Chapter 409
The Youngest Son of the Eunhae Trading Company Chapter 409
Chapter 409. The Long-Awaited Harvest (4)
I asked Pal-gap.
“What's going on?”
“This letter was tied to an arrow and stuck in the gate of the Yangyang Martial Arts Academy!”
“A letter?”
I quickly took the letter and opened it.
[We cannot hand over Cheongpa-ru and Cheongpa to you. Therefore, withdraw peacefully. If you do not obey us, you will regret it.
A letter threatening me.
Who sent this?
As I pondered for a moment, I noticed that Cheongpa-ru's Lu Ju was also included in the list of people not to be handed over.
Why? Because Lu Zhu is the best in Hangzhou?
But the threatening letter is too concise for that.
Then... Those who sent this threatening letter may be acquainted with Lu Zhu of Qingpa.
They may have known each other for a long time and be targeting Qingpa and Lu Zhu, which is why they are threatening me.
But this raises a question.
Then why haven't they gotten their hands on him yet?
Ah... It must be because of the situation at Cheongpa-ru.
Cheongpa-ru was said to be one of the most prosperous taverns in Hangzhou.
In a place like that, they would have been able to refuse their demands until now.
However, the famine and prohibition on alcohol made Cheongpa-ru's financial situation difficult.
It was so bad that the courtesans had to quickly grab rice cakes from their customers' plates.
If so, this must be the reason why Cheongpa-ru survived in my previous life.
The prohibition on alcohol will end soon, but the famine will continue for three years.
It wasn't just the fame of the wine, the high level of the courtesans, and the delicious food that allowed them to survive.
It was thanks to the support of other forces.
I thought it was strange that the situation was more difficult than I had imagined.
“What are you going to do?”
In response to Pal-gap's question, I put the letter in my sleeve and said.
“What can I do? I paid a fortune for this tavern. Why would I give it up?”
I continued.
“Let's go.”
“Where are you going?”
“Cheongpa-ru.”
If it's Cheongpa-ru, they might know who sent this letter.
With that in mind, I left my room, and Lee Pil approached me and said, “You have a visitor.”
A visitor at this hour?
“It's the waiter from Cheongpa-ru.”
I looked down at my sleeve.
More precisely, I looked at the letter inside.
I thought that the waiter had come to see me because of this letter.
“Tell him to come in.”
A moment later, I met the waiter in the reception room of the Yangyang Martial Arts Academy.
“Greetings, Captain. Or should I call you Master?”
“Just call me Captain. There is only one Captain of Cheongpa-ru.”
“Yes, sir.”
His expression remained dark throughout our greeting.
This definitely seems to be related to the threatening letter.
“So, what brings you here?”
“Please help our Captain!”
“I need more details.”
“Yes.”
The waiter explained the whole story to me.
“Our lord was quite a renowned figure in the Hao Clan. He was famous under the alias ‘Cheongwoo.’”
It means “blue wings.”
I had heard that name many times before.
When receiving information from the Hao Clan, they would sometimes say, “This information is highly reliable as it was provided by Qingyu.”
It was mainly used to emphasize the reliability of the information.
And since the information provided by Qingyu was highly reliable, we had to pay more for it.
But you mean that Qingpa Lu was Qingyu?
“But Lord Lu left the Hao Clan ten years ago. And you built this tavern.”
“Does that mean you built this tavern without the support of the Hao Clan?”
“That's right.”
“I'm curious. It would have been much easier with the support of the Hao Clan, so why did you do that?”
“Because Lord Lu didn't want any forces to interfere with the tavern. Many tavern staff were killed in armed conflicts between forces at the previous tavern, and that left a deep scar.”
“I see.”
“And the Hao Clan kept contacting him, asking him to return.”
As far as I remember, the name Cheong-woo is the name I had until I died in my previous life.
Then, during this famine, Cheongpa-ru and Cheongpa-ruju must have gone over to the Hao Clan.
Just as I thought.
So, it was the Hao Clan that allowed Cheongpa-ru to survive in my previous life.
But this time, things are different.
I took over.
“Actually, I just received this letter.”
I took the letter that Pal-gap had brought me out of my pocket and showed it to him. The waiter bit his lip when he saw the letter.
“Did Hao Clan send this letter?”
“Yes, they did.”
The waiter nodded and asked me anxiously.
“So, may I ask what you intend to do?”
Pal-gap answered the question.
“Our young master never gives up what he has once obtained.”
That's right.
I gave it to them, but I will never take it back.
“In any case, now that they have dared to threaten our young master and turn him into their enemy, they will suffer tremendous losses. Our young master is very scary. Ah! But that doesn't mean he has a bad personality.”
Hey, Pal-gap!
You always say something strange at the end.
But now is not the time to argue about that...
“So where is Lu-ju now?”
“They took him by force from the Hao Clan.”
I frowned without realizing it.
“Is the Hao Clan known for being so aggressive?”
“That's because our lord is very valuable to the Hao Clan.”
After all, the lord of Qingpa is renowned as the most handsome man in Hangzhou, and he is also very talented.
Furthermore, Qingpa Lu is one of the five best taverns in Hangzhou.
In that situation, hearing that the tavern had been taken over, they must have become desperate.
Desperate enough to send me a threatening letter and forcibly take away Lu Zhu.
“Didn't you have guards?”
“They tried to stop them, but... they are currently in critical condition.”
“I see. Then where is the Hao Clan branch where Lu Zhu was taken?”
“I'm sorry. I know of several Hao Clan branches, but I don't know exactly where he was taken.”
If the waiter, who is very worried about Lu Zhu, doesn't know, then he really doesn't know.
But that's okay.
I have a royal order.
“May I ask you a favor?”
“Go ahead.”
“Please bring me anything that belongs to Lu-joo. Anything will do. The situation is urgent, so please hurry. No, let me go with you.”
I immediately headed for Cheongpa-ru with my bodyguards.
When I arrived at Cheongpa-ru, I was speechless.
The room was in complete disarray, with furniture scattered everywhere.
The waiters were busy cleaning up.
When they saw me, they quickly bowed their heads. At that moment, Miss Baekwol rushed over to me.
“Captain, you're here?”
“Are you all right?”
“Yes, I'm fine now, thanks to you. But our master...”
“I know. That's why I came here myself.”
At that moment, a familiar woman came down from the second floor.
It was the physician who had treated Young Mistress Baekwol last time.
“Physician Jami. How is the warrior?”
“Fortunately, he's out of danger.”
Hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
“I will cover the medical expenses, so please focus on his treatment.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And waiters, please assess the damage to the restaurant. You can double the price.”
“What?”
He declared confidently to those who questioned him.
“That's how much you owe us.”
The waiters quickly nodded in agreement.
“Understood.”
They immediately began to bustle about. I went up to the third floor with the waiter who had come to find me.
“By the way, what is your name?”
“My name is Dong-ah.”
Dong-ah?
“I was named after the winter season. My mother was a famous courtesan named Baekjang.”
“I see. Then I will call you Dong-ah.”
“Yes.”
I pretended to be calm on the outside, but my heart was racing.
That's how surprised I was.
Dong-ah, the son of the courtesan Baekjang.
I knew who his father was. And Dong-ah himself didn't know about it yet.
That wasn't important right now.
“Please bring me Lu-ju's belongings.”
“Yes, sir.”
Soon, Dong-ah brought me Lu-ju's clothes. I secretly called Geum-ryeong.
“Geum-ryeong. I'll give you some silver. Find the owner of these clothes.”
“Kui!”
Geum-ryeong sniffed the clothes and quickly disappeared.
* * *
The third branch of the Hao Clan in Hangzhou.
Cheong-pa was imprisoned in the underground prison there.
She didn't know that the Hao Clan would act so rashly.
The Hao Clan doesn't have strict rules for joining or leaving the organization.
That's because it's an information network made up mostly of lower-class people, such as courtesans and waiters.
Most of them can quit at any time and move to another place or find another job, so there aren't many restrictions.
Therefore, it was an unwritten rule of the Hao Clan not to prevent anyone from joining and not to hold anyone back from leaving.
That was why she couldn't understand why they used force to bring her here.
“I haven't heard anything about the Hao Clan changing their unwritten rules...”
Cheong-pa sighed.
She was worried about her own future, but she was more worried about the bodyguard who had been seriously injured fighting for her and the tavern staff who must have been very frightened.
“And I've caused trouble for Captain Eunseoho. If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have joined the Hao Clan in the first place.”
As she thought this, she smiled self-deprecatingly.
She later found out that
it was the same courtesan who introduced her to the Hao Clan, but in fact, that courtesan was working for the Hao Clan to lure her in.
In other words, the Hao Clan had been after her from the beginning. Even she could see that she was worth it.
“That's why they were so shocked when I said I was leaving.”
Anyway, there were many who wanted her, but she didn't like any of them.
They only wanted her for their own desires.
But Eun Seo-ho, who had taken over the tavern, was different.
There was no desire for her in his eyes.
His eyes were clear and calm.
He saw her only as a business partner, not as someone to fulfill his desires.
That was why she felt so sorry for herself.
“By now, Dong-ah must have told Captain Eun Seo-ho about me.”
She had no idea how Eun Seo-ho would react when he heard the news.
That was when it happened.
Thud.
Cheong-pa heard the sound of someone falling and looked up, startled.
“Ugh!”
“Who... Ugh!”
The sound of someone groaning and collapsing continued.
A moment later, a bright light shone into the darkness.
“You're here.”
“...!”
Cheongpa was startled. It was Eunseoho who appeared with the light.
“How did you get here?”
“I didn't tell you. I am very greedy. So once something is in my hands, I will never let it go. The same goes for you, Cheongpa Roo-jina.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the bars were cut as easily as if they were made of cloth.
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Crash!
With just two swings of his sword, all the bars were cut.
Eun Seo-ho held out his hand to Cheongpa and said,
“That's why I came to get what was mine. Let's go.”
What a confident smile.
Cheongpa reached out and took his hand.
* * *
I took Cheongpa Ruju back to Cheongpa-ru.
The tavern staff welcomed her with tears in their eyes.
“Are you all right?”
“I was worried about you.”
“I'm fine. But what about Dae-cheol?”
“Physician Jami treated him. Fortunately, he's out of danger and will be able to pick up his sword again if he focuses on his recovery.”
“I'm so glad.”
As I was watching the happy scene, Dong-ah So-i approached me.
“Thank you so much for helping our Lu-ju.”
“Please don't mention it. It was only natural for me to do this for my tavern.”
“Actually, many people say that, but few actually do it.”
Instead of answering, I just smiled.
“To be honest, I was very worried when Captain Lu said he was handing over this tavern to you. But now I see that it was an excellent choice.”
“Thank you for saying so.”
I said to him.
“I look forward to working with you in the future.”
“The honor is mine.”
“For your information, I have no intention of interfering with the management of this tavern. However, if anything like this happens again, please let me know immediately.”
“How can I contact you?”
“I will let you know soon. By the way, I have a question for you.”
He bowed his head and said, “Please go ahead.”
“Please tell me about the Hao Gate branch in Hangzhou and its branch manager.”
“Please tell me about the Hao Clan's Hangzhou branch and its branch manager.”
“What? Why would you want to know that...?”
“Not only did you threaten me, but you also laid your hands on my property. Naturally, I will demand compensation for my losses.”
I said with a smile.
“I intend to take everything you have.”