Instead of answering my question, Young Master Bok Yeong grabbed my hand and pulled me along.
“Let’s talk about the details inside.”
As I was being dragged in by Young Master Bok Yeong, one of the gate guards spoke to him with an uneasy look.
“Young Master, I know he’s a welcome guest, but you still have to respect the order…”
We were already cutting in front of the line, so I could feel plenty of annoyed looks stabbing into my back.
But Young Master Bok Yeong declared proudly,
“This gentleman is my older brother’s best man.”
“…!”
At those words, the gate guards’ eyes changed instantly, and they bowed deeply to me with cupped fists.
“We greet Deputy Merchant Lord’s honored best man!”
“We were terribly rude. Please, go right on in.”
A few of the people who’d been glaring daggers at me just moments ago now nodded in understanding.
Seriously, just what kind of position is this best man thing…?
Anyway, I headed inside, and Young Master Bok Yeong led me all the way to the inner quarters.
“Isn’t this the inner quarters?”
“That’s right. The best man is given a residence in the inner quarters.”
It was my first time entering the inner quarters.
The place was furnished in a way that was truly comfortable and tasteful, and the garden was beautiful as well.
My own room was even in a spot that looked right out over that garden.
“Thank you for giving me such a nice place to stay.”
“Think nothing of it. It’s only natural treatment for my brother’s best man.”
“About that best man thing. What exactly is it supposed to be?”
At my question, Young Master Bok Yeong laughed and replied,
“Ah, I guess you were really curious about that.”
Only then did I finally get a proper explanation.
“The term we use, best man, literally means a true friend, but in our family it carries much more weight. It means the person who’ll look after your wife and children if something happens to you.”
He went on,
“That includes your entire estate as well.”
“What?”
I blurted out in shock.
Even if you go beyond old friends and swear brotherhood with someone, as long as they’re an outsider, you normally never touch each other’s property.
But to entrust that person with your wealth too…
For merchants, who treat money almost like their own life, that level of trust was the absolute highest there was.
“So this is a much bigger deal than I thought.”
“Of course. In our family, you can choose only one best man when you marry. You invite them with an ornate red invitation, and if they accept it, that counts as agreeing to become your best man.”
At that, I tilted my head.
“A red invitation? Aren’t wedding invitations usually red anyway?”
“No. Here in Liaoning, we usually use a dull yellow color that doesn’t stand out.”
Ah…
Now it finally came back to me.
“As you know, this part of Liaoning is where bandit gangs are very active.”
“Right.”
“Right now, a few powerful experts are keeping them in check, so they don’t even dare come down this way, but in the past things were rough. Whenever there was a wedding or something similar, people would gather in one place, and the bandits would swoop in and cause terrible damage.”
Well, of course they’d become prime targets for bandits, with so many people gathering in one place to celebrate.
Even so…
“Going after people during a wedding! They really have no shred of decency!”
“If they had decency, would they still be bandits? Anyway, the biggest reason they found out about weddings was the red invitations being sent around. So to hide that, people changed the color of their invitations.”
“I see.”
“The best man is similar in that sense. With bandits and beasts everywhere, you never know when you might die, so it’s like arranging things in advance for your wife and children.”
“Looks like Deputy Merchant Lord Bok Yun trusted me a lot more than I realized.”
I gave an embarrassed little laugh.
“I’d like to go pay my respects to the Merchant Lord. And I should greet Deputy Merchant Lord Bok Yun too.”
“He’s meeting with someone else at the moment. He told me to bring you to him as soon as that conversation’s over…”
I shook my head.
“If it’s like that, just let me know later. Like you said, if I’m his best man, I should act like it.”
“Understood.”
.
.
.
However, Deputy Merchant Lord Bok Yun didn’t come to see me until the next day.
I knew it meant he wanted to finish all his business first, but I still thought making me wait until the next day was a bit much, so I’d been planning to complain a little.
“Are you alright?”
But when he showed up with dark circles under his eyes, those were the first words out of my mouth.
“Ah, yes. I’m fine.”
“Is wedding preparation always this rough?”
He gave an awkward laugh at my question.
“Our family has always been like this. We try to invite as many people as we possibly can…”
Even if it’s just offering them a single cup of tea, when there are that many guests, it eats up a ridiculous amount of time.
“I drank more than a hundred cups of tea yesterday. I couldn’t even sleep last night because of it.”
I did use tea often specifically to stay awake, but that only works until you overdo it.
“It’s important to build connections with people, sure, but take care of your health first. It’d be a disaster if you got sick right before your wedding.”
“I understand.”
“Anyway, I was pretty surprised. I’m your best man?”
At that, Deputy Merchant Lord Bok Yun gave another sheepish smile, and from that smile I guessed how it had gone.
“You intentionally didn’t tell me, did you.”
“Honestly… yes.”
He lowered his head and saluted me with cupped fists.
“I thought that if I explained everything beforehand, you might feel pressured and decide not to come to my wedding, Deputy Merchant Lord. That’s why I kept quiet. Please forgive my discourtesy.”
“No, no, it’s fine!”
I waved my hands quickly.
Seriously, when he acts like this, how am I supposed to scold him.
Not that I ever meant to really scold him anyway.
“I was just curious, that’s all. Why did you choose me as your best man?”
“Well, Deputy Merchant Lord Eun, you’re the one who saved my life, aren’t you?”
“That’s…”
“Please don’t say it was only natural. Maybe it was natural for you, but I’m still someone whose life you saved.”
He continued,
“And when I was kidnapped and switched out in Luoyang, you were the first one to rush in and save me, weren’t you?”
“That was natural too.”
“I…”
I cut him off and said,
“You’re my close friend, Deputy Merchant Lord Bok.”
“…”
He looked like he’d lost his words, then smiled and spoke.
“You’re also someone capable enough that I could entrust my family to you. I think I chose my best man well. So I’ll take it that you’ve agreed to be my best man.”
“I don’t want to burden my friend with the shame of having his best man run away.”
We ate breakfast together.
Then, for his sake, since he’d been overdoing it on tea lately, we drank a fruit infusion instead.
It was an infusion with dried apple slices in it, and the faint apple scent made it pretty good.
I felt like mixing in other fruits would work too. Tangerines, plums, maybe peaches would be nice, and that fruit that only grows in the southern regions, lychee, might be good as well.
This might actually be worth turning into a product.
For the empire’s people, tea is something they can’t live without.
But when women become pregnant, they’re told drinking tea isn’t good for the baby, so they avoid tea until the child is born, and I’ve heard that’s a lot harder than it sounds.
They also say pregnant women crave sour things.
If I develop this properly, it could turn into a great product.
While I was following that train of thought, I heard Deputy Merchant Lord Bok Yun’s bodyguard call from outside.
“The Merchant Lord and Madam have arrived.”
The door opened, and Merchant Lord Bok and Madam Bok came inside.
“I greet Merchant Lord and Madam.”
“Yes, you’ve had a hard journey coming all this way. If I’d known you arrived yesterday, I would’ve come to see you right away, but I hear you told them not to inform me?”
“Yes, I did. It was late, and it wouldn’t have been right for you to leave your other guests just to come see me.”
I said with a smile,
“I’m Deputy Merchant Lord Bok Yun’s best man. From what I’ve heard, that’s basically the same as being family… and if you treat family like guests, then they aren’t really family anymore.”
At my words, Merchant Lord Bok and Madam smiled in satisfaction.
“You’re absolutely right.”
“It’s truly reassuring that Deputy Merchant Lord Eun is our Yun’s best man.”
We chatted in that warm, friendly atmosphere for a while, then the Merchant Lord, Madam, and Deputy Merchant Lord left to attend to their schedules.
Maybe now I can finally relax a little?
That was what I thought, but I was completely mistaken.
Being the best man was a much more important position than I’d imagined.
Deputy Merchant Lord Bok’s maidservant came to see me.
“Greetings, Deputy Merchant Lord Eun. I’m Somyeong, maidservant to Deputy Merchant Lord Bok.”
“Yes, I’m Deputy Merchant Lord Eun Seo-ho of the Eunhae Merchant Group.”
“First, thank you very much for agreeing to serve as our young master’s best man. We’re in your care.”
“Ah, sure.”
“Then I’ll explain what you’ll be doing as best man.”
She gave me a detailed explanation.
“From the moment Deputy Merchant Lord leaves to bring the bride from her parents’ home, you must oversee every part of the wedding.”
“Excuse me?”
“I mean exactly that. Everything. From the guest list and banquet seating arrangements to the wedding garments and the food.”
“And if something feels off?”
“If you order something changed or give instructions, they’ll be carried out immediately.”
“Just how much authority do I have here?”
“If there’s a serious problem, you can even have the wedding halted with the Merchant Lord’s approval.”
Wow…
That was some seriously overwhelming authority.
At this level, I was practically standing in Deputy Merchant Lord Bok Yun’s place.
“My authority’s almost scary.”
“And before the wedding itself, you’ll be the one to see the bride’s face before the groom does.”
“What?”
That part honestly shocked me.
The groom was only supposed to see the bride’s face once they entered the bridal chamber.
Until then, the bride would be wearing a red bridal veil.
It was an unwritten rule that the groom couldn’t see the bride’s face before they entered the bridal room.
But now I, the best man, was supposed to see the bride’s face first…
“Why does someone else get to see the bride’s face first?”
“That’s to make sure there won’t be any problems when the bride and groom are married.”
“…Don’t they already know each other’s faces?”
“Sometimes a third party’s eyes are the most accurate.”
So it was also a way to prevent anyone from being tricked into marriage.
It really was the sort of role that belonged to someone on the boundary between family and friend.
And it showed just how much they trusted me.
“Alright, I understand.”
“Then we need to have your formal attire made, so I’ll take your measurements now.”
“Huh? Formal attire?”
“It’s the ceremonial outfit you’ll wear on the day of the wedding. The best man wears special attire.”
A few maids came in and began measuring my body.
I had no idea why their faces were turning red while they measured me, though.
After that, under Maidservant Somyeong’s guidance, I inspected how the wedding preparations were coming along.
According to her, the groom would go to the bride’s family home to bring her back.
The actual wedding ceremony would be held at the Gwangjun Merchant Group.
Because the bride’s family home was too small to accommodate everyone.
While I was going around checking various places, I saw someone running toward us, their face utterly pale.
What’s going on?
“Merchant Lord! I have an urgent report!”
At his shout, Merchant Lord Bok quickly came out.
“What is it?”
“It’s… something I should report inside.”
Apparently it wasn’t something he could say in front of all the guests.
Merchant Lord Bok headed for the inner quarters, and I followed him in as well. Becoming Deputy Merchant Lord Bok’s best man had given me permission to enter the inner quarters.
My room was in the inner quarters to begin with, after all.
Once we were inside, Merchant Lord Bok asked again,
“Alright, what happened?”
“The fine horses we were training to deliver to the imperial palace have escaped.”
“What?”
At that, Merchant Lord Bok was so shocked he nearly fell over backward.
Thump!
I quickly grabbed Merchant Lord Bok and managed to keep him from making a spectacle of himself by falling over.
“Are you alright?”
“Ah, thank you.”
Just then, Deputy Merchant Lord Bok Yun came running over, apparently having heard the news.
“Father! Huff… I heard the fine horses we were supposed to deliver to the imperial palace have run off.”
“Yes. I just received the report myself.”
“This is serious.”
At that, I turned to the man who’d brought the news and asked,
“How many fine horses were you supposed to deliver to the imperial palace?”
“Sir? I…”
He hesitated to answer.
He probably wasn’t sure if he was allowed to tell me.
“He’s Yun’s best man.”
At Merchant Lord Bok’s words, he responded at once.
“There were a total of one hundred twenty horses, and forty have escaped. We barely managed to pen up the others, they were so fast…”
Honestly, I knew horses running off happened from time to time.
Since it was so common, they should’ve had solid precautions in place, and yet they’d still escaped…
Fine horses are incredibly expensive.
Even an ordinary, decent horse costs not just a couple of silver coins but around two silver taels. A fine steed of this level runs closer to four silver taels.
And these were horses destined for the imperial palace, so the grade went without saying.
But more important than the financial loss was that these fine horses were meant for the imperial palace.
If they failed to deliver them on time…
No wonder everyone’s faces had gone so grim at the news that the horses had escaped.
“We’ve already sent out a pursuit team to track them down, but…”
Honestly, it’d almost be better if someone stole them. That, at least, could be dealt with somehow.
The real problem was if they’d been killed by wild beasts.
You couldn’t exactly demand compensation from animals for horses they’d already killed.
For something like this to happen right before the wedding!
“Quickly assemble another pursuit team and send them out as soon as they’re ready!”
“Yes, sir!”
“And make sure everyone keeps their mouths shut.”
“Understood.”
At that moment, I stepped forward and spoke.
“Merchant Lord, I’d like to join the pursuit team as well.”
–TL Notes–
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