There Is No Sejong In My Joseon [EN]: Chapter 235

‘Damn it.’

I sighed.

After going on an outing with Yi Seong-gye to avoid the summons from the Queen’s residence, namely Wonyeong Queen’s interrogation, the royal family, including Yi Bang-won, were waiting for me at the Crown Prince’s residence.

‘I was sure she would be furious.’

I’ll probably get chewed out for getting up and leaving as soon as I sat down, even including going out to supervise the smallpox vaccination, right?

The image of my father’s enraged face was vivid in my mind.

However, Yi Bang-won was surprisingly calm.

‘Whew. I guess they’re taking my achievements into consideration.’

“Get in the rice chest, Crown Prince.”

“Pardon?”

Did I hear wrong?

“What are you doing? Why aren’t you obeying the royal command!”

As soon as Yi Bang-won’s command was issued, the officials of the Crown Prince’s residence, who had been standing by, rushed at me.

“Let go, let go, you treacherous bastards!”

I shouted in panic, but the traitors didn’t budge.

To follow my father’s orders without a moment’s hesitation, instead of me, with whom they had shared joys and sorrows. Have you ever seen such ungrateful fellows?

Even when I sent signals that they wouldn’t be in the court for long with anyone but me, they remained unmoved.

“Grandfather.”

“Ahem.”

“Mother, siblings.”

I pleaded with my family with desperate eyes, but Yi Seong-gye looked at me with disdain, Wonyeong Queen glared, and the Grand Princes simply avoided my gaze.

“Y-You!”

Hanging my last hope, I desperately called out to my wife, but Ju So-hwa instead retorted fiercely.

“You almost made me a widow, and now you’re asking for help?”

This can’t be happening.

Betrayed even by my wife, I fell into deep despair.

Yi Bang-won shouted in disbelief.

“Do you even know that you were inoculated with Madu [smallpox vaccine] and the Crown Princess fainted?”

“I’m sorry about that, but…”

I clearly said that the probability of dying from my calculations was very low.

If we’re going to get vaccinated anyway, it’s better to get it in advance.

“This time, it won’t end with just a ban from leaving the Crown Prince’s residence! Reflect deeply in the rice chest on what you did wrong!”

“Kkeueak!”

As soon as Yi Bang-won’s words ended, the officials lifted me up and threw me into the rice chest.

Physically, I was almost fully grown, so my body was larger than most adults by Joseon standards, but there was no match for numbers.

Forcibly taking up residence in the thinking chair… no, the thinking rice chest, I blankly stared at the sky.

‘It’s a relief they didn’t block the ceiling…’

Well, they have to let me have some ventilation, humanly speaking.

How else am I supposed to live?

…In a situation where I don’t even know when it will end.

===

At that moment when Crown Prince Ijae was confined in the rice chest.

What spread rapidly throughout the country was not only the Madu inoculation.

Along the path where hundreds of horses carrying Madu for vaccine passed, rumors also spread that the Crown Prince’s mythical horse warded off the smallpox spirit.

“I wondered why the heavens bestowed a mythical horse upon the Crown Prince, but it was to repel the smallpox spirit!”

“They say that just drawing the image of the mythical horse prevents smallpox from even approaching!”

Prevention may not be easily noticeable, but the improvement in symptoms of smallpox patients after Madu inoculation was undeniably evident to them.

Soon, shrines for the divine beast Ttaeng-gu, who repelled smallpox, were erected here and there – of course, Ttaeng-gu was living well in the Crown Prince’s residence – and shamans competed to draw dignified portraits of Ttaeng-gu, completely different from the real thing, and hung them next to the Crown Prince’s portraits.

Up to this point, it was just a happening among the common people.

However, the perspective of the court on this incident was slightly different.

To encourage the people to get vaccinated, it was superficially portrayed as ‘Crown Prince Ijae contracting smallpox and recovering after receiving dragon blood’.

However, those who knew the truth knew.

The officials were shocked by the fact that the Crown Prince himself had dangerously transferred Madu to his own body.

“It was an event that could have shaken the foundation of the nation.”

“That’s right. Young children may rave about achieving benevolence by sacrificing their bodies, reaching the level of a benevolent person mentioned in the Analects [a collection of sayings and ideas attributed to the Chinese philosopher Confucius]…”

Rather, the Daegan [Office of Censors] or Sungkyunkwan [Royal Academy], who had been in conflict with the Crown Prince, seemed to have been greatly moved by this act in a Confucian way, but aren’t those guys originally just bookworms?

I really aged ten years.

These seasoned officials didn’t even want to imagine the political repercussions if the Crown Prince had gone to the afterlife.

Could the country have functioned properly even in that situation?

The Crown Prince may have done it because he had something to rely on, but those who were about to have their hearts drop could never agree.

“Still, it’s fortunate that he recovered without any problems.”

“Indeed. It’s a pity that we can’t go to offer our greetings because an expulsion order has been issued in the Crown Prince’s residence.”

“Isn’t it because he hasn’t recovered his energy yet?”

Having heard the news that the Crown Prince had fully recovered, the officials were able to enter the palace in a very relieved mood.

And when they went to Seonjeongjeon [a building in the palace] for the morning assembly.

Unexpectedly, a large rice chest was placed there.

“…?”

The officials were taken aback.

Why is the rice chest, which should be in the Sojubang [kitchen], in front of the throne hall?

“What is that thing for?”

It was when the curious old minister Seong Seok-rin approached it.

“Hello.”

“Eek!”

Seong Seok-rin was so surprised that he fell backward.

Then, the Crown Prince peeked his head out of the rice chest and clicked his tongue.

“Tsk, tsk, an old man like you should be careful.”

Seong Seok-rin, forgetting his pain, pointed at the Crown Prince and asked the king.

“Y-Your Majesty! Why is the Crown Prince inside there?”

Then, Yi Bang-won turned his head slightly.

“…”

What a bizarre situation this is.

As the officials asked in confusion, Yi Bang-won said awkwardly.

“The Crown Prince did not take care of his body as the foundation of the nation and disturbed the hearts of many people, so I have punished him by confining him in the rice chest.”

“If you were going to do this, you should have excused me from the assembly…”

“Quiet. As if you did something right.”

Yi Bang-won pressed the Crown Prince’s head back into the rice chest and said.

“However, the Crown Prince has been attending the assembly and listening to the state affairs without fail, so he cannot stop even inside the rice chest. Gentlemen, please don’t mind it.”

How can they not mind when they are told not to mind?

The officials were all dumbfounded by this absurd sight.

‘Could the fact that he almost lost his son have had a negative impact on His Majesty?’

They couldn’t help but momentarily consider this possibility.

Didn’t King Gongmin of the former dynasty also go crazy after losing Princess Noguk?

However, unlike what caused the officials’ misunderstanding, Yi Bang-won was perfectly fine.

That’s why he was embarrassed.

Yi Bang-won had also confined him in the rice chest in a fit of anger, telling him not to do strange things, but after regaining his senses, he realized what an embarrassing sight this was.

But if he were to withdraw it as if nothing happened, this damned son of his might regain his spirit and go around doing crazy things again.

In the end, Yi Bang-won decided to put on a thick face.

“Jishinsa [royal secretary], report the reports from each magistrate.”

“Yes? Yes, Your Majesty.”

The Jishinsa, whose eyes were fixed on the rice chest, belatedly recited the reports according to Yi Bang-won’s command.

“The cultivation of pearls in Geoje has been successful, and the finest quality has been selected and presented again…”

It was good news that came after a long time.

This is because pearls had a clear value as treasures.

It was natural that the country’s finances would be expanded once again, so Yi Bang-won felt relieved.

‘Come to think of it, this was also done by that guy confined in the rice chest.’

If the Crown Prince hadn’t been running around like that, the mass cultivation of pearls and the resulting financial expansion would not have been possible.

When you think about it, the Madu distribution is the same.

Wasn’t it because he was a son who constantly did strange things that he was able to save the lives of the people?

Yi Bang-won sighed softly.

It was truly difficult to be the father of a divinely appointed person.

===

After the morning assembly, I was once again carried back to the Crown Prince’s residence in the rice chest on a cart.

As the cart pulled by No-bun arrived at the Crown Prince’s residence, the betrayers of the Crown Prince’s residence, who had been waiting, handed over documents into the rice chest.

“This is the monthly settlement statement for the Crown Prince’s residence, Your Highness.”

‘Why am I still working even while confined in the rice chest?’

Even while tilting my head at the sudden question, my hands moved busily.

“Hmm, more money went out than I thought.”

“The development of the generator that Your Highness ordered is costing a lot. It would be better to take a break until the situation improves…”

“That won’t do.”

I said that.

Even though I had pulled Jang Yeong-sil, the ace of the Military Supplies Command, and put him into the generator development project, the working-level staff were complaining.

Yi Cheon keeps begging me to return Jang Yeong-sil whenever he sees me, but I don’t budge.

Investment must continue even if visible results are not seen.

If we stop and start the development project just because we don’t have money right now, when will it ever be completed?

‘Instead of thinking about saving pennies, we need to go out and earn money.’

There is a way.

That is the pearls that have been successfully mass-produced.

Pearls are treasures in themselves, but to make more profit, I was thinking of making products through processing.

That’s why I ordered them to make prototypes when the first pearls came up.

It was completed after I was confined in the rice chest, but I did receive it.

“Oh, my back.”

Squatting, I stretched my back in the rice chest and made a dying sound.

0. 4 pyeong [approximately 14 square feet] is not enough to lie down, but it’s enough to sit, but it’s killing me after being here for so long.

I was thinking of stretching a bit and coming back in when there was no one around.

A shadow fell over the rice chest.

It was Ju So-hwa.

“Are you reflecting at all?”

“Yes. I’m reflecting a lot. Please tell Father to take me out.”

No matter what, he can’t ignore the words of his daughter-in-law from the Great Ming [Ming Dynasty China].

“It doesn’t seem like you’re reflecting yet.”

I grabbed the wrist of the guy who was slurring his words and pulled him towards me.

“Kyaa!”

The guy who was half-dangling on the rice chest fell into the rice chest with a thud.

“W-What are you doing?”

Instead of answering, I trapped him in my arms.

“It’s cramped. It’s hot.”

“I’m sorry.”

It’s not an apology for dragging him into the rice chest.

It’s an apology for getting inoculated with Madu without consulting him.

Considering how much the royal family was in an uproar beyond my imagination, this guy must have had a hard time too.

“…If you know.”

“So, I prepared a gift.”

“A gift?”

The item I prepared was a pearl necklace.

The prototype I had them make was this item.

The Ortog merchants I brought with me were also skilled in jewelry making.

I held out the pearl necklace that they had made beautifully and said.

“It’s the only one in Joseon.”

‘Pearl necklaces made of pearls are rare.’

Of course.

It is impossible to make a necklace with natural pearls, which are of various sizes and difficult to obtain.

However, a necklace made entirely of pearls would undoubtedly be a symbol of wealth and luxury in this era.

It’s a perfect product to ignite competitive spirit.

Even if you put all that aside, it’s pretty.

The pearls that failed when making this were ground into pearl powder. This also sells for a decent price.

“Do you think my mood will be relieved with this kind of thing?”

“Stay still.”

I put the necklace on from behind.

His neck seems to be red for some reason, but it must be my imagination? This guy might need to get inoculated with Madu too.

Ju So-hwa took out a silver mirror from his arms and looked at himself wearing the necklace.

Then he said gruffly.

“Hmm… not bad.”

Even if he said that, Ju So-hwa seemed to be in a good mood.

That means he liked the gift that much.

‘Okay.’

I clenched my fist tightly.

Seeing that even the princess of Ming, who has her eyes set on the sky after receiving all kinds of precious treasures, was impressed, it is clear that my efforts were not in vain.

Now, all that’s left is to sell everything at every place our trading ships reach and collect the money.

I felt good and said.

“That’s a relief. You think this will sell incredibly well too, right?”

“…”

Suddenly, Ju So-hwa’s eyes turned cold.

What did I do wrong?

End

ⓒ Pitkong