CHAPTER 68: THE LITTLE BRIDE AND THE MEAT STRIPS

Bok Taejin bared his teeth at him in annoyance.

Yoon Areum immediately copied him, she baring her teeth at Im Beomhyeon too.

Im Beomhyeon let out an exasperated laugh and pinched the little girl’s rosy cheeks. "You little bride, you already siding with your man, huh?"

Bok Taejin panicked and immediately launched into a rapid-fire denial. "I’m not—no way—don’t talk nonsense!"

Im Beomhyeon rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine. Not now. But who knows about the future?"

Seeing Bok Taejin about to argue again, Im Beomhyeon warned him darkly, "Say one more word and I’m not paying."

That threat worked. Bok Taejin didn’t dare say another word and simply made a firm decision: once they got back to Hwayang Village, he would go find his Second Uncle to serve as a witness and have little Yoon Areum formally become his disciple right away.

With a formal master-disciple relationship in place—and Second Uncle there to keep everyone in line—Bok Taejin would see if Im Beomhyeon dared tease him again about "buying a bride!"

At most, he was buying a disciple, okay!

Im Beomhyeon turned to the woman and asked, "Two gold and nine silver?"

The woman nodded. "Yes, that’s the price."

Im Beomhyeon lightly smacked Bok Taejin on the head again, then after counted out enough coins he handed it to the woman.

She took the money with little expression, not even bothering to verify whether the amount was correct, and left together with her husband.

The girl’s father glanced back at her once. But the mother never looked back again.

Bok Taejin could only see the slight shuddering of her shoulders from behind.

Im Beomhyeon waved his hand. "Let’s go. It’s time to head home!"

Bok Taejin held Yoon Areum’s hand and followed behind him.

By now, the two carts that Heo Taehyeon had been guarding were already packed with many goods.

When he saw the additional little girl with them, Heo Taehyeon looked slightly surprised—but didn’t ask any questions.

He began to unpacking goods silently and retying the goods on the cart, rearranging things so more items fit on one cart, leaving just enough space on the other for a little girl to sit.

Bok Taejin picked Yoon Areum up and placed her onto the cart.

Im Beomhyeon grinned. "Taejin, don’t hold us back now. No matter how tired you get, you’re walking back on your own. Who told you to go and buy a little bride!"

Heo Taehyeon’s lips twitched, as if he wanted to say something—but in the end, he remained silent.

Yoon Areum sat on the cart, rubbing her belly, her eyes brimming with tears.

Bok Taejin suddenly remembered—she hadn’t eaten since morning. She’d been starving the whole time. She probably wasn’t crying now because her parents had just warned her not to cause trouble, so she was still too scared to cry out.

Earlier, while browsing the market, Bok Taejin had seen some stalls selling flatbreads and other snacks.

He quickly looked around, trying to spot one again.

But in his haste, he couldn’t find any food vendors.

Either the stall locations had changed, or it was already too late in the day—the market crowd was beginning to thin out, and most of the food sellers had already sold out and packed up to head home.

Heo Taehyeon had already started pushing the cart down the road toward Hwayang Village. The little girl sat facing backward on the cart.

Im Beomhyeon held the cart handle with both hands and turned his head toward Bok Taejin. "Still not leaving?"

Bok Taejin motioned toward Yoon Areum with his mouth. "I wanted to find something for her to eat. Rumi..."

Before he could finish, Im Beomhyeon had already pulled out a cloth pouch from the cart.

He untied the string at the top, took out a strip of dried meat, and began chewing on it.

Then, without a word, he shoved the whole pouch into Bok Taejin’s hands.

Yoon Areum’s eyes lit up, and she looked as if she might leap off the cart at any moment.

Bok Taejin took two strips of meat for himself, then hurried to catch up with Heo Taehyeon’s cart and handed the pouch to the little girl.

She didn’t waste a second. Without a thought for anything else, she grabbed a strip of meat and started gnawing away.

The meat strips Im Beomhyeon had brought were dried until extremely tough and hard.

The little girl chewed very slowly. The meat flavor in her mouth only made her hunger worse, but there was no way she could just swallow the entire strip in one go.

Tears streamed down her face as she gnawed fiercely at the meat.

Bok Taejin stared blankly at her, a vague sense creeping in that something wasn’t quite right.

Was the village getting another foodie?

...

The route connecting Hwayang Village to the outside world was still difficult, but thankfully, it always involved going uphill first and then downhill.

Since Bok Taejin was walking empty-handed, he could still keep up with Heo Taehyeon and Im Beomhyeon’s pace.

Today, the village was mostly focused on making meat jerky.

First, the meat had to be cut into large chunks, then combined with wine, vinegar, water, and a mix of many spices.

It was brought to a boil over high heat, then slowly simmered over low heat until the liquid evaporated.

After that, the cooked meat was pounded into shreds with a mallet.

Because of this, the aroma wafting through the village was even more intense than yesterday.

The little girl had been eating all the way home, but even then had only managed to finish two strips of meat.

Now, as they neared the open space in front of the ancestral hall and the savory smell hit her nose, the tears she had just barely managed to stop started streaming again.

Im Beomhyeon clicked his tongue. "She’s been crying this whole time and still has tears left?"

The little girl ignored him.

Once the cart stopped and the cloth bag was put down, she didn’t wait for anyone to carry her—she slid off the cart herself and ran straight toward the chopping block where meat was being pounded.