The next turn of events left everyone utterly astonished! Young-Ju wriggled out of her mother's arms, leaped to the ground, and dashed straight toward the prince. Her mother attempted to chase after her, but Min-Jae intervened.
Young-Ju knelt before the weeping prince, gently reaching out to pat his head. Young-Sik looked up at her, his eyes filled with concern. "Uncle Young-Sik? Please don't hurt my father; he's only trying to protect us."
With a warm smile, Young-Sik brushed his hand through Young-Ju's hair. "I would never harm your father. I was just upset... Your name is Young-Ju, right? And you're my niece?"
The girl nodded, her face lighting up with a smile. "Can I give you a hug?" Young-Sik asked, and without waiting for a response, Young-Ju wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry if I frightened you; that wasn't my intention."
Min-Jae approached Young-Sik and his daughter, kneeling to embrace his brother. "Forgive me, brother. I never wanted to leave you or any of you behind."
Hearing his brother's heartfelt words, Young-Sik broke down in tears and held him close. "I've missed you so much, your Highness. I've missed you dearly, brother."
That day, when the sun was shining at its brightest, the family sat down for a hearty feast. Young-Sik, clearly hungry, was gobbling up the roasted chicken as if it were going out of style. "Hey, slow down, brother! There's plenty more food," Min-Jae's wife reminded him with a smile.
"Let him have his fun, Ha-Rin," Min-Jae chuckled, "He needs to eat well to get his strength back."
Young-Sik then looked at Min-Jae's wife and said with a playful grin, "So your name is Ha-Rin! How do you manage to sleep next to this guy with all that snoring? I can hear him from my place, and we're not even neighbors!"
Young-Ju chuckled heartily and pointed her little fingers at his father "Hi! Hi! hi! Father snores loudly whenever! he is sleeping!"
All of them laughed at what Young-Ju said, her innocent voice lit up the place "You remind me of myself when I was your age" Young-Sik told his niece
"Really?" Young-Ju inquired cheerfully
Young-Sik nods with a smile "Did your father tell you that you were named after two of his younger brothers?"
Young-Ju turned to her father with a twinkle in her eyes "Father am I really named after two princes?"
Min-Jae nods to his daughter "Yes, although at the time I didn't knew that I named you after my two brothers. Young-Ju, Young from Young-Sik and Ju from Man-Ju"
"Uncle Young-Sik, where is Uncle Man-Ju and when can I meet him?" The little girl asked the prince enthusiastically.
Young-Sik joyfully answered the girl "He is in the capital now, but I'm sure when the two of you meet, you will have a fun time playing with him" He then shifted his sights to the couple "How did the two of you meet?"
Min-Jae glanced at Ha-Rin "Honey, would you like to take this one?"
Ha-Rin smiled at her brother-in-law "We met when I was only seventeen, but we met in the most unusual of circumstances"
Fifteen years ago, by the banks of the Crystal River, known for its pristine waters, a seventeen-year-old named Ha-Rin was busy washing clothes. As she worked, she caught sight of tattered pieces of fabric being carried by the flowing water. Curiosity piqued, she followed the current and discovered a bloodied and barely dressed man drifting along.
Ha-Rin quickly realized the man was being pulled toward the deep edge of the river by the strong currents. Without hesitation, she stepped into the frigid water, positioning herself to reach him. As he came within her grasp, she summoned all her strength to pull him back to safety on the riverbank.
Once the man lay on solid ground, Ha-Rin gently washed his face, revealing the identity of Prince Seo-Joon. She leaned in close, placing her ear against his chest, and was relieved to hear a faint heartbeat, accompanied by the sound of shallow, labored breaths.
"Father! Mother! Somebody needs our help!" She shouted frantically
A middle-aged man and woman came running, upon hearing Ha-Rin's call for help "What happened who is he?" Ha-Rin's father asked
"I-I don't know I saw him floating down the river, he was on the shallow end so I grabbed him and pulled him to shore" Ha-Rin explained
"He's pale, he must be freezing" Ha-Rin's mother observed
Ha-Rin's father examined the prince's body removed what little clothing he had left and saw four circular wounds and one that looked like a sword thrust. "He's lost a lot of blood; we got to get him back to the village"
"I'll get the horse and cart" Ha-Rin's mother volunteered, running back to the main road
"Stay with him, I'll go help your mother," The old man said, before running off to follow his wife
Ha-Rin though distressed looked at the prince's face, not knowing who he really was "Who are you and what happened to you?"
"My father and mother treated him, once we got back to our home, it's a good thing they were apothecaries" Ha-Rin explained before pausing
Min-Jae continued, "They told me that despite my life-threatening injuries, as you can see, I made an astonishing recovery."
Ha-Rin glared at him, "Should I continue to narrate the events, or do you want to?"
Young-Sik chuckled, "You might want to let sister-in-law handle it unless you're okay with camping outside tonight."
Min-Jae smiled and raised his hands in a gesture of giving in, "Mother has a knack for scaring father," Young-Ju added with a light-hearted laugh.
"As your brother said, several days passed before he woke up, but he was still weak. It took me a few weeks of constant babysitting before he could even sit up" Ha-Rin paused for a minute to catch her breath "When he woke up, he had no idea who he was or what happened to him"
"None of you recognized him as the crowned prince?" He asked inquisitively
"None of us goes to the capital, and even if we did it was just to sell medicines to the local physicians" Ha-Rin explained, She then glanced at Young-Sik "Hey, Want to know the first thing he ever said to me?"
Min-Jae interrupted, finishing his wife's sentence "Are you an angel? Cause if I'm dead I must be in heaven"
Surprised Young-Sik stopped eating and mockingly stared at his brother "Oh my gosh...really? The first thing that came out of your mouth was that cheesy line?"
Ha-Rin reached for her husband's hand "In his defense, I do look like an angel in my younger years, plus he was on some strong medicines before he woke up"
"So how did the two of you end up together?" Young-Sik asked curiously
Ha-Rin continued her tale "He stayed with us, at first he had no idea who he was and where he came from, my father named him Min-Jae,"
"We're back!" Ha-Rin's father called out as he opened the door
His wife greeted them "You look chipper did the two of you do well?" she asked
"Min-Jae did a great job selling all of the medicines," he told his wife "Now we need to collect more, especially wild ginseng"
"Ha-Rin, can you try and hunt for them? They are in season right now, try the hardwood forest" Ha-Rin's mother requested
Ha-Rin shrugged her shoulder "Uhm, Sure, it's just past noon, still early."
She gathered her tools for hunting wild ginseng and was about to leave "I'll go with you" Min-Jae volunteered
"You don't have to, You and Father were up very early, just rest" Ha-Rin protested
"Don't worry about me, I can handle a little lack of sleep" Min-Jae exclaimed with a hint of showboating in his voice
"Suit yourself," Ha-Rin said, she was about to exit the house when she turned around "Just...don't get lost" she added
After a short horse and carriage ride, the two arrived at the edge of the hardwood forest. "How are we going to find wild ginseng?" Min-Jae asked enthusiastically
Ha-Rin explained some of the signs as they trekked into the woods "Look for companion plants like wild yam and bloodroot. They usually require the same conditions to thrive" She explained "Also poison ivy, find a thick patch of poison ivy"
"Do they grow alongside poison ivy?" Min-Jae replied, wanting to clarify the additional instruction
Ha-Rin's face scrunched as if to mock Min-Jae "You're that gullible? Really?"
Instead of being humiliated about it, Min-Jae came up with a flirty response "Only to beautiful angels like yourself" he said with a smile
Ha-Rin scoffed but hidden in that scoff was a tiny smile "We should split up to cover more ground, just remember to harvest only the mature ginsengs, the ones with six to twenty clusters of whitish flowers, and dig carefully" She instructed Min-Jae before they went in opposite directions.
After a long walk, Ha-Rin came across a large group of wild ginsengs. Excitedly she crouched on the ground and started to dig carefully around the roots. She was putting her finds in her sack when she heard a man shout at her "Those ginsengs are ours"
Ha-Rin picked up her bag as she stood up "Excuse me, I got here first!" She told the two men defiantly
"We don't care! Everything on this mountain is ours!" Said the second man with a threatening demeanor
"You know what you can have the rest, I'm leaving" Ha-Rin picked up her digging tools and started to make her way back to the carriage when one of the men blocked her way.
"The ones you got are ours as well, give them to us" demanded the man blocking her
The men lunged for the bag, their hands grasping greedily as they attempted to wrest it from her. In the chaos, Ha-Rin's top tore, leaving her dangerously close to revealing her bare skin.
The two men's eyes sparkled with desire. "We can come to an arrangement, you know. Keep all the ginseng you want... if you're willing to entertain us."
"Piss off!" Ha-Rin shouted, he dropped her bag and tried to make a run for it, but the men were faster and tackled her to the ground "HELP! HELP ME!" She shouted, as she clawed and kicked at her attackers, which only seemed to excite them further
Min-Jae stopped digging when he heard Ha-Rin's cry for help "Ha-Rin?" he stopped what he was doing and ran towards the direction of the scream "HA-RIN WHERE ARE YOU?"