Chapter 63
Chapter 63
When they arrived in Chengdu, a dispute broke out.
When Baekji tried to enter the city, Go Hyeonggi blocked him.
"The Tang family is just around the corner. I will escort you to the Tang family."
"No, I'm going into the city. Good doctors live in the city."
Baekji insisted on entering the city.
The Tang family was located on the outskirts of Chengdu, outside the city walls.
"The most skilled doctor in Chengdu is at the Tang family."
"There's no need for such a person to go to the trouble. It's just a minor internal injury. An ordinary doctor will suffice."
He couldn't win with words.
"This is Chengdu."
"So."
"In the Tang family's own backyard... are you picking a fight? Who on earth are you? At least reveal your identity."
Go Hyeonggi couldn't understand.
Nangong Zhao, the chief investigator of the Martial Alliance, was standing back, and a young brat was ordering him around.
His identity was suspicious, but he wouldn't reveal it at all.
"I'm not one to exchange names with stray dogs of the martial world."
Go Hyeonggi, who had suddenly become a stray dog of the martial world, couldn't handle his rising anger and spread his keen energy throughout his body.
A cold, chilly air flew about.
Thump, thump!
Baekji's bamboo staff lightly tapped Go Hyeonggi's head.
"It's cold enough already, why are you flying cold air?"
Everyone's mouths fell open at Baekji's unexpected atrocity.
Even Tang Yunqing's eyes widened.
To mock the head of the law enforcement hall in Chengdu, which was no different from the Tang family's own backyard.
The passing people, wondering what was going on, saw that they were Tang family members and disappeared in an instant.
There is a saying that a sword has no eyes.
The people of Chengdu say that poison and hidden weapons have no eyes and no feet.
They didn't know how far it would fly, so they avoided it on their own.
Go Hyeonggi's mouth fell open in disbelief, and then he struck like lightning.
Even if the opponent had a high status, it was a natural action for a martial artist who had received an unbearable insult.
He struck Baekji's philtrum with his right fist and then his ribs with his left palm.
Aiming for the philtrum was a feint, and breaking the ribs was the real move.
The result was.
Thwack!
This time, the bamboo staff properly exploded on his head.
'I knew it.'
Nangong Zhao was gloomy about the future events.
He regretted having listened to Baekji.
Even if he was self-willed, to smash the head of the Tang family's law enforcement hall in Chengdu.
The Tang family would not stand still.
"Keuk!"
Go Hyeonggi, who had been hit on the head, made a strange sound, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed.
"Lord!"
A law enforcement warrior supported Go Hyeonggi, and the rest of the warriors drew their swords in unison and aimed them at Baekji.
Thump, thump, thump!
Baekji's bamboo staff swept through the warriors.
"Keuk!"
"Heok!"
With short groans, the warriors all dropped their swords in unison.
They didn't even know what technique Baekji had used. The elbows of their sword-wielding hands tingled, and their strength drained away.
'He's a master!'
The Tang family's warriors realized that Baekji was a master they could not handle.
The only warriors still holding their swords were the two with the character '익' (Wing) embroidered on them.
The two were standing about a zhang behind and had not been hit by the bamboo staff.
Baekji grinned.
"Lord Go will need a doctor too. Hurry and carry him and follow me."
Baekji pointed his bamboo staff at the two who were trying to sneak away.
"If you take one more step in that direction, you will cross the Yellow Springs."
The two stopped their feet as if by agreement.
Baekji said to Tang Yunqing, "Young Master Yi. Let's go to the best inn in Chengdu."
"..."
"I'll pay."
Baekji tapped the money pouch at his side.
A moment later, the group entered the Yonghua Inn on the busiest crossroads in Chengdu.
Baekji rented the entire luxurious annex.
He spent money like water.
Although Tang Yunqing, as the second son of the Tang family head, had lived without want, his spending was on a different level.
Baekji gave Tang siblings and Nangong Zhao separate rooms.
A law enforcement warrior asked, "Where is the Lord's room..."
"Lay him in a corner of the living room."
"He is a patient."
"Do you want to be a patient too?"
The law enforcement warriors laid Go Hyeonggi in a corner of the living room.
"Everyone, come out."
The Tang family's warriors lined up in the courtyard.
"You will guard the courtyard."
Baekji suddenly extended his bamboo staff towards the warriors.
Thwack, thwack, thwack!
They all stood frozen.
It really looked like they were guarding the courtyard.
"Umm. Their impressions are really something."
The horrified warriors' eyes were wide open, and they looked fierce.
Baekji swept down their eyelids one by one to close them.
It was still strange.
They stood in a single line in the courtyard, not moving at all, like zombies.
Baekji thought for a moment and then lifted the warrior in front and sat him in a crouching position behind a bush under the wall.
It was the posture for relieving oneself.
"I'm doing all sorts of things. This is why you need well-behaved subordinates."
Baekji grumbled and hid the Tang family's warriors in various places in the annex, behind bushes and rocks, and under trees.
To an intruder, it looked as if they were ambushed to guard the annex.
"I'll release your acupoints later, so guard well until then."
The warriors, who were unable to move because their acupoints had been hit, thought that Baekji was a crazy brat.
To tell them to guard the annex when they couldn't even move.
He was completely crazy.
As Baekji was entering the annex, Tang Yunqing was coming out.
"My sister is not waking up. I need to call a doctor."
When Tang Yunqing tried to go out, Baekji stopped him.
"Have the waiter do that."
"How can a mere waiter bring a skilled doctor..."
Baekji took out a silver ingot.
"With this, the waiter can even summon a ghost."
The waiter who had received the silver ingot disappeared like a ghost.
Baekji put his hand on Tang Yunqing's shoulder and said, "You and your sister, stay cooped up in your rooms. The Tang family brats... umm. Young Master Yi, you are also a Tang..."
Perhaps thinking it was not right to curse the Tang family in front of a Tang, Baekji changed the subject.
"Chengdu is the Tang family's backyard, right? Wouldn't it be troublesome if you met someone you know?"
"..."
"Let's sleep well today. I'm really craving a comfortable bed."
"..."
"I'll order something delicious."
"..."
"Alright? You'll be in your room?"
Tang Yunqing thought he knew why Nangong Zhao was cooped up in his room and not looking out.
'He's a very strange older brother. His martial arts are outstanding, but his head is a bit...'
Baekji went out to the market and then came back.
He was holding three bundles of clothes in his hands.
As he was entering the annex, Tang Yunqing stood there and glared at him.
"I told you to stay in your room."
"The doctor came and went."
"Yes. What did he say?"
"He said her acupoints were hit."
"So?"
"What do you mean, 'so'? You hit them, didn't you?"
Tang Yunqing's hand went to his poison pouch.
"Wait!"
"What?"
"Did the doctor release her acupoints?"
"No."
"Then what do you believe in to try to use poison on me? If I don't release them, she'll have to sleep like that for the rest of her life."
"Release them at once!"
"I will. We have to eat dinner. Let's eat together."
"..."
"Umm. Speaking of eating together, I remember a cook who pursued the way of cooking for all people. I wonder if there is a cook at the Yonghua Inn who knows the way of cooking. It would be nice if there were..."
Baekji muttered and handed over two bundles of clothes.
Tang Yunqing received them with a suspicious eye.
"What is this?"
"Clothes. Look at your state."
While escaping Chengdu, the siblings had engaged in a close battle with the chasing Tang family warriors, and their clothes had been torn here and there.
"It's cold, so you'll catch a cold if you go around like that."
Tang Yunqing held the bundles of clothes and looked at Baekji. He couldn't make heads or tails of him.
"I bought them while buying my own clothes. I paid quite a bit, so you can be grateful."
"Hurry and release my sister's acupoints!"
"Alright. Let's go."
Nangong Zhao was in Tang Yunseol's room.
"What are you doing in that room?"
When Baekji stood at the door and looked at him with a strange eye, Nangong Zhao cleared his throat and came out.
"She was unconscious, so I was guarding her in case an enemy came."
"You didn't touch her or anything?"
"Wh-what are you talking about!"
Nangong Zhao raised his voice.
"Umm. As expected, the chief investigator has the disposition of a hero. To endure even when you want to touch. You did well."
Nangong Zhao didn't want to deal with him anymore, so he turned sharply and went to his room.
Baekji flicked his finger at the door.
"Umm."
Tang Yunseol groaned as if she were waking up.
"Sister!"
Tang Yunqing quickly approached.
"Wash up and come out for dinner."
* * *
The dining hall of the Songhua Hall.
Everyone sat around.
The sound of Zhong Jia cooking came from the kitchen.
Everyone swallowed their saliva, imagining the dishes they would taste today.
At some point, Tie Yantai and Menghua also came and ate together.
The two sat in the seats of Senior Oh and Jang Sam, who had gone to Shaanxi for work.
A moment later, Zhong Jia and the Seven Plums came out with dishes in a line.
The fragrant smell of food spread through the dining hall.
Gulp.
Tie Yantai, who had unknowingly swallowed his saliva, was embarrassed and closed his eyes.
"Let's eat."
Yang Soryeong looked at Baekji's empty seat for a moment and then picked up her chopsticks, and everyone picked up their spoons and chopsticks and began to eat.
'Is he eating?'
* * *
When Tang Yunseol came out to the living room of the annex, Tang Yunqing's eyes became as big as plates.
"Sister! You're beautiful!"
Neither Tang Yunseol nor Yunqing had any injuries to speak of.
Since the Tang family's warriors could not use lethal force on the direct descendants of the family head, only their clothes had been torn.
Tang Yunseol's internal injuries were self-inflicted from overexerting her internal energy.
After her acupoints had been hit and she had slept soundly, and after washing up and putting on new clothes, her beauty came to life.
Tang Yunseol was perplexed.
A palace dress.
She had only seen the palace dresses worn in the palace on a theater stage, and it was the first time in her life she had worn one.
As Baekji had said, it was a very luxurious dress.
Among the martial families, the Tang family was frugal and dressed simply. Since they handled poison and hidden weapons, they wore simple attire.
It was the first time the Tang siblings, Yunseol and Yunqing, had worn such clothes. They had seen the children of high-ranking officials wear them.
'Of all things, this kind of dress...'
Since she couldn't wear the torn clothes that showed her skin, she had no choice but to wear it.
She could see the eyes of the expressionless Nangong Zhao shaking uncontrollably.
For some reason, she didn't dislike it.
Nangong Zhao said, as if sighing, "...The moniker 'Poisonous Hibiscus' seems to have been exaggerated."
If the investigators of the military affairs department had heard this, they would have thought that Nangong Zhao had suffered from cultivation insanity.
He was Nangong Zhao, who was called the 'Iron-Faced Young Master' because of his expressionless face and his lack of a single common joke.
"Right? Brats who don't know anything... call my sister 'Poisonous Hibiscus' and what not."
"Yunqing!"
As Tang Yunseol was covering her brother's mouth, Baekji came in.
"...!"
Nangong Zhao knew for the first time that black clothes could be so luxurious.
It was a very luxurious material. The sewing skills and the elegant embroidery in every corner were of the highest quality.
Although Nangong Zhao was from the Nangong family, which was rumored to be rich, he had not thought well of spending money on clothes.
But seeing it today, he was somehow envious.
It was even more so because Baekji and Tang Yunseol looked good together.
"Ahem, ahem. As expected, expensive clothes are good to look at."
"It's nothing. It's only a hundred taels of silver."
Nangong Zhao almost spat out the water he was drinking.
Three hundred taels of silver for those paltry clothes!
How much was the monthly salary of the Martial Alliance's warriors?
'Is he crazy? What's so special about clothes?'
"Clothes should be custom-made. Buying them off the rack is somehow uncomfortable."
Baekji was disappointed.
Just then, the waiter came in.
"Shall I serve the food?"
Then, the dishes that the Yonghua Inn prided itself on came out in a line.
The spacious table in the living room was full of food.
"This is the 'Yonghua Hundred Delights'. Since a hundred dishes cannot come out at once, more will come out as you eat. Please enjoy slowly."
The hundred dishes that the Yonghua Inn prided itself on.
It was a banquet meal that the Yonghua Inn had ambitiously launched to intimidate those who had eaten all sorts of delicacies.
"..."
Nangong Zhao was at a loss for words.
Tang Yunseol and Yunqing were also dumbfounded.
The Yonghua Hundred Delights was a dish that even the rich of Chengdu would order only once every few years for a big event.
The last Yonghua Hundred Delights had been when the Chengdu branch head had treated a high-ranking official from the imperial palace two years ago.
Baekji smelled the food with a pleased expression.
"The smell is quite good."
Good clothes and delicious food.
The purposes for which Baekji had come to Chengdu were being achieved one by one.
If he ate and went to a comfortable bed, it would be perfect.
The satisfied Baekji picked up his chopsticks.
"Let's eat!"
(End of Chapter)
novelraw