The Hwangbo Clan’s Beloved Live-In Son-in-Law - Chapter 28

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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 28

“Did you hypnotize him or something?”

Or maybe some kind of sorcery?

Hyeseo, no, Jegal Seolhye said this out of the blue.

“What.”

“Hmm.”

Xie Baowei answered curtly.

Jegal Seolhye tilted her head as if suspicious.

It was because Hwangbo Yeonhwi’s reaction was strange.

As someone who had been quite close to Huangbo Lüli, she also had connections with Hwangbo Yeonhwi, which made the current change all the more unfamiliar.

“Hmph. No way. He’s a man to begin with… and more importantly. Even his somewhat decent face is completely ruined. What on earth did you do?”

She had seen Xie Baowei’s face a few times before.

She never had good memories from those encounters.

Jegal Seolhye was a clever woman.

Everyone praised her, and she was accustomed to being revered.

It was understandable. Her conduct was always proper and righteous.

However,

“Your face is covered with disgusting scars, tsk tsk. You’ve completely lost your fingers. Your legs are crippled… How did you beat Cheongjam?”

Except when dealing with easy targets.

The phrase ‘two-faced’ really suited her well.

When Jegal Seolhye gestured, one of the guards stepped forward.

“Could you show us now? I’m quite curious. About your level.”

“I’ll report this to the Household Head.”

“…You have changed. In a rather unpleasant way.”

The fact that she frowned so easily at Xie Baowei’s refusal, as if she had expected him to comply, showed just that.

What kind of Hyeseo was this person who spewed shit from her own mouth without even realizing she had done so?

“Why did you call me?”

“I’m curious. …No matter how I think about it, it can only be you.”

“What can.”

“You know, don’t you?”

Xie Baowei just shrugged his shoulders.

There was no need to make things unnecessarily noisy.

“Everyone says it’s impossible, but is it really impossible? When I think about it, only you remain.”

“Think whatever you want.”

When Xie Baowei just shook his head dismissively, Jegal Seolhye narrowed her eyes.

But then she relaxed her expression.

“Well. It doesn’t matter. Thanks to that, Taean Gate is gone, we’ve scraped up all the remaining gold, and the vacant positions, well. We’ll distribute them appropriately.”

“I’m telling you not to reach out your hands.”

“Isn’t that the proper thing to do for the other sects that joined the Alliance?”

“Even if that territory was originally ours?”

“That’s not my concern.”

And Jegal Seolhye smiled.

She had kept her mouth shut in front of Ilcheon Gakju, but now she was spinning around mockingly, which was irritating.

“By the way, ‘ours.’ You really consider yourself one of them?”

“…That’s also none of your business.”

“That’s true.”

Jegal Seolhye scanned Xie Baowei’s expression.

Then she quietly looked at the garden of Xingyaoshengshe and said.

“Why did you come back?”

Suddenly, the smile disappeared from her face.

Xie Baowei smiled bitterly.

“Does one need a reason to come to their hometown?”

“Then why are you here?”

“I didn’t come. They dragged me here.”

“So, will you leave?”

Xie Baowei quietly closed his eyes.

Will I leave?

“Probably.”

“I suppose so. My question was wrong. Will you come back?”

“…I don’t know.”

At those words, Jegal Seolhye seemed a little angry.

She seemed to be either organizing her thoughts or swallowing her words.

She was definitely different from usual.

And that was killing the one single virtue of Jegal Seolhye that Xie Baowei liked.

So he opened his mouth.

“Do you know this? I disliked you from the beginning, Miss.”

“Ha.”

Jegal Seolhye crossed her arms as if dumbfounded.

How dare he?

The one who always hesitated about whether to speak was always her, and the one who spoke thoughtlessly was always him.

“In front of others, you’d act smart and well-mannered, putting on airs, but in front of me, you’d say all sorts of things.”

“Hey.”

Xie Baowei opened his mouth without changing his expression at all.

Even when Jegal Seolhye raised her voice angrily, he remained the same.

Xie Baowei’s eyes pierced straight into Jegal Seolhye.

“But I liked that you didn’t hide your true feelings.”

“…Hmph.”

At those words, Jegal Seolhye briefly closed and opened her eyes.

Only after the gentle fragrance of spring tea tickled her nose and its deep flavor moistened the root of her tongue did she speak.

“…I didn’t dislike you.”

“That’s a bit unexpected.”

“Shut up. I hated you after that.”

“…I understand.”

Jegal Seolhye glared at him fiercely.

Being stared at with those large eyes with long corners created quite the pressure.

Xie Baowei closed his mouth and lowered his head.

“Hah. Yes. I didn’t dislike you until you left. …Do you know why?”

As if to show he was keeping quiet, Xie Baowei covered his mouth with his hand and raised his head.

Jegal Seolhye frowned.

“Hmph. Because my sister liked you. Because she truly liked you.”

She let out a short breath.

She caught her breath again, seemed to hold back, then looked at Xie Baowei’s indifferent face and spoke as if spitting out the words.

“Because she liked you. My sister. This foolish man. This ignorant fool who pretends to know nothing. Whose origins are lowly, whose actions are lowly, but who still managed to grow up properly without becoming more lowly. And who ultimately left without understanding that heart! That man.”

Because she liked you.

So I had no choice but to as well. She closed her mouth after that.

Xie Baowei was also silent.

The first to speak again was Jegal Seolhye.

“Are you just going to keep pondering?”

“No.”

Jegal Seolhye glared at Xie Baowei once more.

He was an uninteresting man.

“Hmph.”

Jegal Seolhye snorted heavily and stood up.

She had said everything she needed to say.

She had heard everything she needed to hear.

So there was nothing left but to get up.

She didn’t like saying things that didn’t need to be said.

But she deliberately spoke out loud anyway.

“Come to the Alliance.”

To hear what would follow.

“I’m thinking of going.”

Jegal Seolhye turned around and smiled faintly.

He had truly changed.

The face that used to be innocently flustered was now full of scars, and the smile that used to be purely innocent now carried the bitter taste of years.

The gestures that used to be restlessly frivolous now had composure, and the words that used to be clumsily uttered now had strength.

Yet his old appearance still overlapped with the new, and it wasn’t bad.

“Hmph. Acting like an old man now.”

“…As always, I dislike you.”

Jegal Seolhye left with a clear laugh.

***

“Are you thinking of leaving?”

“Yes.”

“Come back.”

Xie Baowei remained silent.

Though Hwangbo Seungjeong had become much healthier, there was no strength in that stern voice.

In the old days, it would have carried an irresistible dignity.

“…I still don’t understand.”

“What?”

“I’m still just a guest.”

For the past month.

Xie Baowei had received the utmost hospitality.

He wore fine clothes, ate good food, applied good medicine, and heard kind words.

Everyone welcomed him, but at the same time found him difficult to approach.

“I know the reason you hated me, but I don’t understand the reason you like me.”

So Xie Baowei still considered himself a guest of the Hwangbo Family.

Hadn’t the Hwangbo Family treated him as such?

“Is the purpose to bring Lüli back?”

“You fool. Baowei.”

Hwangbo Seungjeong’s voice became deliberately stern.

When he quietly raised his head, he saw Hwangbo Seungjeong’s eyes shaking painfully.

No, was it his own heart that was aching and shaking?

Xie Baowei bowed his head deeply again.

“How can you say such devastating words?”

“I don’t understand.”

He truly couldn’t understand at all.

Because his swordsmanship improved a little? Because he gained some position?

No. The Hwangbo Family already had all of that.

Then why had those who trampled, oppressed, and humiliated him changed their faces?

“I haven’t changed.”

“We have changed.”

Baowei, Hwangbo Seungjeong called out painfully.

“What a family needs isn’t necessarily strength.”

During Hwangbo Seungjeong’s generation, the family had grown rapidly.

Countless people attached themselves to them, and the family grew endlessly.

Naturally, their enemies increased as well.

The head of a great family died at an early age. The eldest daughter of the next household head lost her memory and disappeared.

Yet even then, brothers turned against each other and relatives reached out their hands, all vying for the next position.

Even the household head only worried about whose hand to take, whose hand to reach for, and who would make the family grow larger in the next generation.

“I realized it after you left.”

Xie Baowei had entered the Hwangbo Family during such turmoil. Though he had no power and was scorned and despised, he resented no one.

He simply endured and gently told everyone it was okay.

Some ignored him along with others, but some admired him.

So when he left the family, when Lüli resented everyone and secluded herself, when the brothers drew swords while picking at each other’s faults, when the relatives boasted of their respective influences.

“I’ll say it clearly. We were ruined once then.”

Haha, Hwangbo Seungjeong said, deliberately laughing.

All the important positions were taken away, the land was lost, people left, and only massive debts remained.

It was known that the household head had sent everyone away and cut them off, but in truth, they had escaped from a sinking ship.

“Only people remained. Only people. Only then. Only those we could call our family remained.”

Those who called themselves friends left, those who acted like brothers left, and only a few who could truly be called brothers and blood relatives remained.

What rebuilt it was again, people.

“Have you been to Bukbinga?”

“I haven’t forgotten the kindness.”

When Xie Baowei nodded apologetically, Hwangbo Seungjeong shook his head.

“We received the kindness.”

The Hwangbo Family rose again.

They started over from cultivating the land.

Fortunately, the second son in the military was still doing well and could provide help.

Blood relatives scattered throughout Shandong helped in small ways.

Hwangbo Yeontak gathered the few remaining guests and left for foreign lands.

Huangbo Lüyan went around meeting people and searching for Xie Baowei and Huangbo Lüli.

Even during all this, children like Hwangbo Yeonjae and Yeongsu were sent to study in Qufu.

“People helped us by speaking of your name.”

It was an impossible thing.

The story of the Hwangbo Family Estate intimidating their worthless son-in-law and making him flee spread not just through Jinan, but throughout all of Shandong.

Who would help them?

It wasn’t easy for them to help each other.

Yet they helped anyway.

-Brother Yeonhwi is truly like the sun. He’s always busy, but he’s so meticulous that he doesn’t miss anyone. He even spared a single carp for my dwelling.

-Goodness! What kind of person is Brother Yeontak? Don’t even ask. If a divine general from heaven descended to the mortal world, it would be him.

-Haha. Brother Laeyan is truly an amusing person. Even when drunk, I only remember laughing all night.

-Our wife? Oh my. How could I carelessly call the name of a fairy?

“This crazy bastard, you see. He never once told the story of being bullied.”

He only spoke praise, only joy, scraping and scraping to constantly tell people.

Tears dropped from Hwangbo Seungjeong’s aged eyes.

“How could I think of you as a guest?”

Xie Baowei’s story was rather made known by the family members, then hated because of it, yet forgiven nonetheless.

“If one is human, how could they… how could they…”

Hwangbo Seungjeong trembled with his aged hands as he grasped Xie Baowei’s hands.

He held them so carefully, so preciously, that the rough and coarse hands that were only scratchy felt soft.

Xie Baowei silently bowed his head and only gazed endlessly at those aged hands.

“It’s because you’re precious. So very precious. I dare not treat you carelessly.”

My dear Baowei.

“Come back. It is my wish before I die.”

Come back together with my granddaughter.

Hwangbo Seungjeong spoke earnestly.

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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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