In front of a pleasure house, several thugs threw out a man dressed in blue.
A woman wearing rather revealing clothing rolled her eyes at the man lying on the ground.
“No money and you still dared to come here? Do you really think our Yao’er is some Bodhisattva Guanyin saving all living beings? And what’s with calling yourself a scholar? What, scholars get to enjoy women for free?”
Upon hearing that, passersby immediately stopped to watch the spectacle.
The man’s face burned with shame. He got up, covered his face, and, without saying anything, slunk away.
Luo Mingchen found the figure and side profile strangely familiar. Turning to Huo Yan beside him, he said,
“Isn’t that Lin Qingfeng?”
Perhaps his voice was a little too loud. Lin Qingfeng looked back at them. Upon recognizing them, he lowered his head, pressed his lips tightly together, and hurried away.
Huo Yan wasn’t surprised at all.
“He has always been like that.”
“Tsk, tsk.”
After witnessing the gossip firsthand, Luo Mingchen felt rather emotional.
After walking a few steps, he suddenly realized something.
“Wait. How did you know?”
“I…”
Before Huo Yan could explain, the sharp-tongued woman from earlier spotted them and walked over, flicking the handkerchief in her hand that was saturated with sweet perfume.
“Oh my, isn’t this Master Huo? Are you coming in for some fun today? Why isn’t Master Xiao with you?”
The moment he heard that, the way Luo Mingchen looked at Huo Yan changed completely.
Huo Yan instinctively wanted to explain, but seeing the woman still standing there, he simply said,
“We have business to attend to.”
Then, carrying the confused Huo Xinyue in one arm and pulling Luo Mingchen by the hand with the other, he quickly left.
The madam of the pleasure house stared at their retreating figures in confusion.
Huh?
Weren’t those two contract brothers?
Realizing she might have caused trouble, she immediately took the thugs back inside.
Luo Mingchen stared at Huo Yan’s handsome face in shock.
“You’re actually a regular customer at brothels?”
With a face like that, if he went to a pleasure house, who exactly was taking advantage of whom?
Realizing what Luo Mingchen meant, Huo Yan said,
“I was only accompanying someone.”
Seeing disbelief written all over Luo Mingchen’s face, Huo Yan explained further.
“Xiao Lin’s old lover lives there. Years ago, he was expelled from his family and fell into poverty. A village girl saved him during that time. Later, her family sold her to a pleasure house, so he redeemed her freedom. But he made many enemies while working as an escort, so he let her continue living there.”
After hearing such a detailed explanation, Luo Mingchen’s previously gloomy mood improved considerably. Yet he still said,
“What does that have to do with me?”
He genuinely didn’t believe that a vigorous young man like Huo Yan could remain completely unaffected by so many beauties.
Besides, pleasure houses didn’t only have women—they also had male courtesans.
Still, after thinking it over, Luo Mingchen felt he had no right to criticize Huo Yan. Their relationship was more like roommates than anything else.
With that thought, he let it go.
And hearing Huo Yan explain so much to him actually made him find the whole thing rather amusing.
Looking at him, Huo Yan said,
“I only accompanied him inside. I didn’t do anything there.”
“Oh.”
The three of them left the county and headed to Peach Blossom Town.
Since Baiye Academy had not yet dismissed classes, they found a teahouse and sat down to enjoy some pastries.
When school ended, Huo Yuhui was waiting on the street with Huo Xiang.
“Xiaohui!”
Luo Mingchen called out to Huo Yuhui, drawing many people’s attention.
As he walked over, he heard someone laughing.
“My dog is called Xiaohui too! Hahaha…”
“If he’s called Xiaohui, then is his younger brother called Xiao Xiang? My sister’s maid is called Xiao Xiang.”
The two people weren’t speaking quietly at all.
Yet Huo Yuhui seemed completely unconcerned and greeted them with a bright smile.
“Little Daddy, Dad.”
If this had happened in the past, Luo Mingchen would have dragged those brats over and given them a beating.
But with the children present, he pretended not to hear.
Smiling at Huo Yuhui, he said,
“Let’s go. Time to head home.”
“Okay.”
While riding in the ox cart, Luo Mingchen noticed that Huo Xiang seemed somewhat downcast.
Recalling the attitudes of the students he had seen outside the academy—which certainly hadn’t looked friendly—he asked,
“How did things go with your classmates today?”
Just as Huo Xiang was about to answer, Huo Yuhui spoke first.
“It was alright. Everyone was very welcoming.”
Luo Mingchen’s heart sank.
He didn’t expose the lie and only said,
“If anyone bullies you, make sure to tell us. Our family isn’t inferior to anyone else’s.”
Huo Yuhui smiled at him.
“Okay.”
Children from farming families were easily ostracized at academies.
The other students all formed their own groups, while Huo Yuhui and Huo Xiang were newcomers.
They were slightly behind in their studies and very obedient. Whenever the teacher praised them, it only made the other students even more dissatisfied.
But so what?
Even if Huo Yuhui told his two fathers about it, it wouldn’t help much.
They couldn’t stand guard at the academy every day.
If he talked about it too often, he would only make them worry.
As long as those students didn’t go too far, he could endure it.
Back at the main family residence, he had been physically bullied and pushed around.
Compared to that, what were a few rumors and acts of exclusion?
During the journey home, Huo Yuhui told Luo Mingchen about how the teacher had praised them for being obedient and talked about what they had learned that day.
It had to be said that Huo Yuhui’s little head worked exceptionally well.
He had never studied the text before, yet after only one day he had already memorized it.
His memory was astonishing.
Huo Xiang, on the other hand, was somewhat weaker in that regard.
He wasn’t particularly interested in the texts, but he loved arithmetic.
His mental math was excellent, especially when it came to calculating money.
He was practically maxed out in that talent.
Seeing that there weren’t any major issues with their studies—and that social relationships would take time—Luo Mingchen asked,
“Do you have enough spending money at the academy?”
“We do.”
“If it’s not enough, tell us. Make sure you eat well at noon. You’re still growing. If you don’t eat properly, you won’t grow tall.”
Previously, Luo Mingchen had thought the two children were of average height.
But after seeing their peers, he realized they were actually a bit shorter than most children their age.
The moment he heard he might not grow taller, Huo Xiang’s face turned pale.
Anxiously, he asked,
“Little Daddy, then what should I do?”
He still dreamed of growing as tall as Dad and beating up everyone who had bullied them.
If he didn’t grow tall, wouldn’t he be stuck getting beaten up for the rest of his life?
Luo Mingchen said,
“That’s why you need to eat more meat and vegetables, exercise more, and run every day. That’s how you’ll grow taller.”
Honestly, Luo Mingchen felt that if he hadn’t gone hungry during puberty, he definitely would have grown past one meter eighty.
People always said men could continue growing into their twenties.
But his height had barely changed after seventeen.
Now that he was already nineteen, he had given up on growing any taller.
Huo Xiang nodded solemnly.
Listening to their conversation, Huo Yan said,
“When I have time, I’ll teach you some martial arts. Practice more.”
Hearing that, Huo Xiang became excited.
“Thank you, Dad!”
If he could become even half as formidable as his father, those people wouldn’t dare bully them anymore, right?
Huo Xinyue quickly chimed in.
“Me! Want!”
Luo Mingchen raised an eyebrow slightly.
“Yueyue wants to learn too?”
“Mm!”
Luo Mingchen laughed.
This was truly a case of wanting to run before she’d even learned how to walk properly.
Huo Xinyue didn’t understand what Little Daddy was laughing about, so she laughed along as well.
Her silly little expression made both brothers burst into laughter.
Chatting and laughing all the way, they finally returned home.
Luo Mingchen cooked the wild boar meat that Yu Bei had delivered at noon.
Because wild boar meat carried a strong gamey odor, he had soaked it in his space first.
His space was divided into two areas.
One was a storage area, and the other was a planting area.
Time in the storage area was fixed and could only hold inanimate objects.
The planting area, however, could hold living things, and time there could be adjusted.
The wooden basin used for soaking the meat had been placed in the planting area.