Chapter 271: Jaseung, Enters the Woodworking Shop
The first place the old man took Lee Jaseung was a butcher shop selling fresh at.
“Didn't you say you needed a hand the other day?”
At the old man's words, a middle-aged woman who was unloading at from a cart at the entrance brightened up.
However, the joy was short-lived; a look of disappointnt flashed across her face as she looked at Lee Jaseung.
“Business hasn't been good at all lately.”
Contrary to her words, the shop behind her was full of custors.
The old man did not press any further.
“Right, everyone is in a slump these days.”
The old man passed several more houses.
A middle-aged man organizing a general store was the first to offer a greeting.
“Didn't you say you needed soone? How about this young man here?”
But the middle-aged man shook his head.
“I have soone promised to co already.”
However, it was clear from his flustered expression that his words were a lie.
Whether it was the woman at the butcher shop or the man at the general store, they were ordinary people who could not hide their true feelings.
“If that's the case, it can't be helped.”
The old man moved his feet again.
Then the little girl whispered from behind.
“Let’s be honest, who would hire a beggar?”
The old man glanced back at his granddaughter.
To the child, who bowed her head and looked sullen in anticipation of being scolded for her rude remark, the old man said.
“Yes, you're right. There is sothing we must do first.”
The old man took Lee Jaseung into a nearby clothing store and bought him a set of clean clothes.
“It's alright, old gentleman.”
“There's no need to feel burdened. Wear it.”
Co to think of it, this was the first ti in his life he had ever been given clothes by soone.
It felt strangely odd.
Once he changed out of his dust-covered clothes, Lee Jaseung's appearance looked completely different.
While the bruises on his face made him look like a brawler, he beca a much more presentable sight than before.
The child gave a thumbs up and laughed brightly.
“Clothes really do make the man.”
The place the old man took Lee Jaseung was a woodworking shop located in a corner of the marketplace.
The Gao Family Woodworking Shop.
When they opened the door and stepped inside, a middle-aged man was sitting and working in a fairly large space.
Tung! Tung! Tung!
The man who was tapping with a wooden hamr glanced up.
He had a muscular, sturdy body and a face that looked like he would have been called quite handso in his youth.
On top of that, he had an impression that seed upright and honest.
“You've co?”
The man gave a polite bow to the old man.
“You said you were short-handed, right? How about this fellow?”
At the old man's words, the man scanned Lee Jaseung from head to toe.
“Very well.”
The man agreed without asking anything else.
It seed he would have readily agreed even if Lee Jaseung had not co in newly bought clothes.
The old man laughed pleasantly in relief.
“Haha, thanks.”
If he had been rejected even here, there would have been no proper place left to introduce him.
What a disgrace it would have been to step forward so confidently only for that to happen.
Lee Jaseung looked around the interior.
The place, filled with the scent of wood, was packed with items made of timber.
On one side, wooden swords were stood up, there was furniture, and even things like wooden dolls.
It was a space that, for so reason, made him feel good.
What the middle-aged man was currently making was a wooden lamp.
The lamp, crafted with a lotus pattern, looked luxurious at a single glance.
The old man spoke on behalf of the middle-aged man to Lee Jaseung.
“Since you have no skills yet, learn the trade while doing odd jobs.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Well, then, we'll be going.”
Lee Jaseung bowed politely.
“Thank you.”
The little girl standing behind them looked at the middle-aged man and said.
“Mr. Gao, that man is a beggar.”
Lee Jaseung said to the child.
“Hey, you! I told you I'm not a beggar.”
The child smiled radiantly.
“I'll co back later, Mr. Beggar. You mustn't steal anything!”
Lee Jaseung ended up wearing an expression that said he couldn't handle her. He could feel a sense of longing in the child's playfulness. The feeling that she had finally t soone to play jokes with after a long ti. The feeling that she had been so lonely all this while. Furthermore, there was even a sense of loneliness that didn't suit a child.
The old man and the child left the place.
As he stood there awkwardly, the middle-aged man spoke bluntly.
“I am Gao Ying.”
“I am Lee Jaseung.”
As soon as the introductions were finished, Gao Ying abruptly pointed to a pile of wood scraps on one side and spoke.
“First, clear away those pieces of wood over there.”
“Alright, got it.”
Thus, Lee Jaseung began work he hadn't even imagined until that morning.
Gao Ying's personality was truly blunt.
Although an hour had passed since the old man and the girl left, the two did not say a single word.
He was silent, and Lee Jaseung also had a silent personality.
The place where the two remained was truly a landscape of silence, where the sounds of carving wood and cleaning were the only things to be heard.
Lee Jaseung finished the cleaning.
Although he pretended not to look, Gao Ying had been watching how Lee Jaseung cleaned.
Lee Jaseung cleaned so neatly that it was truly pleasing.
“Co here.”
Gao Ying called him. Originally, he had intended to observe him for a few days before giving him tasks, but he could roughly tell his personality just by seeing that one cleaning job.
Gao Ying showed Lee Jaseung a demonstration.
“Watch closely.”
He began to slowly wipe a wooden sword with sandpaper.
“You just have to rub it gently along the grain like this. Can you do it?”
“I will try.”
Lee Jaseung took the sandpaper and slowly rubbed the wooden sword.
The rough wooden sword began to turn smooth.
Watching that sight, Gao Ying nodded.
“You're doing well.”
“Thank you.”
“Do the rest of those over there too.”
“Yes.”
Lee Jaseung continued the sanding.
Gao Ying added a word.
“Sanding is the basis of woodworking.”
He emphasized that it was an important task, not just an odd job.
“Yes.”
Lee Jaseung could also guess Gao Ying's personality.
While it would be normal to ask where he ca from or why he ca, Gao Ying did not ask.
Also, since it was the first day, he didn't just give him chores but taught him an important skill.
He wasn't trying to show off, nor did he have any hidden intention.
Gao Ying was simply that kind of man.
A man who just trusts a bastard brought by soone trustworthy, and if he's going to trust him, he does what he can for him.
While walking the blood-soaked path of the Jianghu, Lee Jaseung had always observed and suspected others.
He tried to use them sohow and tried not to be used.
After living such a tight life, eting soone like Gao Ying made his heart loosen and beco comfortable for so reason.
He felt that he had lived far too strictly.
Around evening, as work was finishing, the old man returned to the woodworking shop with his granddaughter.
Lee Jaseung had already heard a brief explanation about the old man from Gao Ying.
The old man was a local known as Elder Cho.
He had a son and daughter-in-law, but he said that lately, the son was sick and lying in bed at ho.
The little lady's na was Cho Somi, Elder Cho's granddaughter.
In Elder Cho's hands were simple dishes and alcohol.
In the hands of Cho Somi, who followed along, there was also food.
“You're new, so we should have a welcoming ceremony.”
A table was set on the floor on one side of the shop.
Elder Cho was a man who, if he was kind, was truly kind, and if he was ddleso, was truly ddleso.
To do this much for soone he t for the first ti was not sothing easily experienced these days.
The four of them sat around eating food and drinking.
Since he was hungry after working half the day, the street food bought from the market was very delicious.
After a round of drinks, Elder Cho asked Lee Jaseung.
“How did you end up drifting all the way here?”
“It just happened that way.”
“Are you alone?”
“No. I ca with a grandmother.”
At the ntion of coming with his grandmother, Elder Cho's eyes went wide.
Thinking they were of the sa age group, a certain interest was felt, and Lee Jaseung thought to himself.
She is a grandmother to you as well, old man.
“Where is she staying?”
“She is in a place about ten li away from here.”
“To keep an elderly person in such a remote place, how could you?”
“It is because she likes quiet places very much.”
“Haha. That's what people say, but in reality, it won't be so.”
Elder Cho clicked his tongue as if he knew the hearts of the elderly well.
Gao Ying tipped his glass in silence until then.
Lee Jaseung filled his cup.
“Have another drink, Elder.”
“Elder, you say! Just call Big Brother Gao.”
“I cannot do that.”
After pondering for a mont, Lee Jaseung spoke.
“Then I will call you Big Brother.”
“Do as you find comfortable.”
He beca the first person to be called "Big Brother" by the unified leader of the Orthodox, Unorthodox, and Demonic factions.
“Big Brother, how did you learn the craft of woodworking?”
Although Lee Jaseung was not an expert, even at a glance, Gao Ying's woodworking skills were so great that he felt it was a waste for them to rot in a place like this.
“Usually people ask when and from whom I learned, but you ask how I ca to learn it.”
“Are they different?”
“It ans you are more interested in '' than in this work. In the end, it ans you have no great interest in this trade.”
Lee Jaseung gave no answer.
Gao Ying had seen through him sharply.
It wasn't just because of things related to woodworking, but because of Lee Jaseung's long-standing experience in trying to grasp the opponent first.
Gao Ying asked with a slightly sharp look in his eyes.
“By any chance, have you learned martial arts?”
Perhaps Gao Ying had learned martial arts in the past, or there was soone who practiced martial arts around him.
Of course, the current Gao Ying was a person with no Inner Qi at all.
Now, no person could deceive Lee Jaseung's eyes and ears.
“I’ve been learning recently.”
When Lee Jaseung answered honestly, not only Gao Ying but also Elder Cho and Cho Somi were startled.
Elder Cho quickly asked.
“From whom? By self-study?”
“No, I am learning from my grandmother.”
“Then that face, is that also?”
“Yes. It happened while sparring with my grandmother.”
Lee Jaseung gave an honest answer.
There was no reason to deceive them, nor were they opponents to be deceived.
Elder Cho asked again.
“Why do you learn martial arts?”
“There is an opponent I must win against at all costs.”
“Who is that?”
Lee Jaseung did not answer.
Then Cho Somi spoke quickly.
“Is it perhaps because of a woman?”
When he again gave no answer, Elder Cho scolded Cho Somi.
“You brat, that's rude.”
Cho Somi pouted her lips, but her eyes were full of curiosity.
Thus, the humble welcoming ceremony of that day ca to an end.
Elder Cho and Cho Somi went back first, and only after Lee Jaseung tidied up the shop did he leave the place.
“Are you going to sleep here?”
Gao Ying was staying in a small room attached to the shop.
“No. I must go back. I will co to see you again tomorrow during the day.”
“I see.”
Lee Jaseung left the woodworking shop.
Walking alone along the unfamiliar path to return to his lodging, a smile ford on Lee Jaseung's lips.
This kind of leisure was truly a long ti coming.
It was also truly a long ti since he had ford a relationship with soone without being so tense.
It was good to talk without formality with a cute child like Cho Somi, and Elder Cho's ddling felt warm.
Gao Ying was also an attractive person.
Suddenly, the thought occurred to him.
Unifying the world is good, and the world's best martial arts are important, but sotis it is also important to just rest deeply without thinking of anything.
For Lee Jaseung, it was truly a rest as sweet as honey.
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