As far as I knew, the Supreme Yin Ice Sea Divine Art was an extremely secluded martial art. That was why there were only a handful of places in the empire where anyone could ever come across it.
But I wasn’t shocked simply because its Qi had found its way into the wine.
It was because neither Master Brewer Yeong Gu-jin nor Maeng Hyeon showed the slightest trace of having learned the Supreme Yin Ice Sea Divine Art.
To infuse wine with Qi, one had to personally put that Qi into the wine.
And right now, the only people nearby who had cultivated the Supreme Yin Ice Sea Divine Art were me, along with the Escorts Guards and Escort Chief from the Changin Escort Bureau.
But they knew perfectly well that they had to hide their identities, so they had no reason to do anything like that.
In other words, Master Yeong Gu-jin or Maeng Hyeon must have infused the White Heron Wine with the Supreme Yin Ice Sea Divine Art’s Qi…
But how was that possible?
While I was still trying to make sense of it, the people who had drunk the wine began letting out cries of admiration.
Of course they would.
They had just drunk wine infused with the Supreme Yin Ice Sea Divine Art’s Qi. That refreshing, icy clarity was probably sending tingles through their entire bodies.
“This is even better than the one we drank last time!”
“You’re right. I’d like to drink this often from now on.”
“More importantly, the more I drink this, the clearer my head feels.”
I’m sure it does.
The Supreme Yin Ice Sea Divine Art has the ability to clear the mind, so you don’t really get drunk from it.
Just like that, praise for the White Heron Wine continued to pour in.
Once the tasting was over, I greeted the invited guests together with Merchant Lord Go, then returned to find Master Yeong Gu-jin and Maeng Hyeon clearing up the area.
“You worked hard today.”
“Ah, Deputy Merchant Lord. I’m relieved everyone seemed to think well of it.”
“That’s because all of you put in the work. Would the two of you be free to have dinner with me later?”
“Of course.”
“Then I’ll send someone for you later.”
Over dinner, I planned to casually ask them about that wine.
.
.
.
A little while later.
A tavern near the Beijing Branch.
When I arrived right on time, the Pavilion Owner came rushing out to greet me.
“Welcome.”
“Thank you for personally coming out to receive me.”
I suppose I really was considered a big spender. I hadn’t expected the Pavilion Owner to be waiting in person just to welcome me.
“We have prepared a seat on the top floor, as requested.”
“Thank you for always taking such good care of me.”
I went up to the top floor and looked around.
The escort guards also checked the surrounding area, then informed me that nothing seemed out of place.
I sat at the table and waited, and before long, Palgap arrived with Master Yeong Gu-jin and Maeng Hyeon.
“Welcome.”
“Thank you for inviting us to such a fine place.”
Maeng Hyeon in particular seemed to have never been somewhere like this before. His eyes had gone round, and he was looking around in a daze.
“I prepared this meal as a show of gratitude to both of you for your hard work today. I hope the food suits your tastes.”
“Thank you.”
Soon, the dishes began coming out, and we started eating.
This wasn’t the kind of banquet where everyone ate and drank together, but rather a work-related meal.
Because of that, instead of eating with us, Palgap and the escort guards stood guard at their assigned positions.
Even so, none of them looked especially disappointed about missing the food. I bought them delicious meals whenever I had the chance, after all.
Master Yeong Gu-jin ate well too, but Maeng Hyeon especially ate with such enthusiasm that it put me in a good mood.
Still, the Tasting Competition wasn’t over yet, so overeating wouldn’t be good.
I was about to gently stop him, but Master Yeong Gu-jin scolded him first.
“Hey, slow down a little. What, do you have a starving ghost living in your stomach?”
“But it’s good. And when am I ever going to get another chance like this? I have to eat while I can.”
“And what if you get sick and throw it all back up? Won’t that be a waste?”
“Ah…”
I smiled and said,
“You can eat enough to enjoy it. And there will be plenty more chances like this in the future.”
“Really?”
“Of course. I don’t lie about things like that.”
I continued.
“And if you eat too much and make yourself sick, you’ll suffer terribly. You have to think about what comes after.”
At my words, Maeng Hyeon said,
“Uh… You sound just like my grandfather.”
“Your grandfather?”
When I asked, Maeng Hyeon nodded.
“My grandfather passed away a few years ago, but he used to say that all the time. That I had to think about what came after.”
“I see.”
Since the topic had come up, this seemed like a good opening.
“Come to think of it, I am curious. Master Yeong, how did you end up making White Heron Wine?”
At my question, Master Yeong Gu-jin scratched his head.
“Well, you see…”
About six years ago, when he had still been a newly appointed military official, he had volunteered to act as bait in order to save his colleagues.
“At the time, that was the only option we had. But I couldn’t exactly tell someone else to take that role, either. That would’ve been no different from shoving them toward their death. And among us, I was the one with the highest chance of surviving.”
So he became the bait and ran through the mountain path, only to eventually fall off a cliff.
“When I opened my eyes, an old man was nursing me back to health. And I decided to stay there until my injured leg healed.”
The old man’s name was Maeng Song.
There was also a young child there, and he was said to be the son brought back by the old man’s son, who had left home years ago.
However, not long after returning, the son died in an accident, leaving only the old man and his grandson behind.
“Then one day, I drank the wine Elder Maeng had made. It was the first time in my life I’d ever tasted anything like it. I fell in love with the flavor and asked Elder Maeng to teach me how to make it. But he told me he couldn’t teach me unless I became a member of the brewing house.”
“So that was why you declared to your family that you would give up your government post?”
“That’s right. Hahaha.”
Beside him, Maeng Hyeon added,
“Actually, from the very beginning, Grandfather wanted Uncle Gu-jin to take over the brewing house. He said he’d never seen anyone so neat, clean, and good at organizing things.”
Maeng Hyeon continued.
“Grandfather was always nagging about that. He said cleanliness and proper organization came first if you wanted to brew good wine. If you couldn’t even manage that, how could you make wine that customers would trust enough to drink?”
I smiled and said,
“My grandfather is the same way. In fact, my grandfather always says that the place where tea is brewed must be kept clean at all times. But when you think about it, he’s right.”
I turned to Master Yeong Gu-jin and asked,
“By the way, do you happen to know how the elder first came to make White Heron Wine?”
“Yes. I heard that when the elder was young, he spent some time in the North Sea, and he learned it there.”
“The North Sea… you said?”
“Yes. I don’t know anything beyond that.”
Then Maeng Hyeon added his own explanation.
“When I was little, he once told me something like this. He said that if he died without leaving behind a successor, the lineage of White Heron Wine would be cut off. And if that happened, he would be too ashamed to face the Palace Lord who had allowed him to learn the brewing method, even after death.”
“…!”
Then there was no doubt. White Heron Wine had been learned from Snow Wind Palace.
“Then who named it White Heron Wine?”
“I heard the Palace Lord who taught him the brewing method gave it that name.”
.
.
.
After finishing dinner and returning, I entered my room.
Then I took out a bottle of wine I had stored in my hidden vault.
Its mouth was sealed with several layers of white paper, making it look like a white lotus.
A wine that could only be made by steeping ice lotuses from the North Sea, and was therefore called Ice Lotus Wine.
When Snow Wind Palace was annihilated, the method for making this Ice Lotus Wine was lost as well.
This was an eight-hundred-year-old bottle, an arrangement Patriarch had left behind.
The Qi I felt from this wine was remarkably similar to the Qi I had felt in White Heron Wine.
The taste was a little different, though.
Come to think of it… people said White Heron Wine was brewed, while Ice Lotus Wine was steeped, didn’t they?
Could it be…
As I thought over that difference, a hypothesis began fitting together in my head.
Ice Lotus Wine was not simply wine made from ice lotuses.
It was made by taking already completed wine, namely White Heron Wine, and steeping ice lotuses inside it.
And the wine made this time was the true White Heron Wine.
Then, as long as we had ice lotuses, did that mean Ice Lotus Wine could be made again?
But one question still remained unanswered.
Unlike the White Heron Wine brewed this time, why had the White Heron Wine brewed before not contained the Supreme Yin Ice Sea Divine Art’s Qi?
What had changed?
That was when I suddenly remembered something Master had once told me.
“Father once said something like this. He said the Supreme Yin Ice Sea Divine Art can be achieved not only through a cultivation method, but through cultivation practice as well.”
“Pardon? Through cultivation practice?”
“Yes. The method has been lost, so we cannot know the details. But if I recall correctly, in order to complete that cultivation practice, one had to possess an upright heart, and that heart had to be free of attachments.”
“I see.”
“But there are probably almost no people whose hearts are free of attachment. So cultivation practice is likely out of reach for both you and me, Deputy Merchant Lord… which means we must diligently train in the cultivation method instead.”
“Yes…”
Perhaps the act of brewing White Heron Wine itself had been a kind of cultivation practice.
Was that it?
This time, Master Yeong Gu-jin learned that his family had not abandoned him.
It seemed that until now, he had been carrying guilt toward his family and hesitation over whether the path he had chosen was truly the right one.
But this time, that anguish was resolved, allowing him to complete the cultivation practice.
And because of that, he was finally able to make the real White Heron Wine.
That’s good, isn’t it?
Master would be truly delighted if he knew.
And as Snow Wind Palace’s Young Palace Lord, this was good news for me as well.
The problem was that I still didn’t know the identity of the people who destroyed Snow Wind Palace, nor had I dealt with them yet. So I had to wonder whether it was all right to spread White Heron Wine, a remnant of Snow Wind Palace, far and wide.
Fortunately, the Prohibition Decree had not yet been lifted, so this wine would only be used for trade with foreign countries.
I would have to think about how to resolve this issue before the Prohibition Decree was lifted.
At that moment, Palgap urgently burst into my room.
“Young Master!”
“Ah, you scared me! Seriously! You startled me!”
Was he just erasing his presence all the time now?
I quickly put the White Lotus Wine back into the hidden vault and said,
“What is it?”
“An eunuch has come from the Imperial Palace.”
An eunuch came all the way here? What was going on?
I quickly straightened my clothes and went outside.
“I have brought an item bestowed by His Majesty the Emperor.”
Something the emperor bestowed upon me?
I immediately knelt and accepted the item the eunuch offered with both hands.
“Open it.”
The emperor’s gift was a long box.
When I carefully opened it, there were ten small bottles inside.
And each bottle had a piece of paper attached to it, with the last bottle labeled White Heron Wine.
Recently, all ten wines that had completed the second tasting had been collected. So this was why.
“Are these, by any chance, wines?”
“That is correct. They are being bestowed upon those who have worked hard for this Liquor Tasting Competition.”
“His Majesty’s grace is boundless.”
Somehow, this felt like the emperor was trying to show generosity.
More importantly, what was with these bottles?
With ordinary bottles and pieces of paper pasted on them with the names written out, they didn’t look very impressive.
Then a good idea suddenly occurred to me.
Since things had turned out this way, wouldn’t the wines sell better if we created distinctive bottles suited to each one?
The problem, however, was that the White Heron Wine included in this set might spread widely.
I asked the eunuch,
“By any chance, this wine… who has it been delivered to?”
“It has been delivered to those who have labored for this Tasting Competition, as well as high officials of Third Rank and above.”
“…”
If that was the extent of it, the number should not be too large… Could I relax for now?
That was when it happened.
Drip, drip drip.
Oh, it was raining.
I had expected it, but why did the rain have to come now of all times…? My clothes were getting soaked.
The Vice Minister of War returned home.
“You have returned, my lord?”
“Yes. Was there anything unusual today?”
At his question, the Attendant answered,
“No, the household has been peaceful.”
“And Little Dan… is she all right?”
At that question, the Attendant lowered his head.
“When it began to rain, the Madness started… and she harmed herself.”
“…”
“So, as prepared in advance, we bound her limbs. Fortunately, she was not seriously injured.”
“You all suffer so much because of my foolish daughter.”
“Please do not say that, my lord.”
The Vice Minister of War smiled bitterly.
He had one daughter.
After having two sons in a row, he had finally had a daughter, so he had raised her with particular affection.
But one day.
Rain had suddenly poured down, and his daughter had come home drenched to the bone. From that day on, she began suffering from madness.
Whenever it rained, she would begin hurting herself.
That had already been going on for years.
It was one problem that his daughter had reached marriageable age, but he simply could not bear to see his precious child suffer and hurt herself.
“What is she doing now?”
“She is still thrashing.”
A faint, inhuman cry drifted through the air. It was probably his daughter screaming.
Not knowing what in the world was tormenting her so horribly made his heart ache all the more.
Then, suddenly, he remembered the wine he had been bestowed today.
‘Would giving her some wine help calm her down?’
The fact that there had been no special instructions when the wine was bestowed meant he was free to drink it as he wished.
And in cases like this, that included his family as well.
Among those wines, he recalled the one the invited guests at the tasting had praised so highly, saying it made their heads feel clear.
‘They called it White Heron Wine, didn’t they?’
He took out one bottle and handed it to the Attendant.
“This wine was bestowed by His Majesty the Emperor. Feed this to Little Dan.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Morning came.
The rain that had continued through the night only stopped near dawn.
This rain wouldn’t cause problems with brewing the wine, would it?
With that thought in mind, I sent a letter to the Mudong Merchant Group in Jiangsu Province. They were a merchant group famous for porcelain.
Just as dried persimmons with a good color tended to taste better, I wanted to make distinctive liquor bottles suited to each wine.
Then, after Breathing Meditation, I trained in martial arts.
After breakfast, I used a bit of free time to learn the Great Yue Language from Warrior Yong Min.
Then, in the middle of that…
“Young Master! Please come out at once!”
What was going on?
I opened the door and stepped out.
“What is it?”
“W-Well, the Vice Minister of War has come to see Master Yeong Gu-jin with his daughter.”
What?
The Vice Minister of War’s daughter… the one with the madness?
Was Young Lord Yeong Gu-sang trying to pull something again?
Hadn’t that matter already been settled?
Why in the world had he come here?
–TL Notes–
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