Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 655

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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 655
After indulging in my hobbies, I threw myself into work with fierce determination.
As I examined the bamboo slips piled high like mountains one by one, I ground my teeth.
‘Why can’t they just use paper? The Hwa Empire has plenty of money.’
Many places still used bamboo slips in the name of frugality, but it was tedious.
‘I’m fine since I’ve trained in martial arts, but the younger staff members keep injuring their wrist tendons.’
At least at Baekrin Uiseon, when someone injured their wrist, a passing doctor would say, “Oh my, your wrist is swollen. Are you alright?” and promptly insert acupuncture needles while saying, “Go rest at the medical office,” providing herbal treatments. But here, there was no such remedy.
‘For now… I’ve checked the ledgers, and Do Won-dong hasn’t been doing as much as I thought. The collusion with the magistrate’s office is… average. This level is acceptable.’
For reference, there wasn’t a single magistrate without collusion.
Every magistrate accepted bribes, large or small.
When a magistrate first took office, influential families would send gifts wrapped carefully—orchids, bonsai pots, everything bundled up.
And if you dug carefully beneath those pots, you’d find golden toads that had been hibernating poking their heads out.
The civil service examination itself wasn’t cheap, so naturally, one had to recoup the expenses spent passing the exam.
That’s why they became corrupt officials.
‘Well. Still, I need to report everything that needs reporting.’
I drafted another memorial to send to the Emperor.
‘These bastards are really making me handle apprenticeships… Am I a state enterprise? Am I a state enterprise?!’
If they felt it was unfair that only they were working, I could ask Ju Wang-ya to do it… but… I couldn’t.
After all, the reason she had that much power but didn’t take the Emperor’s seat and dumped it on her younger brother was because she hated work.
If I forced her, she might just call it dog work and flick her younger siblings on the forehead.
Of course, Ju Wang-ya’s flick could crack a person’s skull.
“Ugh, maybe I should just do it half-heartedly!”
While I was venting my frustration, Sama Hyeon was also making his moves.
“So, what should we spread as rumors? Tell me~”
At the Hao-mun Rumor Master’s question, the informants straightened up and spoke sharply.
“Dan Gajang conspired with the Green Forest bandits and robbed the cargo of the Unryongpyoguk. The reason Dan Gajang acted that way was all because of the Hyeolseonggyo!”
Snap!
Sama Hyeon opened his fan and waved it gently.
“And?”
“They, they committed the abominable and universally condemned evil of human sacrifice, which is why they were suppressed this time!”
“Good. Spread it that way.”
I intended to completely erase the Dan family from the registers of the Central Plains.
‘I’d love to hunt down every single one of those bastards and tear their faces off~ but my brother doesn’t like that sort of thing.’
The fact that the Dan family of the Central Plains great houses was this deeply colluded with the Hyeolseonggyo meant that their branch families, and the branches of those branches, all benefited from the Hyeolseonggyo.
The problem was that even though we’d caught the main Dan family, finding all the scattered branch families would be a long and difficult task.
So the priority was to thoroughly trample the reputation of the Dan family.
Sama Hyeon thought to himself.
‘The Oeryun Society’s suppression of the Green Forest bandits is to demonstrate the military power they possess. The robbery of the Unryongpyoguk’s cargo is like a message left for merchants.’
The Oeryun Society was steadfast and valued trust with their trading partners above all.
The stolen cargo would always be repaid in blood.
And then there was another rumor.
‘Commit fraud, lose your hand.’
Because the newly formed alliance was still young, many factions looked down on it.
Naturally, the common people grew anxious.
“Let’s add a bit more seasoning to this~ Otherwise, it won’t be entertaining, will it?”
“Entertaining?”
“Come on~ You know well, Informant. No matter how important the information, people always prefer what’s more entertaining, right?”
Sama Hyeon fell into thought before adding a remark.
“The next seasoning will be my secret from you~ Got it?”
Saying so, he gave a slight wink, squinting one eye playfully.
The Informant nodded vigorously, trembling with fear.
“Really, there’s nothing to be afraid of, yet everyone trembles when they see me. What a world.”
No one was ignorant of what Sama Hyeon had done during the Seo Baek-ryong War.
Sama Hyeon had the least blood on his hands.
However, whenever he killed someone, he always made them an example.
If a neck had to be severed anyway, there was no point in wasting the opportunity.
After that, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of Informants began spreading rumors through inns and marketplaces.
“Come now, look! Look! I’ve brought you a story after so long!”
As the Informant shouted, the marketplace people responded with listless expressions.
“That Olyun Society story? We’ve heard it to death. They say they defeated the bandits with a single blade?”
At those words, the inn patrons burst into laughter.
The Informant spoke.
“Of course it’s true. That tale is now known throughout the Central Plains. But have you heard of the Veiled Madman, Ilgwang, the Veiled Madman, and the Radiant Madman—our Seo Baek-ryong Jin Cheon-hee’s exploits in defeating the Ten Thousand Soldiers of Hyeolseonggyo with a single blade?”
“They must have defeated them with superior martial skill.”
At that, the Informant stood up as if he’d been waiting for this moment and climbed onto the table.
Thump!
“Now~ now~ listen well. With one strike of the Icy Frost Blade, winter is split asunder, snow cracks open, and the heavens themselves tear apart~ that is Ilgwang!”
Acting out Jin Cheon-hee, he picked up a spoon from the inn table and struck a pose.
At those magnificent movements, even the grumbling patrons became completely absorbed in the tale.
“This storyteller really knows how to tell a tale!”
“I need to use the outhouse, but it’s so entertaining I can’t leave my seat. Goodness, my bladder’s about to burst!”
And so the story continued.
Finally, reaching the climax—the scene where Jin Cheon-hee defeated Jang Cheon-gun—applause poured down like a shower.
“Truly the Veiled Madman!”
“So Ui-seon has done it again!”
“Ah, proof that there are still righteous heroes left in the martial world!”
Jin Cheon-hee’s popularity was always high. Especially since Baekrin Uiseon’s Bunta and the medical practitioners in his region regularly provided relief to the commoners, his popularity soared day by day.
As the atmosphere ripened, the Informant cleared his throat.
“In Baekrin County where the Veiled Madman resides, they sell fox figurines~ and it’s said that possessing these golden fox figurines wards off illness and calamity~”
Saying so and gesturing, the apprentice Informants came running and held up the fox figurines.
“Ooooooh!”
Perhaps because I’d just finished telling the story so perfectly, the crowd began responding enthusiastically, vying with one another.
Once the atmosphere was sufficiently heated, I spoke.
“Which brings me to this—a fox clay figurine crafted by artisans directly employed by the Veiled Madman himself in Hangzhou! Different from other clay figurines! This is the real thing! And I’m offering it for merely five copper coins!”
“Five coins?! What kind of clay figurine costs more than a teapot?”
“Why speak such nonsense? If it can drive away illness, five coins is a bargain. Besides, it was made by artisans directly employed by the Veiled Madman in Hangzhou. Ah, forget it! I’m feeling generous! Buy three and get ten coins off! You can get three for the price of two clay figurines!”
In modern terms, it was a two-for-one promotion.
Yet nothing worked better at enchanting people than this.
Then the Wind Catcher who’d been waiting in advance spoke up.
“One… no, give me two!”
“Yes indeed~ Here we have mama fox, papa fox, and baby fox—a complete fox family set~”
Midong held them up high for all to see.
Whether the yellow fox clay figurines actually had any efficacy was uncertain, but at least they were adorable.
A fox family.
“I’ll take two as well!”
“Me too, two!”
“Give me four! So that makes six total, right?”
“Of course it does!”
While I was making money using my older brother’s… no, my older brother’s graduate student like this.
Knowing nothing of it, Jin Cheon-hee was leisurely returning to Baekrin Medical Guild with his younger brother Sama Hyeon.
* * *
Upon arriving in Fuzhou, all the executives of the Five Wheels Society had already departed.
Now only the practical staff remained, rebuilding Fuzhou.
“If you want to know whether the Righteous Faction or Heterodox Faction controls more, just look at the gambling dens~”
“Gambling dens?”
Sama Hyeon nodded.
“When Black Dao cultivators color the streets, gambling is what they do most. Once addicted to speculation, it’s sweeter than opium—they’d kill their own parents if it meant they could gamble.”
“…!!”
To the astonished Jin Cheon-hee, I taught him the darkness one piece at a time.
It wasn’t simply to tell him how ugly human darkness could be.
After all, I’d now realized just how distant the path this older brother had walked was, too far to be broken by such things.
Rather, it was a wish that when he eventually had to face such darkness, he would handle it with even greater wisdom and ease than I had.
“When you look at the tax ledgers, you can predict the real money flowing through by checking how much alcohol is sold at the taverns near the gambling dens.”
“The gambling dens hide their income, so that would be even more true, wouldn’t it?”
“Right. Gamblers steal even their grandmother’s pocket money to sell, so how clear could their money sources be? Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, you’ll never find it. But alcohol doesn’t lie.”
“Do they serve alcohol to all the gamblers?”
“One cup each for those who enjoy it modestly. For the big players, even expensive plum wine.”
I see.
Jin Cheon-hee nodded.
“If we station garrison soldiers at the taverns around the gambling dens, we could prevent Black Dao cultivators from harassing commoners.”
“Oh, you catch on quick? That’s right. But I’ve never seen an official who bothers with such lowly places. Usually patrols focus on wealthy districts or academies—they don’t venture near gambling dens.”
“Is it about performance metrics?”
“Sharp. Exactly. Honestly, even if they claim to be helping commoners, that’s just their duty as an official—nothing particularly praiseworthy. But an academy gets destroyed? And that old man at the academy is the Emperor’s mentor from the upper echelons?”
‘The Confucian faction would absolutely beat him senseless.’
Sama Hyeon continued.
“Black Dao cultivators have brains too—we don’t squeeze blood from poor kids with no backing. And we generally avoid touching scholars with any education. Though their children do come to gamble.”
“So they become gambling addicts.”
“Right. They sell information instead of money.”
I found that curious.
“But wouldn’t they have more money?”
“Sure, we could squeeze more. But when parents see their children become gambling addicts, they either agree to pay back the debt or threaten to report us to the authorities and have us burned out. What do you think they choose?”
“So you have to know when to stop squeezing.”
Having backing was terrifying in this way.
“Exactly. So usually we demand information instead—what their parents or families connected to their parents are doing, what business they’re planning. Gather that carefully and it becomes quite profitable.”
“The Golden Blood Hall’s information network must play a role too?”
“Right. Though things are changing these days.”
“Loan sharking and savings?”
What Sama Hyeon was doing. What the Golden Blood Hall was doing.
They were steadily fulfilling the role of future banks.
And so I arrived at Bunta, the Baekrin Medical Guild branch in Bokju, passing through the gambling den.

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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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