Chapter 85
The Youngest Son of the Silver Sea Trading Company Chapter 85
Chapter 85. Bokshireung (1)
There was a royal decree that anyone who copied a style book would be punished by death.
However, humans are foolish creatures who always do stupid things when there is profit to be made, so a measure was put in place to prevent this.
I smiled.
“Pass.”
Pal-gap replied to my words.
“Then is the inspection over?”
“No.”
“What else is there?”
I stood up and replied to Pal-gap's question.
“We need to check the books.”
The inspection always ends with checking the books.
A moment later.
I arrived in front of the Trading Company.
As I approached the gate, the gatekeeper asked politely.
“Where are you from?”
“I am Eun Seo-ho, the head of the Eunhae Trading Company. I would like to see the captain.”
.
.
.
“You came without notice! I'm surprised.”
The captain of the Trading Company came toward me almost running.
“It's been a long time.”
It hadn't been that long. We had met three months ago at a meeting.
“I apologize for visiting without an appointment, but I had no choice as I am here to inspect the sale of writing brushes.”
I said bluntly.
“I would like to see your books.”
Selling writing machines is a hassle for salt retailers.
However, they were not reluctant to sell them.
It was profitable for them.
Even if they sold them at a lower price than expected, they still made a profit, and there was only one place in the province that sold writing machines.
Therefore, they sold a lot and made a lot of profit.
Demand still exceeded supply.
I followed the captain into a building.
“I apologize for making such a request as soon as I saw you.”
“Not at all. It's your job, so how can I blame you? But you must be tired from your journey. Are you sure you're okay?”
“I'm fine.”
Actually, I am a little tired.
The trip from Hubei to Shaanxi was comfortable, but I had a hard time getting to Shaanxi.
And riding a horse for two days straight is hard work.
But since I'm already here, I have to do a thorough job, so I can't rest and have to go look at the books.
Inside the building, countless people were sitting and writing something down.
“There are quite a lot of ledgers...”
I saw a bookshelf that took up an entire wall.
Half of the bookshelf was filled with something.
“Those are all ledgers.”
“I see.”
That means my aide and I have to look through all of them.
“I'll have dinner brought here tonight.”
“No, that won't be necessary.”
Even though we had a huge amount of ledgers to look through, my assistant and I looked relaxed.
“We'll finish before dinner.”
This was a piece of cake.
.
.
.
That afternoon, at the end of the hour of the rooster (5:00-7:00 p.m.).
Bang.
I closed the last ledger.
Finally, the inspection was over.
“Finally... it's over.”
Thud.
The female officer's aide banged his head against the back cover of the ledger.
I signaled to Pal-gap, and he grabbed the female officer's aide by the shoulders and helped him up.
“You can't stay here.”
“Ugh...”
“You should eat dinner and go to your lodgings to rest.”
At that moment, someone entered the building where we were, which was a building built to sell writing brushes.
He was the son of the captain of the Trading Company and was gaining experience as a traveling salesman.
His name was Woo Se-kyung.
He was 23 years old, one year older than Jung-ho.
“I heard you were here.”
“Ah! Long time no see.”
I greeted him warmly.
I had seen him at the last meeting.
“What are your plans for dinner?”
I stood up and replied to his question.
“I just finished checking the accounts, so let's eat together.”
“Already?”
Seeing his surprised expression, I handed him the scroll.
“Here are some points that need improvement.”
Woo Se-kyung took the scroll and unfolded it.
I could see from the movement of his eyes that he was reading it.
“....”
His eyes grew wider and wider.
“It's true.”
“I don't lie about things like this.”
“I will report this to my father.”
Then he continued.
“Let me show you to your lodgings first.”
The lodgings provided by the Trading Company were better than expected.
It seemed that they had given us the largest room among the rooms prepared for guests.
When looking straight ahead, the room on the left was for the bodyguards.
The room on the right was for Pal-gap and Yeo-chang's aides, and next to that was the room for Bae Cheol-go, the military commander.
I sat on the bed and sighed.
I'm really tired.
Still, I had to eat dinner before going to bed.
It's hard enough as it is, and I'd feel miserable if I went to bed hungry.
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.
.
After dinner, I took out a map from my bag.
It was a map of Shaanxi Province.
The place I had to go to rescue Boo-shin-ryeong was a forest.
To be precise, it was Jongnam Mountain.
My plan was as follows.
First, I would stay at an inn nearby.
There happened to be a reliable inn there.
I planned to leave my companions there and go alone.
Rescuing Boo-shin-ryeong was something I had to do alone. It was a personal favor that had been done for me.
I didn't want to force others to join me and cause them trouble.
Furthermore, Boo-shin-ryeong was an elixir.
If it becomes known that I have it, and if it becomes known that it is in Jongnam Mountain, there will be a bloodbath.
Just like in my life.
To prevent that, I had to keep it a secret from as many people as possible.
.
.
.
Two days later.
We left Ui Sangdan.
Except for a few minor issues, there were no problems.
To be honest, problems such as the ledger being difficult to read were not a big deal.
That's why the Trading Company saw us off with smiles, and we were able to leave with smiles as well.
A few days later.
We arrived at the inn I had been aiming for.
The Yeochun Inn.
The owner of the inn, named after spring, was a young and beautiful woman, but she was no ordinary person.
Her true identity was Padu Pa.
She was an old woman who used her tremendous inner arts to maintain her beauty.
In other words, she was a formidable martial artist.
That was why this inn was safe.
“Welcome.”
“We're planning to stay for a couple of days.”
“That's fine.”
She welcomed us kindly.
“How many rooms would you like?”
“Four should be enough.”
One for me, one for Pal-gap, one for Ye-chang's assistant, and two for the guards.
I'm taking one room because I have to sneak out.
But...
Surely Pal-gap won't notice this time.
.
.
.
...That's what I thought just a few hours ago.
Pal-gap caught me trying to sneak out.
I didn't think he would notice, but he did.
How did he know?
More importantly, how am I going to convince him?
“Young master, you mustn't do this.”
“I'm sorry.”
I decided to tell him the truth.
“You know that Lady Hong Geum-so's husband is on his deathbed, right?”
“Yes, I know.”
“You also know how much I owe Lady Hong Geum-so for her kindness, right?”
“What does that have to do with you trying to sneak out?”
“Be quiet and listen.”
“Yes, sir.”
I continued.
“I want to repay Hong Geum-so, but what would make her happiest right now?”
“For her husband to... get better?”
“Exactly.”
“But you said that the physician said he would be able to get up in a few months.”
“Will that really be enough?”
“Yes?”
“What did Mrs. Hong's husband do originally?”
“He was an escort for an escort agency.”
“He was so active, how painful must it be for him to be unable to use his martial arts skills?”
“Still, we should be grateful that he is alive, shouldn't we?”
“If people could live in satisfaction, why would there be merchants like us?”
“That's true.”
Pal-gap looked embarrassed, and I continued.
“That's why I'm going to find a magic potion so that your husband can learn martial arts again.”
“Even if that's true, do you know where to find the elixir?”
“I do.”
I smiled.
That was the reason I came to Shaanxi as soon as I heard the news that the Shaolin Temple's Master Isshin had entered Chapter.
That's because around this time, the Fuxiling was found in Zhongnan Mountain.
The person who found the Fuxiling was the heir to a trading company who had lost his way.
He found the Fuxiling and took it with him.
After that, it fell into the wrong hands.
A member of the Blood Cult ate it.
The masters of the White Dao managed to knock him down, cut his tendons, and destroy his qi center, then imprisoned him.
They didn't kill him because there was a reason they couldn't kill him yet.
Or maybe they couldn't kill him easily.
The problem is that a disciple of the Blood Cult stole the Fuxiling and fed it to his master.
How much blood did that man, who had returned to his body from ten years ago, shed for revenge?
Not only the Silver Sea Trading Company, but the entire Central Plains were frozen in fear.
Later, the successor of the trading company spoke of what had happened and regretted taking the Fuxingling, but it was already too late.
And thanks to that, I know where to find the Fuxingling this time.
But I can't tell Pal-gap the truth.
I trust Pal-gap, but if I tell him the truth, he will definitely force me to lie down on a bed and call a physician.
“Do you remember the secret warehouse in Shaanxi that we found this time?”
“Of course. There was a tremendous amount of treasure there.”
“I found it there. It was a book with the location marked in it.”
“Let me see that book.”
“It's gone. I read it, and it disappeared like smoke.”
“What do you mean?”
“It was a book about elixirs.”
“...Is that so?”
Pal-gap scratched his cheek.
“So, I'll be back soon. Don't worry.”
“Then I'll come with you…”
“The bodyguards will find out. We need to keep this as quiet as possible.”
“Don't you trust them? They are bodyguards who exist to protect you.”
“I trust them. Why wouldn't I? But I don't want them to be in danger because of me. I don't want them to suffer.”
“...”
“So I'll go by myself.”
“...”
Just then.
Bang!
The door to the room I was in opened, and people I didn't expect came in.
They were the bodyguards Yeo Eung-am and Lee Pil.
“We cannot allow that.”
“That's right.”
“What?”
“We appreciate your concern for us, but we are your bodyguards.”
“The duty of a bodyguard is to protect their liege with their life.”
Did they hear everything?
When I looked at Pal-gap, he awkwardly turned his head away.
“Pal-gap?”
“I don't know anything about this.”
“Ha…”
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.
.
In the end, contrary to my plan, there were only three of us who went to find Bok-shin-ryeong.
Musha Yeo-eung and Musha Lee Pil joined me, while Pal-gap and Yeo Chang's second-in-command decided to stay at the inn with two other musha from Eunpungdae.
Jongnam Mountain was a dangerous place for those who were not skilled in martial arts.
* * *
At the foot of Jongnam Mountain.
There was a young man dressed in shabby clothes.
If you looked closely, you could see that his clothes were shabby because he had been through a lot, such as rolling down a cliff.
He was wearing clothes made of what seemed to be good silk.
The young man wiped the sweat from his brow.
He had come here because he had something to find.
He had to find it...
At that moment, he felt a chill run down his spine. He slowly turned around.
“...!”
A large beast was staring at him.
It was a tiger.
“Oh no!”
He drew the sword at his waist.
However, he had only learned how to defend himself and had no real combat experience, so his hands trembled.
Ta-ah!
In an instant, the tiger pounced on him.
That was his last memory.
“Are you okay?”
He opened his eyes. He saw an incredibly handsome man.
So he muttered without realizing it.
“Shin-san?”
* * *
I entered Jongnam Mountain with two bodyguards.
It is no exaggeration to say that Jongnam Mountain is mostly made of rocks.
Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that the martial arts of the Zhongnan Sect were created based on the heaviness and immovability of these rocks.
We used our divine technique to climb the mountain.
Then, while we were taking a break, we sensed someone's presence.
“Liege, there's someone there.”
“...Let's go see.”
We had to identify the person in the depths of the mountain in order to prepare ourselves.
However, we weren't the only ones who had business with that person.
A large tiger was targeting him.
He was clearly not a martial artist, just an ordinary young man.
I made a decision.
“Let's save him.”
“Understood.”
The young man fainted and collapsed, and the tiger opened its mouth.
We swung our swords at the tiger.
“Ah! We have to sell its skin, so let's be careful.”
“Understood.”
A moment later.
As we were about to move on to kill the tiger and have lunch, the young man we had saved opened his eyes.
“Are you conscious?”
But
“Sir?”
The young man opened his eyes and spoke nonsense.
“Will he come to his senses if we slap him on the cheek?”
The warrior Yeong-eung answered my question.
“It's possible.”
At that moment, the young man quickly shouted.
“I'm fine!”