Chapter 109
Somehow, the meal ended, and Zhuge Yun escaped from his seat as if he were running away and returned to his room.
But, no one said anything.
Considering Zhuge Yun's usual behavior, this was a huge improvement.
"Taoist Master Unhwi, when are you planning to depart for the Nangong family?"
Now that he had composed himself, the head of the Zhuge family asked me.
"Originally, I was planning to leave today or tomorrow, but I think I can stay for another three or four days. Because I set the schedule quite loosely."
"Yes. I understand. If you need anything while you're here, feel free to ask at any time."
"Yes, Family Head."
For a moment, the words "Money! Meat!" almost came out of my mouth, but I kept my composure for now.
Now that we had finished eating, I was about to get up with my senior brothers, but one person caught my eye.
It was Hwangbo Jeong-hwa, the mistress of the Zhuge family and Zhuge Yun's mother.
She hadn't been able to eat properly because she had been crying since earlier, and she was still barely holding back her tears, as if she hadn't been able to compose herself properly.
Although she probably wanted to cry out loud, it felt like she was barely maintaining her dignity because we were in front of her.
I gave my senior brothers a look to leave quickly, and my senior brothers, who understood my meaning, also stood up.
"We ate well. Thank you."
After a simple greeting, I was about to leave the dining hall.
Hwangbo Jeong-hwa called out to me and stopped me.
"Just a moment, Taoist Master Unhwi."
"Yes?"
"A little later... no, in about an hour or two, would you like to see me for a moment?"
When I glanced out the window, it seemed that it was only around the end of the hour of the rabbit (7 a.m.). If it was two hours later, it would be exactly lunchtime.
But as if she had the same thought, she opened her mouth again.
"Would you like to have lunch with me separately? I have something to talk to you about."
"Just the two of us, you and me?"
As I asked, I glanced at Zhuge Myeong-hyeon, and he nodded his head lightly, as if he already knew something.
"Um... well. I understand."
"Yes. Then please come to the annex around lunchtime. I'll have the servants and cooks prepare a special dish separately."
"Am I the only one eating that food?"
"What do you mean?"
"I've eaten here for the past few days, and the skills of the Zhuge family's cooks are so outstanding that there hasn't been a single dish that I haven't enjoyed. But if it's a special dish, I think it will be even more delicious."
"Of course. I'll make sure they pay special attention."
"It's a little... for me to eat such food alone... can't you make some for my senior brothers too while you're at it?"
Hwangbo Jeong-hwa, and even my senior brothers, who were the ones concerned, were wide-eyed, as if they had never expected such words to come out of my mouth.
I don't know why those senior brothers are so disappointed. It's not the first or second time I've taken care of them.
"That's right... I was thoughtless."
She, who had been speaking with an almost expressionless face while composing herself until now, smiled brightly.
It resembles Zhuge Ling... no, to be precise, Zhuge Ling resembles her mother, but anyway, that beautiful eye smile seems to make her middle age colorless.
"Okay. I'll tell the cook to prepare something delicious for all the Taoist masters. Senior brothers are no different from brothers, but I was trying to discriminate. I'm sorry."
She even bowed her head to my senior brothers.
I felt a little embarrassed by this situation, so I cleared my throat and expressed my gratitude, and after saying that I would see her later, I left the dining hall.
"A special dish. What on earth are they giving us?"
"Isn't it meat? Meat is always special."
"But actually, we had meat at every meal. Even on the breakfast table we just ate."
"Let's go sweat and train. Let's not give the turbid qi a chance to accumulate. We have more than two hours until lunchtime, so let's train to death until then."
"Yes, Senior Brother!"
A smile spreads on my face as I see the four senior brothers talking with excited faces.
The thought of being able to feed them something delicious makes me feel good for some reason.
Although it might seem a little rude, the reason I went out of my way to take care of my senior brothers was... because I liked the way the family members in the Zhuge family took care of each other.
So I just wanted to take care of my family a little too.
Because for me now, my family is those senior brothers who are starting to walk in a duck walk, shouting "From now on, it's training!"
"Unhwi-ya, aren't you going to do it?"
"Wouldn't it be okay if Hwi doesn't do it if he doesn't want to?"
"That's right. He'll do well on his own."
At that time, Senior Brother Uncheol, who was squatting on the floor, turned around and said to me, and the other senior brothers also added a word each.
"No. I have to. But what's with everyone's posture? When you do the duck walk, your butt should be low enough to touch the floor. Like this. I told you to do it like this."
"I was doing it like that."
"No. It was far enough for two finger joints to fit. When you do it, do it properly! Since it's hard anyway, let's do it properly and finish it intensely."
"U-o-o-o!!"
Although it was a duck walk, we walked at a much faster speed than ordinary people walk.
***
In the end, we walked to the training ground in a disgraceful duck walk.
On the way, the martial artists and servants of the Zhuge family looked at us strangely, but we didn't care.
Because we had received such gazes to our heart's content in the Wudang Sect of the past.
And we started our training, starting with today's sparring.
I moved a little more busily.
Because I thought that I couldn't go to lunch with the lady all sweaty, so I had to wash up and change my clothes before going.
After busily getting ready like that, I arrived at the annex of the Zhuge family on time.
"Taoist Master Unhwi, this way."
As I approached, the martial artists of the Zhuge family who were guarding the annex, as if everything had already been arranged, opened the way for me as soon as our eyes met.
'Their level is considerable.'
As expected of the masters of the Five Great Families.
And as befits the masters guarding the annex, their aura is extraordinary.
It seems that these people guard a wider area at night, not the annex.
Because they weren't here last night.
"The lady is waiting in the inner garden."
"Are you going to eat outdoors?"
"Yes. The family head also often eats like this when the weather is good."
"I see. Thank you for guiding me."
"Not at all."
The attitude of the martial artist guarding the innermost part towards me was full of goodwill.
To be able to guard this place, he must have been in the Zhuge family for a long time or be a person trusted by the head of the Zhuge family.
It seems he has already heard what I have done for the Zhuge family.
"Is it this way? That's right."
In fact, since I had been here yesterday, I knew roughly where to go, but I deliberately looked around as if I were here for the first time and couldn't find my way, and headed for the inner garden.
"Wow... it's beautiful. The skill of tending to the flowers and trees is extraordinary."
Although I'm far from appreciating such beautiful things, even to my eyes, the path to the inner garden and the inner garden were very well decorated.
Perhaps because the weather was warm, colorful flowers were blooming, and the straight-growing trees also held flowers brightly.
Usually, in a large mansion, the management of the inner garden is the responsibility of the servants.
But if a person can tend to flowers and trees to this extent, it is appropriate to call them a technician, not just a servant.
As I was thinking this, I reached the open space at the end of the inner garden, and I was able to find out who that technician was.
There, a fairly large table was spread out, and on it, various foods were steaming, but Hwangbo Jeong-hwa, who was supposed to have a meal with me, was wearing a sun hat on her head and holding iron scissors, sticking to a tree and cutting off the small branches one by one.
"Ah, you're here?"
"Yes. Thank you for inviting me. But this place... did you tend to all of it, ma'am?"
"Of course. I did it."
"From that entrance to here?"
"That's right. I spend most of my day here. Now it's beyond a hobby... it's my life, I guess?"
She chuckled and approached the table, took off her sun hat, and sat down.
Although it was a fairly cool day because of the wind, beads of sweat were flowing from her forehead.
"It seems your specialty is raising everything beautifully."
"Everything?"
"You raised Miss Zhuge so beautifully, didn't you?"
Hwangbo Jeong-hwa, surprised, opened her eyes wide and looked at me, and then asked me in a subtle voice, "Oh my. Are you perhaps interested in our Ling'er?"
"Ah, no. That's not what I meant."
"Hmm... I don't think so."
"It's true. I'm a Taoist from the Wudang Sect. I'm still young. I don't know much about such things."
When I was so flustered that I didn't even know what I was saying and mumbled, she burst out laughing.
She pointed to the chair in front of me and said, "Sit down. Shall we start with the meal?"
And the meal began naturally.
The foods were all excellent and delicious. The problem was that they were all foods I had never seen before.
To be precise, they seemed to be foods I knew, but they were all a little different somehow.
In my past life, I had traveled all over the Central Plains and looked for famous restaurants, but the taste was not inferior at all compared to the restaurants where people lined up for an hour.
I couldn't even think of anything else while eating, so I just focused on the meal.
I came to my senses only when I had finished all the food on the table.
When I wiped my mouth with the cloth placed next to me, I finally felt embarrassed.
I'm not usually a glutton, but the food was so delicious that even I lost my mind.
"That... it was very delicious."
"I'm glad it suited your taste."
She smiled and answered, and then had the servants clear the finished food and dishes.
The table was cleared in an instant, and as if waiting, a cup of tea was placed in front of each of us.
It was a truly satisfying meal.
To the point where I thought that this alone was enough to be compensated for all the things I had done in the Zhuge family.
And we sipped our tea in silence for a long time.
As I was wondering how long we had to do this and what the real reason she had called me was, and was about to speak first, words came out of Hwangbo Jeong-hwa's mouth.
"Do you have any intention of meeting my father once?"
"The Wave King... you mean the elder?"
"Yes. I'll introduce you."
"Why would I suddenly meet him...?"
"Um... then I think I should start with this story. I have four siblings. I have three older brothers."
"I see."
Although I pretended to have heard it for the first time, in fact, it was something I already knew.
Because the Wave King old man had often told me about his three sons.
He was having a headache because of his successor.
If one of the three sons was particularly outstanding, or if two were lacking, he could have entrusted the family headship to the remaining one, but because all three sons had similar abilities.
Although I heard this story when it was more than a decade from now, it is clear that he is still having that worry now. Since the Wave King's sons would be about forty years old.
"I got married and became an outsider, but my older brothers are still in the Hwangbo family. But my father is very angry with me right now."
"He's angry...? The great Wave King?"
"Well. In the martial world, he's known as a very magnanimous and easygoing person, but in fact, he's a person who is more narrow-minded than he looks."
Hwangbo Jeong-hwa chuckled.
I know that well too. That old man is not 'subtly' narrow-minded, but openly narrow-minded.
I remember that once, when I stole the deer jerky that the old man had hidden to eat, he didn't even make eye contact with me for ten days, and I was at a loss.
Although it was somehow resolved after I caught a large deer and roasted it for him myself.
"But, why is he angry this time?"
"This time?"
"Ah, no. I misspoke."
"My father gave each of us four siblings a family heirloom. But since I wasn't interested in the martial world, I refused my father's heirloom. He was very disappointed about that, and now he doesn't even write to me much."
I almost let out a small laugh without realizing it.
Because I thought that could very well be the case.
He's the type of person who gets genuinely disappointed if he thinks his sincerity has been ignored.
Although I never thought he would be like that to his daughter.
"But..."
She trailed off and looked at me, and then continued, "I think it's time to get that gift. The reason I didn't get it was because I had no use for it. But I think I've found someone who will use it well."
"Who is that?"
"It's you, Taoist Master Unhwi."
"Me?"
"I'll write you a letter. If you ever happen to pass by Shandong Province, please stop by Jinan and deliver the letter to my father. Then my father will give you that gift."
"Why would you give that gift to me? And it's a heirloom of the Hwangbo family..."
She smiled brightly.
Once again, her eyes curved like a crescent moon.
"Because... this is all I can do for you. For now, I haven't even been able to properly express my gratitude. Thank you very much."
Hwangbo Jeong-hwa stood up from her chair and bowed her head politely to me, and then sat down again and said, "If I were a martial artist, I could have done something more helpful for you, Taoist Master, but as you can see, I'm just a person who tends to the garden at home."
"The head of the Zhuge family has decided to reward me. You don't have to do this."
"Ling'er and Yun are not just his children. They are my children too. Although I haven't learned martial arts... please accept my desire to repay you in my own way."
I couldn't refuse any longer.
Since she said it was a mother's heart, I had no reason to refuse anymore.
"I understand. What is the gift that the Wave King... elder is giving?"
"The gift is... a secret manual. My father has always been sad that I didn't learn martial arts. So he said he made a secret manual for me, containing his own enlightenment, one letter at a time. I have no intention of learning martial arts in the future, and even if I do, I wanted to learn the martial arts of the Zhuge family, so I refused."
"No way... what is the name of that martial art?"
"I heard it's called the Sumeru Heavenly King Divine Art. I heard that my father improved the martial art that has been passed down in the Hwangbo family."
I flinched for a moment.
Sumeru Heavenly King Divine Art.
I know that martial art well.
The martial art that made the Wave King old man, who was on the verge of being in the top ten masters of the martial world, one of the top five.
Because that was the Sumeru Heavenly King Divine Art.
(End of Chapter)