NOVEL NEXT Chapter 45
Chapter 3: The Chaotic Situation
“What!? You’re taking off my daughter’s clothes!?”
“Cough, cough. Wait a moment…”
I tapped the wrist of the Peng Clan Head, who had my collar in a tight grip, as if trying to awaken him.
– Tap, tap, tap.
If this continued, I might suffocate and die.
But the Peng Clan Head, oblivious to the meaning of my taps, tightened his grip on my collar instead.
From the side, I could hear the urgent exclamations of my father-in-law and older sister.
My father-in-law grasped the Peng Clan Head’s arm and pressed down.
“Peng Clan Head! Please hold on! Our son-in-law must have a reason for saying such things! It can’t be as you think, right, son-in-law?”
“Peng Clan Head, please let go and listen to what I have to say.”
Then, wiping the blood trickling from his nose with the back of his hand, the Peng Clan Head shouted.
“Fine! You say that with such vile intentions, wanting to strip my daughter of her clothes, so what exactly is your reason for this?!”
He appeared to be trembling in anger.
‘What vile intentions!?’
Even in this suffocating situation, I felt unjustly accused.
Who would have such intentions toward a child who wasn’t even ten years old!?
I preferred a more normal woman, like my older sister, who had a kind and open heart.
“Haek… cough… Oh heavens, I’m barely hanging in there…”
Thanks to my father-in-law and older sister, I finally escaped the grip of the Peng Clan Head.
Once free, I caught my breath and explained why we needed to change the little one’s clothes.
“Cough, cough! Peng Clan Head, please calm down and listen to me. When I mentioned taking off the little one’s clothes, I meant to say, ‘Let’s take off all of the little one’s clothes and change into different ones.’
The reason for suggesting this is that the little one might have fainted due to something she brought from the Peng Clan, so we’re trying to remove everything from her.”
“Hmm?”
With arms crossed, the Peng Clan Head surveyed me with a look of trash, his expression gradually shifting.
He looked at his clenched fist, swallowed hard, and shut his eyes tight before shouting.
“Having doubted the junior hero’s words…”
“Wait a minute!”
Was he somehow into self-harm, considering hitting himself again?
Grabbing his hand, I said, “I’ll understand if you’re confused due to your daughter fainting. Let’s stop this for now.”
His toothless grin transformed into a gleeful expression.
“Such generosity towards another’s mistake! You are truly a great hero! Thank you! Hehe.”
It seemed he was relieved he didn’t have to hit his face.
But I still had more to say.
I explained that we needed to change the little one’s clothes and outline the steps we had to take together.
“Oh, and from now on, the young lady of the Peng family will be cared for in our Tang Clan, so for the time being, we’ll prohibit visits from the Peng Clan family.”
Initially, when the Peng Clan Head described the symptoms of the little one, he mentioned she had fainted once before and improved after a few days.
So while we kept the little lady in a separate area for special care, if she fainted again even after changing her clothes and blocking off the Peng family’s presence, it would indicate that her condition wasn’t due to poison but something else, clearing any misunderstandings among the Peng family members.
“Hmm? Me too?”
“Yes, if the young lady shows the same symptoms while we’re taking care of her, that means it isn’t due to the Peng family but something else entirely. So please leave her to us for a while.”
When raising venomous insects or amphibians, the owner must observe them closely.
Since these children can’t express their pain or feelings, you’d need to figure out what’s ailing them from their behaviors.
So, when you discover the sick child, what do you do next?
Finding the cause is the next step after spotting a sick child, and typically, caretakers have two methods to try out.
Those two methods are elimination and addition.
Elimination involves removing each element from the environment or food the animal encounters one by one to discover the cause, while addition is when you change everything to a new environment and then introduce elements gradually to find the root cause.
Hence, for the Peng lady, the method to use is addition.
Animals are one thing, but the Peng lady is a human.
Rather than using elimination, which might lead to her fainting multiple times before the cause reveals itself, I intended to try the addition method, removing all potential causes at once and then reintroducing them one by one.
This way, the burden on the child is lessened, and should we find the cause, it would clear any misunderstandings within the Peng family.
“Oh, I see. If you do that, while it might not tell us what the cause is, we at least should be able to tell whether it’s poison or not.”
Even my father-in-law understood the meaning of my words and nodded knowingly, and the Peng Clan Head also nodded with a serious expression.
“Understood. Please take good care of her, Clan Head.”
*
“Wei So-ryong, just watch the child for a moment. I’ll go to Mandok Hall and get some different incense,” my older sister said in the guest room of the Four Harmonies Courtyard, where the Tang Clan’s direct line resided.
Once she was able to distinguish the incense she had initially brought, she stated she would retrieve some different scents.
“Yes, little one. Understood.”
I watched as my sister left for Mandok Hall while studying the little one, still unconscious.
“Ahh…”
Seeing the child’s face, a sigh escaped me.
The cause of my sigh was due to the current situation with the little one…
It was because of me that my sister and mother-in-law were struggling unnecessarily.
The reason the child was lying in the guest room meant only for the direct lineage of the Tang Clan was that upon hearing my proposal, my father-in-law advocated for thoroughness and decided to bring her inside the Four Harmonies Courtyard while minimizing servant interactions.
Thus, my sister and mother-in-law were responsible for her care.
I had been on the side, just doing little tasks here and there.
And it had already been three days.
“She should be waking up soon, right?”
According to the Peng Clan Head, she usually wakes up after three days of fainting, so I was glancing at her, wondering when she might open her eyes.
The little one’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
Moments later, her eyes fluttered open, and upon seeing my face, she blinked.
“Oh, Miss Peng, you’re awake! Do you recognize me?”
I asked to confirm her consciousness, but instead of answering, the little one sprung up and began feeling her own body.
She was wearing an oversized outfit that was said to have once belonged to my sister, and it seemed awkward on her.
Then she gazed at me with wide, startled eyes.
Her lips began to quiver.
Soon, the sound that came forth could barely be believed as that of a child who had been fainting.
“Hooaaah! I want it!”
The room echoed with her cries.
Startled, I tried to soothe her.
She seemed scared to be with someone unfamiliar upon waking up from fainting.
From her cry, I could tell she was upset about my absence—her father, the Peng Clan Head.
“Oh dear, little one. You’re upset because your father isn’t here, aren’t you? The Peng Clan Head went to fetch some medicine for you. Don’t worry, he’ll be back soon.”
However, upon my words, the Peng little one shook her head vigorously in response.
“Tang candy!”
‘Ah, that’s what it was?’
The little one woke up searching for Tang candy instead of her father.
It was likely a bit hurtful for the Peng Clan Head to see this.
According to my sister, when the child fainted, they checked her clothes and found several hidden pockets filled with Tang candy.
I had wondered where all the Tang candy was coming from, but it was from those hidden pockets.
So she was likely searching for her candy.
“Hooaaah! My Tang candy!”
My sister had said the Peng family was famous for their amazing strength, using great martial arts, yet this little one seemingly inherited a different trait from her family.
It looked like she had the potential to attack with sound waves.
‘She might really faint from screaming too loud!’
I covered my ears and said to the little one, “Okay, Miss Peng. Please calm down. You can’t eat Tang candy right now after just waking up. First, you need to eat some rice—or rather, porridge, and I’ll make you some Tang candy, so please stop crying.”
“Sniff. You’ll really make it for me?”
Her crying abruptly halted at the mention of Tang candy.
She quickly nodded her head.
The Tang candy I remember making just before dying from a snake bite was a popular snack in Korea, and I’d made it a few times for broadcasting.
I had made it using scorpions and bugs instead of fruit.
“Of course! Miss Peng, do you know how to make Tang candy?”
“No.”
“You’ve only ever eaten Tang candy made from hawthorn berries, right? Have you eaten Tang candy made from watermelon?”
“Wa-watermelon!?”
Upon my question, the little one’s head shook in negation.
Watermelon, in the Central Plains language, refers to ‘watermelon.’
It seemed the child liked watermelon, her eyes widening in curiosity.
“Is it really true?”
“Of course! But you must promise to eat your porridge well, listen carefully, and not cry or throw a tantrum until your father returns.”
Hearing my words, the little one clapped her adorable little palms together and, in a cute pose, replied,
“The Peng family keeps their promises! If I break it, I’ll punch my own face!”
“Wh-what?”
They say children learn quickly, so you must never show them bad examples, but it seems the Peng family’s children are often taught to hit their own faces.
Ultimately, I had to grab the little one and lecture her for a while about never hitting her own face.
‘What in the world are the Peng family teaching their child!?’
*
“Ora-bunny! Show me the big bees again today!”
“Sure, shall we?”
Young Young clung to my leg, urging me towards the training grounds.
It had been ten days since Young Young began residing within the Four Harmonies Courtyard.
Guests from Hubei, including the Emei Sect and Qingcheng Sect from Sichuan, had mostly left, except for some martial artists dispatched by the Martial Forest Alliance.
The apparent reason was that they could not catch the Blood Cult, but in reality, they had captured some individuals from the Blood Cult hiding in the Martial Forest Alliance and were rushing back to attack their base.
And during this time, Young Young and I became close, leveraging Tang candy to strengthen our bond.
When I relayed some news about Young Young to the Peng Clan Head days ago, he was visibly surprised.
“Is our Young Young doing well?”
“Yes, she woke up and is doing fine. She eats well and listens attentively.”
“Eh!? She’s eating?”
“Indeed, she feasted on fried pork yesterday.”
“W-how did you feed her!?”
The Peng Clan Head’s expression turned incredulous at the mention of his daughter eating.
“She just devoured everything.”
“Ha ha!”
Thinking back to the startled look on the Peng Clan Head’s face, I couldn’t help but chuckle as I led Young Young toward the training grounds.
Recently, we’ve been visiting the Golden Hair Bees almost every day since they seem to take a liking to Young Young.
In a slightly different context, of course.
The Golden Hair Bees adored Young Young because, being a child, she inevitably spills Tang candy all over herself when she eats it, and the delightful scent attracts the bees.
Whenever Young Young arrives, they excitedly buzz around lapping up the sugary residue, and she, unaware, pleads for them to come closer every day.
‘Please don’t mistake me for food, though!’
As I was taking Young Young’s hand, leading her toward the entrance where the Golden Hair Bees reside, she suddenly broke free of my grasp and dashed towards a pile of stones by the roadside.
“Look, there are bees here too!”
“Bees?”
Perhaps having befriended the Golden Hair Bees, she thought other bees would like her.
I quickly warned her, “Young Young, be careful; other bees might sting…!”
“Ow ow ow!”
“Are you okay?”
As expected, Young Young recoiled, clutching her left wrist.
Quickly checking her, I saw a red sting mark raised on her left wrist.
As I swatted away the bee attacking Young Young, I noticed it was a ground bee.
A rather aggressive one, it seems it charged at her when she got too close.
“This won’t do; we must head to the Medicine Hall first.”
“It’s nothing serious…”
“Even so, let’s apply some medicine just to be safe.”
Carrying Young Young on my back, we headed toward the Medicine Hall, wondering if they had anything to help.
Just then, I felt her fidgeting on my back, and suddenly she started breathing heavily.
“Haa… Haa…”
“Young Young!?”
I recognized that reaction.
It was clear Young Young was experiencing anaphylaxis.