Chapter 66
"...After taking care of the young miss's internal injuries, the chief investigator said he would bring her himself."
Go Hyeonggi was extremely tense.
He, the head of the Tang family's law enforcement hall, was doing as Baekji had ordered. He was inwardly afraid that the family head would find out.
Tang Qianhui, the head of the Tang family, who had heard the report from the law enforcement hall head, Go Hyeonggi, showed no change in expression.
His slightly thin build, clear complexion, and neat beard reminded one of a scholar.
Before he had earned the moniker 'Poison King', Tang Qianhui had been called 'Tang Zhuge'. He was that intelligent.
'Does he know everything?'
He had intended to report immediately upon his return last night, but he had been told that there was no need and to come in the morning.
He had said what Baekji had told him to, but he had not been asked any further questions.
Tang Qianhui said to Go Hyeonggi, "Call back all the family's warriors who went out because of Yunseol. Since the chief investigator of the Martial Alliance is bringing her, he will take responsibility. And tell the young family head that I want to see him."
Go Hyeonggi received the order and went out.
A moment later, the young family head, Tang Yunlong, came in.
Tang Yunlong, who was tall and had a handsome appearance, was a prodigy who was receiving the full expectations of the Tang family for his outstanding achievements in both martial arts and poison arts.
The Tang family believed that the reason Tang Yunlong had not been included in the 'Nine Dragons', who were said to be outstanding among the later generation, was because he had lowered himself and had not stepped forward.
Because he had tried to poison such a Tang Yunlong, the voices in the family calling for Tang Yunseol to be executed were loud.
Tang Yunlong bowed his head before his father.
"You called for me?"
"Yunseol will be back."
"..."
"Do you have any idea why she did such a thing?"
"I have no idea."
"Young family head!"
Tang Yunlong tensed.
When he called him 'young family head', he was speaking as the family head.
"For hundreds of years, there have been the Five Great Families in the martial world. But the affiliated families have changed with the times. Families that had declined because the later generations could not continue the great achievements of their ancestors were pushed out, and new families came in."
"I know."
"In the meantime, the only family that has never lost its position as one of the Five Great Families is our Tang family."
"..."
"The family head has to take infinite responsibility for what happens within the family. From the deeds of the ancestors above to the mistakes of the servants below. The position of the family head is a position of responsibility, and so one must always be awake."
"I will keep that in mind."
"I am pointing out that you don't even know the reason why Yunseol used poison on you."
"..."
"If someone rebels, there will be a reason and a faction that sympathizes. But if you don't even know the reason, how do you plan to deal with it?"
"..."
"This time, you were lucky to have noticed it beforehand, but will you hope for luck next time too? The position of the family head is not something that is kept by luck. You should ask yourself if you are truly qualified to be the young family head."
Tang Qianhui's words were stern.
"You know well that Yunseol is not a child who would do such a thing without a reason."
Tang Qianhui threw the book on his desk.
Tang Yunlong caught it and saw that it was the 「Collected Records of the Blood Sect」.
"...?"
"They say Yunseol has been looking at that book recently."
"..."
"It is a book that has collected the information that the main family had obtained at the time when the Blood Sect had caused a calamity. Do you have any idea why Yunseol looked at that book?"
Tang Qianhui, wanting to know why Tang Yunseol had used poison on Tang Yunlong, had looked into her recent activities and had found out that Tang Yunseol had entered the library.
The librarian had said that Yunseol had borrowed the 'Collected Records of the Blood Sect' and had only returned it after a few days.
"I don't know."
"Find out."
Tang Qianhui gestured for him to leave.
As Tang Yunlong turned and left, a blood-red light flashed in his eyes, but Tang Qianhui could not see it.
* * *
A young beggar who looked to be about twelve or thirteen came in.
Although he was grimy, his clear eyes made him look clever.
When the beggar saw the noble sons of his own age in the living room, he rolled his eyes and then bowed his waist and said in a clear voice, "Thank you for sharing the food last night."
"Huh? Are you the leader? I called for the leader."
"The king of beggars went out to beg early in the morning, so I came instead."
"Really? He must have eaten until his stomach burst last night, but he went out to beg again? As expected, a beggar's stomach is as wide as the sea."
"..."
"It can't be helped."
Baekji put the silver ingot in his hand into his money pouch. The young beggar's gaze was fixed on the silver ingot.
"I can't give a large sum of money to a young beggar."
At that, Baekji put the silver ingot away and took out an iron coin and handed it to him, but the young beggar did not take it.
"If the king of beggars comes, will you give him the silver ingot?"
"Yes. Only someone like the king of beggars can be given a silver ingot. It's dangerous for a young beggar like you to carry a silver ingot."
"It's fine. I'm all grown up too."
"No. There is a way to begging. You have to give according to the level. Just take the iron coin."
At Baekji's words, the young beggar rolled his eyes and then bowed his head.
"Just a moment."
The young beggar hurriedly went out.
A moment later, a beggar who looked to be in his early thirties came in, bowing his waist.
His eyes, which quickly scanned the living room, were like those of a starving ghost.
The beggar, whose eyes met Baekji's and Tang Yunqing's, was momentarily taken aback, but then quickly changed his expression and said with a servile smile, "Hehe. I was busy, so I sent the young beggar instead, but I thought it was not polite, so I came back."
Thwack!
A bamboo staff exploded on the beggar's head.
"Ouch."
"Is there no such thing as the way of leading by example in begging? Is it the Beggars' Sect's method to push a young beggar forward first?"
The Beggars' Sect's Chengdu branch head, Hong Gai, came to his senses.
'As expected, it was a trap.'
He had heard a rumor that the Tang family's young family head had returned seriously injured.
He had been watching with his senses sharpened, and for some time, the Tang family's movements had been strange. Finally, the day before yesterday, a Tang family warrior had been stirring up all over the place.
As the Chengdu branch head of the Beggars' Sect, he had to know what was going on at the Tang family. He had tried to touch the feelers inside and outside the Tang family, but they had all kept their mouths shut as if by agreement.
So, he was even more anxious.
The fact that a gag order had been issued meant that something very important was happening.
Even so, he had heard that masters from the main sect were coming because the Blood Sect had appeared in Sichuan.
If he could get a case at a time like this... he could become a patrolman in charge of the Sichuan branch.
Just then, an opportunity came.
He had heard a report that people who seemed to be the Tang family's siblings had stayed at the Yonghua Inn with strangers, and he had placed beggars there, and in the middle of the night, a huge amount of food had come out.
Moreover, they had asked to see him.
Suspicious of their intentions, he had sent the young beggar, but he had come back right away and had said that the noble sons were performing a good deed.
"Their clothes are different from the Tang family's. It seems that the children of a powerful family are showing generosity for fun. They'll be happy if we take the silver and spread the word."
That happened sometimes.
If an undercover inspector came, a powerful family would show generosity and spread the word.
Although he was disappointed, he had come in person just in case.
But.
The clear-eyed young brat in the noble son's attire was clearly the Tang family's Young Master Yi, Tang Yunqing.
He, the Chengdu branch head, could not have not known, and the young beggar could not have not known.
'Young beggar, you bastard.'
He had usually called him 'master' and had stuck to him, flattering him in all sorts of ways, but he had sold him for a single tael of silver?
'But who is this brat?'
The brat with the Tang family's Young Master Yi was also clearly from a prestigious family, but he had used his hands without a word.
'My fists are crying.'
Hong Gai inwardly gritted his teeth and then straightened his back and cupped his fists.
"I am Hong Gai, the Chengdu branch head of the Beggars' Sect. What is this? Without a word..."
Although he had come out confidently as befitting the world's number one sect,
Thwack!
He was hit again.
He couldn't block it. He had thought he was moving, but in the meantime, his head was on fire.
Hong Gai clenched his fists and retreated, taking a defensive stance.
"Do you dare to fight with the Beggars' Sect?"
"Dare?"
Thwack, thwack, thwack!
Thwack, thwack!
The bamboo staff seemed to split into hundreds and beat his whole body.
Surprisingly, his face was fine, but his body was beaten evenly.
He had tried to block it by unfolding the 'Dragon Form Eight Palms', but it was useless.
"Keuk. Stop! What do you want?"
Hong Gai, who had been beaten repeatedly and had fallen flat on his back, screamed.
"Why are you impersonating the Beggars' Sect's branch head?"
"Impersonating! I am the Chengdu branch head!"
"You seem to have little experience to be a branch head."
Hong Gai got up from his beaten body and sat down.
"Chengdu... is small in scale. Because the Tang family is here."
Chengdu was no different from the Tang family's own backyard. Since the Beggars' Sect also had to be careful, the scale of the branch was small, and so the branch head was also on the younger side.
"Is that so? Are you really the Beggars' Sect's branch head?"
Baekji stood up, approached, and grabbed Hong Gai's hand.
"I'm sorry. I thought that in a big city like Chengdu, the branch head would be a fairly old man. Get up."
Hong Gai shook off his hand.
"Just tell me what you want."
"You're in a hurry. Come here... no. You smell too much. It's better if you stay here."
Baekji returned to the tea table and washed his hands in the tea water.
'Ugh...'
Although he was a beggar, it was the first time he had been humiliated like this. To wash his hands in expensive tea water just because their hands had brushed.
For the first time in his twenty-odd years of life as a beggar, Hong Gai felt a sense of self-pity.
Tang Yunqing just watched what Baekji was doing.
Baekji, who looked to be at most two or three years older than him, was interesting.
Moreover, he was an incredible master.
Baekji asked, "What were we talking about?"
"We weren't talking about anything."
"Right. I called you because I had something to ask, but our first meeting was strange. Why did you play tricks? If you apologize, I'll accept it."
"..."
'You're the one who should be apologizing.'
He was so dumbfounded that he couldn't speak, but Baekji's hand went to his bamboo staff.
Hong Gai quickly answered, "I apologize."
"Good. That's it. We're men, right? Let's forget our unpleasant first meeting."
"What do you want?"
"I have something I'm curious about, and I'd like you to show some sincerity. I hate it when people just leak a little bit. You have to lay your cards on the table right away."
"..."
"You can do that, right?"
Hong Gai sighed inwardly.
Because of the rumor that the Beggars' Sect had a lot of information, brats who were masters would often catch a Beggars' Sect disciple and torture them.
This brat was clearly one of those brats.
"How much would a beggar know? But I will tell you what I know."
Baekji, having crushed Hong Gai's momentum in the beginning, asked, "Have any unfamiliar brats come to Chengdu recently?"
"Chengdu is the largest city in Sichuan. Hundreds, thousands of people come and go every day. They are all unfamiliar brats."
"Umm. Did I ask the question wrong?"
Baekji tilted his head and then asked again, "Haven't you seen any Blood Sect members?"
"Blood Sect members... gasp! Have Blood Sect members appeared in Chengdu?"
Hong Gai unknowingly stood up and cried out.
"You didn't know? They say the Beggars' Sect is the news source of the martial world, but I guess not."
"Is that true? I heard they appeared in the north. The Blood Sect in Chengdu... where are the Blood Sect members?"
"Oh dear. I was trying to get information, but you're asking me to give it instead."
Baekji waved his hand.
Hong Gai's mouth went dry. He had heard that masters from the main sect were coming, and if he could find out the whereabouts of the Blood Sect members and report it, he would be credited with a great achievement.
"I did something unnecessary. Go away."
"The Blood Sect is a public enemy of the martial world. If there is information, we should share it..."
The urgent Hong Gai took a step forward and said.
Baekji held out his bamboo staff.
"Don't come any closer."
Hong Gai felt a sense of self-pity again, but he endured it and said, "...Shouldn't we deal with it together!"
"I don't need that. If there's something going, there has to be something coming, right?"
"What do you want?"
"Can you tell me about the black and evil sects in Chengdu?"
"I can tell you that right away."
"Then I'll listen and if it's reasonable, I'll tell you the information I have."
"Since Chengdu is tightly controlled by the Tang family, there are not many large black sects..."
Hong Gai recited about the black and evil sects in and around Chengdu.
After listening to everything, Baekji said, "I could have found that out by asking the waiter here. Don't you think it's very lacking?"
At the words to give more information, Hong Gai came to his senses.
He had been carried away by the words 'Blood Sect' and had been the only one talking.
He just looked at Baekji with suspicious eyes and did not answer.
"Alright. I'll just tell you this. Do you know the saying 'beat the grass to scare the snake'?"
"..."
"The Blood Sect has definitely entered Chengdu. But I don't know where they're hiding either. First, spread a rumor that the Blood Sect has infiltrated Chengdu and watch carefully. There will be brats who move suspiciously."
"..."
"If you catch anything, tell me. I'll give you an advance."
Baekji took out silver ingots from his money pouch and placed them on the table one by one.
Clink, clink...
The silver ingots piled on the tea table amounted to ten taels.
(End of Chapter)