A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 211

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 211
Abbot Won Cheong finally could no longer contain himself and burst with indignation.
“That blasted cat deceived my eyes and infiltrated Shaolin? How infuriating!”
The Abbot’s face, already prone to emotional turbulence for a monk, flushed crimson and then pale.
“Yet thanks to her, we dismantled one of the Demonic Cult’s financial arteries—the merchant guild, did we not?”
Elder Gos, savoring tea across the table, came to Hong Seol’s defense.
“That much is true.”
“Then perhaps you might show her some leniency.”
Unless you wish to make a grand affair of the false information we conveyed to the Martial Arts Alliance, the Nam Goong Family Estate, and the Golden Cat Sect.
At the subtle implication that slipped from Elder Gos’s lips, Abbot Won Cheong ground his teeth involuntarily.
“Now that I think of it, that cat’s skill in sneaking in was truly uncanny, Amitabha Buddha.”
Though his words dripped with sarcasm, Nam Goong Ho beamed continuously.
“You’re only realizing that now? My Seol Ah’s brilliance has no equal under heaven!”
With such brazen boasting, the Abbot turned his back in exasperation.
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he turned back and asked.
“Where is Nam Goong Baek? I heard he came to Deng Peak with you.”
Abbot Won Cheong had heard countless rumors of an exceptional heir to the Nam Goong Family—one blessed with both appearance and martial prowess.
He wished to see him for himself on this occasion.
Nam Goong Baek might well become the greatest martial artist of the next generation.
“Baek said he had somewhere personal to visit. Tsk, as if anything could be more urgent than finding Seol Ah…”
Nam Goong Ho’s expression soured at the thought of his grandson. Then he suddenly gestured toward Won Cheong.
“There is something I need your help with, Abbot.”
“What might that be?”
At Nam Goong Ho’s quiet words, the Abbot’s brows furrowed.
“Why would the Grand Patriarch seek such a place?”
“This is all at the behest of our Woon Young—no, the head of the Nam Goong Family.”
Abbot Won Cheong’s face twisted.
The Grand Patriarch of the Nam Goong Family before his eyes seemed utterly unlike the man he knew.
‘They say there is nothing more precious than a granddaughter gained in one’s twilight years… Can a person change so much, Amitabha Buddha.’
“Time is of the essence. So please, Abbot, set aside your reservations and tell me at once.”
“But surely you cannot ask such an improper thing of this humble monk…”
“Think of it as saving a life and speak. What place on Deng Peak would be suitable for young lovers to visit?”
Even better if it were a romantic spot fitting for a marriage proposal.
“Alas, truly!”
Won Cheong, who had spent his entire life with no opportunity to even approach a woman’s shadow, snorted in utter exasperation.
* * *
“Seol Ah!”
Hong Seol, who had been crouching at the corner of the Market District, turned her head with delight.
Dang Yi Woon, who had barely escaped his wretched servitude, was shuffling toward her.
“Are you all right?”
“Hmm, it’s fine. It reminds me of those days when I trained under the Sword King alongside Nam Goong Baek during the old Family Head selection tournament.”
In just four days, the Pawnshop Owner had worked me to the bone.
Seeing Dang Yi Woon’s hollowed cheeks, Hong Seol felt a pang of guilt.
“Thank you for coming back. If you hadn’t, I would have been sold off to one of the Pawnshop Owner’s female customers.”
“I’m sorry, Elder Brother.”
Hong Seol bowed her head quietly.
“It’s fine. Everything ended well, after all.”
But Dang Yi Woon laughed freely. At times like this, I could see what a genuinely good-natured elder brother he was.
“More importantly, did you obtain the Golden Cat Sect?”
At those words, Hong Seol’s face bloomed into a radiant smile.
“Yes, it’s right here on my back.”
Now that I thought about it, Hong Seol was carrying a small bundle on her back.
The tightly wrapped object inside was apparently the Golden Cat Sect in question.
“Let me carry that for you…”
Dang Yi Woon lowered his hand as Hong Seol shook her head firmly.
“I’ll keep this with me.”
The Golden Cat Sect had been obtained through grueling hardship.
Hong Seol had no intention of entrusting it to anyone else’s hands until she delivered it to Nam Goong Baek.
Even if that ‘anyone’ was Dang Yi Woon, who had suffered alongside her.
“I want to hurry back and hand the Golden Cat Sect to Baek Elder Brother. Then we can live happily together like before, can’t we?”
Wielding our swords together and wandering through the Market District.
To Hong Seol, there was nothing in this world that could compare to Nam Goong Baek.
“By the way, how did you manage to gather the money for my ransom and interest?”
Dang Yi Woon, now dressed in his original green robes, asked Hong Seol.
After realizing it wasn’t to my taste, I had even consumed an antidote pill to remove the tear mole beneath my eye.
“Ah, m-m-money?”
Hong Seol flinched.
At that, an uneasy feeling swept down Dang Yi Woon’s spine.
‘Though she said it was to meet Ha O Moon Ju, Seol Ah went to an illegal gambling den last time.’
Could she have developed an interest in gambling then?
“Surely not. You didn’t, did you, Seol Ah?”
“Huh? W-w-what?”
Hong Seol, feeling caught, blinked her eyes frantically.
At her reaction, Dang Yi Woon’s face twisted with worry.
“Did you really win money through gambling?”
“No, it’s not like that!”
Hong Seol shook her head vigorously.
Yet she still couldn’t quite meet Dang Yi Woon’s gaze.
“Then how exactly did you pay for my ransom?”
“…I sold it.”
“What did you sell?”
Hong Seol fidgeted, touching her index fingers together as she spoke hesitantly.
“Ninety-eight acupuncture needles that I bought from the Kiln Site. I sold them to the Golden Silk Merchant Guild.”
After returning from the Kiln Site, Hong Seol had locked herself in the Inn for two straight days.
Among the hundred acupuncture needles the porters had brought, she needed to identify which ones contained items from the Golden Cat Sect.
Those she couldn’t gauge by weight alone, she set aside and weighed on a scale.
For items she still wasn’t certain about, she filtered them through a wooden tub filled with concentrated salt water.
The reason for such a tedious method was simple: to resell the acupuncture needles in perfect condition.
“But Seol Ah, at Deng Peak, the branch director would strictly prohibit any merchant transactions not authorized by the leadership….”
Ah.
Only then did Dang Yi Woon understand what had happened.
‘Seol, you… smuggled them….’
The Inn where they had stayed since arriving at Deng Peak was operated by the Golden Silk Merchant Guild.
That’s why Hong Seol and Dang Yi Woon could lodge there without worry.
‘And naturally, people from the Geumsa Escort Agency would come and go from that Inn.’
Those who would transport goods to wherever the Golden Silk Merchant Guild’s branch was located.
She had secretly sold the acupuncture needles through them, that clever little cat!
It was clear that Hong Seol had planned this from the beginning.
Her audacity made Dang Yi Woon laugh involuntarily.
Acupuncture needles were quite popular here in Henan, but they were still not widely known in distant Sichuan.
“That makes sense. The Golden Silk Merchant Guild trades even with the sweltering Nam Man, so they could have sold them for a decent price, couldn’t they?”
Despite Dang Yi Woon’s words, Hong Seol continued to play innocent.
“But I doubt the shrewd merchants of the Golden Silk Merchant Guild would have paid thirty silver taels for acupuncture needles.”
Dang Yi Woon spoke with laughter filling his crimson eyes.
“Seol, you’re still hiding something from me, aren’t you?”
“That, that is….”
Hong Seol answered in a voice like a mouse creeping into a hole.
“I actually sold your name a little.”
“My name?”
“That… I said they were pillows woven by the Young Master of the Sichuan Dang Family….”
Dang Yi Woon, whose strength had suddenly drained away, laughed heartily.
“Ha-ha!”
This clever cat of a girl!
When dealing with the Golden Silk Merchant Guild, there was no surer way to raise the price than selling the name of the Sichuan Dang Family.
And who was Dang Yi Woon?
The trendsetter of Sichuan, the Young Master backed by the Sichuan Dang Family.
Hong Seol had made an exceptionally clever choice.
After laughing for a moment, Dang Yi Woon lowered his voice and whispered.
“Even so, isn’t it a lie to say they’re pillows I actually use?”
“No, it’s not a lie. Look here!”
Suddenly, Hong Seol rummaged through the bundle on her back and produced a square pillow, offering it to him.
“I’ve been saving this to give to Elder Brother.”
Dang Yi Woon accepted the pillow and stood in stunned silence for a moment.
Now that he thought about it, this was the first time Hong Seol had ever given him anything.
‘Of all things, a pillow….’
A pillow had always been, since ancient times, an expression of tender affection toward one’s beloved.
The Empress Jian Fu of the Wei Dynasty had done so, and the Gao Yang Princess of the Tang Dynasty had followed that same tradition.
‘So, Seol truly does…?’
If that were the case, he could no longer delay what he needed to say.
Dang Yi Woon, his ears burning intensely, spoke to Hong Seol.
“Seol Ah, you promised to grant me one request once this matter is settled, didn’t you?”
“Yes, that’s right!”
Hong Seol answered with unbridled brightness.
But soon the atmosphere grew strange, and her thick lashes merely fluttered.
Dang Yi Woon’s crimson eyes held an infinite gravity.
“Before we leave Deng Peak, give me your entire day.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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