What? Qilian Mountain?
The man did not take his eyes off the red bead for a while.
The jewel placed on Jincheon's hand sparkled under the moonlight.
"Ah, for your information."
As if he suddenly remembered, the man raised his head and said.
"The people there all resemble me, so, they are a bit rude (Ssagaji). So they ignore polite and humble people."
'There' would probably be the place Jincheon has to deliver this red bead to.
The place he casually called 'Palace' earlier.
Jincheon asked with a puzzled expression.
"They ignore polite and humble people?"
"Yeah."
"What kind of place have you lived in?"
"It's a good place. And if you get to know them, they are all good people."
The middle-aged man smiled faintly and continued.
"But because it's a bit rough... they think 'how incompetent must one be not to even show off a bluff'. Since originally people want to boast about something, and if one thinks they are great, one naturally stiffens their neck."
It's extreme, but not entirely wrong.
"S-So?"
"So when you go there, act recklessly. Speak as unlucky as possible... Like 'What are you going to do even if I do this? So are you going to take it or not?'. With that kind of feeling."
Jincheon dropped his jaw.
"What kind of... No, and for delivering just one bead, why so many conditions..."
"Since there are many conditions, the reward is large."
"That's rather good. I am also not originally a polite person, so it seems perfect."
The man grinned.
"Right. Even I think choosing you was a very good thing."
"Isn't it because it couldn't be helped?"
"So isn't it fate?"
With a nonchalant face, the middle-aged man said so.
Jincheon sighed.
"Where should I go?"
"It's not far. Do you know Qilian Mountain (Giryeonsan)?"
Jincheon became blank for a moment.
"What? Qilian Mountain?"
"Right, Qilian Mountain. Just perfect to go thinking of taking a walk..."
"You mean that Qilian Mountain of the Qilian Mountain Range? That Qilian Mountain which is practically beyond the borders (Saewoe)?"
"Oh my, beyond the borders. Still, it's quite before Jade Gate Pass (Ok-mungwan)."
Saewoe means outside the fortress.
It refers to the region beyond the Great Wall, and if it's Qilian Mountain, it was where Jiayuguan Pass (Gayokgwan), the western end of the Wall, and Jade Gate Pass, the beginning of the Great Desert, were located.
"What do you mean quite before? If it's Qilian Mountain, it's practically beyond the borders. No, more than that, this is near Hefei, you know? To such a far place..."
"Since it's far, the reward is large."
"...I must go diligently. If I walk step by step, is there a place I cannot reach?"
"Oh, nice words. Did you quote an ancient idiom?"
It is in an ancient idiom.
An idiom where a king admired a large wooden pillar made of a single piece in a newly built palace and asked 'How did you move this large tree?', and a subject answered 'We moved it step by step'.
Of course, the people who moved it were not that subject but the poor and innocent people mobilized for labor.
Tap.
The man's hand rested on Jincheon's shoulder.
"Think of it as experience and try hard. If not for this opportunity, when would you visit Qilian Mountain?"
He was laughing as if genuinely enjoying it.
Jincheon tried to manage his expression, but he couldn't help his face distorting repeatedly.
The two people decided to part ways on the spot.
The middle-aged man urged Jincheon to leave saying 'I am also comfortable if you run away diligently,' and Jincheon also inwardly wanted to escape this place.
But what weighed on his mind was the fact that the middle-aged man, who revealed himself as 'Palace Master' and now became Jincheon's first client, was injured.
"...Will you be alright?"
"I'm fine. If not fine, what can be done?"
The man answered as if it were nothing.
Those words were somehow pitiful making Jincheon's heart uncomfortable, but suddenly the man said.
"Ah, before going, wash me a bit."
"...I will do so."
He had never washed others, but he thought he could do at least this much at the parting yard.
Jincheon supported the man and took him to the riverside.
And as he did himself, he washed off the filth with river water while wearing clothes.
Splash, splash.
The middle-aged man's clothes that looked expensive and splendid were a mess.
Still, washing roughly, it gave off a feeling of 'I was originally expensive clothes'.
Though the fact that it looked closer to a rag than clothes didn't change.
"Will you really be alright?"
Looking at the middle-aged man's side where blood had dried, Jincheon asked.
"I will figure it out so no need to care. Why is the person who said he would abandon me if things go wrong suddenly pretending to worry?"
"Because things didn't go wrong."
"Pfft."
The man laughed.
Looking at that appearance, dirty and disheveled but still handsome, Jincheon thought.
'Handsome people are handsome even in this state.'
He also wants to become such a cool middle-aged man if possible, but it doesn't seem likely.
"Why are you looking?"
"...Where in Qilian Mountain should I go?"
Qilian Mountain is large. Moreover, being the main peak of the Qilian Mountain Range, it would also be rugged. So asking where in Qilian Mountain to go was natural.
"I will tell you so listen well. It's not difficult so there will be no worry of forgetting."
With a serious expression, the man said.
"Grilled Koi (Bidan-ingeo)."
"Yes?"
"Don't you know? You know there is carp? Swimming in the water like this, like this..."
"No, not that."
Jincheon asked with a flustered expression.
"Grilled Koi? In Qilian Mountain, which is right in front of the Great Desert, not anywhere else?"
Qilian Mountain is where Jade Gate Pass and Jiayuguan Pass are, and outside Jade Gate Pass is that famous Great Desert.
Far from carp, it would be a place lacking even drinking water, he wonders if there would be carp in such a place.
"When you arrive near Qilian Mountain, go to the biggest, restaurant or inn doesn't matter, just the biggest and best place. If you order Grilled Koi there..."
Listening to the continuing man's words, Jincheon couldn't relax his distorted expression.
He could just tell him where it is, what is this bizarre behavior?
"Do I really have to do that?"
The man nodded as if it were natural.
Jincheon let out a groan.
"Groan."
But there is no choice.
He needs money, and delivering an item is a stable job with little risk of failure. Especially for a novice peddler like him, even more so.
And doing up to this much, it doesn't seem the reward will end with pennies.
"I understand."
"Ah, and."
As if he suddenly remembered, the man said.
"Do you have money to go to Qilian Mountain?"
"It is a bit tight but... Why?"
To Qilian Mountain is a very long way.
Jincheon, wondering if he might add some travel expenses, asked, but the man said as if it were natural.
"Thinking about it, I have no money."
The man reached out his hand.
"If you have, give me some."
Jincheon was dumbfounded.
"No, why don't you have money? A person who spent so lavishly..."
"I don't carry a money pouch. It's heavy and bothersome."
In other words, this person was living a life where he didn't even carry a single money pouch himself.
Jincheon threw a rebuke without realizing it.
"Why didn't you just entrust your life to others too?"
"I did so. The result is..."
Pressing his side slightly, he said.
"Although it is this shape and form."
His words were harsh in front of an injured person.
As Jincheon shut his mouth with an apologetic heart, the man smiled bitterly and continued.
"I lived too lazily. I thought living loosely, a day like this might come someday, but to think that would be today..."
Sighing long, he said to Jincheon.
"You don't become like me. Take care of your own business yourself, don't play and try doing at least something. In this rough world, no one lives for you, so don't regret later. Do you understand?"
"You said you've never regretted anything."
"It's not regret but a lesson. If you don't learn anything even after experiencing it yourself, is that a human?"
Coming out too brazenly, rather there is nothing to say.
The person who fell into trouble by not doing so himself says this.
"So, no money?"
Not caring about Jincheon's inner thoughts, the middle-aged man spoke nonchalantly.
Thinking maybe he does that knowing, Jincheon opened his money pouch with a reluctant expression.
The few silver pieces his friend slipped him to add to travel expenses jingled tactlessly in the money pouch.
Creak, creak.
A strange sound came from the old wagon.
Every time the old horse moved its steps, the wagon seemed likely to break at any moment, but there were five people entrusting their bodies to this worn-out wagon excluding Jincheon.
"Yaaawn."
Jincheon, squatting in the wagon, yawned long.
Walking all night, his whole body was tired.
'Still, it's fortunate nothing happened.'
Last night, Jincheon, who parted with the middle-aged man, walked without rest until daybreak. Because he was worried about possible pursuers.
'Thinking about it, actually isn't there no reason to chase me?'
The party involved is that middle-aged man in the first place. Jincheon is only guilty of being swept up without knowing why, but there is no way they would consider such circumstances.
'Because they are those who kill people recklessly.'
Thinking of the people dying bleeding in front of his eyes, his spine chilled anew.
Moreover, since he undertook the 'bead' that looks expensive and important, he has nothing to say even if mistaken for an accomplice.
Jincheon walked all night away from the inn, and only when morning came could he enter a small village.
He rode this worn-out and old wagon there. Washing several times at the well side until a while ago was a bonus.
Still, he couldn't help the stench seeping out faintly.
'...Will he be alright?'
Even putting the smell aside, worry about the middle-aged man does not disappear.
Although he is a person who is brazen and nonchalant and even makes trivial jokes, it is true that he is injured, so worry cannot help but arise.
Moreover, isn't he the party who was attacked?
'Ey, he will be fine. Since he is a person with a lot of money and even leading escort warriors.'
He is rich. And probably a tremendous rich man at that.
Filling escort warriors with women, and young women with outstanding beauty at that, is no ordinary luxury.
Jincheon suddenly recalled the female escorts standing on the left and right of that middle-aged man.
Those deployed on the left and right like wings were all beauties. Though he doesn't know for sure, their skills would probably be excellent too.
So actually, what he needs to worry about right now is Jincheon's own plight of having to go to Qilian Mountain with no money.
Rattle.
'Ugh!'
At the shock transmitted through his buttocks, Jincheon frowned.
At this level, he regretted whether he should have put the bundle underneath instead of hugging it.
Indeed, other people were all sitting on something. It seemed they put valuables and such inside their bosoms in advance.
'From next time, I should do that.'
Jincheon learned another wisdom.
If he just sits on it, his body is comfortable and the risk of losing luggage is small. Moreover, isn't hugging the bundle like now just announcing 'there is something important here'?
It was then.
"Whoa, whoa!"
The old coachman suddenly stopped the wagon.
Because of that, the wagon shook, and the dozing people all woke up.
"Oops."
"What? Why suddenly..."
The voices of people rising due to the displeasure of waking up from sleep subsided at once.
Because men holding swords and spears were glaring in front of the wagon.
Jincheon's heart sank with a thud.
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