Chapter 454
The Youngest Son of the Silver Sea Trading Company Chapter 454
Chapter 454. The Time of Reward (1)
“Father, are we really penniless?”
Ha-chul couldn't answer his son's question and bit his lip.
“You have some emergency money hidden away, don't you? If you do, give it to me. I promised the kids we'd go to the amusement park today. Would you feel good seeing your son embarrassed like this?”
Haechul yelled at his son for his ridiculous demand.
“Shut up! What emergency money? There's no such thing!”
“Are you sure you don't have any?”
“If you have any emergency money, give it to me!”
“Where would I have something like that?”
Like his father, the son was also a spendthrift.
As an only child, he had been raised with great care, but it had always been said that children are a reflection of their parents.
“You have Jang-soo. Why don't you ask him for some money?”
Hae-chul quickly covered his mouth.
“Shh! Don't tell anyone that you know Jang-soo.”
“Why?”
“Just do as I say!”
“Ugh, you're so annoying!”
“You're the one who's annoying!”
“Why are you yelling at our son?”
Soon, his wife joined in and pushed him away.
“Is it right for you to yell like that? You told me to trust you! What is this?”
“Really! Why are you doing this to me?”
Shouting, he left the room.
His family still didn't understand the situation and were only attacking him, which made him so angry that he was ready to explode.
But he soon realized his situation.
He wanted to spend money recklessly to get rid of his dirty feelings, but he had no money.
“Damn it! Damn it! Aaaah!”
After venting his anger for a while, he felt a little calmer.
However, he still had no idea how he was going to live.
“Who are you? Aren't you Chairman Hae?”
At that moment, a stranger approached him.
“Who... are you?”
“I'm sorry. We've had a few drinks together...”
“I'm sorry.”
In fact, he had drunk with so many people that he couldn't remember everyone. When you drink recklessly at a tavern, you end up drinking with strangers.
Recently, however, he hadn't been able to drink because of the prohibition.
“It's okay.”
The man smiled indifferently and fanned himself with a fan.
He looked familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had met him before.
“By the way, do you live in this village?”
“No, I live in Beijing. I'm just passing through on my way to Shaolin Temple.”
“Is that so?”
“Is something wrong?”
Haichul quickly thought about what to say.
Judging from his clothes, he seemed to be from a wealthy family, and from his reaction, it seemed that they had drunk together many times before.
“This is a good opportunity!”
He smiled gently and said.
"I'm glad we met. Actually, it's about the money for the drinks we had together. The truth is, we were supposed to pay for our own drinks. I paid for your drinks too. So, I was wondering if you could pay me back now?“
Of course, this could damage their relationship and turn them into enemies.
But he needed the money right now.
”What are you talking about? I paid for all the drinks we had.“
”...Huh?"
A completely unexpected answer.
“Every time we met, you said you left your wallet behind, so I offered to pay. If you add up all the drinks, it comes to about twenty silver coins.”
“Is that so?”
“And I still have the note you wrote saying you would pay me back someday...”
“...!”
“If you want, I can send someone to Beijing to bring it back.”
I seized the opportunity to ask, but he was not soft prey, but a hard piece of metal.
I could hear the sound of my teeth breaking.
“Is that necessary? I must have misunderstood. Heh heh.”
“Well, since we've met, let's have a cup of tea.”
***
I took Hae-chul and headed for a nearby tavern.
By the way, who is this guy trying to rip off?
It was obvious that he was trying to figure out how to get money out of me.
He probably did the same thing to Song, the chairman who took his sister as a concubine, when she died.
Try it a hundred times.
You won't get anywhere.
Why did I bring Hae-chul here with my face covered like this?
It was to get rid of him from this village.
As I scratched his itchy spot, he began to talk freely about his situation.
“Oh no! Does that mean all your land and houses have been seized?”
“That's right. I have to pay back 30,000 nyang to get them back.”
“That's a difficult situation.”
“On top of that, I don't even have enough money to eat. I'm in big trouble.”
I pretended to think about it for a moment, then made a suggestion.
“Don't you have a wife's family?”
“Huh? My wife's family?”
“Yes. To be honest, someone like you, Chairman, must have given your wife's family a lot of help, right? Then, it should be okay for you to stay with them for a while.”
My words made his eyes light up.
“Yes! That's right! How much money have I taken from my wife's family?”
As I expected, his face immediately lit up.
According to Pal-gap's investigation, Hae-cheol's in-laws live in Gaebong. It's not that far away, but it's still quite a distance from Sori, so it's not easy to get there.
Especially if you're penniless.
“Well, I have to go now.”
“Thank you. Take care.”
With that, I left.
Goodbye. Let's not meet again. And don't come looking for me.
A few days later, Pal-gap, who had gone down to the village, came back with some interesting news.
“Young master! Young master!”
“What is it?”
“I heard that Hae-jang-ju went to his wife's house.”
“Really? That's good.”
In this way, I dealt with the problem of Jang-soo.
To be honest, I wanted to destroy him, but I didn't.
That would have been more humiliating for him.
His son-in-law, who had been living a luxurious life, had lost everything and moved in with his wife's family.
Would any of his in-laws welcome him?
Moreover, even Hae-cheol's wife ignored him, so there was no way his in-laws would respect him.
He would be treated like a nuisance and bullied.
Just like the monk Jisang had been.
What's more, he had been unpleasant to his in-laws, so he had only himself to blame.
“And the rumor I spread is spreading very naturally.”
“Oh... really?”
I spread a new rumor a while ago.
The rumor is that Hae-cheol spat on the body of the monk Hae-gon-seong on his way to Shaolin Temple and was severely punished.
Half of the rumors are unfounded.
However, when rumors pile up, they can create a real tiger.
It seems that the rumor is already having an effect, as letters from people who want to pay their respects are pouring in.
Well, it's better to reveal it to everyone like this, even if only for security reasons.
.
.
.
A few days later, the young monk who served the Abbot came to see me.
He finally called me.
I followed the young monk to the abbot's room.
“Amitabha. I'm sorry for calling you so late.”
“No, it's fine.”
“So, did you have fun?”
Ah... As expected of the abbot. He knows everything.
I pretended not to know and took a sip of tea.
“Hurok.”
“I am grateful.”
“Ahem, yes?”
To be honest, I thought he would scold me for being too harsh...
But there was a faint smile on the Abbot's lips.
“Jisang is a good disciple. But his karma is so heavy that it pains me to see him suffer.”
“Then why didn't you intervene?”
To be honest, if the Abbot had intervened, the matter could have been easily resolved.
But he didn't.
“Everything happens at the right time. And the reason you came here is because the time was right.”
The Abbot drank his tea and continued in a calm tone.
“And even if I had intervened, the problem would not have been fundamentally resolved.”
“....
Well, the Abbot is right.
”And thanks to you, the body of Abbot Hyejin is safe. Jisang told me that it was all thanks to you.“
”Did Jisang tell you everything?"
He nodded in response to my question.
To be honest, it is too burdensome and difficult to tell the truth about what happened.
However, Jijang confessed everything.
He is more virtuous than I thought.
“That is why I am even more grateful to you. Thanks to your help, Jijang was able to refrain from doing such a thing.”
“...I just didn't like the situation.”
“Is that so?”
“But may I ask why you refer to the Grand Master as his Dharma name rather than his secular name?”
Strangely, only the Abbot referred to the Grand Master as Hyejin rather than his secular name.
“Isn't that natural? He is a disciple of Shaolin. Is it strange to call a disciple of Shaolin by his Dharma name?”
In other words, Abbot respects his identity as a disciple of Shaolin.
“That was a silly question.”
“No, it's okay. It's natural to be curious.”
Then from now on, I'll call you Master Hyejin...
Hmm, to me, you're just a senior martial artist, so I'll just call you Master Hyegon.
“By the way, I called you here because of the reward I mentioned earlier.”
All right! It's time for my reward!
Abbot took the box that was next to him and handed it to me.
“Here you are.”
I took it and opened it. Inside were six Danwan.
“Just in case, these are not Great Cycle Pills or Summoning Pills.”
“Of course. I wouldn't even dream of such a thing.”
Those are treasures of the Shaolin Temple.
“However, these pills are still considered magical medicine. They will be very helpful for your inner arts training. There is only one condition.”
“What is that?”
“They don't go well with cold inner arts.”
“I see.”
I thought I knew why the Abbot was giving this to me.
He was giving it to me for my future.
“By the way, what are these pills called?”
“They are called Geumgangjeonghwandan.”
“Guh!”
I couldn't help but choke on the name.
Geumgangjeonghwan is just one rank below the summoning pill.
No matter how great my achievement was, why would he give me six of these?
“Are you sure it's okay?”
“It's fine. But aren't you being too generous?”
“What are you talking about? Thanks to you, countless disciples' lives were saved, and the pride of Ssangyong Temple was preserved. What's that compared to that?”
When you put it that way, I feel like I deserve this, but...
I made up my mind.
I would never tell the bodyguards what this pill was when I gave it to them.
It would be a waste if they choked on it.
I calmed myself down and said to the Abbot.
“I'm sorry to ask, but may I ask you one favor?”
“What is it?”
I took out the box I had brought with me, opened the lid, and handed it to him.
“It's gukyeopja sam.”
When the Abbot saw it, his eyes were filled with surprise.
But why did he keep looking at me instead of looking at the ginseng?
“I didn't think you would show this to me.”
Ah, the Abbot knew that I had gotten this. He just thought that I would swallow it.
No, Abbot.
I don't eat things that don't belong to me.
I smiled and continued.
“This belongs to the monk Jijin. It is simply the materialization of his mother's sacrifice.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. That is why I would like to give this to the monk Jijin. And I would like the Abbot to help me with my inner arts training after the monk Jijin has eaten this.”
“Is that your request?”
“Yes.”
“What if I refuse?”
Without hesitation, I handed the golden ring back to the Abbot and said, “I will give you this in return.”
The Abbot coughed in response to my answer.
“You have a talent for embarrassing people. I was just joking.”
“You have a talent for embarrassing people. I was just joking.”
“Is that so? You sounded so serious, I didn't realize.”
However, it was clear that he had just tested me.
He must have been testing the sincerity of my heart.
“All right. I will do as you ask.”
“Thank you.”
“However, there is someone else who will help you with your inner arts training.”
“What?”
I asked without thinking, but I soon realized who he was referring to.
There is another master of the Chapter in Shaolin Temple besides the Abbot.
He is currently in voluntary seclusion, however.
“I have one more question.”
“What is it?”
“What are you going to do with the body of Master Hyejin, also known as Master Hyeokgon?”
“I plan to leave it as it is. Thanks to you, we will find out who the enemy of Soryu Temple is.”
The Abbot's eyes were cold as he said this.
“That answers my question. Thank you for answering my foolish question. I will take my leave now. I apologize for troubling you.”
“Thank you for your time. Take care on your way back.”
I left the Abbot's room.
Now, I had to start preparing for my trip to Beijing.
By the way, Hae-chul and his family must have arrived at his in-laws' house by now. I wonder if they are doing well.