The Hwangbo Clan’s Beloved Live-In Son-in-Law - Chapter 13

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 13

Worrying about bodily harm to a martial artist.

That’s something only common soldiers worry about for their own lives.

“We are people of martial families.”

Loyalty like dying for one’s country only comes out when one has lost their mind.

It was natural for those forcibly conscripted by the nation.

However, martial artists who took up the sword of their own will were different.

“If there’s anyone who thinks like you, they’ll come to understand now.”

Martial artists live and die for honor alone.

The Household Head had put a leash on the beast called the Huangbo Family.

Look back at yourself.

Look back at what’s beneath your feet.

Even so,

would a beast lose its wildness?

“We are the Hwangbo Family Estate.”

As if.

No one would believe it.

“I guarantee it.”

There must be chaos outside, right?

He said, then put strength into the hand resting on Xie Baowei’s shoulder.

Under that burdensome gaze, Xie Baowei quietly pulled his body away.

Huangbo Lüli spoke forcefully as if to reassure him.

“So please, you just. Please just stay still. We’ll take care of everything!”

Whether he truly believed this or was determined to make it so was unclear, but Xie Baowei just nodded halfheartedly.

At this, Huangbo Lüli turned around and lay down as if his pride was hurt.

Really now.

Xie Baowei shook his head once, then looked up as if things had worked out well.

Now that things had finally quieted down, he could just peacefully watch the carp playing.

“Ahem. Master Xie, are you there?”

Damn it.

How wonderful it would have been if only silence had remained like this.

It seemed today too would be far from a quiet day.

At the voice calling him and the sound of footsteps, Xie Baowei looked back at Huangbo Lüli.

If he was going to show off his pride for no reason and make the atmosphere awkward, he should at least be helpful.

“Yeon-gung was here. Hmm… do you still have something to discuss with Master Xie?”

“Uncle Yan? …What brings you here.”

The visitor opened his mouth as if somewhat flustered.

His attitude was cautious.

Seeing such a visitor, Huangbo Lüli slightly frowned and opened his mouth as if troubled.

Xie Baowei encouraged Huangbo Lüli with his eyes as if to cheer him on.

“…I heard Master Xie had returned, so shouldn’t I pay my respects? If you’re busy, I’ll come again next time.”

The visitor rambled as if making excuses.

Yet his steps didn’t move easily, seeming to watch both Xie Baowei’s and Huangbo Lüli’s reactions.

Huangbo Lüli pondered for a moment, then stepped back.

“I too am merely Baowei’s guest…”

Xie Baowei looked at him resentfully, but Huangbo Lüli just quietly shrugged his shoulders.

Well. What can you do. You have to listen, don’t you.

“Ah. That works out well.”

The visitor smiled gently.

He was a middle-aged man with a completely different feeling from the Huangbo Family members they’d seen so far.

Huangbo Lüli also seemed to find him quite difficult to deal with.

Though he called him uncle, he wasn’t actually an uncle. He had just known him for a long time.

There were times when he thought of him as family.

Huangbo Lüli thought.

But why was he here?

“The young lady is looking for you.”

Uncle Yan, Yan Gimun said.

Huangbo Lüli’s face hardened.

Xie Baowei’s face likewise hardened.

They weren’t on terms to seek each other out with smiles, nor to face each other.

“May I come along?”

“The young lady called for Master Xie alone.”

“Would there be a problem with a nephew visiting his aunt?”

“…You know as well, don’t you. The confinement order for Wulanhun issued by the Household Head hasn’t been lifted yet.”

“…What about when we met outside together last time.”

“Hmm. That was a month ago. When we met by chance. Haha. When the young lady said she’d pay the bill, she ordered two bottles of Nanling wine, didn’t she?”

“Hmm. I’ll take him along.”

Well. What mischief would you cause? Huangbo Lüli shrugged his shoulders while looking at Xie Baowei.

Xie Baowei stood up with an incredulous expression.

“Let’s go.”

Huangbo Lüli waved his hand.

Xie Baowei didn’t look back.

***

Household Head Hwangbo Seungjeong had three sons.

The eldest died in his prime, and the second devoted himself to the military as befitted the second son of the Huangbo Family.

The third inherited the family, but after his wife died giving birth to a child, he grew ill with grief and likewise died young from illness.

How must the Household Head’s heart have felt, losing two sons so suddenly?

And how must the wife’s heart have felt when her husband died?

Hwangbo Seungjeong cherished his eldest daughter-in-law like his own child.

The eldest daughter-in-law likewise cherished the family.

As the family’s mistress, enough to secure a place in the Taigao Assembly even without official position.

“It’s been a long time.”

“Yes. My nephew-in-law has come.”

Eon Gyeongha spoke in a hoarse voice.

Contrary to her words, there was no welcoming tone in her voice, and she didn’t even look at his face.

Looking only at her half-grayed hair done up in a bun, it wasn’t easy to recall that affectionate face from long ago.

Once, someone he wanted to follow,

someone he wanted to rely on.

“…It’s been a long time. Aunt.”

She was his eldest aunt.

-Oh my, you should call me eldest aunt.

Eon Gyeongha was the family’s eldest daughter-in-law.

After her mother-in-law died, she had truly fulfilled the role of the family’s mistress,

always maintaining a dignified bearing and smiling gently, someone everyone called mother.

Though not to Xie Baowei.

“Why. Have you returned?”

She had truly changed.

She had always been dignified, dealing with countless people while never letting her dignity as the Huangbo Family’s mistress falter.

She wore the finest clothes, drank the finest tea, and possessed the finest things, yet never appeared vulgar.

While subtly enhancing her radiance,

People called this elegance.

-Leave, child. This family does not suit you. No, you did not suit Hee-ae. Should I say that instead?

Indeed, was that so?

Does elegance come from what one possesses?

“I had no intention of returning. But what can I do? This is my hometown.”

The current Eon Gyeongha lacked the same radiance as before.

Her hair was half gray and half disheveled, looking unsightly.

Her clothes appeared soft but were made of cotton cloth, and what must have been luxurious furnishings in her residence now looked worn.

The surroundings were quiet and tranquil.

It resembled his own Xingyaoshengshe.

The separate building that stood with its back to the main family halls, with a small pond in front harmoniously blended with flowers and grass, was similar.

However, whether the owner had tended it well, it was much more beautiful than his residence.

Also, the surrounding green bamboo that encircled like a screen, forming walls, was distinctive.

Wulanhun. True to its name meaning “dare not cross the line.”

“Will you come in?”

“No.”

From the tea she held came the subtle fragrance of jasmine.

While flower tea was something everyone enjoyed in Shandong, it was not something she had enjoyed before.

Because ‘everyone’ enjoyed it.

“How cold.”

“People learn, they say.”

Xie Baowei had climbed mountains since childhood.

Having eaten various things he found, he didn’t fall ill easily.

The most he had ever been sick in his life was after coming to this Huangbo Family, and that was the day he had called Eon Gyeongha “Great Aunt” and received tea.

“Yes. You learned well.”

Eon Gyeongha nodded as if she understood.

Then she poured tea and drank it down as if to show him.

She didn’t offer again.

Only then did her face slowly reveal itself.

Indeed, she had aged greatly.

“How is it? Do I look good?”

Eon Gyeongha laughed self-deprecatingly.

While doing so, she looked around her surroundings.

“This residence is now my home. Living guests have ceased their visits, and only time comes to tell me to wait for death.”

The beauty that had been so well-maintained that her age was impossible to guess had disappeared, and a tired, drooping old woman sat there.

The wind blew, disheveling her hair.

The green bamboo rustled and trembled with an eerie sound.

“Do you resent me?”

“Resent you?”

At Xie Baowei’s words, she laughed as if it were absurd.

She laughed heartily as if she had heard something truly amusing.

“Resent you?!”

The Household Head’s and people’s trust in the eldest daughter-in-law was deep.

She is the eldest daughter-in-law of the Huangbo Family, she is the mistress of the house.

Eon Gyeongha thought so too. I am the mistress.

If there was a difference, it was just one thing.

-Return… You said you would return?

A father’s position should be inherited by his son.

Wasn’t that natural?

The position of Household Head would return, yes. It was a matter of waiting.

But the thing is.

-Wait? Until Yulhee grows up. Wait?

The Household Head had died. The Grand Household Head was alive, and the children were young, so she thought it couldn’t be helped that a brother would inherit the family.

However, in a situation where even that brother had died, now there was clearly a grown bloodline of the former Household Head.

All that came back was the word to wait.

Her rightful position, her role, her things were being taken away.

Wait?

“Why. Did you return. I told you not to come back.”

“I said I had no such intention.”

She resented him.

How much she resented him, that resentment still had not disappeared.

Was it entirely Xie Baowei’s fault?

If asked, she also knew it was not.

But what could she do?

Then. Whom would she resent?

Her husband who left at an early age?

Her father-in-law who cherished her like a daughter?

Her sons who gave up the position of Household Head, bearing their mother’s sins?

…The nephews she had cherished like sons and daughters?

How could she?

“Then, why do you remain?”

Eon Gyeongha gazed intently at Xie Baowei.

Xie Baowei looked into those eyes and answered.

“I was simply. Curious.”

He was curious about his homeland.

That was all.

“I did nothing, yet you all haven’t changed.”

Why.

Why do you welcome me?

He had done nothing.

Though he said he himself had changed, he had not acted on those changes here.

Yet, why.

Had those who despised me changed?

“So I wanted to understand a little. But you are not. You are still the same as then.”

To her, Xie Baowei was still just an outsider.

Not family.

“Then, leave. Leave and never return again.”

With a voice aged and left only with stubbornness, Eon Gyeongha spoke.

She had already given up everything.

If not for that bastard, she wouldn’t have had to feel such miserable emotions again.

So leave.

Eon Gyeongha spoke harshly and then turned her head away again.

Xie Baowei let out a sigh.

Not everyone welcomed him.

Distantly, there were people like Cheongjam and Jang Sahyeon, and closely, there were Eon Gyeongha and several relatives.

So he was confused.

Just as hope would arise wondering if there was a place for him here, disappointment would grow thinking there really wasn’t.

“…Take care of yourself, Great Aunt.”

Eon Gyeongha’s body trembled with a start.

Xie Baowei bowed deeply toward her back and the back of her head, then immediately turned and left Wulanhun.

Yan Gimun had been waiting at the entrance and followed him out.

“Don’t worry about it too much.”

“…Elder.”

“Your sister has had a very difficult time.”

Huh.

At those words, Xie Baowei abruptly stopped walking, then started again.

As his limp became more pronounced, his left hand with the severed fingers became more noticeable.

Yan Gimun saw these things and lost his words for a moment, then spoke again.

“Well, not as much as you, but of course…”

“Yes. I suppose so.”

“Ahem. But please don’t resent her too much. Despite what she says, she’s not really that heartless. She couldn’t sleep for quite a while after you left. And there’s also the matter with Hee-ae.”

Yan Gimun rambled on with excuses in front of Xie Baowei.

This is what blood relations are like.

Even though it was truly shameless, Xie Baowei found himself somewhat envious of it.

Having someone who would take your side no matter what happened.

Isn’t that what family is?

Xie Baowei stopped walking and turned back to look at the tall bamboo forest of Wulanhun.

Perhaps Eon Gyeongha was the only one who truly understood Yunlei.

Because of that, Yunlei, who had been called the reincarnation of Hwangbo Seungjeong—no, even more talented than that—was ruined.

“I understand.”

So Xie Baowei could only give a brief answer.

Behind Xie Baowei as he walked away again, Yan Gimun shouted.

“P-please call me Uncle Yan again. I’m sorry!”

A long shadow stretched behind Xie Baowei.

The sun was setting.

Thud.

“Hmm.”

As Xie Baowei walked toward his quarters, he suddenly thought.

Now that evening had come, could he perhaps get some rest?

…No. That wasn’t likely.

Everyone would come looking for him with food or drinks.

Damn it.

It had been the same yesterday, the day before, and the day before that—it was predictable.

So what should he do?

Xie Baowei’s steps suddenly changed direction.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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