Chapter 21
"Wah?"
Yul's sparkling eyes were filled with the sight of a large face with bushy whiskers and fierce eyes.
A visage that would have made most young children burst into tears on the spot.
But somehow, Yul's reaction was different.
Tilting her head curiously with wide eyes, Yul said:
"Grandfather?"
That one word.
With that single word from Yul, Peng Mugang's heart sank.
It was embarrassing, or perhaps frustrating.
In truth, Peng Mugang had never before seen a child who didn't cry at the sight of him.
Even his own children, Paeng Seo-yeon and Peng Seo-jin, had been the same.
How they would wail so pitifully whenever he held them.
No matter how hard he tried to comfort them, nothing seemed to work.
So each time, he would hand the children back to his wife with a bitter expression.
Well, perhaps it was only natural.
With Peng Mugang's innate intimidating presence and tiger-like appearance, it would have been strange for children not to be frightened.
But Yul was different.
It was a first.
A child who showed no fear of him at all.
Peng Seo-jin set Yul down in front of Peng Mugang.
Naturally, Peng Mugang's gaze followed downward.
"Yul. You should say hello to Grandfather."
Following Peng Seo-jin's gentle prompt, Yul folded herself in half, repeating:
"Hello, Grandfather."
Having greeted him in what she thought was a polite and clear manner, Yul then stretched out both arms towards Peng Mugang.
Surprisingly, Peng Mugang just stared blankly at the sight.
Watching her husband's reaction, Dan Hee-young, who had been looking back and forth between Yul and him, gently prodded Peng Mugang.
"What are you doing? She wants you to hold her."
"Hmm? ...Oh? Oh, um."
At his wife's urging, Peng Mugang picked up Yul as if pushed from behind.
Soon, the precious sight of Yul being enveloped in Peng Mugang's tree trunk-like arms unfolded.
Having ended up holding Yul without quite realizing it, Peng Mugang was simply bewildered by the situation.
The small child in his arms felt so fragile, as if she might break with the slightest pressure.
Yet this fragile child did not cry at the sight of him.
She even smiled brightly when their eyes met.
"Grandfather!"
In that moment, Peng Mugang's face froze.
To an outsider, it would have looked like such a terrifying expression that they might have fallen to the ground trembling.
Even Paeng Seo-yeon and Peng Seo-jin wondered if their father disliked children.
But only his wife, Dan Hee-young, saw.
That her husband's cheeks were twitching constantly.
He was now desperately trying to act as if nothing was wrong.
But his eyes were trembling in an unprecedented way.
"Will it really be alright?"
"He said it's fine. So try not to worry too much."
"But..."
Dan Hee-young comforted Paeng Seo-yeon, who was fidgeting anxiously.
Come to think of it, Yeo Un-hwi and Peng Mugang were nowhere to be seen.
In fact, just moments ago, Peng Mugang had singled out Yeo Un-hwi and taken him to the Family Head's room.
Naturally, Paeng Seo-yeon couldn't help but fret.
"No matter how stern your father is, he wouldn't harm someone who hasn't even learned martial arts."
"But still..."
Of course, Paeng Seo-yeon knew that better than anyone.
Although he had spoken harshly to her earlier when his emotions were high, her father was someone who knew better than anyone the lines that shouldn't be crossed.
In fact, that's what people feared about him.
Knowing the lines clearly meant that the moment someone crossed them, her father became a terrifying opponent.
So her father wouldn't raise a hand against her husband.
But understanding something intellectually and accepting it emotionally were different matters.
Dan Hee-young understood her daughter's feelings.
After all, she too was a wife with a husband and a mother with children.
So she felt that continuing with the same reassurances wouldn't help her daughter anymore.
Dan Hee-young brought up a different topic.
"Yeon-ah."
"Yes?"
"Actually... there's something you don't know."
Paeng Seo-yeon's eyes widened slightly at her mother's sudden, cryptic words.
Peng Seo-jin, guessing what Dan Hee-young was about to say, interjected between the two women.
"Mother, wouldn't Father be upset if you tell Sister about that?"
"Yes, he probably would. But are there any secrets in this world that last forever? Now that Yeon has returned home... And Yeon should know. Her father's heart."
"What do you mean? Father's heart?"
As Paeng Seo-yeon looked puzzled, Dan Hee-young began to speak calmly, looking at her.
"Yeon-ah. You probably didn't know this, but... your father actually knew everything about where you were and how you were living."
"What?"
"Your father is the master of the Hebei Peng Family, one of the Five Great Families of the martial world. Finding out that much was nothing for him."
Paeng Seo-yeon's eyes grew impossibly wide.
It was something she had never imagined.
In fact, she didn't know this, but even Tang Gu-hwi, the Young Master of the Sichuan Tang Family, had managed to find her.
Of course, it made no sense that Peng Mugang, the head of the Hebei Peng Family, wouldn't have been able to find her.
The power of the Five Great Families of the martial world was far greater than Paeng Seo-yeon realized.
Their influence extended throughout the entire Central Plains.
"Then why..."
"You want to ask why he didn't come and take you back?"
"Ah, no. I just..."
Startled by Dan Hee-young's blunt words, Paeng Seo-yeon trailed off, lowering her gaze.
Dan Hee-young gave her daughter a bitter smile.
"...Is there any parent in this world who can truly win against their child?"
That one sentence seemed to explain everything.
Dan Hee-young stared at the table for a moment, as if recalling memories from that time, then slowly continued.
"He found you, but in the end, your father decided to accept your wishes. That's why he didn't take any further action. But the reason he got so angry when he saw you today... Sigh, I suppose that's just how parents are. When his clever and beautiful daughter returned after so many years with her face and hands all chapped and clearly having suffered, he just felt frustrated and hurt."
"You know your father well. He's not good at expressing himself in that way."
Tears welled up in Paeng Seo-yeon's eyes.
She had thought that her father would never forgive her for leaving the family so abruptly.
And that the family would have erased her name.
She believed he would never want to see her again.
But that wasn't the case.
"...Ugh."
Though she tried to hold back by biting her lip, tears fell one after another.
As her daughter hung her head low, letting the tears fall without even trying to wipe them away, Dan Hee-young silently comforted her.
Watching the mother and daughter, Peng Seo-jin also smiled gently.
"Vroom!"
Meanwhile, Yul was running around the room excitedly, playing as if she couldn't be happier.
Dan Hee-young laughed watching Yul.
"By the way, Yul is so brave. Not even afraid of her grandfather. Our Yeon and Jin were so scared of their father. They would scream and cry just from being held."
At the mention of Yul, Paeng Seo-yeon hastily wiped away her tears and tried to respond casually.
"I don't remember that."
"Mother, why bring that up now?"
Paeng Seo-yeon and Peng Seo-jin grumbled simultaneously, as if on cue.
Dan Hee-young chuckled at their reaction.
"I'm just saying how surprising Yul's reaction is. Hoho."
Dan Hee-young beckoned to Yul, who was still playing energetically.
As Yul came running over, Dan Hee-young took her hands and asked:
"Yul-ah. What did you think of Grandfather?"
"Grandfather?"
Yul tilted her head for a moment, then smiled brightly and answered.
"I like Grandfather!"
The sight was truly adorable.
In the Family Head's room of the Hebei Peng Family.
Peng Mugang, the master of this room, was staring at the man seated across from him with incredibly sharp eyes.
Yeo Un-hwi.
Peng Mugang had met this man once, long ago.
He was an orphan who had never learned martial arts, just an ordinary scholar with nothing to his name.
Yet his daughter said she loved this man.
But at the time, his daughter Paeng Seo-yeon was known as one of the greatest talents in the Central Plains, counted among the Six Dragons and Four Phoenixes.
Peng Mugang had hoped his daughter with such a bright future wouldn't make a foolish choice.
So he strongly opposed it.
But his daughter was just as stubborn.
Looking at her eyes, it was clear she had no intention of changing her mind.
Once she started being stubborn like that, she never backed down.
Who knows who she took after.
So Peng Mugang went to see Yeo Un-hwi directly.
He clearly expressed his wish for Yeo Un-hwi not to ruin his daughter's future.
Faced with Peng Mugang, Yeo Un-hwi couldn't say a word and just trembled.
He was a pathetic man.
But then,
'Family Head! The young lady...'
Not long after, Yeo Un-hwi and his daughter suddenly disappeared.
It felt like his mind went blank.
Peng Mugang never imagined she would go so far as to abandon the family.
He was furious.
He had never been so angry before in his life.
He then used every means at his disposal to search for his daughter's whereabouts.
He vowed that once he found her, he would go and bring her back immediately.
And when he finally found her after just a few days, he headed directly to the small village where she was staying.
And he saw.
His daughter's smiling face.
Though her appearance was a far cry from her days in the Peng Family, that smile was truly radiant...
'Could that child ever smile like that before?'
After watching that scene for a long time, Peng Mugang finally turned and left.
And he never sought out his daughter again.
Wishing only for her happiness.
Hoping she would live happily for the rest of her life, forgetting about the family that couldn't make her smile like that.
But now that daughter had returned.
To the Peng Family, with her own family.
He was glad but not entirely pleased, he had missed her terribly but seeing her face made him incredibly angry.
That strange irritation that hadn't faded for years still clung stubbornly to his chest.
Naturally, he couldn't look kindly upon this man before him who had caused that irritation.
It was then.
"I'm sorry."
Yeo Un-hwi bowed deeply to Peng Mugang.
Peng Mugang's face twitched.