Chapter 414
Trading Company's Youngest Son Chapter 414
Chapter 414. The Long-Awaited Harvest (9)
Hong Mae-ru's introduction continued.
“This is a Palm print artisan.”
“My name is Yoo Cheon.”
“Nice to meet you.”
My eyes lit up at the words “Palm print artisan.”
The talent I had coveted while drinking tea earlier was none other than a palm print master.
He was an ordinary-looking man.
“Are you the master who made the moon tea?”
“Yes, I am.”
“It was really good tea. I thought only the moon tea here had a refreshing taste, but I didn't know the moon tea also had a refreshing taste.”
“You are too kind.”
“What do you put in the moon tea to make it so refreshing?”
“That's a secret...”
“I see. Then could you make some for me? I'd like to take some home with me.”
“Of course.”
After being introduced to the rest of the group, I finished my work and returned to the Cheongpa Tavern.
It was the tavern I got my hands on first, so I was using it as my office.
It didn't have as many rooms as an inn, but the tavern also had rooms.
Anyway, now that I've successfully acquired the tavern, where should I acquire tomorrow...
* *
Hao Clan Hangzhou Branch.
Branch Manager Yeon Yeon asked while biting her nails.
“So, did you send the report?”
“Yes, I sent it to headquarters.”
The person who answered him was the new Chief Administrator.
After Chief Administrator Huang An resigned, he had selected someone who seemed like he would listen to her well.
Yeon-yeon ended up falsifying part of the report.
However, it seemed that no one higher up had noticed, as everything was still quiet.
To be honest, Yeon-yeon knew that headquarters would not fail to notice it in the end.
The Hao Clan's hidden eyes and ears were all over the empire, so they must have been in Hangzhou as well.
However, she had a plan.
If headquarters reprimanded her, she would shift the blame to the Chief Administrator.
She continued reading the next document and crumpled it up.
It was about Eun Seo-ho recently acquiring the Moon Tavern.
“Damn it!”
Just then.
“Branch Chief! Branch Chief! The Elder is here.”
“What?”
She jumped up from her seat.
“So soon?”
With a pale face, she rushed out.
In front of her appeared a stern-looking old woman.
“Elder. Are you here?”
The Elder simply nodded in response to her greeting.
She immediately headed for the branch manager's office and gave an order.
“Bring me all the documents you've prepared over the past month.”
“What?”
“Can't you hear me? Bring me all the documents you've prepared over the past month!”
At her stern command, the chief administrator quickly gathered all the documents and brought them to her.
“Hmm...”
The old woman looked over the documents with a sharp gaze and stood up.
“Let's go to the safe.”
“...!”
At those words, Yeon-yeon's eyes trembled violently.
“Yes?”
“You've made me repeat myself twice.”
“I'm sorry.”
With that, they arrived at the safe.
“Open it.”
“...”
Yeon-yeon closed her eyes tightly and opened the safe.
After a moment, the Elder looked at the empty safe and asked without saying a word.
“Why did you write a false report?”
“It's because...”
“Let me say this first, don't blame the Chief Administrator. You need to know something to be able to write a false report. But you've only been the Chief Administrator for a short time, what do you know...”
Her plan exposed, Yeon-yeon bit her lip.
“....”
“This is your last warning. Don't make me repeat myself.”
“It was because of Captain Eun Seo-ho.”
She explained the whole story to the Elder.
Eun Seo-ho had broken into the branch office safe, causing the performance to drop.
She was afraid of being reprimanded, so she did this.
“As far as I know, he is not the type to steal from others. He is not called Seonhaengmi for nothing.”
“....”
“Tell me the truth. What did you do wrong?”
“That is....”
She hesitated again.
Sighing deeply, the Elder took a dagger from his robe and threw it without hesitation.
Thud!
“Aaah!”
Yeon-yeon screamed as the dagger suddenly pierced her leg.
“I guess my warning wasn't clear enough.”
“No, it's not that! I'm sorry.”
“I still have many daggers.”
In the end, Yeon-yeon had no choice but to confess everything to the Elder.
After hearing the whole story, the Elder glared at Yeon-yeon.
“Then why haven't you gone to apologize in person?”
“How can the branch chief of the Hao Clan go to a mere merchant to apologize?”
“Who did something wrong?”
“It was me.”
“But you have a silver tongue and are good at making excuses! How can a woman like you be a branch manager?”
The elder scolded him in a stern voice.
“Listen carefully. The branch manager's role is to ensure that the branch runs smoothly. Even if you get your hands dirty in the process, as long as the branch runs well, you will be considered a good branch manager. However, someone as arrogant and self-centered as you will be considered the worst branch manager.”
“...”
“In any case, you committed a serious offense by falsifying the report. You also ruined this branch. Therefore, we have decided to dismiss you from your position as branch manager.”
“What? That can't be! Please give me another chance!”
The elder held out his hand in exasperation.
“Stop talking and hand over your branch manager badge.”
“I can't! This is mine! I am the branch chief of Hangzhou!”
In response to her protest, the elder slapped her cheek.
“Aaah!”
“In the main text, false reporting is a serious crime punishable by death! I am not taking your life because I consider your hard work, but you don't even understand that!”
“...”
Before she knew it, the branch chief's badge was in the elder's hand. The elder had slapped Yeon-yeon's cheek and snatched her badge at the same time.
That alone was enough to show the elder's martial arts skills.
“Get out of here.”
At those words, Yeon-yeon realized that begging was useless.
She limped out of the Hangzhou branch, and the Elder looked at the people standing behind him and said.
“Is a child named Hong Ram here?”
A person came forward and prostrated himself in front of her.
“I am Hong Ram.”
“From now on, you are the branch chief of the Hangzhou branch.”
“What?”
“This is a decision made by the main branch, so do not refuse.”
The elder handed Hong Ram his branch director badge.
.
.
.
That night.
After being expelled from the Hangzhou branch, Yeon-yeon headed for Cheongpa-ru. She knew that Eun Seo-ho was staying there.
“It's all because of that bastard Eun Seo-ho! If he had come when I told him to come and accept my apology, we could have been fine.”
Filled with hatred for Eun Seo-ho, Yeon-yeon was blind to everything around her.
Now that things had come to this, she was determined to kill Eun Seo-ho herself. She was staring at Cheongpa-ru, wondering how she could lure him out, when suddenly...
“Are you the branch chief, Yeon-yeon?”
Startled by the voice, she turned around to see a man looking at her.
To be precise, a masked man was standing in front of her.
“What... What is this... Guh!”
She couldn't finish her sentence. The masked man's sword had pierced her stomach.
“I have a request. To kill you.”
“Who... Who sent you?”
“Do you remember the courtesan whose face you disfigured?”
“...!”
“Go to the underworld and apologize to my sister.”
Slashing!
With those words, her neck fell to the ground and rolled across the floor.
The world turned upside down.
That was the last thing Yeon-yeon saw.
* * *
After eating breakfast, I was standing on the pavilion looking at the scenery of Seoho when Chief Administrator Hwang An approached me.
“Have you eaten?”
“Yes, it was delicious.”
“I heard from one of my subordinates that Yeon Yeon was dismissed yesterday and a man named Hong Ram became the new branch manager.”
As expected, nothing has changed from my previous life.
He was expelled exactly as I intended.
By the way, she will not be remorseful, but will be plotting revenge against me. I wonder what she will do.
At that moment, the waiter Dong-ah came running.
“Captain! I have urgent news.”
“Speak slowly.”
“Hoo, the branch chief Yeon-yeon is dead.”
“What? Branch Manager Yeon-yeon is dead?”
“Yes. She was found dead nearby. It seems she died last night, but it's such a remote place that she wasn't discovered until now.”
“...”
She died earlier than in my previous life.
Last time, she was killed by one of her subordinates, but who killed her this time?
In any case, his fate to be killed remains unchanged.
That is why he should have lived well.
I do not feel sorry for her death because she was not a woman who deserved it.
While gathering information this time, I learned a lot about her.
In a nutshell, she was greedy and self-centered.
So she was kicked out of her position as branch manager and came to Cheongpa-ru to harm me, only to be killed?
Given the circumstances, there seemed to be no other possibility.
By the way...
“You said that the branch manager was kicked out of her position yesterday, right? She wouldn't have given up so easily... Did anyone from the Hao Clan come?”
“You noticed, as expected. The Third Elder himself came.”
“...”
I was taken aback for a moment.
The Third Elder himself came? Why would that old man come himself?
There were five elders in the Hao Clan, all of them masters at the peak of their powers.
Come to think of it, I had met the Third Elder in my previous life.
She would probably come looking for me soon.
.
.
.
Less than an hour later, Elder Sam visited Cheongpa-ru.
“Welcome. I am Eun Seo-ho, the captain of the Eunhae Trading Company.”
“You seem to know me.”
“Yes. Aren't you Elder Sam of the Hao Clan?”
“You are indeed the Captain of the Eunhae Trading Company!”
“You flatter me.”
“Then you know why I'm here.”
“Yes.”
She looked at me for a moment, then bowed her head and gave me a clasped hands greeting.
“I sincerely apologize for what the main branch did to threaten you and even try to harm you.”
I knew she would say that.
The Third Elder is even more frightening because of his kindness.
“It's not much, but please accept this token.”
She handed me a round token.
“What is this?”
“It is a token of my promise to provide you with any information you desire, free of charge.”
She is sincere.
“So will you forgive me?”
“How can I not forgive you when you say so?”
“Then will you help us so that the Hangzhou branch can operate normally?”
“I will.”
“Thank you.”
“By the way, I heard that the branch's safe was completely emptied. There is no evidence pointing to you, but all the circumstances point to you. What method did you use?”
I did not answer and only smiled.
Any answer would be an admission that I was the culprit.
“...You're not falling for it.”
I changed the subject.
“Please ask the new branch manager to stop by here. I think I can help him.”
.
.
.
That evening, another guest visited Cheongpa-ru.
I couldn't help but smile at the familiar face.
It was Hong Ram, the new Hangzhou branch manager.
We introduced ourselves and exchanged a few words.
“There is a reason I asked you to come here. Would you take a look down there?”
I pointed to the carts filled with something.
Hong Ram tilted his head in confusion.
“What is that?”
“Information.”
“What?”
“This is information we purchased under the name of Cheongpa-ru. This should fill in the gaps in our information.”
“You're just going to give it to us?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the money used to purchase this information belongs to the Hao Clan's Hangzhou branch.”
“Ahem!”
“We were just doing what the Hao Clan should have been doing.”
I smiled and said.
“So you don't have to thank us.”
.
.
.
Hong Ram returned to the Hangzhou branch with the help of the waiters at Cheongpa-ru.
Geum-ryung, who was watching from the railing, ran up to me.
“Kui!”
She had returned the Hao Clan's money from my bag as I had asked.
“Did you do well?”
“Kui!”
“Here's your reward.”
I gave Geum-ryung a silver coin, and she quickly took it.
Thus, my business with the Hao Clan was concluded.
By the way, June was already halfway over.
I had to hurry up and finish my work in Hangzhou and go to Liaoning.
Bok-Yoon's marriage was coming up soon.
He gave me a wedding invitation, so he would be disappointed if I didn't go.
Even if that weren't the case, he was a dear friend.
Of course, I had to go and congratulate him.
The next morning.
I was faced with an unexpected situation. A dozen people came to Cheongpa-ru.
They were all well-dressed, but their faces showed signs of anxiety.
“What brings you here?”
At my question, they looked at each other, then bowed their heads and shouted.
“We have a favor to ask! Please take over our tavern!”
“Take over my brothel!”
“There's even a three-story inn here!”
“...”
I was speechless.
So... they came to me to ask me to take over their business?
I thought they would willingly sell their business, but I didn't expect them to come to me and beg me to buy it.
“I can trust you with the tavern.”
“I have to sell it to someone who loves Hangzhou like you!”
I was trying to make a good impression, but it seemed like I made a better impression than I thought.