“Well? Does it suit your taste?”

Tang Gwan, who had been silently staring at his empty cup, held it out.

“Pour me another.”

Smiling, Yeon Wi refilled his cup.

Tang Gwan emptied it almost the instant it was filled. He said nothing, but it was obvious he liked it quite a bit.

“Clan Lord Yeon, have one yourself.”

Tang Gwan filled Yeon Wi’s cup.

Yeon Wi only drank half of it. Tang Gwan frowned.

“You said it was good liquor. Why aren’t you finishing it?”

“I prefer to share what I drink.”

“Hmph.”

Tang Gwan snorted.

“What, are you afraid I might have poisoned it?”

“The Tang Clan Lord strikes me as a rather high-handed man. But not the sort who would stoop to poisoning someone’s wine cup.”

“You do have a smooth tongue.”

Tang Gwan turned to look out the window.

The view was nothing special. It seemed even he found this sort of setting awkward.

As Yeon Wi filled his cup again, he asked, “So then, have things gone well with your daughter?”

It was an extremely sensitive subject, yet he asked it as naturally as if it were nothing.

Tang Gwan’s brow furrowed.

“I didn’t come here because of my daughter.”

“A parent’s children always come first. When tonight is over, go share a meal with her.”

“I’ll handle that myself, so mind your own business.”

“Ha ha ha.”

Even so, it would not be easy for Tang Gwan. When he decided the time had come to move, he would move. As he said, there was no need to press him further.

“Leaving that aside, at this hour, why—”

“That woman.”

Though Tang Gwan had cut him off, Yeon Wi showed no sign of displeasure.

“Whom do you mean?”

“The Divine Maiden of the Western Regions.”

“Ah.”

“I hear her medical skill is truly exceptional.”

Yeon Wi nodded.

“I don’t know the details myself, but according to the rumors, she combined the medicine of the Western Regions with that of the Central Plains and created an extraordinary secret art.”

Tang Gwan smirked.

“How impressive can the medicine of those reeking westerners really be?”

“You shouldn’t say that. From what I’ve heard, unlike our medicine in the Central Plains, the medicine of the Western Regions excels in external treatment.”

“External treatment...”

“Open-chest surgery, I think it was called? They can apparently place a person in a temporary deathlike state, open the chest, and directly treat the organs themselves.”

Tang Gwan’s eyes deepened.

“If that’s true, then they must have killed quite a lot of people.”

“Hm?”

“Even the Tang Clan is still only in the testing stages with that method. On top of that, to put someone into a deathlike state, you have to anesthetize them, and the time it takes for the anesthesia to take effect, and the time it takes them to wake up, differs from person to person.”

It was knowledge Yeon Wi had never once encountered before. The Tang Clan dealt in both poison and medicine, and its medical skill was considered the finest in Sichuan. To become clan lord, one would need advanced training and study in every one of those fields.

For all this and that, Tang Gwan was an extraordinary man. Yeon Wi could not deny it.

“To administer anesthesia requires extraordinarily delicate pharmaceutical knowledge. If the dose is even a little too weak, the patient wakes in the middle of surgery and dies from shock. If it’s even a little too strong, the muscles seize up or the nerves are ruined.”

“Hm.”

“And just determining that proper amount must have cost tens of thousands of lives.”

Yeon Wi sighed.

“Medicine truly is a difficult discipline.”

“You can’t achieve greatness in it unless you’re half mad. And if someone can perform open-chest surgery freely, then those hands must already be drenched in blood.”

Tang Gwan emptied his cup.

Then he turned his gaze toward the window again.

“It’s good.”

Only a beat later did Yeon Wi realize he was talking about the liquor.

“By the way, why did you suddenly ask about the Divine Maiden of the Western Regions?”

Tang Gwan toyed with his cup without answering.

For a man like him, he seemed strangely hesitant. Yeon Wi waited patiently until he chose to speak.

A while later—

“Much as I hate to admit it, I can’t deny that your son has a rather capable tongue.”

“Hm?”

“If he’s gone as that woman’s escort, then as long as he doesn’t do anything foolish, they’ll probably form some kind of acquaintance.”

Yeon Wi asked carefully, “Is there something you want from the Divine Maiden of the Western Regions?”

Tang Gwan’s expression stiffened slightly as he looked toward the window.

“There is. Of course, I can’t tell you what it is.”

“...”

“...I want you to serve as an intermediary.”

For Tang Gwan, this was likely a moment that cost him quite a bit of pride.

Yeon Wi tilted his head.

“That would not be difficult, but is there any need? Once the Divine Maiden of the Western Regions arrives, the Clan Lord could simply—”

“I cannot.”

“Why not?”

Tang Gwan frowned.

“Mo Yonggun will be watching me.”

“...!”

“Whether Mo Yonggun knows I met with the Divine Maiden of the Western Regions or not is no great matter. But I have no desire to go out of my way to let that bastard know.”

“I see.”

“With that head of his that knows nothing but suspicion, he’ll indulge in all sorts of pointless fantasies and get on my nerves for no reason. If he comes at me first, I can smash him to pieces, but I’d rather not make things noisy.”

Causing trouble was tiresome. If Yeon Wi would just exert himself once on this point, the matter could be handled cleanly. That was what Tang Gwan meant.

For some reason, Yeon Wi felt he understood how Tang Gwan felt.

“May I ask one thing?”

“...”

“Whatever you need from the Divine Maiden of the Western Regions, it must naturally be something requiring medical knowledge.”

“If you know that already, why ask?”

“Acting as an intermediary is no problem. But if the benefit you {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} gain from it causes suffering to others, that would be difficult for me to accept.”

Tang Gwan gave a cold laugh.

“How much help do you think you received to obtain the swordsmanship you possess now? Surely you don’t claim that blade of yours has never been stained with a single drop of blood?”

“You know what I mean.”

“Hmph.”

“Whether you mean to improve a poison, create a medicine, or complete some piece of medical knowledge, I do not know. But it must not lead to harm coming to innocent people.”

“A true saint has descended, I see. Poison, when used where it is needed, becomes medicine. And medicine, when overused, becomes poison. Poison, like a sword, is a double-edged thing.”

Yeon Wi narrowed his eyes.

“Whether it is for the sake of the Tang Clan or for your own sake, I have no particular interest. Trying to learn more than that would be mere meddling.”

“...”

“But this answer, at least, I must hear. It must not be something that harms the innocent.”

Tang Gwan frowned.

“Don’t you think you’re being overly serious about something trivial?”

“If you truly think this is something trivial, then I have nothing more to say.”

Tang Gwan glared at Yeon Wi in silence, then turned his head back toward the window.

“It is for my own sake.”

“...”

“Unless I am certain someone is my enemy, I do not poison my enemy’s cup.”

Yeon Wi smiled.

“I’ll take that as your word.”

“Hmph.”

Tang Gwan held out his cup.

“One more.”

Yeon Wi filled it for him.

Tang Gwan drained it cleanly, then filled Yeon Wi’s cup in turn.

Yeon Wi looked at him with a smile and raised his cup.

“There’s more, isn’t there?”

“What an odd thing to say out of nowhere.”

“I know you didn’t come here over the matter of the Divine Maiden of the Western Regions alone.”

“Do you tell fortunes now?”

“If a man has even a little sense, anyone could tell.”

“You must enjoy being quick on the uptake.”

“So then, what else is it you want to ask of me?”

Tang Gwan did not answer.

This silence lasted a long time. It seemed to be a question even for him that was not easy to voice.

The silence stretched on for more than a quarter hour.

By the time they were nearly finished with a second bottle of Confucius Family Liquor, Tang Gwan finally spoke.

“What did she say?”

“Hm?”

Tang Gwan spoke with an expression that looked faintly hesitant.

“You said you ate with her that time.”

“...?”

“Sang-a.”

“Ah!”

Yeon Wi smiled.

“That’s right.”

“What did she say... about me?”

“She said nothing.”

“...?”

“She did not say a single word about you. And neither did we. We simply shared a meal pleasantly and spoke of this and that, of small, ordinary things.”

Tang Gwan’s eyes deepened.

“The other day, you clearly said that Sang-a felt stifled, that she seemed very worried about me.”

“I did.”

“Then all of that was a lie?”

“It was not a lie.”

Yeon Wi spoke with a serious face.

“You do not have to hear words to know what someone is feeling. I knew what had happened, and when I looked at Sang-a’s face and heard her voice then, I felt those emotions.”

“...”

“That is what exists between parent and child. There are things that pass between them without words. But to reach the point where hearts can speak without words, there first has to be a great deal of conversation.”

“...”

“I think it is a good sign that you are asking me about your daughter. But there is nothing more I can do for you beyond this.”

As he refilled Tang Gwan’s cup, Yeon Wi said, “Now you should go see her yourself.”

Tang Gwan’s eyelids twitched.

“...She won’t agree to see me.”

“If she refuses to see you, then wait. And when you feel the time has come and things may be all right, reach out your hand again.”

“...”

“As I told you before, I do not think a parent should cling to pride before a child. Unless you truly mean to sever ties with your daughter, then as the more mature one, I believe it is only right that you approach her first.”

Yeon Wi smiled bitterly.

“I failed to do that. In fact, I did so again not long ago.”

“...”

“You have a fine cautionary example before you, do you not? The mistake I made—I hope you do not repeat it.”

Tang Gwan, who had been watching him in silence, asked almost casually, “Why are you doing this?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why are you being kind to me? Don’t say it’s for Sang-a’s sake, or because I’m not your enemy, or because it reminded you of your own past.”

Yeon Wi let out a soft laugh.

“I’m sorry, but the reasons you just named are all of them. It is for Sang-a’s sake, because you are not my enemy, and because it reminded me of my own past.”

“Absurd.”

“Of course, I do mean it more for Sang-a’s sake than yours. Sang-a is my son’s friend. If she is my son’s friend, then to me she is like a niece.”

“A niece.”

Tang Gwan’s lips twitched.

“You know, don’t you? What happened between your son and mine.”

“I do.”

Yeon Wi smiled.

“The Tang Clan Lord’s son was very much in the wrong.”

“Hmph!”

“So what of it?”

“Then say it with that hypocritical mouth of yours. Say my son is your nephew too.”

“He is not.”

“...”

“My son does not consider your son a friend, so how could I call him my nephew? Don’t ask too much of me.”

Yeon Wi emptied his own cup.

“That said, if the two of them could get along well enough someday, that too would be a good thing. As you yourself said, I also prefer harmony and laughter to conflict.”

Yeon Wi spoke with frankness and ease.

As Tang Gwan watched him, the faintest hint of a smile touched the corner of his mouth. What that smile meant, only he himself could know.

Smiling, Yeon Wi said, “Well? Haven’t I done a decent enough job of welcoming a guest?”

“They call you the Judge Sword, and yet you smile that easily?”

“Ha ha ha!”

“Is there another bottle?”

“Of course. Let’s have one more.”