She couldn't risk ruining her friend's chances of marriage with baseless rumors.
A-Qing went on the offensive to prevent any future trouble.
"Ooh, is that from personal experience? You seem quite experienced in matters of love between men and women, huh?"
"Uh… I heard it from my uncle."
"If things went as you said, I'd just laugh it off. But what if my friend already has someone else in mind?"
"Huh? Huh?"
"Words once spoken can't be caught and they spread like wildfire. If a rumor starts, won't my friend be unable to meet His fated one later
"That…"
"And then what if my friend grows old and ugly alone, bitterly reminiscing about the past, thinking, 'Ah, if only Elder Brother hadn't talked so much back then, I wouldn't be so lonely without a wife or children, forced to cook for myself'? How do you plan to take responsibility for that?"
"Good heavens! I apologize!"
Hwangbo Un-cheok crumbled under A-Qing's attack.
"My brother! I apologize to you too! Your Elder Brother was so meddlesome, I almost made you grow old and lonely all by yourself!"
Peng Daesan tilted his head.
"Why do I feel annoyed receiving an apology? And it feels like this situation has happened before."
"Elder Brother Peng, that's called déjà vu. It's when your Upper Dantian breathes and momentarily foresees possibilities. This aligns with what Buddhism calls the Heavenly Eye, knowing future lives, and the Knowledge of Past Lives, knowing previous incarnations. When these are sublimated into the Three Enlightenments, it's the beginning of a person freely handling déjà vu with their own abilities…"
"I'm going crazy. Seriously."
Zhuge Yi-hyeon interjected, his lips moving at super-speed, because a topic he knew about had come up. Yes, this guy was exactly like this.
Just then, A-Qing sprang to her feet.
"Where are you going?"
"Going to take a shit."
Peng Daesan rubbed his forehead.
Is she really crazy?
"Oh, what an outspoken Young Lady!"
"…Can you really call that outspoken?"
"I don't know!"
After A-Qing left. Hwangbo Un-cheok changed the subject.
"Anyway, it's a good thing! Little Brother Peng, you're also going to Mount Hua, right? Then we can travel together from now on!"
"Are you going to Mount Hua too, Elder Brother Hwangbo?"
"Of course! Why else would I be here?!"
The Hwangbo family wasn't one of the Five Great Families, but it was among the Ten Great Families of the Central Plains. This implied that the opening of the Severing Sword Wall had been extended to the Ten Great Families. What incident required borrowing the power of the Ten Great Families?
Perhaps something unusual was happening in the jianghu.
Putting those thoughts aside, something quite unusual was currently happening behind the teahouse.
◇─◇────◆─◈─◆────◇─◇
One of the things A-Qing absolutely couldn't tolerate in the Central Plains Jianghu was the outhouses.
But A-Qing was helpless.
What could she do if she couldn't tolerate them? She couldn't exactly fight an outhouse.
But she wouldn't tolerate it forever! Later, when she became a supreme master and held the Jianghu in her hands, she would carry on the legacy of former Suwon Mayor Shim Jae-deok, founder of the Korea Toilet Association and the World Toilet Association, and lead the modernization of Central Plains outhouses.
Her ambition was grand, but it didn't solve the immediate crisis. A matter of human dignity, it was—
"Please be clean. Please, please…"
A dirty outhouse killed a person's soul. A-Qing steeled herself and grabbed the outhouse door.
That's when it happened.
"You."
A-Qing turned around at the cold voice.
A beautiful woman, who looked like a villainess, was pointing a finger at A-Qing. On either side of her stood two men with sinister expressions. She was clearly a villainess with thugs.
But one should not discriminate based on looks alone. Perhaps she was a kind person suffering due to her vicious-looking face.
A-Qing checked her karma instead of her looks.
-498. To her left, -621, -455.
Ah. She was a piece of shit, alright.
As expected, physiognomy is science! The essence of statistics, perfected over 2,000 years! In modern terms, it was 2,000 years of big data.
A-Qing didn't hold back in front of villains. Even if it was a beautiful woman.
But A-Qing was currently facing a major crisis.
It was a matter of dignity, the possibility that the outhouse might be dirty.
Before opening the outhouse door, the inside the outhouse it may be disgusting and have shit inside or it may be completely clean.
This is called Schrodinger's shit, or mixture, and its indeterminate state becomes fixed in reality based on the observer's observation.
Humanity has long desired to overcome this chaos.
The belief that good deeds bring blessings was the result of that desperate effort.
In modern times, that methodology evolved into reading cryptocurrency graphs to fix the future superposition state of rising and falling to the electronic side, or pulling gacha in games while looking at the photos of the games developer and listening to auspicious music.
A-Qing also believed in such superstitions.
If a kind demeanor could greet an even cleaner outhouse, A-Qing could be polite even to villains.
"If it's a small one, you can go first."
"What the hell is she talking about?"
"A big one's a no-go. But if you're really desperate and confident you can finish it in one go…"
The beautiful woman shrieked at the continued madness.
"You! Do you know who I am to be so disrespectful?"
People spoke with their expressions. A-Qing's expression said, How the fuck would I know that?
Not the woman, but the man to her right, answered.
"This is the Young Lady of the Black Shadow Society. You, a mere nobody, shouldn't even dare to make eye contact with her."
A-Qing heard it in one ear and let it out the other.
If you can't make eye contact with them, they must be Medusa or the Gorgons.
Or the late Michael Jackson.
A-Qing was confident she'd faint like a fan from his era if she made eye contact with Michael Jackson.
"Oh, right. Is it the part where you're too shy to reveal your identity yourself?"
"This—!"
"Young Lady, calm down. There's no need to engage with someone like that directly. If a commotion breaks out, wouldn't the Young Master find out?"
"Hmm, yes. Nogal."
The vicious Young Lady of the Black Shadow Society gestured with her chin. The villain (the one on the right earlier), called Nogal, tossed a pouch. The jingle of coins could be heard. It landed uncannily at A-Qing's feet, indicating he'd done this more than once.
"Take that and disappear."
A-Qing swiftly picked it up and checked inside. Silver coins, and exactly one gold one. A smile spread across A-Qing's face.
My god, throwing an entire coin purse just to get me to give up the outhouse? Is this the dignity of the rich?
Of course, it couldn't just be a simple concession. She suspected it was a payment for silence.
It would certainly be a bit, no, very embarrassing for a high-ranking young lady to be seen going in and out of an outhouse. Or perhaps she had severe constipation.
"Oh, my apologies, I didn't recognize a noble lady. I saw nothing at all. Please take care, Young Lady."
A-Qing bowed deeply at the waist and retreated.
◇─◇────◆─◈─◆────◇─◇
This is what it meant to return in glory.
A-Qing straightened her grand chest, beamed a bright smile, and walked back triumphantly.
All three men avoided her gaze. They knew where A-Qing was coming from.
A-Qing interpreted their averted gazes differently.
They were all men together, so they must have been discussing something naughty. A-Qing liked naughty stories too.
How dare they discuss such important matters without me!
However, she knew that naughty stories were inherently awkward to share with people you weren't close to.
She could only bear her disappointment.
Instead, A-Qing proudly pulled out her coin purse.
She even opened it to the mouth for them to see.
Peng Daesan peered in; it wasn't much money.
It was less than a day's allowance for the heir of one of the Five Great Families.
Her being so triumphant over such a small sum was a little cute.
Suddenly, a shiver ran down Peng Daesan's spine, and he froze.
What was that just now?
While Peng Daesan faced cosmic horror, A-Qing proudly declared,
"Look at this. I earned some money."
"No, Elder Sister."
"Elder Sister?"
"If you're Elder Brother Peng's friend, wouldn't that make you my Elder Sister?"
The title "Elder Sister" felt particularly unfamiliar. But it was still better than "Young Lady," she supposed.
"Ooooh. Then I'm gonna speak comfortably, okay?"
"What do you mean? How did you earn such a sum from going to the outhouse?"
"Someone gave it to me? They were in a hurry for the outhouse and asked me to give way.
And they gave me money, so why not? I'm going again later."
"Oh, dear. How desperate must they have been…"
Zhuge Yi-hyeon's voice trailed off. Even to Zhuge Yi-hyeon, the pampered heir of the Zhuge family, it was indeed a small sum, less than a day's allowance. But he knew it was too much to casually throw away for a single outhouse visit. Income and financial sense were different things, after all.
Just then, the little guy, Hwangbo Un-cheok, interjected.
"Young Lady, taking advantage of someone's desperate situation for personal gain is not the right thing to do."
"But they were a noble from a super rich family? I'm the one who's desperate. I'm the one mooching off my friend's kindness just to eat and drink because I have no money."
"Regardless of wealth, isn't it true that you took an unfair advantage?"
"Come on, how can you separate wealth from it? Then, Young Great Hero? What if you were about to shit your pants right now?"
"That's…"
"If you, Young Great Hero, shit your pants, how would the world see you? Of course, they wouldn't say it to your face, but wouldn't they mock you behind your back, calling you 'Great Poop Hero' or 'Little Poop Hero'?"
"Uh, that…"
"Wouldn't dignity be a social standing, and soiling your pants an irreversible, severe damage, a lifelong brand that can never be erased?"
"That's certainly…"
"So, I essentially preserved a value in her life more precious than life itself, and her expression of gratitude for that… sniff, only one gold coin? Wouldn't that mean I was the one who was taken advantage of?"
"Certainly, one gold coin is a bit… low."
"But her life was hanging by a thread, and she might have made a mistake in her desperation. Since she handed over the whole purse, she probably gave all she had, right? So I shouldn't blame her for the meager amount."
A-Qing rattled off her arguments. Huangbo Un-cheok replied with a serious expression.
"Indeed! Young Lady's generosity is as vast as the sea! I have made another great mistake!"
Zhuge Yi-hyeon, beside him, also expressed admiration.
"Amazing, Elder Sister! To naturally lead a pile of bullshit, through leaps of logic, to the level of undeniable truth! And yet, you naturally elevate yourself so brazenly, it's truly unpredictable, ever-changing! A splendid debate that has reached the realm of 'Shift the Flower, Graft the Tree'!"(It means secretly swapping something without others knowing.)
A-Qing was renowned for her ability to read others, even before her military service.
She was adept at probing and poking just enough to gauge where the line was and how far she could take it, truly standing at the very pinnacle of these studies.
She was a giant among men. Even though she was a mere private, she was able to casually joke and laugh with Corporal Kim, the disciplinarian of their squad who was known for his temper being comparable to a mad dog.
And that giant now stood tall from her seat.
"Elder Sister? Why are you suddenly…?"
"Why do you think? I have unfinished business to take care of."
"Ah."
Zhuge Yi-hyeon's face flushed.
A-Qing exited through the back door of the teahouse. As fate would have it, she encountered the grateful person she had met earlier.
The woman trembled, pointing a finger.
"You, you bitch! How dare you ridicule me?!"