Good Man Operation Guide

On the last day before the examination, they went over what they thought they were likely to be on the test. Finally, they went into the examination room armed to the teeth.

Some soldiers were checking each scholar one by one. According to the regulations, the small lumps they brought, which was named as hot pot base by Lin Shiheng, were poked open by chopsticks and carefully checked. While they especially called in a craftsman to poke and prod the copper beads, who also confirmed by the weight of the beads that they were solid and could not be opened by bare strength before they were returned to them.

After all the clothes and bedding were cut open one by one and it was confirmed that there was nothing stuffed in them, the Jurens were also examined again. After such severe examinations, the Jurens, who would be taking the exam, entered the examination rooms one after another.

Lin Shiheng saw Hu Chuan and realized that he would be right next door to him.

The handsome young scholar, dressed in a furry outfit gifted on account of Zhao He’s friendship, very politely walked up behind Hu Chuan, who was opening the door and saluted.

“Greetings Brother Hu.”

Hu Chuan’s clothes were cut open just now; so with the wind blowing, he was freezing cold. When he heard someone calling him, he turned and saw Lin Shiheng’s face full of kindness.

“Brother Hu, the people around Brother Zhao have made a good soup base from seasonings, that can also dispel the wind and cold. I have brought a lot. Brother Hu should try some.”

Hu Chuan looked at Lin Shiheng warily.

Someone close to Zhao He made it?

If it was truly something good, would it be given to him?

There had to be a trick.

He refused with a serious face and vigilant eyes.

Seeing his refusal, Lin Shiheng’s eyes showed some regret, “Then I will go back to my own small room.”

Seeing the obvious regret in his eyes, Hu Chuan was even more convinced that Lin Shiheng just wanted to do something to harm him.

He knew there was a Juren who lived in the inn and was actually splashed with cold water as he walked down the road and directly caught a cold in this cold weather. So even though his grades were good, he might not be able to survive the exam.

Hu Chuan found out about this and immediately started living in seclusion, opting to stay in his room, refusing to even see his two best friends.

Although this sort of thing reminded him of the time he had hired a luxurious carriage to deliberately pose as Zhao He during the Juren exam, when he was doing it himself, he only felt a little panic and no hatred, now in turn, knowing that he might be targeted this way, his heartfelt very stifled.

If it was possible, he would have wanted to do this to Zhao He who was obviously a lowly merchant’s son but was always superior to him, but it was a pity that Zhao He lived an extravagant life and had his own mansion in the capital.

Since he thought like this himself, he would naturally assume other people’s intentions were like this as well.

Lin Shiheng wouldn’t be so kind as to share things with him… It must be a scheme.

He refused it very adamantly. When the exam started and everyone began to quietly answer the prompts, Hu Chuan was still proud of his cleverness in not falling for the scheme.

He waited until it was time to eat, then he pulled out the millet he had brought with him. He unskillfully sprinkled it into the pot of boiling water and waited for it to cook when his nose suddenly smelled something very fragrant.

Originally, Hu Chuan didn’t feel the hunger in his stomach because he was answering the questions under high tension, and only wanted to cook some porridge to fill his stomach. But as soon as he smelled this fragrance, his stomach, which had not responded before, immediately growled.

Hungry, so hungry!

What the hell was this? It smelled too delicious!

While Hu Chuan was hungry on this side, on the other side, Lin Shiheng watched the gurgling, boiling hot pot base as he tore apart the flatbread he brought and put them in one by one.

It smelled so good.

Hu Chuan stared blankly at the pot of rice porridge in front of him, which was so clear and thin because of the lack of rice, as he thought what exactly was that smell. He suddenly heard Lin Shiheng on the other side as if he had finished eating something and had to let out a loud burp from his throat.

“That taste was definitely not bad.”

His voice was so light that no one could hear him except for Hu Chuan, who was next door.

Hu Chuan didn’t want to have been able to hear it though. His stomach that was gurgling before seemed to have awakened its hunger at the moment and constantly urged him to eat. Unfortunately, his rice porridge wasn’t ready yet and with the tempting fragrance coming from behind him, Hu Chuan could only grit his teeth and drink water for now.

As he drank, he thought, he wasn’t as extravagant and wasteful as Zhao He, then what was the use of doing such fancy things? Could you get a good rank after eating delicious food?

He only thought until here when the same fragrance came from farther away.

Following, the Juren, who was sat in the room upfront, also sighed softly, “Truly, your whole body becomes warm after drinking it.”

When Lin Shiheng asked him earlier, and he had rejected, Lin Shiheng also asked the Juren sitting in front of Hu Chuan, who had accepted.

If it was just a guess before, then after hearing this sentence, Hu Chuan was sure that this fragrance was precisely what Lin Shiheng had offered before.

Originally, Hu Chuan didn’t believe him when Lin Shiheng said it was delicious and warming. He only thought that the man was exaggerating and that there couldn’t be such a magical thing.

But the scholar in front of him and Lin Shiheng were only friends that met for a few times, so it was impossible for him to help Lin Shiheng and deliberately say something like that.

Hu Chuan shook his cold hands, which was slightly stiff from holding the writing brush for so long, and swallowed as he inhaled the aroma coming from next door.

It smelled so good… He also wanted to eat it…

No!

He must not fall like Zhao He, a merchant! They were scholars! They should be diligent! What was the use of making such things?!

Useless!

Lin Shiheng in the other room ate two flatbreads and filled a bowl with soup, placing it to his lips.

Slurp…

Slurp…

Hu Chuan listened to the slurping apparently from someone sipping in the room behind him, followed by the sound of a young Juren sighing sorrowfully at the deliciousness of the soup.

“Hmmm…”

Deliberate!

He must have done it on purpose!

Who eats so loudly?!

Hu Chuan was thinking like this, when suddenly he heard Lin Shiheng softly murmur to himself, “Hmm… I’ll be able to eat after adding a bit of meat.”

“Slurp… Delicious.”

Hu Chuan, who was sitting in front of his own pot of white porridge: “…”

He was completely sure that the man behind him did this intentionally.

It was definitely intentional!

But even if he knew that Lin Shiheng did it on purpose, there was nothing that Hu Chuan could do about it.

Although people were patrolling outside who wouldn’t let the Jurens speak during the exam, Lin Shiheng spoke in such a low whisper. Since there was no movement outside, it seemed that the soldiers on patrol weren’t able to hear him at all. If he asked for the soldiers now, he wouldn’t only fail to produce evidence, but also make the examiner perceive him as a trouble-maker.

For just a little Juren, why would he want to make a bad impression in front of the examiner?

Thinking so, Hu Chuan barely suppressed the urge to rush to the back and shout in anger, and just waited quietly for his white porridge to be done.

Perhaps because he(LS) knew he(HC) had reached the end of his(HC) patience, Lin Shiheng didn’t make any more noise. While he didn’t make a sound, the scent still continued to drift into Hu Chuan’s room.

How could it smell so good?!

The white porridge was finally ready. Hu Chuan’s stomach had been hungry for a long time, so he was preoccupied with holding the bowl to drink despite the scalding heat.

The warm white porridge went down the throat into the stomach. Instantly, the coldness throughout his body was thawed. Hu Chuan sighed contentedly and was about to drink again, but suddenly he heard something scuffling behind him.

He confusedly turned around and found a bowl of hot red oil with a big flatbread inside, it even had a few vegetables which looked very delicious in the soup.

A white and slender hand was slowly pushing this bowl of soup gently on the ground. Through the narrow gap under the cubicle, one could barely see it. Hu Chuan saw with his own eyes as the other hand took a spoon and ladled out a spoonful of soup that was still steaming with white smoke. It looked very tasty…

The next second, the familiar voice that made Hu Chuan desperate came back again.

Slurp…

“Mm-hmm.”

Hu Chuan, who was still holding the rice congee in his hand, almost collapsed.

All the conjectures were completely useless at the moment.

He was very positive that Lin Shiheng was intentional. Otherwise, who would put the bowl on the ground and push it so close to himself?

Hu Chuan vigorously forced himself to look away from that bowl. Even though his mind was full of that soup which looked very delicious, and his nose was full of the fragrance that almost drove people crazy, he had to tell himself off in his head.

You can’t be fooled! It’s just food! It’s nothing!

He tried to brainwash himself for a few minutes and felt that his mind had calmed down before taking another sip of white porridge from his bowl.

As a result, when he drank it, his mouth only felt the loss.

Especially when it contrasted with the scents wafting from the front and back.

Hu Chuan wasn’t as hungry after drinking the porridge. So after trying to convince himself not to be tricked, he put down his bowl and chopsticks, then continued to answer the questions.

At night, when Hu Chuan was shivering from cold and sleeping in a daze, while his hands and feet were freezing but he could only curl up, he smelled the fragrance again in his sleep.

When Hu Chuan woke up, he almost thought he was still dreaming, but the fire next door told him that it was real.

Lin Shiheng was eating in the middle of the night!

Hu Chuan was numb. He got up and flipped through his parcel, found a flatbread that had long been cold, and chewed off the flatbread in his hand to fill his stomach as he smelled the fragrance. He then forced himself to fall asleep, but the scent kept dangling over his head as he slept.

Cravings during the day and also cravings at night. So Hu Chuan didn’t do very well on the test, as one could imagine.

***

When he stepped out of the room and stood in the sunlight, he smelled the stench on his body, but he could hardly even move his eyes anymore.

Lin Shiheng, who had also survived the many days but was still energetic, came out in a cloak. The man in front of Hu Chuan had been waiting at the door from much earlier and greeted him as soon as he came out.

“Brother Lin!”

He saluted, full of gratitude, “Thank you very much for gifting those seasoning. These past few days whenever I felt the cold, I would cook a pot. Once I drink it, I would no longer feel cold, while the taste was also very good.”

Even after staying up for many days, the young Juren still looked fresh and handsome as he smiled gently after listening, “Why mention it? Everyone is here for the exam, and we’ll be colleagues in the future.”

“I still want to thank Brother Lin for your generosity!”

As they were speaking, Hu Chuan had come over with bloodshot eyes after hearing their voices and stared at Lin Shiheng with a pair of eyes full of hatred.

“Lin Shiheng, we have no grievances between us. Why do you try to harm me!?”

The young Juren looked confused, “Brother Hu, what do you mean?”

Before he even finished speaking, he was pushed back a few steps by the emotional Hu Chuan, and he immediately weakly coughed while covering his mouth.

“Eh, what are you doing? How did Brother Lin offend you? Before the exam started, he also politely asked you if you wanted the hotpot base. You can’t repay kindness with revenge. This isn’t something a scholar would do!”

The Juren in front was grateful to Lin Shiheng; so when he saw this scene, he immediately stood in front of the pale young man who kept coughing.

Hu Chuan was literally seething with anger, “He… He deliberately seduced me with food, to keep me from concentrating!”

“Nonsense! Before the exam, the first person who Brother Lin asked was you. I saw it very clearly. If it wasn’t that you didn’t want it, Brother Lin wouldn’t have come to ask me if I wanted the seasoning.”

“You couldn’t do well on your own exam and then you try to blame the innocent Brother Lin, how could there be such reasoning?!”

“I, I…”

Hu Chuan was out of breath and he felt that he was going to vomit blood.

A gush of red came out of his throat.

Hu Chuan stretched out his hand and wiped… A hand of blood.

No! He has really vomited blood!