Husband, Let Me Touch Your Abs - Chapter 73

Chapter 73

“What’s going on? You didn’t open the luggage?”

Zhao Beichuan shook his head. “No, someone’s been here! Quickly check if anything is missing!”

Everyone hurriedly opened the luggage and took out the items one by one to inventory them.

They discovered Zhao Beichuan’s new cotton jacket was missing, along with a stick of ink belonging to Xiao Douzi. These items were worth about two or three taels of silver in total. The rest, which the thief likely didn’t find valuable, remained untouched. Luckily, the silver had always been kept with Lu Yao, or the thief might have taken everything.

Furious, Zhao Beichuan called the inn attendant, but the young attendant was helpless. After all, there were more than a dozen guests staying at the inn, and it was impossible to question each one to see who had stolen the items. Even if they did, no one would admit to it.

“Sir, when traveling, you must stay alert and take care of your belongings. You never know what kind of people are out there. There’s nothing I can do.”

Lu Yao waved her hand. “Forget it. Nothing too valuable was lost. Let’s get some rest and leave early tomorrow.”

The inn’s kang bed was small and narrow, barely accommodating the four of them.

Zhao Beichuan, being tall, had to sleep with his head inside and feet outside to stretch his legs. Thankfully, it was just one night; otherwise, it would have been unbearable.

The next day, just after the Yin hour(3-5am) the Zhao family got up. As usual, Lu Yao requested a pot of hot water, quickly washed her face, and had a bowl of tea-oil noodles before continuing the journey.

They had covered most of the distance, and if everything went smoothly, they would reach the city around the Wei hour(1-3pm).

After the long journey, the two children seemed a little weary, so Lu Yao began telling them a story.

This time, it was the tale of “Fan Zhongjin Takes the Imperial Examination.” It carried a slight moral undertone, subtly informing Xiao Douzi that the imperial examinations were extremely challenging. Some people spent their entire lives taking the exams, turning from young scholars with black hair to old men with white hair. Passing the provincial exam could even drive someone mad with excitement.

After hearing the story, Xiao Douzi fell into deep thought, while Xiaonian said, “That person was really pitiful. After finally becoming an official, he went crazy. What happened to him afterward?”

Lu Yao shrugged. “I don’t know. The story didn’t continue.”

“Sister-in-law, tell us another one. I still want to hear more.”

Lu Yao thought for a moment and told a story that little girls liked: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The two children listened quietly again. When they heard about the princess being harmed by her stepmother, Xiaonian grew anxious, her eyes red. “What should we do? Will the princess die?”

“Listen to the rest of the story. After the princess died, the dwarfs placed her in a glass coffin.”

Xiao Douzi asked curiously, “Sister-in-law, what’s glass?”

“Uh… a transparent coffin.”

“What does a transparent coffin look like?” Xiao Douzi, having never seen one, couldn’t imagine it.

“Zhao Xiaodou! Don’t interrupt Sister-in-law’s story!” Xiaonian angrily tugged at his ear.

“Ouch, Sister, let go! I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

Suddenly, Zhao Beichuan spoke, “Stop messing around. We’re about to enter the city.”

Hearing this, Lu Yao looked up and saw the gray and somewhat ancient and dilapidated city walls in the distance. “So this is Pingyang County…” It was quite different from what she had imagined.

The two children, however, were very excited, standing on the cart to look around. “Wow, I see the city gate!”

“It’s so tall!”

In fact, it was only about two zhang (roughly 6.5 meters) high, far inferior to the walls of Pingzhou Prefecture.

The closer they got, the more traffic there was on the road. Some people carried goods or pushed wooden carts in and out of the city, making it seem not much different from Qiushui Town.

When they reached the city gate, they were stopped by a gatekeeper. “What’s your business here?”

Zhao Beichuan quickly got off the cart and held the mule. “Sir, we’re here to participate in the county examination.”

“Show me your household registration.”

Lu Yao quickly retrieved the household registration from the luggage and handed it over along with a string of coins.

The guard accepted the money, glanced at the registration, and returned it. “There are still a few inns in the northern part of the city with vacancies. If you think they’re too expensive, you can ask around the western market to see if anyone is renting out rooms.”

“Thank you for the tip, sir.”

“Move along.”

Zhao Beichuan quickly drove the cart into the city.

Xiaonian asked curiously, “Why didn’t he stop anyone else’s cart but ours?”

Before Lu Yao could explain, Xiao Douzi figured it out. “Because we have a lot of luggage on our cart, we look like out-of-towners.”

Xiaonian asked again, “Then why was he kind enough to give us directions?”

Xiao Douzi didn’t understand this, but Lu Yao explained, “Because those inns gave him a kickback. For every person he refers, he gets

“Pardon my poor eyesight; seeing how imposing the young master looks, I thought he was a military officer. Who would have guessed he’s a scholar instead?”

Zhao Beichuan realized the misunderstanding. “It’s not me taking the exam; it’s my younger brother participating.”

The man glanced at Lu Yao and Xiaodou again. No matter how he looked, Lu Yao didn’t seem like a man. “Could it be this little brother here who’s taking the imperial exam?”

Zhao Beidou grinned, revealing his small, gapped teeth, and nodded. “It is indeed me.”

“Well, I’ll be!” The man said no more, inwardly wondering if this family was out of their minds, bringing a child to take the county exam. Maybe something was wrong with their heads.

Soon, they arrived at the alley where his house was located. The path was narrow, just enough for a cart to pass. Lu Yao worried they might get stuck and be unable to move forward or back.

The shopkeeper seemed to guess their thoughts. “Keep going; it’s wider up ahead.”

After passing through the narrow alley, the road indeed widened. The oil shop owner stopped in front of a large brown gate. “Wife, open the door! We have tenants!”

The courtyard door opened, revealing a kind-looking woman inside.

“It’s cold outside. Come in quickly.”

Zhao Beichuan drove the mule cart into the courtyard. The yard was quite spacious, with a separate shed for livestock.

“The rooms have been cleaned in advance. You can move in directly,” the woman said. Every year around this time, they rented out the side rooms, so they kept them very tidy.

The two side rooms had a layout similar to Zhao’s old house, with an inner bedroom and an outer kitchen. The kitchen had a clay stove for boiling water and cooking.

“There’s a well in the courtyard, so you can use water directly. There’s also firewood in the back, thirty coins per bundle. If you need millet or wheat flour, you can buy it from me too.”

Lu Yao declined, as they still had plenty of flatbreads in their bag, enough for the night. They could buy other items tomorrow in the market.

“How’s this place?” Lu Yao nudged Zhao Beichuan with his elbow.

“It’s pretty good. Let’s rent it.”

Lu Yao paid 500 coins for the rent and bought a bundle of firewood. After unloading their luggage from the cart, they began warming up the bed.

After traveling all day, they were cold and hungry, unwilling to exert themselves further. They quickly settled in to rest.

Once the fire was lit, the room warmed up quickly. Xiaonian and Xiaodou took off their shoes and climbed onto the bed. Covering themselves with quilts, their hands and feet started to itch after a while.

“Don’t scratch, or it’ll fester. Beichuan, put some mutton tallow on them.”

Zhao Beichuan dug a small wooden box out of the bag and tossed it to the two. “Apply it wherever it itches, and don’t wipe it on the quilt.”

“Okay.” The two kids applied the mutton tallow to their hands, feet, and ears.

The water in the pot boiled. Lu Yao scooped some out to wash the bowls and utensils from the bag. After cleaning the clay pot, he boiled another pot of water and made some tea porridge to go with the heated flatbreads for dinner.

The two children, exhausted from the day, fell asleep right after eating. Lu Yao and Zhao Beichuan couldn’t sleep, so they lay under the covers and chatted idly.

Lu Yao: “This little house isn’t bad. It’s much more spacious than the inns we stayed in.”

Zhao Beichuan replied, “It’s bigger than the rooms in the guesthouse too. Earlier, I checked with a few inns. Each room could only fit two people, and they cost 120 coins per night. There were also cheap shared bunks for 10 coins a night, but with so many people and all men, it wouldn’t be convenient for you and Xiaonian. Plus, it’d distract Xiaodou from studying.”

Lu Yao said, “That kind of place is indeed unsuitable. Renting this house seems like a good deal.”

Early the next morning, Lu Yao and Zhao Beichuan got up early. They planned to visit the market to buy daily necessities and explore what breakfast options the county had.

Before leaving, they instructed Xiaonian to stay home and watch Xiaodou. They told the two not to wander off, lest they get lost.

Xiaonian replied, “Don’t worry, sister-in-law. We’ll stay at home and won’t go anywhere.”

“I’ll bring you back some tasty treats.”

The two kids nodded excitedly.

Once outside, Zhao Beichuan held onto Lu Yao’s hand. Someone had spilled water on the road, leaving icy patches that were slippery to walk on.

After passing through the alley, they reached Xishi Street. Since it wasn’t a market day, there weren’t many people around. On a busy day, it would likely be more bustling than Qiushui Town.

Walking a few hundred meters along the street, they saw a breakfast shop with steaming white vapor rising from it. The two went straight over.

“What would you two like to eat?” An older gentleman, smiling kindly, greeted them.

Lu Yao asked, “What do you have here?”

“Meat buns, vegetable buns, fried sugar cakes, millet porridge, and soy milk.”

Meat buns were five coins each, vegetable buns three coins, sugar cakes also five coins, and porridge or soy milk were two coins a bowl.

Lu Yao was surprised that they sold soy milk in the county. “We’ll have four meat buns, four vegetable buns, and two bowls of soy milk.”

“Alright!” The man used a bamboo tray to take the buns from the steamer and filled two bowls of soy milk.

The soy milk was decent but unsweetened.

“Sir, this soy milk tastes pretty good. Is it made from ground beans?”

The old man didn’t hide anything. “Yes, it is. It’s tasty but troublesome to make.”

The buns were palm-sized. The vegetable ones were filled with radish and were passable, but the meat buns had very little filling, only about the size of a thumb.

Considering the high price of pork, it wasn’t surprising. After deducting the cost of flour and meat, there wasn’t much profit to be made.

After eating, Lu Yao paid and wrapped up the leftover buns in a cloth to take back for the kids.

Zhao Beichuan remarked, “It seems opening a breakfast shop in the county isn’t much different from the town. It’s all hard work for little profit.”

“Indeed, and the rent here is higher than in the town. If we were to open a shop here rashly, we might lose money.”

They left the shop and continued browsing. Ahead, there were more food stalls selling similar items. Breakfast foods generally had low profit margins.

Wealthy families usually had their own cooks, so breakfast was eaten at home. Those who woke up early to work were the ones who bought food outside, and if the prices were too high, no one would buy.

After turning a corner, they reached the county’s main street. The shops here were clearly more upscale, with some even having wooden signboards.

Zhao Beichuan, unable to read, listened as Lu Yao identified them. “That black signboard belongs to Xinglintang, which looks like a pharmacy. The one ahead, Xiyan Zhai, seems to be a restaurant. This one is Fang’s Cloth Shop, and that one is Yang’s Ready-to-Wear.”

Zhao Beichuan looked at Lu Yao with unconcealed admiration in his eyes. His little husband was amazing, knowing everything!

“There’s a bookstore here too. Let’s go in and take a look!” Lu Yao pulled Zhao Beichuan inside.

This bookstore was more than twice the size of the one in town. With the county exams approaching, it was bustling with people cramming for the tests.

Zhao Beichuan felt uneasy among the scholars and tugged at Lu Yao’s sleeve. “Why are we here?”

“I want to see if they have any exam prep books for Xiaodou.”

Lu Yao approached the clerk. “Excuse me, do you sell past county exam questions here?”

“Of course! We have past papers with commentary from top candidates and registered scholars. Each booklet is 300 coins. How many would you like?”

Thin as the booklets were, they cost 300 coins each! Zhao Beichuan’s eyes widened as he tugged Lu Yao, trying to stop him from wasting money.

“We’ll take three booklets,” Lu Yao said, pulling out a string of coins. “Keep the change and give me some paper.”

“Alright!” The clerk happily took the money and went inside to fetch the paper, bundling it with the books using hemp rope.

Once outside, Zhao Beichuan held up the bundle. “Are these books made of gold?”

“These exam papers are hard to come by and aren’t available in town. Xiaodou can learn how others answered the exams.”

To be honest, Zhao Beichuan didn’t have much faith in his brother, but he couldn’t dampen Lu Yao’s enthusiasm.

Leaving the bookstore, they went to a grain shop to buy millet and wheat flour. They also bought oil, salt, and vinegar—essentials for cooking.

The children were growing, so nutrition was important. They bought a basket of eggs, and at a butcher shop, Lu Yao spent over 80 coins on two ribs.

With their shopping done, they began heading back. As they passed through a small alley, they came across a group of raggedly dressed child beggars. They looked about Xiaodou’s age, barefoot and wearing torn clothes, thin and pitiful.

Lu Yao took out a few coins and tossed them to the children. But seeing him give money, the children blocked their way, refusing to let them pass.

Zhao Beichuan frowned and threatened, “Move aside, or I’ll hit you!”

The children ignored him, their eyes fixed on the goods they were carrying. “Kind sirs, please have mercy on us. We haven’t eaten for days…”

“But we already gave you money…”

One of the children suddenly whistled, and out of nowhere, six or seven adults appeared, surrounding them!