Volume 6 Chapter 9 – Shares

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Translated by Rain

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Luoyang Sword Family.

The grand banquet hall operated by the Reception Hall.

In the grand banquet hall, for which even the word luxurious was insufficient, songs and music did not cease.

If it was entertainment, it was Luoyang. And if it was Luoyang, wasn’t it entertainment?

For it was the Reception Hall of the Luoyang Sword Family, which was incomparable even in that Luoyang.

Its hospitality could indeed be called the best under heaven without lacking anything.

“Splendid! This place is the Moon Palace, and this place is heaven! No matter where I look, not a single deficiency is in sight, so I do not envy a banquet of the immortal realm!”

At the sound of Tang Go-gyu shouting in high spirits, the members of the investment delegation clapped and cheered.

The Fourth Young Master nodded as if satisfied.

“Good. It is going well.”

Elder Yu, who was smoking tobacco beside him, shook her head with a weary expression.

“For those who ran such a long distance and were even attacked to lose their minds just because of a banquet…”

The Fourth Young Master smiled.

“Isn’t that playfulness the strength of Sichuan people? Moreover…”

Nodding his head to the tune of the song that drifted over, keeping time with the beat, he continued.

“Since it is no exaggeration to say that how much investment we can draw from this investment delegation ‘depends entirely on the banquet’.”

“…That’s true, but.”

Elder Yu sighed.

“Rather than that, the behavior of the Emei Sect in Sichuan weighs on my mind. Reports had come in that their evil deeds became more severe than in the past, but seeing the case of the Tea Fan Maidens this time, it is not a level that can be simply overlooked.”

“Since they established an alliance with the Dali Duan Family recently, they no longer look at the Tang Family’s mood.”

The Fourth Young Master’s mouth was drawing a smile following the melody that drifted over, but not a single speck of laughter could be found in his eyes.

“They, who originally received the profits of the businesses under their influence in the form of donations, now…”

Elder Yu picked up the words.

“Now they are outright extorting the shares.”

The smoke flowing from her mouth scattered on the wind.

“…For the renowned Emei Sect in history to have degraded to an irreversible degree now.”

Her gaze directed toward a distant place.

“Or is it just that now is such an era, and the Emei Sect merely rode the trend of the times…”

The brilliant fame of the Nine Great Sects in history had already fallen long ago.

There was no answer from the Fourth Young Master.

Elder Yu was not wishing for an answer either.

The Fourth Young Master merely hummed along to the song faintly heard from the banquet hall.

It was a song of Sichuan that his mother used to sing to him in his childhood.

* * *

Luoyang Sword Family, Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment.

“Couldn’t you explain it a bit more easily to understand?”

The maid of the Maid Division sighed at the sight of the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword grumbling while holding a claw hammer.

“…There will be no way to explain door repair more easily than this.”

It was the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword, who was still struggling hard because he couldn’t repair a single door.

“How on earth did you learn supreme martial arts with that level of comprehension…”

At the words of the maid who shook her head, the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword flared up.

“No…! What connection does repairing a door have with martial arts in the first place…!”

What appeared behind them at that moment was the Second Young Lady, Yeon Seo-rin.

“Ah!”

Having just finished her hot spring bath, she pointed at the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword with the practice sword she was holding.

“It is the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword!”

The Life-Snatching Ghost Sword, who turned back at that sound, was startled.

“Wh-what?! Why is the Second Young Lady in this Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment?!”

Since he had been stuck in a corner of Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment all day repairing a door, he seemingly did not even know the fact of the Second Young Lady’s visit.

“What is the fellow, who disappeared leaving only rumors of retirement, doing in my younger brother’s house…”

Looking at the claw hammer held in his hand, she shook her head.

“No, that sort of thing doesn’t matter anyway.”

The Second Young Lady strode forward with an expression where one couldn’t tell if she was baring her teeth or smiling.

“Life-Snatching Ghost Sword! Today, you definitely cannot escape!”

“D-damn it!”

The Life-Snatching Ghost Sword threw away the claw hammer and vanished using a lofty movement technique.

It was a dizzying speed that made it hard for the maids to even guess the direction.

“Stop right there!”

The Second Young Lady pursued the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword with terrifying momentum, stepping on bamboo leaves in succession to propel her body.

The remaining maids sighed.

“We are doomed to fail at fixing the door today as well.”

* * *

Eldest Young Master’s Office.

Yeon So-hyeon buried his body deep in his chair and spoke.

“…To transfer your entire shares?”

At his words, murmured like a monologue, Sangwan Nan-hwa nodded with a firm attitude.

“Yes. I mean we will give the entire Tea Fan Maiden Merchant Group to you.”

Yeon So-hyeon placed his hand on the armrest and tapped it with his fingers.

“I will clarify first, but even if you hand over your shares to this Eldest Young Master, you will not be able to be free from the Emei Sect’s retaliation.”

There was not a single speck of disorder in Sangwan Nan-hwa’s attitude.

“I know. Even if you, Eldest Young Master, declare that you protect the Tea Fan Maidens in the name of the Sword Family, you will not be able to stop the Emei Sect from disguising their deeds as ‘accidents’ in Sichuan.”

“Correct. Even if the Sword Family uses that as a pretext, pushes forward stubbornly, and raises an army…”

Sangwan Nan-hwa picked up the words.

“The Sichuan Tang Family, which does not want the Sword Family’s influence to grow in Sichuan, will declare neutrality in that conflict.”

Beneath her rich eyelashes, her deep eyes directed toward Yeon So-hyeon.

“If that happens, the Sword Family will be placed in a situation where they must face the Emei Sect and the Dali Duan Family simultaneously under the burden of an expedition.”

She summarized briefly.

“So the Sword Family will choose to pretend not to see the ‘accidents’ in the first place.”

Sangwan Nan-hwa’s eye for reading the political situation was, even by Yeon So-hyeon’s standards, worthy of being evaluated as sufficiently excellent.

“You know it well.”

It seemingly was not a judgment made out of youthful folly.

Yeon So-hyeon, with a slightly more serious expression, clasped his hands together in front.

“And yet you wish to hand over all your shares to this Eldest Young Master?”

It was as good as asking if they would endure the sacrifice of their families.

“…”

In the atmosphere that felt as if weighed down by a boulder, the one who opened her mouth at that question was not Sangwan Nan-hwa.

“At that question, rather than Representative Sangwan Nan-hwa…”

A Tea Fan Maiden, who was a head taller than Sangwan Nan-hwa even when sitting, cautiously continued her words.

“It seems appropriate for me, An Song-gyeong, to offer the answer.”

“I understand.”

This was because even if the Emei Sect retaliated, the family of Sangwan Nan-hwa, the daughter of the Chengdu Governor, would not suffer harm.

“Excluding Representative Sangwan Nan-hwa, all of our co-representatives of the Tea Fan Maidens and all of the co-representatives’ families…”

Although her voice trembled slightly in her tension, there was not a single speck of hesitation in her attitude.

“have already completed our resolve to endure any sacrifice.”

They said they resolved to face someone in their clan or family becoming the target of retaliation.

That was not a word that could be easily uttered by any businessman in the Central Plains Empire.

Moreover, no matter where one looked, they were far from the kind of monsters who had no blood or tears.

“…”

Yeon So-hyeon’s gaze met the gaze of each and every Tea Fan Maiden.

Even as they trembled involuntarily under the gaze that seemed to dig into their insides, not a single person avoided his gaze.

Even the youngest, who was the youngest of the Tea Fan Maidens.

In his ear, the sound transmission of the head maid was heard.

‘At least at this point, their resolve is sincere.’

Yeon So-hyeon closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them.

“Very well.”

He pulled his body forward from where he had leaned back in his chair.

His eyes deepened.

“In that case, I must certainly listen to your story seriously.”

* * *

The maids cleared away the cold tea and brought out fresh tea.

However, none of the Tea Fan Maidens moistened their mouths with that tea.

None of them leaned their backs against the chairs either.

They were those who, just a moment ago, when they finished bathing and dinner, felt fatigue as heavy as a thousand jin.

“…”

Yet now, none of them felt that fatigue.

It was because of tension.

For before their eyes was the Eldest Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family, who displayed a bizarre level of presence.

All of them were realizing how hollow the rumors entwined with the name of the Swordless One were.

“I understand your resolve well.”

Once all the maids withdrew, he opened his mouth.

“If this Eldest Young Master accepts the proposal, how do you plan to handle your families?”

An Song-gyeong answered.

“Immediately upon receiving the letter we send, our families will abandon everything in our hometown and carry out a desperate escape.”

“There is no way the Emei Sect would slacken their watchful eyes even slightly, is there?”

An Song-gyeong bit her lip.

“For that as well, our families have completed their resolve.”

If the declaration that the Eldest Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family protects them spreads to the land of Sichuan, there will surely be retaliation, but not everyone will die.

Even so, the meaning of the action to carry out an escape without waiting for that declaration was…

‘An expression of their will to decide their own destiny, rather than leaving it to heaven.’

Yeon So-hyeon slowly nodded and threw the next question.

“In that case, how do you plan to handle the remaining relatives of your clan other than your immediate families?”

An Song-gyeong’s expression hardened.

“We will not care about them.”

The expressions of the remaining Tea Fan Maidens also hardened stiffly.

That was not an expression of tension, but an expression of anger.

“…I can guess.”

At Yeon So-hyeon’s words, An Song-gyeong nodded.

“When the Tea Fan Maidens succeeded as a merchant group, the ones who reached out and approached us fastest were our relatives…”

Another Tea Fan Maiden who had been biting her lip cut in involuntarily.

“When the Emei Sect committed atrocities against us, the very first ones to agree to that blackmail were those so-called relatives of ours.”

Even if they did not speak further, all those things that the Tea Fan Maidens must have experienced were clear before his eyes.

The sight of adults, from third cousins once removed to whoever, flocking like ghosts the moment it was heard that the young daughter of a relative’s house made some money.

Those who lived like strangers to their parents all their lives acting as if they were the closest family in the world—bringing up stories of having changed their diapers in childhood as if they had sworn an oath in a peach garden at some point.

Those who came to their house like a dog needing to urinate, holding onto pillars and just circling around with nothing to do.

Those who boasted of their connections through word of mouth, telling them to just leave it to them if anything happened.

Then, when rumors began to circulate that the Emei Sect had its eyes on them, those who appeared holding knives before anyone else.

Those who invaded all the way into their inner rooms and made threats under the pretext of being relatives, behaving as if they were Emei Sect’s lay disciples.

“I understand well.”

How could Yeon So-hyeon not know such a situation?

Wasn’t he himself the eldest son of a family where siblings pointed knives at each other?

“You seem to want to start the Tea Fan Maidens anew in this Luoyang.”

Sangwan Nan-hwa bowed her head.

“That is correct.”

“The condition for transferring the shares to me must be to help the reconstruction of the Tea Fan Maidens materially and spiritually.”

At those words, Sangwan Nan-hwa shook her head.

“It is enough if you, Eldest Young Master, merely lend your name.”

As long as there is minimum protection.

“Because we are the Tea Fan Maidens.”

The resolve to succeed again, as many times as it takes.

The resolve to not give away even a single penny of their own, even if their families carry out desperate escapes for their daughters and their relatives are thrown as prey to the Emei Sect, thereby incurring the Emei Sect’s grudge.

The tenacity to crawl back up somehow from a basement lower than the floor.

They already possessed all the qualifications and more to survive the fierce struggles of the world.

“Splendid.”

A smile hung on the corners of Yeon So-hyeon’s mouth.