The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 148

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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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The Fallen Clan’s Limited Lifespan — Chapter 148

When he thought about it, that very first piece of advice Ryeon had given her set the tone. Long ago, Gyeon Wi Un had added a single line to the mental note under “Dan Mok Ryeon”: ‘Even if this girl turned out to be a transcendent immortal, don’t be surprised.’
Which meant the proportions of Cheong Ryeon Water, the manufacturing method of Baek Yak Cheong—these weren’t what mattered most. More than anything else, this child was what mattered.
With Cheong Ryeon Water and Baek Yak Cheong, she could build the assets to revive the clan, and she was the kind of girl who could push him forward as the heir of the Man Song Merchant Guild….
Of course, if he spoke such things aloud, he’d only invite ridicule, so he kept it locked away in his heart.
“And taking the Canal on the way up, you say? That means I’ll have a hard time meeting with Ji Cheong this time. She’ll be quite disappointed.”
“So will I. That’s why on the way back, if nothing else comes up, I’m thinking of coming down leisurely without taking the Canal. At that time, I’m hoping to meet Uncle Ji Cheong too!”
“That would be the best.”
“I’ll buy gifts on the way back. Beijing must have all sorts of remarkable things different from here, right?”
As Ryeon spoke with shining eyes, starlight like gemstones glimmered above her pupils. The innocent way she looked was exactly right for her age.
Gyeon Wi Un felt a moment of difficulty, his lips trembling slightly before he spoke softly, “I’ll be looking forward to it.” It was something he had never said, even to his own parents.

* * *

Yang Geum Bo, the Piao Bureau Director of the Yuseong Piao Bureau owned by the Dan Mok Clan, was a man whose weakness lay in being overly conscious of those around him and somewhat timid, but looked at another way, it meant he was quick to read his surroundings and cautious in his approach.
The fact that he was maintaining even the bare shell of the Yuseong Piao Bureau, whose couriers and work were slipping away like grains of sand, was entirely his doing.
“Ah, no, what is this, truly…… wait, wait a moment. Goodness, Deputy Leader. Just a moment, please. ……Treasurer, Treasurer Seol!”
Yang Geum Bo had spoken with a generously smiling face up until “just a moment,” but when he rushed out leaving a stunningly handsome man in the room, his expression was almost that of a rakshasa.
“Why, why?”
Seol Gwan Hui, the Finance Officer who had been walking away in quick strides as if fleeing, was grabbed by the collar and turned around with a sour expression.
“What do you mean, employing the external branch leader’s husband as a treasurer?”
Yang Geum Bo asked in a voice as dark as the messenger of death itself.
The person who had been sitting across from him until moments ago was none other than Seok Ban An, the husband of Dan Mok Hyeon Yo.
A member of the Piao Bureau’s owner family had come asking to work as a newly hired treasurer at the Piao Bureau, not even as its director.
Normally a treasurer was the person responsible for all financial and accounting matters in an organization, but despite the importance of the work, the treatment was meager and they had to handle all manner of odd jobs.
This was precisely why Gyeon Eon Jo’s daughter, Gyeon Wi Un, had started at the merchant guild as a treasurer—and it had become the subject of gossip.
And now the external branch leader’s husband had come saying he’d do the same!
“If the Dan Mok Clan wants me to step down from the director position, just say so directly!”
“Goodness, it’s not like that at all. Miss Ryeon—no, the Clan Head himself is satisfied with your capabilities as director. The Deputy Leader simply wishes to try his hand at treasurer work with genuine sincerity. Just treat him as an ordinary treasurer.”
“Is that so? Well then, if he’s to work as a treasurer, he’ll need to learn how to handle and record finances first, so perhaps it would be best to have him train at the Finance Office before sending him to us.”
“Now that’s… isn’t he from that Pungrim Jeon Zhang over there? He’ll have the basics down already, so he should be able to work as a treasurer right away.”
Yang Geum Bo looked at Seol Gwan Hui with an expression as if he wanted to scream. Seol Gwan Hui smiled thinly.
The real screaming had actually started in the Finance Office first.
How could Dan Mok Hyeon Yo sit still when her husband, the external branch’s deputy leader, said he wanted to work from the bottom up at the Piao Bureau?
— Ryeon! What is this about? He suddenly said treasurer, the Piao Bureau’s treasurer, and just days ago I noticed him staying up late writing something, but in heaven’s name! He suddenly wants to work as a treasurer!
She had run all the way to the Finance Office and complained with tears trembling at the corners of her eyes, and it seemed as if the Finance Office itself was being torn to pieces.
Of course it all worked out in the end. After Dan Mok Hyeon Yo poured out her complaints at length, she listened intently to what Dan Mok Ryeon said calmly, and eventually she wiped away her tears, nodded, and made a great decision before leaving the Finance Office.
She had decided to let her husband do as he wished.
‘At the time, I really thought… what kind of voice that girl used, as if she were deploying some Qi Men Array Formation.’
She had merely laid out the ordinary things everyone knew, the right words, the common truths that aligned with reason and principle, yet Dan Mok Hyeon Yo had taken it all in as if receiving counsel from some great sage, holding back tears and nodding.
Was a single phrase—that her uncle had his own happiness—such a profound thing? Enough for her to be entranced by it, to accept it so completely?
“If I treat him as a subordinate and he gets hurt feelings, what then, am I supposed to go shake hands with the Lord of the Underworld?”
“Then treat him as a superior. Think of it as him learning the Piao Bureau work from Pungrim Jeon Zhang from someone senior.”
Yang Geum Bo had griped about how the words “superior” and “treat” could possibly coexist, but he was forced to accept that there was no further way to refuse.
Yet there remained something that weighed on his mind.
“But regardless of the work… isn’t he wearing too burdened an expression? What if something happens?”
…….
On that point alone, even Seol Gwan Hui could not smooth over his tongue, and fell silent for a moment.
One of the reasons the Dan Mok Clan had been able to maintain its dignity as a clan even during precarious times was precisely the appearance of Dan Mok Hyeon Yo and her husband.
If you dressed them properly, those who didn’t know better couldn’t help but think them immortal sages from the heavenly realm.
“But you need not worry about that part.”
“What? How so?”
“No matter what happens, by then you’ll be in Beijing.”
“What?”
“Before fully expanding the Piao Bureau’s reach, we’ve decided to send these courier officers to Beijing as well. Since the clan is commissioning this formally, there’s no need to worry about funds.”
Yang Geum Bo’s jaw went slack. Long journeys were grueling, but they offered invaluable experience in return.
For courier expeditions spanning significant distances, those without prior experience were typically ineligible to take them on at all.
But if more than half of this Piao Bureau had experience traveling to places as distant as the far provinces?
“Keep only the minimum number of people needed to maintain our current operations. Send the rest to Beijing to prepare.”
“The recruitment schedule for new courier officers was already impossibly tight—was this the reason why?”
“It was the young lady’s idea.”
“Hmm…….”
Yang Geum Bo let out a sheepish cough, his face flushed with embarrassment.
He’d spent considerable thought grumbling about why the recruitment and reinforcement schedule had been so rushed—complaints he couldn’t voice aloud—but now the truth was laid bare.
“Wait, we shouldn’t be sitting here then! We need to start packing! Why didn’t you give me a heads-up earlier?”
Yang Geum Bo slapped his forehead and shot to his feet. A long journey meant there was much to prepare.
As he hurried away, muttering to himself about supplies for the expedition and the opportunities such experience would bring, his face gleamed with a brightness that hadn’t been there moments before—and Seol Gwan Hui found himself seized by a strange feeling.
Like bailing water from a sinking ship with desperate urgency, it had consumed him so completely that nothing else seemed possible.
Yang Geum Bo was not a man concerned only with preserving his position. It was simply that then, there had been nothing else he could do.

* * *

Dan Mok Ryeon sat beside her mother Wi Ji Cheong, trimming platycodon roots.
The Medicine Hall Master Dan Mok Hyeon U caught sight of Wi Ji Cheong holding the platycodon and nearly fainted from the shock, before being practically dragged outside the medicine hall by Deputy Pung So Gang.
— My goodness, Hall Master. Honestly, the young lady is far better at this than we are.
— That may be so, but when the Deputy Hall Master and even, well, my sister-in-law are doing it like that, then I should too……? Hm? Isn’t that just enjoying life? Why make such a fuss?
— Hall Master, Deputy. A messenger has arrived urgently from the Namgung Family Estate requesting confirmation of something.
— From the Namgung Family Estate……?
— Their Military Commissioner’s son seems to have vanished without a trace, and they’re asking anxiously if you know anything about it.
— Ah, my goodness? Such a thing. But I don’t know what the matter is, or, er, I’m not sure what……. Did the messenger seem troubled?
— He didn’t appear to be in good spirits…….
The three voices grew faint and distant.
Dan Mok Ryeon giggled and met Wi Ji Cheong’s eyes, sharing the joke.
“I’m making this to give to Grandmother.”
“I’m not much help, but I’ll lend what I can. I won’t be able to visit this time, but I hope she’ll like it…….”
Wi Ji Cheong spoke softly, with a faint smile.
A martial master in his prime had burned his internal energy to save a child; even if he could not immediately use a Spirit Elixir, it was only right to repay the debt with haste. The Cold Lotus Carp Dumpling that had been sent from Beijing Ice Palace

was to be sent promptly to Hwa San.
Wi Ji Cheong had taken on this task herself, and Dan Mok Bi, who had been left with the clan because it was still too soon for her to travel all the way to Beijing, would go with her.

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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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