Return of The Mount Hua – Chapter 1465. What is this we're seeing? (5)
Editor: Hoamzz
Co-Translator: Xoxo
A deep concern settled over Hwang Jongwi’s face as he gazed toward the far south.
'I wonder if they are okay.'
There hasn't been any news from Mount Hua for a while. It was so frustrating and also heart-wrenching.
He tried several times to find out news about Mount Hua through Beggar Union Huayin branch, but they too only showed reluctance. They said it had already been several days since news from Beggar Union headquarters had been cut off.
"Such utterly lawless ones."
Hwang Jongwi muttered with a face full of anger.
No matter how you looked at it, how could Beggar Union possibly be unaware of such a major event? This is clearly Beggar Union openly ostracizing Huayin.
"Huu."
Hwang Jongwi let out a short sigh and shook his head. His temples throbbed.
One of the merchants, observing his expression lost in thought, cautiously asked.
“Sangdanju-nim.”
"Hm?"
"That... what about the supplies we were planning to send additionally? They have been waiting for two days already."
"...Let's wait a little longer."
“We can’t leave them like that forever, can we?”
Hwang Jongwi glanced at the carts parked in front of the Eunha Merchant Guild’s Huayin branch. Then he spoke like a sigh.
"Let's wait just one more day. After that, we can make a decision whether to put them back in storage or send them to the Yangtze River."
“Yes. Then let’s do so.”
Another sigh escaped him. Come to think of it, Huayin had lost all its liveliness.
Wasn’t it strange?
Huayin clearly became a bigger village than before. The population increased, and as the Eunha Merchant Guild branch was established, the comings and goings of merchant activities also increased.
Though it was called a branch, in reality, eighty percent of the logistics handled by Eunha Merchant Guild passed through this Huayin branch, so how much money and goods must be circulating?
And yet, to Hwang Jongwi's eyes, Huayin these days felt eerily desolate.
Mount Hua Sect disciples. There weren’t many of them, and they rarely even showed themselves in Huayin. Just because such people were absent, the entire village of Huayin was losing its vitality.
Hwang Jongwi came to realize anew that worldly affairs couldn't be measured simply by money and manpower alone.
"Um, if I may ask, Sangdanju-nim."
"Hmm?"
“That’s... could it be that Heavenly Comrade Alliance people went to Sichuan and met with misfortune…”
In that moment, a spark leapt from Hwang Jongwi’s eyes.
"Where are you carelessly running your flippant mouth!"
An enraged voice burst out. The merchant guild member, whose face turned pale, prostrated himself on the spot.
"I- I'm sorry! I was just so worried that I..."
"No matter how worried you are, there are things you can say and things you cannot! If you bring up such words even once more, I won't let it slide!"
"Y- Yes, Sangdanju-nim! I'll remember that!"
Hwang Jongwi bit his lips slightly.
He understood the anxiety that had driven the man to speak out, but even so, some things should never be said carelessly.
‘They’ll be safe. No, they must be safe.’
That was...
“Saaandanjuu-niiiiiiiiiim!”
Just then, someone rushed headlong through the wide-open main gate of the merchant guild. Hwang Jongwi frowned at such a reckless appearance.
"Haven't I always told you to be composed? A merchant ought to be..."
“Mount Hua disciples!”
"What?"
"A- At the village entrance, Mount Hua disciples have arrived! Right now! Now!"
"Out of the way!"
“Ugh!”
Hwang Jongwi pushed aside the merchant guild member standing in front and ran out of the guild in a flurry. The one who tumbled to the ground stared blankly at the fleeing Hwang Jongwi for a moment, then quickly came to his senses and jumped up.
"L- Let's go together! Sangdanju-nim! Sangdanju-nim!"
He too began running after Hwang Jongwi. The other surrounding guild members likewise threw aside what they were doing and ran towards the village entrance.
"Where are they!"
"There! It's there! Don't you see them there?"
"Ah!"
Hwang Jongwi opened his eyes wide.
Indeed, he could see a group of people approaching from afar. They were still too far to make out faces, but just seeing the black martial robes and the swords at their waists, he could already tell who they were.
“Th- They’re back!”
Tears welled up around Hwang Jongwi’s eyes.
Though he hadn't said it aloud, how worried had he been? No, he hasn't felt at ease for a moment since they left. But at last, they had returned here, to Huayin.
"Th- The numbers? Everyone's safe, aren't they?"
"It seems so. Just by looking, the people numbered a hundred... No, two hundred... Th- Three hundred? Huh...?"
"What?"
“...Uh?”
The number of people returning was growing beyond what they remembered had left.
"Huh? Why are there more? Why do they keep..."
"...I, I think there might be a thousand?"
"More are coming?"
"Wh- Who are all those people, Sangdanju-nim?"
Setting aside his emotions for the moment, Hwang Jongwi quickly started thinking. And soon came to a clean conclusion.
"It seems..."
"Yes?"
“...Our workload just exploded, doesn’t it?”
It was the moment when the blood drained from the faces of Eunha Merchant Guild members who had been filled with joy.
"Sangdanju-nim! We don't have enough lodging!"
"Argh! Didn't I tell you long ago there wouldn't be enough! What happened to the tents we prepared before?"
"Th- Those are probably at the headquarters..."
“Then what are you doing! Why don’t you go and get them right now!”
"We're short on manpower! Just guiding those people and preparing what's immediately needed is keeping us so busy we can't even catch our breath, where would we find the capacity to send people to the headquarters?"
“Is that what a merchant says? You can’t even move right now?”
"P- Please don't say that... How about we send the extra people up to Mount Hua Sect first? I hear they have plenty of vacant halls..."
Hwang Jongwi's eyes blazed with fire.
"What? Have I ever seen such a stupid fool!"
"Wh- Why are you like this, Sangdanju-nim?"
"If we accommodate people at Mount Hua Sect on the mountain peak, we'll have to haul supplies up there every single day. Who’s going to do that? You?”
“...Why on earth did the ancestors of Mount Hua Sect build a sect on top of a mountain like that....”
"So stop talking nonsense and quickly send people to bring the tents. We need to make temporary arrangements at least! Hurry!"
“...Yes.”
At that moment, another pale-faced guild member came rushing in.
"Sangdanju-nim! Th- This is terrible! We don't have enough rice!"
"What? What do you mean! Not enough grain! How could that be?"
"Th- The ones we purchased before were all sent to the Yangtze River..."
“You fool! Then shouldn’t you be out there getting more instead of standing here! Send people to Xi’an immediately and gather all the grain reserves from every merchant! Now!"
“Aigoo, Sangdanju-nim. Don’t you know this already? If a rumor spreads that we are urgently seeking grain, those bastards will raise the grain price by double."
"Even if it's not twice but ten times the price, we must get what we need! Stop talking nonsense and do as you're told."
"Keuuung. Understood."
The one who reported ran outside. A groan escaped Hwang Jongwi's mouth.
"What on earth is this..."
Grains and lodging can be managed somehow. But maintaining people’s lives isn’t so simple. Once they begin accommodating these people in Huayin, the needs will never end.
“Sa- Sangdanju-nim... Are those people going to stay here continuously?"
Hwang Jongwi frowned at the general chief's question.
"We can put out the urgent fire, but... isn't it a separate matter for those people to settle here? Huayin people are only a few hundred at most, but just the people who came here now exceed two thousand. Isn't this a case where the belly button is bigger than the belly?"
"Since the entire Tang Family has moved over, it can't be helped..."
“Once we’ve finally provided them with a place to live, Huayin will be three times larger. Who will do all that work?”
"...We will, right?"
“It’s not that I don’t want to work…”
"I understand what you mean."
Hwang Jongwi scratched his head.
After running the numbers in his mind several times, he suddenly shot up and dashed outside.
Hyun Jong was seen standing at the village entrance, carefully observing the situation of those who had arrived.
"S- Sect Leader! No, Grand Sect Leader!"
“Aah, Sangdanju-nim.”
Hyun Jong happily held Hwang Jongwi's hand tightly. And spoke with a look tinged with worry and apology.
"You are going through a lot of hardship. I can only be truly sorry for causing trouble."
"Wh- What trouble could there be?"
At Hyun Jong's words, Hwang Jongwi flinched and bowed his head.
"That... it's not really a problem for us to work hard, but no matter how I think about it, it seems it won't be easy to accommodate this many people in Huayin."
“Hmm? Is that so?”
“Yes, Grand Sect Leader. To begin with, this place was originally just a small village. With this many people staying here, the inconveniences won’t be few. And it’s not something that effort alone can solve.”
Hyun Jong let out a deep sigh as he pondered. For matters like this, wouldn't Hwang Jongwi know better than him?
"Then what do you think should be done? I'm telling you in advance, we cannot send them away."
“How about accommodating them in Xi’an instead?”
“...Xian?”
“Yes. In fact, isn’t Xi’an nearby? Distance-wise, there wouldn't be much difference. Moreover, Xi'an has many spare halls, and there are many sects friendly to Mount Hua, so we could borrow their manor. And since it’s a major city, compared to this small village, supplies are abundant. There's no need to go through all the trouble to obtain supplies.”
Hyun Jong nodded as if it made sense.
Other than the merchant staff, Huayin had fewer than a thousand people. Accommodating this many people here versus bringing them into a city like Xi’an, which had over a hundred thousand residents, would indeed be a world of difference.
"Hmm, it certainly seems reasonable."
At Hyun Jong's words, Hwang Jongwi's face lit up.
If only these people would relocate to Xi'an, the work they would have to do would be cut in half... No, reduced several times over.
But Hyun Jong's words weren't finished.
"However, that... as I've lived, I've found that word 'reasonable' to be quite a futile word."
“...Yes?”
"Even if you speak correctly, the listener has to actually listen for it to be reasonable, wouldn't you say?"
"Wh- What on earth do you mean by that?"
"Ah, here he comes right on time."
“...Yes?”
"Over there."
Hwang Jongwi turned his gaze to where Hyun Jong pointed. It was the entrance to the village where countless people were pouring in and the ground seemed to have become slightly flatter than before.
'Huh?'
After a moment, he noticed something kicking up a dust cloud in the distance and rapidly approaching.
“...That?”
Those who were looking in that direction, including Hwang Jongwi, began murmuring their thoughts one by one.
"It seems like a scene I've seen a lot..."
“Ei, it’s a little different. The dust cloud should be much bigger than that.”
"And this time it looks like several of them?"
Hwang Jongwi's shoulders trembled slightly.
Soon, it became clear. Several carts were charging toward Huayin, and atop a pile of goods stacked high sat a man.
"Noooooooo!"
The man's furious shriek stabbed at everyone's eardrums like daggers.
"What have you been doing that you've only gotten this much done! These guys are slacking off!"
No one opened their mouth.
Pat.
Hyun Jong grabbed the silent Hwang Jongwi's shoulder and patted it lightly.
"I am sorry I couldn't be of help, Sangdanju-nim. Well then..."
Hwang Jongwi silently looked up at the sky. For some reason, he missed his late father terribly today.
|Note
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