The Youngest Son of the Eunhae Merchant Group - Chapter 496

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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 Eun Hae Trading Company Chapter 496

Chapter 496. The Liquor Appraisal Gathering (6)

Seo Hyang hadn’t foreseen this situation either, which is why she followed me to this gathering.
I was momentarily flustered, but I quickly regained my composure and whispered to her.
“Young lady, the more you try to evade or hide, the more suspicious they’ll become. So face this boldly.”
“You’re right. I am Gwak Seo-hyang now.”
“Yes. She’s simply someone who resembles you. The world has a few people who look alike, doesn’t it?”
“That’s true.”
“Since you’re wearing a veil now, there’s a possibility they won’t recognize you. Even if they do, a well-crafted excuse will be enough to get through it.”
I had prepared Seo Hyang’s background perfectly, just in case.
After all, there would be situations where I’d need to introduce her regardless of circumstances like this.
I answered the Liquor Craftsman’s words with a composed expression.
“Ah, Master Young Gu-jin. Is the person beside you someone you’d like to introduce?”
“Indeed. He’s my childhood friend. A friend who came from afar to cheer me on.”
“A pleasure to meet you. I’m So-sang, the Small Guild Master of the Eun Hae Trading Company, Eun Seo-ho.”
Strictly speaking, we had met before, but since he and I had never formally exchanged greetings at that time, I greeted him as if meeting for the first time.
“Delighted to meet you. I’m Dong Hyuk-su, this fellow’s old friend.”
“It’s truly enviable that you’ve come so far just to offer your support.”
“Haha, there’s nothing to envy. It’s a tiresome connection.”
Dong Hyuk-su’s expression became peculiar as he said this.
His gaze was fixed on Seo Hyang standing behind me.
From just seeing the shape of her eyes, he had discerned her identity.
I asked carefully.
“What’s the matter?”
“Ja-ryeong… Could it be Ja-ryeong?”
Even as he asked with a trembling voice, Seo Hyang responded calmly.
“I’m sorry? Who is that person?”
“Ah…”
At her response, Dong Dae-hyeop was taken aback instead.
I tilted my head in confusion.
“Ja-ryeong… Dong Hyuk-su… Ah! Could you be the son of the Guizhou Provincial Governor?”
He nodded at my question.
“I see. I once delivered eyes to Lady Dongja-ryeong on behalf of the Provincial Governor. I heard that she later passed away in an unfortunate accident. Please accept my condolences.”
I continued.
“I should have attended the funeral, but I learned of it too late. I apologize.”
Seo Hyang chimed in to support my words.
“Ah, you’re referring to that young lady. The one who resembles me so closely?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
I quickly addressed her.
“It seems you’ve mistaken her for someone else because Dongja-ryeong and Gwak Vice-Manager bear such a striking resemblance to each other.”
Yet he still could not tear his gaze from Seo Hyang.
“A mistake? No, that can’t be… They resemble each other far too much.”
Of course they resembled each other.
They were the same person, after all.
But I could not reveal this truth.
“I acknowledge that she bears a striking resemblance to Dongja-ryeong. However, Gwak Vice-Manager here was recommended to me by my Master as a capable deputy.”
“Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Gwak Seo-hyang, Vice-Manager to Small Guild Master Eun Seo-ho.”
“Gwak Vice-Manager is a relative of my Master. When my Master introduced her to me, I was quite surprised myself.”
“….”
“I understand the Great Hero’s tender feelings well, but my deputy is not whom you believe her to be. I would appreciate it if you refrained from further discourtesy.”
Dong Dae-hyeop gazed at Seo Hyang with desperate eyes, yet she regarded him with an indifferent gaze.
At this, Dong Dae-hyeop sighed and clasped his fists in apology.
“I apologize. I have been rude.”
Knowing his fiery temperament, I had braced myself for him to demand she remove her veil or something of that nature.
Yet he apologized so readily….
Had his nature changed?
Perhaps Seo Hyang’s death had transformed his character.
“I accept your apology.”
The moment Seo Hyang spoke, he passed us by and headed elsewhere.
“Ah, my apologies.”
Young Gu-jin, who had been observing the tension between us, apologized to me.
“Think nothing of it. Please, go and follow him.”
“Yes.”
He hurried after Dong Dae-hyeop.
Afterward, we continued to encourage and inspect the craftsmen, and finally, we encountered Young Gu-jin upon his return.
“I truly apologize for earlier.”
He sighed before continuing.
“He grieves deeply for his sister, who died in an accident. They were so close that he speaks of her every time we meet.”
“I see.”
“Her health had been quite poor, which caused him great concern. Fortunately, he was relieved when she found a good physician who cured her ailment… but after she lost her life in that tragic accident, I cannot tell you how despondent he has been.”
I nodded solemnly.
“She was indeed a remarkable person. As I too had a connection with her, I cannot help but feel the weight of this tragedy. Now then, let me conduct an inspection.”
“Yes.”

After finishing our time of encouragement and inspection, we made our way to a secluded area.
The Beijing Branch’s grounds were extraordinarily vast, having once been the former Imperial Palace Grounds.
Thus, the gardens were also expansively laid out.
The place we were heading to now was a remote and secluded corner even within those gardens.
“Please wait here for a moment, and Gwak Vice-Manager, only you follow me.”
“Yes.”
With that, I left the Guard Warriors behind and walked for quite some time with Seo Hyang.
“This place has no one around.”
“Yes.”
I removed my robe and draped it over her head.
“Here, no matter how loudly you cry, no one will hear.”
At my words, tears began to well up in her large, clear eyes. It could not be easy to treat blood relatives coldly when standing before them.
And even more so when they were not distant relations, but truly cherished and beloved family.
Since earlier, she had been clenching her fists so tightly that marks were left on her palms, and I had already noticed this.
“Sob….”
Finally, Seo Hyang collapsed to the ground and burst into tears. I stood before her in silence, blocking the sound from traveling far.
Her weeping sounded truly heartbreaking.
“Thank you.”
After sobbing for a long while, she spoke to me.
“Thank you for saving my life…”
She continued speaking.
“Because I’m alive like this, I can meet my parents and older brothers. So… thank you.”
“Hearing you say such things makes me even more grateful.”
In truth, I felt a slight doubt about whether I had done something unnecessary.
I wondered if I was only making her heart more troubled.
But hearing her words, I felt I had done the right thing.
Yes, as long as one lives, that is enough.
As long as one lives, there will surely come a day when happiness arrives.
Seo Hyang too would one day recover her true identity and have a day of reunion with her family.
.
.
.
The day of the liquor appraisal gathering dawned.
The Late Merchant Guild Master of Cheongsoo and I had to move busily from morning.
The liquor submitted to this appraisal gathering was far more than expected.
This was thanks to temporarily permitting liquor brewing for the sole purpose of submission to the gathering.
The list of submitted distilleries exceeded a thousand establishments.
Considering those who could not submit due to various circumstances, the Empire’s distilleries must number in the thousands.
It could be even more than that.
Given the vast quantity of submitted liquor, this appraisal was to proceed over the course of approximately one month.
It is impossible to evaluate all those spirits in a single day.
If one drinks more than a hundred cups in a day, intoxication becomes inevitable, and it becomes difficult to properly distinguish the flavors.
Thus, we evaluate fifty establishments per day.
Fortunately, I anticipated this and allocated sufficient time for the schedule. Had I not done so, I would have struggled immensely trying to manage both events simultaneously.
There are a total of one hundred invited guests.
They must evaluate each spirit using ten criteria.
After that, the top one hundred establishments advance to the second evaluation.
The second evaluation involves the craftsmen actually producing their spirits.
This is because the taste of the submitted spirit may differ from what they produce directly, and we need to verify whether they can scale production accordingly.
Therefore, everyone who came here had to bring their distilling tools and ingredients.
After I had worked so diligently to prepare the evaluation venue, the Crown Prince visited.
“Oh! This is quite impressive.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
I explained the evaluation venue to him.
“As I mentioned before, approximately fifty tables will each display a different spirit, and the evaluators will move randomly among them, tasting and assessing the spirits.”
“I see.”
Rather than having a hundred people sit in fixed seats and evaluate, having them move about prevents any potential poisoning attempts.
After all, those serving the spirits could poison the cups.
However, if each distillery takes responsibility for their own spirit and pours it themselves, such incidents can be minimized.
Additionally, if the evaluators taste in a predetermined order, those tasting later may not properly discern the flavors.
“And for those who requested it, we have also prepared appetizers in advance.”
“Now that you mention it, I’ve heard that appetizers can dramatically change the taste of a spirit.”
Go Merchant Lord answered that question.
“Indeed, Your Highness.”
“I am truly looking forward to tomorrow.”
The Crown Prince, wearing a pleased smile, continued.
“This liquor appraisal gathering should not be a one-time event. We plan to hold it again next year.”
“If that becomes the case, it will become an event remembered throughout the Empire. And if we utilize this well, we could even hold a festival to circulate money through the Imperial Capital.”
Indeed, Go Merchant Lord.
Since it concerns spirits, his mind works with remarkable speed.
“That is an excellent idea.”
The Crown Prince affirmed the thought.
“However, for such matters to come to fruition, this event must first conclude successfully.”
“Quite right, Your Highness.”
“It seems Father also wishes to assess the qualifications of the evaluators themselves. Would that not further elevate the credibility of the liquor appraisal gathering?”
“Indeed, Your Highness.”
“Those lacking in qualification will likely not be invited again.”
“Precisely! If that becomes the case, being invited to the appraisal gathering will become a great honor among evaluators. Naturally, they will evaluate with greater care.”
“True. However, the problem is that we lack a suitable method to determine that.”
As we all pondered this together, I suddenly conceived of an excellent idea.
“What if we hide an identical liquor among the submitted entries?”
Both men’s eyes brightened as they waited for my next words.
“If they give different evaluations of the same liquor or fail to notice it, then they lack the qualifications for this task.”
“Oh! Brilliant!”
“That’s an excellent method!”
Both the Crown Prince and the Late Merchant Guild Master of Cheongsoo marveled at my idea.
“How did you come up with such a notion?”
“It simply occurred to me in the moment.”
That’s what I said, but truthfully, this method came to mind thanks to Palgap.

“Young Master, how does the taste of these two cups of tea compare?”
“Hmm, it’s delicious.”
“Do you notice any difference?”
“Wait, Palgap? Even if I look like this, I’m the Small Merchant Guild Leader of the Eunhae Trading Company, which specializes in distributing tea professionally. Asking me to detect differences in identical tea is a bit much, isn’t it?”
“Your palate remains sharp, so it seems you’re not exhausted.”
“If I couldn’t distinguish the taste of tea, what were you planning to do?”
“I was going to summon Gwak Master.”
“Tsk! Then I can’t use that!”

Thus, the method I proposed was adopted.
Wait—that means I’m the one who has to do it, doesn’t it?
.
.
.
Multiple tents were erected in the open ground before the Imperial Palace.
Since it was still March, the weather remained brisk.
Beijing is located in the northern part of the Empire, so it’s unavoidable.
Still, it wasn’t hot or humid, so the liquor wouldn’t spoil or anything of the sort.
With the Imperial Guards standing watch, the evaluation of the first day commenced.
Each liquor craftsman placed their spirits on their assigned table and prepared accompaniments.
Meanwhile, the Emperor summoned a hundred invited guests and impressed upon them the importance of this evaluation and its influence.

“This appraisal gathering is also a process of selecting premium liquors for trade with foreign countries. Those whose palates have dulled from not drinking and thus cannot evaluate properly may be forgiven. However, those whose conscience has dulled and who fail to evaluate properly, thereby bringing shame upon the Empire, shall not escape severe punishment. Keep this in mind!”
“Yes!”
“Then begin the evaluation.”

The appraisal had begun.
The invited guests tasked with judging carried evaluation sheets bearing their names and moved about, sampling the spirits before commencing their assessments.
“Dae-in, our liquor is….”
The liquor craftsmen explained their creation.
“Please, have a glass first, then try this tofu dish before sampling the spirit again.”
Among the invited guests, idle chatter was forbidden, as were excessive exclamations of wonder.
I observed the judges at work. Among them was the Guizhou Poju Master himself.
His expression betrayed the emotion of tasting fine spirits after so long, yet he sampled each cup with meticulous care before recording his evaluations.
Would the Guizhou Poju Master truly be able to navigate the traps hidden among these competitors?
At that moment, the Guizhou Poju Master took a sip and tilted his head in contemplation.
After another sip, he tilted his head once more, then began writing his assessment.
I suppressed a quiet laugh at the sight.
Indeed, the Guizhou Poju Master is worthy of his reputation. He detected the trap.
If so, there is a high likelihood he will receive an invitation to next year’s liquor appraisal gathering as well.
Seo Hyang would be pleased by that.
As I continued observing the evaluation venue, Jin Yu Warrior approached me.
What is this? This should be a time of rest.
– My lord, I have something to report.
Jin Yu Warrior’s voice resonated in my mind through telepathy.
– Speak.
– There is a problem at one of our liquor distilleries. It seems you must come see it yourself.
I exhaled silently in resignation.
What trouble could be so pressing that even Jin Yu Warrior, who should be resting, would seek me out?

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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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