Chapter Text
Chung Myung had a fever.
The fever started in the late evening after the short victory feast.
Tang Pae said it is given, even though the foreign Qi residing inside Chung Myung's body show no harm, how could a human body feel comfortable when something intrudes and remains inside it?
Additionally, even though it seemed harmless now, it didn't mean it would remain the same in the future. It must be removed, but even the Tang's successor didn't know how, it could only be resolved thoroughly once they went back to Shanxi.
Tang Pae brushed the makeshift tent's door to the side as he walked in. Hye Yeon was sitting next to Chung Myung, he was busy changing the compressed towel on Chung Myung's head.
Walking toward the other side of Chung Myung, Tang Pae sat down and reached for Chung Myung's wrist. His point and middle finger pressed on a certain point and his burrow slightly frowned. Hye Yeon asked, "How is he?"
Tang Pae shooked his head, "His Qi is stable, or to be exact, his Qi and the other Qi seems to... attracted to each other. This causes the Qi flow in his body experiencing minor disturbance, like blood having difficulty to flow normally, causing fever."
That was all Tang Pae could deduce from examining surface level. To make a more accurate examination, he will need to inject a tiny amount of his own Qi; but in such a situation, he feared that it might cause complexion, giving forth another situation, so he did not dare to take such a risk.
If his father, Tang Gunak, is here, perhaps this can be easily resolved.
Hye Yeon softly sighed. "Tang-nim, I'm afraid we might have to stay for another night if Dojang's fever doesn't subside."
Hye Yeon's implication was that they can move the sick and wounded back home because, although some were severely injured, the injury was caused in the body; while Chung Myung was in his Qi itself. Any disturbance could lead to serious consequences that no one dared to imagine.
Tang Pae made a sound of acknowledgement. "I'll inform Green Forest King about this."
***
Chung Myung had a dream.
It was a dream that felt so foreign yet so familiar to him.
In that dream, he was neither Chivalrous Sword, nor Plum Blossom Sword Saint. He was not even “Chung Myung”.
***
"Cheon-hyung, Myung-hyung, are we really doing this?"
A child behind him whispered as 'Chung Myung' in the dream laid down on the soil, hiding behind the overgrown bushes.
The child was thin, ragged, looking malnourished, yet his eyes were bright, brimming with life despite his question filled with uncertainty.
Chung Myung looked at the other child beside him. His skin was pale, his lips were red as blood, his hairs were long; he looked lifeless, with a face showing the hint of coldness.
The child beside Chung Myung said, "It is okay. If we run fast enough from Uncle Yoo, we'll be able to escape without getting beaten. Ah-Myung and I will protect you."
The child who was called as Cheon-hyung had a clear voice, calm and unperturbed.
"Yeah," Myung-hyung or Chung Myung answered. He wanted to exclaim it loudly; however, remembering that they were hiding to steal vegetables from Uncle Yoo's field, he retained his voice from speaking too loud. "Remember to run back home quickly when you hear the signal. We'll protect you, so don't look back!"
The younger child behind him didn't speak anything anymore. They watched Uncle Yoo, an old man of his later age, hold a makeshift watering can, showering the vegetables as needed.
Uncle Yoo looked visibly happy, seeing his vegetables were growing well. In a few days to come, most of it should be ripped. He should have enough to stockpile for winter and even sell it to make some money to save.
Both of his sons had a steady job in the town, occasionally coming back home with money, so he could actually live without worry. In fact, he actually did not even need to sell these vegetables, or even grow them. But he was and had been a farmer. He thought it was better to do something rather than laying at home, waiting for the end of his time to come.
With a smiling face full of joy, Uncle Yoo shook the remaining water inside the can. Seeing there was no more inside, he walked to the well right beside his home, showing his back to the three kids hiding behind the bushes.
The moment when Uncle Yoo's body bent forward to retrieve water, Chung Myung gave a signal to the other two children and they charged into the fields.
They weren't discreet at all, and Uncle Yoo, having been a farmer for so long, was obviously familiar with the abrupt rustling leaves.
The sound of little thieves coming to steal his vegetable!
"Quick! Dig the potato out!" Chung Myung shouted, knowing he couldn't fooled Uncle Yoo for so long.
The longer they stayed, the more starved they would be, the less energy they would have.
Plus, Uncle Yoo was an experienced farmer. When he tended his vegetables, he would often stroll around the fields. Therefore, there was no 'perfect time’ to steal. They could only choose the most probable time.
"You little thieves!" Uncle Yoo immediately threw his watering can away. He grabbed the broom near him and rushed toward the children.
But the three children's hands were quick. They have been living like this for years, so in no time, their little arms were full of potatoes.
"Run!" Seeing Uncle Yoo coming for them, Cheon-hyung shouted to the others and spun to where they came from.
The youngest child heeded the signal and had already made a run for it, with Chung Myung following closely behind.
"Thieves! Thieves! Give my potato back! How dare you!"
The shouts attracted the nearby neighbors, but no one came to stop the children. They only looked at them with a complex and resigned look.
In these time, thief and robbery was the norm. The world under heaven had yet to unite into one, wars erupted all over the places, and the commoners struggled to get by. Most people didn't have the energy to help another.
Normally, being an adult, Uncle Yoo should easily outrun the three children, but he had fallen from his donkey a couple weeks ago, causing his mobility to suffer a bit.
"You have so much, so share some with little beggars like us, won't you!" Chung Myung shouted back. Without waiting for Uncle Yoo's response, the three children's figures disappeared from the village.
Uncle Yoo was huffing, struggling to breath. Another elder with gray hair shook his head after watching everything take place. He was watering his vegetables at his front house, where Uncle Yoo was standing to catch his breath.
"Why don't you just let it go? The children didn't take that much either."
In fact, how much can a child hold in their two arms? Even though there were three of them, the amount that they took was roughly what a young adult could take; it was not much considering how much plot Uncle Yoo had.
Uncle Yoo glared at him and spat, "Then why don't you foster them as your children? Seeing how you like them so much!"
As a matter of fact, the three children was beggars known to the village. They would often come to beg for food, sell mountain harvest that they retrieve, and sometimes steal. Though, they will only steal from relatively 'well-off' villagers, and the amount of stolen vegetables couldn't be accounted much.
The elder in front of Uncle Yoo was one such villager. He was once a target, but when he saw it was only children, his heart softened and he decided to share his vegetable with them.
Even though the world was thrown to chaos, it didn't mean it was filled with bad people. Goodness still exists, although in rarity.
The elder softly sighed and said no more, heading back inside his house.
***
The childrens ran back to their 'home' which was no other than a cave located in the hills behind the village.
Chung Myung, Cheon-hyung and the youngest child sprawled inside the cave, panting as they collected their breath, but their face was evidently beaming with a smile.
They had enough food for the coming day!
Although what they brought wasn't much, and could only last for a week or so, at least they don't have to sleep with an empty stomach anymore.
"I say, Ah-Min, you always run so fast," Chung Myung said to the younger child, who had seated up and busied counting the potatoes they had brought home.
Ah-Min grinned sheepishly when he heard that. "Still, I can't beat Cheon-hyung. I used to laugh at his name, 'Cheonma', which means heavenly horse... What kind of parent named their own child a horse? Turns out, it is because he can run so fast."
Cheonma had also busied himself; he was pulling layers of soft green leaves they had gathered before, diligently placing the potato that Ah-Min had split on the leaves, then warping them."I'll go bury the remaining somewhere else."
Chung Myung stood up, "I'll help you. Ah-Min can start preparing the potatoes left, we also need to refill our energy."
Although they had a place they could call 'home’, it was no more than a cave they claimed for themselves. Anyone who found this place could easily go in and steal their things, so they cultivate the habit of splitting and burying their foods and other importants things to many different spots that only the three of them know.