Chapter 11
Countless people gathered at the market set up by the newly arrived county magistrate, Kim Daebung.
There were quite a few merchants who had come intent on doing big business, among them Kim Man-deok, who had even visited Kim Daebung to volunteer to pay taxes,
and countless commoners were also preparing to do business.
Among them was Sunduk's mother, who had lost her husband at a young age.
"I hope the greens I brought today sell well. Then my children won't have to go hungry, and I can at least fill them up with barley porridge."
Even when her husband was alive, they were tenant farmers with no land of their own, so life was hardly easy.
Then her husband died suddenly, leaving behind no fewer than four children...
To survive, she had to rise before dawn and work the land rented from Kim Cheomji together with her children.
After spending half a day bent over without once straightening her back, she did not go straight home; instead, she headed for the hill behind the village, where she gathered wild greens for her children.
She lived on barley porridge stretched thin with plenty of water and a little of the greens she had picked.
So Sunduk's mother had come out to sell goods, wanting above all to feed her children better than they were now.
In her heart, she called on her dead husband, her late parents, and her ancestors, praying fervently.
She begged them to let business go well today so she could put food in her children's mouths.
As she waited anxiously for the market to open, at last the gong sounded to announce the start of business.
An enormous crowd poured in, the kind you'd be hard-pressed to see even at a village feast.
It was surprising enough that so many people came to sell goods, but even more astonishing were the customers coming to buy.
As Sunduk's mother stood dumbfounded at the huge crowd, the likes of which she had never seen in her life, the merchants and stallholders around her shouted out to lure customers.
"Come now, if you come to market and go home empty-handed, won't you lose face as the head of the household? On a fine day like today, buy a bundle of dried persimmons for your family! We've got taffy too!"
"Dried seafood, cheap, cheap! One dried pollack for half a hob of rice! Ten of them for four hobs!"
"A doe of anchovies for three hobs of rice! Three hobs of rice! Put them in doenjang soup and make broth with them. You won't find anything tastier than this!"
As the merchants shouted for customers, the shoppers at the market moved this way and that, following the calls.
Some had come only to see what a market was, thinking there would be a crowd, but after hearing the calls they even bought dried persimmons and gaetteok for their families.
"This gaetteok looks tasty. Give me a basketful."
"Will you pay in oseungpil, or in rice?"
"How about one doe of rice?"
"I'd lose too much on that... but your face is so pleasant, sir, that I'll make an exception and give it to you for just one doe of rice."
It was also the first time in her life that Sunduk's mother had come to a market and watched her goods being sold.
Before she knew it, she was completely mesmerized by how merchants were calling out to customers and goods were being traded everywhere.
She would have liked to stroll around the market and buy something to eat like everyone else, but...
She had to stay focused for the sake of her children, who sometimes filled their bellies with water when even barley porridge was beyond reach.
She had never done anything like commerce in her life, but right now she had to toss shame aside and become hard-nosed.
A woman may be weak, but once she becomes someone's mother, she has to be strong.
"Everyone, come over here! Bean sprouts, crown daisy greens, mugwort, bracken! All kinds of wild greens for sale! Toss them with a little salt and sesame oil and they'll be so delicious you won't envy any meat dish!"
Sunduk's mother's face burned hot after she mustered the courage to raise her voice.
Hawking her wares in front of everyone was a huge burden for her.
Even so, she did not stop calling out.
"Try mixing the greens with soy sauce. The taste is incredible! Buy some greens! If you don't buy them now, you'll regret it!"
Her calls were clumsy, but in the end they paid off; a woman approached and carefully looked over the greens she had laid out.
She didn't touch what belonged to someone else... but she examined them with such care it was almost as if she meant to lick them clean, then said,
"These bean sprouts are really fresh and good. The bracken too, the crown daisy greens, the mugwort... like you said, if I mix them with a little soy sauce and sesame oil, I won't envy any meat dish."
"I took care to gather only the good ones."
"They are sturdier than the rest. I'm thinking of buying a basket each of bean sprouts and mugwort. How much will you let them go for?"
"It's normally two hobs of rice, but I'll let you have them for one and a half."
"Isn't that too expensive? Greens are all over the mountains."
Sunduk's mother shook her head at that.
"Greens vary greatly depending on who picked them and when. These were gathered by me myself at dawn today. It's true that greens grow all over the mountains, but not everyone can tell which patches produce the tastiest ones. And can't you see how I've packed this basket full, pressing them down generously?"
"Well, that's true enough, but..."
"At one and a half hobs of rice, I'm honestly selling at a loss."
Sunduk's mother wanted to sell them so badly that even half a hob of rice would have been fine.
If she could get even half a hob of rice and exchange it for barley, she could give her children a slightly tastier barley porridge.
Thinking of her children made her tough, and naturally she began to put on the merchant's usual act of 'pretending to sell at a loss.'
"All right, you win. But throw in some of those crown daisy greens as a bonus."
"Between women, that's the least I can do."
Sunduk's mother laughed affably and piled on a generous amount of crown daisy greens into the basket.
It wasn't as if she would only be selling today; she would have to sell greens at the market again five days later, too...
It was an investment with the future in mind.
Seeing the crown daisy greens piled on generously, the customer smiled and handed Sunduk's mother one and a half hobs of rice.
A bright smile blossomed on Sunduk's mother's face as well.
If she could sell all her greens this way and then exchange the rice or oseungpo for barley...
Then she could at least let her children eat their fill of barley rice today instead of barley porridge.
No, if she sold greens like this every time the five-day market opened...
Maybe she could even feed her children rice instead of porridge made from mixed grains.
Her body would be a little more worn out, but just thinking of her children eating their fill and looking happy filled her with joy.
Just like every mother and father who, when hardship and sorrow bring them to tears and make them want to give up, rise again like a roly-poly toy when they think of their children.
Thinking of her children, she tried to steel herself and work up even more courage for the sales pitch.
"Buy some greens! Greens! Try simmering them with the anchovies Aunt Baengdeok is selling and a handful of bean sprouts. It's wonderfully refreshing and savory—it'll soothe your stomach right down. For anyone who likes gaetteok, buy some mugwort and make gaetteok! It's filling and delicious!"
At first she was embarrassed, and shouting that loudly felt a little awkward, but...
If selling greens like this could become a reality and let her children eat proper meals, what was there to be ashamed of?
Holding on to that one thought, she sold the greens with grim determination.
She didn't even notice how time passed.
When mealtime came, the others went off to the tavern at the market and wolfed down bowls of gukbap, but she stayed put, even saving the time it would have taken to eat.
Before she knew it, by focusing only on business, she had succeeded in selling every last bit of the greens she had brought in such a heavy load.
"I really sold it all...?"
Thinking that selling greens would let her feed her children even a little more, she had brought a great deal of them.
So much, in fact, that she'd wondered whether she could possibly sell it all in one day.
And yet Sunduk's mother had sold the whole lot.
"A full two does of rice?"
At this rate, she could cook rice and let her children eat their fill for today, and on other days she could give them rice mixed with beans instead of the barley porridge they usually ate.
A miracle had happened—one she had never dared even imagine before.
For Sunduk's mother, rice had been something she only ate on Chuseok ever since her husband died...
If things went like this, couldn't she serve rice more often from now on?
Would she no longer have to watch her children with nothing to eat, filling their bellies with water just to hold out?
While Sunduk's mother was lost in emotion for a moment, Deogi, who was selling beside her, said,
"Good grief, that lady didn't even eat while she was selling... and she sold all those greens? You're ruthless, ruthless."
"If I think about my starving children, I have to do this much."
"I'm thinking of wrapping up for the day. Want to go and try some gukbap or whatever it's called?"
"What money would we get get for that? The kids are waiting for their mother to come home."
She didn't know how much gukbap or whatever it was cost. Still, even the money for one bowl felt wasteful.
What mattered was feeding her children something tasty; what meaning was there in a mother eating something delicious all by herself?
"Deogi, shouldn't you be selling hard too, so you can buy your husband something good for his stamina?"
"Hey, you bitch! How the hell do you know that?"
"I heard your husband can't perform, so you're basically a widow. Yuni's mother told me everything."
"I already hated the sight of her bragging that her husband was strong at night, and now that bitch..."
Having finished her sales, Sunduk's mother headed home with the day's earnings—half a doe of rice and three doe of barley—in hand.
**
As soon as she got home, she forgot how tired her body was from selling and went straight to the kitchen to wash the rice and set it to cook.
Her body felt as heavy as lead, but even imagining her children eating happily made it move on its own.
While the rice was cooking, she blanched the greens—the bibimbap ingredients she had countless times described as so good they'd make you forget meat side dishes.
Bean sprouts, bracken, crown daisy greens, and the like were all blanched, and as soon as the rice was done, she called her children.
"Kids, come eat!"
At the word rice, the children came running, thinking, 'So it's another mixed-grain porridge today.'...
"Mom! Why is it rice?"
"I cooked it with the rice I earned from selling the greens."
Sunduk's mother smiled brightly at her children.
When their mother smiled, the children smiled too.
"Mom, why are you crying? We're eating something delicious..."
"I'm crying because I'm so happy. Happy that I get to eat something delicious with you kids."
After saying that, Sunduk's mother prayed silently to Heaven and the spirits.
Please let the present magistrate stay in this county for a long, long time.
And she wished they could live happily just as they were now—no more, no less.
**
The hobang kept talking, spitting as he spoke.
"Even poor commoners can sell greens, straw sandals, or firewood and take home even half a doe of rice. Everyone's saying their households are doing better thanks to the magistrate."
"That's truly a relief."
No matter what anyone says, the core value of Joseon is improving the people's livelihood.
There was the serious problem that, in trying to do that, they kept taxes absurdly low and ended up causing fiscal ruin...
Still, now that it had been proven to be for the people, there was no way I would be punished for it.
Or so I thought... but what was this?
A scholar who, at a glance, was practically radiating an aura that screamed, 'I'm a Confucian Taliban old fogey!' came to the government office.
"The fact that the newly appointed magistrate opened a market is an act that makes the people lazy and keeps them from being faithful to their proper occupation (farming)."