After spending this time together in unspoken understanding, the Young Scholar and Little Auspicious Omen had developed a certain rapport.
Perhaps...
He and Little Auspicious Omen could even be called...
friends.
The Young Scholar wouldn't make the same mistake twice.
He was also much more cautious now.
Thanks to his vigilance, no one else—not even his older brother or sister-in-law—noticed any words or actions of his that seemed strange to them.
Just when the Young Scholar thought things would continue smoothly...
the exam was right around the corner.
The Young Scholar's nerves began to tighten despite himself.
Like people who prayed to the gods before an exam, the Young Scholar treated Little Auspicious Omen even better than before.
He prepared all sorts of food for Little Auspicious Omen.
"Ah!"
A child's scream rang through the entire courtyard.
"A black monster!"
Caught completely off guard, the Young Scholar sprang up in a panic.
The chair beneath him lurched along with him.
Its legs scraped against the floor with a grating squeal.
The Young Scholar glared in anger and shock at the child, who had opened the door and barged in without knocking.
"Get out!"
The Young Scholar's face darkened.
His voice was stern and sharp.
"Bao Bao!"
The child's mother came running over.
The nanny followed close behind her.
The woodcutter, the Thin Man, and the woman also came running over.
"What happened?"
The woodcutter asked in a low voice.
All he had heard was the child's scream.
It had struck them like a thunderclap on a clear day, nearly jolting all of them right out of their seats.
But what they saw before them...
was quite different from what they had expected.
The door to the Young Scholar's study stood