Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Even Xie Licheng in his previous life wouldn't have been confident that the Eldest Young Master would definitely take a liking to him.

Xie Licheng genuinely couldn't understand where this short, ugly little runt with thinning hair and bulging eyes got the nerve to think he could compete for favor.

Xie Licheng himself hadn't even truly earned that favor yet, so what right did this little runt have to compete for favor?

When Xie Licheng suddenly lunged, not only did the short male slave get scared, but the other male slaves did too.

They quickly rushed over to hold Xie Licheng back, trying to pry the short male slave out of his grip.

In the end, it took several of them working together and putting in serious effort to finally free him.

It was only then that the short male slave finally realized he should be scared.

He whined, "Brother, brother, let's talk this out, let's talk this out. I won't compete with you anymore, so there's no need for you to get violent, right?"

The other male slaves chimed in, "That's right, we're all low-ranking male slaves, so we should be helping each other out. What's there that can't be settled by talking, that has to turn into a physical fight?"

"Exactly, you've got way too short a temper. He didn't even say anything that bad, so why'd you have to put your hands on him?"

Xie Licheng rolled his eyes crudely at that. He hadn't actually hit anyone—he was just trying to scare the guy—but in their version of events, he'd attacked someone for no reason.

These people were clearly playing favorites, and he had even less interest in wasting time with them.

He tossed out the stuff the short male slave had brought and then unceremoniously kicked all of them out.

Watching the courtyard gate slam shut, the guys who'd been kicked out were furious.

They muttered under their breath, "That horse slave is way out of line. Just because he's the young master's man now, he thinks he can hit and curse at us. If we let him keep acting so smug, he'll turn the whole Gu household upside down!"

"That's right, and he's still a criminal slave at that. With his status, he'll never be a free man in his lifetime. No matter how desperate the Eldest Young Master gets, he won't let a criminal slave marry into the family. Just wait—once the Eldest Young Master picks his husband, there won't be any room for him to be so cocky."

The short male slave covered his face with his hands. He was a little intimidated by the new Xie Licheng.

When Xie Licheng had grabbed his head earlier, he felt like the man might crush his skull in one squeeze.

He didn't know if it was his imagination, but ever since the man had moved out of their quarters, he'd carried this thuggish vibe about him.

He was scared of Xie Licheng, so he didn't dare join the others in badmouthing him outside the door.

But just because he didn't dare say anything didn't mean he didn't hold a grudge against Xie Licheng.

If he could get a chance to show himself before the young master and win his favor, he'd definitely make Xie Licheng pay for today's humiliation.

Not long after kicking everyone out, Xie Licheng grabbed his pass token and left the estate.

He was worried that if he stayed in the Gu household, more people would come knocking.

If he went into his pocket dimension then, the Gu family would catch on that something was off.

Luckily, Gu Zhangyuan had agreed today that he could come and go from the Gu estate freely from now on.

He figured he might as well leave now, and under the guise of going hunting, secretly hide in his pocket dimension to keep leveling up.

The moment Xie Licheng left the Gu estate, a low-ranking slave from the household secretly tailed him.

Xie Licheng sensed it but didn't bother with him.

He left Lingzhou City in the evening and then cleanly lost his tail.

After confirming the guy hadn't followed him, he found a secluded spot and slipped into his pocket dimension.

Back on his own turf, Xie Licheng felt a lot more relaxed.

He changed into some loose, comfortable clothes and headed to the bamboo forest at the foot of the mountain to hunt snakes.

The snakes here respawned, so even if he killed them all in one go, there'd be just as many the next day, without messing with the local ecosystem.

Xie Licheng swept through the area and managed to kill three snakes.

Since it was getting dark, he didn't keep hunting but headed back to the farmstead to fish.

The pond on his farmstead only had grass carp, silver carp, and crucian carp.

The river in the newbie village had grass carp, blackfish, loach, and eel.

Other maps that hadn't been unlocked yet probably had even more kinds of fish.

Xie Licheng fished for three hours at the farmstead and caught four grass carp, one crucian carp, and two silver carp.

He didn't kill any of the fish but found a big bucket to keep them alive in.

He could sell them later, or keep them to bring back for Gu Zhangyuan.

He'd promised to bring him something nutritious to build up his health, so he couldn't exactly go back empty-handed.

The prey on the mountain in the newbie village was only tigers, bears, wolves, jackals, wildcats, deer, rabbits, and the like.

Animals like deer, rabbits, wild chickens, and wild ducks were limited in number each day, and some would even get hunted by the bigger beasts.

On normal days when Xie Licheng went up the mountain, it was hard to hunt deer and similar game.

But considering that the deer meat in his pocket dimension was way better than anything in the real world, he still wanted to get one to bring back.

Early the next morning, Xie Licheng packed up and headed into the mountains.

This time he went in determined to bag as much game as he could.

So when he went into the mountains, he not only brought extra food and water but also his hunting rifle.

He brought the rifle not because he planned to use it for hunting.

Its purpose was to keep him safe.

If he ran into troublesome prey—like tigers or black bears—he'd use the rifle to be safe.

Then, wouldn't you know it, whatever he'd been thinking about came to pass.

The deer he'd been craving since yesterday—he ran into one as soon as he entered the mountains.

Having gotten lucky for once, Xie Licheng naturally wasn't about to let this deer get away easily.

It took a lot of effort, but Xie Licheng finally killed the deer.

He looked at the dead deer, then sat down to catch his breath.

His stamina was running low, and he needed to recover before heading deeper into the mountains.

In the portable world, Xie Licheng had a portable backpack.

This backpack only had ten slots, and each slot could only hold one item.

Since the maps currently unlocked were only his farm, the novice village, and this mountain, he rarely used the backpack on a daily basis.

Planning to spend more time on the mountain today, Xie Licheng butchered the deer he had hunted, then stored the hide and meat in the backpack.

After resting until his stamina was back to 78, Xie Licheng picked up his gear and headed further into the mountains.

The rest of the morning, he didn't encounter any large game, only bagging two rabbits and a wild chicken.

He hung around until two or three in the afternoon before he finally ran into another big one.

This time, the big one was a black bear, and the thing looked pretty scary.

Xie Licheng wasn't all that strong in combat, so he didn't dare get too close.

He kept his distance and shot an arrow at it first.

The big black bear had a thick hide, so the arrow barely did any damage.

When it spotted him and started heading his way, Xie Licheng climbed up a big tree in a hurry while pulling the rifle off his back and fired another shot at it.

That shot packed a punch and caught it right in the head.

He followed up with two more arrows to make sure the bear was dead before climbing down to collect his kill.

The more dangerous the prey, the more experience points it gave.

The deer from earlier was worth the same as five or six rabbits.

The black bear he just got was worth five or six times that.

Later, on his way down the mountain, he also bagged a wild boar that was out for a stroll.

Today was a pretty good haul. First off, he leveled up to 43.

With the 3 attribute points he'd saved up before, he now had 8 in total.

Next, he got three hides: one deer, one boar, and one bear.

Then there was deer meat, a pair of antlers, deer blood, and deer bones.

Wild boar meat and wild boar bones.

Bear meat, bear blood, a bear gallbladder, four bear paws, bear bones, bear fat, and a bear head.

Normal prey only gave hides, meat, and bones.

Only the more dangerous prey dropped extra stuff.

Last but not least were the rabbits and the wild chicken. Xie Licheng headed back to the farm with a big load of game.

Things that needed to stay fresh went into the warehouse, and the rest got tossed in the kitchen.

For the next three days, Xie Licheng worked just as hard as he did on day one.

He grinded his level all the way up to 51 before heading back to Lingzhou City with some game.

When Xie Licheng got back, he had a basket full of stuff strapped to his back.

He came in through the side gate, and the Steward grabbed him and checked him over for a good while.

The Steward looked a little scared when he saw everything was covered in blood.

In the end, Xuan Cui had to come over in person before Xie Licheng could get into the Gu estate.

It had only been a few days, but Xuan Cui could tell he'd gotten darker and thinner, and he reeked of blood. She couldn't help frowning and giving him a piece of her mind.

Xuan Cui: "How did you end up like this? All dark and skinny, and you stink. How are you supposed to go see the young master like this?"

Xie Licheng: "Then I won't go see him. Miss Xuan Cui, just take the stuff to him for me."

With that, Xie Licheng set the basket down off his back.

He pulled a live rabbit out of the basket first, then took out a few wrapped bundles.

Inside were deer meat, deer blood, antlers, and deer bones.

These were all valuable, and a lot of them could be used for medicine.

Xuan Cui stared, stunned, and didn't dare reach out to take them for a long time.

She really didn't dare—everything was all bloody, and she was scared of getting blood all over herself.

Seeing that, Xie Licheng smiled and said, "Then how about I go with you to deliver them to the young master?"

Xuan Cui pursed her lips and finally nodded after a long moment. "Fine, follow me through the back path. You look like a mess right now, so it's better if nobody sees you—don't want to scare any of the masters."

Xie Licheng said "okay" and followed her toward the inner quarters.

Since they took the back path, they only ran into two servants who were cleaning, and no one else from the Gu family.

When they got close to Gu Zhangyuan's courtyard, Xuan Cui decided not to bring him in.

It wasn't that she didn't want him to see the young master—it was that he looked too rough, and the stuff he brought was too bloody. She was worried it might scare the young master.

Xuan Cui stopped, planning to find a maid to take the stuff to the small kitchen.

Seeing her stop, Xie Licheng said, "Let me take the stuff in. I won't see the young master—I'll just sneak in, drop it off, and leave."

Xuan Cui wanted to say it wasn't necessary—the courtyard had plenty of servants—but before she could get a word out, Xie Licheng walked right in on his own.

Xie Licheng had been there before, and the guards recognized him, so they let him through.

So, under Xuan Cui's stunned gaze, Xie Licheng walked right into the courtyard with the stuff.

Xie Licheng had told Xuan Cui he wouldn't see Gu Zhangyuan, but that was a lie.

He'd insisted on coming back today and followed her all the way into the inner quarters because he wanted to see Gu Zhangyuan.

He thought back to that day when those male slaves had come to see him.

The Gu family had a lot of male slaves, and seeing how he'd climbed the ranks through "connections," he figured plenty of them had the same dirty ideas as that short one.

To make sure Gu Zhangyuan didn't get dragged into any trouble because of him, he decided he'd better come talk to him.

Xuan Cui followed closely behind Xie Licheng, and seeing that he had no intention of heading to the small kitchen, she muttered an insult behind his back, calling him shameless.

Xie Licheng's sharp ears caught the remark, but he didn't take offense.

A slight smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, and with the help of Yuan Qiao, he successfully managed to see Gu Zhangyuan.

To be fair, how easily he got to see Gu Zhangyuan wasn't just because of his thick skin—it was mostly thanks to Gu Zhangyuan's indulgence.

If Gu Zhangyuan had no desire to see him, he wouldn't even have the right to step into the inner residence.

Neither Xuan Cui nor Yuan Qiao would have allowed him to walk right in so easily.