We stared at the physician with tense expressions.
“But… what is it?”
At Escort Guard Seo Wu’s question, the physician answered carefully.
“It seems the child will be affected a bit by the fruit Madam ate.”
“Huh? Fruit… what fruit…?”
I felt like I knew exactly which fruit she meant. Geumryeong had clearly said it picked some fruit for Madam Hong Geum-so because it was worried she might be hungry.
Geumryeong, just what kind of fruit did you go and pick…
Escort Guard Seo Wu asked with a grave look.
“What kind of fruit did she eat? And what kind of effect will it have?”
At that expression, the physician suddenly smiled.
Huh? She smiled?
A physician only smiles in front of a patient when nothing bad is happening to that patient.
In other words…
“It seems she ate a fruit called the Innate Talent Fruit (胎才實). For ordinary people, it keeps you from feeling hungry or thirsty, but if a pregnant woman eats it, the child that’s born will have outstanding talent in some particular field. That’s why many people desperately search for it, but it’s not something you can easily get. It’s so rare that people say it’s a gift straight from the heavens.”
She continued.
“So, in short, it’s a good thing.”
Only then did Escort Guard Seo Wu let out a sigh of relief.
Me too.
Seriously, why did you scare us like that, Physician?
The physician I’d brought along also happened to be very knowledgeable about spiritual herbs.
Anyway, bringing such a skilled physician was worth it.
.
.
.
I ordered Escort Guard Seo Wu to stay by Madam Hong Geum-so’s side, then headed back to the main compound.
Of course, Escort Guard Seo Wu said he couldn’t leave me alone, but I forced the order on him.
Right now, the person Madam Hong Geum-so needs most is Escort Guard Seo Wu.
After returning to the main compound, I went to find Brother Jeong-ho.
“Brother!”
Brother Jeong-ho stood up from his seat when he saw me and walked over.
“Welcome back. I heard that as soon as you arrived, you went straight to the Medical Pavilion to bring a physician. What happened?”
“Ah…”
I sat down at the low table in his office and said,
“Madam Hong was in pretty serious danger.”
“Madam Hong… you mean the one who makes the Self–Dancing Doll’s clothes?”
“Yeah. That’s her.”
“But how did you even find out about that?”
Brother Jeong-ho’s question made perfect sense.
Hmm. It’s still dangerous to tell him the whole truth.
It’s not that I don’t trust Brother Jeong-ho; I’m being careful of the ‘ears in the walls’ that could be anywhere.
“Madam Hong Geum-so is Escort Guard Seo Wu’s wife. He suddenly said he felt uneasy – must be that Peak-realm warrior’s intuition of his…”
“Even if it was just a bad feeling…”
“Of course. But a Peak-realm warrior’s intuition is more than that. Thanks to Escort Guard Seo Wu’s instincts, I’ve made it through several crises.”
As I insisted again, Brother Jeong-ho finally nodded in agreement.
“If that’s how it was, then fine. So, how’s Madam Hong?”
“She’s safe.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Anyway, have you been doing well?”
At my question, he let out a short laugh.
“I’ve been fine. And busy, thanks to you.”
“Huh? Me? Why?”
“Don’t you remember? When Deputy Jo got injured before.”
“Those rebels?”
“Yeah, you dumped the job of managing them on me and took off.”
Now that I think about it, cleaning that up couldn’t have been easy. I suddenly felt a bit guilty.
I awkwardly scratched my head.
“Sorry…”
“There’s nothing to apologize for. Thanks to that, my standing in the merchant group went up. Isn’t that why you pushed the job onto me in the first place?”
Brother Jeong-ho was right.
“So I’m grateful, honestly. The work was hard, but still…”
“So am I supposed to feel sorry to you, or proud of myself?”
“…”
At that, he laughed, and I laughed with him.
“Anyway, you worked hard getting here.”
“Thanks. How are Geon-hyeok and Bo-yeon?”
At my words, he let out a sigh.
“Too healthy. They run around all over the place these days; it’s exhausting.”
A little while later.
When I stopped by Brother Jeong-ho’s separate quarters, I understood why he’d said that.
“Young master! You’ll hurt yourself if you keep that up!”
“Young miss!”
The brother and sister, now almost three years old, were tearing around the courtyard like little whirlwinds.
Two nursemaids were sweating buckets trying to catch them.
“Oh? Uncle!”
“Youngest Uncle!”
The two kids bolted straight toward me and threw themselves into my arms.
“Whoa! You’ve both gotten so big!”
“Yeah!”
“We’ve gotten big!”
When I saw my sister-in-law, thinner than before, and the nursemaids, I couldn’t bring myself to just walk away.
For my sister-in-law, a martial artist, to be that exhausted!
“I’ll play with Geon-hyeok and Bo-yeon today.”
At my words, their faces instantly brightened.
That evening.
My parents and the others arrived at the main compound.
“You’re here. I had some business, so I came ahead of you.”
At my greeting, Father nodded.
“I heard you went on ahead because something urgent came up. So, did it go well?”
“Yes. Fortunately, it was resolved. I’ll explain the details later.”
“Very well.”
While my parents greeted my other brothers, I headed over to my group.
“Young master!”
Palgap rushed over first and quietly asked,
“How did things turn out, sir?”
“You don’t need to worry.”
“Whew! That’s really a relief, it is.”
“Yeah. It really is.”
“But why’s your face all sunken in, sir?”
“Oh, this? I spent the day playing with Geon-hyeok and Bo-yeon…”
I greeted the escort guards standing behind him. Then I walked over to Lady Seohyang, who stood among them.
“How was the trip here?”
“Very comfortable.”
“In that case, let me show you to your quarters.”
I personally escorted her to her rooms. I needed to thank her properly.
Sunyang County, where the Eunhae Merchant Group’s main compound was located.
In a large house along the marketplace street there lived one family. What made the house stand out was that a single woman lived there with four children.
Her children were twin sons of nine and twin daughters of seven.
The woman’s name was Man-ok.
Man-ok sat in one corner of the yard, doing sewing work for hire.
Of course, even if she didn’t take in sewing, they wouldn’t have any trouble putting food on the table, but she felt uneasy if she didn’t work.
After so many years of scraping by and working every single day to keep the household running, it had become a habit.
She lifted her head, looked toward the gate, and murmured,
“When will he be coming home, I wonder?”
The man she’d met over ten years ago had become a warrior of the Eunpoong Division for her sake.
The Eunhae Merchant Group’s benefits were excellent – if you died fighting for the merchant group, they made sure your surviving family could live without worry.
Because a life earned by the sword was always unstable, her husband had made the best choice he could for his family.
But a new recruit’s monthly pay hadn’t been enough to support her and their twin sons comfortably.
Still, as his years of service increased, so did his pay, and during that time their twin daughters were born.
It was around then.
“I’ve become Young Master Eun Seo-ho’s personal escort this time.”
“Personal escort?”
“Yeah. So I probably won’t be able to come home very often.”
From that point on.
Their household had finally become well off.
His monthly pay went up several times compared to before, and they could finally feed the children until they were full.
And recently, with his pay raised again, they’d even been able to buy this decent house.
But seeing her husband’s face had become even harder.
This time too, he’d been away from home for almost ten months. Still, from the letter she’d received earlier, he seemed to be doing well.
Just then.
“Man-ok!”
A familiar voice rang out from the gate.
When she turned her head, the face she hadn’t seen in ten months was standing at the gate.
“Ah! You’re back?”
“I’m home.”
“Father!”
The four children who’d been playing in the yard all rushed toward him.
In the Eunhae Merchant Group, he was Eun Seo-ho’s escort guard, but in this house, he was simply Yeo Eung-am, husband to one woman and father to four children.
“Where did you go this time, Father?”
“This time I went through Beijing up to the North Sea, then all the way down to Guizhou. And I even stopped by Shandong.”
“Wow!”
The children gasped in admiration at Yeo Eung-am’s words.
Seeing their bright eyes fixed on him, Yeo Eung-am felt a sudden swell of pride.
They were enjoying this long-awaited time together when it happened.
“Anybody home, sir?”
A familiar voice came from beyond the gate, and Yeo Eung-am went to open it.
“Who might you… wait, you!”
The visitor was Palgap, Eun Seo-ho’s attendant.
“So this is Escort Guard Yeo’s house, it is.”
“That’s right. But what brings you here?”
“Ah, the young master sent me, he did.”
Then he waved toward somewhere behind him, and a cart began rolling toward the house.
The cart was piled high with grain, bolts of silk, and other goods.
“Th–this… what’s all this?”
“The young master said he was sorry he hadn’t been able to look after you properly, so he personally prepared all this, he did.”
“H–he really didn’t have to go this far…”
“Best just take it, it is. The young master put this together himself – if you turn it down, he’ll be hurt, he will.”
Come to think of it, he was right.
Young Master Eun Seo-ho might look tough on the outside, but he’s softer-hearted than he seems.
“What’s going on?”
Just then his wife, Man-ok, came over and asked.
“Ah, my lord sent us a gift.”
“What? Oh my! All of this?”
Startled, Man-ok asked, and Palgap replied,
“That’s right, it is.”
“If he’s taking care of us this much, you must be someone very important to your lord.”
At those words, Yeo Eung-am felt as if his shoulders were lifting toward the sky.
I was in my office, working through paperwork.
Just because the Virtuous Wind Department was in Beijing didn’t mean there was nothing for me to do.
“Young master, it’s me, Palgap, it is.”
Just then, the door opened and Palgap walked in.
“Did you deliver everything properly?”
“Yes, I did.”
As soon as I arrived at the main compound, I gave Escort Guard Yeo Eung-am two days of leave.
He hadn’t seen his family for nearly ten months; of course he’d be dying to see them.
And I sent Palgap with the gifts.
They were presents packed with my apology for not taking better care of Escort Guard Yeo Eung-am’s family.
Honestly, I should have gone myself, but I figured that would just make them feel pressured, so I sent Palgap instead.
“Did they accept the gifts?”
“Yes. They were really happy, they were.”
“Good. Did it look like they needed anything else?”
“No, not at all, they didn’t.”
Palgap then started describing Escort Guard Yeo Eung-am’s house to me.
“The yard was pretty wide, it was, and the children were out there playing.”
“Really?”
That was when something occurred to me.
“How old did you say the kids were again? Nine and seven?”
“Yes, that’s right, it is.”
“Are they not studying reading and writing anywhere?”
Normally children started learning characters around six. And from the time Palgap had gone, it should have been when they’d be at school.
“That, I’m not too sure about, I’m not.”
Two days later,
I asked Escort Guard Yeo Eung-am about it after he’d rested well and returned.
“Ah, about that…”
He scratched the back of his neck and answered,
“My wife knows how to read a bit, so she’s been teaching them the basics… but honestly, we’re waiting for our turn at the academy.”
“Your turn?”
“I mean the waiting list to enroll in the most famous academy in Sunyang County.”
“How many students do they even take that there’s a waiting list?”
“I heard they only take exactly fifty.”
Now that I thought about it, there weren’t many academies in Sunyang County.
It made sense – anyone educated enough to open an academy preferred to stay in Beijing instead of coming down to the provinces.
That’s why when the Virtuous Wind Department’s staff were sent to Beijing, they’d been happy that their children’s education problems were finally solved.
Thinking about it, it wasn’t just education; childcare itself was a problem.
When a woman working in the Eunhae Merchant Group had to take time off because of childcare, it was a loss for the merchant group too.
Experience built up meant she was that much more valuable to the merchant group.
But if she had to quit because of childcare, from the merchant group’s perspective they had to hire someone new and train them from scratch.
And hiring someone trustworthy was really hard.
Of course, it was a loss for the individual too, but as the Deputy Merchant Lord, I couldn’t help but think from the merchant group’s point of view first.
On top of that, when Madam Hong Geum-so gave birth this time, she’d have no choice but to take a break to raise the child.
Otherwise they’d have to hire a nursemaid, and that cost was no joke either…
I shot to my feet and said,
“We need to build an academy in the Eunhae Merchant Group that can handle childcare and education.”
“What?”
“Why in the world haven’t I thought of this until now?”
I went straight to Father.
After hearing me out, Father reacted favorably.
“That’s a good idea. But we also need to figure out how to cover the costs.”
“If the funds fall short, I’ll chip in.”
“You will?”
“Yes. I’ve saved up a decent amount too.”
Father had a look that said, ‘How much money could you possibly have?’
But honestly, Father, I’m probably richer than you are.
Father nodded readily.
“Then let’s gather opinions first.”
Since the ones who’d benefit from this most should have the biggest say.
I immediately pulled out a sheet of paper and wrote,
[We intend to establish a place that will handle childcare and education from infancy until adulthood. Please share your opinions.]
Then I posted it on the notice board.
The next day,
Palgap staggered into my quarters, lugging a huge basket.
“Huh? What’s all that?”
“What else would it be, sir? They’re opinion letters, they are.”
“You’ve already gathered that many?”
“There’s more than just this, there is.”
Wait…
Now that I thought about it, I was the one who had to go through all those letters.
Ah…
Without realizing it, I’d gone and created more work for myself again.
Why do I feel like crying?
–TL Notes–
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