Chapter 69 – Poison Murder

Chapter 69 – Poison Murder

The Tang Clan was bustling due to unexpected business expansion and visits from guests.

Among them, the one who was the most frantically busy was San-ho.

Yeo Woo-min and San-ho were sitting at the tea table, selecting items to send to the merchant guild.

“Will this also yield a large profit? Actually, it's hard to see it as a trend right now…”

Yeo Woo-min asked as he looked at one of the items San-ho had brought.

The fruit tea, which had a sweet aroma and a subtle sweetness, was one of the local specialties commonly found in Sichuan. San-ho tapped the jar containing the tea leaves and spoke.

“Trends are meant to be created.”

“Huh? How?”

“You said that the young masters of the great families sought out Sichuan's spicy spices, and after that, it became a trend in the Central Plains.”

“Well, that's true…?”

“Then, if they drink this tea, wouldn't others want to follow suit and drink it too?”

“Mmm, but will the young masters actually drink it? You know how picky the great families are when selecting tea sets and tea varieties. They also tend to avoid new things…”

“Don't worry about that. They will definitely like it.”

San-ho wrapped the tea leaves to be sent to each family first into small paper packages. He intended to send samples as gifts in advance to let them taste it. Even if they avoided what they did not know, they would not reject something he sent as a gift. Besides, the subtle sweetness was enough to captivate their palates.

At that moment, Yeo Woo-min, who saw the book placed on the tea table, asked.

“What is this again…? A picture book?”

“The complete collection of Emo-dae-gon (Sincerity Beyond Appearances). That will also be one of the items this time.”

“……?”

Yeo Woo-min tilted his head at the bizarre picture book, which he was seeing for the first time in his life.

“Surprisingly, they liked it.”

San-ho said, showing a few letters he had received from the children of the great families.

[Young Master, flowers have bloomed in Hebei ^^ Seeing the bright moon and the blooming evening primroses reminds me of you >.< You said you were coming, but you didn't forget, did you? ^^]

[Brother ㅠㅠ I am sad because Father keeps urging me to go into closed-door cultivation ㅠㅠ]

[My sisters want to learn more about Emo-dae-gon, so when do you plan to teach us the next volume? @.@ I'm going blind waiting.]

“What in the world is this……?”

Seeing the letters, Yeo Woo-min blinked with a bewildered expression.

If it was a trend in the Central Plains, there was no way he wouldn't know. Yet, this thing called Emo-dae-gon was a bizarre shape that even he had never seen before.

What on earth was this, that the proud children of the great families were all drawing these bizarre pictures in their letters?

“……?”

“Try reading it once.”

San-ho opened the book and placed it in the hands of the confused Yeo Woo-min. Inside, shapes that were hard to distinguish as drawings or letters were drawn, and below them were footnotes written in clear handwriting.

^^ : Smiling face – Example) You are doing well, right ^^?

ㅠㅠ : Sad face – Example) My heart hurts ㅠㅠ

>.< : Happy face – Example) It's delicious >.<

Seeing Emo-dae-gon expressing various emotions along with the explanations, Yeo Woo-min soon let out an exclamation of admiration.

“Wow! This is really fascinating…? Even if you can't draw well, anyone can easily express themselves with just a few lines like this.”

In that way, items that did not exist anywhere else in the Central Plains began to enter the Meteor Merchant Guild one after another.

The selection of items continued for several days.

At the request of merchants to expand the trade items of the merchant guild, Yeo Woo-min visited the annex every day, carrying an armful of new items.

“Then, between these two incense cases?”

“Mmm…”

Yeo Woo-min held out two types of incense cases. It was to select the one that would sell better and send it in large quantities to the main headquarters in Hunan.

An angled incense case and a round incense case. While San-ho pondered for a moment, the child sitting on his lap pointed at the round incense case with his hand.

“Do you like this one?”

When San-ho asked with a smile, the child nodded without answering.

“Let's go with this one.”

“The child probably didn't choose it knowing anything, though.”

“We don't know the future either, so it's the same for us. Maybe what looks good to children's eyes is what is truly good.”

“Hmm, that's true too.”

Yeo Woo-min, who was quickly convinced, suddenly looked at him and threw a question.

“What do you plan to do with the child in the future?”

“Ah. I plan to keep him with me until we find his parents.”

“You should leave him somewhere else. It won't be an easy task.”

“Since I brought him, I must take responsibility.”

San-ho, silently staring at the child, picked up a rice cake and squeezed it into the child's hand. Although he had never heard the child speak a single word, living together allowed him to roughly guess what the child wanted. The child, who had been staring blankly at San-ho, soon mumbled with his small mouth.

“What about the others? I don't see them today.”

“The Chief Stronghold Leader went to meet the other stronghold leaders of the Waterway Forts. It would be troublesome if even one of them objected. The manager went to Drunken Lotus Pavilion to check the quantity of Blue Moon Liquor.”

“Oh. It's finally starting in earnest. Oh, and the Merchant Guild Leader of the Meteor Merchant Guild will also arrive soon.”

The Yangtze River cut across the Central Plains.

Having acquired pirate delivery instead of Rocket Delivery, San-ho smiled in satisfaction.

***

The Sichuan Tang Clan was facing an unprecedented golden age.

Because they virtually monopolized the logistics of the Yangtze River waterway, which anyone would covet, merchants who had not even been interested in, let alone traded with, the Tang Clan in the past began to flock in.

However, life was full of ups and downs.

If there were good things, there were bound to be bad things as well.

The one who was most dissatisfied with the daily routine that had become so busy that there was no time to blink was none other than…

the child.

“No, you're not eating again? You didn't even eat your meal.”

The child, whom San-ho had taken charge of because he would cry sorrowfully whenever he was left with someone else. However, as merchants requested meetings several times a day, the child's mouth began to pout more and more.

There was also a limit to comforting him by handing him sugar candies.

When the child finally turned his head away without even looking at the proffered mooncake, San-ho took special measures.

“This won't do. Let's go out.”

It was none other than a picnic.

“It's hot, right? We're going to go play somewhere cool.”

San-ho lightly picked up the pouting child.

“We'll eat snacks~ play in the water~ and cheer you up~.”

A short while later, arriving at a familiar valley, San-ho set the child down. It was one of the streams of the valley that had been used as a foraging training ground. This place was located deep in the mountains, so the water was exceptionally clear and cool.

“Wow, it's really been a long time since I was here.”

Deep in emotion, San-ho looked around.

The child was stamping on the grass that tickled around his ankles. The grassy field was filled with short wildflowers.

“Keep your feet dipped here and play. I'll go catch some fish.”

When he rolled up the child's pants, the child tilted his head. Thinking the child might be afraid of the water, he lightly splashed valley water onto the top of the child's foot, and the child's eyes went wide.

“······!!”

Surprised by the cold temperature for only a moment, the child soon splashed his feet, scattering water droplets. Fortunately, he did not seem to be afraid of the water.

“Is it cool?”

Nod, nod.

The child sat in the shallow water and splashed.

Smiling broadly, San-ho took out a few bamboo spears and began to catch fish. It was to personally take care of Torong and Yongyong's meals for the first time in a while, and to grill a few fish with the child to enjoy the picnic mood.

Tracking the flow velocity and the movement of the tail with his eyes, San-ho accurately caught a fish.

“…….”

While San-ho was busy catching fish, the child stopped splashing and silently stared at San-ho.

How much time had passed like that?

Before he knew it, the bamboo container next to San-ho was filled with fish.

“Ah… my skills haven't gone anywhere.”

Placing his hands on his waist in satisfaction, San-ho turned his head toward the child.

“Huh?”

Soon, a bewildered gasp escaped.

The child was nowhere to be seen.

Flustered, San-ho hurriedly stepped out of the water and looked around.

“Where did he go?”

He called out to the child in a loud voice, but when there was no answer, anxiety gradually crept into San-ho's face. He had never imagined that the child, who would cry hysterically the moment he left his side, would disappear on his own.

He hurriedly estimated where the child might have walked.

It was at that moment.

San-ho froze in his tracks at the scent that brushed past his nose on the wind.

“······!!”

The smell of blood.

His eyes widening at the faint scent of blood, San-ho bit his lip.

‘No way.’

A horrible imagination arose in his mind without him realizing it. San-ho quickly shook his head to calm himself down. Clenching his fists tightly, San-ho quickened his pace in the direction the smell of blood was coming from.

Before long, he arrived at the bushes around the valley. The smell of blood grew stronger, and the sound of his heartbeat echoed in his ears.

“Are you here? Come out…”

San-ho's voice faded away as he parted the bushes searching for the child.

The hot sunlight hit the trees, casting a dark shadow. Amidst the swaying shadows, the back of the child standing still entered San-ho's view.

The child, who was staring blankly into space, felt a presence and turned his body toward San-ho.

“………!!!”

San-ho's mouth opened slightly.

Crimson blood.

The child's small hands were stained with crimson blood. The ground the child stood on was pooled with red blood, and with every moment the shadow swayed, the fishy smell of blood pricked his nose.

At that bizarre sight, San-ho momentarily stopped breathing.

But that was only for a moment. Behind the child, a large shape like a boulder was visible. Something as white as snow, which did not suit this season.

“…Come here.”

San-ho called the child in a soft voice.

The child looked back and forth between San-ho and the white shape, then reached out his hand toward the white shape again.

“I said, come here.”

San-ho hurriedly snatched the child's wrist.

The child pointed at the white shape with his hand and pulled San-ho.

As he drew closer, San-ho could figure out the identity of the shape. Something as white as snow and as large as a boulder. Yet, it had poured out red blood, having once been alive.

It was a snow leopard.

“What in the world is this……?”

The snow leopard was an animal that could only be seen by crossing over to Qinghai, a rare creature to behold in Sichuan. Furthermore, judging by the energy faintly felt from it, it was undoubtedly a spiritual beast harboring an inner core.

But putting that aside, it was extremely bizarre that it had died vomiting blood without any signs of being attacked. Narrowing his eyes, San-ho scanned the snow leopard's body.

It was at that moment.

The large body of the snow leopard shifted slightly.

“……?”

San-ho slightly lifted the snow leopard's forepaw, where he had felt movement. Then, from beneath it, a baby snow leopard curled up in a ball revealed itself.

“What is this again?”

It seemed it had been with its mother, who had already breathed her last.

The young snow leopard, wheezing and breathing heavily, was in a critical state as if it would soon stop breathing. There were no noticeable wounds on the body of the snow leopard, whose tail was puffed up like snow.

‘Something is strange.’

To die spitting blood without any signs of being attacked.

And the cub was in a similar state…

“Ah.”

San-ho let out a short sigh.

Melting the insides without leaving any outward signs.

It was poison.

He had failed to notice it earlier because the scent of poison could not be felt from either the snow leopard or its surroundings.

Realizing this fact, San-ho ran to the water's edge, holding the child in one hand and the baby snow leopard in the other. It was to wash the child's hands in case their blood was also mixed with poison.

“What the hell…”

Dipping his own hand into the running water before the child's, San-ho muttered a curse under his breath.

A faintly felt poisonous energy.

San-ho wiped the blood on the child's hands with his clothes and prevented him from approaching the water's edge.

‘Since the place where I was catching fish just now is upstream from here, it must be somewhere in between…’

San-ho went up against the downward-flowing stream. Before long, something entered his field of vision. Narrowing his eyes, San-ho took a long stride into the water. Holding his breath in the clear valley water, San-ho went under and picked up something from the bottom.

An herb pouch used for steeping medicinal herbs.

It was not something that should be seen in a forest like this.

And this meant,

“……Ha.”

that someone had released poison into the stream flowing into Sichuan.