man who had started the argument. When everyone else looked at him too, he cleared his throat.
“I must have seen it wrong.”
“Is that so?”
Now it was time to take a firm stance.
It was important to maintain discipline at times like this to prevent such incidents from happening again in the future.
“All right. Let's forget about this. But if you ever slander our Trading Company employees with such nonsense again...”
I glanced at everyone.
“You'll find out that I have a pretty nasty temper.”
My warning seemed to have worked, as there were no further incidents, and later, the employee and his family came to thank me.
.
.
.
Several days passed.
While I was making porridge for distribution, a government soldier ran up to me.
“Someone from the Trading Company is here.”
“Is that so?”
I immediately headed for the entrance. An employee shouted at me from a distance, with goods piled up in front of him.
This was to avoid contact as much as possible.
“These are the items you requested.”
“Thank you.”
“There is also a letter from the captain of the Trading Company.”
“Please tell my father that I am well.”
“Yes, sir. Please take care of yourselves!”
We began to carry the items inside one by one.
Among them, my attention was drawn to a large box.
I opened the box.
Inside were three well-preserved Seolhoncho.
At that moment, Geumryung, who was in my sleeve, poked his head out and drooled over the Seolhoncho.
I quickly lifted Geumryung before his saliva could fall on the Seolhoncho.
“That's not yours.”
“Kuu...”
Does this guy eat yin herbs too?
Didn't Master say they eat money?
I took a silver coin out of my wallet and held it out to him.
“You can't have that. Eat this instead.”
Ginryo's eyes lit up, and he quickly grabbed the silver coin from my hand.
He really does love money.
I picked up the box containing the Seolhoncho and said to Palgag and the two bodyguards.
“Let's go to Man-gyeol-seon.”
“Yes, sir.”
.
.
.
Today, Man-gyeol-seon was busy seeing patients.
“Elder, I'm here.”
“You're here?”
He's seen me a few times, but he's already comfortable talking to me.
“Yes. I brought the medicine you asked for earlier.”
“Put it over there.”
I smiled and said, “This is something you should see for yourself, Elder.”
“What is it?”
“You'll see when you look.”
Man-gyeol-seon took the box I handed him and placed it on the floor.
And the moment he opened the lid...
“....”
“Elder?”
“....”
“Are you all right, Elder?”
“....”
“Are you feeling unwell?”
“Did I make a fool of myself? Isn't this a bit too much? Bringing me this much Seolhoncho!”
“It was in our Trading Company warehouse, so I took some.”
“You're the only one who could say that so casually.”
“So, can this prevent the epidemic?”
“Of course. But...”
“What is it?”
“It doesn't seem like this is free.”
I smiled shyly at Man-gyeol's question.
“That's right.”
“So what's the price?”
“Just tell people that Eunhae Trading Company is the best, and that will be enough.”
“Then can I talk about this Seolhoncho?”
“It would be better if you didn't say it directly, but rather hinted at it. You could say something like, 'Eunhaesang Trading Company provided us with a special medicine.
He chuckled at my words.
”It doesn't cost anything, so I understand."
Then he shouted to the physicians around him.
“What are you doing? Aren't you going to make the medicine? Fill the pot with water and boil it!”
“Yes!”
He made sure no one touched the snowdrop and handled it himself.
I'm so glad.
My father listened to my request.
I recalled the contents of the letter.
“You brat, aren't you taking too much? But I know you will bring back more than this, so I am sending it. Take care of yourself and don't overdo it.”
Although the letter was harsh, I could feel my father's love.
As soon as the medicine was made, it was distributed throughout the entire city, and the epidemic gradually began to subside.
As a bonus, the fame of the Eunhae Trading Company spread throughout the entire city of Uichang. It was just as I had expected.
Seeing that the epidemic was subsiding so quickly, I finally breathed a sigh of relief.
At that moment, Pal-gap, who had been away for a while, approached me with a grin.
“Young master, did you know that?”
“What?”
“I went out to the market for a moment, and people were full of praise for Seonhaengmi-rang.”
“Seonhaengmi-rang? Who is that?”
I suddenly felt uneasy.
I worked so hard, so why is someone else being praised instead of Eunhaesang Trading Company?
But Pal-gap found my reaction so funny that he doubled over with laughter.
“Oh, young master! You really don't know.”
“What?”
“Seonhaengmi-rang, a beautiful man with a kind heart. Who could that be?”
“...Who is it?”
Judging from Pal-gap's reaction...
“Could it be me?”
Pal-gap nodded in response to my question.
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
No, it's natural that the Eunhae Trading Company's reputation is rising, but why is my name becoming famous when I didn't even intend for it to be?
And what is Sun-hyeok-mi-rang?
Why are the two bodyguards nodding at his words?
At that moment, there was a commotion outside. Pal-gap went out to see what was going on and soon returned.
“Um... Someone from the Hyung-nim sect is looking for you.”