The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 55

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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 Declining Clan’s Time-Limited Young Healer — Episode 55

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“Uncle, I overheard something earlier—apparently there’s an incredibly skilled Herb Gatherer deep in the Western Street.”
“An incredibly skilled Herb Gatherer?”
“The best herbs they had at the Herb Shop we visited came from this person, or so they said.”
“Then should we stop by that place last before heading back?”
“Yes!”
But Dan Mok Seong shook her head.
“Since we’ve come into the street, we should bring back gifts for our family when we return.”
Dan Mok Hyeon U found himself nodding at his niece’s decisive words. Bundles of herbs hardly qualified as proper gifts, after all.
“Then…….”
“I spotted a jewelry shop on the way here.”
“Alright then—let’s see this Herb Gatherer first, stop by that shop, and be on our way. How does that sound?”
Both girls nodded briskly in agreement.

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When they arrived, a small, shabby cottage like a thatched hut came into view.
Behind the house, trees grew thick and wild; the front yard lay barren beneath the harsh midday sun. A broken fence, held together precariously with rope, hung askew.
“Here…… is it?”
Just then, a girl carrying a basket heaped with dried medicinal materials stopped when she saw them.
Though gaunt, her upturned eyes held a keenness that hinted at inner spirit.
“Who are you?”
The girl’s tone was wary.
It was an odd group to have ventured to such a remote, neglected place. One young man barely past his teens, and two girls.
But Dan Mok Ryeon quietly steeled herself against a sudden pang of longing.
The girl was Yak Yeo Cheong.
Still young and tender of face, her skin was darkened from tramping the mountains all day long, and her limbs were thin—the frame of someone accustomed to scarcity.

Yak Yeo Cheong
Traits: Bamboo / Unforgetting / Child of the Mountains
Aptitude and Talent: Middle-Middle
Concern: How can I secure the next meal?

Dan Mok Ryeon composed herself and pointed to the basket Yak Yeo Cheong held.
“We’ve come to buy herbs.”
“All the way…… out here?”
Suspicion flickered in Yak Yeo Cheong’s eyes, as though she couldn’t believe it. Dan Mok Ryeon smiled gently and nodded.
Above the basket’s contents, text gleamed into view.

Dried Dusong Fruit
Condition: Finest Grade

Even the Herb Shop they’d visited moments ago hadn’t carried anything of this caliber!
“Grandmother! Grandmother, we have visitors! Come on inside, please.”
Seeing Dan Mok Ryeon’s eyes light up at the sight of the herbs, Yak Yeo Cheong called out sharply toward the inner rooms and ushered them in.
A small side building had been arranged like a modest apothecary; a gentle breeze carried in a pleasantly tangy, refreshing fragrance that lingered around their noses.
“Is there a particular herb you’re looking for?”
With nimble hands, Yak Yeo Cheong retrieved a small shelf, climbed onto it, and tucked the Dried Dusong Fruit into a drawer as she asked.
Dan Mok Ryeon glanced around the space before answering her question.
‘The quantity isn’t much, but most of it is finest grade, with a few excellent pieces.’
“Yes—Platycodon.”
“What will you be using it for?”
“I’m going to make Platycodon cordial.”
Upon hearing Ryeon’s words, the girl who had been thinking with her lips pressed firmly together brought out a bundle of prepared Platycodon from inside.
Three roots each, four bundles arranged in small wicker baskets.
The moment Ryeon saw them, she drew in a soft breath. A crisp, cool aura rippled around the Platycodon. She had never seen specimens of such quality before.
“Um, this whole basket here… five coins…?”
“……?”
Yak Yeo Cheong spoke carefully, as though gauging a reaction. Her face wore the worry that Ryeon might bolt from her seat the moment she heard the price.
Five coins was a sum that a whole family couldn’t even afford a single bowl of noodles with.
“Oh… t-then four coins…?”
Ryeon furrowed her brow and fixed her gaze on the basket. Just moments before, the herb merchant had quoted forty coins for a single basket of Platycodon.
“Who buys at that price?”
“Ah… no, well… even so, at the Cheong Un Herb Shop just down the street……”
Yak Yeo Cheong hunched her shoulders and spoke as though making excuses.
“Does that shop sell this much for four coins?”
“Actually they sell it for three coins… but buying directly from me instead of from that herb shop, it’s four coins, but it’s still cheaper in the end……”
Yak Yeo Cheong spoke haltingly, as though apologizing.
Ryeon clenched her fists. Now she understood why the girl had spoken so carefully.
That merchant was squeezing Yak Yeo Cheong, buying her herbs at dirt-cheap prices and turning around to sell them at exorbitant markups!
Well, not exactly exorbitant—given the quality of the herbs, the prices were fair enough.
But to buy at three coins and sell at forty…
“Do you know how much that shop charges for these herbs?”
At Ryeon’s question, Yak Yeo Cheong faltered.
“Six coins…?”
Ryeon glanced up at the sky for a moment. The autumn sky was pristine and clear, not a cloud in sight, its blue luminous and pure.
‘That rotten bastard.’
A girl living with her grandmother, a ramshackle house, young but desperate in her circumstances with genuine skill—of course that merchant was exploiting her urgency.
Dan Mok Hyeon U, who had been listening quietly from the side, grasped the situation and clicked his tongue low in disapproval.
“For a merchant, he has precious little honor. Precious little at all.”
As the mood among the group grew tense, Yak Yeo Cheong grew even more anxious and restless.
Ryeon found herself almost smiling at the sight of Yak Yeo Cheong looking so flustered—so different from how she’d always known her—but the moment she thought about why Yak Yeo Cheong was so nervous now, the smile died on her face.
Ryeon asked Yak Yeo Cheong to wrap up the herbs while she paid more, then turned to Dan Mok Hyeon U and spoke.
“Of all the herbs I’ve seen so far, the ones Yeo Cheong has gathered are by far the best quality. I think it would be good for our herb shop to source from here.”
“Better than Ho Seon Ui Gak?”
“Yes!”
“But… isn’t she rather young?”
Dan Mok Hyeon U lowered his voice and spoke softly.
“Youth doesn’t mean a lack of skill or talent.”
At Ryeon’s words, Dan Mok Hyeon U stared at her for a long moment, then nodded.
Youth didn’t mean a lack of skill or talent—and here was the living proof saying it aloud.
“Very well, let’s do that. Having seen firsthand someone with real skill going without proper treatment, I’ve no mind to overlook it.”
Dan Mok Hyeon U spoke thus and finished his calculations.
“However, that girl alone won’t be able to handle the full volume. I’d like to continue our relationship with Ho Seon Ui Gak for what’s lacking. Would that be acceptable?”
“Yes!”
While Dan Mok Hyeon U and Ryeon spoke quickly through the arrangements, Yak Yeo Cheong emerged clutching the wrapped bundle of Platycodon, hesitant and shuffling.
“Is this… is this really happening?”
“Yes. And I’d like to continue doing business with you, if you’re willing.”
“With… with me?”
“Yes. We’d like to source the herbs for our shop from you.”
Yak Yeo Cheong blinked in disbelief, her eyes just fluttering open and closed, but then as if struck by lightning, she suddenly snapped to attention and went thundering into the back.
“Grandmother! Grandmother!”
The sound of dishes clattering and quick footsteps echoed through the space, and soon an elderly woman appeared, her back considerably bent, leaning on a walking stick in one hand while her other gripped the girl’s arm.
“Grandmother, it’s them!”
“What? I told you we’re not selling the shop.”
“No, Grandmother! These people don’t want to buy the shop—they want to keep buying the herbs I’ve gathered!”
Yak Yeo Cheong cried out.
The old woman narrowed her eyes and looked back and forth between Ryeon, Dan Mok Hyeon U, and Dan Mok Seong. Then she gestured toward the bundle of Platycodon that Yak Yeo Cheong had wrapped and scolded her.
“When you’re selling goods to customers, you wrap them like that? Go back inside and do it properly!”
And with that came the sound of a sharp slap on the girl’s back. Yak Yeo Cheong’s face twisted in pain as she flinched, then hurried back inside with the bundle of Platycodon.
With just one small girl absent for a moment, the space had grown remarkably quiet. The old woman cleared her throat and turned to Dan Mok Hyeon U with a question.
“But what do you mean exactly, about wanting to continue this business arrangement…?”
At the old man’s question, Dan Mok Hyeon U turned to look at Ryeon. She glanced toward where the girl had disappeared, then spoke.
“Well, going forward…… I’d like to keep buying herbs from this Herb House. Steadily.”
“And you are……?”
The old man’s eyes narrowed.
Realizing that the young girl among these people was the one with decision-making power, his bewilderment only deepened.
Ryeon then noticed she hadn’t properly introduced her own affiliation, and spoke with embarrassment.
“The Dan Mok Clan.”
The old man’s eyes widened.
“The Dan Mok Clan? The ones who threw the Geum Ga Jang young master on his back?”
“Not quite threw him.”
Ryeon laughed and waved her hand dismissively.
The old man’s eyes rolled left, then right, then left again. It was as if you could hear an abacus clicking away in his mind.
“Well, as you can see now, all the herbs here have been gathered by that girl Yeo Cheong with her own hands…….”
“Yes. That’s why we want to make a deal.”
“Really? What makes you say so?”
“The Platycodon. And the other medicinal materials as well.”
Ryeon gazed at a canvas canopy stretched over one corner of the courtyard with worn cloth. Gilcho Root was being dried there, and to Ryeon’s eyes, everything bore the same stamp: ‘Superior quality!’ ‘Superior quality!’ ‘Superior quality!’
Before loyalty to Yeo Cheong, this had to be secured. She absolutely had to seize this opportunity. The fact that no other medicine house had noticed it yet felt like a miracle.
Perhaps they simply didn’t trust such a young herb gatherer, like Yak Yeo Cheong.
“But you’re saying not to sell to anyone else? Then what happens if we have leftovers…….”
“We’ll buy it all. We want the finest herbs from Zhejiang Province for our Herb Shop.”
At the words “the finest herbs from Zhejiang Province,” the old man flinched. His grip tightened on his walking stick. His throat bobbed as he swallowed.
“That…… do you perhaps know the Master……?”

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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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