For one thing, she was surprised by the fact that he had learned the Falling Star Twelve Swords, even if only to the fifth star.
Still, for someone managing a merchant guild to master it up to the fifth star meant he had put in no small amount of effort.
Gyeon Eonjo greeted Danmok Ryeon enthusiastically.
“Oh my… How can a little one who only recently opened her eyes speak so maturely and look so bright?”
Ryeon mumbled inside her mouth before stopping herself.
To the eyes of old men, she probably did look like a mere baby.
Gyeon Eonjo repeatedly congratulated Ryeon on waking up and went on and on about how brilliant she looked.
During this, Danmok Cheongi only listened, making sounds like “Hmm” and “Hmph.” He didn’t look particularly pleased or amused, but he didn’t tell him to stop either.
It was only after the tea had gone cold that Gyeon Eonjo took a small porcelain bottle from his robes and spoke to Ryeon.
“So, about this Cheongryeonsu that the little one sent.”
The stardust floating in Ryeon’s eyes twinkled.
“I heard it was made in the Danmok Clan’s Medicine Hall, so I asked the Retired Patriarch if I could try selling it. But he told me I had to speak to the Head of the Medicine Hall. So, I grabbed the Medicine Hall Head and asked him, but he said I had to get permission from you.”
At this rapid development, Ryeon looked at Danmok Cheongi. Only then did Danmok Cheongi break the silence he had maintained with fake coughs.
“Actually, Ryeon-ah made that herself. So, if you want to do anything with it, you must get Ryeon-ah’s permission.”
Ryeon was surprised that Danmok Cheongi would say as much, and surprised again when Gyeon Eonjo believed those words without a second thought.
“My goodness! The little one truly has talent, Retired Patriarch. The rumors that an Immortal took her and then sent her back must be true.”
“Stop with the nonsense. So, are you really planning to do something with this?”
“I ran all the way here to do just that, so why else would I come? Did you think I came just to wag my tongue and make you feel good?”
Danmok Cheongi gave a small cough. It was a cough of suspicion, implying that might actually be the case.
Gyeon Eonjo shook his head side to side, then pulled out a chair himself and seated Ryeon.
“Apply it to your fingertips and your mood clears; apply it to your temples and headaches vanish while drowsiness flees; apply it to stiff muscles and they melt away. My servant was sniffing, so I applied it under his nose, and his cold was completely gone the next day!”
Gyeon Eonjo passionately argued that after applying it to his own knuckles, which ached from flipping through ledgers and writing, the pain vanished. He declared that this would work, it was a winning product, and it absolutely had to be put on the market.
“Then, how much should we sell it for?”
Ryeon, who had been quietly listening to Gyeon Eonjo’s praise, asked the question. Gyeon Eonjo shut his mouth tight.
As the only chatty person in the room fell silent, it felt as if silence had settled over the entire world. Just as the sound of a bird taking flight in the distance faded away, Gyeon Eonjo spoke.
“The pharmacy at the Hoseon Medical Pavilion told me that to make even a tiny profit from selling one of essential oil, it would have to be at least ten copper coins.”
With ten copper coins—one —two people could have a decent meal.
With ten —one of silver—one could stay at a decent inn for five days.
“However, that doesn’t include the cost of devising the formula. The price of essential oils varies widely, so the calculation must differ depending on what was used. And since we don’t know how much can be produced, that too must be calculated…”
Ryeon, having listened quietly to Gyeon Eonjo, finished her calculations.
“The Cheongryeonsu I gave you as a gift was made using a special method, so as you said, we cannot simply mass-produce it blindly. How about we set the price at 100 copper coins—that is, one silver tael—per , and use pretty porcelain bottles?”
At the price suddenly jumping tenfold, a strange light flowed through Gyeon Eonjo’s eyes.
“The servant standing over there doesn’t earn one silver tael in a month. At that price, who would buy it?”
“Those who want it will buy it.”
“That isn’t wrong, I suppose. Even if a jar of West Lake Longjing tea costs a silver tael, there isn’t enough to sell. But does a small bottle of Cheongryeonsu have that kind of value?”
Ryeon smiled brightly and asked something else.
“If we sign a contract with the Mansong Merchant Guild, who will be in charge of this task?”
“One of my children will take charge of it directly.”
“Which of your children, sir?”
Gyeon Eonjo felt intrigued by this conversation and tilted his head.
“My first, Wijeong, has helped with family affairs for a long time and has a good eye for business. My second, Wiun, examines everything strictly and knocks on stone bridges before crossing them. Here, you choose. Who would you like to handle this business?”
Ryeon clenched her fist inwardly.
She already knew about the affairs of the Mansong Merchant Guild. Saying the first son, Gyeon Wijeong, had a “good eye for business” just meant that the things he picked by gut feeling had been lucky enough to work out so far.
The second, Gyeon Wiun, who examined strictly and knocked on stone bridges before crossing, was the truly reliable one.
In her memories, Gyeon Wiun failed to inherit the Mansong Merchant Guild and started her own guild instead. When the Mansong Merchant Guild crumbled under Gyeon Wijeong’s hands, Gyeon Wiun’s new merchant guild dominated the Jiangnan region.
But right now, neither of them was who Ryeon was waiting for.
“Do you not have a third child, sir?”
“Hahaha! Not every child of a merchant family works in the guild. My third, Wihak, is continuing his studies. He is preparing for the upcoming provincial exam.”
Though Gyeon Eonjo spoke calmly about it, he seemed to secretly harbor expectations for his son’s success in the exam.
Gyeon Eonjo was originally a Huizhou merchant from Nanzhili, located just above Zhejiang Province. Huizhou merchants were all anxious to raise their children to pass the civil service exams, and that aspect remained in Gyeon Eonjo, who had settled in Zhejiang.
Ryeon smiled radiantly.
“Then I would like Young Master Wihak to take charge.”
“Young Master, indeed! It is enough if you call him Uncle. That would be alright, wouldn’t it, Retired Patriarch?”
“Since you are my younger brother, strictly speaking, the kinship would be a bit more distant, but…”
“Why be so picky? If he’s uncle-aged, just call him Uncle.”
Gyeon Eonjo chuckled and insisted. Ryeon’s eyes went round.
Asking her to call the merchant guild leader’s son “Uncle” meant he intended to continue the relationship between Danmok Cheongi and himself into the next generation.
“Then, Uncle Wihak…”
“I told you, that child doesn’t do merchant work.”
“But, sir.”
Ryeon shook her head.
“If word gets out that ‘someone used Cheongryeonsu and passed the exam as top scholar,’ wouldn’t there be people coming with a gold tael for a single bottle? I don’t want Uncle Wihak to do anything with the Cheongryeonsu business-wise; I just want him to use it.”
*
Leaving Wolyeongjae after finishing her talk with Gyeon Eonjo, Ryeon tilted her head when she spotted someone pacing near the reception hall.
It was a face with the exact same eyes as the old merchant guild leader she had been facing just moments ago. Though, this person was much more beautiful.
However, the attire was a bit strange. It was a woman dressed as a man, but not just cross-dressing; compared to Gyeon Eonjo, her clothes were rather shabby, looking like those of a servant or stable hand.
On top of that, the intense gaze that perfectly resembled Gyeon Eonjo’s created a sense of incongruity.
When Ryeon summoned the Immortal Mirror over her sleeve, the name floated up.
[Gyeon Wiun]
[Falling Star Twelve Swords: 2 Stars]
[Limitless Steps: 2 Stars]
[Concern: How to end Gyeon Eonjo’s love for his eldest son, how to stop Gyeon Wijeong’s wasteful spending.]
It was so absurd that she spoke to her without realizing it.
“What are you… doing here?”
“Ah! Aren’t you the Young Lady Ryeon!”
The servant who was with Gyeon Wiun turned pale, quickly ushered Wiun behind him, and bowed deeply to Ryeon.
“W-We are, well, waiting for the Master… the Guild Leader. Yes, we are here to escort him.”
“I know that. But that Young Lady Wiun over there…”
Upon hearing Ryeon’s words, the servant nearly jumped. With a bit of exaggeration, it seemed he leaped as high as Ryeon’s height.
“N-No, no, what, what are you saying? No, Young Lady, that is…”
While the servant flailed about, half-crying, Gyeon Wiun, who had been standing behind him, pulled him back.
“Enough. Since we’ve already been caught, don’t spout nonsense.”
“But Miss…”
Gyeon Wiun shook her head, then clasped her hands together and bowed toward Ryeon.
“Young Lady Ryeon. My name is Gyeon Wiun. I have shown you an embarrassing sight.”
Gyeon Wiun’s voice was devoid of affection and cool, yet polite and dignified.
Usually, Murim clans were said to reign like kings in their local regions. Even though the Danmok Clan was in a declining state, she was still the eldest grandchild of such a clan.
A strange light flowed through Ryeon’s eyes.
“Why?”
“Pardon?”
“Why did you come like this? When you came with Grandpa Gyeon.”
