I Became the Eldest Daughter of a Fallen Family - Chapter 15

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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 15. Entering the City
“So Yeon-u, already making girlfriends. You’re quite the operator, aren’t you?”
“It’s not like that. Wan-ui is just a friend.”
“Hmm, are you really ‘just’ friends?”
“Why are you like this too, older sister? She’s genuinely a friend. In this neighborhood, the only children who play with me are Wan-ui, Dae-ho, and I-ho.”
At So Yeon-u’s words, So Yeon-hui and the rest of the family wore bitter expressions for a moment.
The children who had been so sociable during their time in the Capital City couldn’t make even a single decent friend here, and it all felt like their own doing.
“Do people still say things? That our family is a family of criminals?”
When So Yeon-hui asked, So Yeon-u didn’t answer but lowered his head instead.
The fact that no empty denial came out said everything about how obvious the situation was.
“Sigh… We went through all that hardship to protect the nation, and there’s not a shred of gratitude for it.”
“Hmph. Isn’t this all the fault of that Joo bastard spreading false rumors?”
At her mother’s grumbling, So Yeon-hui spoke up sharply, eyes flashing.
Jang immediately widened her eyes in alarm, quickly covering her daughter’s mouth with her hand and scolded her.
“J-Joo? My goodness, you! Will you ever learn to watch your tongue?”
Even with no one around, where did this boldness come from to call not just the Fourth Prince but the entire imperial house “that Joo”?
Jang sometimes felt her eldest daughter was utterly beyond her control.
“I’m not saying anything untrue.”
She never expected even the lady of the house, Hong, to quietly join in that chorus.
Jang turned quickly to her husband and mother-in-law, her expression full of grievance.
But none of them stepped in to defend her or rein in the children.
Their father even added a word of his own.
“Well… A loyal servant devoted for four generations—and they discard him like a hunted dog. What more is there to say?”
His weary voice carried a sharp edge of bitterness.
‘Thank goodness. If Father had said he still wanted to serve the nation and the emperor under these circumstances, I would have felt truly suffocated.’
The So family are typically gentle and even-tempered folk, but they are no fools. And there was no doubt they would never forget a debt—for good or ill.
Even if it took dying and being reborn a thousand times.
* * *
The next morning, So Yeon-hui carefully packed the Xiangchang into a carrier and set out with her mother toward a butcher shop.
Selling Xiangchang was something So Yeon-hui could have managed alone, but Jang also wanted to secure work from the Embroidery Workshop in Jinseong.
Since her squeamishness about offal and raw meat kept her from participating in the Xiangchang production, she hoped to earn money through another avenue.
Fortunately, Jang had learned embroidery from childhood as befitted a young lady of a noble house, and her needle work was quite skilled.
However, the journey to and from Jinseong required one Shichen of time and two coins per person as a City Entry Fee, so she had hesitated to attempt it until now.
How could she pass up such an opportunity?
With a somewhat excited heart, she set out along the road with her daughter, carrying the Sample Embroidery she had made.
“Oh, Haenghwajin is even more impressive than expected?”
“Indeed. Though not quite like the Capital City, there seem to be quite a lot of people. And the streets are remarkably clean.”
“Still, the layout is rather unique. It’s almost as though there are two cities within a single fortress?”
After paying the City Entry Fee and entering Jinseong, a far more substantial town emerged than they had anticipated.
Particularly striking were the official district centered on a neat, straight main thoroughfare, and the two markets that spread on either side of it.
What was surprising, however, was how dramatically different the foot traffic was between the two markets.
“I heard that thanks to the Pungyun Merchant House lately, the merchants at the West Market are struggling. It seems to be true.”
“Still, I’m told that the Wi Family, the most prestigious household in all of Cheongyang, buys only from the West Market. They say they trust the established local merchants more than outside traders.”
“The Wi Family? Isn’t that the house of General Wi Gyeom, the former garrison commander of Seoju that Father admired? I remember Father mentioning him several times as someone worthy of respect.”
“He said that to you?”
“Precisely to Yeon-u, actually. When Yeon-u said he wanted to become a great general like Father, he introduced several other accomplished commanders, not just himself.”
So Yeon-hui answered, searching through her memory, and Jang wore a faint, bitter smile.
“The Wi Family has enjoyed high esteem since long before the So Family rose to prominence. For generations, they have produced many outstanding figures.”
Though there seemed to be no particular grudge between the So and Wi families, it was a curiously melancholic tone.
So Yeon-hui assumed Jang was gloomy because of the fallen state of the So Family and made an effort to console her.
“Don’t worry, Mother. Our family will rise again someday.”
“Yes, it must.”
Jang managed a forced smile at her daughter’s dignified words, but the bitterness lingering at the corners of her mouth would not fade.
At that, So Yeon-hui resolved all the more firmly to make today’s transaction a success.
After finishing their brief first impressions of Haenghwajin, the three of them parted ways.
Since visiting the Embroidery Workshop and the butcher shop in sequence would take too long, they agreed to meet again at the entrance to Jinseong after each had completed their respective tasks.
However, since Jinseong had many officials and their families living there, Jang cautioned her daughter repeatedly to be careful with her conduct.
But So Yeon-hui, buzzing with excitement at the prospect of showing off the Xiangchang in her carrier, barely heard a word.
Thus, when she finally arrived at the butcher shop in question,
So Yeon-hui cut straight to the point.
“Thirty coins per pound!”
“W-what?”
“Exactly thirty coins per pound for delivery. Since you get ten pieces per pound, even selling at five coins each would be pure profit. What do you say—deal?”
“D-deal? ……What is that?”
The butcher and his wife’s faces suddenly filled with confusion.
But fortunately, it didn’t take long for that confusion to shift into amazement and delight.
* * *
“Heavens, there’s such delicious meat preparation as this!”
“This is truly made from offal and scraps?”
The butcher couple, having tasted the Xiangchang once, fell into shock at once.
And no wonder—where else in the world could one possibly find such a treasure?
‘The color shines like roasted pork glazed with oil, the taste tender and savory as though only the finest cuts of meat had been selected!’
‘Made from scraps and a bit of fat, and offal? This is absolutely going to sell!’
The meat itself came seasoned so that no elaborate sauce was needed during cooking.
To sell such extraordinary meat at five coins a piece?
‘People will be unable to get enough! And if we hang it in a well-ventilated place, it keeps for ages!’
The butcher Jang and his wife found themselves wondering if So Yeon-hui might be an immortal after all.
Only one transcendent of all earthly desires, unmoved by the wealth and glory of this world, could possibly bring themselves to sell such treasure at so base a price.
“Aren’t you selling too cheaply?”
“If a side dish costs more than five coins, will people open their purses? There’s always a critical threshold, and that’s ours.”
“A critical… threshold?”
“In other words, the final stand. Like a surrounded position—a line from which one cannot retreat.”
The language was somewhat difficult, but the butcher couple could not say they failed to grasp the meaning.
After all, they themselves felt a single Xiangchang at six coins was somewhat burdensome.
“I say again—we have absolutely no reason to refuse. In fact, we’d like to beg on our knees for you to sell at that price.”
“Oh, we’ve already decided to treat you and your wife as family, so how could you speak that way? Besides, a good deal means both sides profit, not just one. Don’t you think?”
At So Yeon-hui’s words, the butcher couple seriously wondered whether they must have saved a nation in a past life.
Regardless. So Yeon-hui, unaware of their inner thoughts, spoke up again with some tension in her voice.
“However… might you have a small space next to the butcher shop where I could set up a street stall? I’d like to operate a small stall separate from the Xiangchang delivery business.”
This was So Yeon-hui’s final trump card and the decisive reason she had negotiated the sausage price down so low.
She had been anxiously wondering what would happen if they refused—
When Yang, the butcher’s wife, smiled warmly and asked in return,
“You want to sell Tanghulu, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“How could I refuse when I know how well Tanghulu draws customers? We’ll look forward to working with you.”
She then immediately fetched brush, paper, and ink from the room.
It took less than half a Shichen to draft the contract and receive payment.

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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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