Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Since that night when he had seen Gu Zhangyuan, Xie Licheng had been keeping a low profile and leveling up for the past few days.

Counting the two attribute points from before, Xie Licheng now had fifteen attribute points in total.

Xie Licheng's current stats looked like this↓

Name: Xie Licheng

Gender: Male

Race: Human

Age: 21

Height: 190 cm

Weight: 54 kg

Strength: 23

Defense: 59

Agility: 28

Health: 47

Stamina: 45

Appearance: 79

Charm: 49

Luck: 10

Over the past few days, relying on the food from his portable world, Xie Licheng had managed to put on two jin.

His thinness was from being abused and starved.

Getting that weight back wasn't difficult—it just took time.

Health and stamina could recover too—as long as he rested, ate and drank well, and treated his injuries properly, he'd be fine.

For health and stamina, Xie Licheng did not waste valuable attribute points.

He put the fifteen attribute points into strength, agility, and luck.

He added 7 points to strength, bringing it to 30.

His strength was still on the low side, but since he had a lot of fighting experience from before, he could make up for his lack of strength with skill and experience.

He added 2 points to agility, bringing it to 30 as well.

He put the remaining 6 points into luck, raising it to 16.

At this point, Xie Licheng's character level was 22.

The first twenty levels were easy, but after that, leveling up got progressively harder.

Recently, as Xie Licheng's body improved, he began entering the mountains in his personal world to hunt.

Hunting was the fastest way to level up, but it came with risks.

Xie Licheng didn't dare go deep into the mountains; he only hunted at the outer edges.

He mostly caught small prey—snakes, rats, rabbits, wild chickens, and birds.

If he got lucky and found rare plants—like precious herbs or flowers—he'd earn a ton of experience.

However, such precious plants generally grew deep in the forested mountains.

Moreover, his low luck stat made it hard to stumble across them.

One morning at the crack of dawn, Steward Xu came looking for Xie Licheng.

He smiled at Xie Licheng and said, "Today, the Eldest Young Master is taking the family to the temple outside the city to offer incense. Miss Xuan Cui said we need a few more stable hands to accompany them. Get ready and come with us."

Xie Licheng nodded. Since he had crossed over, he had never left the Gu residence, so this was a good chance to go out and see what was beyond the estate.

Gu Zhangyuan had given him a token allowing him to come and go freely from the Gu residence, but Xie Licheng understood that he couldn't use it freely yet.

That handsome young master was testing him, trying to see if he was reliable and worth keeping around.

So even though Xie Licheng had obtained the token, he hadn't left the estate on his own these past few days.

He stayed put in the stables and kept to himself.

He appeared to be just a very honest, well-behaved, and easy to control ordinary servant.

Probably because he had performed well these past few days, Xuan Cui had sent Steward Xu to find him—this meant she actually planned to put him to work.

Xie Licheng did not care whether Gu Zhangyuan wanted his services or not.

He only cared about whether he could survive the next six months at the Gu residence without trouble.

Even if Gu Zhangyuan did not want to use him, he would not be disappointed.

After Steward Xu left, Xie Licheng got ready quickly and began waiting quietly.

When the other grooms came to harness the carriages, he brought a horse over and joined them.

He kept a low profile, doing whatever he was told.

It was not until the carriages left the estate that Xie Licheng caught a glimpse of Gu Zhangyuan.

Later, while on the road, he learned that Gu Zhangyuan's carriage was the most luxurious one leading the procession.

The original body hadn't been at the Gu residence long, and Xie Licheng was still injured. A groom like him was not qualified to drive the carriage for the Gu family's nobles.

The carriage Xie Licheng was driving now was one carrying clothing—and not even the master's clothing, but that of the master's personal maids.

It was said that the Gu family were big donors to the temple outside the city, and every year at this time, they'd go to the temple and stay for a few days.

First, to pray for blessings for the Gu family members, and second, to get away and unwind for a while.

Hearing that they would be staying outside for several days, Xie Licheng's eyes lit up slightly.

This was good—he could take the opportunity to learn more about Lingzhou and find a way to trade his gold and silver for supplies.

His portable world did have a lot of supplies, but for someone who had survived the apocalypse, he'd never have too much, no matter how many supplies he had.

Also, back when he'd stored that dead body, he noticed a mission panel had popped up in his portable world.

During the apocalypse, he had never allowed anyone else into his portable world.

He'd always figured his portable world was just his own private space.

But to his surprise, after he helped Gu Zhangyuan stash that person inside, something like a progress bar showed up in his portable world.

A quest bar with (1/20) on it had appeared.

That "1" probably meant one person.

Even if it was a corpse, it still counted as one done.

Xie Licheng had a vague feeling that if he filled his portable world with twenty people, he might get some special reward.

But he didn't want to bring in other people, and he couldn't find that many corpses right now, so he just put that quest on hold for now.

He figured that if worst came to worst, he could pick up some abandoned kids.

After all, his portable world was huge, and the novice village was full of empty houses.

In times like these, everything was scarce except for unwanted kids.

If he saved them, it'd be like getting himself a few little sidekicks?

While Xie Licheng was lost in thought, their carriage slowly rolled out of Lingzhou City.

Inside and outside the city were like two completely different worlds. The streets inside the city looked pretty lively, but not as bustling as the period dramas Xie Licheng had watched.

Most of the buildings in the city were wooden, and some were pretty old and run-down. Only the wealthier families would build with blue bricks.

The streets were paved with stone slabs, but years of neglect had left them badly damaged, making the carriage ride bumpy.

Basically, it wasn't anything like the ancient world Xie Licheng had imagined.

The buildings were old, and people's clothes were drab and gray, not bright like on TV.

Outside the city, there were way fewer buildings, and the ground was even rougher.

But the scenery outside the city was nice—flowers and grass along the road, and plenty of forests and farmland to look at.

Xie Licheng enjoyed the view the whole way, and they reached the temple around dusk.

The temple sat at the foot of a mountain.

The mountain was covered in tall trees that looked deep, dark green from a distance, giving the whole peak a mysterious vibe.

Xie Licheng followed the convoy to the temple's back courtyard, where he helped take care of the horses and move supplies with the other servants.

Before Xie Licheng could finish up, Xuan Cui came looking for him.

She didn't come close, just stood at a distance and glanced at him.

Xie Licheng got the hint right away, dropped what he was holding, and followed her.

A male slave nearby saw this and tried to grab him to ask where he was going.

But an old woman beside him quickly stopped him. "Are you crazy? Didn't you see that's Miss Xuan Cui?"

The male slave looked confused. "I saw her, but... what's that got to do with him? Why's everyone working while he runs off on his own?"

The old woman laughed at how clueless he was and pointed at Steward Xu in the distance.

"You tell me—Steward Xu isn't bothering with him, so you'd better mind your own business."

The male slave still didn't get why Xie Licheng could just wander off, or why the old woman had stopped him.

Meanwhile, Xie Licheng followed Xuan Cui along winding paths until they reached a stream behind the mountain.

There was a pavilion by the stream, where Gu Zhangyuan was talking with his wet nurse.

Xuan Cui said to him, "Show some respect when you see the young master. Don't keep staring at him."

Xie Licheng felt wronged hearing that—when had he ever kept staring at the young master?

But thinking about how few servants in the Gu household dared to look at their master, he guessed he really was something of an exception.

Xie Licheng replied helplessly, "This humble servant understands."

He answered agreeably and looked well-behaved.

But as he followed Xuan Cui closer to the pavilion, he couldn't help stealing a glance at Gu Zhangyuan.

Gu Zhangyuan was gorgeous—even dressed plainly today, he was still so handsome it was hard to look away.

Xie Licheng figured he'd just take one look. He wasn't thinking anything unrealistic, just purely appreciating the view. That shouldn't count as some kind of crime.

Besides, he was so far from Gu Zhangyuan that one glance probably wouldn't be noticed.

But to his surprise, just as he looked at Gu Zhangyuan, Gu Zhangyuan turned his gaze toward him at that exact moment.

Their eyes met for a brief instant, and Gu Zhangyuan, remembering what his father had said earlier, quickly looked away.

He thought to himself, a low-ranking slave, and a horse slave who couldn't even show his face properly.

Aside from being somewhat good-looking, he didn't seem to have any other merits.

Even if he did need a man, it shouldn't be someone like this.

Besides, maybe he was overthinking it, but he felt this horse slave wasn't as good-looking as when he'd first seen him.

And it was true—Xie Licheng wasn't as good-looking as when Gu Zhangyuan first saw him, because he'd deducted 10 attribute points from his appearance all at once.

Xie Licheng didn't care about his looks at all; if he weren't worried that cutting too much would change his whole face, he would've deducted even more.

Gu Zhangyuan looked away while thinking: Though not as handsome as before, he's really tall, with long, well-proportioned limbs. He probably has some other ethnic blood in him; his features always seemed a bit different from their own.

Soon, Xie Licheng followed Xuan Cui to the edge of the pavilion and heard Gu Zhangyuan ask, "Have your injuries healed?"

Xie Licheng replied, "To answer the young master, this humble servant is feeling much better."