Chapter 9

A bowl of zhajiang, the dignity of the Zhuge family's son-in-law (9/605)

Dignity

I've always wanted to say this once.

"Familiar ceiling... Ugh..."

I opened my eyes to find myself on the bed in my room.

It seemed someone had carried me here after I collapsed.

When I pulled my hand out from under the blanket, my fingertips trembled.

I used to think that emitting a killing aura to kill someone was something that only happened in martial arts novels...

'Ah, this is the martial world. Damn it.'

A killing aura is not something an ordinary person can endure.

When I felt the killing aura of the middle-aged man, it was as if my whole body had shrunk like a squid in hot water, and it felt like I was watching a continuous stream of chilling scenes from a summer special movie.

Fortunately, I didn't wet myself.

But as a result, when I came to my senses, my bones ached.

The muscles in my body, which had been tightly contracted by the killing aura, were now relaxing, causing a pain as if I had been beaten all over.

Still, I should be grateful for this. If the young lady had taken longer to regain consciousness, according to the customs here, we would have certainly become a married couple in a blessed manner.

By a soul marriage.

The thought of us becoming zombies and entering a grave side by side, a chilling possibility that could have been my future, made me shudder.

While I was groaning in pain from the fatigue and pain spreading throughout my body, a woman's voice came from outside.

"Sir Yin, have you woken up? If you have, I'll come in for a moment."

"Y-Yes, come in."

It was the maid's voice. She seemed to have heard my movements and opened the door to come in.

The maid's expression was very bright, indicating that the young lady was probably safe. Out of courtesy, I asked about her well-being.

"How is the young lady?"

The maid answered with a happy face.

"Fortunately, thanks to Sir Yin, her tongue has calmed down, and she has regained consciousness. It's all thanks to you. Reviving the dead, you truly are a godsend!"

"Y-Yes, that's good."

Perhaps because it's her job to serve her superiors, the maid knew how to make people feel good and started praising me so much that my face felt hot.

This was the kind of praise that made me realize what genuine Chinese face-saving was.

"From the moment I saw you, I knew you weren't just an innkeeper. Your face is so radiant, and the inn looks like an ancient palace—"

The maid continued to praise me, from my appearance to the food I made and the appearance of the inn, in great detail without missing a single detail.

It seemed she could keep praising me all day.

However, the only praise I received in my previous life was when I caught a cockroach that had entered the classroom in elementary school, and the female teacher said, "Our 〇〇 is so brave, probably because he sees cockroaches often at home."

Was it praise or criticism? It was a bit of both.

Because of this, I, who had extremely low tolerance for praise, hastily tried to stop her endless praise.

My face was so hot I couldn't bear it.

"Ah, I understand. By the way, why are you looking for me?"

"Oh, my, how forgetful of me. The elder wishes to see you."

"Elder? Ah—"

She must be referring to the middle-aged man.

Is he thanking me for saving his daughter or apologizing for emitting the killing aura?

I allowed the maid to arrange the meeting with him.

Since I saved the daughter of the Zhuge family, the compensation shouldn't be small. I also hoped he might give me something.

I had spent most of my money on buying the inn, renovations, and purchasing ingredients.

If business had gone well, I could have continued operating until the ingredients ran out, but in my current state, I couldn't receive guests immediately. Most of the ingredients that survived yesterday's chaos would have to be discarded.

And the money I had left was almost all the 3 silver taels I earned yesterday. If I used this to repair the inn and buy more ingredients, I would be living day to day, relying on daily sales.

In any case, I needed some money.

Thinking that the head of a family of seven generations wouldn't settle with just a few silver coins, I waited for the middle-aged man.

"Cough..."

I heard the middle-aged man's cough from outside.

"Can I come in?"

"Yes, please come in. Elder."

The door opened, and the middle-aged man walked in.

Due to the pain in my body, I could only sit on the bed to greet him.

"I'm sorry, I can't get up."

"Hmm... It's, it's fine."

The man turned his head away, pretending to be awkward, knowing that his emission of the killing aura had caused this. He spoke without looking at me.

"First, I want to thank you for saving my daughter's life."

His voice sounded a bit sulky.

I had saved his daughter's life, but his reaction wasn't very enthusiastic.

I had expected an extremely grateful apology, but his tone was rather cold.

"I'm really sorry! I was ignorant and misunderstood you for a moment! You saved my precious daughter's life! I will never forget your kindness! What do you need? Just tell me, and I'll do my best to get it for you!"

I had expected something similar, but it seemed a bit off.

His current demeanor seemed more like he was sulking rather than apologizing.

So, I could only respond awkwardly.

"Yes, saving someone who is dying is something that should be done."

My response didn't elicit any reaction from the man.

Silence ensued.

Time passed quietly.

Perhaps a quarter of an hour had passed?

I stared blankly at the man, and he looked at me with his head held high, glancing at me sideways.

'What is this guy up to?'

If he came to apologize, he should apologize.

If he's grateful for saving his daughter and has something to give, he should give it quickly.

Why is he taking so long?

After a while of this silent standoff, the man let out a frustrated "Hmph."

'What is it?'

When I made a puzzled expression, the man, who had been examining my face, turned to me with a frustrated look and asked,

"Don't you have anything to say to me?"

'Anything to say? What? Should I say, "Thank you for saving my daughter, please be even more grateful!" or "What do you need, just say it"?'

I thought about the man's question for a while.

Then, I looked at him with a face that clearly showed I didn't understand.

The man's face turned red and then pale as he looked at me.

'Why is he angry when he came to apologize?'

He asked if I had anything to say, and then his face suddenly turned red. His behavior was incomprehensible.

Is it a symptom of hormonal imbalance? Is this what menopause is like?

Not knowing why the man was suddenly angry, I could only look at him in confusion. Seeing my expression, the man started to get really angry.

'Don't you know why I'm like this?'

The man's voice grew angrier.

Why is he asking me about his symptoms?

I saved his daughter's life, but hormonal imbalance isn't my specialty.

For menopause, the best thing is to stay calm and do light exercise.

Looking at him with an expression that said, "Why are you doing this to me?" the maid's voice came from outside again.

"Sir, I've brought your tea."

The maid entered with a tray of tea and cups. She placed the tea and cups on the table and said to the man,

"Sir, it seems Sir Yin is not a martial artist and was affected by the killing aura, so he might not be fully conscious. He might not remember that he damaged your dignity, so it would be good to explain it to him."

The maid must have heard our conversation from outside.

And it was only then, after hearing the maid's words, that I understood what the man was trying to say and why he was acting that way.

The annoying Chinese culture.

Mianzi! Face!

Mianzi, along with guanxi, is one of the two major cultural pillars of China.

The Chinese place great importance on face.

However, this concept of face is very different from what we think.

In Korean culture, face is often thought of as something one should uphold, a sense of integrity or propriety. In Chinese culture, face is a bit different.

While Korean face emphasizes inner qualities, Chinese face emphasizes outer appearances.

In interpersonal relationships, the Chinese want to present themselves in a good light, morally, ethically, and in terms of their background and everything else.

They want others to see them in a good light, whether it's true or not, and even if it's just a facade.

That's why you can find people who wear shiny outer clothes but dirty, holey underwear.

Since external perception is so important to them,

if they feel their face has been damaged and they are humiliated, they might even resort to murder.

Therefore, the worst thing to do in China is to publicly humiliate or shame someone.

Because of face, even if someone has done something wrong, they will never admit it in public, and doing so could lead to murder or grudges.

In the end, the hormonally imbalanced middle-aged man was asking for an apology for damaging his face, separate from saving his daughter.

'Ugh, this dirty face culture!'

Since he would likely emit a killing aura like an animal with glowing eyes, as a civilian, I had no choice but to apologize if he asked.

Personally, I think verbal apologies have no real meaning, so a free apology is fine.

In a capitalist society, apologies start with money, but if they can end with words, that's a happy thing.

I decided to apologize quickly before the middle-aged man got even more upset.

This apology is funny because the true meaning of the apology doesn't matter.

It's an apology for face, so as long as I save his face with appropriate words, he will accept it.

I shook my head as if I couldn't remember and bowed to the man, saying,

"Sir, I don't remember clearly, but I think I said something out of turn in the heat of the moment when I saw the young lady in danger. If I offended you, I ask for your understanding and forgiveness."

The man's lips, which had been puffed out, slowly returned to their normal size, and he reluctantly showed a face that said he forgave me.

"Hehe, if you were so anxious about saving my daughter, I can understand. After all, you are our daughter's savior."

'Damn, this dirty face culture!'

I really hate this land of China.