Chapter 23
Consoling
It was when they were passing the village entrance. The villagers, who were drawing water from the old well, were whispering about what had happened the previous night.
Apparently, it had suddenly snowed yesterday, and everyone returning to the village had slipped and gotten hurt. In a neighboring village, a cart had overturned into a ditch, but fortunately, everyone survived.
So Yookrang recalled that he had intended to buy a carriage last night to return to the village.
If she hadn’t insisted on staying overnight at the inn, they too would have been caught in accidents.
So Yookrang was once again at a loss for words.
Thanks to her, they had avoided disaster for the third time already.
When the two of them returned home, the grandmother was sitting in the main hall, fuming.
Yesterday, Gokyo had thought things would finish quickly. They had expected to return before the snow started, so they left after leaving just enough in the pot for one lunch.
But they hadn’t anticipated that So Yookrang would be summoned by the teachers of the Seowon and held there until the snow had fallen heavily.
To avoid the misfortune from the dream, she had no choice but to stay overnight in town with So Yookrang.
The grandmother didn’t know how to make a fire, so she had eaten cold dumplings last night and again this morning. Her teeth nearly got ruined from chewing the cold food.
Gokyo felt frustrated. How could a poor old lady not even know how to light a fire? Was she some kind of noblewoman… or even an empress dowager?
Without a word, Gokyo took out a bag of candied fruit (miljeon) and a box of gyehwago (apricot sweets).
“Today, you can have two more.”
“No! Five!”
“Three.”
“Fine!”
As soon as the grandmother held the miljeon and gyehwago in her hands, she turned around and began devouring them with relief.
The news that Gok Dae-sun, Mr. Joo, and Mr. Ryu had been taken away had already spread widely in the village. Some even came from neighboring villages just to see for themselves.
They didn’t yet know what connection, if any, this had to So Yookrang or Gokyo, so they sought out the elders of the Gok family to inquire.
By noon, two constables arrived at Gokyo’s house.
Mr. Joo and Mr. Ryu had been taken to the government office, questioned rigorously, and had honestly recounted the history of the silver they had found.
The silver had fallen from someone who had been fighting with Gokyo. Blinded by greed, the two had taken the silver and returned to the village before Gokyo arrived.
“Oh, I see. No wonder I didn’t see you two when I returned,” Gokyo said, finally understanding.
The constable asked her,
“How did the fight start?”
Gokyo spoke coldly,
“That person attacked me! They insulted me while underestimating me!”
They had clashed, she had been cursed at, and the person had chased others through the streets with a sickle… Truly remarkable.
If it had been anyone other than Gokyo, the constables would have been suspicious. But they already knew from Mr. Joo and Mr. Ryu’s accounts that she was foolish. A fool’s actions cannot be judged by common sense.
So no one suspected that Gokyo had deliberately waited for the thief, chased him on purpose, and made the two greedy men covet the leftover silver. Even Mr. Joo and Mr. Ryu thought everything was merely coincidence.
Only So Yookrang thought all these coincidences were too perfectly aligned.
“Could that person really have been a thief? What happened to them in the end?”
the constable asked.
“They ran away,” Gokyo said, spreading her hands.
“Do you still remember the man’s face?” the constable asked again.
“Well… how did he look… hmm…”
Gokyo traced her memory and gestured to sketch the thief’s face. Another constable, a court artist, drew the thief according to her description.
“Like this?”
“I’m not sure…”
Gokyo frowned.
At that moment, So Yookrang came out holding a portrait.
Gokyo’s eyes lit up.
“Yes! This is the person!”
The constables and the artist exchanged awkward glances. It felt humiliating that a government artist could not match the skill of a mere scholar.
With the portrait in hand, the government office quickly resolved the case.
However, Mr. Joo and Mr. Ryu were not immediately released. When asked initially where the silver had come from, they insisted it was money earned from selling local products.
Since the amount was substantial and they had lied, they were charged with embezzlement. They were fined twenty nyang of silver and received thirty lashes.
Gok Dae-sun also had to suffer punishment because his biological mother and second aunt had committed such disgraceful acts, which was seen as a blemish on the family’s reputation.
This incident finally damaged the Gok family’s foundation. Losing forty nyang of silver in fines and the prestige Dae-sun had worked hard to build crumbled in an instant. For a while, no one would have the strength to pick on the family again.
Gokyo, happy, ate half a bowl more for dinner.
That afternoon, snow fell briefly again. It didn’t affect walking, but it was slightly cold. When So Yookrang arrived home, his hands were frozen stiff.
Gokyo quickly brewed ginger tea and handed it to him.
Even so, he didn’t rush to drink it. His manner was graceful and noble, from deep within his bones.
Gokyo stared at him without blinking.
“Why?”
He turned his head and asked.
Gokyo was caught looking at him, but she smiled warmly without awkwardness.
“No, drink it. I’ll go cook!”
She brought out the warmed food from the pot and called the grandmother to eat together.
Halfway through the meal, an unexpected visitor arrived.
“I’ll go open the door,” Gokyo said, setting down her bowl and spoon.
“I’ll go,” So Yookrang said, rising with his cane before she could.
“Finish your meal,” the grandmother said to Gokyo.
Although in the grandmother’s eyes So Yookrang was her true nephew and Gokyo only the granddaughter-in-law, she never showed favoritism.
Gokyo continued eating while So Yookrang unlatched the door.
The person outside wasn’t a villager. To their surprise, a young master and his servant were standing there.
The young master’s clothing was ornate and dignified, clearly marking him as a wealthy man.
So Yookrang was somewhat startled by this unexpected figure. Naturally, the young master and his servant were surprised too; they had come to find the Gok family’s lady and hadn’t expected a boy to open the door.
Moreover, the boy wore the pristine white uniform of Cheonhyang Seowon, radiating an untainted, pure aura. His features were refined, almost like a painting.
To see such a beautiful boy in this impoverished mountain village… the master and his servant were both stunned.
The young master spoke.
“May I ask… is this the house of Lady Gokyo?”
“Who are you? Why are you looking for my wife?” So Yookrang asked coldly.
“Wife?”
The young master was flustered again.
“I am, Sojin…”
“Sojin, young master?”
Gokyo had approached and looked at the young master outside the door with a strange gaze.
“Why are you here?”
Sojin was so shocked he almost ran away.
“Why I am here—that’s for me to ask!” Gokyo continued.
“This is our house. If I’m not here, where else would I be?”
“So you are…”
Sojin stopped mid-sentence, realizing something, and his eyes widened.
“So you are Lady Gokyo?”
Gokyo raised her eyebrows and touched her chin.
“You didn’t even know who I was.”
The original owner of this body had lingered here for so long, yet he didn’t recognize her.
So Yookrang’s expression suddenly turned cold. He looked at Sojin with icy eyes, then entered the house without looking back.
“Ah…”
For some unknown reason, the husband was angry!
Only then did Sojin notice So Yookrang’s leg ailment. How could such a handsome and refined boy have married this foolish woman…? Ah, it was because he was lame.
“Why did you come to our house?” Gokyo asked in a cold, flat tone.
Sojin noticed something new. The fervor he had previously inspired in the fool was gone. Moreover, the fool no longer looked foolish at all.
“State your business, or leave. I won’t see you out,” Gokyo said, starting to close the door.
Sojin regained his composure and grabbed the closing door.
“Did you perhaps pick up a letter?”
The silver in his bundle had been taken by Mr. Joo and Mr. Ryu, but the letter was missing.
It might have been dropped on the road, and even the constables hadn’t found it. Then he remembered the Gok family’s young lady present at the scene. Perhaps she had picked it up.
The constables hadn’t told him that the Gok family’s lady was the fool from Cheongcheon Village. Had they, Sojin wouldn’t have come looking in person.
Gokyo was surprised to hear Sojin speak. Honestly, she hadn’t expected the lost item to be his. In her dream, she only saw So Yookrang. What use was it to remember the appearance of the person who lost the item?
But the letter was indeed in her hands.
She turned, entered the room, and brought the letter back out.
“This, you mean?”
Sojin’s eyes lit up.
“So you did pick it up! But why didn’t you tell the constables?”
Gokyo spread her hands in mock exasperation.
“They didn’t ask me.”
Of course… the constables had forgotten to ask.
“Here.”
Gokyo handed him the letter. Sojin took it quickly. It was sealed with lead and showed no sign of being opened.
The joy of recovering the lost item instantly changed Sojin’s attitude toward her. Any foolishness she had previously displayed had simply been due to lack of clarity, not malice. She was a good lady who wouldn’t claim others’ belongings as her own.
“Thank you so much!” Sojin said sincerely.
Gokyo glanced at him sideways and replied nonchalantly,
“Is that all the thanks you have?”
Sojin was stunned.
Gokyo smiled faintly.
“Nothing tangible? For example, silver?”
Sojin froze on the spot.
Where had the previous lady, who didn’t covet lost wealth, gone?
A quarter of an hour later, Gokyo came in with one hundred nyang of silver.
This was three times more than what Mr. Joo and Mr. Ryu had taken. And since Sojin had willingly given it, it was fair and legitimate!
“What about my husband?” Gokyo asked the grandmother.
The grandmother pursed her lips toward So Yookrang’s room.
Gokyo pushed open the door. So Yookrang was working with a solemn expression.
Gokyo gently placed the silver she had obtained—no, acquired—on his desk.
But So Yookrang didn’t even glance at it.
Gokyo whispered softly,
“Are you angry?”
So Yookrang turned his back and still didn’t respond.
This contrast between his exterior and interior charm was too cute to Gokyo.
She approached, bent slightly, and whispered into his ear.
“Even though I was young, how could I have been so blind? He was so ugly…”
So Yookrang’s eyelashes twitched slightly. Her breath brushed against his earlobe from being so close.
Gokyo whispered gently and calmly.
“I didn’t know it was his letter when I picked it up. After picking it up, I forgot all about it. That person just came to get the letter, so I gave it and tricked him out of a hundred nyang.”
All of So Yookrang’s previous displeasure vanished with that one sentence.
She even tricked Sojin—he must have truly given up on her.
In truth, So Yookrang had no reason to be angry. They were never truly a married couple, and he had always planned to leave her and this place eventually.
So in the past, he had never cared what she and Sojin did, and that should still be the case.
The only thing he couldn’t explain was why he had been briefly upset earlier.
Gokyo gently consoled him.
“Don’t be angry. From now on, you won’t even look at that person.”
“Look or not, do as you please,” So Yookrang said coldly.
Gokyo smiled faintly and whispered in his ear.
“You’re more handsome than that person.”
“……”
