****
Two nyang of silver.
In copper coins, it was two thousand nyang.
Now, Cheong-hwa threatening me with a hundred copper coins looked like a cute gesture.
At that moment, Cheong-hwa approached while clearing his throat.
"Ahem, Hwi-young-a."
"Yes."
"I will hold onto those two nyang of silver for you."
I narrowed my eyes.
Cheong-hwa knew it as well.
The fact that he could no longer bind me with the hundred nyang he was holding.
However, the situation was different then and now.
Exchanging the bank note for money was something I received Cheong-hwa's help with, but this was money I had obtained entirely with my own strength.
"What kind of utter bullshit is that?"
"Ahem. There's nothing you won't say to your master."
"I believe I'm not your disciple yet."
Cheong-hwa didn't seem to have much to say.
To be fair, he must be embarrassed himself.
Wasn't it an act with such obvious intentions?
Still, fortunately, Cheong-hwa didn't cling on any further.
"By the way, your acting was quite superb."
"Pardon?"
"The sight of someone rolling in mid-air by themselves and crashing into the ground was something I've seen for the first time in my life."
"Ahem."
This time, I cleared my throat.
"Since when were you watching?"
"I was watching from the time Myeong-seong was fighting with Myeong-han."
"You were watching from the very beginning. Then you should have stopped them."
"So did I not make my presence known?"
To be exact, he must have been watching me dodge and then made his presence known.
"A martial artist cannot grasp victory by just dodging. As you must have felt this time."
"I tried to attack, but it didn't work."
"You say it so proudly. That's what's embarrassing. To not be able to land a single blow on a kid much younger than you."
"I'm not that embarrassed, though?"
It was natural since I hadn't learned martial arts.
So I thought.
Cheong-hwa's expression turned displeased.
It seemed he wanted to stimulate some sort of fighting spirit in me through the fight with Myeong-han.
However, that was a thought that only martial artists would have.
In my opinion, it was natural not to be able to win if you hadn't learned.
"Anyway, don't even think about sleeping from today on. Because you will have to train harder than anyone else."
"What are you talking about. A person's efficiency drops if they don't sleep."
"Your way of thinking is still too non-martial artist-like."
"Where is there a term like non-martial artist? It's the martial artists who are non-ordinary people."
Anyway, martial artists thought they were the center of the world.
That was a very unpleasant part.
"Even if I am not your master, I am your elder. I will have to teach you the etiquette for that as well."
"I am a person with plenty of manners."
"There is an etiquette unique to martial artists that non-martial artists do not know."
"I see. So there is an etiquette of non-ordinary people that ordinary people do not know."
"Yes. Relax your body. You'll get hurt."
"Pardon?"
At the same time, Cheong-hwa's fist appeared large before my eyes.
It was bound to be, since it was right in front of me.
In an instant, lightning flashed in my eyes.
A tremendous pain rang through my nose.
At the same time, a beating so immense that I couldn't even scream began.
It was a familiar sensation.
Because the places he hit were the same as Cheong-su's.
Acupoint-probing and blood-channeling.
Certainly, even though I was being hit like this, no blood flowed at all.
However, the pain seemed to be twice as great as Cheong-su's.
Only then did I realize that Cheong-su had been controlling his strength when he hit me.
I only knew it was spring after the flowers had fallen.
'You crazy bastard!'
I screamed inwardly.
It hurt so much that I couldn't even make a sound out loud.
It was nearly four hundred blows.
I was beaten without a break for a quarter of an hour.
Thud. After the beating ended, I collapsed from the pain and twitched like a bug on the verge of death.
Cheong-hwa's education began from that moment.
<><><>
On the first day I was subjected to acupoint-probing and blood-channeling by Cheong-hwa, I bought a sturdy body, but I didn't see much effect.
—Huh? Why did he suddenly get so sturdy? I can go harder.
Cheong-hwa hit me even harder while spouting such crazy words.
Unlike Cheong-su who beat me while controlling his expression, Cheong-hwa beat me with a benevolent smile.
The aftereffects of Cheong-su's acupoint-probing and blood-channeling would disappear in half a shichen, but the aftereffects of Cheong-hwa's acupoint-probing and blood-channeling wouldn't disappear even after half a day.
My daily routine was divided into two.
Time to learn martial arts while being beaten by Cheong-hwa, and time to run around Gokjeongak doing messenger work.
As I learned martial arts together with the kids of the 'Myeong' generation, I came to know for certain.
My basic physical stamina was significantly lacking compared to them.
Just as I felt the difference in external work in the fight with Myeong-han, this meant that even if I could run around all day and go up and down cliffs, I was still at the level of an ordinary person.
"Saje. Are you okay?"
The door opened and only Myeong-gyeong's head peeked out.
Strictly speaking, I wasn't a Saje yet since I wasn't an official main mountain disciple, but Myeong-gyeong called me Saje.
Or maybe he just needed a Saje.
"Yes. I'm alright."
"If it hurts too much, you know. Try making some screaming sounds. Then he sometimes goes easy on you."
"That didn't happen to me, though."
"……Really?"
I got up while groaning.
"Are you going to Gokjeongak again?"
"Yes."
I actually preferred going to Gokjeongak.
Because the time with Cheong-hwa was truly hell.
"Go well."
Myeong-gyeong's head popped back in.
It seemed he was trying to take care of me because he got a direct Saje, but it was clumsy beyond comparison.
I dragged my unmoving legs and went to Gokjeongak.
By now, coming and going between Gungdogak and Gokjeongak was a path so comfortable that I could walk it with my eyes closed.
"You're here. There are no messages today."
"Pardon?"
Cheong-su disappointed me as soon as I arrived.
Because if there was nothing to do at Gokjeongak, I would have to go back to Gungdogak again.
I immediately grabbed Cheong-su's trouser leg.
"Pavilion Master. Please give me something to do."
"Get lost. You damn bastard."
"I can't go like this. Just kill me."
Cheong-su tried to shake his leg to get me off, but I was not to be trifled with either.
I had recently bought a sturdy body, so my body had gotten a bit stronger.
"This bastard, why won't he let go?"
"Please. I can do anything you ask."
"There is nothing for the likes of you to do."
In the midst of the struggle, the Pavilion Master's office opened.
The person from Gokjeongak was momentarily at a loss for words seeing me dangling from Cheong-su's leg, but he soon regained his composure.
"A market is opening in Yichang this time, and the Shanxi Prefecture has requested that we send some escorts."
"Is that so? How big is the scale?"
"They say about fifty types of businesses will be set up."
Martial arts sects were called upon like this whenever military force was needed in various parts of the Central Plains.
A market with fifty businesses would be quite large in scale.
It was understandable that they would make a request to Mount Wudang.
And since the Shanxi merchants of the Shanxi Prefecture were well-known for being rich, they had no qualms about using one of the Nine Great Sects and One Union.
"Sending about ten people should be enough. How much is the pay?"
"They say it's ten nyang of silver per head."
"Phew, they have a lot of money. Those bastards."
I was thinking the exact opposite of them.
'They're so damn stingy. With how much they have.'
To be fair, martial artists probably wouldn't know exactly how much money the Shanxi merchants had even if they said they were rich.
And even if they actually knew, it was highly likely that it was a reduced amount of their assets.
Because they were all hiding it to avoid being caught by the Double Tax Law, which collected taxes according to one's assets.
"We can buy this year's salt there then."
"Ah, yes. I understand."
Since Central Plains sects also needed money, they did business.
It seemed the Wudang Sect was also doing business by buying salt and then reselling it for a profit.
To be fair, there was no product with as large a profit as salt.
"How much is salt these days?"
"It's about thirty seok for ten nyang of silver. But they say they'll give us a discount this time if we buy over five hundred seok."
"Oh. Is that really……."
"Bullshit!"
Without realizing it, I cut off Cheong-su's words and a curse popped out.
Cheong-su and the person from Gokjeongak stared at me blankly.
And that blank gaze soon changed to anger.
"What's with the sudden cursing?"
"Ah, I apologize."
However, an apology was an apology, and I had a sufficient reason to have an outburst.
It was because of the price of salt.
"Thirty seok for ten nyang of silver. It's not like it was decades ago. Does that make sense? Then does that mean it will be less than twenty seok for ten nyang of silver when it gets to the common people?"
"Decades ago, you say. A guy who wasn't even born then."
I blinked my eyes.
My brain came to a slight halt.
Come to think of it, I had regressed.
In that case, it meant that the current prices were not the prices I knew from experience.
I was momentarily confused about something so obvious.
"Thirty seok for ten nyang of silver?"
"Yes."
I did the math.
The price of salt I knew was about sixty seok for ten nyang of silver.
It had literally become half the price.
What had happened in the meantime?
The law managing salt had changed.
Originally, the salt license could only be obtained in the northern border regions.
Since it was difficult to supply military goods to the border, they had given special privileges to the merchants who transported goods to the north.
That was the Open Transit Law.
But the Open Transit Law was changed to the Conversion System midway.
It was made so that merchants didn't have to go to the north with military goods to exchange them for a salt license, but could exchange them at the Salt Transportation Office in the inland.
That change resulted in salt, which was originally distributed cheaply only in the North China region, being released cheaply in places south of North China as well.
Looking at the price, it seemed the Conversion System hadn't been implemented yet.
When was the Conversion System implemented again?
I didn't know for sure, but it was around the time I was of crowning age.
It meant that the price of salt south of North China would soon plummet.
"Absolutely not."
The calculation was done.
I opposed it unconditionally for now.
As a merchant, I could not overlook this.
It was not the way of a merchant to remain silent when a loss was clearly in sight.
Right now, the Wudang Sect was making a profit by buying salt and then reselling it.
But if the price of salt plummeted, the Wudang Sect would have to bear that loss entirely.
"What is absolutely not?"
"I mean buying salt. It's better to buy it later."
"What do you know to be saying such a thing?"
Cheong-su said as if it were absurd.
"I have never heard of the Shanxi merchants cutting their prices. What an opportunity this is."
I had never heard of that either.
Ah, then perhaps.
My head started spinning again.
Among the Shanxi merchants, there would be many magnates who financially supported Confucian scholars and officials.
Since they were also close to Beijing, they must have heard from somewhere that the policy was changing.
"Don't you think they're cutting the price because there's a reason to?"
"That is an excessive speculation."
"No merchant is not cunning, they only pursue profit. When they say they will cut the price, there must be an inside story."
It was a bit much for me to insult my own profession, but that was the perception of the time.
As I spoke to that extent, Cheong-su's expression also wavered slightly.
To be fair, since it was the first time merchants were offering to cut their prices, it seemed he also had his doubts.
"Can you take responsibility for your words?"
"Of course!"
I said proudly.
In any case, once the results came out, they would see me in a new light.
I wonder if I would be called Light Hwi-young.
Since Hwi-young meant bright light, I should tell them to call me Light Light Light.
If I bestowed a favor upon the Wudang Sect, it would be a huge help later when I did business.
To do that, I would have to quit being a main mountain disciple first, but…….
"Then prove your words in front of the Sect Leader."
"Pardon?"
"Did you not say you could take responsibility for your words? The salt business takes up a pretty large portion within the Wudang Sect. To change that plan, the Sect Leader's permission is needed."
"……No."
I didn't know that.
Whether that was the case or not, Cheong-su had already confirmed my meeting with the Sect Leader.
……I'm screwed.