A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 70

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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 70
Deng Xiao Xiao rummaged through her belongings and produced three gleaming jade rings.
They were crafted from pure white jade so brilliant it made one’s eyes ache.
Hong Seol’s eyes widened in wonder.
“Wow… they’re beautiful!”
“Tch, only a wealthy young lady would come so well-prepared with such fine gifts.”
Yang Do Jin spoke thus, yet his expression betrayed his embarrassment at arriving empty-handed to visit the sick.
“Here.”
Yang Do Jin, who had been grumbling with his hands clasped behind his head, was suddenly startled.
Deng Xiao Xiao had taken his grimy hand and slipped a jade ring onto his finger.
Bewildered, Do Jin lifted his hand adorned with the ring toward the sunlight to admire it.
“The three of us each get one—that’s why I brought them.”
Deng Xiao Xiao spoke with utmost sincerity.
“These are friendship rings. Do Jin, you’re not allowed to sell this in the Market District.”
“Why would I sell this?”
“Because you’re a beggar, I thought you might want to sell it for rice.”
“Really now.”
Do Jin turned his head in exasperation and muttered under his breath.
“Hmm, wearing this might actually make begging harder…”
Even as a disciple of the Beggar Sect, a beggar remained a beggar.
Begging was an unavoidable practice, even for gathering information.
“That’s it!”
Hong Seol, catching Do Jin’s words, clapped her hands together.
“I have something to give you both too!”
Hong Seol scurried away like a squirrel and whispered something to Mae Ran, the maidservant attending her.
Mae Ran, smiling, soon returned with a small box.
Inside were three bracelets made of blue silk cord that Hong Seol had crafted with her own hands.
Each was made by carefully twisting thin silk strands together in multiple layers.
Deng Xiao Xiao’s eyes grew wide.
“Wow, these are gorgeous!”
“Do Jin, give me that jade ring.”
Hong Seol threaded the jade ring onto the blue silk bracelet and tied it around his wrist.
Do Jin’s face flushed crimson. Unaware of this, Hong Seol laughed brightly.
“There, doesn’t that look nice?”
“Well, it’s not bad.”
Though his words remained playful as always, Do Jin found himself unable to meet Hong Seol’s gaze.
“…I didn’t prepare anything at all.”
Deng Xiao Xiao, who hadn’t even heard Do Jin’s murmur, cried out.
“As long as we have the jade rings and silk bracelets, our friendship is eternal!”
“Hehe.”
Hong Seol, who had been smiling brightly, suddenly asked a question.
“So what do we do now?”
Deng Xiao Xiao answered abruptly.
“What do you mean ‘what’? We listen to each other’s troubles. That’s what friends do when they meet. Didn’t you know?”
“Oh.”
“Come on, Yang Do Jin, you go first and tell us your worries!”
“Why, why me!”
“You look like you’re carrying the heaviest burden in life.”
“No, just because I’m a beggar doesn’t mean my life is necessarily hard….”
“And you didn’t even bring a gift! So instead, unburden yourself and tell us what’s weighing on your heart.”
“Ah, I really can’t take this anymore….”
Unable to resist Deng Xiao Xiao’s persistence, Yang Do Jin covered his eyes with his hands.
But Deng Xiao Xiao’s words had already piqued Hong Seol’s curiosity.
“Yes! Tell us. We’ll help you!”
Hong Seol, who had made her first friend outside the Nam Goong Family Estate children, clenched both her fists tightly.
Her entire body seemed to burn with the determination to help her friend.
“…Do I really have to say it? Really?”
“Of course!”
“Absolutely!”
Hong Seol and Deng Xiao Xiao answered as one.
Yang Do Jin, resigned to his fate, opened his mouth.
“Fine. The truth is, there’s a Giru I frequent.”
“What’s a Giru?”
While Hong Seol tilted her head in confusion, Deng Xiao Xiao’s face turned bright red.
“You, you shouldn’t be going to places like that already!”
Hong Seol, bewildered, interjected.
“What exactly is a Giru?”
“It’s just a place where you drink alcohol and meet pretty women.”
“Is drinking alcohol and meeting pretty women a bad thing?”
It was Hong Seol’s innocent question.
She could not understand.
As for drinking, she had often seen Nam Goong Ho’s grandfather and Changcheon Master Nam Goong Ui Gyeol do so.
Moreover, had not Nam Goong On, the family head, met the beautiful Medicine Master and married her?
Until now, Hong Seol had never met a woman more beautiful than Bing Yu Hua.
“What’s wrong with that? Isn’t that how it normally works—you drink, meet a pretty woman, get married, and so on?”
“Hong Seol, you’re saying something dangerous. He meets a different woman every time, that’s why! He doesn’t even marry them. He just meets them.”
At those words, Hong Seol’s eyes widened round as apricot pits.
“Eek, that’s rather improper. Yang Do Jin, you did something wrong! That’s too much!”
As Hong Seol joined in the reproach, Yang Do Jin looked at Deng Xiao Xiao as if dumbfounded.
“I go to Giru to beg for alms.”
“Huh?”
“Eh?”
Hong Seol and Deng Xiao Xiao, caught off guard in an instant, played dumb.
“You’re quite diligent, Yang Do Jin.”
“Yeah, I’m going to become rich.”
Yang Do Jin sighed as if the two of them were beyond his reach.
“Anyway, that Giru is a famous place. It’s well-known as somewhere all the renowned martial artists visit whenever they come to Hefei. There’s a kind courtesan there—a lady named Mae Ok Ryung—and she plays the pipa beautifully.”
“Yes, is she pretty?”
“Yang Do Jin, you like that lady, don’t you?”
“What are you talking about! If you’re going to interrupt, I’ll just drop this whole thing!”
“My, my, even beggars have their pride, I see. Go on with your story.”
“She reminded her of a younger sibling left behind in her hometown, so she was quite fond of me. Every time I visited, she’d give me coins without fail and bring me food…”
They said they had been going on like this for over a year already.
“But not long ago, one of her fingers was severed at the knuckle.”
“What!”
“How did that happen!”
“A fight broke out between martial artists at the Giru, and a short blade flew toward the youngest servant by accident. She tried to block it, and that’s what happened.”
Hong Seol and Deng Xiao Xiao’s eyes had grown misty without Yang Do Jin noticing. He continued bitterly.
“The severed finger happened to be the index finger she used most when playing the pipa.”
Because of this, Mae Ok Ryung could never play the pipa again.
“Still, she trusted her cooking skills and opened a shabby inn, but when I went there recently, it was just flies buzzing around.”
Yang Do Jin, lacking the courage to enter and ask how she was doing, had turned around and left.
He’d asked around here and there, but the Wandering Inn had no answers.
“There are so many inns in Hefei that competition is fierce. Fresh ingredients are hard to come by, and the Wandering Inn, with nothing special to offer, will soon go under!”
After finishing his story, Yang Do Jin’s face grew gloomy.
“What should we do!”
Unlike Deng Xiao Xiao, who let out a sigh of sympathy, Hong Seol fell deep into thought.
A moment later, Hong Seol lifted her head.
“Hmm… Perhaps I might be able to solve Yang Do Jin’s troubles!”
Deng Xiao Xiao brightened immediately.
“Hong Seol, do you have some clever scheme?”
“Well, if it goes well. I’m not certain yet.”
“Please, I beg you to lend us your wisdom! I’m asking like this!”
Yang Do Jin bowed his head.
“Mae Ok Ryung is truly a good person. If the inn fails like this, she said the younger siblings she left behind in Gangso Province will go hungry.”
At those words, my small heart ached once more.
“Yes, I’ll come up with a plan! But for it to succeed, you know, I’ll need your help too.”
“You need our strength as well?”
The faces of Deng Xiao Xiao and Yang Do Jin brightened at once. Deng Xiao Xiao thumped her chest vigorously.
“As much as you need!”
“Tell me anything!”
Hong Seol looked at Deng Xiao Xiao.
“You mentioned that fisherman before, remember?”
“Oh! The one who anesthetizes fish by striking pressure points!”
“Could we contact him and get some fresh fish?”
“Hmm… I think it’ll work! Father never refuses my requests.”
Deng Xiao Xiao straightened her shoulders confidently.
“But to consistently transport fish, we’d need a merchant caravan.”
“I know a merchant caravan. They’ll definitely help.”
Hong Seol spoke with confidence, but then hesitated slightly.
The face of Elder Judge Nam Goong Mu Young, who rarely moved without profit, came to mind.
“Come to think of it, I should probably send the caravan master fresh fish on holidays.”
Deng Xiao Xiao smiled brightly.
“No problem!”
Hong Seol whispered other requests to the children.
“If it’s to help you, sister… I’ll do whatever it takes.”
Yang Do Jin spoke with firm resolve. Deng Xiao Xiao said cheerfully.
“Then, while we each prepare, Do Jin will handle communications! You move around the most freely anyway.”
“…Thank you, all of you!”
Yang Do Jin’s expression was genuinely moved.
“Thank us? If we can’t do this much, the name of our Eight Trustworthy Friends would be ashamed.”
“Eight Trustworthy Friends?”
Hong Seol asked.
“It means eight-year-old reliable companions. Isn’t it perfect for us three?”
Hong Seol traced the characters in the air and nodded.
‘Eight Trustworthy Friends… We’re the Eight Trustworthy Friends. Hehe.’
For the first time, I felt a sense of belonging, and it felt wonderful.
But Yang Do Jin looked slightly troubled. Deng Xiao Xiao quickly asked.
“Do Jin, do you have something to say?”
“…No, it’s nothing…”
Having missed his chance, Yang Do Jin gave up forever on confessing that he was actually ten years old.
Hong Seol declared with resolute determination.
“Alright! Then we’ll meet at the Wandering Minstrel Inn in one month!”

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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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