Owner Jung So-myeong, the main star of the day appeared on the podium.
“I would like to express my thanks of gratitude to all of you who accepted my invitations despite it being imperfect.”
Jung So-myeong’s speech that started that way continued to get tedious.
As the main star of the event was talking, he couldn’t even leave.
“If you keep listening to my stories you will get bored, so how about we listen to the performance of the beautiful young lady?”
And then, the person who came up the stage was Namgung Hye-yeon.
She was carrying a lute on her bosom.
“Oh! Oh! We can listen to Namgung Se-ga’s precious daughter play! It’s worth coming this far!”
“They said the Namgung young lady is versatile in many ways, so today our ears are going to be honored!”
After various sounds were heard, the surrounding became quiet as Namgung Hye-yeon took a seat.
Ding!
Her long and slender fingers ran through the strings. After a brief moment, the performance continued.
“Oh! Oh! Indeed, the children of the noble families are good at whatever they do.”
“Such an ability at that age? it’s seriously amazing!”
However, Geom Woo-bin was not satisfied with the sound that reached him.
The performance of Seo Seok-san, master of the art of music, met the standards, but Namgung Hye-yeon’s performance was not satisfying. And in fact, her performance fell far short even for Geom Woo-bin of the current.
Of course, it wasn’t a bad performance to listen to normally.
The performance with a song attached to Du Fu’s poem came to an end amidst the cheers of people. Namgung Hye-yeon greeted satisfyingly and came down the stage.
He thought it was to greet the guests, but her steps got closer towards Geom Woo-bin.
“Have you been waiting a long time?”
“Huh? But, I never waited, did I?”
“Sorry?”
“I was just seated here because the guide asked me to do so. I wasn’t even aware of you coming.”
“You should’ve sensed that. Or why would the Western Transportation Company call you?”
“I was also curious about it.”
“Did you bring the liquor?”
Geom Woo-bin placed the four liquor bottles on the table.
“Hang in there.”
Namgung Hye-yeon took the liquor and headed towards Jung So-myeong.
“Uncle, I’ve prepared a gift for you.”
“Oh! What’s this? Hold on! The one with four bottles, don’t tell me it’s….”
“They say that Sagi wine is the most famous in Hangzhou, isn’t it?”
Jung So-myeong was surprised.
“Is this seriously Sagi wine?”
“Have you tried it?”
“I tasted it a little. Sagi wine is a very rare drink, so even if one has money he cannot drink it. But, where did you get the one with all four bottles?”
“It’s your birthday, so even if I have to overstrain, I have to do at least this much.”
“Hahaha! Just raising the two of my sons was no fun, but my niece is filling up my emptiness, I see! Thank you!”
Jung So-myeong was quite satisfied.
As Jung So-myeong began his talk with the guests who visited, Namgung Hye-yeon was about to go towards Geom Woo-bin.
“Namgung young lady, it’s been a while.”
The person who blocked her having a face beaming with smiles was Dong Chang-min, the deputy head of the Dongssi-doga family.
“Has it?”
She remembers seeing him a couple of times, but he was not a person she was interested in. So, she thought it was something trivial, but he approached her pretending to be close to her.
However, Dong Chang-min did not think so.
For him, Namgung Hye-yeon was a flower he was bound to get his hands on.
Although she is just eleven years old, if she grows up with her current looks, it is obvious that she will become a woman of great beauty, above all of it, she was the daughter of Namgung Se-ga.
What Dong Chang-min covet is just Namgung Hye-yeon herself, but the background was bigger.
In fact, even if the Dongssi-doga clan joins the Moorim League as a blood alliance, there is still a huge gap compared to the standards of the five noble families.
Dong Chang-min already knew that the gap was not simply due to the difference in power.
It is the power of time and tradition.
The only way to overcome it in a short period!
He was learning from his family that it was mixing blood. Above all of it, it is considered the best among the Zhejiang province in terms of power, but that is also the reason it doesn’t match with this Western Transportation Company in terms of influence.
Dong Chang-min was thinking that his marriage with Namgung Hye-yeon was the only way to get rid of that gap all at once.
If only he could have her…
‘Our Dongssi-doga will be able to capture the position next to the five noble families for real.’
Of course, his position will be able to create steady stability.
“I know you haven’t been to Hangzhou many times.”
“No, I come a lot.”
“Ah, is that so? But still, there is a saying that Hangzhou is very beautiful at the night. They say it as Sangyucheondang Hayusohang: there is heaven in the sky and Hangzhou and Suzhou on earth. Have you seen the night view-….”
“Yes. I have.”
“Ah, you have, I see.”
“Do you have anything else to say?”
Feeling of facing an iron wall.
‘Puff! I’m upset. Once I get my hands on you later, I’ll-….’
Even before Dong Chang-min was done thinking, Namgung Hye-yeon left a meaningless greeting saying, ‘Then, I’ll get going.’, and quickly left the place.
Dong Chang-min came across a familiar face at the place she stopped.
‘Geom Woo-bin? What is that lowly fellow who sells liquor doing in here?’
The Western Transportation Company wasn’t a suitable place for Geom Woo-bin.
Moreover, isn’t Namgung Hye-yeon talking with a big smile sitting in front of him?
According to Dong Chang-min’s memory, it was rare for that woman to smile so brightly in front of people.
‘Why is it Namgung Hye-yeon? Why is she close with Geom Woo-bin?’
They were two people who didn’t have even a little bit of point of contact.
Even if they met, Geom Woo-bin was not in a position to be interested in Namgung Hye-yeon. However, she was talking to Geom Woo-bin laughing loudly and heartily.
What’s so good about it?
‘Geom Woo-bin!’
An emotion that was a mixture of curiosity and anger filled his heart.
‘I won’t leave you alone!’
Geom Woo-bin, unaware that Dong Chang-min was burning up with his anger, left when the party came to a head.
“Why are you leaving already? Let’s hang out a little longer.”
Namgung Hye-yeon who did not hide her sad expression stopped him, but her dissuasion did not work.
“If I’m too late my aunt and uncles will be worried. And I have work too.”
“You’re helpless, I see. Ah! By the way, I’ll be having lunch at the world’s best boarding house tomorrow.”
“Why? There are quite a lot of famous places in the town.”
“The food there was delicious. If you want to eat together, you can come.”
“We’ll see.”
“We’ll see?”
Namgung Hye-yeon stared at Geom Woo-bin’s back as he moved away.
Many of the Moorim’s newcomers (even those who were seventeen years old) gave her all kinds of gifts to look good on her which was all just sweet talk.
Even today, Dong Chang-min approached her blatantly.
Geom Woo-bin’s inattentive attitude was strange for Namgung Hye-yeon who was familiar with such things.
‘Why do I keep showing interest in such a guy?’
Probably because of the intensity of the first memory.
The momentum the boy with no martial arts radiated was vivid enough to make her feel goosebumps in her body.
‘If he acts cold-hearted tomorrow as well, then I’ll not meet him again. But, will he come tomorrow?’
“What? Namgung Se-ga’s daughter is having eyes for the abolition?”
“Exactly. How can a young woman already have eyes for a man?”
When Geom Woo-bin said that he was going to the Western Transportation Company, Yeon Geum-hong followed him, just in case.
There were many people, but Yeon Geum-hong was able to overhear the conversation between Geom Woo-bin and Namgung Hye-yeon by mingling through the crowd like a breath.
“Hahaha! Indeed, he’s a great abolition. He’s already won the heart of a woman at the age of eight. He’s two years faster than me.”
At Seo Seok-san’s words, Yeon Geum-hong let out a sigh.
“The abolition should not become like you.”
“What’s wrong with becoming like me?”
Yeon Geum-hong immediately picked up the hair that was on the table.
“Oh no! Someone’s hair fell out again. Are there any animals in this house that sheds hair?”
“Oi! Yeon Geum-hong! You for real…!”
Seo Seok-san who clenched his fists soon controlled his anger with a sigh. It happens every time, and he surely wouldn’t be able to die if he gets angry about everything like this.
“Today I’m in charge of training the abolition.”
“Today is my turn, isn’t it?” Said Do Pyeong-su.
“Give it up. There is always time for learning, right? The abolition has to learn something from me today.”
“What are you going to teach the abolition?”
“The basis of becoming the world’s best playboy. Hehehe….”
“What we wish for Geom Woo-bin to be is not a playboy! But, the best person of all time, beyond master. Did you forget that raising the abolition that way is our goal?” Yelled Yeon Geum-hong.
“Isn’t it better to have both?”
Do Pyeong-su also agreed to Seo Seok-san.
“There’s nothing wrong in being popular.”
“Whew! I’ve been living together with these beasts for ninety years! You guys are the reason I’ve got wrinkles around my eyes!”
“That’s right. You’ve got a lot of wrinkles as if you’re hundred years old.”
Yeon Geum-hong lifted the kettle to throw at Do Pyeong-su, but she heard Geom Woo-bin’s voice.
“Priests! I’m here!”
Do Pyeong-su gladly welcomed Geom Woo-bin.
“Abolition! You’re a little late.”
“Yes. It happened to be so. I bought some fruits to give you.”
“Oh my! The apples are plump and the red ones look delicious.”
Geom Woo-bin shared the apples one by one with the priests, but all of their gazes were focused on Do Pyeong-su’s apple.
Even at a glance, Do Pyeong-su’s one was the biggest and it had a good color too.
“Abolition, aren’t you showing way too much favoritism only to Do Pyeong-su?” Grumbled Seo Seok-san.
“Sorry? Ah, turns out it’s like that. And, priest Do Pyeong-su deserves to eat big and good things.”
“Abolition, nevertheless, if you show too much favoritism to me it’s not good for the education of those young priests.”
Do Pyeong-su laughed excitedly.
He was similar to a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The three of them glanced at each other at the same time and thought.
‘I want to flatten that fellow’s nose!’
The moonlit river was flowing golden, and the silver grasses on the riverbank were dancing to the tune of the wind.
Seo Seok-san who came out with Geom Woo-bin took a seat on the meadow.
“It seems like I’ve neglected to show the essence of music because I valued the technique during that time.”
“Essence of Music?”
“Close your eyes and listen carefully.”
As Seo Seok-san said so, Geom Woo-bin closed his eyes.
“Do you hear anything?”
“Sound of the river flowing, the sound of the wind, the sound of the grazing grass….”
“Isn’t it beautiful?”
“It is. But, I like your lute sound even better.”
“Thank you, but the deeper the sound, you will realize that my lute cannot sound better than a breeze grazing the grass. Since music is after all a journey to follow the sound of nature. No matter how outstanding a court musician’s performance is, it doesn’t come close to the sound of a stream running around the rocks.”
Of course, Seo Seok-san’s music journey was different from what he told Geom Woo-bin.
-Our music is after all a journey to take off a woman’s skirt.
That was the truth, but he couldn’t tell that much to the young Geom Woo-bin.
“Now that we listened to the sound of nature, shall we play the musical instruments of nature?”
“Are there musical instruments in nature?”
“Six kinds of musical instruments can be made with just the things around you now. Stones can make a sound when they strike, and soil can create beauty with friction. However, this is the best among them.”
He was holding a handful of grass blades.
“I too have listened to the grass whistle.”
“It’s so common that anyone can sing it, but it’s rare to see a person play the right note.”
Seo Seok-san put a grass blade in his mouth and started to play.
The clear sound echoed delicately piercing through the night’s atmosphere. The grass flute was nothing but inherently sharp, but there were no sharp parts in Seo Seok-san’s performance.
It was as smooth as the night that embraces the tree, and the breeze that wraps around the boy’s shoulders.
‘Priest Seo Seok-san must be a warm-hearted person by nature.’
Geom Woo-bin wasn’t aware of the fact that Seo Seok-san’s lips swelled around hundred and twenty-two times to make this sound.
At the same time, the tenacity to roll up the skirt of the woman that came into his mind made him endure the pain of one hundred and fifty days of eating only porridge with his lips chapped.
Only after Seo Seok-san’s performance came to an end did Geom Woo-bin realize the fact that he has been holding his breath.
“It’s just a grass blade, but it’s amazing to be able to make such a sound!”
“If you put in a little effort you will be able to play it better than I did. Then, shall we learn from now on?”
It wasn’t difficult to make a sound.
However, turning it into a performance rather than a sound was a different matter.
Only when there were thirty grass blades piled up in front of Geom Woo-bin’s feet, he made a sound that could finally be heard.
Nevertheless, Seo Seok-san kept pushing him that it wasn’t enough.
When the grass blades exceeded fifty and Geom Woo-bin’s lips were about to wear out, Seo Seok-san said.
“That’s enough to listen.”
It was the first time he knew that a grass flute could hold his breath.
“Today your training was exceptionally strict.”
Other times it was too lenient.
Seo Seok-san would’ve stopped training if Geom Woo-bin showed a sign of difficulty even a bit.
-Sound is acquired by the heart, not by technique. You might realize something suddenly in a dream, so just get a good night’s sleep today.
They’re words Geom Woo-bin has heard the most, but today he pushed Geom Woo-bin until he performed properly.
“Shouldn’t you be meeting the Namgung Se-ga family’s daughter tomorrow and use her right away?”
“Oh? How do you know that I’m going to meet Namgung Hye-yeon?”
“Yikes!”
He could even turn the river upside down, but he couldn’t take back the words that he said.