OFTLHFRO C81

Chapter 81 Anyway, We’re Young

Huo Yan questioned for a long time, while Luo Mingchen waited outside.

When he came out, Luo Mingchen stepped forward and asked, “All done?”

“Mm.”

After replying, Huo Yan looked at Luo Mingchen, hesitating to speak.

Seeing something off in his expression, Luo Mingchen asked, “What is it?”

“I’m afraid we won’t have a peaceful life from now on.”

Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Luo Mingchen took his hand and smiled brightly. “Then we’ll live a bit more thrillingly—anyway, we’re still young.”

Looking at Luo Mingchen’s smile, Huo Yan felt much more at ease and stopped frowning. “Alright.”

They knew too much. If they didn’t choose sides early, in the end, whether it was the third prince or the princes they had investigated, both would want to silence them, and neither side would be pleased.

One could say that when they agreed to support Yuanzhou Prefecture… no—when they delivered the sheepskin scroll to Yuanzhou, they had already joined the fray.

For now, the third prince seemed the most reliable.

The fifth prince’s methods were cruel; they hadn’t had dealings with the fourth prince.

But there would be no chance to, either.

They had used the third prince’s military order to mobilize Yuanzhou’s troops; whoever came would take them as allies of the third prince.

Luo Mingchen didn’t understand court politics well, but that didn’t make him a fool.

If the rebels were unrelated to the other princes, they could have stepped back after a job well done.

But now the investigation had come this far; to distance themselves from the third prince would be the same as baring their necks and inviting the fifth prince to send killers.

At that thought, Luo Mingchen suddenly remembered the house they were living in now.

According to what Xiao Lin told Huo Yan, the previous owners had been silenced, and the killer had never been found.

Luo Mingchen wasn’t afraid of trouble coming to his door, but they had three children; they couldn’t watch them every moment.

Thus, their only retreat now was to cling tightly to the third prince’s thigh.

Otherwise, they would have to take the three kids and leave Dayan altogether.

But in another land, everything would have to start from scratch.

They had no household registration; if they escaped, they would be vagrants. If discovered by officials in another country as non-locals, they would be seized and handed to the authorities, quite possibly branded as criminal slaves…

Thinking it through, one choice was to make merit and build a career—risky, but not overly so—earning respect and plenty of money.

The other was to flee everywhere and deal with endless troubles.

Only a fool would choose the second.

It wasn’t that Luo Mingchen lacked confidence in thriving elsewhere; it was simply unnecessary.

He didn’t feel much attachment to this country; his hometown wasn’t here.

But Huo Yan was different. He and the three children were local through and through. Wanting to hole up in a mountain village to retire was one thing; stepping up when the nation was in trouble was another.

The prefect approached and said, “Gentlemen, most of the bandits and rebels outside have been captured. What should we do now?”

“Have you had breakfast, my lord?” Luo Mingchen asked.

“Not yet.”

“Then why not eat first?”

If anyone sold breakfast in the city, Luo Mingchen would have already gone to buy some.

The prefect couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry. “Alright, please wait a moment. I’ll have some buns brought.”

“That works,” Luo Mingchen said.

As a guest, he couldn’t very well ask for too much.

Large sea bowls brimming with white rice porridge arrived, along with fist-sized meat buns.

“I think I know why you all can grow so tall,” Luo Mingchen told Huo Yan.

Glancing at the half bun left in his hand, Huo Yan asked, “Can’t finish it?”

Luo Mingchen blinked and nodded. “Uh-huh.”

“…Give it here, then.”

So Luo Mingchen tore off the part he’d bitten and handed over the rest.

It wasn’t that his appetite was small; people here simply ate a lot. Three buns weren’t enough, but four were too many—a bit awkward.

When Huo Yan polished it off in two or three bites, Luo Mingchen smiled at him. “You’re easy to feed—no pickiness at all.”

“Once you’ve gone hungry, you won’t be picky,” Huo Yan said flatly.

“That would take a long time hungry,” Luo Mingchen said, recalling how, in the apocalypse, there had been people in a big family who refused to eat ginger or garlic and treated him like a sucker.

He hadn’t indulged them—eat it or don’t; if not, too bad.

When news later came that those people had been gnawed by zombies, Luo Mingchen wasn’t surprised—he only felt sorry for their parents. In such a situation, the two children were ignorant, and the two elders still scolded…

Thinking of this, Luo Mingchen remembered their three kids at home.

“Nothing left for us to do here, right?”

“Once the remaining bandits on the run are cleared up, we’ll head home,” Huo Yan said.

“Oh.”

As it turned out, fighting took less time than clearing the stragglers.

It took three or four days to capture the rest. Passing a mountain village, they heard there were bandits, so they wiped them out in passing and were gifted piles of melons and vegetables.

Finally able to go home, Luo Mingchen and Huo Yan rode back to Taohua Town.

It was still peaceful there—not like places trampled by bandits and rebels, where people were displaced.

Seeing the familiar town gate, they slowed to avoid bumping into market-goers.

“It’s market day,” Luo Mingchen said, then suddenly remembered, “Is Xiaohui’s exam today?”

Huo Yan thought. “It is.”

“Then shall we head to Yuelan County now?”

He’d wanted to make soft-shelled turtle for Huo Yuhui before the exam; by now, the exam was probably almost finished, right?

“Alright.”

They said that, but still went to the Ming residence first to return the horses and take two of the children to the county.

But the steward told them Ming Yuanjing and Huo Yuhui had gone to the exam together, while Huo Xiang took Huo Xinyue to wait in town, bringing several guards along; Xiao Lin and Hua Niang had gone too.

Originally set on returning the horses, they gave the military order to Old Master Ming and, after he gifted them the two horses, mounted up again and rode to Yuelan County.

Outside the exam academy, the teahouses and restaurants were already packed.

It reminded Luo Mingchen of the university entrance exam back then—only now he was outside the venue rather than inside.

They arrived late; Xiao Lin and the others had come early.

Handing the horses to a waiter to be fed, they searched around and found Xiao Lin on the second floor of a restaurant—red-faced and thick-necked, arguing with someone.

Going up, they saw Huo Xinyue bawling in Yang Cuifen’s arms.

Xiao Lin was trying to snatch Huo Xinyue from her, but as soon as he reached out, Yang Cuifen shouted “Molestation!” and accused him and Hua Niang of being kidnappers.

Huo Xinyue was too young to speak clearly and was crying.

The onlookers, not knowing the truth, saw how righteous Yang Cuifen sounded and really thought the burly Xiao Lin was a kidnapper. They scolded him and said they would report to the authorities.

Xiao Lin was so angry it hurt his liver. “Report what, exactly! Do I look like a kidnapper? This woman is no good! If you’ve got the nerve, wait for Yueyue’s brother to come back—you’re not taking her!”

Yang Cuifen raised her voice. “I’m her aunt. Why shouldn’t I take her?”

Squeezing through the crowd and seeing the scene, Luo Mingchen strode up, stomped hard on Yang Cuifen’s foot, and, while she howled in pain, snatched the wailing Huo Xinyue back.