Chapter Text
Thanks to Tang Bo's decoctions and pure qi, he never had to get sick for long, much less lie in bed. The days flew by in chores and short meetings that could be described as simply sitting together and watching something. Most often, when Cheong Myeong was confident in his students, he and Tang Bo would sit huddled together, watching the kids spar. Quietly and carefree.
Except for the wooden swords that clashed against each other and the screams.
However, this did not stop him from closing his eyes and resting his head on the shoulder of his lover, who delicately held his hands in his.
“Have you finished tidying up the Medical Hall?”
“Yes,” Tang Bo nodded.
“Mm, good,” the Holy Sword sighed, breathing in more fresh air that swirled around after a short rain. “And yet, why did you need this? As far as I know, Soso and Un Gak were very responsible in storing ingredients.”
“Sometimes the plants can dry out or rot,” Cheong Myeong clearly felt how their fingers intertwined again, and on the training ground, someone flew to the side and fell on the other guys who began to complain. “Even in the Imperial Palace.”
“What an irony,” the young man laughed quietly and opened his eyes just in time, because Soso missed the sword strike, but caught up with the enemy at the moment when he bent his back too far, which allowed her to swing her leg and ...
Ouch.
Cheong Myeong closed his eyes again so as not to see how one of the kids, screaming and groaning, fell down, covering his yin root with his hands.
Upwards of cruelty.
Once upon a time, before meeting Tang Bo, he had a chance to talk to a girl from his generation, who was a year older than him, but was damn beautiful. Of course, he didn't know how to give compliments and he didn't know how to find the right moment either, and so he got kicked in the balls in the same way. Then a long story began with finding out all the details under the leadership of the enraged Cheong Mun, who gave him several bumps on his head, and such that they were comparable in size to an apple.
Then, when everything became clear, the girl asked him for forgiveness and even brought a whole bag of mooncakes. But this did not save him from the reputation of a lecher at the time. At least everyone was quite favorable to forget about it in a couple of years.
“Soso, this is not fair!”
“In a real fight, everything is fair!” the girl retorted and, judging by the mooing sound, stuck her tongue out at one of her sahyeons.
Cheong Myeong frowned and felt the vein in his temple pulsate. However, it wasn’t just him who was irritated, but also Tang Bo, who took a deep breath and began to soothingly circle his thumb on his palm. To others, it might have seemed like another act of affection.
It didn’t take long for the girl herself to squeal loudly as Iseol began scolding her loudly for everyone to hear, for which he was very grateful. He should think of some kind of gift for her too, after all, her intelligence was unrivaled in the sect.
“Did you send a gift to Tang Jopyeong recently?” Tang Bo had mentioned it once, but the Sword Saint had never seen the Dark Saint return from the city with anything in his hands except for what was left in the sect. However, that didn’t rule out the possibility that he not only bought but also sent the gift on the same day.
“Ah? Yes,” the young man answered him immediately, interrupting Iseol's lamentations and the boys' efforts to calm her down. His deep voice resonated deeply within him. This reaction had developed because Tang Bo preferred to talk to him every time Cheong Myeong came to him irritated or upset. At the same time, he had never used the same tone of voice with anyone else. Not even with his grandson, whom he loved excessively. “I did this a week ago, maybe a little earlier.”
“And what did you give him?”
“A few blacksmithing tools made of high-quality metal, but also a porcelain vase with a flower painting that is popular in Hwa-Um,” the Dark Saint laughed softly, which caused a slight smile to bloom on Cheong Myeong's face. “After all, he wanted something like this for himself a long time ago when he was a child.”
“Sometimes I thought that it would be a good idea to send him to study swordsmanship at the Mount Hua Sect,” the Sword Saint opened his eyes slightly, turned his head towards the Dark Saint, freed one of his hands and tucked a few strands of hair that fell over his lover's eyes behind his ear. “But blacksmithing suits him much better.”
“I can't help but agree.”
It was at this point that they were interrupted by the sounds of a fight breaking out between several children, including the Five Swords, while Hye Yeon, who was reciting Buddhist mantras, was trying to pull away the particularly active Yoon Jong, from whom Jo Geol was trying to hide. This action was interrupted by Soso's screams, begging her sago to forgive her behaviour, but the older girl remained unperturbed and hit the heads of those who tried to take part in the fight that had broken out.
“I will definitely kill them.”
But before he could do anything, Tang Bo picked up a small stone that was lying nearby and threw it with incredible accuracy right at the forehead of one of the kids who was in the center of the fight, and then repeated this several more times until the kids calmed down, looking sideways at them with distrust in their eyes.
“Don't forget that in addition to my knowledge of medicine, I also have experience in throwing daggers.”
And, as if by magic, it became quiet again.
***
“Can you make this?”
“Yes, it won't be a problem!” the man he addressed was a famous craftsman in Hwa-Um, highly respected for his meticulous work in creating small decorative boxes for women's jewellery.
“Only this will be different from what you usually do,” the swordsman warned, pointing to the expensive handcrafted tools that had been delivered to him two days ago. “I need the size of the box to be small and for each tool to remain in its place when moved.”
“It will take some work, but it is not impossible, young swordsman,” the craftsman delicately picked up a small measuring spoon and examined it from all angles. “If you allow me, I will borrow these tools for a while to cut out perfect cells to their shape.”
“Do you have any guarantee that no one will steal them?”
He was not very keen on ruining such valuable things. Tang Bo often mentioned that if the instrument is damaged, it will not serve properly.
The hubbub of people outside the open window signaled the height of trading during the afternoon, when the sun was mercilessly shining in everyone's eyes, hovering at a perfect right angle above the ground. But as long as nothing out of the ordinary was happening, Cheong Myeong paid no attention.
“All items left by customers, signed and securely packed, are kept in a safe in a hidden place. I also refund the cost if anything is lost.”
After looking at the man for a while, the young man nodded.
“Good,” he pointed to the sketch that lay in front of him, chosen from a pile of others that lay around on the wide, long table. “How long will it take you?”
“Considering possible corrections in errors... five weeks.”
“Excellent.”