Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Gu Zhangyuan's hands were long and slender, with smooth, fair skin, well-proportioned fingers, and even his fingernails had a refined, polished look.

Compared to his beautiful hands, Xie Licheng's hands, by contrast, were much rougher.

Xie Licheng's hands were big, broad, and thick, his palms covered in calluses from years of hard work.

His hands were also dry and rough—if not for their decent shape, they could truly be considered ugly hands.

Fortunately, his frame was large, his fingers long and slender, and he'd recently put on some weight, which gave them a hint of masculine strength.

Gu Zhangyuan's hand was suddenly seized. Even though he knew this horse slave was trying to protect him, seeing his hand completely swallowed up by the other man's, he couldn't help but be taken aback by the man's nerve.

How... bold!

Before Gu Zhangyuan could get angry, Xuan Cui was the first to flare up.

Xuan Cui: "How dare you! Let go of the young master's hand this instant!"

Hearing this, Xie Licheng let go and explained innocently, "I didn't mean to, young master, I just..."

Honestly, he should have let go right after shielding him.

But the feel of his palm was too nice, so he got distracted for a second and ended up holding on a bit longer.

Xuan Cui: "Even if it was to protect the young master, you had no business grabbing his hand. The young master is a precious, highborn young lord—how dare a lowly horse slave like you lay a hand on him?"

Seeing Xie Licheng hang his head, looking pretty pitiful,

Gu Zhangyuan said to Xuan Cui, "Alright, that was just an accident. You can't fault him for it."

It was mostly his own carelessness that had caused what happened.

Gu Zhangyuan had Xie Licheng let the two wolf cubs out, planning to pick one to give to that young master.

The wolf cubs were still small, and Gu Zhangyuan had braced himself, so he wasn't too worried about getting bitten.

Xie Licheng set the cubs down and watched Gu Zhangyuan pick one. Then, looking at the one left, he asked, "What about this one? Should I keep it or let it go?"

Gu Zhangyuan glanced at him. "Keep it. It's still so small—if you let it go, it might not survive."

Xie Licheng nodded and was about to pick up the wolf cub and leave.

His task was done, and he still had a lot to do, so there was no reason to stick around.

Gu Zhangyuan watched him and suddenly remembered something, saying, "By the way, you'll be staying in this courtyard from now on. You'll be responsible for taking care of my horse and this wolf cub."

Hearing this, Xie Licheng glanced around the small courtyard, then said to Gu Zhangyuan, looking delighted, "Thank you, young master. I'll take good care of your horse and this wolf cub."

This courtyard was nice—it wasn't big, but he'd have it all to himself.

The courtyard had two rooms, a small stable, a well, and a little vegetable patch.

If it weren't for the troubled times, he wouldn't mind living here for good.

But unfortunately, the chaos was already starting, and a peaceful life would be hard to come by.

After Gu Zhangyuan left with Xuan Cui and the others, Xie Licheng gave the whole courtyard a once-over.

After confirming there were no dog holes or anything like that, he went to the stable and led Gu Zhangyuan's horse out.

Gu Zhangyuan kept a white horse. He rarely rode it, but he still kept one of his own.

When Xie Licheng went to fetch the horse on orders, a lot of servants saw him.

Seeing him lead away the Eldest Young Master's horse and learn that the Eldest Young Master had given him his own courtyard, the servants' faces were a sight to behold.

Especially the ones who'd bullied the original owner before—seeing this, they couldn't help but get nervous.

The low-ranking slaves who'd shared a room with the original owner were especially rattled. Among them, the square-faced one said in disbelief, "He... he's latched onto the Eldest Young Master's coattails? He's not even all that good-looking, is he? How did the Eldest Young Master even take a liking to him?"

Another low-ranking slave murmured, "I heard the last time the Eldest Young Master punished Young Master Yue from the second branch, it was because Young Master Yue had bullied him at the temple."

Square Face: "How is that possible? What's so great about him? Besides being decent-looking and having a silver tongue, I really can't figure out what the Eldest Young Master sees in him."

A short male slave lowered his voice and whispered, "I think the Eldest Young Master is just old, unmarried, and lonely. It just so happens this horse slave is thick-skinned, good at flattering, and knows how to please people, so the Eldest Young Master took a shine to him. How about... we try to get noticed by the Eldest Young Master too?"

Square Face stared at him, speechless. He hated that horse slave, but he wasn't stupid.

When it came to looks, they really couldn't compare.

If they went barging up to the Eldest Young Master, even if he was generous and didn't get mad, Steward Xu would flay them alive.

Square Face cursed, "If you want to show off, go ahead. I wouldn't dare mess with the Eldest Young Master."

He knew himself—his looks were below average even for a man. If he went barging in front of the Eldest Young Master, all that awaited him was a miserable end.

The short male slave silently called him a coward in his head.

He genuinely believed that young lords like the Eldest Young Master, who'd never married, were always lonely.

Besides, the Gu family was no ordinary household. The family head was lenient with the young lords and ladies, privately letting them seek comfort from male slaves.

As long as these male slaves were bold enough, good at serving their masters, and had a way with sweet talk, climbing the ladder was easy.

Meanwhile, back at his small courtyard, Xie Licheng returned.

He used a comb to brush down Gu Zhangyuan's horse, then properly fed it hay and water.

After making sure no one would come looking for him, he shut the courtyard gate and went back to his personal space.

Back inside, staring at the mountain of things to do, Xie Licheng felt a headache coming on.

When he'd gone to the mountain outside the city to find the wolf cubs, he'd hunted quite a bit of game.

The game was all piled up in the farmstead, so he used the system's recycling function to break them all down.

One wild boar, two snakes, one rabbit, and two wolves.

After breaking them down, he got: one wild boar hide, two wolf hides, one rabbit hide.

Two portions of snake oil, two snake gallbladders, and two portions of snake meat.

One portion of wild boar meat, one portion of wild boar bones.

One portion of rabbit meat, two portions of wolf meat, two portions of wolf bones.

After sorting everything out, Xie Licheng built a rabbit hutch next to the chicken coop and put the rabbit he'd caught earlier inside.

He had also caught a wild chicken and let it loose in the village. Whether it survived or not would depend on its own fate.

Afterwards, Xie Licheng came out with a rabbit fur, a portion of rabbit meat, and two portions of snake meat from within.

The small courtyard he had now came with a small kitchen, and he wanted to cook himself something extra.

But he had only been out for a short while when Xuan Cui showed up again with her attendants.

Seeing this, Xie Licheng felt very fortunate that he hadn't lingered longer in his private space.

Xuan Cui's visit was to deliver rewards to Xie Licheng.

Xie Licheng had done well on this task. Gu Zhangyuan not only gave him a separate small courtyard to live in but also bought him two outfits and fifty taels of silver.

After receiving the clothes and silver, Xie Licheng asked Xuan Cui to wait outside for a moment, then came back out with two things.

Seeing the blood-stained rabbit meat and rabbit fur in his hands, Xuan Cui couldn't help but shoot him a disdainful look.

Xie Licheng said, "These are for the young master."

Xuan Cui said, "The young master doesn't lack food or fine furs."

Xie Licheng said, "I know, but this rabbit was just killed, and the fur is perfectly intact with not a single flaw. I thought since the young master has always been really good to me, I wanted to offer these to him."

Xuan Cui wanted to say the young master didn't need them, but recalling the young master's strange soft spot for Xie Licheng, she frowned and accepted the items after a moment's thought.

Whether the young master needed them or not, it wasn't her place to refuse on his behalf. She'd take them back and let him decide.

Afterwards, Xuan Cui went to see Gu Zhangyuan with the fresh rabbit meat and a fresh rabbit fur.

To be honest, when he suddenly saw it, Gu Zhangyuan was caught off guard.

Yuan Qiao, standing nearby, said, trying not to laugh, "When men give gifts to young masters, they always put so much thought into it. Even if it's a rabbit, it should be a live one. But he goes and sends a dead rabbit—and a skinned one at that."

Gu Zhangyuan smiled at that and said, "Then send the meat to the small kitchen to stew."

Xuan Cui asked, smiling, "And what about the rabbit fur?"

Gu Zhangyuan glanced at it. "The color is pretty nice, actually. Take it to the embroiderer and see what can be made from it."

The weather was getting warmer these days, so this kind of thing wouldn't be needed for a while.

For the next two days, it rained nonstop, and pretty hard at that.

Gu Zhangyuan couldn't go out and was bored out of his mind stuck at home. Then he thought of the wolf cub raised by the horse slave, so he sent someone to fetch both the horse slave and the wolf cub to his courtyard.

As Xie Licheng carried the wolf cub to the back courtyard, plenty of the Gu household servants saw him along the way. Even Gu Tinghe, who'd been keeping quiet lately, caught a glimpse.

Gu Tinghe watched where he was headed and asked the servant beside him, "Is he going to that bastard's place?"

The servant beside Gu Tinghe replied cautiously, "It seems so. I saw Yuan Qiao escorting him herself, so he must be heading to the Eldest Young Master's courtyard."

Gu Tinghe snapped angrily, "Let's go over and take a look too. Why does a low-born slave like him get to go to the back courtyard?"

The servant quickly tried to dissuade him in panic, "No, no, young master. Don't forget, the Eldest Young Master just lost his temper not long ago. We'd better not go near him."

"What's there to fear? He can openly cavort with a low-ranking slave in broad daylight. I'm just passing by to see what's going on. Could he really kill me over something like that?"

After all, he was also of Gu blood.

No matter how noble Gu Zhangyuan was, he couldn't just kill him.

With that thought in mind, Gu Tinghe ignored his servant's pleas, grabbed his whip, and hurried after them.