Chapter 50
Xiao Yeong-yeong eventually died while giving birth to the child.
There was nothing they could do. By the time the child came out, Xiao Yeong-yeong had already stopped breathing.
Xiao Cheong-ja sobbed endlessly as he received the child into his arms.
Thankfully, the child was safe.
Just as with Xiao Cheong-ja’s wife, it was a premature birth, so there had been great concern. But the child endured. There had been dangerous moments, yet as though Xiao Yeong-yeong herself were watching over the child, the baby continued to breathe.
Just as Xiao Yeong-yeong had asked, Xiao Cheong-ja devoted himself wholeheartedly to caring for the child.
The baby changed day by day. The wrinkled face smoothed out, and the child began to put on weight. When the baby opened both eyes and looked at Xiao Cheong-ja, he was filled with joy.
But strangely, one corner of his heart remained empty.
In the end, everyone had left.
Xiao Cheong-ja’s parents, his wife, his child, even his younger sister whom he had gone through so much trouble to meet again. All of them. The only one left was the newborn baby in his arms.
At times, Xiao Cheong-ja felt anxious. Would he be able to take good care of this child? Would he be able to keep his promise? What if he made another mistake like before and lost this child too…?
Just as his hands began trembling again…
“Ah-.”
A warm touch reached his finger.
Xiao Cheong-ja looked down. The baby had reached out and was holding his finger.
Suddenly, he remembered the past. The day he had first met Xiao Yeong-yeong. How he had reached out without realizing it, and Xiao Yeong-yeong had grabbed his finger.
And how she had smiled brightly at him.
Just like back then, the baby was smiling at Xiao Cheong-ja.
Xiao Cheong-ja felt something well up inside him.
“Liyeon.”
That was when Xiao Cheong-ja decided on the baby’s name.
Li, meaning to continue, and Yeon, meaning connection or bond.
With the hope that their bond would continue.
“From today onward, your name is Xiao Liyeon. Yeon-ah.”
Xiao Cheong-ja hugged the child tightly. He felt like he was going to cry from the warmth filling his arms.
“This uncle will definitely protect you.”
That was what Xiao Cheong-ja vowed then. Even if it hadn’t been Xiao Yeong-yeong’s request, he would protect this child. Until the day his own life ended, he would protect the child from every pain in this world.
‘I definitely made that promise…’
‘But I wasn’t able to protect you until the end.’
Xiao Cheong-ja looked ahead with eyes filled with regret.
The child who had once been no bigger than his fist had grown this large and was clinging to him. Holding onto his upper body as it threatened to collapse to the ground, the child hugged him tightly.
“Father, Father…”
Xiao Cheong-ja wanted to wipe the tears from the child’s face, which were endlessly flowing. But he had no strength left.
At the same time, he sensed it.
He didn’t have much time left.
Then, what should he say now? What could he say so that this child could endure this harsh world?
Xiao Cheong-ja suddenly vomited blood.
After vomiting out the stagnant blood that had been congesting his chest, breathing became a little easier. Xiao Cheong-ja steadied his breath and slowly continued speaking.
“Yeon… Yeon-ah…”
“Father, don’t speak. Your wound will open. Even now, some golden wound medicine…”
“Do not seek revenge.”
Liyeon stopped breathing for a moment.
“Do not devote your life to my revenge.”
“…….”
“Revenge is futile… If you devote everything to revenge… in the end, there will be nothing left. You will only suffer… for your entire life.”
“Father.”
Liyeon looked at Xiao Cheong-ja with a face that seemed to have so much to say.
Xiao Cheong-ja seemed to understand what Liyeon was thinking and smiled gently.
“Your mother wanted you to be happy.”
“…….”
“She wanted you to see this vast world with your own eyes, to feel it, to experience it. She wanted you to cry, to laugh, to love… and live happily.”
“…….”
“I feel the same.”
Xiao Cheong-ja felt his breathing growing increasingly labored.
‘If only I had a little more time.’
“Somewhere along the way, your happiness became my happiness… When you were sad, I became sad too. When you were hurt, I hurt too.”
“…….”
“I thought I was only taking care of you because of a promise, but somewhere along the way, it became genuine. I genuinely wanted you not to suffer, to live well, to be happy… I wanted to protect you for the rest of my life, but…”
“…….”
“…My child.”
Xiao Cheong-ja struggled to reach out his hand.
Liyeon grasped that hand tightly.
Xiao Cheong-ja remembered that day. The day Liyeon had first held his hand.
“Don’t be, too sad.”
“…….”
“And… don’t be angry either.”
“Father…”
“Choose what will make you happy. Just choose what is best for you.”
Xiao Cheong-ja smiled gently.
“Be happy. Always.”
At the same time, Xiao Cheong-ja saw a strange vision.
Far away, he saw Xiao Yeong-yeong.
She was seventeen years old, just as she had been back then. With an innocent smile spread across her face, she was shouting,
“Brother, you’re here! Come quickly!”
A single tear rolled down Xiao Cheong-ja’s eye.
Xiao Cheong-ja muttered absentmindedly.
“Yeong-ah, I’m sorry. Your brother has been a useless man until the very end. I couldn’t protect your treasure… Still, please understand. I did my best. So now… I want to see you.”
Before he knew it, Xiao Yeong-yeong had approached his feet.
She had now become a mature woman.
Xiao Yeong-yeong embraced Xiao Cheong-ja.
Xiao Cheong-ja slowly closed his eyes.
In his half-sleep, he seemed to hear a voice saying,
‘Thank you.’
He merely smiled.
***
The Head of the Xiao Family was dead.
He had really, truly died.
The Head of the Household had given the young lady a few words of advice. Then, as though seeing a vision, he muttered something incomprehensible before his head drooped.
At the end, the Head of the Household had been wearing a peaceful smile.
I was relieved that his final moments had not been painful.
The young lady cried for a long time afterward.
It was the first time I had ever seen her cry like that, and I didn’t know what to do. Even when she had been suffering because of her illness, she had never cried.
But now, she was sobbing as though she had lost everything.
My heart ached at the sight, but I couldn’t think of anything to say to comfort her. I knew, to some extent, what it was like to lose one’s parents.
So I simply stayed by the young lady’s side.
After a while, the young lady stood up.
She lowered the Head of the Household from her arms. She straightened his disheveled clothes and placed his limp hands over his abdomen.
Then she bowed her head for a moment, as though in silent prayer.
When she raised her head again, her eyes were filled with determination.
“Let’s go.”
I silently nodded.
We began moving through the mountains again.
At first, we headed northeast toward Jiangxi, where we had originally intended to go. But soon, we had no choice but to stop.
There was a masked man blocking the road ahead.
Rather than continue that way, we decided to take the opposite route, even if it meant going considerably farther.
But that plan failed too.
There were masked men there as well.
Here, there, everywhere we went.
There were masked men everywhere.
And there were far more of them than I had expected.
‘…We’re completely surrounded.’
Only then did I realize.
We were already trapped inside the enemy’s encirclement.
Martial artists often called this being trapped in a ‘heavenly net and earthly snare’, didn’t they?
They had blocked every route through the mountains and were slowly tightening the net around us.
It felt as though we had become prey being hunted.
To make matters worse, dawn was gradually approaching.
That was bad for us.
We had at least been able to hide our bodies and escape under the cover of darkness, but once our surroundings became bright, even that would become difficult.
‘It’s only a matter of time before we’re discovered.’
“Did you find their traces?”
“We only found one corpse.”
“They couldn’t have gotten far from there. Chase them!”
Tap, tatak!
The young lady and I were lying flat in the bushes, hiding ourselves.
We had already nearly encountered the masked men several times.
But we had been lucky.
Either we hid before they noticed us, or their attention happened to turn elsewhere.
This time, too, the corpse had diverted their attention.
That corpse must have been the Head of the Household’s.
I felt conflicted.
I was worried about what would happen to the Head of the Household’s corpse, yet at the same time, I was relieved.
Part of me even hoped it could draw their attention for a little longer.
If someone could draw their attention and buy us time.
If even one person could escape because of that…
‘Who?’
For some reason, I thought of the people who had gone ahead of us.
Uncle Hwang, Brother Im, Aso, the Chief Steward, and even the Head of the Household.
They had always stepped forward first whenever danger came.
They never valued their own lives, stepping forward to save everyone else.
And the person who had remained until the very end was me.
Until now, I had always wondered about that.
Why me of all people?
Why was I the one who remained until the end?
What strength did I have?
What could I possibly do?
‘I… ‘There is something I can do.’
Only then did I think I understood their feelings.
Why none of them had hesitated.
Why they had worn such expressions without regret.
“Young lady.”
Could I perhaps be wearing the same expression now?
“Would you like to switch clothes with me?”
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