I Became the Eldest Daughter of a Fallen Family - Chapter 29

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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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Episode 29. A Guest Arrives
In truth, the trick she’d played on Wi Jeong was partly payback.
Yes, she’d earned a windfall of Good Deed Points through an unexpected act of kindness, and in the bargain managed to promote her shop.
But dragging someone off to the government office on a whim like that—wasn’t that crossing a line?
They’d made a mistake that cost her a day in the magistrate’s office, and she’d lost an entire day’s worth of sales. Surely a little mischief was fair compensation. That was the thinking behind the prank, at least.
Though 700 cash was no small sum, she’d thought the stainless steel container she’d handed over would be worth at least that much.
‘But who could have predicted he’d come all the way to the house to collect payment in person?’
So Yeon-hui exhaled a sigh, her face etched with bewilderment.
Yet something was strange.
Contrary to her anxieties, Wi Jeong’s demeanor proved far more genial than she’d imagined.
“Miss So. Only two days since we last met. I trust you’ve been well? Ah, and the tanghulu and fragrant sauce were absolutely delicious. Truly excellent.”
He bowed with perfect courtesy, inquired after her health, and offered praise and gratitude.
What could account for this?
Did her tanghulu suit his palate exactly?
Or was the fragrant sauce he’d been strong-armed into buying actually far more appetizing than expected?
Or had he perhaps discovered that the mysterious metal vessel she’d slipped him along with those foods was in fact a priceless treasure that didn’t so much as tarnish?
So Yeon-hui couldn’t say. But the man’s gaze had fixed upon a single spot the moment he entered the courtyard.
‘What is that? I saw someone turn some kind of handle just now, and why is water suddenly…pouring out of bamboo?’
It was, without question, a miraculous sight before his eyes.
To control the flow of water with merely a gesture.
“I suspected your talent extended beyond cookery, but I never imagined you’d have attained mastery over the art of water control.”
Wi Jeong uttered his words with an awe that bordered on reverence.
So Yeon-hui, flustered, waved her hand and quickly shut off the tap.
“It’s nothing so grand. I simply ran a water pipe from a spring up the mountain to bring water down into the courtyard.”
“Nothing so grand? You’ve brought a mountain spring into your courtyard—how could such a thing be trifling!”
And moreover, a water pipe at that.
The man Wi Jeong gazed with genuine admiration at the procession of bamboo tubes snaking up the mountainside.
Indeed, it had been worthwhile to come so far at his cousin’s insistence.
“Water Pipe—truly the perfect name for it. A name is the vessel that holds an object’s reason for being and its purpose. That you should have grasped the principle of rectifying names and bestowed upon this tool a designation neither lacking nor excessive speaks to wisdom of the deepest kind.”
Had she lost her grip on reason after being fleeced of 700 cash?
Or was he deliberately trying to provoke her?
Under the weight of praise so effusive it bordered on mockery, So Yeon-hui’s cheeks flushed crimson.
Yet her ordeal was far from over. Now the man standing beside Wi Jeong, Ju Ha-yun, took up the thread.
“What my friend says is true. Though to be precise, calling it merely a pipe fails to account for the mechanism at its end that commands the flow of water—that alone warrants a distinct name. What would you call it, Miss So?”
“Yes? This? It’s just a water tap—we call it the Water Tap.”
“A Water Tap. A water stopper, as it were. It both restrains the flow and releases it—a most fitting name indeed.”
A faint smile played at Ju Ha-yun’s lips. His narrowed eyes held a beauty that was truly unparalleled.
Yet why was it
that So Yeon-hui felt her skin prickle?
Just then.
An irritable footstep cut across the path of the two men.
Hong, the matriarch, strode forward and stepped between the two nobles and her granddaughter.
“For all your learning, young lords, what business brings you to such a humble commoner’s hovel?”
Wi Jeong bowed low at the frosty edge in her voice, answering with utmost deference.
“Surely you jest, honored matriarch of the So house. I am Wi Jeong of the Cheongpyeong Wi clan. Out of admiration for the late General Anseo, I have presumed to visit with my cousin Ha-yun despite knowing it improper, and I beg your pardon for this discourtesy.”
“Please forgive our rudeness, honored matriarch.”
Their clothing was impeccable, their manners flawless.
To any observer, they were clearly well-bred scions of a noble family; the claim of Cheongpyeong Wi lineage was surely no deception.
The Shim family members, save for the So clan in exile, swallowed hard at the sight of high nobility they’d never before witnessed.
‘Indeed! Noble blood runs true, even in exile. To think such esteemed guests would come calling!’
The Cheongpyeong Wi clan was renowned throughout Cheongyang County.
And for good reason—they were the household of General Anseo.
There was scarcely a soul in Cheongyang County who hadn’t benefited from the general’s kindness.
One might fairly say the county itself lay within the sphere of Cheongpyeong Wi influence.
And now the direct heir of that very clan had come bearing goodwill toward the So house?
‘Indeed, helping the So family that day was the right choice. We helped build the water pipe alongside them—surely they won’t forget the Shim family later.’
Shim Elder looked on in secret jubilation, observing the two young lords of the Wi house flaunting their generosity, and the So family receiving them.
Should the So clan prosper again through Wi assistance, he well knew that given So Jin’s and the matriarch’s nature, they would not overlook the Shim family that had extended a hand in their darkest hour.
But there was that old saying about raising a toast too early inviting misfortune, wasn’t there?
The response of Matriarch Hong took precisely the opposite turn from what Shim Elder had envisioned.
Rather than welcoming the Wi family, she began to insult them with a coldness that cut deep.
“Are you not aware that the bond between our So house and the Cheongpyeong Wi clan severed long ago? Though I suppose it worked out well enough in the end—we gained a filial daughter-in-law of such virtue and grace.”
“M-mother.”
Jang ventured a protest, her lips trembling with embarrassment, but Hong paid her no mind.
If anything, her boldness only intensified, leaving the two young lords of the Wi house hanging their heads in shame.
Wi Jeong spoke.
“We have nothing to say regarding your grievance with our house, ma’am. We can only humbly accept responsibility.”
In truth, it was a matter that might have struck him as somewhat unfair.
The marriage proposal between the So and Wi houses had fallen through more than a decade ago.
Moreover, Wi Jeong and Ju Ha-yun hadn’t even been born until afterward, so apologizing for the recklessness of another before he’d even drawn breath struck him as rather absurd.
Yet the problem was that Hong seemed scarcely gratified by the apology at all.
“Bah! Pretty words flow easily from those with nothing else to offer! Tell me—did not General Anseo, before his death, instruct you to extend your reach to my granddaughter if my son would not suffice? Do you intend to honor that final bequest?”
Hong’s voice turned sharp as a blade. With such ferocity did she press her accusation that even Ju Ha-yun started, both men hastening to gesture in denial.
“You misunderstand, honored matriarch. How could we harbor such intentions? Only that our grandmother and the Wi house have already incurred a great debt to Miss So—we merely wish to repay it.”
Not, of course, that there weren’t other things he’d hoped to extract.
The origins of that mysterious metal vessel, the subtle wisdom behind the tanghulu and fragrant sauce.
But who could have foreseen encountering the inventions of a lifetime—the Water Pipe and Water Tap—manifest before his very eyes?
So desperate had he become that he would have sold his own grandmother for a chance to bind the So house to his own.
He was carefully moving one step closer to So Yeon-hui when—
“What nonsense is this about incurring debts to our house?”
A presence of undeniable power suddenly compressed the air around them.
So Jin, fresh from the mountain, entered the courtyard slowly, surveying the situation with the measured tread of a great tiger.
Yet to the So children, that voice carried only the warmth of welcome.
“Father!”
“Father, you’re back? The water comes out so fast!”
“Should we turn on the tap? It’s amazing how much water flows!”
So Yeon-hui and her two younger brothers rushed toward So Jin with beaming faces.
“Does the water flow so abundantly? It seems the water pipe connection is holding well.”
“Yes!”
“Of course!”
So Jin ruffled the children’s hair with a gentle smile.
His hands were calloused and rough, yet So Yeon-su and So Yeon-u clung to their father’s arms without a care, wheedling for affection.
Only So Yeon-hui, having crossed three decades of lifetimes, managed to maintain her composure.
Though naturally, she would need to recount the events of Jinseong, at least in broad strokes.
“Well, the debt amounts to nothing much. We simply helped an elderly person in distress—that’s all.”
She did not mention being dragged to jail, nor how she’d narrowly escaped interrogation.
Had she done so, neither Wi Jeong nor the man beside him could have escaped unscathed.
As it happened, the moment So Jin learned there was nothing extraordinary behind the Wi house’s visit, his expression turned glacial.
The shift was startling in its severity.
Shim Elder, fearing he might become a casualty caught between two warring houses, hastily excused himself.
“Ah, Commander So. The Shim family must now check our courtyard—we need to see if the water flows properly through our own water pipes.”
“I apologize, sir. I should have inspected it myself. I’ll visit tomorrow morning without fail.”
So Jin bowed, his expression clouded with belated awkwardness and embarrassment, yet it only terrified Shim Elder further.
“Oh no! Please take your time. Yes, that’s fine.”
Shim Elder hurried away with his son and daughter-in-law, practically fleeing the So house.
Yet the two young lords remained unflinchingly courteous toward So Jin, prompting him to exhale a long, reluctant sigh.
“It is not proper to deny a guest even a cup of water. I trust you two lords will accept this humble invitation.”
A brilliant smile bloomed across Wi Jeong’s face.
“Thank you for the honor of your invitation!”
Now Ju Ha-yun bowed as well, his voice steady yet subtly gentler than before.

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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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