"Then I'll be on my way."

"Yes."

Chusaeng, who had had a pleasant conversation, left the branch office.

"He's a good person."

"He has a good personality."

"You didn't get anything from him, did you?"

"...No."

"Behind my back..."

"No, absolutely not!"

Chunil flinched and waved his hands as Cheonyeong looked at him with narrowed eyes, raising his fist.

"He just said he wanted to have a drink later... He said he got some pretty good alcohol called Geomnan-chun."

"..."

"I haven't drunk it yet. Really. The Deputy Family Head told me not to drink alcohol while the Family Head is away."

"Is that so?"

"Yes!"

"Then that's fine."

Chunil let out a sigh of relief as Cheonyeong relaxed his clenched fist.

"Anyway, it seems this negotiation went well. I don't think we need to worry."

Chunil frowns as Cheonyeong smirks.

"That's not quite right. The negotiations with Lord Chu always go well..."

"Huh? Why? Is there a problem?"

"Well, the shippers don't listen to Lord Chu at all."

"They don't listen to Lord Chu? What does that mean?"

As he wore a puzzled expression, Chunil continued to explain the ferry's operating method.

After the Lee family withdrew from the Ongjin Ferry, the Tang Family's estate established a branch and stuck to the existing operating method.

Time was short, and since Cheonyeong was away at the time, it was an unavoidable choice.

He thought nothing would happen.

Because it was the same way the Lee family had done it.

Of course, there were a few troublemakers in the middle, but it wasn't a problem. Yongcheon led the warriors and solved it, and the incident was settled.

But a problem arose from an unexpected place.

The shippers had suddenly declared a strike.

As shipments were frequently delayed, the merchants' complaints also grew.

To solve this situation, the leaders of the Tang family, including the Deputy Family Head, met with Chusaeng, who was running a company that managed the shippers, and it seemed to be resolved without much trouble.

But it had already been ten days.

Despite two previous negotiations, the shippers did not work.

"This was already the third raise."

"A raise?"

"Yes. They said the shippers insisted that they would never work unless their wages were raised."

"What? So?"

"So we did as they demanded."

"Then isn't that fine?"

"It seems that's not the case either."

"What do you mean?"

"It's a bit complicated..."

Just as Chunil was about to explain with a deep sigh at Cheonyeong's question.

"It seems they've subcontracted to a subcontractor." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"Huh?"

Gongson Seung said, nodding his head as if interrupting, and Chunil turned his head and stared at him.

"Who...?"

"Ah, my apologies for the late introduction. Outer Hall Master, my name is Gongson Seung."

"Gongson... Seung?"

Chunil tilted his head.

"He's the one who will be in charge of the Tang Family's estate's finances from now on."

"The Tang Family's estate's finances? This kid?"

Chunil looked Gongson Seung up and down.

"Chunil, that's rude."

"Ah, I'm sorry. But, he looks so young."

You're young too. It's just that you look old, but you're only eighteen.

But Gongson Seung asked as if he didn't mind the previous rudeness at all.

"Outer Hall Master."

"Ugh... ah, yes."

Chunil switched from informal to formal language and answered.

"How much do you know about Chusaeng?"

"I know that he has been managing all the shippers of the Ongjin Ferry for a long time."

"Then it seems he's the one who plans the loading of goods onto the merchant group's ships that visit the ferry."

"Ah, that's done by another loading company that Chusaeng has subcontracted to. The shippers belong to that place... as far as I know."

"Hmm, as expected. It's a structure where the shippers' complaints are bound to pile up."

"Pardon?"

"By any chance, have you ever met the shippers directly and negotiated with them?"

"The shippers?"

"Yes."

"No, I heard that the Lee family, who had managed this ferry before, also negotiated through the company and paid the costs."

"Hmm, I see. I roughly understand the situation. Well, it would have been easier for the Lee family to manage that way. They could just pass on the inconvenient problems to the subcontracted companies."

Cheonyeong looks at Gongson Seung as he nods his head.

"Explain."

"Yes."

Gongson Seung, who had organized his thoughts for a moment at Cheonyeong's words, slowly opens his mouth.

"Perhaps all the merchant ships of the Ongjin Ferry are going through the Tang Family's estate's branch."

"I suppose so. Since the Lee family has left, we are the only martial faction here."

The Tang Family's estate had inherited the work that the Lee family had been doing.

From the loading of goods to the protection against various dangers that could arise in this nearby tributary.

Although the Tang Family's estate was small in scale, it was capable of solving the problems that arose within it.

Because the Tang Family's estate was responsible until they reached the main stream of the Yangtze River.

"In the end, what the merchants want from the Tang Family's estate is stable loading. In return for that, they are paying a small fee."

"That's right."

"Based on that fee, the Tang Family's estate has to employ the shippers."

"..."

"This is the problem. The cost that the Tang Family's estate is paying is a structure where the fee is paid to the individual shippers after passing through Chusaeng's shipping company, which has the overall contract, and the loading company that manages the manpower."

"Hmm, it would be so."

"If the two preceding companies take an excessive commission, the actual wages that the shippers receive will be very small."

"Is that so? But... you said their wages have been raised three times already."

"Will that go to the shippers?"

"Huh?"

"It would have been a good time. In the case of the Lee family, who had been managing the ferry for a long time, they couldn't be deceived because there was a fee they had always paid, but the Tang Family's estate is different. Since they have no experience in managing a ferry, they have no choice but to be swayed by the words of the merchants who are in charge of the intermediate management."

"Then... are you saying they are deceiving the Tang Family's estate?"

"We'll have to check that part for sure. How much of the fee that the Tang Family's estate is paying is being delivered to the shippers at the very bottom."

"Hmm."

If Gongson Seung's words were right, this was a very serious problem for the shippers.

Because it meant that although they were providing the actual labor, the money was leaking in the process of going through the companies.

"If this problem is not solved, the shippers will leave."

"Hmm..."

"The merchants will also no longer use the Ongjin Ferry and will think of other alternatives. In the end, the commercial rights of the Ongjin Ferry will die. This will be a huge loss for the Tang Family's estate."

Cheonyeong, who had listened to Gongson Seung's words to the end, nodded his head.

Chunil, who was beside him, clicked his tongue in surprise at the sight of Gongson Seung pointing out a problem he had never thought of in an instant.

"Would you entrust this matter to me?"

"Can you solve it?"

"Hmm. You can think of it as the first mission where you can see my abilities, which you have only heard about through rumors."

Cheonyeong nods his head at Gongson Seung's bright smile.

The confidence that filled his pupils.

It seemed a solution had already come to his mind.

"Alright, then do so. I will entrust you with full authority over the ferry."

"Thank you."

Chunil, who had been watching their conversation quietly, asked Cheonyeong cautiously.

"Family Head?"

"Huh?"

"Who on earth is this person?"

"I told you. He's the one who will be in charge of the Tang Family's estate's finances."

"Then, is he going to kick out Sanghui and become the Inner Hall Master?"

"What are you talking about? Why would I kick out Sanghui?"

"Then?"

"Well..."

Cheonyeong paused for a moment and thought.

Chief Financial Officer.

He had thought so at first.

But Gongson Seung was a person who would become a leading figure in the Tang Family's estate in the future.

Isn't there some other good name?

For the Tang family to grow further in the future, they needed the abilities and help of those who were not of the Tang family.

There would surely be a limit to embracing them by just giving them a plausible position that they could quit at any time.

Because their sense of belonging would be weaker than those who had been given the Tang surname.

The Tang Family's estate.

At first, it was a name given simply because it was located on a hill. But for it to grow into a huge hill and embrace the world in the future, many forces had to gather under it.

Yes, a collateral branch.

Its original meaning is a brother who has branched off from the direct line. But is it necessary to share blood?

In the first place, the members of the Tang family were people who were bound by righteousness. The only person in the Tang Family's estate who had inherited the blood of the Tang family was Cheonyeong.

Let's create a collateral branch unique to the Tang Family's estate.

What if their surnames are different? What if its meaning does not correspond to the original one?

It doesn't matter if they don't share blood and use a different surname. He would call the families that relied on the Tang family collateral branches.

Whatever anyone said, whether their intentions were understood or not, that would be the new law of the Tang family.

If they revere the Tang family and are loyal to the Tang family, anyone is a collateral branch. The future Tang Family's estate will have many collateral branches following such a law.

Just as there are the Nine Factions and one side under the Martial Alliance, if their intentions and righteousness are aligned, anyone will be treated as one family.

"Gongson Seung. That punk is the master of a family that will become a collateral branch of our Tang Family's estate in the future."

"A collateral branch... family head?"

"Yes. For now, let's go to the Tang Family's estate. It will be first to introduce the Gongson family head to everyone."

"...Yes."

* * *

At the news that Cheonyeong had returned, the leaders of the Tang Family's estate were summoned to the Three Yang Hall.

The six leaders of the Tang Family's estate, including the Divine Work Pavilion Master, lined up in two rows in front of Cheonyeong, who was sitting on the grand master's chair, and Gongson Seung stood between them and formally greeted them.

"I am Gongson Seung."

Even at Gongson Seung's polite greeting, the members of the Tang family were just bewildered.

"Family Head, by any chance... the talent you said you would bring?"

"That's right. That talent is Seung. He is a person who will be indispensable to the Tang Family's estate in the future."

"Indispensable..."

"Everyone, keep this in mind. From now on, we will divide the structure of our Tang family into direct and collateral branches."

"Direct and collateral branches?"

"Yes. I've been thinking about it for a while... the direct branches that use the Tang surname cannot manage all the operations of the family."

"Well..."

The family members nod their heads at Cheonyeong's words.

In fact, the problem of a shortage of manpower was a part that they were also well aware of.

"So I'm going to accept collateral branches and expand the scale of the Tang family. And I will grant them their own authority."

Although the number of leaders was not many, the murmuring was not loud, but their expressions were all similar.

A collateral branch all of a sudden. Wasn't it something they had never thought of?

But Cheonyeong had his own plan.

The main family, the Tang family. When would they have children, when would they raise them, and when would they increase their numbers?

And he couldn't grant the Tang surname to everyone he accepted.

So he had devised the collateral branch. It was a way to expand the scale of the Tang Family's estate in an instant.

But before Gongson Seung.

"Divine Work Pavilion Master."

"Yes. Family Head."

Since it was the moment to officially appoint a collateral branch, Cheonyeong called Ahn Chilgang informally.

"From now on, you will be in charge of the Divine Work Pavilion, and you will be in charge of all the public works of the Tang Family's estate, and you will lead the Ahn family, a collateral branch of the Tang family."

"The... Ahn family?"

Cheonyeong smiled brightly and answered.

"Yes. Fill the family with whomever you want, whether they are carpenters or workers. However, you must operate it on your own, and there must be no deviation from the laws of the Tang family."

"I understand."

Cheonyeong, who had taken his eyes off Ahn Chilgang, looks at Gongson Seung.

"Gongson Seung."

"Yes."

"A collateral branch of the Tang family, how about it?"

"Although it is something I have not thought of, my life has started anew with you, Family Head, from the moment I was saved. I do not know if I will leave someday to find my own path as you mentioned before, but until then, I will do my best to fulfill my duties."

Cheonyeong smiled with satisfaction at Gongson Seung's words.

How reliable. Is it because he's a genius?

The answer of a thirteen-year-old is more mature than the eighteen-year-old Tang family members.

"With this, the Tang family now has two collateral branches, including the main family. Of course, there is still no scale to speak of."

"Yes, Family Head."

A system is being established one by one.

The Tang Family's estate will expand to a huge scale starting from today. With a strong direct line and many collateral branches.

"Gongson Family Head."

"Yes."

"The Inner Hall Master will take my authority regarding financial matters. From now on, consult with her."

"I understand."

"For now, the matter related to the ferry."

"Yes."

"The rest of the leaders will help the Inner Hall Master with all their might until this matter is resolved. We will discuss the future operation again."

"Yes, Family Head!"

The meeting was over.

On a good day, a feast could not be missed.

"Now, then, we have a new family member... of course there should be a celebration, right?"

"...!"

"Let's go to the Myriad Virtue Inn."

"Yes!"

Because the world wouldn't change just because they had a good time for a day.

When you've decided to have fun, it's better to have fun without any worries.

(End of Chapter)