Chapter 4
The Country Bumpkin…
They were strolling through the streets when they reached the front of a small tavern on North Street. From inside came the clinking of cups and the voices of young men laughing as they traded jokes.
So Cheong-yeong tried to quickly lead the siblings away. But at that moment, a booming voice burst out from inside the tavern.
“Yeo Bak-seung! Why are you holding back like that? What, are you saving your liver for your wedding night celebratory drink?”
So Cheong-yeong stopped in her tracks and looked toward the tavern.
The man called Yeo Bak-seung straightened up and shot back,
“What are you talking about? You’d better not get drunk today and start crying, calling me ‘hyung—hyung!’ again!”
“Hah! We’ll see who passes out first.”
“Fine, let’s drink! Who do you think is scared?”
So Cheong-yeong glanced at Yeo Bak-seung, then immediately pulled the twin siblings with her and hid in a dim corner. Quietly, she watched the drinking party.
“Big sister….”
When So Cheong-yeong looked down, Cheong-yang was gently tugging on her hand with a worried expression.
“They said alcohol is bad….”
Beside him, Cheong-haeng seemed to think her sister was about to join the drinking. She whispered in a coaxing voice,
“Let’s just go, sister. It smells too much like alcohol here….”
She scrunched up her nose as she spoke.
Seeing her siblings like this, So Cheong-yeong chuckled softly and crouched down to their eye level, whispering,
“The person I’m looking for is over there. Just wait a little longer—we’ll go home soon.”
As she looked around, she spotted a tree stump in one corner. It looked perfect for the children to sit on. Just as she was about to fetch it, Cheong-yang noticed it too, shook off her hand, and ran over, straining as he dragged it back.
So Cheong-yeong stepped forward, took the stump, and set it down in a suitable spot, seating the siblings on it.
“Sister, sit too.”
After checking that the stump was wide enough, she sat close with the two of them pressed against her. The three of them sat side by side, watching the drinking table again.
Meanwhile, Yeo Bak-seung and the man who had been speaking earlier had already begun a drinking contest.
One cup, then another.
Soon, the other men at the table joined in, and Yeo Bak-seung kept downing drink after drink.
Well, would you look at that. He can really hold his liquor,
So Cheong-yeong muttered inwardly.
Then, one of the men, emboldened by alcohol, suddenly shouted toward Yeo Bak-seung,
“Hey, Yeo Bak-seung! Come to think of it, isn’t your wedding day just around the corner? You’re about to become a newlywed and enter the bridal chamber—so why aren’t you behaving yourself at home and instead calling us out to drink every day? Are you planning to learn a few tricks from us?”
“Wahahahaha!”
The men around the table burst into laughter all at once, exchanging knowing glances as if they were about to pass on some secret techniques.
Yeo Bak-seung scoffed lightly and patted the man’s shoulder as he replied,
“Drinking with you guys is a lot more comfortable and fun than spending the night in the bridal chamber.”
Then he pointed at a few of them and added mockingly,
“And what about you? You’ve never even held a woman—what could you possibly teach me?”
The men at the table clutched their stomachs and shook with laughter. So Cheong-yeong watched their vulgar behavior in silence, her brows knitting slightly.
After another round of drinks, one man spoke to Yeo Bak-seung with a sly grin.
“Well, I guess it makes sense if you’re not excited. We all married good women from well-matched families, but your stepmother found you some country bumpkin of a bride. That’s basically her saying outright that she’s looking down on you. And yet she fussed over and over to find a match for your younger brother, even going as far as the prefectural city! Hahaha!”
Some of the men chimed in with snickers, while others patted Yeo Bak-seung’s shoulder as if in pity. Yeo Bak-seung frowned and brushed their hands away one by one.
A country bumpkin woman?
So Cheong-yeong glared coldly at the men making a ruckus.
Just then, another man said with a smirk,
“Well, at least I’m lucky. I’m engaged to my cousin—we know each other inside and out. But really, your stepmother has gone too far. They say that rural family you’re engaged to can barely make ends meet? Tsk tsk. Could it be she deliberately did that because she was afraid you’d outshine your younger brother if you gained a powerful wife’s family?”
As soon as he finished speaking, Yeo Bak-seung lowered his head. From where So Cheong-yeong sat, she couldn’t see his expression.
“Ah… how pitiful.”
“Poor Yeo Bak-seung.”
The men shook their heads and clicked their tongues. Yeo Bak-seung suddenly flung his arm out.
“Enough with the nonsense!”
But one man didn’t stop and continued to sneer,
“By the way, what does your fiancée look like? You were always saying you wanted a fair-skinned, elegant beauty with a tempting figure—what are you going to do now? If she’s a woman who worked the fields in the countryside, she must’ve gone out before sunrise and come home after sunset every day. Aiya! That fair, refined, voluptuous bride you dreamed of is long gone!”
“Hahahahaha!”
So Cheong-yeong suddenly looked down at her own sun-darkened hands.
Well… I suppose I really am a country bumpkin.
At that moment, Cheong-yang, who had been watching the drinking party for a while, seemed to understand what was going on and quietly tugged at her sleeve.
“Big sister….”
“Shh.”
At her gesture, Cheong-yang pressed his lips shut and stared intently into the tavern. Cheong-haeng blinked her large eyes, looking confused as she glanced at So Cheong-yeong, then back at her twin brother. So Cheong-yeong smiled faintly, tapped Cheong-haeng lightly on the tip of her nose, and turned her gaze back toward Yeo Bak-seung.
According to rumors, this Yeo Bak-seung had been the type whose eyelids grew heavy the moment he opened a book as a child, but whose eyes sparkled whenever there was cockfighting or dog hunting. He was also skilled in drinking and womanizing—so much so that the brothels in the garrison town no longer satisfied him, and he would often go all the way to the prefectural city to spend money like water.
What use was a handsome appearance, then? There was never a decent man who frequented brothels.
So Cheong-yeong sneered inwardly.
Selling my life for a mere fifty taels of silver? Dream on.
What’s more, Yeo Bak-seung would soon be heading off to war. His father had wanted to settle his marriage before his departure so that the main wife’s bloodline could continue, but his stepmother had deliberately dragged out the search for a bride.
At just that time, So Cheong-yeong’s second paternal aunt, So Bo-ju—who had married into the garrison town—actively stepped in as a matchmaker. In the end, So Cheong-yeong’s engagement was decided with a dowry of fifty taels of silver.
Because of the recent conscription order, the garrison town was overflowing with men rushing to marry. Everyone wanted to wed before being dragged off to the battlefield, to leave behind an heir. But families with daughters all tried to delay marriages instead.
After all, who would willingly send their daughter into a marriage that was all but guaranteed to end in widowhood?
In fact, So Cheong-yeong’s eldest brother, So Cheong-song, had been conscripted two years ago and had since vanished without a trace. Because of this, her parents—who had always followed the wishes of the step-grandmother Madam Wang—had resisted strongly for the first time.
Yet before two years had even passed, another conscription order was issued.
This time, the order was especially strict. Paying silver to avoid service was no longer allowed. Only families with a successful civil examination graduate, or those with only one adult male left, could be exempted. Otherwise, if there was a man over eighteen listed in the household register, at least one had to go.
So Cheong-song of the main branch had already been conscripted and gone missing. Cheong-yang was still a child and exempt. Thus, this time, it was So U-mun of the second branch who was conscripted. Even being the step-grandmother Madam Wang’s own grandson could not exempt him. To avoid it, either the third or fourth uncle would have had to go in his place.
In any case, under these circumstances, So Cheong-yeong’s parents still did not know whether their eldest son was alive or dead. In such a situation, how could they send their daughter off to marry a man who was about to leave for war, with no knowing if he would ever return?
That was why they opposed the match—because the fate of widowhood lay plainly ahead.
Originally, the son-in-law her parents had in mind was a village youth named So Dae-ho.
So Dae-ho had lost his parents early and had no siblings, so he was exempt from this round of conscription. They had watched him grow up close by since childhood—there could be no better match. If she married him, she would live within her parents’ sight, making it the most reassuring choice for them.
However, before formal talks could even begin, the step-grandmother Madam Wang and her daughter So Bo-ju accepted fifty taels of silver and betrothed So Cheong-yeong to that conscripted Yeo Bak-seung of the Yeo family.
So Cheong-yeong gazed at Yeo Bak-seung, who was noisily drinking inside the tavern, and reflected on everything that had happened.
I’ll carve out my own life from here on. Even if I become a widow, I’m confident I can survive on my own. But… if my marriage partner is a libertine like that, it’s a different story. I can overlook cockfighting and hunting with dogs—but frequenting brothels and living in debauchery? That I’ll never tolerate.
No matter how much of an elder the step-grandmother was, she couldn’t force the marriage if So Cheong-yeong held her ground. And even if they tried to push it through, she knew more than enough ways to escape this engagement.
Lost in thought, So Cheong-yeong remained still.
Then Yeo Bak-seung suddenly spoke.
“What do you think would happen if I just didn’t hold the wedding and ran away?”
At his sudden words, his friends at the table all gaped.
“What? If your father finds out, he’ll break your legs on the spot!”
But Yeo Bak-seung snorted and said indifferently,
“You think I’m scared of my father?”
One man chimed in, pretending to agree while poking at his sore spot.
“Of course not. You’ve never been afraid of anything. But if you do that, all of your family’s property will go to your stepmother and half-siblings. Are you really okay with that?”
Another immediately added,
“Right. Didn’t you say that shop of yours was bought by selling off the assets your mother brought as her dowry?”
So Cheong-yeong quietly watched Yeo Bak-seung.
Hearing that, he raked his hand roughly through his hair, as if a fire had flared in his chest.
“Hah… when you think about it, my mother’s the truly pitiful one. If I die on the battlefield, who would even burn a single sheet of joss paper for her? She lived frugally her whole life—how desolate would it be if she couldn’t even receive a proper offering after death?
Even now, it’s only because I’m still here that I can clean her spirit tablet throughout the year. If I weren’t, it would already be thick with dust. Once I’m gone, that stepmother will definitely clear my mother’s tablet away, saying it’s an eyesore. Leaving it there would only irritate her….”
At Yeo Bak-seung’s lament, no one spoke easily. The men beside him only patted his shoulder lightly, as if offering comfort.
