OFTLHFRO C83

Chapter 83 Being Able to Eat Is a Blessing

“Daddy! Little Daddy!”

At the shout, Huo Xiang charged over. Huo Yan caught him steadily to keep him from bumping into the sleeping Huo Xinyue in Luo Mingchen’s arms.

Rubbing against Huo Yan, Huo Xiang sniffled and muttered, “Daddy, you’re so hard. Little Daddy is better to hug…”

Huo Yan, thus disliked: “…”

Luo Mingchen was amused at first, but after a moment something felt off.

Wasn’t that basically saying he was all soft fat?

At that thought, Luo Mingchen gave Huo Xiang a complicated look and decided nights couldn’t be so long and lazy anymore; better to get up early and train with Huo Yan.

He already had fewer abs than Huo Yan—if he kept lying around, what if they vanished entirely?

That would be too tragic…

Seeing both Luo Mingchen and Huo Yan looking a bit hard to read, Xiao Lin couldn’t help laughing.

Good grief—one sentence, and both offended.

Carefree as ever, Huo Xiang plopped down beside Huo Yan, squeezing a bit more space from the already narrow bench.

Squeezed all the way to the wall, Luo Mingchen glared gloomily at how close Huo Yan was.

It would be hard to lift chopsticks for the meal…

But Huo Yan pretended not to notice and kept right there.

Huo Xiang spread out what he’d bought on the table. “Daddy, Little Daddy, want some?”

Taking a piece of milk cake, Luo Mingchen said, “Let’s order dishes. Starving.”

Even finishing these snacks wouldn’t be enough; better to order a proper meal. They’d set out before dawn and ridden long; hunger gnawed.

Huo Yuhui and Ming Yuanjing weren’t done with their exam yet—at least another two hours—no point waiting hungry.

“No problem,” said Huo Yan.

They called the waiter and ordered food.

Once dishes arrived, Huo Yan pulled Huo Xiang into his lap, giving Luo Mingchen room to eat with chopsticks.

Smiling, Hua Niang said to Luo Mingchen, “Shall I hold Yueyue?”

Glancing down at the little hands clinging fiercely to his clothes, Luo Mingchen said, “It’s fine, not in the way.”

A child’s skin bruised easily. Looking at those little hands, Luo Mingchen figured an ointment would help.

Not long after lunch, Huo Xiang, who’d already nibbled on snacks, couldn’t help taking some of the fragrant dishes his two fathers were enjoying.

This startled Xiao Lin. “You’re not full yet?”

Under the scrutiny, Huo Xiang said sheepishly, “Just a taste.”

Ruffling his hair, Luo Mingchen said with a smile, “Being able to eat is a blessing—eat more and grow tall.”

“Aren’t you worried he’ll end up like the Ming family’s young master?” Xiao Lin blurted, offending quite a few people—especially the Ming family guards, who stared at him.

Hua Niang pinched him under the table, and realizing his slip, he offered an awkward smile and dropped it.

“Yuanzheng is already slimmer,” Huo Xiang said earnestly. “Little Daddy says he’ll grow very tall.”

Xiao Lin could only give a dry chuckle. “…Mm.”

After the meal, Huo Yan poured water for Luo Mingchen.

Drinking, then setting down the cup, Luo Mingchen asked Xiao Lin, “You waited here the whole morning?”

“Of course. If we leave, plenty of people will swoop in and take the seats. Then we’d have to wait downstairs.”

Hearing that, Luo Mingchen glanced at the people standing on the street outside.

Sitting bored beat standing bored.

After a long wait and a rush of people coming down, Luo Mingchen asked, “Does the county-student exam only last one day?”

“Not before,” said Xiao Lin, though he wasn’t testing himself, he knew the details. “About fifty years ago, a ten-year-old prodigy suddenly died in the exam hall at midnight, and they changed it. But now it’s four sessions in one day, and the difficulty is higher.”

So whether that change was good or bad was debatable.

In any case, the grading cut down many.

“The other exams are three days and three nights,” Huo Yan said.

Though there’s no age limit, once sitting for exams beyond the county-student level, it’s one’s own choice—dying in the hall is a risk one accepts.

Thus, many scholars trained their bodies, fearing death in the hall.

Also, in the past, exams were once every three years, with spring and autumn sessions separate.

Now they’re held twice a year—spring and autumn—with an office in the palace dedicated to drafting papers.

Luckily, the late emperor had built many roads; there were official roads in many places now, so journeys weren’t too delayed.

There were seven versions of the exam, different papers sent to different places. Even if robbed en route, only that locality would be affected; students there simply wouldn’t sit.

Anyone caught stealing papers would be executed along with their entire clan.

There had been “clever” people who tried it at first—none now.

As they walked and talked, and the crowd thinned after families found their children, Luo Mingchen spotted Huo Yuhui and Ming Yuanjing waiting obediently by the main gate.

The guards who’d squeezed in earlier led them over.

Seeing Luo Mingchen and Huo Yan return, their eyes lit up and they greeted them.

Seeing they were in good spirits, the result mattered less. “Come on, let’s go home for good food,” said Luo Mingchen with a smile.

Huo Xiang handed over the pastries he’d bought. “Brother, Yuanjing, eat these first.”

Ming Yuanjing didn’t stand on ceremony and split them with Huo Yuhui.

“We only had dry rations at noon—I’m starving,” he said.

Huo Yuhui was hungry too, though not as urgently.

He was used to hunger, and since bringing dry rations was allowed, it wasn’t stressful for him.

But for someone like Ming Yuanjing, who ate several meals a day, a lunch of only dry rations, no meat and not even pickled vegetables, was hard to bear.

“That rough?”

Heart aching for his child, Luo Mingchen said, “Next time, I’ll make you meat sauce and jerky.”

“Thanks, Little Daddy,” Huo Yuhui said with a smile.

“You’re already thinking about next time?” Xiao Lin was amazed.

“Won’t he go on to sit for xiucai, juren, and jinshi?” Hua Niang tugged his arm and said, exasperated.

Rubbing his nose, Xiao Lin gave an awkward laugh. “Madam is right.”

Luo Mingchen had no deeper motives; talking too far ahead right after an exam hurt confidence—better to keep it simple.

On the way back, he learned Wen Liuyun had sat the exam, with Old Master Ming providing the recommendation letter and Huo Yuhui paying the fee.

He’d wondered what use Old Master Ming’s letter had—then realized, if he knew the third prince, and had been his tutor—likely a retired grandee—then a recommendation letter wasn’t a trifling matter.

But Wen Liuyun was to test for three days and three nights at the largest academy in the county.

“One question,” said Luo Mingchen. “Shouldn’t this exam be held in Yuanzhou Prefecture?”

Testing for xiucai in the county was one thing—why was the juren exam also in the county? By rights, that should be provincial.

“Yuanzhou is too far and hard to manage,” Huo Yan said. “A band of scholars could easily run into trouble on the road. So all exams are registered at the nearest county.”

“Huh? Wasn’t it always this way before?” said Luo Mingchen, more confused.

There hadn’t been talk of danger…

“There wasn’t an annual spring exam before either,” Huo Yan said.

Seeing his confusion, Xiao Lin explained, “With one exam a year, most candidates set off around the same time. Some foreign assassins lay ambushes on the road and slaughtered scholars. It happened several times, so they changed it.”

Put that way, it made sense to Luo Mingchen.

When the cycle was once every three years, people would move near the exam cities one to four months early. Shorter intervals meant it was better to study at home, so they’d travel in groups to the exam.

Imagining a band of xiucai heading to the prefecture and waves of assassins popping out, Luo Mingchen felt a bizarre sense of humor.

Probably from chopping too many zombies…