The Hwangbo Clan’s Beloved Live-In Son-in-Law - Chapter 17

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

Chapter 17

As soon as those words ended, people poured out from behind, and two people walked leisurely through the main gate.

It was Xie Baowei and Hwangbo Yeon-gung.

“…Hmm. Uh. Than. Thank. No. Should I say it’s nice to meet you?”

Hwangbo Yeon-gung cupped his fists with a flustered expression at the crowd of welcoming people.

“I am Hwangbo Yeon-gung of the Hwangbo Family. I heard you invited our family’s son-in-law, so I brought gifts.”

Then he quickly composed his expression and approached Jang Sahyeon with a calm face, handing over a letter and a silk pouch with a thud.

“The Household Head apologizes for not being able to come personally. Instead, he sends this letter. This is liquor brewed directly at our family’s distillery, and it tastes quite good.”

Hwangbo Yeon-gung winked at Jang Sahyeon with a smile.

A nearby servant, though flustered, received the wine bottles wrapped in the silk pouch.

Jang Sahyeon stared quietly at the letter until Hwangbo Yeon-gung waved it in front of his eyes, then finally took it.

His hands trembled violently.

When he opened it, only a short phrase was written in the letter.

-Wishing you good luck. Hwangbo Seungjeong.

“…This. This!”

What arrogance!

His teeth ground together and anger rose to the top of his head.

In front of him, Xie Baowei approached with dragging steps.

“May I look forward to your teachings?”

It was a clear smile.

This was the beginning of the Taesan Mangui.

***

“Selling sweets here!”

“Fresh homemade white wine here!”

From early morning, the streets of Cheongnyeonggye were full of vitality.

Besides the existing taverns and shops, merchants who came pulling carts set up in empty spaces selling food, alcohol, trinkets, and daily necessities.

People swarmed as if all the people of Jinan had gathered.

The doors of the Pahosam Gate Jinan Branch were wide open.

Only invited people came and went, but spectators and curious onlookers all evaluated their appearances without exception.

“Oh! Elder Maengja-seung has come too! Is that Lord Jeunggyeong-rim next to him?”

“But why did the scholars come to a martial arts event?”

“Hey, you ignorant fool. When the first martial arts gathering in Shandong is being born, shouldn’t they invite famous people to write about it to raise its reputation?”

“Ah, I see. …Then aren’t they somewhat ambiguous figures?”

“Come now. Would proud noble families send their main family members to martial arts events?”

“That’s true too. Since ancient times, scholars have looked down on swordsmen….”

Famous figures from all over Shandong gathered.

Eyes and ears were drawn to faces that anyone from Shandong would have heard of at least once.

Curious onlookers seized the moment to step forward and began boasting about names and achievements for small coins.

“That person is one of the three called the E Family’s Three Heroes, Kwaejolseonpung (Swift Wind Cutter). Unlike that Baek Yeongchang (White Shadow Spear), he’s the youngest son of the household head….”

“The one with Taishan Sect’s Mukgeom-jinin (Ink Sword True Person) seems to be Seolmujin of the Cheongjeong Sword (Blue Cauldron Sword) who made a name recently, and he’s indeed handsome as rumored!”

A gathering was just something where the higher-ups would meet and chat anyway.

People were simply excited to directly see Shandong’s heroes they had only heard about in stories.

The heroic tales and tragedies they created, achievements of defeating bandits, and their mutual blood feuds and friendships came up in people’s conversations again.

Of course, among them were those who predicted the success or failure of the gathering and discussed business.

These stories spread not only throughout Jinan but to all parts of Shandong.

Ripples continued to spread like a large stone falling on an ordinary day.

That alone would make it an already successful event.

However, the atmosphere ‘inside’ was quite different from expectations.

Bang!

“Didn’t I already say! Our deputy head absolutely cannot agree to the Ju Clan Trading Company establishing a Jinan branch!”

“Haha. Deputy Head, you speak too hastily. When did we ever say we would establish a branch? We have no such intention at all….”

“It’s obvious that Ju Danju is behind the Kwaeha Escort Agency! Do you take us for fools?”

“Hmm. Our Geoyameong also agrees with that point.”

“Come now. Chae Bumyeongjoo should properly manage the water bandits instead!”

“Water bandits? There are no such people in our alliance. Take that up with the Yangtze River bandits.”

“Why are you talking about the Yangtze when we’re dealing with the Yellow River!”

It was chaos.

Everyone came to grab their share.

It had been like this since they first prepared the gathering, but they had started with the plan to roughly patch things together.

However, when sects that were quite proud based on their regions gathered together, detailed coordination couldn’t be easy.

The deputy head of western Shandong’s Dongping was a martial family that rose by protecting water trade in the lower Yellow River.

Naturally, they clashed with the Ju Clan Trading Company, which wanted to bring precious goods from the East Sea inland.

The Geoyameong of southwestern Shandong was the same.

Geoyameong, where small sects united based on complex waterways and swamplands, were called small sects but were actually closer to water bandits.

They had long-standing grudges with the deputy head and poor relations with trading companies, and recently had conflicts with disciples of Pahosam Gate passing near Geoya.

Since those disciples were under Gok Jangno, that’s why he was acting up like that.

The others were the same.

Though they sat there pretending to be solemn, the E Family disapproved of the salt traders who smuggled salt, and the Taishan Sect was displeased with the current situation hosted by Pahosam Gate.

Moreover, wasn’t the figure sitting over there from Seokga actually based in Hebei?

Jang Sahyeon held his throbbing head and ground his teeth.

First, he had to stop Gok Jangno, who was getting worked up over there.

This bastard had been causing trouble continuously since losing his position in organizing this event.

…Even though he was the one who withdrew first.

“I heard you even suffered defeats from water bandits, isn’t that a problem with Pahosam Gate’s disciples?”

“Chae Bumyeongjoo. Such words are….”

“What’s all this about?”

“Gok Jangno. Please don’t do this….”

“Ahem. Ju Danju, do you have any thoughts of selecting a new head for Kwaeha Escort Agency? Among our Taesan Sipgeol, there’s a recommendable person….”

“Jeok Gakjoo! How could you say such a thing?”

It was chaos.

Jang Sahyeon tried to calm them by calling each name one by one, but voices only grew louder.

It was different from yesterday.

No one listened to Jang Sahyeon’s words.

Grind.

Jang Sahyeon ground his teeth.

This was all because of Xie Baowei.

The Hwangbo household head’s letter and Xie Baowei’s appearance had clearly strongly scratched each sect’s pride.

That’s why they were throwing such childish tantrums.

But he was the one being played by those childish tantrums.

Damn it.

Jang Sahyeon bowed and scraped again.

His back bent as low as possible.

***

The building of the Pahosam Gate Jinan Branch was built around a famous pond called Hwahuaji.

According to the taste of the high official who built it, originally there was only a small pavilion, but when the branch was established, they expanded the pavilion and tore down surrounding walls to create a large open space.

Originally, they intended to create a training ground to cultivate the martial spirit of the branch’s warriors, but it mainly became a place where the branch head and senior members stayed, and subordinates only visited when receiving instructional talks.

Today was different.

It was full of young and fresh, no, not just young but youthful and innocent laughter.

“Hehehe. So? What did Ak Sohyeop do then?”

“Well. What could I do? I just said yes and charged in, then got beaten up. That’s all.”

“Still, it must have been an honor, right? To cross swords with Baek Yeongchang!”

“Honor, my foot. He’s such a taciturn person… I just got hit once and it was over. I’m more envious of you, young lady. Mukgeomjinin was…”

Dozens of boys and girls gathered together, chattering away.

In truth, they were closer to young adults than boys and girls, but their faces still retained youthful innocence.

So it would still be appropriate to call them boys and girls.

Except for a few, most were meeting for the first time, and even those few only had casual acquaintanceships.

Naturally, time passed awkwardly without a word being spoken.

But that was only temporary.

Those who came early had already arrived four days ago.

As children of this age typically do, once a little awkwardness was cleared away, they quickly became friends.

Moreover, those with naturally bright personalities began gathering together, quickly leading to the current situation.

“I, I’m Kang Sopyeong from Yeonju.”

“The Kang family of Yeonju? …Ah! By any chance, are you the son of the great hero Chungpunggeom?”

“Ah! That’s right! That’s my father!”

“Nice to meet you! I’m Ak Song from Bongnae County.”

“Ak…?”

“That’s right. It’s a bit distant, but I inherited the blood of the E Family.”

However, if you looked closely, there was a clear line of division.

Centered around the pond and pavilion, the children above and around it, and those on the outskirts had a clear line drawn between them as they kept their distance from each other.

More precisely, those on the outside didn’t dare approach the center.

“Hmph. Chungpunggeom, indeed. I hear that scholar who memorizes texts waves around a sword and goes around babbling about living swords and active swords?”

“Stop it, Hoxiong. They’re just ignorant kids.”

“To think I have to see these dregs who can’t even join the alliance here too.”

“Bear with it. We’re the face of Shandong, aren’t we? If you’re a leader, shouldn’t you embrace even those who are lacking?”

“Ha. The face of Shandong, indeed. Is there such a thing as a face with eight heads? Ah, should we count it as eleven if we include the heads of your Pahosam Gate? Gayan?”

“You’re talking nonsense. Then how many should we count for Geoyameong? Ah, since their brains are empty, we shouldn’t even count them as one, should we?”

“This bitch?”

“What, you bastard.”

Unlike the children around them who were getting along harmoniously, the atmosphere above the pavilion was murderous.

They had each arrived late and had heard of each other as competitors since childhood.

Their pride as descendants of great families made it uncomfortable for any of them to lower themselves first and engage in friendship.

Adults’ emotions tend to transfer directly.

“Everyone be quiet. Aren’t you ashamed in front of the children?”

When Seolmujin, the Chungjeonggeom and second disciple of the Taishan Sect, quietly reprimanded them, Hoxiong, the third son of the Geoyameong leader, and Gayan, the first disciple of Gok Jangno of Pahosam Gate, glanced around and shut their mouths tight.

Both seemed displeased with following Seolmujin’s words, but they disliked looking foolish in front of the other children even more.

At least Seolmujin was the eldest among them.

Seolmujin sighed and shook his head.

He was twenty years old.

He didn’t know why he had to clean up after kids here.

But what could he do? His master’s command was absolute.

When he turned his head, he saw his fourth junior sister, Hayuyon, giggling and laughing below the pavilion.

What was that wild child up to now?

The person standing in front of her looked like a descendant of the E Family, judging by his appearance.

But his chattering manner was uncharacteristic, so he probably wasn’t from the main family.

He could tell by looking at Akmungi sitting beside him with his mouth firmly shut.

He heard that senior Baek Yeongchang was also quite taciturn. They said he was a distant relative, but he resembled him in strange ways.

The nickname Kwaejolseonpung would suit that guy better.

While he was grumbling to himself, a girl who had been quietly smiling opened her mouth.

It was Yeomseorae of the Yeom Family merchant group.

“Oh my, look there. That’s the person.”

“That person?”

“Yes, brother.”

Her older brother Yeon Unhwi turned his head following his sister’s words.

He was also the same age as Seolmujin, but unlike Seolmujin, he seemed to be taking a step back.

He was simply following his younger sister.

At Yeomseorae’s words, the children’s eyes focused.

The eyes of other children who had been subtly watching the mood above the pavilion also gathered.

At the entrance, an adult who clearly didn’t belong walked in with a limp.

It was Xie Baowei.

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