Episode 108. Pheasant instead of Chicken
Why are you waiting so long to die?’
The fireman’s mind suddenly became complicated.
‘To survive, I have to be strong first, and then I have to get help from strong people, but in the end, when Jojo gets absolute power, he can’t refuse when called. Unless I have the strength to refuse Cao Cao’s call, it’s best to be in a faraway place where he can’t come even if he calls.’
The painter gathered his thoughts after a while.
“Mr. Hwabu.”
While doing so, the servant called the fireman.
“yes.”
“The Vice-Chancellor wants us to have dinner together.”
“Oh yeah. All right.”
After a while, the painter went to Gajujeon and had dinner with Hwang Wan. Hwang Wan could only eat porridge-based food, but his expression looked almost like he was eating a delicacy.
“I never thought I’d be alive to eat food like this.”
“If you only eat porridge for Dalpo, you will be able to eat normal food after that.”
“I guess so. But I didn’t open a few spoons, but I was full right away.”
“Because the stomach is cut off, you will feel full quickly. It is recommended to eat five to six small meals a day like this.”
“I already eat like that. By the way, I heard that the city doctors and Shinui called the Hwa-bu councilor Hwa-ta?”
“Ah yes. How did it come to be called that?”
“Hehe, you should be called Hwata enough. Not to mention cancer.”
“We still lack a lot.”
“They treated me for a breach… but something is missing. It is by no means exaggerated that poets call it Hwa-ta.”
“I know that, but I’m embarrassed to accept it.”
“How old did you say you were this year?”
“Sixteen.”
“To ride at sixteen… What a knight. One of the best talents I’ve ever seen. There really isn’t a lot of people.”
“It’s an overstatement.”
“You don’t have to be humble. Anyway, now that I’m able to behave properly, I’m going to enter the palace within a few days and see Your Majesty. Is there any official position you want? He is good at medicine, so it would be nice to become a city doctor.”
“I still want to see medicine and patients in the world. I will remember the favor of the Grand Chancellor as a favor.”
“Heh heh, I expected it, but… It’s amazing to look at it. I didn’t know anyone would turn down this opportunity. But think one more time. Opportunity doesn’t come every time.”
“I am only sixteen now. I don’t want to be confined in the imperial palace yet.”
Hwang Wan hesitated for a moment at the fireman’s answer. And after a while, he smiled with a slightly strange expression.
“You don’t want to be confined in the imperial palace… Is the imperial palace too small for you to play in?”
“It doesn’t mean that. How narrow is the imperial palace, the center of the world? It’s just that my greed for treating and solving patients is excessive.”
“That’s why the imperial palace is narrow.”
“I apologize.”
“I can’t force you to give me an official position even though I don’t like it. By the way, at sixteen, you wouldn’t have started a family yet.”
“yes.”
“There are many pretty children among my granddaughters. Do you have any plans to make a relationship with your family?”
“yes?”
At Hwang An’s sudden words, the painter opened his eyes in a sigh of relief.
‘What kind of marriage is this all of a sudden?’
As the painter seemed to be taken aback, Hwang An urged him once again.
“How are you? Isn’t this also an opportunity you will never have again?”
“Oh, how could I be so greedy? I plan to travel around the world for at least ten years to learn and learn medical techniques and experience new diseases. How can a wandering doctor like me build a relationship with Taewi’s family?”
“Are you denying this? her! Ah- Come to think of it, Seong Su-sin’s daughter is quite pale, but if it’s because she has a heart for her, then I don’t have to worry about it. It’s just a matter of taking my granddaughter as my first wife and taking my daughter of trust as my second wife.”
“Tae Tae-wi. Pyeonseon Sojeo is just my disciple. I do not harbor any ill will.”
For a moment, Huang Wan laughed.
“Rep. Hwabu, no Hwa-ta… Are you a eunuch?”
“yes! Could it be?”
“Then why do you have no heart?”
“My disciple is just a disciple.”
“What is it? i get it. Anyway, I’ll take my granddaughter as my main wife, and a second wife is fine.”
“I really intend to focus only on medicine.”
“Hehe, I hate this, I hate that too… Well, I’m not asking you to do it right away, so think about it slowly.”
“Yes ah yes.”
The painter returned to the lodging after a very uncomfortable meal.
And from the next day, whenever I stopped by Hwanggajang, I could see sojus of the same age as the fireman wandering around the entrance of Gajujeon.
The painter didn’t pay attention, but the appearance of constantly trying to look good to the painter continued for a while.
* * *
It had been about a month and a half since Hwabok was recommended as a filial piety and received education along with other court ladies in the imperial palace.
‘It’s too late to leave the school today!’
So far, there have been only three times that I have been discharged at the latest while receiving education. All the others slept in the dormitories provided in the palace.
Hwabok shook his head as he looked at the administrative documents piled up in front of him.
These were the documents that needed to be sorted out and inspected today.
I glanced to the side and there were similar amounts of paperwork piled up in front of the other guests. However, some of them were in the process of hoarding and disposing of very small amounts on very rare occasions.
They are the ones who will retire on time.
The difference in the amount of documents is because doctors in charge of education discriminate against each other.
Those who were the sons of the powerful or those who paid bribes.
Even though they process such a small amount, they are highly evaluated, but even if they work to death all night, their evaluation is not as good as them.
‘Since the doctors who should be honest are so rotten, I can understand it without looking elsewhere.’
Hwabok calmed the rising dissatisfaction with a long sigh.
Now is not the time to complain. If you fall out of the eyes of the doctors, the opportunity your younger brother has worked so hard for may be blown away. So now you have to be patient.
‘I will never be like you. And when I gain strength, I will definitely kick out all of you guys.’
Hwabok endured the boiling anger and moved her hands and feet diligently to organize the documents.
While Hwa-bok and other members of the family were doing their homework, Hwa-bok could hear the doctors chatting and chatting.
“Did you see that Dr. Choi entered the palace today?”
“Yeah, it’s almost half done.”
“How can it become so halves in just two months… It must be that halves are a very scary disease.”
“It’s not scary, it’s a disease that kills if you catch it.”
“But Taewi-nim said he fixed half of it. A lawmaker who said he came from that defeated country. Is it real?”
“Ah, how can you fix half? And if it was fixed, Taewi would have become half that way. Since they couldn’t fix it, the camouflages would support them next to each other.”
“is it? Well, it’s not a disease half can cure.”
“Perhaps Taewi-nim came to say his last goodbyes to His Majesty, knowing that he had only a few days left to die.”
“…..”
Hearing the conversation between the doctors, Hwa-bok could predict that the doctor from the defeated country would be his younger brother Hwa-bu.
‘Wonhwa couldn’t fix half of Taewi? No, if I couldn’t fix it, there’s no way I’d be this fine.’
Hwabok tried to think positively.
“omg! What are you doing to this shabby place, Inspector Jeong?”
At that time, one of the eunuchs appeared after walking around with several subordinate eunuchs.
When Jung appeared, the doctors who had been chatting with each other quickly got up and bowed their heads.
“Is there a person named Hwabok among the ladies here?”
“Yes.”
“Call me.”
“What are you doing?”
“Taiwi wants to see you.”
“This is Tae Taewi. All right. Hwabok Nangjung.”
“yes.”
When the hwabok came out from among the ladies, Nae-gwan Jeong looked it up and down.
“Are you Hwa-ta’s older brother?”
“Are you angry? My brother has only two pots and a flower pot.”
“That fireman is angry.”
“yes? What do you mean…..”
“Taewi is looking for you, so follow me.”
As Hwa-bok followed the officer with a bewildered expression, the doctor and trainees looked at him with eyes full of questions.
“Didn’t you just say it was a fire?”
“Right, I think the rumor that a member from a defeated country corrected Taewi-nim’s class is true. Hwabok was also recommended by the statue of defeat.”
“ah! That’s right. If Hwa-bok’s younger brother really fixed Tae-wi’s class… then Hwa-bok’s future career path should be considered solid.”
“Damn it! It takes a lot of assignments for this.”
The expressions of the doctors who had been whispering quickly changed to trembling.
“If I knew it would be like this… I would be nice to you…”
* * *
“Nangjung Hwabok sees Taewi.”
When Hwabok lowered her head, Hwang Wan waved her hand.
“I don’t have to say goodbye very loudly. Come over here and sit down.”
“yes.”
“Naegwan Jeong is out for a while.”
“Yes, sir, then speak.”
When Jung’s inner officer stepped back, Hwang Wan looked at Hwa-bok with an expression as if he were looking at a strange animal.
“Are you Hwa-ta’s older brother?”
“If the Hwa-ta that your Tae-wi-nim talked about is Hwa-bu, then I am his older brother.”
“They have similar faces, but somehow the younger brother, Hwa-ta, seems more like an older brother.”
“yes? What do you mean?”
When Hwabok made a puzzled expression, Hwang Wan smiled.
“You didn’t shrink at all when you faced me, like a guy who raises a smirking serpent in his angry stomach, but you’re so nervous.”
“…..”
“It’s something you don’t have to worry about, so there’s nothing to think about. And it was called with good intentions, so there is nothing to be nervous about.”
“yes.”
“You know that I was treated by Hwa-ta not too long ago, right?”
Hua Fu did not easily get used to the fact that Tae Wei kept calling his younger brother Hua Tuo, but he endured it and nodded his head.
“Yes, I heard and understood what the doctors were talking about today.”
“You heard today? It’s been a while since I had surgery…. I’m still in the middle of the day. I know roughly how it works. That’s great.”
Huang Wan clicked his tongue and continued talking.
“Because I was treated by Hwa-ta and I was grateful, the government official and my granddaughter… no. There is nothing to talk about like this, and I want to help you, my brother, because I am grateful anyway. Is there a government post you want or a prefecture you want to be appointed to?”
gulp.
At Huang Wan’s suggestion, Hwabok unknowingly swallowed dry saliva.
In fact, not everyone who was recommended as a filial piety and received education became a sage.
Only a few became the prefectures, and the rest received appropriate government posts, and those offices varied widely, so they could have been the sire who supervised the white officials, or they could have been doctors who managed only the library.
If you say one word well here, your life can change in the future.
“I want to be bestowed with an official position by His Majesty based on the evaluation of me by the doctors.”
“Are you still ignorant of world affairs? No matter how good you are, it is difficult to become good with your skills. Even if the doctors gave them generous marks, you never know what kind of office you will be offered.”
“I know that much. But even if that were the case, it would be clear that it was a place to serve the Emperor above and to serve the people below.”
“Does that mean you don’t need my help?”
Huang Wan frowned slightly, and Hua Fu hurriedly lowered his head.
“I apologize.”
“Huh! I thought the older brother would be a bit different… How come he looks just like his younger brother.”
“yes?”
“The stubbornness must be similar… I got it. Don’t get involved if you think so. If you ever change your mind later, come see me.”
“yes.”
“You can stop and go.”
“Yes, be healthy.”
When Hwa-bok said goodbye and left, Hwang-wan smiled strangely.
‘I covet my younger brother and I covet my older brother…
‘
“Your crown prince.”
“Go and call Dr. Won.”
“yes.”
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