Chapter 390: Exploration (5)
Daoist Cheongsu looked at the fan aimed at his neck with a reluctant expression.
From Cheongsu’s position, it was a strange feeling.
The opportunity he had so desperately wished for, to have a sparring match with Zhuge Jinxi, had arrived.
But why was it?
The final instinct he had as a man, which had degenerated as far as it could after living as a Daoist, was shouting.
'If I try to start a sparring match right now, I do not know what disaster may happen.'
It was intuition.
The intuition that if he drew his sword because he was pleased right now, what would unfold might not be a sparring match, but a true life-and-death duel.
“Hahaha. I-I apologize. Fellow Daoist Zhuge Jinxi.”
It was also the first moment in Cheongsu’s life when he felt the emotion called fear.
After all, he was a madman who, no matter how strong an opponent attacked him, felt no fear and instead rejoiced that it was an opportunity to train his sword.
“Tsk.”
At Cheongsu’s apology, Zhuge Jinxi retrieved her fan with a cold expression.
After the air, which had been cold as a cold wave, faded somewhat.
The little child, who had been swinging a sword alone and then stopped at the sudden chill, tilted his head only then as though finding it strange.
Sensing that sign, Jang Hun hurriedly tried to stop his younger brother.
It was because he feared his younger brother would tactlessly point out her age again, just like Daoist Cheongsu.
However, the story that popped out of his younger brother’s mouth went beyond his expectations.
And in a way, it was the question that touched closest to the essence.
“But why aren’t you asking what big brother thinks?”
“!!!”
At the child’s essential question, Jang Hun wore a flustered expression.
And Zhuge Jinxi, too, was wearing a slightly embarrassed expression unlike herself.
She had realized belatedly. That she had been arrogant.
She had naturally thought that if she said she would take him in as a live-in son-in-law, Jang Hun would accept.
Without even realizing it herself.
Thinking about it, even when she had talked with Jang Hun earlier, she had asked him questions as though testing him.
In order to confirm whether he was a man with thoughts suitable as her husband candidate.
'......Without realizing it myself, had I been treating this as a journey to find a live-in son-in-law candidate?'
Having realized her mistake, she slightly lowered her head to Jang Hun without hesitation.
“I am sorry. Young Hero Jang. It seems I behaved far too arrogantly.”
“N-no. Zhuge Young Family Head.”
Toward Jang Hun, who once again waved his hands in surprise without fail, she added,
“But I did not bring up the matter of becoming a live-in son-in-law without any thought. I will give you time, so please think it over calmly and give me an answer.”
“......I will do so.”
Jang Hun, who had been startled because unexpected situations had happened one after another, only then wore a somewhat calmer expression.
Jang Hun belatedly looked around at the snowmen in the manor and asked,
“By the way, is it all right to discuss such an important matter in a place like this?”
Once one reached the level of a great family or sect, they could not help but place extreme importance on face.
Jang Hun wondered what kind of person he was to refuse that proposal, but if he did refuse, he also wondered what would happen to those who had watched it here.
At Jang Hun’s question, Zhuge Jinxi smiled coldly.
“If they value their lives, would they go out of their way to speak of what they saw and heard today?”
“.......”
Amid the chilling silence that came once again.
“Hic.”
Someone’s pitiful hiccup rang out.
“Hmm. Seeing as you remain even though it seems about time for you to be released, perhaps you do not value your life.”
At Zhuge Jinxi’s continued warning, cracking sounds were heard here and there.
“W-we did n-not see anything!”
“Th-thank you for sparing us!”
“I am deaf!!”
The black-path group began rushing out with awkward steps, each shouting strange cries in order to live.
***
In order to give Jang Hun time to think, Zhuge Jinxi returned to the inn and went to sleep, then visited the Iron Flash Sect again the next morning.
For some reason, Daoist Cheongsu was also with her, smiling brightly.
“You have come.”
Jang Hun, who welcomed the two of them, asked Daoist Cheongsu for understanding because he needed to have a private conversation.
“Hahaha. It is fine. I was thinking of spending time with that child anyway.”
But Daoist Cheongsu merely smiled clearly and pointed at Jang Hwan.
After Zhuge Jinxi came to face Jang Hun alone like that, she opened her mouth in a calm tone.
“Have you made your decision?”
At her question, which went straight to the main point, Jang Hun wore a complicated expression.
“......It seems I have made you uncomfortable.”
Zhuge Jinxi understood that as a refusal.
Honestly, it was a conclusion she had not expected at all.
Of course, because there was the very slightest possibility, she had slept a little poorly last night with a bit of anxiety.
But to think he would truly refuse.
She received a slight mental shock, but she tried not to show it.
Just as she was about to rise while pretending nothing was wrong, Jang Hun hurriedly held her back.
“N-no. It is not because I am uncomfortable with you, Young Family Head.”
“.......”
Without saying much, Zhuge Jinxi stopped and looked at Jang Hun.
Looking into her calm eyes, Jang Hun spoke incoherently.
“Honestly, even now that a day has passed, I still cannot believe it. I never imagined someone as b-beautiful as to be called the Moonlit Fan Fairy would make me such a proposal. I even thought that perhaps such fortune would never come again in my lifetime.”
It was sincere.
The smile he had briefly seen yesterday was still deeply engraved in Jang Hun’s mind, and above all else.
The extraordinary martial arts and noble appearance she had shown last night were enough to make goosebumps rise over his body just by recalling them again.
And at Jang Hun’s praise, Zhuge Jinxi had to do her utmost to hold back the corners of her mouth from curling upward.
Why was it that the expression “beautiful,” which had sounded like flattery or pestering when she heard it from other men, sounded pleasant right now?
She asked while making an effort to feign calm.
“Then, why did you make such an expression?”
“......There was the thought of whether someone lacking like me could adapt to the Zhuge Family, and the greatest concern was this Jianggan District and my younger brother Hwan.”
The hand of the Dark Heaven Society had reached again toward Jianggan District, his hometown where he had lived for twenty years. Jang Hun was worried that, while he was gone, something might happen to the people of his hometown whom he had known for twenty years.
At his concern, Zhuge Jinxi ended up smiling faintly without realizing it.
“There is no need to worry about that issue. Even if Young Hero Jang had refused my proposal, I intended to handle everything related to the Dark Heaven Society.”
After saying that, she took out the same bundle of letters she had shown yesterday.
“As soon as I leave this place, I will send these letters to the Zhengmu League. If that happens, the Zhengmu League will begin an investigation.”
After placing the letters back into her robes, she added as though it were nothing.
“And just because you enter as a live-in son-in-law, there is no need to leave your younger brother here. Our Zhuge Family is not so flimsy that we cannot look after one child.”
At Zhuge Jinxi’s confident answer, Jang Hun’s expression, which had seemed to be thinking for a while, became much clearer.
Having finished making his decision, he opened his mouth.
“Then it seems there is no need to force myself to turn away from a fortune that may never come again in my life.”
After saying that, Jang Hun performed a cupped-fist salute toward Zhuge Jinxi like a martial artist and said,
“Though I am lacking, I will stay together with Miss Zhuge Jinxi. As I told you last night, I will strive so that my present heart never changes.”
“I, too, will be in your care.”
At that tone, which was somehow not as chilly as it had been until now, Jang Hun raised his bowed head and saw that a smile was resting on her lips.
After seeing that smile up close, Jang Hun’s face turned bright red, and he hurriedly opened his mouth.
“Hmhm. Then I should prepare to leave. Ah, I must tell Hwan as well.”
Watching the back of her future husband as he hurriedly left the hall to hide his embarrassment, Zhuge Jinxi smiled as though finding him cute.
'As expected, he seems like a man who will be fun to raise.'
She had not realized it herself, but her tastes were rather unusual.
Jang Hun, who did not know what thoughts his future wife was having behind him, worked to calm his excited emotions as he approached his younger brother, who was with Daoist Cheongsu.
“Hwan. Prepare to leave.”
“Where are we going, big brother?”
“We will be leaving for the Zhuge Family.”
The moment he answered his younger brother, who asked while tilting his head, Daoist Cheongsu, who had suddenly been listening from beside them, cut in.
“That is difficult, Fellow Daoist Jang Hun.”
“???”
“What do you mean, difficult?”
At Daoist Cheongsu’s intervention, Zhuge Jinxi, who had somehow become cold again, asked back icily.
And the answer returned by Daoist Cheongsu was something neither of them had expected at all.
“Hwan here must go to Wudang with me.”
“W-Wudang? Wh-what do you mean by that?”
At Jang Hun, who asked back in shock, Cheongsu tilted his head briefly, then let out an exclamation.
“Ah!”
“Come to think of it, I did not tell you. In truth, the reason I followed Fellow Daoist Jang Hun here yesterday was because of Hwan. Hwan has an exceptionally sharp eye.”
Yesterday evening.
Right after Daoist Cheongsu saved Jang Hun when he had been about to be struck down by the middle-aged man of the Great Hero Room.
Jang Hwan had imitated Daoist Cheongsu’s Taiji Fist with awkward movements.
In truth, it was absurd.
To think he had seen and imitated a movement that even that middle-aged man of the Great Hero Room had not been able to see.
The mere fact that he had “seen” that movement meant he had more than enough potential as a swordsman.
“And after watching him yesterday and today, I became certain. Hahaha. If it is Hwan, it seems he has the talent to fully carry on my sword.”
Having finished his rough explanation, Daoist Cheongsu this time pointed at the young child and said,
“Ah, for reference, Hwan agreed as well.”
“Mm-hm! What Daoist big brother teaches me is fun, big brother!”
“Hahaha. Once you go to Wudang, you must call me Master, not big brother.”
“All right. Master big brother!”
“.......”
It was a sight that was nothing if not chaotic.
***
That afternoon.
Having finished their preparations, the brothers Jang Hun and Jang Hwan rode a carriage with Zhuge Jinxi and Daoist Cheongsu and headed toward Hubei Province.
To begin with, because the Wudang Sect and the Zhuge Family were fairly close to each other, there was no need for them to travel separately.
In truth, Zhuge Jinxi did not particularly want to be together with Daoist Cheongsu, but.
“Hahaha. I was startled at first by Wudang Sword Star’s proposal, but I think this is rather for the best. Since it is nearby, we should be able to visit often, should we not?”
Somehow, she felt that separating the two brothers already would be a little too harsh.
Like that, the four of them enjoyed a leisurely journey together and headed toward Hubei Province.
Inside the carriage, Zhuge Jinxi taught Jang Hun about the laws and family rules of the Zhuge Family, and Daoist Cheongsu would teach Jang Hwan about the martial arts of Wudang.
And after several days passed, when they arrived near Mount Longzhong in Hubei Province, they had to part ways.
“Listen well to your master, Hwan.”
“Mm-hm! Big brother, you have to listen well to sister-in-law too!”
“Pfft.”
At Hwan’s innocent words, even Zhuge Jinxi burst into laughter without realizing it.
And immediately after Daoist Cheongsu and Jang Hwan left.
Tension settled over Jang Hun’s expression, which had simply been bright and dependable.
“Do you have some worry?”
Zhuge Jinxi asked in a tone that had become somewhat softer compared to when they first met.
“Do I not have to give my first greeting to my father-in-law from now on?”
At Jang Hun’s quite nervous answer, Zhuge Jinxi smiled gently.
“Do not worry. If he refuses, I will not leave him be.”
After pestering her so much to marry, if he opposed her when she brought back a man she liked?
At that time, Zhuge Jinxi had no intention of staying still either.
“......Gulp.”
He had thought she had become softer now, but at the sight of her giving off cold energy, Jang Hun swallowed dry saliva without realizing it.
***
A few days later.
The Leader’s Hall of the Zhengmu League near Dongting Lake.
After checking the letter that had flown in from the Zhuge Family, Mujin spoke to Zhuge Muhuan.
“It says remnants of the Dark Heaven Society have shown themselves.”
“It seems they have run out of money.”
“Hmm. Still, if it is the Hangzhou side, I think it would be better to handle it secretly if possible.”
“In matters like this, would it not be best for the Unslaughtering Guest to step forward?”
At Zhuge Muhuan’s suggestion, Mujin shook his head.
“That fellow needs to rest once in a while, too. Right now, he is in the middle of teaching his disciple, so let us handle it on our side.”
“Hmm.”
Zhuge Muhuan wore an expression as though something did not sit well with him, but soon nodded as though he understood.
“Ah, right. Come to think of it, you said that letter came from the Zhuge Family?”
“That is correct.”
“Then, did you hear that story? They say the young family head of the Zhuge Family brought in a live-in son-in-law.”
“I heard. They say they will soon hold a grand engagement ceremony.”
At Mujin’s answer, Zhuge Muhuan made a somewhat wicked expression, then covered his mouth with his fan and said,
“Then did you hear that rumor? The rumor about the incident where the family head of the Zhuge Family nearly changed because of the issue of that live-in son-in-law.”
“......I will just pretend I did not hear that.”
Mujin had already heard that rumor, but he was simply pretending not to know.