I Became the Eldest Daughter of a Fallen Family - Chapter 74

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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 74. Have you ever heard of a patent? (5)
As the meal drew to a close, So Jin rose from his seat and addressed the workers.
“Let’s call it a day here. You’ve all worked hard.”
The workers blinked at this ending far earlier than usual.
But as the Shim family members quickly gathered their tools and departed from the So Household, the workers sensed the atmosphere and filed out of the courtyard in turn.
‘I don’t know what this is about, but if Elder Shim is making himself scarce, it’s best to do the same.’
And that was hardly all. The So Household’s twins filed into a room at Jang’s gesture, while So Yeon-hui remained glued to the water trough alongside Hong, absorbed entirely in the washing.
With matters arranged thus, even the most oblivious soul could hardly fail to notice what was unfolding.
In the now-quiet courtyard, Ju Ha-yun and Wi Jung approached So Jin with careful steps and offered proper bows.
“I… actually, General So. There is something urgent we wish to tell you.”
At Ju Ha-yun’s address, So Jin turned to face the two men. Then, in a low and quiet voice, he replied.
“Speak.”
It was the sharp, distant tone of someone who saw no need for pretense now that no one but his household remained in the courtyard.
Ju Ha-yun felt a small sting at this, though he did not show it.
Instead, he steadied himself and simply stated the prerequisite condition for his purpose in coming.
“I would ask that So Seo also join us.”
So Yeon-hui, who had been listening furtively, blinked. So Jin’s eyebrows moved faintly as well.
After a brief sigh, So Jin spoke.
“Your Highness, I had believed you came bearing the Crown Prince’s message.”
“Yes. That is so.”
There was no wavering in Ju Ha-yun’s voice. So Jin regarded him for a moment.
“Is there a reason my daughter must hear the Crown Prince’s message?”
“Yes, there is.”
It was a brief answer, but delivered with absolute conviction. Wi Jung, standing beside Ju Ha-yun, quietly nodded in agreement.
‘Entanglement with the prince already troubles me greatly—and now the Crown Prince as well.’
So Jin himself had spent time in service and encountered imperial family members often enough, but his daughter was a woman, after all.
It was a long-established truth that entanglement with the imperial household brought no good to any woman, and So Jin’s expression darkened rapidly.
Sensing So Jin’s concern, Ju Ha-yun added a remark meant to ease his worries somewhat.
“Please, do not be uneasy. The Crown Prince came to hear of Miss So’s talents from Master Tae Baek and regards her purely as a valuable talent. However, the imperial palace is in disarray and is no place for such talents to remain. For this reason, he has asked me to look after the So Household here in Cheongyang County—just as he once permitted Master Tae Baek his long absence.”
At Ju Ha-yun’s explanation, So Jin’s expression softened somewhat.
He was well familiar with the story of how Master Tae Baek had come to take his extended leave.
When the Crown Prince’s own teacher, Master Tae Baek, faced the threat of poisoning at the hands of scheming officials, the Crown Prince had wept and helped his teacher escape the palace.
Fortune had it that So Yeon-hui was returning from a visit to her maternal family at precisely that moment, and the two had met—thus beginning their master-and-disciple bond.
It was sufficiently persuasive that the Crown Prince now wished to bring no more talented individuals into the palace.
‘Yes. The Crown Prince, who already has a stable heir in the form of a consort he has taken, could hardly have designs on our Yeon-hui, who is not yet of age.’
Reassured, So Jin quietly drew a hand across his chest.
Yet a lingering unease remained—the troublesome feeling that, since coming here in exile, Yeon-hui seemed to become entangled with Ju Ha-yun far more often than seemed natural.
So Jin’s gaze turned toward his daughter, then back to Ju Ha-yun. After a brief silence, he called to his daughter quietly.
“…Yeon-hui. Come here.”
So Yeon-hui set down her tray and quietly approached her father’s side.
So Jin took his daughter’s hand and made for the inner room, while Hong watched their retreating forms with eyes full of concern.
When the four had at last taken their seats, Ju Ha-yun withdrew a letter from his breast and laid it before So Jin.
The letter, bearing the Crown Prince’s seal, bore clear signs of having already been opened.
“This is a letter the Crown Prince sent to me. Before explaining the circumstances and making my request, I felt I must confess my transgression.”
So Jin regarded it for a moment, then slowly reached out his hand.
As he broke the seal—its adhesive nearly spent—and unfolded the letter, a solemn silence fell over the room.
So Yeon-hui watched her father’s expression anxiously.
His brow narrowed as he read, and his hand paused briefly at the final line—a sign that the contents were not favorable.
So Jin folded the letter and laid it across his knee, speaking in a low voice.
“Why show me this? It is a personal letter to Your Highness—you could have kept it hidden.”
“I did not wish to.”
“…You did not wish to?”
“No. I felt I could not reconcile myself to that method.”
So Jin closed his eyes.
In truth, he wished to be entangled with the imperial family no further. He had learned by bitter experience how difficult it was to disentangle oneself once caught.
Yet he owed a debt to the Crown Prince.
That his exile was assigned to this place, that his family has remained safe until now—all of this was thanks to the Crown Prince’s intervention, was it not?
Such a debt did not easily fade.
Even if the Crown Prince had allowed the So Household’s downfall to proceed. Even if this prince before him was the only solution capable of stopping it.
‘The So Household’s collapse was an inevitable course in any case. Had the Sixth Prince not borne witness, Yeon Chancellor would surely have fabricated other evidence to see the matter through. He is a persistent man, and possesses the power to press such matters.’
After a long silence, So Jin opened his eyes.
“As one bearing a criminal’s status, how could Your Highness expect me to be of aid?”
“The water management problem in Cheongyang County is severe.”
So Yeon-hui’s eyes narrowed as she leaned forward slightly. Ju Ha-yun continued.
“We are attempting to draw water using bamboo pipes, employing the advice Miss So offered previously, but we face obstruction from the local gentry families.”
Wi Jung then folded his arms and provided a more detailed explanation.
“It is a matter of the rights to the wells. Many of the gentry families have dug wells on their land, and during times of river flooding, the demand for well water increases greatly, forcing the common people to depend upon them.”
So Yeon-hui glanced at Wi Jung, then turned her gaze back to Ju Ha-yun.
“So they are blocking both the installation of dams and the aqueduct system?”
“They are. They employ various methods—barring the felling of bamboo itself, or blocking the path of the aqueduct by claiming it runs through private land, and so forth.”
In any case, those with means always have more.
But to monopolize the wells—the cleanest water source in a region prone to flooding, no less—seemed to So Yeon-hui a particularly vicious strategy.
Such methods were indeed cruel.
So Yeon-hui considered for a moment, then spoke.
“They rely on well water being less contaminated than the flood waters, is that it?”
“Yes. Nine in ten fall ill after drinking river water during the rainy season, but when drinking from the wells, only about half that number become sick.”
According to Wi Jung, the four rivers surrounding Cheongyang County flood twice yearly.
Once around the time spring planting is completed, and again within a month after the harvest season.
‘Now I understand why rice prices in this area are as they are.’
With rivers flooding during the most critical periods of farming, how could rice prices ever stabilize?
But if that were the full extent of the problem, the solution would actually be straightforward.
The question was simply: how much did they wish to solve?
“So tell me—what do the two of you truly wish to do? Do you wish only to build dams beyond the gentry’s sight and purify water at a few locations? Or do you wish to create such an overwhelming advantage that they would not dare even attempt to interfere?”
The eyes of the two men, who had been listening quietly, shifted. They were the eyes of those accustomed to military strategy.
Ju Ha-yun regarded So Yeon-hui with seriousness and asked.
“In truth, I sought your counsel on whether an aqueduct system might be built by means other than bamboo pipes. But how far can you take this?”
So Yeon-hui closed her eyes briefly, gathering her thoughts, then answered with a slight smile.
“At minimum, I can ensure that food will not be lacking after the harvest season.”
* * *
Preventing rivers from flooding is difficult.
She was no construction expert, nor did she know well how the embankments here were built.
But when it came to responding after disaster strikes, or to preparing for disaster—that was another matter entirely.
These were things one learned as a basic necessity when choosing to live in the countryside.
“Have the rainy season preparations been made this year? What? The palisade hasn’t been reinforced yet? What, did the young folk take a vacation overseas?”
“No, planting them now? In a few weeks they’ll all be underwater and dead. No, that won’t do. Let’s dig some furrows first.”
Of course, it had taken quite a long time to embody all of this knowledge and become truly useful.
‘By the end, I went from a useless outsider trailing after the village headman to being mentioned as a candidate for youth association leader?’
So Yeon-hui cast her gaze down briefly toward her knees, then lifted her head.
“Before offering my counsel, might I ask one thing first?”
Ju Ha-yun nodded. So Yeon-hui spoke slowly.
“Have you ever heard the concept of a patent 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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