On his way out, Geon Pyeong ran into the Chief Steward, Jun-pyo, who was walking toward the room.
“Chief Steward.”
“I greet the first young master.”
“Yes, yes. Your son is growing well?”
“Hahaha, of course.”
“Let us see each other again soon. My brother is so prickly that I ought to stand you a consoling cup of wine now and then.”
“I can only be forever grateful for the Young Master's goodwill.”
Geon Pyeong gave a meaningful laugh, clapped Jun-pyo on the shoulder and left.
Only then did Jun-pyo wipe the cold sweat running down his forehead before entering Geon A-seong's room.
Wherever he went, the thin ice underfoot was the same.
***
I stared fixedly at Jun-pyo, seated before me.
Jun-pyo was a man keen to his own interests.
A bat, you might say, fully prepared to leap across to whichever side the pendulum of power swung to the moment the time came.
In other words, the face of a man who would probe and watch without pause and do his assigned work well until his moment arrived.
“You gathered up what was left of the funds, apart from what was used last time?”
“Yes, of course. Thinking you would put it to use somewhere, I kept it in promissory notes so it could be used at any time.”
“Good. Bring it. I intend to blow it all this time around. I have to show them properly what the second son of the Golden Manor is.”
“Understood.”
It was about half the sum that could buy a thousand pyeong of land on Chengdu's outskirts.
However much money overflowed in a house like the Golden Manor, it was a large body of funds to fling away in a spree.
Even so, Jun-pyo neither offered an opinion nor voiced a worry.
He merely listened quietly to my words and slipped out of the room.
This news would surely reach Geon Pyeong's ears and split his mouth to his ears.
To the casual ear it would sound as though I meant to scatter this money for the Sichuan Dragon and Phoenix Society.
But that money had another use.
***
The Sichuan Dragon and Phoenix Society was an occasion where each year invited prodigies gathered and, if their interests matched, created new deals and opportunities.
But water rots once it pools.
With the years, the people attending the Sichuan Dragon and Phoenix Society were mostly the sons and daughters of factions long settled in Sichuan soil, and it had become an occasion for trumpeting their own authority.
Naturally, Seol Ha worried about me too.
“Why did you accept that proposal? Anyone can see the first young master did not invite you with good intentions. And there is the earlier conflict as well.”
“It's entertaining. If I'd lived on as Geon Gon I'd never have been invited to that gathering in my life. It's rather interesting, too. Above all, I'm not the type to refuse a challenge that comes charging at me.”
“I think I can no longer guess at all what you are thinking, Young Master.”
“But it's gripping instead, isn't it?”
“That is true.”
Watching Seol Ha laugh low in her throat, I found myself staring at her without meaning to.
Seol Ha, unaware of my gaze, looked out of the carriage window.
She was not even in splendid ceremonial dress.
With her hair combed neatly up and nothing but her martial arts uniform, she was hard to look away from.
Within that bewitching, cold beauty, I was briefly caught by a tender smile meant for me alone.
So this is why everyone goes on and on about regression.
Just as I had been lost for a while in Seol Ha, mingled with the moonlight filtering faintly in through the carriage window.
The carriage stopped.
“Let's go.”
Seol Ha's slender jade hand took the hand I held out.
I was certain of it anew.
That one of the reasons I had come back was, without question, to watch over her radiant future.
***
The Star Cloud Pavilion.
A villa of the great Sichuan Tang Clan, raised near a lake south of Chengdu, Sichuan Province.
Built out over the water, this villa stood like a small village, several red houses all spilling out splendid light.
Beneath the elegant grey bridges connecting house to house, small pleasure boats came and went.
The front of the great ornate gate raised at the entrance was crowded with carriages that had arrived ahead of us.
“Everyone seems to be looking only at you, Young Master.”
“So it seems. Is there something on my face?”
“I think your human-skin mask must have peeled off.”
Watching Seol Ha venture even a private joke, I was glad; the recent changes seemed to be waking the character the original Seol Ha had.
Of course, Seol Ha was mistaken that the pouring gazes were because of me.
Most of them were directed not at me but at Seol Ha.
It was understandable.
Even in plain martial arts uniform, the splendid women gathered here could not come near Seol Ha's toes.
Hers was a beauty it would be no exaggeration to call enough to topple a kingdom.
It was then.
Just as we passed the carriages and the gate.
Geon Pyeong appeared, dressed in finery that outdid a peacock, a woman tucked at his side.
“Have you lost your mind? Daring to keep your brother waiting?”
I ignored Geon Pyeong's needling and spoke instead to the sharp-eyed woman openly observing me.
She was a beauty of sorts, but with a cast to her that gave off an unpleasant wrongness.
“I am Geon A-seong of the Golden Manor.”
The woman answered with a short laugh.
“Ah, the one with no martial talent, no merchant talent, and a taste for nothing but gambling and women? I have heard much about you from your brother. I am Ju Yeo-ran. This is the first proper exchange of names.”
Through all of it Geon Pyeong could not easily pull his eyes from Seol Ha and kept stealing glances.
Then, catching Ju Yeo-ran's voice, he seemed to grab hold of himself and needlessly straightened his robes.
Ju Yeo-ran, now….
Where had I heard that.
I pondered a moment and then it came to me.
This woman had originally been the object of a marriage match Geon A-seong coveted.
She was the second daughter of a martial house called the Juseong Clan, which had built up influence in various quarters on the strength of deep ties with the Sichuan Tang Clan's direct bloodline, taking care of the tiresome, filthy work the Sichuan Tang Clan did not want to do.
In this period Geon A-seong must have fallen hard for Ju Yeo-ran, whom he had glimpsed once by chance.
He had once gone at Geon Pyeong over this and been beaten all day long for it.
Ah, and in the end Geon Pyeong and she do marry.
Though they do meet a ruin in which they gnaw each other away.
“Look at that face. What, have you got a complaint? Greet the woman who will be your sister-in-law properly and formally. Unless you want to be driven into the ground.”
Apparently this was Geon Pyeong's first surprise gift.
He had openly taken away the object of the match Geon A-seong had been after.
The usual Geon A-seong would have been on the verge of snapping at Ju Yeo-ran's mockery a moment ago and at this situation.
And Ju Yeo-ran, having heard all of this from Geon Pyeong, was teasing Geon A-seong while feigning ignorance.
That I was Geon Gon must have been a miscalculation from where they stood.
“How could I. The two of you suit each other well. Miss Ju is somewhat wasted on the match, but you do suit each other.”
Having achieved the Second Progression.
Now that I had decided to move in earnest, I had no intention of petty play-acting any longer.
My calm response instead made Geon Pyeong's eyebrow twitch.
He looked as though something had gone wrong.
“What are you doing? Not going to show a first-time guest the way? Have you got a complaint?”
“This bastard really….”
As Geon Pyeong's face reddened like something about to burst, Ju Yeo-ran broke into peals of laughter.
“Unlike the rumors, you are a man of solid composure. I am impressed.”
“Thank you for the praise.”
The more Ju Yeo-ran showed goodwill, the more Geon Pyeong's expression turned the color of dirt, which made for a rather fine spectacle.
“You seem to have no paired companion? I could serve as one in her place.”
Ju Yeo-ran suddenly linked her arm through mine.
“Miss Ju, Miss Ju came here with me!!”
“Will you show no consideration at all to a younger brother invited to the Sichuan Dragon and Phoenix Society for the first time?”
“That is….”
With Geon Pyeong's mouth stopped up, I lightly pushed Ju Yeo-ran's hand away.
“There seems to be some misunderstanding. I came with a paired companion already.”
“What? Who….”
Feigning ignorance, is it.
A beauty impossible to miss.
“My escort and, at the same time, my paired companion.”
Seol Ha was drawn along by my hand, her eyes gone round.
“Now then, shall we move to the banquet hall?”
The look on Ju Yeo-ran's cold-smiling face became quite worth seeing.
Enough noise, just show us the way.
Ju Yeo-ran snorted and took the lead, and Geon Pyeong looked back and forth between me and her before scrambling after her with an odd expression.
“Young Master, I am an escort!”
“Not from now on. Besides, most of them seem to have come without escorts anyway.”
Seol Ha's cheeks reddened for an instant.
Now then, would that man be in this place at this time.
The possibility was not nil.
***
The banquet hall was already noisy.
Prodigies who knew one another had gathered among their own circles, tipping their cups and talking in threes and fives, and Geon Pyeong and Ju Yeo-ran too made for the figures around whom crowds had gathered, like birds competing over feed.
I found a suitable spot and sat down with Seol Ha.
“Is it all right for me to be here?”
Perhaps bothered by such an occasion, Seol Ha kept glancing left and right and shifting in her seat.
“Where in this place is there a human being better than you? Myself included, of course.”
“…….”
“If it bothers you that much, do me one favor in this crowd.”
“What is it?”
Seol Ha's eyes gleamed.
“Move diligently through the crowd and look for the person whose dress suits this place the least. Excluding the maidservants, the servants, the dancers and the musicians working here.”
“……That is cruel.”
“Hm?”
“You are speaking about me in a roundabout way just now, aren't you? When you were the one who told me to come in.”
“…….”
I was briefly at a loss, but then let out a dry laugh.
It was open to misunderstanding.
“Look for them excluding Noona too.”
Only then did Seol Ha wear an odd expression.
“Young Master, you came to this place from the start in order to find the person you are looking for now, didn't you?”
“Why else would I come on purpose to a banquet hall this dazzling and this unbearably uncomfortable? Let's get our business done quickly and go to the regular inn we always visit. Their meat noodles are substantial.”
“Gladly.”
The moment Seol Ha took my order and left her seat, it was not long before Geon Pyeong and Ju Yeo-ran came walking my way with several people in tow.
It looked as though the real pestering was about to begin.
The provocation and mockery through Ju Yeo-ran had failed, so he had evidently racked his brains hard for another method.
With a head like that he ought to have placed first in the examinations.
Before the regression, Geon Pyeong's life story, challenging the provincial examination five times to become the pride of the house and failing, was famous past the point where anyone in the Golden Manor did not know it.
Considering my age now, this would be his second failure.
Geon Pyeong's obsession was understandable as well.
Nor was he the only one.
Among martial artists who threw their weight about, the civil examination, which demanded learning, was treated as more special than the military one, and passing it allowed a man to be dressed up splendidly as a gentleman versed in scholarship.
On top of that, he came of merchant stock with middling strength, middling authority and a middling head, so one can imagine the depth of Geon Pyeong's inferiority.
“This is my younger brother, Geon A-seong.”
After Geon Pyeong introduced me with an air of gentility, Ju Yeo-ran let out a hoho of laughter.
“Being his first time at the Sichuan Dragon and Phoenix Society, he must be terribly nervous. Do be at ease. These are people who will embrace Young Master Geon warmly.”
“Ahaha. Indeed, indeed. If he is Brother Geon's younger brother, I ought to treat him well. A pleasure. I am Yeon Gyu-baek, Young Master of the Flowing Jade Sword Clan.”
Along with Yeon Gyu-baek, who had a mild face and a sturdy build, the man beside him with the heavy-featured face also looked me up and down and laughed as though in derision.
“I am Jeong Hong-seon, eldest son of the Righteous Sword Sect.”
A woman with her hair braided up in two parts added her piece after them, her face full of mischief.
“Mine is a secret. Hohoho.”
Geon Pyeong was delighted.
“A secret, good. Will he be able to guess? Ohahaha.”
While they laughed and chattered among themselves, I answered evenly.
“I am Geon A-seong. This is our first formal meeting.”
Perhaps expecting me to open my mouth again after that, the five of them stared at me.
A silence went on for a while.
Well, what of it? I greeted them; that is enough.
“I introduce you to honored guests and you behave with such rudeness? Must I rebuke you loudly here before you come to your senses?”
When Geon Pyeong made a show of rolling up his sleeves and stepping forward, Yeon Gyu-baek restrained him and spoke.
“Enough. Enough. Why rebuke your brother so over a thing like this?”
“My apologies, brother. This fellow is short on maturity.”
Yeon Gyu-baek waved it off, then looked at me, all smiles.
“I hear the younger brother is rather fond of women, so a stuffy, formal occasion like this must be a little uncomfortable? It would be more fun stripped bare and lewd. Haha, a joke, a joke.”
“…….”
Not a joke but a slip of the tongue, surely.
Not worth a reply, so I kept silent.
Seeing me give no reaction, Yeon Gyu-baek came one step closer.
“Let us drink together. He is the younger brother of my sworn brother Geon Pyeong, so however lacking he looks I ought to take good care of him. Besides….”
Yeon Gyu-baek whispered low to me.
“I hear your brother took the woman you pined for as well. How that must sting. And even the pretty escort you brought seems to have abandoned her master and left her seat. There's no telling when she'll be back.”
I quietly watched Yeon Gyu-baek's oddly excited face.
Look at these people. How entertaining.
Now I knew exactly what Geon Pyeong's second scheme against me had been.