The Youngest Son of the Eunhae Merchant Group - Chapter 127

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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 Youngest Son of the Eunhae Trading Company Chapter 127

Chapter 127. Apricot Flower Academy (3)

“Huh? Seon-il Elder Brother?”
“What? Seo-ho? What brings you to the Imperial Palace at this hour? Ah! It must be related to that Self-Playing Zither matter you mentioned before.”
“Yes, that’s correct. I’ve just finished my audience with His Majesty and was heading back.”
“What a pleasant surprise to meet you here!”
“Indeed, it is for me as well.”
Seon-il Elder Brother turned to the Eunuch Official who had been guiding me.
“This is my cousin. Since we’ve met here in the Imperial Palace, I’d like to show him the gardens as a memento of this occasion. I’ll escort him out of the palace, so you may return now.”
“Very well, then.”
The Eunuch Official bowed and withdrew.
Seon-il Elder Brother smiled and spoke.
“Come along. I’ll show you the Imperial Palace Garden.”
I asked cautiously in response to Seon-il Elder Brother’s words.
“Am I permitted to go there as well?”
“The access token at your waist isn’t merely for decoration, is it?”
Indeed, with an access token, one could go anywhere in the Imperial Palace except where the Imperial Guard specially stood watch.
“Besides, that place is the most worth seeing in all the Imperial Palace.”
The Imperial Palace Garden that I visited with Seon-il Elder Brother was arranged with exotic flowers and strange rocks in such an exquisite manner that it was truly a sight to behold.
“How is it? Magnificent, isn’t it?”
“It truly is magnificent.”
“You know, working here in the Imperial Palace, I’ve noticed how wonderful it must be for families to stroll through this place together.”
I understood what Seon-il Elder Brother meant.
Not just anyone could enter the Imperial Palace.
Naturally, one had to possess an access token to enter the Imperial Palace.
Those holding official positions received permanent access tokens, while those entering irregularly received tokens issued for their specific duration.
In other words, Seon-il Elder Brother’s words meant he envied fathers and sons or other brothers who had the qualifications to enter the Imperial Palace and could stroll through the garden together.
“If you envied this so much, Brother, why didn’t you say so beforehand?”
“Hmph, I wasn’t envious at all.”
In any case, since he had shown me such a wonderful sight, I decided to keep him company diligently for the rest of the day.
As we exchanged various stories, the conversation turned to the child I had rescued yesterday.
“So something like that happened.”
“Yes, Brother.”
“Playing by the river at that hour? Those children don’t seem to be from particularly affluent families.”
“Pardon?”
“Children from wealthy families would be learning their characters at an academy or martial arts at a martial arts school at that time.”
“Ah, now that you mention it, that’s true.”
Seon-il Elder Brother’s words rang accurate.
“That’s why we officials must work harder, but honestly, we’re stretched too thin.”
“….”
“Among those too poor to receive education, there must surely be talented individuals the Court desires.”

As I admired the garden, a sudden thought crystallized in my mind.
Thwarting the Murim Alliance’s attempt to plant someone in the Imperial Palace had truly been the right move.
Not only had I checked the Murim Alliance’s ambitions, but vitality had radiated from Seon-il Elder Brother’s face.
Like a fish discovering water, one might say?
But would the Murim Alliance truly abandon their attempts to infiltrate the Imperial Palace?
No.
For the Murim Alliance, the Imperial Palace was the most critical place to monitor.
They would never cease their efforts to cultivate influence within those walls.
Then I too must cultivate my own people in the Imperial Palace. Only then could I counter the Murim Alliance’s schemes when they inevitably struck.
But that wasn’t all.
Intelligence from the Imperial Palace was invaluable to me, who dreamed of becoming the Greatest Merchant Guild Under Heaven.
My access to the Imperial Palace stemmed from knowing about the salt distribution policy in advance.
In other words, I had leveraged information.
Yet I possessed limited knowledge of the Imperial Palace’s inner workings.
Though the Emperor trusted me, it was only the trust he extended to someone from a merchant background.
How reassuring it would be to have a high-ranking official who could provide Imperial Palace intelligence and strengthen both myself and the trading company.
But cultivating the Imperial Palace’s officials as my people was extraordinarily difficult.
The higher their rank, the more insatiable their ambitions—mere money wouldn’t sway them.
Moreover, they watched the Emperor’s moods carefully and wouldn’t hastily snap at any bait.
Recruiting lower-ranking officials seemed viable, yet the intelligence they provided proved largely useless.
Then Seon-il Elder Brother’s words from today echoed in my memory.

“Among those too poor to receive education, there must surely be talented individuals the Court desires.”

An excellent idea had struck me.
Rather than that, I would simply have the Eunhae Trading Company bestow its favor from the very beginning.
That is, I would establish an academy to cultivate talent and send them to the Imperial Palace with complete legitimacy.
And I would sponsor those of humble means but sharp intellect, or those with exceptional skills.
There was a most compelling justification for this.
That the Trading Company earned wealth not merely to fill its own coffers, but to serve this nation.
Seon-il Elder Brother tilted his head as he looked at me.
“Why the sudden contemplation?”
“It is nothing. The scenery is simply so beautiful that I lost myself for a moment.”
“How dull.”

After finishing our tour of the garden, Seon-il Elder Brother escorted me to the Imperial Palace entrance.
“Then let us meet again this evening.”
“Yes, Elder Brother.”
Palgap and the Guard Warriors, who had been waiting ahead, approached me, and I departed with them toward the Yeonjun Trading Company.
.
.
.
Upon returning to my chamber, I immediately composed a letter to Father.
Then I called out to Geumryeong, nestled within my sleeve.
“Geumryeong.”
“Chirp?”
“Will you do me a favor?”
“Chirp?”
“Will you deliver this letter to Father? I’ll give you this in return.”
I withdrew a silver coin from my pocket and dangled it, and at the sight of it, Geumryeong leaped up and snatched it from my hand.
Then swallowed it whole.
Having taken payment, now it was time to work.
I fastened the letter to Geumryeong’s tail, and the creature shot through the window like an arrow.

The next day,
Geumryeong returned with Father’s reply bound to its tail.
I unfastened the letter and unfolded it.
The answer was simple.

[The council’s deliberations proved quite favorable. We must discuss this further and determine the specifics.]

As expected, my prediction was correct.
Anyway, the time limit I gave Bo-uk Youth is until tomorrow.
But I wasn’t particularly worried.
He would definitely come to find me.

* * *

Bo Uk lifted his head.
Dawn was breaking.
The night before, he hadn’t slept a wink.
It was because of the handsome young man who had helped him save a child who had fallen into the river.
That handsome young man’s name was Eun Seo-ho.
He had offered him a considerable monthly salary and proposed that he work for the trading company.
But Bo Uk couldn’t believe it.
What about him had the man seen to offer such a generous salary and take him along?
To be honest, he was angry at first.
He thought the man was mocking him for failing the civil service examination five years running.
It was a kind of inferiority complex.
Even though the man who had helped him save the child couldn’t possibly do such a thing, the fact that he thought so showed that five years of exam preparation had worn him down to the bone.
But as he watched Eun Seo-ho continue speaking with a serious expression, he realized the man wasn’t mocking him, yet he still couldn’t believe it.
Shamefully, he had been scammed quite a few times in the past.
A former high-ranking official who had written the civil service exam questions gave a lecture, and Bo Uk paid a large sum for the course only to be defrauded.
He bought an expensive elixir that supposedly improved the mind, which was also a scam.
After being scammed several times like that, he couldn’t believe Eun Seo-ho’s words even more.
To such a man, Eun Seo-ho held out a silver tael and spoke.

“I’ll give you this first as thanks for meeting a great hero. And if you investigate me and come to believe in me, you can come find me at Yeonjun Trading Company. I’ll be leaving this place in three days as I’m busy, so please come before then.”

And instead, he boldly told Bo Uk to investigate him directly.
Confidence flowed from Eun Seo-ho, and somehow he seemed to shine even more brilliantly than waves glimmering in sunlight.

From that day on, Bo Uk began asking around about Eun Seo-ho.

“Ah, you mean that Small Merchant Guild Leader? The one who created the Jamu Dolls.”
“You know the Clockwork Mechanism? That’s what the Hyunpung Country Lord made.”
“I heard the Eunhae Trading Company grew rapidly after that person became the Small Merchant Guild Leader.”
“Huh? What’s his connection to Yeonjun Trading Company? The mother of Hong Seon-il, who passed the civil service exam with top honors this time, is that Small Merchant Guild Leader’s aunt.”
“Despite being a young merchant, he’s said to meet with His Majesty the Emperor regularly. He has a bright future ahead.”

Piecing together that story, it was truly remarkable.
I was the youngest son of the Eunhae Trading Company, a small salt retailer in Hubei Province, serving as its Small Merchant Guild Leader and holding the position of Lord of Hyunpung.
And in merely a few years, I had developed and sold the Jamu Doll Company, the Wind-Crafting Device, and the Self-Playing Zither.
Setting aside everything else, those three items alone were selling extraordinarily well even now.
Moreover, I was also the cousin of Hong Seon-il, who had recently received the Emperor’s highest praise and passed the examination to become a Estate Lord.
In other words, I was a trustworthy figure.
Yet that made it all the more incomprehensible—what aspect of me did he see that prompted him to offer employment?
I had spent the entire night wrestling with that very question.
Gurgle, gurgle.
Just then, my stomach made a loud noise, and I touched my belly with an embarrassed expression.
“Despite eating so lavishly not long ago, hunger still arrives on schedule.”
Muttering thus, I searched through my belongings for the money pouch I had stored away for breakfast.
But the pouch felt light.
When I shook it over my palm, all that remained inside was a single silver tael that Eun Seo-ho had given me.
‘Ah, the wages I received this time were completely spent on inn fees and meals.’
Yet I could not bring myself to spend the silver tael Eun Seo-ho had given me, so I left it untouched.
Perhaps because of my hunger, that silver tael gleamed with unusual brilliance.
My own circumstances suddenly felt melancholy.
Even before this, I had been deliberating whether it was right to continue preparing for the examination, given that my mother and elder brother in the countryside depended on me for their livelihood.
I made a decision.
No matter what happened, I did not want to go hungry anymore.
That was the greatest reason behind my resolve.
Bo Uk rose from his seat and headed toward the Yeonjun Trading Company.

* * *

I packed my belongings to return to the Eun Hae Trading Company Headquarters.
By the way, when would Bo-uk Youth arrive?
I had given him a silver tael and asked him to investigate me because I was confident in my reputation.
Once he realized I was trustworthy, his real deliberation would begin.
What exactly had he seen in me that made him willing to work for the trading company at such a substantial monthly wage?
But,
honestly, that was a meaningless concern.
The more I worried, the more painfully real my empty pockets became, the gnawing hunger, the suffocating uncertainty of the future.
And ultimately,
“Young Master, the Bouk Giant you met before has come to see you.”
I would choose to venture forth in search of new possibilities.
I smiled faintly to myself.
“Show him to the Guest Reception Room.”
“Very well, sir.”
.
.
.
When I met Bo-uk Youth in the Guest Reception Room moments later, he was trembling slightly, clearly anxious.
“You’ve finally come.”
“Ah!”
He rose from his seat immediately upon seeing me.
“There’s no need for such excessive formality.”
“Ah, no. You’re far more impressive than I expected.”
“Haha.”
I laughed as I spoke.
“As I mentioned before, I wish to employ you at eight silver taels per month. Will you accept this offer?”
He nodded at my question.
“I accept.”
“Then we should proceed with the details.”
Eun Seo-ho glanced at Palgap, and at that look, Palgap laid out the wide wooden tablet he was holding on the table.
Then he placed two documents upon it.
“What is this?”
“A contract. As you know, I am a merchant, and merchants operate by contract.”
“But I do not break my word.”
“I understand. This serves as a binding agreement for me as well. After all, this ensures I will pay your monthly wages on time, does it not?”
Though I spoke indirectly, in truth a contract binds both parties equally, not just one.
Bo-uk Youth, after a moment’s thought, began to read the contract before him.
It was the standard employment contract used by the Eun Hae Trading Company’s members, so there was nothing particularly problematic about it.
“Very well. I will sign the contract.”
“You won’t regret this?”
“Yes.”
At his affirmative answer, I smiled and spoke.
“Welcome to the Eunhae Trading Company. Then, as per our contract, I look forward to working with you for the next ten years.”
Employment contracts with the Eunhae Trading Company were structured in ten-year terms.
But there was scarcely anyone who declined to renew their contract after those ten years had passed.
No matter how one looked at it, there was no place with benefits as generous as the Eunhae Trading Company.
“We depart for the Main Headquarters tomorrow. Please have your belongings packed by tomorrow morning.”
“Understood.”

The next day, we left Beijing and journeyed toward Hubei, where the Eunhae Trading Company was located.
Our party had grown by one member compared to when we arrived.
Upon reaching the Eunhae Trading Company Headquarters, I spoke to Bo Uk—no, to Secretary Bo Uk.
“This is the Eunhae Trading Company.”
“It’s magnificent. I made the right decision coming here.”
To him, marveling at the sight, I said:
“I’ll show you to your quarters. Rest well today, and you can report to the Hyunpung Bureau tomorrow morning.”

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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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