Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Gu Zhangyuan nodded upon hearing this, then lifted his gaze to glance at his wet nurse beside him.

The wet nurse understood immediately, and she walked slowly out of the pavilion, handing a pouch to Xie Licheng.

Xie Licheng took it while asking with a puzzled expression, "What is this?"

Gu Zhangyuan said, "We will be staying here for three days. Take this silver and go up the mountain to find someone for me."

Xie Licheng asked, "Who?"

Xuan Cui answered for Gu Zhangyuan: "A one-eyed old hunter, around forty or fifty years old. My master doesn't know his name, only that he lives on this mountain. Just head up the mountain and find him. When you do, give him the silver and tell him my master has a task for him."

Xie Licheng didn't understand why it had to be so complicated, that he had to go into the mountains to find an old hunter. Why not just hand the task to him directly?

Was it because they didn't think he was capable, or something else?

He just asked outright.

"If the young master has any tasks, you can also entrust them to this humble servant. I said before, as long as the young master has use for me, I'll do my best for you."

Xuan Cui frowned at him. "Why don't you look at yourself?"

A man who was nearly dead from injuries not long ago—where in the world did he get such confidence?

Hearing her say this, Xie Licheng automatically looked himself over.

Well, he did look a bit frail right now.

But whether it was killing or stealing, he was truly confident in himself.

Seeing that the young master didn't seem to mind her continuing, and since there was nothing secret about the matter, she hesitated for a moment before telling Xie Licheng.

"The young master went to so much trouble to find him because he is the most famous hunter in this area. The young master needs him to help catch a venomous snake alive, to give as a gift to the third son of the Prefect of Lingzhou's household. This third son of the prefect's family likes to keep snakes, and his favorite kind is the highly venomous kind. It's exactly to befriend such an odd person that our master goes to all this trouble."

Xie Licheng smiled. "A venomous snake—I can catch that too. Let me handle this, young master. I'll take this silver for now."

With that, he turned to leave.

Gu Zhangyuan, who had been sitting calmly all along, got a little anxious. He stood up quickly and walked out of the pavilion.

He said, "You'll catch it? You're just a horse slave. Do you know how dangerous the mountain is, with all the poisonous bugs and snakes up there?"

If he hadn't had any male slaves available, and if it weren't to prove to his father that he could control his servants, he would never have sent an injured slave up the mountain to find someone.

Xie Licheng said seriously, "I know, but don't worry, young master. Within three days, I will bring you back a venomous snake safely."

Gu Zhangyuan wanted to say he wasn't worried about him, but seeing his confident expression, he swallowed his words.

This horse slave really wasn't as obedient as he seemed.

He had a strong-willed, arrogant streak, nothing like an ordinary servant. His earlier obedience was definitely an act.

Watching Xie Licheng walk into the distance, Xuan Cui said discontentedly, "Young master, this man is truly arrogant. The silver wasn't even meant for him, yet he just took it without asking."

Gu Zhangyuan didn't care much about the silver. "If he can get it done, he deserves a reward anyway."

"But..."

What the master gives as a reward and what he takes for himself are different things.

She'd never seen a servant like him—one who didn't act like a servant at all.

...

Xie Licheng didn't go into the mountain. He had never been to this mountain before, so he wasn't familiar with the area.

Gu Zhangyuan only said he wanted a venomous snake—he didn't say it had to be from this mountain.

Xie Licheng simply entered his own world instead. He was more familiar with the mountains in the starting village of his own world. Given his current physical condition, it was safer to stay on familiar territory.

Once back, Xie Licheng found snake-catching tools—the kind of litter picker used by garbage collectors to pick up trash.

He went up the mountain before dark, looked around, and successfully caught a venomous snake.

It was getting dark by then. Xie Licheng put the snake away safely, then left his own world with the silver.

Gu Zhangyuan had given him three days to catch a snake, but he had done it in just two hours. He planned to use the remaining time to explore the area.

Since he had no carriage and had to walk on his own two feet, he walked a long time before reaching a small town.

It was now nearly midnight, and apart from the night watchman making his rounds, there was hardly anyone around in the town.

Seeing that, Xie Licheng returned to his own world, planning to get a good night's rest.

He was indeed quite tired today—driving the carriage and traveling on foot had worn out his frail, injured body.

Xie Licheng rested in his own world for the night. The next morning, he went to the kitchen's storage room and fetched a bowl of hot rice porridge.

Having a storage room that could keep things fresh forever was wonderful—making extra hot meals saved a lot of effort.

After drinking the porridge and taking his medicine, he checked his stats.

HP: 53, Stamina: 51.

This was a decent condition. As long as he didn't get injured again, he should recover to full health soon.

Xie Licheng left his own world and went to a clinic in town.

Now that he had money, he wanted to have a proper doctor examine him and also buy some ointment for bruises and injuries.

When the doctor saw all his wounds, he looked at him and asked, "Are you a runaway slave? I don't dare treat a runaway slave here."

Xie Licheng took out the token given to him by the Gu family. Once the doctor confirmed that Xie Licheng wasn't a runaway but a slave with an official token, he dared to continue treating him.

The doctor said, "You have a good base. You've been properly treated before, so there's nothing serious now. What you mainly lack is blood and energy. Eat well and nourish yourself. I'll prescribe some medicine to build up your blood and energy. Take it home and drink it for about ten days to half a month, and you should recover quickly."

These blood-tonic medicines were quite expensive—half a month's supply cost nearly three taels of silver. Combined with the ointments Xie Licheng also bought, he spent about five taels altogether.

Fortunately, he wasn't short on silver right now, so spending it didn't bother him much.

Gu Zhangyuan had given him ten taels of gold earlier, and today's pouch contained ten taels of silver and two gold leaf pieces.

With that much money, he could live comfortably for a good while.

By the time he left the clinic, it was already around mid-afternoon.

Xie Licheng didn't dare delay further. He asked around about the situation near Lingzhou, wanting to know if there were any bandit problems in the area. Meanwhile, he bought plenty of supplies from the town—rice, flour, oil, grain, clothes, fabric, and quite a few pots, pans, bowls, and dishes.

The country they were in was called Great Zhou, a completely fictional dynasty in this novel, not the one he had in mind.

Great Zhou had lasted for over two hundred years, and now the court was corrupt and chaotic, with powerful enemies lurking outside. The dynasty was already in its twilight years, not far from falling apart.

When Xie Licheng was buying clothes at a ready-made garment shop, the shop assistant said to him, "It's getting chaotic, truly chaotic lately. I heard bandits are stirring in northern Lingzhou. On the surface, it's said to be mountain bandits causing trouble, but in reality, it's the local officials who have fallen into disarray. I have a feeling things won't be peaceful from now on, and ordinary folks like us will suffer again."

Xie Licheng nodded, quickly settled the bill, and left the shop.

Everything Xie Licheng bought was tossed into his portable world.

In a single day, he spent over thirty taels of silver.

He exchanged all the gold given to him by Gu Zhangyuan into silver for easier use.

Ten taels of gold were exchanged for one hundred taels of silver.

Two gold leaves were exchanged for fifty taels of silver.

After deducting the day's expenses, he still had about one hundred and thirty taels of silver in hand.

After leaving the town, Xie Licheng hitched a ride on a merchant caravan's cart back to Lingzhou City, as it would be more convenient to buy supplies in the city.

Over the next two days, Xie Licheng went on a massive shopping spree in the city during the day, and at night he focused on leveling up in his portable world.

This time, what he mainly bought was not rice, flour, oil, or clothes.

Once Lingzhou descended into chaos, those things would become worthless, likely scattered all over the streets and roads.

Moreover, Xie Licheng figured he was alone and wouldn't need that much grain or clothing, so there was no point in spending more silver on them.

Back in the city, his main purchases were prepared meals—food made by others.

He was a lazy man, and with a permanently fresh-preserving warehouse, he naturally had to stock up on all kinds of food.

That way, he wouldn't have to cook in the future and could still enjoy delicious, fresh meals. That would be the good life.

So in the morning, at a certain restaurant, he bought roast chicken, roast goose, roast pork, roast lamb...

In the afternoon, at a stall, he bought crispy pastries, candied hawthorns, fried cakes...

In the evening, when he saw a wonton vendor, he bought ten portions in one go.

He also visited several pastry shops and bought a pile of high-end desserts from them.

Two days passed, and silver flowed out like water.

Xie Licheng had initially thought he had plenty of silver, but when he spent it without restraint, he realized that no matter how much silver one had, it never lasted.

When the three days were up, Xie Licheng leisurely returned to the temple outside the city, planning to find an opportunity to seek out Gu Zhangyuan and report the completion of his task.

Unexpectedly, the moment he returned, he ran into that little menace, Gu Tinghe.

He had forgotten that Gu Tinghe was also a family member of the Gu household, and this time Gu Zhangyuan had brought him along as well.

From a distance, Gu Tinghe spotted him and gestured for Xie Licheng to stay where he was.

But Xie Licheng was not the obedient original owner—why would he wait around to be beaten?

So the moment he saw Gu Tinghe, Xie Licheng turned around and left without a moment's hesitation.

Gu Tinghe failed to catch him and couldn't help but curse in fury.

"Bitch! Wretched slave! How dare he defy my orders! I'll catch him and tear him to pieces!"

The servants following him dared not make a sound.

Like quails, they all kept their heads down, not daring to look at him.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Xie Licheng shook off Gu Tinghe and wandered around the temple.

He didn't dare go back now, feeling that that little bastard Gu Tinghe would be waiting for him at Steward Xu's place.

He couldn't kill anyone casually right now, so it was better to avoid running into that little bastard.

Probably guessing he would return today, Gu Zhangyuan had sent someone to wait for him early on.

Xie Licheng hadn't wandered long in the temple before he ran into a servant from Gu Zhangyuan's courtyard.

The other person said to Xie Licheng, "Come on, the Eldest Young Master is looking for you."

Xie Licheng recognized him, so he didn't worry about being led somewhere else.

He followed the attendant to the temple's side rooms, where Gu Zhangyuan was staying separately from the rest of the Gu family.

Since Xie Licheng came with him, he didn't run into any other members of the Gu family.

At the entrance to the courtyard, the attendant gestured for him to go in alone, while he stayed outside to keep watch.

Xie Licheng found it a bit strange, but since the man was Gu Zhangyuan's person, he set aside his doubts and stepped inside.