The Moonlight Is Especially Beautiful (1)

“Aah~~~”

Yu Seol opened her mouth like a baby bird and waited.

Yu Jinsan quickly put two pieces of Dongpo pork into his granddaughter’s mouth.

It was a fairly large amount, enough to fill her mouth.

“Now, take a bite quickly. It’s a taste you can’t experience in this world, so it’ll be a good experience.”

“Yum!”

Yu Seol closed her mouth tightly and began to chew.

As expected, her expression gradually stiffened.

Soon her face grew cold and looked seriously displeased.

Could she be forcing herself to eat it? He couldn’t help but admire his granddaughter’s will that exceeded human limits.

Yu Jinsan twisted his torso quickly, something had been expelled from his granddaughter’s mouth.

It was a natural reaction.

The Profound Realm warrior’s body sensitivity of taste was beyond imagination.

She was probably feeling a hundred times the pain he would.

It was a miracle she had endured it until now.

Suppressing a laugh, Yu Jinsan said softly.

“I gave it to you to test the taste, so why are you forcing yourself to eat it?”

Tears welled up under Yu Seol’s eyes.

“…What is this? There’s no way my mother made food like this.”

That seemed to be the reason she tried to endure and eat it.

Still, he hadn’t expected her to stubbornly try to finish it.

“Of course. If your mother’s cooking was a taste of heaven, this is a taste of hell. You should just do as you’re told, but like your father, you’re so stubborn you don’t listen to your grandpa.”

Tears fell from Yu Seol’s eyes.

“Waaah…”

He hadn’t expected her to cry so pitifully all of a sudden.

Softened by emotion, Yu Jinsan gently took his granddaughter’s shoulder and spoke kindly.

“Why are you crying, child? Grandpa was just teasing, it was actually edible.”

Yu Seol sobbed and flailed her arms.

“Don’t lie! Hng… I really am not like Mom?”

“So what if you look like your father? My youngest son was a bit of a rascal, but he had a good heart.”

“I wanted to be like Mom.”

Who wouldn’t want to look like their mother, it was simply longing for the image of the mother preserved in memory.

Yu Jinsan wasn’t unaware of his granddaughter’s feelings; of course he had to say what she wanted to hear.

“Well, if you really look closely, our Seol looks exactly like her mother.”

To Yu Jinsan, her appearance resembled her mother, but her temperament was more like her father.

But the truth wasn’t the important part.

It was a fact only he knew in the world now.

“Of course! That’s why you were born so pretty.”

Wiping her tears with her sleeve, Yu Seol picked up the dinner tray again.

“I’ll make it again.”

Failure is necessary for success.

She was determined to make it properly this time.

Yu Jinsan sat cross-legged again and continued his training.

Another ten days passed.

Yu Seol, who had taken a liking to cooking, didn’t leave the kitchen all day.

Not only had she mastered all the recipes he taught her, she was now developing new dishes.

Maybe because of that, Yu Jinsan’s complexion didn’t look very good.

He looked gaunt, as if he’d gone several days without eating.

Twice out of three times, he had to spit out what he ate.

“Hurry and try it. Eat it before it gets soggy.”

With a serious expression, Yu Jinsan inspected the food his granddaughter had brought.

It was a soup made by forming meatballs from fish caught in the pond and boiling them.

The broth was reddish and smelled spicy, suggesting she used the spice called chopi.

The solid ingredients included bok choy, glass noodles, bean sprouts, and dried tofu.

At first glance, it looked quite plausible.

“Hmm. What’s this? Even grandpa’s never seen a soup like this.”

“It’s Blissful Soup.”

There couldn’t be a soup with such a funny name; she likely made the name up herself.

“You’ve already tasted it yourself, right?”

Under her grandfather’s suspicious gaze, Yu Seol gripped the ladle.

Steam rose from it and it was very hot, but she ladled a portion and brought it to his mouth without hesitation.

Then, like a maid tasting the emperor’s feast, she drank it all in front of him.

“Mmm, it’s good. Grandpa, you try it quickly.”

Even though he saw it himself, he still wasn’t reassured.

How many times had he been tricked before?

She was probably holding her breath to avoid tasting it.

He was inwardly anxious, but he had no choice, he couldn’t refuse the dish his granddaughter had worked so hard to make; it would be a disaster if he did.

The odds were thirty-three percent. One out of three times there was something passable, and a few times even impressive.

Prepared mentally, Yu Jinsan took the ladle his granddaughter offered.

“Alright. Let’s see whether it’s Blissful Soup or a soup from the afterlife, I’ll try it.”

He slowly brought the ladle to his mouth, took a deep breath, and slurped the broth.

Yu Seol craned her head like a turtle and watched intently; she seemed curious about the result.

“Well? Is it edible?”

“Hmm…”

Yu Jinsan said nothing.

He quietly picked up a mouthful of solids with his chopsticks.

The bean sprouts and bok choy began to crunch inside his mouth.

Before he swallowed, his hand was already moving busily.

This time he scooped up some broth along with dried tofu and a meatball on the ladle.

“Grandpa. Why aren’t you saying anything? Tell me quickly what it’s like.”

“Just wait and let me see!”

The flavor was intriguing; he needed to savor it a bit more.

The spicy, refreshing broth combined with the tender, chewy meatball, and the nutty dried tofu, his mouth let out a happy cry.

Yu Jinsan couldn’t pull himself together from experiencing such a wondrous taste for the first time.

After several more chopstick movements, he filled his bowl to the brim with the soup.

“You’ve finally reached enlightenment. The more you eat, the more the aftertaste unfolds… How did you create such a flavor?”

“I just went with my feelings. Is it good?”

“It’s more than just good. The name Blissful Soup isn’t an exaggeration. It’s superb!”

To think she created such a dish on her own without formal training.

Yu Jinsan’s praise was genuine.

He had tasted dozens of dishes before, but had never praised one so highly.

Perhaps that’s why Yu Seol’s mouth was already curved into a smile.

“Heehee. Really?”

“Of course! Our Seol is a culinary queen.”

“Eat well, Grandpa. I’ll make lots more for you from now on.”

“Alright, alright. Let’s eat together. Soup must be eaten before the heat dies down.”

It was their last meal in this place.

Thanks to the rare delicious food, bright smiles blossomed on the faces of the grandparents and grandchild sitting opposite each other.

“We’re leaving today, right?”

“You remembered. Yes. We have to catch that rotten assassin, so finish eating and get ready.”

Two children dressed in deep black with bamboo hats pulled low were darting across the rooftops.

They were the Yin Yang Twin Monster duo, replenished in strength by Blissful Soup.

Each gripping a spear, the two dashed forward and displayed their lightness skill without restraint.

Ttut-! Tat-tut-!

Their nimble, squirrel-like movements made not a whisper of noise.

Their destination was the Golden Flower Escort Agency located on the outskirts of Yangji County.

Arriving nearby, the pair secretly hid in a tree near the entrance.

They watched the path, and about an hour had passed.

Yu Seol whispered in a small voice.

“They’re coming to raid today, right?”

“No, tomorrow.”

“Then why do we have to wait starting today? It’s boring.”

Sitting crouched on a branch, just craning her head around, it was inevitable she’d be bored.

Yu Jinsan put a hand to his lips and lowered his voice as he whispered.

“Scouting the place where they’ll carry out their mission is an assassin’s basic practice. Surely they’ll come to spy a day early, today.”

“What if they don’t come?”

They had fed intel into the Murim Alliance’s spy network that a central Black Night Clan operative would visit here tomorrow night.

Yu Jinsan was certain the man would take the bait.

To lend credibility to the information, they had even revealed the identity of a secret branch disguised as an escort agency.

It was an expensive lure, but the opponent was worth it.

“He will come for sure. It could be one of those men over there, so watch closely.”

Even though it was night, many people moved about nearby.

There were caravaners moving goods, escorts trained in martial arts, and passersby along the path.

By his instincts, he couldn’t find a single suspicious person among them.

“Hmm~”

“What do you think? Do you see anyone suspicious?”

Yu Seol’s eyes sparkled as she scanned each person one by one.

No matter how elite an assassin, it would be hard to escape the sight of someone in the Profound Realm.

After a moment, his granddaughter’s index finger pointed at someone.

“That man over there seems a bit strange.”

He was a middle-aged man who had set down his rickshaw and was resting at the corner about twenty feet away.

Yu Jinsan examined him closely.

An unkempt, scruffy beard and dirt-stained worn shoes, unmistakably a rickshaw puller.

Overall his body looked fairly sturdy, but there were no other unusual signs, except for one thing.

Leaning against the rickshaw, he was surreptitiously shifting his eyes.

“Watching the escort agency with furtive glances, he isn’t here to pick up customers.”

“Yeah, and he’s trained in martial arts too.”

He was definitely a suspicious character.

If no qi could be detected from this distance, he must at least possess peak-level skill.

But to find an assassin this easily? He couldn’t shake an uneasy sense about it.

Then a customer approached him and began to quarrel.

Listening closely, they argued about his refusal to take on a passenger.

“He says he won’t leave even if the customer pays more? Then there must be a reason to stay here.”

“See, wasn’t I right?”

Yu Jinsan nodded as if in agreement.

“Good work. We’ll wait here and follow him when he leaves to catch him.”

The two hid in the tree and waited until the night deepened.

During that time his suspicious behavior continued, and the suspicion that he was the culprit grew almost into certainty.

And as dawn approached and the passersby had all disappeared,

he finally pulled his rickshaw and began to move somewhere.

“Let’s go, Grandpa.”

The pair quietly followed him, masking their presence.

His direction of travel was suspicious. A rickshaw puller would normally head toward inhabited houses where his home would be.

Instead, he abandoned the rickshaw in a remote spot.

After confirming nobody was around, Yu Jinsan signaled his granddaughter.

“Quick, knock him over.”

A streaking shadow shot forward at the speed of light.

In an instant Yu Seol reached the rickshaw puller’s back and abruptly tripped him from behind.

Crash!

The lightning-like ambush left him not even understanding why he had fallen.

It was when he lifted his head in confusion.

“Who…”

Before he could finish, Yu Jinsan lunged and struck his abdomen.

The rickshaw puller slid across the ground five feet as he was knocked back.

In the meantime, his eyes managed to take in the figures of Yu Jinsan and Yu Seol.

“Ugh! Why are the Yin Yang Twin Monsters…”

He wasn’t given a chance to continue.

As he staggered to his feet, Yu Jinsan’s fist smashed into his face.

“You filthy assassin, who do you think you are calling out to?”

From behind the kneeling man, Yu Seol grabbed both his shoulders.

“Gah! W-wait a moment…”

The rickshaw puller couldn’t move an inch.

The overwhelming force pinning him down was like the rock of Mount Huaguo suppressing the Great Sage Equal of Heaven.

“Grandpa, I caught him.”

“Well done. Stay like that.”

The knuckles of Yu Jinsan’s fingers emitted a crisp crack.

Crack! Crackle!

As they approached slowly, the rickshaw puller, eyes glistening with tears, cried out desperately.

His voice was full of grievance.

“I-I’m not an assassin! I’m…”