In a Flash

The plump, fatty pork knuckle meat was wrapped in a freshly griddled flatbread. To ward off the greasiness, some chopped chili sauce made with green peppers and garlic had been added as well. Just looking at it was enough to make one's index finger twitch with appetite.

Chen Mo took a bite. The pork knuckle, still carrying a little broth, released its juices, which slowly ran onto his hand and left his fingers faintly sticky.

Having a home did have its advantages. Chen Mo was off duty today and no longer needed to spend money at a small restaurant. Buying meat to take home and having Zhao Yu cook it cost considerably less than before.

Previously, he could only eat at restaurants, and restaurants naturally had to make a profit. Now, with the same amount of money spent cooking at home, he could eat much more meat.

"Slow down. There's still more in the pot." Zhao Yu smiled and brought over a small basin piled high with braised spare ribs.

As for the pot, it still held two large chunks of mutton simmering inside.

Chen Mo devoured the food like a whirlwind, quickly sweeping away seven or eight-tenths of everything on the table. Even the gnawed bones had piled up into a little hill.

Zhao Yu did not eat much, but her complexion had improved considerably during this period. She was still extremely thin, yet her face had finally taken on a healthy flush.

"Do you still have money? Could you lend me some?" Only after Chen Mo had finished eating did she summon the courage to ask, her voice a little bashful.

"What is it? Have you used up the money I gave you?" Chen Mo asked, puzzled.

"No. I want to set up a stall in town and sell some food. My cooking is decent, so I should be able to earn some silver. I'm just short of the capital right now." She voiced her idea.

If she stayed at home all the time without doing anything, merely eating without contributing, she would inevitably become an eyesore.

It was better to find something to do. Even if it was hard and tiring, at least she would have an income and be able to support herself.

"How much are you short?" Chen Mo asked in a deep voice. He wiped his hands with a damp towel and took out his money pouch.

He did indeed have quite a bit of money on him now, though he had not brought all of it with him.

"Another one liang and two qian should be enough." Zhao Yu gave him a precise figure. Clearly, she had thought the matter through carefully beforehand rather than acting on a sudden impulse.

"All right." Chen Mo counted out one liang and five qian of silver and handed it to her.

"A small business still needs sufficient capital. Consider this my investment in your share." He smiled as he passed the money over.

Zhao Yu's cooking was indeed quite good, something Chen Mo fully acknowledged. He would not say it surpassed the master chefs at the grand restaurants in the cities, but its flavor was certainly much better than that of the many small eateries in town.

If she sold food, she might not earn a great deal, but she definitely would not lose money.

"Thank you." Zhao Yu smiled and offered her thanks.

She knew Chen Mo was looking after her. A loan had to be repaid, while if he invested in the business, she would not need to repay him even if it lost everything.

For the sake of his trust alone, she had to make the business succeed.

Chen Mo ate two meals at home, then still made it back to the military camp before curfew.

Chen Mo had now been assigned to a squad like the other new recruits. Serving under Mo Dao, he was responsible for patrols and security within the camp.

It was a relatively easy duty, since there were many people assigned to patrol. Each day, his turn lasted no more than an hour.

That left him more time for additional training. Since he intended to take the military examinations, he had to study reading, writing, military texts, and policy essays. He not only had to read them thoroughly, but also learn to write and adapt his responses according to the circumstances.

Fortunately, the military examinations only tested policy essays. As long as he could offer a relatively reasonable response to the question, that was enough. He did not need to analyze, introduce, and tie back to the prompt as in the civil examinations.

Otherwise, even if Chen Mo studied for another three years, he might not have been able to pass the military examinations.

Foot archery, mounted archery, and spear skills all required him to practice and learn them slowly.

His Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist was also constantly advancing, but even with Chen Mo's aptitude, breaking through from the third layer to the fourth was no easy matter.

By his estimate, it would take at least two or three months.

In the blink of an eye, more than a month slipped away.

Chen Mo galloped across the military camp's training grounds, constantly trying to tame the horse beneath him.

There were twenty or thirty horses in the stables, and he could ride any of them at will. Only this one was fierce and difficult to tame.

At present, it submitted to no one but General Sun. Chen Mo had tried several times to tame it, but every attempt had ended in failure.

General Sun had declared that whoever managed to tame this horse would be given it.

Others had tried as well, but Chen Mo was the only one who had continued trying.

He was not very skilled at taming horses, but he was strong, and his endurance far surpassed that of ordinary people. As long as he could wear down the horse's temper, sooner or later he would be able to ride it.

"Thirteenth Brother!" A clear shout came from the distance. Chen Mo looked over and saw Mo Hu waving at him from far away.

He stopped taming the horse and, finding an opening, flipped down from its back.

"What is it, Fifth Brother?" Chen Mo walked over to him and asked with a smile.

"I ran into Sister-in-law in town. She said the weather was getting warmer, so she made you two sets of light clothes and asked me to bring them over." Mo Hu tossed him a bundle.

Inside were two new cotton robes. One glance at the tailoring and stitching was enough to tell that the person who had made them had put a great deal of thought into the work.

Chen Mo looked slightly surprised. These two cotton robes were not cheap; they had to be worth at least five or six qian of silver.

Still, his expression remained calm. After all, it was hardly a major matter for his first wife to make him a set of clothes.

"I'm telling you, kid, you're truly blessed to have married such a good wife." His tone carried a trace of envy as he said this.

Chen Mo was his Thirteenth Brother, yet Chen Mo was already married while he himself was still a bachelor!

"Ask our adoptive father for leave and go back to your hometown. Otherwise, you could have our adoptive father find you someone in Xingyuan Prefecture." Chen Mo smiled and offered him a suggestion.

With Mo Hu's status, finding a wife would absolutely not be difficult. He might not be able to marry a direct daughter of a prestigious clan, but marrying the daughter of an ordinary wealthy landowner would be no problem at all.

"I'll think about it after I pass the provincial examination." Mo Hu revealed a rather confident smile. He was taking the provincial examination this year, and clearly believed he had a very good chance of passing.

By then, the girls he could seek out would be completely different from those available now.

"Fifth Brother, Thirteenth Brother, the general is looking for you. He wants you to go see him at once." A personal guard hurried over with the message.

Chen Mo was General Sun's thirteenth adopted son, so the other new recruits addressed him as Thirteenth Brother just as they addressed Mo Hu.

"What happened?" Mo Hu hurriedly pressed the messenger for details, but the personal guard shook his head, knowing nothing about it.

"Let's go see our adoptive father first." Chen Mo pulled him along.

Unless something had happened, their adoptive father would not suddenly summon them. Something must have occurred today, and it was likely rather urgent.

The two hurried together to the study, where they discovered that besides the two of them, Mo Dao, Zhao Yuncheng, and two of General Sun's nephews were also present and awaiting orders.

Chen Mo quietly greeted the others. They responded with slight nods but said nothing more.

"You fled here from Qing Province. Did you pass through this area?"

Sun Shouren beckoned Chen Mo over. A map lay spread before him, with a small section already marked.

"I did flee from this area. What is it, adoptive father? Has something happened here?" Chen Mo glanced at the map.

At the time, he truly had not known where he had fled from. But with Qingmu County and the town where he had once eaten hot noodle soup marked on the map, he could combine that with the direction from which he had fled and make an estimate.

He must have fled from this area. Otherwise, he could never have reached that town.