They hadn’t eaten much at noon, only some buns and pastries, so dinner was served fairly early.
Luo Mingchen took out various seasonings from his space and made braised pig trotters in sauce, along with winter melon stewed with pork ribs.
Swallowing his saliva, Huo Xiang said, “Little Daddy, your cooking is so good…”
Luo Mingchen smiled after hearing that. “I studied under a head chef in a hotel for a year or two. My knife skills aren’t great, but everything else is decent enough.”
After his mother passed away, he had run around everywhere, busy making a living. Whenever he had spare time, he studied hard to fulfill the promise he had made to her.
He had managed to get into university.
Unfortunately, the world had fallen into chaos before he could attend.
Tilting his little head, Huo Xiang asked, “Little Daddy, what’s a hotel?”
“It’s a big restaurant where lots of people eat every day.”
As he spoke, Luo Mingchen carried the braised pig trotters to the table.
“Wash your hands and come eat.”
“Okay!”
After the children finished washing their hands, Luo Mingchen scooped a bowl of rice and placed it in front of the coffin that contained Huo Yan’s clothes. He added some dishes to the bowl and stuck two chopsticks upright into the rice.
“Now the whole family is eating together.”
The two brothers nodded vigorously.
“Mm!”
Huo Xinyue looked at them curiously, then nodded along as well.
“Mm.”
After dinner, the four of them sat together in the courtyard and burned some paper money. Luo Mingchen ate the food that had been offered as a sacrifice before washing up.
After trying on their new clothes, the three children once again slept beside Luo Mingchen.
Everyone slept soundly through the night.
The next morning, just after breakfast, Luo Mingchen was preparing to go out and find the village chief to purchase a burial plot when he heard urgent pounding on the gate.
“Who’s there?”
Opening the door, Luo Mingchen saw an unfamiliar middle-aged couple. Behind them stood a younger, sturdily built man.
“Chenchen?”
The woman froze when she saw Luo Mingchen.
The young man before her looked seventy percent similar to their Chenchen, but his skin was fair, unlike their son’s wheat-colored complexion. More importantly, the feeling he gave off was completely different.
As a result, the couple didn’t dare recognize him immediately.
“Who are you?”
When Luo Mingchen heard them call him Chenchen, he thought it couldn’t be that much of a coincidence, could it?
Before the couple could answer, Lin Tianlei and Yang Cuifen, who had clearly been waiting nearby, stepped forward.
“I told you this brat isn’t Wang Chen!”
Now that he knew Luo Mingchen wasn’t Wang Chen, Lin Tianlei raised his chin arrogantly and demanded, “Where exactly did you come from?”
Luo Mingchen showed no panic whatsoever.
“How would I know where I came from? When I woke up, the children were surrounding me, calling me their Little Daddy. They said I was their father’s husband. I don’t remember anything else.”
The two children listening from behind wore bewildered expressions.
What exactly was going on?
The woman anxiously asked, “Then where’s our Chenchen?”
“I don’t know. Everyone in Xishui Village can testify that I was delivered here by someone. The village doctor knows too. When I arrived, I was unconscious and covered in injuries. I only woke up the afternoon before yesterday. I was actually planning to ask whether you might be my family.”
The Wang family still wanted to ask more questions, but Lin Tianlei shoved them aside.
“I don’t care where you’re from. Huo Yan was supposed to marry Wang Chen. You’re not Wang Chen, so what are you supposed to be? Get out of here immediately!”
Instead of getting angry, Luo Mingchen laughed.
“Let me put it this way. The token and marriage contract are in my possession. That means Wang Chen was the one who sent me here. He’s the one who had me marry in his place. Since I have the documents, and I’m willing to raise the children, if Cousin has the ability, go dig up the children’s father and make him crawl out of his grave. Then ask whether he’s willing to marry me. How about that?”
The marriage contract only contained Huo Yan’s name. For some reason, the space beside it had been left blank.
That made things very convenient for Luo Mingchen, who had filled in his own name.
And in this world, once two contract brothers had both a household registration and a marriage contract, they were practically no different from an ordinary married couple.
“That’s twisting the facts!”
“Oh, please. I’m a victim too. I’ve lost my memory, suffered serious injuries, and was somehow married off without my knowledge. Now I’m willing to take responsibility, and the children accept me. At the end of the day, Cousin is only a relative, not their actual father. You have no right to say whether the children’s father should marry me or not. Besides…”
Luo Mingchen took out an official county document.
“Huo Yan and I are already legally married. The name written here is Luo Mingchen, not Wang Chen. Open your eyes and take a good look.”
As soon as he had suspected a substitute marriage, he had thought of this issue.
Even if the Wang family refused to acknowledge him, it didn’t matter. He was now officially registered under Huo Yan’s household in Xishui Village. The county officials also had some acquaintance with Huo Yan and knew the three children, so everything had been processed smoothly.
When Lin Tianlei and Yang Cuifen saw the marriage contract and official document, they were dumbfounded.
Yang Cuifen reached for the papers, but Luo Mingchen dodged her hand.
Immediately, she shouted, “Those are fake!”
Luo Mingchen tucked the documents back into his clothes and leisurely replied, “Sister-in-law, you think too highly of me. Do you really think I can forge the county government’s seal? If you don’t believe me, go find the constables and have them investigate.”
The Wang family was completely confused.
“You’re not our Chenchen? Then where did Chenchen go?”
Looking at the worried woman whose eyes were red from concern for her son, Luo Mingchen softened his tone.
“He was probably the one who brought me here. As for where he went, I don’t know him, so naturally I don’t know. Instead of wasting time here, you’d be better off checking with people he’s close to. Without anyone helping him, he couldn’t have gone very far.”
This world wasn’t like his previous one, where people could travel freely.
Here, long-distance travel required official travel permits. There were guards at city gates who checked and recorded travelers.
Because of that, an ordinary farmer couldn’t possibly get very far.
The most likely possibility was that Wang Chen was hiding in the home of someone he knew well.
Of course, there was also a chance that he was hiding somewhere deep in the mountains.
Or perhaps he had run away and been trafficked.
The woman’s eyes reddened even further.
“Chenchen has never traveled far from home. Everyone he knows lives in the village. Where could he possibly go?!”
The sturdy young man behind her suddenly asked, “Mother, do you think Chenchen might have gone to find that scholar?”
As though they had thought of something, the Wang family’s expressions immediately calmed.
The woman said, “Child, our Chenchen has wronged you in this matter. Once we find him, we’ll make it up to you. We’re sorry.”
Luo Mingchen didn’t care much about it.
“Since I’m not your biological son, you’d better hurry and look for him.”
“Alright.”
The Wang family hurried away.
Only Lin Tianlei and Yang Cuifen remained, still glaring at Luo Mingchen.
“So? What are the two of you going to do? Go report me to the constables or something? I still need to choose a good burial site for the children’s father, so I won’t be accompanying you.”
With that, Luo Mingchen picked up Huo Xinyue from Huo Yuhui’s arms, led the children out, and locked the front gate behind him.
“You…”
Whatever Yang Cuifen wanted to say, Luo Mingchen ignored her completely.
When they arrived at the village chief’s house and asked about purchasing a burial plot, Luo Mingchen learned that according to local customs, a coffin had to remain in the home for at least three days before burial.
Ordinarily, people hired laborers to help with a burial.
However, to save both time and money, Luo Mingchen planned to dig the grave himself.
The excuse he gave was impossible to argue against—
He had no money.
Unexpectedly, after thinking for a moment, the village chief said, “On the day of the burial, my two sons can come help.”
Luo Mingchen, who had originally planned to use his water-element ability to dig the grave: “…”
“Alright. Thank you, Village Chief.”
“No need to be polite. Huo Yan helped us before. If not for him, my eldest son and I would have died in the mountains long ago.”
Hearing that, Luo Mingchen merely smiled.
His bargain husband seemed quite impressive.
He was well respected and had a good reputation too.
That meant their lives in the village probably wouldn’t be too difficult in the future.
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Translator’s Note:
Chenchen = Wang Chen, not Luo Mingchen. They are two different characters.