I Became the Eldest Daughter of a Fallen Family - Chapter 36

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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 36. A Partnership Proposal
It was a question that wasn’t quite a question—more like standing at a crossroads between life and death.
With his survival instincts ablaze, Ju Ha-yoon straightened his back quickly and answered.
“I came to bring ingredients in case you were short on supplies for the cooking. You gave me a bowl of Soon Tofu for the banquet preparations, and I thought I’d taste it. It was truly delicious.”
His lips trembled visibly from the tension. When no reply came from So Jin, he paused before adding more.
“Ah, and the judging of the cooking will be done by my grandmother. I do hope you’ll prepare something splendid.”
So Jin still said nothing, only studying Ju Ha-yoon’s face—that face flushed red all the way to his ears.
Ju Ha-yoon avoided his gaze and clasped his hands in a respectful posture.
“Then I’ll take my leave.”
He passed by So Jin and hurried across the courtyard, disappearing quickly—and yet somehow he maintained his dignified stride the entire way.
So Jin turned back to his daughter.
“Did that man do something to you?”
“Do something? You know my skills—why ask such a thing?”
So Yeon-hee said this while wiping her cutting board.
“He seemed to doubt my abilities, so I served him a bowl of Soon Tofu. His eyes went as wide as saucers. I suppose his palate isn’t broken after all.”
Even as she spoke poorly of the man behind his back, So Yeon-hee let out a stifled laugh, and So Jin’s eyes flickered with something subtle.
He glanced back and forth between the doorways where So Yeon-hee and Ju Ha-yoon had disappeared, then finally spoke.
“You still have a year before your coming of age. It’s too early to speak of marriage.”
“What? Why are you saying such things all of a sudden?”
“You must be at least eighteen. Do you understand? Eighteen!”
Whether it was that Ha-yoon fellow or what, both he and her father seemed dreadfully irritable this morning.
Had all the men come down with some sort of crisis at once?
So Yeon-hee stopped, unable to hide her bewilderment, and held the kitchen cloth.
Then her mother, Jang, appeared from somewhere, covering her mouth with her hand, her shoulders trembling as she added a comment.
“Goodness. If you miss a good match that way, what then? The younger you are when you marry, the better your prospects! Isn’t that so, Yeon-hee?”
So Yeon-hee turned her eyes toward her mother in disbelief at what was happening.
Jang let out a short sigh.
“Very well. It seems I’ll have to handle your marriage arrangements myself.”
And with a shake of her head as if exasperated, she turned back around and headed toward the fields.
* * *
After the commotion died down.
So Yeon-hee stood before the cooking station, ready to begin preparing her tofu dishes in earnest.
If she were to list the recipes she knew, she could rattle them off endlessly even now.
Tofu hot pot, braised tofu, tofu fritters—all of them vegetarian dishes with a delicate texture, but hardly fitting for a banquet…
“Hmm, it’s all a bit underwhelming.”
What could be both elegant to behold and delicious to taste?
As her thoughts deepened, the two twin siblings of the So Family Estate came running toward her with flushed faces, having hidden away to escape the commotion.
“Sister, are you going to marry that person?”
“Marry? Who?”
“That young master from the Wi Family! His name was Ha-yoon, wasn’t it?”
At So Yeon-u’s blunt strike, So Yeon-hee choked on the piece of tofu she’d just put in her mouth.
So Yeon-su, who followed after his coughing sister, patted her back impassively.
“Boys have no consideration, I tell you. Marriage is one of the great duties of propriety for a woman—how can you just blurt it out like that? Don’t you see sister is embarrassed?”
What on earth are you talking about now?
So Yeon-hee stared at her two younger siblings in disbelief.
“What kind of nonsense are you spouting? Why would I marry that man?”
She was only fifteen years old, and she’d only met him three times!
There were limits to infatuation, even. She wasn’t some storybook heroine—how could she make such an absurd decision?
At So Yeon-hee’s incredulous expression, So Yeon-u puffed out his cheeks and offered an excuse.
“Well, it seems like he might have feelings for you, sister.”
“Ridiculous. Why would he like me?”
The Wi Family was wealthy.
This Ha-yoon fellow was a cousin of Wi Jeong, the legitimate heir of the Wi Family.
Silk robes and a golden crown—he looked every inch the son of a rich house. Would such a family ever take the daughter of a criminal as their daughter-in-law?
No matter how much of a hero her father had been, having saved the nation, such a thing was impossible.
No matter how the royal court kept their exile secret, the fact that no one came looking for them said everything.
So Yeon-hee waved her hand dismissively and turned away.
“Stop talking nonsense and hand me that bowl for the tofu. I need to bring a few pieces to the Shim Family Estate.”
At that, So Yeon-su began to hand his sister a porcelain bowl, then hesitated.
“What is that? When did you make rice cake?”
“What? Where? Where is there any rice cake?”
The bamboo basket was filled with pale white lumps that gave off a savory aroma—they looked so much like precious glutinous rice cake that both So Yeon-su and So Yeon-u swallowed hard.
So Yeon-hee smiled at them and cut the tofu neatly with her knife.
“It’s not rice cake. Remember the Soon Tofu you ate earlier? I placed it on a bamboo strainer, drained the moisture, and let it firm up. Would you like to try some?”
She transferred two pieces of tofu into a bowl and then carefully carved off a small corner of the remaining block, holding it out to the children.
So Yeon-u, who couldn’t resist food, popped it in his mouth first and jumped with delight.
“Wow! This is incredibly savory!”
Then So Yeon-su quickly grabbed a piece as well, and after tasting it, he looked up at his sister and said.
“Sister, this could be sold! If you’re going to trade at Jin-seong, take me with you! I’m eleven now, so I can help you!”
“Really?”
“Of course! Even if grandmother objects, I’m definitely going!”
“What about me? If So Yeon-su is going, I want to go too!”
“You again, picking fights with your older sister?”
“Hmph! In a twin pair, the one born later is the older brother!”
So Yeon-hee laughed as she watched the twins bicker between marveling at the tofu’s flavor.
How could they be so consistently full of energy? She carefully packed the bowl of tofu into a basket and untied her apron.
“I can’t take along a disobedient, lazy brother, you know.”
At her words, So Yeon-su quickly grabbed the basket as if snatching it away.
“I’ll carry it!”
Then, suddenly anxious, So Yeon-u hurriedly picked up a walking stick and cried out.
“W-well, then I’ll protect sister! I’m a man, so I’m strong!”
There was no point in saying she’d go alone now—they wouldn’t listen anyway.
So Yeon-hee let out a quiet laugh watching the two of them already dressed for the journey and standing at the door.
“All right. Let’s go together.”
It wasn’t so bad to walk with her younger siblings for a change.
So the three of them walked side by side and arrived at the Shim Family Estate’s courtyard.
Thanks to the newly connected bamboo water conduit pipes, the gentle patter of falling water complemented the neatly arranged garden and added to its charm.
Looking at the wooden tub full of laundry beside the tap, it seemed the Shim Family had already adapted to the new technology.
‘Yes, it was well worth the hard work.’
Incidentally, when So Yeon-hee had shared the technique for making water conduit pipes not only with the So Family but with the Shim Family as well, she had earned no fewer than ten Good Deed Points at once.
Though she didn’t fully understand the mechanism, it seemed that sharing one’s skill to improve someone’s life was also counted as a good deed.
Meanwhile, Song, who had been sweeping the courtyard in front of the Shim Family’s gate, lit up at the sight of the three visitors.
“My, is that you, Yeon-hee? So Yeon-su and So Yeon-u have come too! What brings you here? Shall I call for Dae-ho or Ee-ho?”
“Yesterday, you asked me to bring you a taste of the legume dish I mentioned. I’ve brought a bit—please try it with some soy sauce.”
So Yeon-hee accepted the basket from her younger sibling and handed a dish to Song.
Song’s eyes went wide in surprise as she took it.
“You really made it and brought it? I thought you were just making polite conversation…”
The moment Song received the dish, a notification window appeared quietly at the edge of So Yeon-hee’s vision.
[Good Deed (Minor) Achieved: You have shared food with your neighbors.]
[8 points have been credited.]
[Current Points: 60pt]
As So Yeon-hee beamed at the good news, Song was quite startled by the appearance of the “tofu” in the basket.
‘It looks like rice cake, but they say it has a savory flavor instead of sweetness?’
Though she couldn’t imagine what it would taste like, Song first offered her gratitude.
“Why should I only receive such precious gifts? The water conduit pipe and all—and what happened at the well last time. It seems the So Family is always the one giving us kindnesses.”
“What are you saying? If anything, we’re the ones indebted to the Shim Family. You took us to the Five-day Market, and I even owe you my life.”
So Yeon-hee widened her eyes in protest, but Song’s stance was equally firm.
“That debt is paid in full by that water conduit pipe alone, with plenty left over. You don’t have to haul water anymore. Just not seeing that bastard’s face adds thirty years to my life, I tell you.”
So Yeon-hee laughed at Song’s jest. She really had made the right choice extending the water conduit pipes all the way to the Shim Family courtyard.
‘When I think about it, we’d have been in serious trouble without the Shim Family. We might have missed the deadline for the fragrant oil delivery.’
Because the So Family had repaid the Shim Family’s goodwill with kindness of their own, they had come full circle and benefited from their generosity once more.
The Good Deed Points aside, goodness had brought tangible benefit in return.
‘So this is what the Bodhisattva of the Earth means when he tells me to live sharing more with others.’
So Yeon-hee hesitated for a moment before carefully speaking up.
“I was wondering… if I might ask one more favor?”
“Of course. Ask away, child.”
At the immediate acceptance with no hesitation, So Yeon-hee finally let go of her tension.
Then, in a much brighter voice, she began.
“Actually, I’m thinking of selling this tofu along with Tanghulu.”
“Oh?”
“I don’t have enough hands to do it alone. If the So Family handles the production, could the Shim Family take care of the sales?”

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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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