Laying The Groundwork

— Crackle. Crackle.

Charcoal burned in the bronze brazier set in one corner of the room, and its heat filled the air with a comfortable warmth. My mother lifted the teapot and poured tea into the cups on the table.

— Trickle.

Steam curled up out of the cup, and a faint scent of flower and fruit brushed past my nose. The smell alone was enough to tell me what tea it was.

Biluochun.

My mother had always been fond of it. In my past life at Blood Sand Plain, whenever I missed her badly enough to ache, this was the taste I had paid the Golden Carriage’s steep prices for.

I lifted the cup and took a mouthful of the Biluochun.

— Sip.

A familiar taste, and one I had missed. Flower and fruit came first, and once it had gone down my throat a faint sweetness stayed behind, lifting my mood with it. My father must have been satisfied as well, because he gave a small nod, and my mother set the teapot down with a smile.

This is good.

This ordinary hour, sitting across from my parents and drinking tea, felt like a dream. In my past life I had wanted exactly this, and it was the one thing that never came true. My father died, I was dragged off to the hell of Blood Sand Plain, and I had been certain I would never see a scene like this again as long as I lived.

My chest filled past the brim and something rose in my throat. Longing and gladness, guilt and regret came rolling in like waves, a thousand feelings at once.

I will not… let it slip away again.

I would protect my family and my house without fail, so that this peaceful moment would never be broken. With the warmth of the cup in my hand, I swore it to myself once more: what happened in my past life would never repeat itself.

For a while the three of us savored the scent of the tea without speaking. Then my father set his cup down and broke the silence.

“Has anything happened while I was away?”

My mother looked at me and smiled.

“It has. There is quite the cause for celebration.”
“Hm?”
“Our Mujin has gone and done a great thing.”

My mother pointed at me, pride in her eyes. I glanced away, embarrassed, and she gave a quiet laugh and went on.

“Would you believe Mujin sold the lightning-struck jujube wood for a hundred taels of gold?”
“Truly?”
“And that is not all. He gave me half of it, fifty taels of gold, and told me to put it toward the household — is that not admirable of him?”
“Hm.”

My father nodded and looked at me with approval.

“You rascal. You are all grown now.”
“Thank you, Father.”

At my father’s praise, I found myself smiling. In my past life he had always watched me in silence, and perhaps all he had ever wanted was for me to stand up on my own, exactly as I had now.

“That is not all, either.”

She added, her voice more excited still.

“He has won a great contract with the Shandong Escort Bureau.”
“The one with Jo Mansik as its bureau head?”

My father’s eyebrows twitched. He was plainly startled that we had come by a connection with the foremost escort bureau in Shandong.

“Yes. The medicine made by the man Mujin brought home saved the bureau head’s son. Thanks to that, Bureau Head Jo came all this way himself, signed a contract, and left.”
“Is that so? Hm…”

A low sound came out of my father’s throat, as though he could hardly believe it.

The reaction was only natural. Jo Mansik, the head of the Shandong Escort Bureau, was famous for being hard to please, and my father knew perfectly well that he would not treat a business contract lightly, benefactor of his son or not. A man like that coming in person to sign the contract himself was reason enough to be stunned.

“Mujin. What in the world is this medicine the man you brought made?”
“Healing pills and wound salve.”
“Those are as common as medicines come.”
“They are. But their potency is beyond anything on the market. They may fall short of the elixir pills of the famous sects, but I am confident they stand comparison with them.”

Myself included, countless men at Blood Sand Plain had owed their lives to Doctor Yu’s medicine. That the man can make medicine like this out of common herbs is simply extraordinary.

My father nodded at the certainty in my answer.

“If it works that well, no wonder Bureau Head Jo wanted it. But you say you brought the man who makes it here yourself?”
“Yes. His name is Yu Baegun.”
“What sort of man is he?”

He asked it looking straight into my eyes. It was not that he doubted my judgment; the question carried trust, and he put it to me so that he would know a man newly taken into the house. My father was the same now as he had always been.

“He is a man who wandered the gangho practicing medicine. The contract with the head of the Shandong Escort Bureau came about thanks to what he makes as well. He has a sick daughter, and the two of them are staying in the guest hall at present.”
“Hm…”

For a moment he sank into thought.

“I have watched him at close hand, and he is a man of a very upright nature. His daughter is well-mannered too, and she gets on well with Hayul.”

That was my mother, adding her voice to mine from beside me, and at last my father spoke.

“Very well. I will trust your judgment, so let them stay on as guests, in comfort, just as they are.”
“Thank you for allowing it.”

I bowed my head respectfully.

Then my mother, who had been listening quietly all the while, cut in out of nowhere.

“Dear. So my judgment is not to be trusted, then?”

At the unexpected, mischievous jab, my father’s eyes visibly wavered. Even the Iron Lion himself, it seemed, was defenseless against an attack from his wife.

“How could I not know that my wife’s judgment is the finest in the world?”
“You are quite sure?”
“It is.”

His throat must have gone dry; he cleared it and drank his tea down, and my mother, satisfied, covered her mouth with her sleeve and laughed. Seeing the two of them so at ease together, the corners of my mouth lifted before I knew it.

My father, changing the subject, turned back to me.

“So what split of the profits did you settle on with the Shandong Escort Bureau?”
“Seven to three.”
“Three parts in ten… Not bad for a start.”

My mother and I burst out laughing at the same time. My father looked between the two of us, puzzled, and my mother waved a hand and put him right.

“Dear, it is the other way around.”
“The other way around?”
“It is Mujin who takes the seven, and the head of the Shandong Escort Bureau who takes the three.”
“…What?”

My father’s eyes went twice their usual size. With the Shandong Escort Bureau’s name and distribution behind it, three parts in ten would already have been a fine gain for us; that we were taking seven instead was more than enough to shock him.

“Mujin. Is what your mother says really true?”
“Yes. It is as Mother says — I am to take seven parts in ten of the profits.”
“Hah.”

A disbelieving laugh escaped him, and he marveled over it again and again.

“To draw seven parts in ten out of that hard-nosed Bureau Head Jo… There is nothing ordinary about your skill.”
“I was only lucky.”
“Most men cannot catch hold of even that much luck. You have grown past recognition while I was gone.”

Something in my chest ached at my father’s honest praise.

A whole day full of my father’s praise.

That such a day would come.

My heart pounded with the swell of it. They were only a few words, but to me they were worth more than any treasure. A shiver went through me at praise I could not have heard in my past life however much I wanted it, praise that had taken more than ten long years to reach me.

I was glad, and glad again.

But I could not let myself grow content here. Like water drunk at the end of a long thirst, my father’s praise only left me thirstier. A greed welled up in me to hear it more often, and to hear more of it. The wish to become a son he could be proud of turned desperate.

Watch me, Father.

I pressed the swelling feeling down and clenched my fist. And for that, the first thing I needed was to bring Duho here.

“Father, there is something more I would say.”
“Speak.”
“I intend to make a trip to Guantao, in Hebei Province.”
“Guantao? That is a fair distance, is it not? What business takes you there?”
“I mean to buy the herbs we need for the healing pills and wound salve we will be making. The apothecaries around Qingzhou alone will not be enough to meet the volume in the Shandong Escort Bureau contract.”
“Guantao is too far. There are large apothecaries in the nearer cities as well; I will recommend you a few of them.”

I knew he would say that. Small as it was, the escort bureau was his own; of course he knew the country around us, and I had expected him to know a fair number of apothecaries. So I gave the excuse I had prepared in advance.

“Doctor Yu knows an apothecary in Guantao, and he says there is a special ingredient kept only there that he must have.”

Faced with the insistence of the man who made the medicine, even my father had no further grounds to object. My guess had hit the mark.

“If it is for the herbs, then you must go. A promise made to a business partner is never to be treated lightly.”
“I will keep it in mind.”
“Well then. When do you mean to set out?”
“I will leave first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Very well.”

I made my farewells to my parents and left the room.

Ju Cheolsan came running to the inner quarters in a single breath at the news that Yang Taejun was back.

“Brother! It’s Cheolsan!”
“Come in.”

Inside the room, Yang Taejun and his wife, Yi Cheongran¹, were drinking tea. Ju Cheolsan took a seat and asked warmly.

“Did the escort run finish safely?”
“It did.”
“They say the bandit packs are swarming these days, but it seems even they tuck their tails in front of the Iron Lion.”
“Now, now. What nonsense the man talks.”

The two of them, meeting after a long parting, drank their tea and talked at their ease. They spoke a good while about what had happened on the escort run, and then Ju Cheolsan brought something up as though it had just struck him.

“Brother, I hear you had a sparring match with Mujin the moment you arrived.”
“I did.”
“The boy’s changed a great deal, hasn’t he?”

Yang Taejun nodded slowly at the question.

“His fundamentals are very solid. His handling of internal energy is not bad either.”
“You’ve no idea how hard the boy worked while you were away, Brother. He never let a single day go to waste. Running and swinging that spear every day — the will in it was truly something.”
“Hm.”

Yang Taejun made a low sound in his throat and took a mouthful of tea. Ju Cheolsan went on.

“Honestly, at first I thought he’d keep it up a few days and drop it. Everyone’s like that at his age, aren’t they? You want to try this and that, you catch fire over something easily and then go off it just as fast.”
“So it goes.”
“But I was completely wrong. Mujin never wavered, not once. He repeated that hard, dull fundamentals training in silence, and never missed a day of it.”

Ju Cheolsan added, admiration mixed into his voice.

“I worried his drifting might drag on, and it was worry for nothing. A tiger father breeds a tiger son, they say — he is your son through and through, Brother.”

At Ju Cheolsan’s praise of his son, the corner of Yang Taejun’s mouth crept up without his knowing it. He cleared his throat and answered.

“He has come to his senses a little.”
“You are right. Mujin is a far sturdier child than we take him for.”

Yi Cheongran put in with a gentle smile.

“You cannot imagine how startled I was when he thrust fifty taels of gold at me and told me to put it toward the household. There must be any number of things he wants to buy for himself, and still he thinks of the house first — what a lovely heart that is… It made me feel we have raised our son well indeed.”
“I feel the same. If I were given one son like Mujin, I’d want for nothing more.”

Yang Taejun landed a jab on the envious Ju Cheolsan.

“You had best find yourself a wife to marry first.”
“Ahem. This tea is wonderfully fragrant.”

Struck where it hurt, Ju Cheolsan cleared his throat and made a show of looking elsewhere; Yi Cheongran broke into a soundless laugh, and a faint smile hung at the corner of Yang Taejun’s mouth.

The next morning.

With Elder Kang’s help, I climbed up onto the horse. He loaded the baggage onto the saddle and asked, worried.

“Young master, will you really be all right going alone?”
“It’s fine. I’m more at ease traveling on my own. I’ll be back before long, so just keep the house safe.”
“Understood. Take care on the road and come back safe.”

I turned the horse’s head and looked back. My father and mother, Hayul, and beside them Yeohui and Doctor Yu had all come out to see me off.

“Brother! You have to bring me back a present!”
“Benefactor, come back to us safely!”

Hayul and Yeohui waved brightly. Doctor Yu bowed deeply from the waist, and my mother waved me off, wishing me a good journey. My father… gave me a silent nod.

“I will be back!”

I shouted it at the top of my voice and kicked the horse’s belly.

— Neiiigh!

The horse cried out and kicked off the ground.

Destination: Guantao, in Hebei Province.

Now I’m off to fetch the man who will be my hands and feet.