Chapter 18
Episode 18
"Hey! What on earth happened to you!"
Songji's shout greeted me as I returned to the servants' quarters.
Her face was full of anger, and cold sweat trickled down my back. I smiled nonchalantly and waved at Songji.
"Good evening, Songji Unni."
"Are you in any position to say 'good evening' right now? Do you know how worried I was when you didn't come back yesterday?"
Hmm. That didn't work.
Songji, who had rushed over in one stride, huffed like an angry bull. She grabbed my shoulders and shook me violently.
"You didn't say you'd be late, and no one saw you. I imagined all sorts of things, like you'd made a mistake and been punished by the elders, or that Sim-yang and those girls had played a trick on you. Really..."
Songji, on the verge of tears, trailed off. Her eyes were sunken, as if she had stayed up all night worrying.
"I'm sorry, Unni."
I apologized and hugged Songji tightly.
I had completely forgotten about Songji, using being out of my mind as an excuse. I didn't know she would worry this much.
I quickly patted her back, and she sniffled.
"I'm just glad you're okay."
"Yes."
"Did you get any sleep?"
"Of course."
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
"No. Oh, Unni, would you like some tea?"
"Tea? What tea? Not just leftover tea leaves, but real tea?"
"Yes. Dang Jung Elder gave it to me."
Releasing Songji, I shook the tea leaf container that I had received from Dang Jung. Songji's face brightened.
"Is that Mengding Tea? Oh my god, I've only smelled it before."
"I think so?"
"I've never heard of the Elder giving tea as a reward before. Hey, you must be doing a good job."
"Not really, he just said he had some left over and gave it to me."
To be exact, he gave it to me to drink while studying. It was definitely a sign that I should study instead of sleeping when I got back.
So, even in the Martial Arts World, you have to borrow the power of caffeine to study. Life is so cruel.
I took out another bundle from my arms.
"I got some snacks too."
Songji received the bundle wrapped in plain cotton cloth and excitedly untied the knot. When she saw the white rice crackers, she exclaimed.
"Seolbyeong! How could he give you something so precious?"
"Yes. Well. Unni, don't be like this, let's go inside and eat."
"Okay. Let's go in quickly."
The corners of Songji's mouth were raised to her ears. She seemed happier with the precious rice crackers than the high-quality tea.
That's right. Eating is what matters. Good attitude. I pushed Songji's back and entered the residence.
But weren't my pillow and blanket replaced with new ones?
Tilting my head in confusion, Songji said nonchalantly.
"Madam Jin came by yesterday. She said there wasn't a suitable place to move you to, so she'd at least change the bedding. I waited up all night to tell you this too...!"
"Unni, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."
At her rising voice, I quickly stuffed a seolbyeong into Songji's mouth to stop her from talking.
Come to think of it, Madam Jin did say she would move my residence. I should go and tell her when it gets light that I'll stay here for the time being.
If I want to live quietly, it's best to reduce the chances of being gossiped about as much as possible.
"You, reawwy...!"
"Are you choking? Wait, Unni. I'll make you some tea."
Songji, who was glaring at me, puffed out her cheeks like a squirrel and munched on the cracker. The sound of the cracker crumbling made my mouth water.
Is it good?
I rummaged through the brazier and put a seolbyeong in my mouth as well. It was savory and salty, so it seemed good to eat as a palate cleanser.
We looked at each other and burst into laughter while eating the crackers. It was nothing special, but it made us laugh for no reason.
Songji, after swallowing the seolbyeong, said.
"So-hye, what are you going to do from now on?"
"About what?"
"About Dang Jung Elder. Judging by the things he's giving you, he seems to like you, but I'm a little worried. It was a long time ago, but whenever the Elder called in a newly arrived Maid, they always disappeared. Of course, you've lived here all along... but I'm still worried. Can't you talk to him and move to another workplace?"
Dang Jung, who suspected my identity, flashed through my mind at Songji's words.
He also asked if I hadn't been working for long. So he had often looked for spies before.
"It'll be okay."
I shrugged. I'm not a spy, but a member of the Tang Clan bloodline. Dang Jung, who accepted me as his descendant and disciple, would not harm me.
The problem isn't Dang Jung, but my unknown aunts and half-siblings...
"Unni, I have a question. What kind of person is the Young Patriarch?"
"The Young Patriarch? The Young Patriarch is, of course, a total jerk... Hot. You can't go around telling people I said that, okay?"
A total jerk, huh.
Actually, I can guess just from Dang Mu-hyeok's attitude. There's no way a son raised under such a father would have a normal personality.
Dang-un, who is kind and soft-spoken, is the strange one.
"Of course. Of course."
"You promised?"
When I nodded, Songji spat out her complaints as if she had been waiting for it.
"Honestly, he's not the right person to be in the position of Young Patriarch. He's not smart, he's not good-looking, he harasses the Maids all the time, and he has a dirty personality. Who would want to serve such a master? It would be different if he was skilled in martial arts. The Black Cloud Unit Commander taught him for five years, but he's still worse than the Third Young Master, who is four years younger than him, so it's clear that he has no talent for martial arts. If the Young Patriarch becomes the Patriarch, the Tang Clan will collapse. Then where should I go? Can I get a job at an inn?"
Songji, breathe and talk. Breathe.
Songji's face, who was excited, was as red as a ripe tomato. It seemed that she had a lot of pent-up feelings about the Young Patriarch.
In the meantime, the kettle on the brazier boiled and spewed steam. I moved the boiling water from the kettle to the teapot and asked.
"But why did he become the Young Patriarch?"
"Because he's the Eldest Son. The other Young Masters are still young."
Songji, who answered as if it were obvious, opened the tea leaf container and admired the well-dried tea leaves.
"This is really good tea!"
"Do you like it? Don't save it, just drink it all. I'll get more."
"Really? I'm really going to drink it all? Anyway, I heard that the Patriarch didn't initially intend to make Young Master Young-ho the Young Patriarch. Because Young Master Dang-un is from the First Madam. But Young Master Dang-un suffers from a pulse deficiency... That's how it happened, I guess."
"Ah."
"I think Madam Je-gal is weak, so Young Master Dang-un is like that too. It's a very famous story that she couldn't have children for more than three years after the marriage, so Madam Im was brought in. And Madam Im even gave birth to a son first, didn't she?"
"Yes."
"Madam Jo, who came in much later, also has two sons and a daughter, but Madam Je-gal only has Young Master Dang-un, so she must be suffering a lot."
It was quite a pitiful story.
This family has a lot of stories too. So how many siblings do I have? Four sons and one daughter?
Before I could ask, Songji grumbled first.
"Still, Young Masters Hwa-yeop and Ju-yeop are worth serving, aren't they? Young Master Se-ho is a complete idiot. He just says things like, 'My brother is the Young Patriarch, what are you guys going to do?' and he flips the table all the time. Madam Im is quick with calculations, so she's known as a calculator. I don't know how she only gave birth to such a son. And Young Miss Ju-hee is..."
There's more? How many children are there?
I counted on my fingers to figure out the number of my half-siblings.
To summarize, Dang-un was the only child of the First Madam, Je-gal, and the rest were children born to Madam Im and Madam Jo.
The eldest son, Dang Young-ho, and the youngest son, Dang Se-ho, were Madam Im's children, and the third and fourth sons, Dang Hwa-yeop and Dang Ju-yeop, seemed to be Madam Jo's children.
The Third Young Master that Dang Bu-kyung was teaching in the training hall must have been Dang Hwa-yeop. Then is Dang Bu-kyung the Black Cloud Unit Commander?
There were too many people to memorize, and my temples throbbed.
Madam Im and Madam Jo must each have a daughter, and I guess Ju-hee and Cho-hee, whom Dang-un mentioned sometime ago.
"Hong-i was kicked out the other day, and that's actually... Hey, So-hye, are you listening to me?"
"Of course. The Young Miss was too much."
"Right? No matter what, she's been her personal Maid for her whole life..."
Songji's chatter, once opened, showed no signs of stopping. I listened to Songji's words with one ear and let them flow out with the other, and put a seolbyeong in my mouth.
The teacup, which had been steaming hot, was now cold.
Five sons and two daughters.
Excluding Dang-un, who is friendly to me, there are six. What should I do to survive the bloody succession battle of six siblings?
I tapped the teacup. What I can do right now is...
"...so that's what happened. This tea is really good. By the way, aren't you going to study today?"
"I have to."
It's time to learn the Thousand Character Classic.
I gulped down the tea in one breath and rummaged through my things to take out the inkstone. As I ground the ink with soulless eyes, Songji smiled and spread out the paper in front of me.
"Why are you studying so hard when you hate it so much? Just do it for half an hour and go to sleep. I'm going to sleep first."
"The Elder told me to. Go to sleep quickly."
"Okay. I'll clean this up."
"Thank you, Unni."
Songji, who cleaned up the tea set, fell asleep as soon as she lay down on the bed, as if she was tired. I listened to Songji's soft breathing and grabbed the brush.
No matter what happens, I'm going to finish the Thousand Character Classic this month!
Burning with determination, I began to trace the Thousand Character Classic. Under the flickering lamplight, crooked letters were written down.
* * *
The next day and the day after that, Dang Jung was away.
I thought that if you were a Grand Elder, you could do whatever you wanted, but seeing Dang Jung, it seemed that wasn't the case.
'The Grand Patriarch of the Peng Clan is coming? Is that guy still alive? Seriously, how much are you going to use this old man?'
Even though he was annoyed, he seemed to be faithful to his given role, as he went to greet the guests every time.
Well. An adult must act like an adult to be treated like one. In that sense, Dang Jung was a great adult.
I stretched and slowly entered Dang Jung's residence. Since he would be alone anyway, I was planning to skip cleaning today and just study.
But an uninvited guest was sitting in the reception room.
"So-hye, you're here?"
The person who greeted me with a soft voice was Dang-un.
