Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 101 - Huizhou's Nobles (6)

Chapter 101 – Huizhou’s Nobles (6)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“This time, you should go. Haven’t your uncles been the only ones going all this time?”

“…I can’t understand it.”

Namgung Hwi’s lips were sticking out in a pout.

“How can the great Namgung Clan be made to clean up after merchants?”

“Clean up after them? It’s just people helping each other. If not for the Huizhou merchants, you wouldn’t have taken in even half the miraculous medicines you ate as a child.”

Namgung Clan’s Clan Head, Namgung Jin-hyeon, spoke sternly.

“A Clan Head is not merely the warrior who represents the clan. He must also pay attention to people outside the martial world. How many times have I told you that?”

“Then give the position of Clan Head to Yul-ah.”

“Yul-ah is only seven now.”

“So what? It’s not like Father is about to die suddenly.”

“You brat, to your own father!”

The inkstone filled with lightning qi shot quickly toward Namgung Hwi. Namgung Hwi simply tilted his head aside and dodged it with ease.

Namgung Jin-hyeon trembled. The fact that his son possessed peerless talent was not purely a good thing.

“This is your father’s request. Go just this once. Your own name has Hwi in it too, doesn’t it? You can’t say you have no connection with the Huizhou merchants.”

“What does that have to do with anything? The Hwi in Huizhou is the Hwi of beauty, and mine is the Hwi of radiance.”

“But radiance is beautiful, so aren’t they similar?”

Namgung Hwi pressed at his temple. For his father to be trying to send him while resorting to nonsense like this. As a son, he did feel a little sorry for him.

In the end, after pondering for a bit, Namgung Hwi finally nodded.

“Just once.”

“Thank you, Hwi.”

“I’m not a child.”

“No matter how big you grow, you’ll always be a child in my eyes. You’ll understand once you become a father yourself.”

“I’ll never understand. I like swords more than women.”

Grumbling, Namgung Hwi came outside. For him to be saddled with such a miscellaneous errand at a time when he was blocked by a wall like now. There were limits to how irritating things could be.

He had no idea what kind of affair it was, but all he wanted was to finish it as quickly as possible, return to the clan, and break through that wall.

***

In truth, there are few species as territorial as merchants. Among them, salt merchants are even worse. That is because the merchant companies that can receive salt certificates are limited.

In that sense, one could say without exaggeration that salt yards are the most territorial places in the Central Plains.

“Ha ha. You’re quite an upright fellow. If we meet in town later, let’s have a drink.”

“Gladly.”

“Ahem, Company Lord Muk. You ought to drink with me first, shouldn’t you?”

“I was first. Everyone’s quite shameless about cutting in line.”

I knew several of these men. It felt strange that people who had left impressions colder than the north wind and winter snow in my previous life were approaching me now as warmly as a spring breeze.

“I heard there was a clash with the Chief Salt Merchant? Don’t worry. If Wudang is behind you, even the Chief Salt Merchant won’t be able to do anything.”

“Still, that’s impressive. How did you manage to pull the Wudang Sect into the commercial world? Even that Merchant King couldn’t do it.”

The reason they had reversed their attitudes like flipping over a palm was, naturally, because Wudang stood behind me. In my previous life, I had run around incessantly to win these men’s favor, and gone to places I was never invited to just to pour drinks. From my perspective, it only felt good to have that whole process omitted.

“It was only because I got lucky. The Sect Leader happened to look favorably on me.”

“Hah. And you’re only a lay disciple, yet you even met the Sect Leader? It seems you were a bigger figure than I thought.”

“Ah, the fact that I’m close to the Sect Leader is a secret.”

“Heh heh, this fellow. What a smooth operator.”

Several merchants even slipped an arm around my shoulders in a show of familiarity. I didn’t shrug them off.

They too were all members of the salt merchants’ association, the same one in which Son Yeong-ui served as Chief Salt Merchant, and yet they did not show hostility toward me. This was precisely the way a merchant carried himself.

“By the way, how did you manage to get salt certificates?”

“Salt certificates?”

One of the merchants asked the question casually. I saw all their eyes sharpen like civet cats.

They were trying to determine how far my connections extended. If this had been Wuhan, I would have openly declared that I had the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate behind me.

But the people here were Huizhou merchants. Among them, there would definitely be someone whose connections were enough to devour a mere upper-third-rank official whole.

Fear comes from the unknown. I had no intention of relieving them of that fear.

“They were just lying in the street, so I picked them up.”

“Heh heh heh. You’re really something.”

All the merchants laughed, but I could see disappointment flicker through their eyes. It looked like they had expected me, as a young upstart Company Lord, to spill everything easily.

If I had been a novice merchant, I might even have mistaken this for some kind of meeting of minds. But I already knew they were real merchants who could change their stance according to profit. In that sort of relationship, laying all your cards bare was idiocy.

“So when are you heading back to Hubei?”

Someone asked the question. It seemed he was trying to shift the slightly chilled atmosphere to another topic. Keeping my smile in place, I answered.

“Now that we’ve received the salt, I should be leaving.”

“Come now, don’t you know? Once merchants exchange for salt at the salt yard, they all get together for a drink. Salt merchants ought to have a bit of stickiness among themselves.”

“Ah. Is that so.”

“That’s right. An afterparty. An afterparty.”

Their smiles deepened. I knew full well what kind of things happened at those afterparties.

‘I know, but it’s still hard to pretend I don’t.’

While we were talking, I could feel someone staring at me from far off. It was none other than Chief Salt Merchant Son Yeong-ui. Since he too was one of the salt merchants, it was only natural that he would be here at the salt yard.

I carefully observed the faces of the people around me. The information Yeo Hong-yang had given me helped a great deal here.

These men were all laughing openly in front of each other with cheerful ha-has, but their relationships were nowhere near as smooth as they appeared. Since even the me of my previous life had not known that part, it was quite meaningful.

“Then when exactly is this afterparty?”

“Now that the salt was distributed today, everyone will go back to their own companies and settle things up, and then a letter will be sent out in the evening. You’re still staying at Yeongyeong Inn, aren’t you?”

“Yes. But isn’t an afterparty like that hosted by the Chief Salt Merchant?”

“The Chief Salt Merchant may look prickly, but he’s someone who keeps what ought to be kept. Even if you had a clash with him once, he won’t do something childish like leave only you out.”

I smiled.

At that moment, Son Yeong-ui, who had been watching me from a distance, walked over. The merchants who had been near me immediately stepped back one pace each.

“Did the salt exchange go smoothly?”

“Yes. Thanks to you. I received your greetings well.”

Son Yeong-ui’s brow twitched slightly.

“You’ve got a sly side to you, too. Hiding the fact that you were together with the Wudang Sect, I mean.”

“There was no reason to show it publicly.”

“That’s true. In any case, what happened with White Crow Gate was unfortunate.”

Son Yeong-ui was shameless. He had sent them there to bury me, and yet he was trying to smooth it over with a single apology. But shamelessness was one of a merchant’s primary virtues.

“So?”

“Martial people are uneducated sorts, so when a dispute breaks out they draw swords and stake their lives. But we merchants, who have brushed ink, don’t need to go that far.”

“Quite right. No need to draw blades.”

I smiled faintly. There was no need to scratch at the fact that he had tried to resolve things with White Crow Gate by force of blades.

Son Yeong-ui took a letter from inside his robe and handed it to me. It was an elegant invitation letter edged in gold thread.

“It’s an invitation listing the place and time of the afterparty among the salt merchants. Normally I’d send someone, but for you, I wanted to deliver it in person.”

“Is it the sort of gathering one must attend?”

“Not exactly. It only means your relationships with the salt merchants become rather distant.”

“Then I will absolutely attend.”

“Good.”

Son Yeong-ui grinned and turned away. The merchants who had stepped back one pace immediately came close to me again.

“Didn’t I tell you? The Chief Salt Merchant isn’t such a rigid fellow after all.”

“So it would seem. Is there anything I need to bring with me?”

“Ah. There is. There certainly is.”

A deep smile spread across the faces of the merchants like contagion.

“One escort who can also serve as a close attendant. Aside from that, nothing else is permitted.”

“Understood.”

“Will you be bringing a Daoist from Wudang?”

“Probably.”

“Heh heh. I look forward to it.”

The merchants all patted my shoulder a few times. After that, everyone dispersed. I too loaded all the salt onto the carts that had been waiting outside and stored it separately in the warehouse I had arranged in advance. Since there was so much salt, it took quite a few trips back and forth.

When I returned to the inn, my Senior Brothers were, as expected, still training. Since the inn, the salt yard, and the warehouse were practically attached to one another, there had been no need for an escort, which was why I hadn’t brought them along.

“You’re back.”

Before I could even open my mouth, they noticed that I had returned. All their swords stopped.

“Did the salt exchange go well?”

“Yes.”

“Then we’re heading right back to Hubei now, right?”

“No. I have something to do this evening.”

I explained to them about the salt merchants’ afterparty. Their expressions all wrinkled at once. It looked like they had wanted to return to Hubei immediately.

But how could they know? The real highlight of the salt trade wasn’t the actual salt transaction, but the afterparty.

“Can’t you just skip that?”

“No. I can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because something interesting happens there.”

“What kind of interesting thing?”

“They gamble with salt.”

Everyone’s eyes widened. The salt merchants were probably assuming I didn’t know this, of course.

Not telling the newcomer there was gambling was part of the initiation. But I already knew. Playing games with salt at the afterparty was common all across the Central Plains.

“How do they gamble?”

“Through proxy matches.”

“Ah. Proxy matches.”

It seemed Myeong-yeop at least understood the concept. It was the same thing Ascending Thunder Gate and I had done back at Yichang. A method merchants used to resolve disputes when they arose.

At the afterparty, they used it as entertainment.

“That’s a little insulting to the pride.”

“Exactly.”

This was nothing less than being used as a plaything for merchants’ amusement. It wasn’t some underground fighting pit. There was no way I could use my Wudang Senior Brothers like that. Son Yeong-ui had probably been aiming for exactly this.

He must have thought that if the people of Wudang learned about it on the scene, they would absolutely refuse to take part in a proxy match. Of course, the relationship between Wudang and me wasn’t as simple as that.

“Still, if you really need it, I can go out. All I have to do is beat them all down, right?”

“No. There’s no need for that. I don’t want to use you Senior Brothers that way either. You can just come and watch.”

“Watch?”

“Yes. With gambling, you don’t necessarily have to bet on our side. You can also bet on the opponents fighting each other. So it’ll be fun.”

If it were simply a structure where the side with the stronger escort always won, then gambling wouldn’t work. But proxy matches at the afterparty weren’t like that.

Even if my own escort didn’t go out, I could still wager salt on escorts from other merchant companies fighting each other. That was the real essence of the afterparty. So even if my own escort were the weakest there, I could still win salt.

“Then should I be the one to go?”

Myeong-yeop asked.

I shook my head.

“Let’s decide it with Gold Bug.”

“Can we really do that?”

“Of course.”

Myeong-yeop, Myeong-seong, Myeong-gyeong, and Myeong-jin. Four people. Since there were four of them, ties happened often, but before long a winner was decided.

“Wow, I won!”

The winner, hopping up and down, was Myeong-gyeong.

And so the escort for my evening afterparty was decided to be Myeong-gyeong.