Chapter 37

Chapter 37

The yamen runner cautiously looked around upon hearing this, "They should all be in the garden up ahead. Since they're all either young lads or women, and every one of them is as beautiful as a flower, the prefect wants to sell them off for money."

Xie Licheng jutted his chin out slightly, motioning for him to get up and lead the way.

The runner was terrified at the sight of this, saying, "I dare not. If the prefect finds out, he'll have me killed."

Xie Licheng looked down at him upon hearing this, "I can kill you too."

Xie Licheng said this very gently, and he didn't look angry at all.

But the runner knew very well that this man was no ordinary person.

When he said he'd kill someone, he meant it.

He could only scramble to his feet pathetically and hurriedly walk ahead to lead the way for Xie Licheng.

Xie Licheng knew where the inner garden was, but he worried the other might deliberately deceive him. To prevent being tricked and wasting time, he had to bring this man along.

Fortunately, this man was smart enough to know better—probably because he'd been scared out of his wits before—and this time he didn't dare deceive Xie Licheng.

Xie Licheng found the people in the inner garden. Since all the servants had been gathered together, he couldn't tell whether the ones he was looking for were among them.

Xie Licheng signaled for the runner to leave, then strode straight into the garden.

He didn't bother to hide, walking straight over.

Soon someone spotted him. A runner pointed at him and warned, "Who are you? Don't come any closer!!"

Xie Licheng acted as if he hadn't heard a thing, carefully searching among the servants.

Then, before he could find Xuan Cui and the others, he heard a familiar voice shout, "My lord, I'm here! My lord, save me!"

The one calling out was Yuan Qiao. Xie Licheng followed the sound to find him in the crowd while swiftly snatching the saber from a runner who came at him.

Xie Licheng glanced at the runner and said, "Can't even hold on to your own sword?"

The runner turned red with anger and humiliation and said, "I'm with the authorities. You wouldn't dare touch me?"

His answer was a slash from Xie Licheng's blade. As that runner fell, several others came over, and one of them recognized Xie Licheng.

The man said, "It's him—the one who snatched those prisoners before."

The runners who had been about to attack Xie Licheng suddenly stopped in their tracks. Several of their brothers had died at his hands. They knew that with just the few of them, they were no match for Xie Licheng on their own.

Xie Licheng didn't want to fight either. His stamina was a bit low—a pathetic thirty-something.

If he could solve the problem without throwing a punch, that was naturally what he hoped for now.

Xie Licheng: "Are you gonna leave on your own, or stay and have a go at me?"

The remaining runners glanced at each other and decided to make a run for it, planning to report the matter to the advisor and the prefect first, then see what they intended to do.

Watching them hightail it out of there, Xie Licheng untied the ropes on the two men on the ground.

The moment they were free, they instinctively made to run, but then they heard Xie Licheng say to them, "Pick up the blades, free everyone, and then you can run."

The two servants quickly nodded and began nervously and hesitantly freeing the others.

They feared the runners, but they feared Xie Licheng even more.

The runners were frightening, but at least they hadn't tried to kill them.

Compared to the runners, they were actually more scared of the Xie Licheng standing right in front of them.

Because when Xie Licheng said he'd kill, he actually killed—a lot scarier than those runners.

By this time, Xie Licheng had finally spotted Yuan Qiao. He walked over and pulled Yuan Qiao out of the crowd.

He asked, "Where are Xuan Cui and the nanny?"

Yuan Qiao felt like crying on instinct. He said, trembling all over, "Xuan Cui, Xuan Cui is injured. I was carrying her out with a martial arts matron to go find a doctor, and then the authorities caught me. The matron took her and ran off in the chaos—as for whether they got out of the Gu estate, I have no idea. The nanny... I didn't see the nanny. I don't know where she is now either."

Xie Licheng nodded, motioning for him to hurry up and follow.

He wanted to take him somewhere with no one around, then send him straight into his personal world.

At this moment, Gu Zhangyuan was extremely worried about them. If he could see that Yuan Qiao was okay, it would make him feel a bit better.

Yuan Qiao quickly wiped away his tears and strode after him.

The two of them hadn't walked far when Xie Licheng noticed two people following behind them.

Xie Licheng turned to look—it was two bedraggled-looking women.

They were both young, with their hair all over the place, looking all disheveled and pitiful.

Seeing them tagging along behind him looking so pitiful, Xie Licheng couldn't bring himself to chase them away.

He'd already saved so many people; saving two more wouldn't make a difference.

Besides, if he later decided they were of poor character, he could always toss them back out.

With that thought, Xie Licheng led the three of them to a secluded spot.

Xie Licheng stopped and said to Yuan Qiao, "I'm sending you to see your eldest young master now."

Yuan Qiao's eyes lit up at this, and he said joyfully, "Our young master was saved by you?"

Xie Licheng: "If I hadn't saved him, I wouldn't have thought to save you."

Hearing this, Yuan Qiao felt a bit angry and cursed him as heartless in his mind.

He'd always been so good to him before, often speaking well of him in front of the young master.

This horse slave truly had no heart, saying such cold words.

Before Yuan Qiao could continue his silent grumbling, he and the two women were sent to Peach Blossom Village.

The moment he arrived, Yuan Qiao exclaimed, "This—what is this place? Where's my young master?"

As he spoke, he lifted his robes and began searching all around Peach Blossom Village.

The two women following him were timid and hurriedly stuck close behind him.

They spoke in hushed, nervous whispers.

"What is this place?"

"I don't know. We were just in the inner courtyard a moment ago—how did we end up here all of a sudden?"

"That's right, it's so strange. Could that... that person know sorcery?"

"Shh, don't talk nonsense. He's a good man—he saved so many of us."

...

If he hadn't come and released them, they would surely have been sold off by the authorities for money.

The world outside had descended into chaos now, and being sold again would mean no good end for them.

Since it was already dark, Yuan Qiao had to search for a while before finally finding his young master in a house with a courtyard.

When Yuan Qiao found him, Gu Zhangyuan was tending to the young man from earlier.

The boy had been badly frightened and, after being rescued, had come down with a slight fever.

Suddenly seeing Yuan Qiao appear, Gu Zhangyuan quickly set down the bowl of soup in his hands and hurried over to Yuan Qiao.

It was then that Gu Zhangyuan noticed two others following behind Yuan Qiao.

Seeing Gu Zhangyuan, the two women quickly dropped into a respectful curtsy.

Both maidservants called out in unison, "This servant greets the Eldest Young Master."

Gu Zhangyuan didn't recognize them—the Gu family had a lot of servants.

But thinking that they had been brought in by Xie Licheng, they had to be Gu family servants.

Gu Zhangyuan said to them, "At a time like this, no need for all these formalities."

The two maidservants shook their heads repeatedly at his words. "This servant wouldn't dare. A master's a master."

"That's right—the Eldest Young Master is our master for life."

They weren't stupid; they'd heard everything Xie Licheng said earlier.

Xie Licheng had only gone to save Yuan Qiao for Gu Zhangyuan's sake.

They'd only been saved because they'd shamelessly tagged along with Yuan Qiao.

And the main reason for all of it was their Eldest Young Master.

That guy was so incredibly capable—as long as they served the Eldest Young Master well, their future was set.

Gu Zhangyuan let them come in to rest and didn't pay them any more mind.

Gu Zhangyuan took Yuan Qiao's hand and asked, "Where are Nanny and Xuan Cui?"

Yuan Qiao shook his head. "I don't know. I lost them in the chaos. But... don't worry, Young Master. The master's out looking for them now. He's so capable—he'll definitely find them."

Gu Zhangyuan nodded. He certainly hoped Xie Licheng would find them.

But if he couldn't, Gu Zhangyuan wouldn't blame him.

Xie Licheng had been nothing but good to him—he couldn't ask for more.

Gu Zhangyuan: "So... he didn't get hurt, did he?"

Even though Gu Zhangyuan didn't say who "he" was, Yuan Qiao, having grown up with him, knew exactly who he meant.

Yuan Qiao smiled. "The master's incredibly formidable. Those yamen runners were scared stiff at the sight of him and ran off without putting up much of a fight. Don't worry, Young Master—the master's extraordinary. Nothing's gonna happen to him."

Xie Licheng didn't come back that whole night.

He didn't come back himself, but he tossed in a bunch of people and stuff.

Yeah, that night he not only saved a lot of people but also helped himself to plenty of good stuff.

Since everything belonged to the Gu family, and both the head of the Gu household and the Eldest Young Master were in his pocket world, Xie Licheng felt totally justified snatching things from others.

He grabbed from the authorities, from bandits, from runaway Gu servants, and even from the protagonist's crew...

Gimme that!

Is it yours? Then why the hell are you taking it?!

Whenever he ran into people willing to follow Gu Zhangyuan, he'd toss them straight into Peach Blossom Village.

And so, as the night went on, people kept showing up in Peach Blossom Village—one at a time, then two at a time...

Porcelain vases, rare flowers, precious furniture, fine jewelry—even pots, pans, and ladles—all got scooped up by Xie Licheng into his pocket world.

These things piled up on the village ground, and not a single person in the village dared to touch them.

It wasn't that nobody was greedy; it was mainly that everyone figured these things now belonged to Xie Licheng.

They were afraid that if they messed with them, Xie Licheng would get pissed when he came in.

This weird place was Xie Licheng's turf.

On someone else's turf, it was better to stay quiet and behave.

But while they didn't dare touch anything, Gu Zhangyuan sure as hell did.

When Gu Zhangyuan got up in the morning, he saw a bunch of Gu servants in the village and a ton of stuff on the ground that was clearly from the Gu household.

Walking over, Gu Zhangyuan naturally started directing the servants to clean things up.

"Gather all this stuff and move it to the biggest house in the middle of the village."

A group of servants quickly answered, "Yes."

And just then, Xie Licheng came back from outside, covered in blood—and he'd brought back both Xuan Cui and Nanny, the ones Gu Zhangyuan had been dying to see.

Overjoyed at the sight, Gu Zhangyuan rushed over to Nanny and Xuan Cui.

He'd wanted to hug them, but remembering Xuan Cui was hurt, he didn't dare touch her.

Gu Zhangyuan asked anxiously, "Xuan Cui, are you okay? Your injuries..."

Xuan Cui's face was deathly pale, and she looked really bad overall.

She'd been lucky to survive—yesterday, the martial arts matron had gotten her out of the Gu household.

But once outside, they found things were even more chaotic. The matron hid her and went out alone to find a doctor.

Whether she never found one or got killed out there, nobody knew—but she left and never came back.

Xuan Cui thought she was a goner, but right before dawn, she ran into Xie Licheng, who had been searching for her everywhere.

She had hidden herself deep. If she'd stayed quiet, Xie Licheng would never have found her.

The reason Xie Licheng found her was that he called out her name and her nursemaid's name while searching.

In the end, Xie Licheng not only managed to get her to come out, but also her nursemaid, who had escaped on her own.

It was almost funny—only Xie Licheng would dare to stroll so leisurely through such chaos, shouting people's names as he went.

If anyone else had been looking for them, they wouldn't have found them so easily, and might have walked right past them.

By now, Xie Licheng was exhausted. He was running on empty, and he had to take a break.

Since he'd found who he was looking for, he planned to head back and rest for a bit.

As for everything else, he'd deal with it once he'd rested and regained his strength.

Xie Licheng glanced at Gu Zhangyuan. "Once I've rested up, I'll sort things out here."

Gu Zhangyuan quickly stepped forward to support him. "Did you stay up all night? You look awful."

"It's fine. I'll be fine after I sleep a bit."

Hearing this, Gu Zhangyuan quickly motioned for Yuan Qiao to come over. Together, they helped Xie Licheng into a room to sleep.

At this point, Xie Licheng wasn't so weak that he needed two people to hold him up. He wasn't hurt—he was just running on empty.

Still, seeing how much Gu Zhangyuan cared for him, he was enjoying the moment.

He reached out and pushed Yuan Qiao aside, letting only Gu Zhangyuan hold him up.

Yuan Qiao, pushed away, said with a look of exasperation, "My young master is so delicate, and you're such a big brute. Don't crush him."

Xie Licheng shot him a look, and whatever Yuan Qiao was about to say died in his throat.

He trailed behind them pitifully, scared that if Xie Licheng fainted, he'd crush his young master into the ground.

Fortunately, Xie Licheng wasn't in that bad of shape. He was just low on energy—not about to actually pass out.

Gu Zhangyuan helped Xie Licheng find a place to rest, deliberately picking one far from where the Gu family was staying.

The house where the Gu family was staying was crowded, and Gu Zhangyuan still had people to organize and clean up, so it would definitely be noisy there.

He felt Xie Licheng desperately needed rest, and to rest well, he needed a quiet place.

The house he found had few people living nearby, making it a good place for Xie Licheng to recover.

Afterward, Xie Licheng lay down, and Yuan Qiao brought in a basin of warm water.

Gu Zhangyuan and Yuan Qiao wiped Xie Licheng's face and hands together.

Xie Licheng looked pretty rough at the moment, but knowing Xie Licheng had done all this to help him, Gu Zhangyuan naturally couldn't bring himself to feel disgusted.

Gu Zhangyuan said to Xie Licheng, "Get some sleep first. Once you're rested, get up and take a bath."

Xie Licheng smelled pretty bad, and as he spoke, Gu Zhangyuan started tugging at his clothes.

Xie Licheng's previous clothes had been burned in the fire, so he had grabbed whatever he could find and thrown it on. Now the new clothes were dirty too, and Gu Zhangyuan didn't want him sleeping in them.

Xie Licheng was exhausted, so he closed his eyes and cooperated as Gu Zhangyuan stripped off his upper garments.

Once the top was off, Gu Zhangyuan quickly said to Yuan Qiao, "You go out first."

Yuan Qiao looked like he wanted to say something, but then remembered that the two of them were now husbands, and that his presence here did seem a bit intrusive.

It was yesterday that he had learned from Gu Yangxue that Gu Zhangyuan had agreed to marry Xie Licheng to save everyone.

Yuan Qiao found it a bit amusing. Others might not know the relationship between his young master and Xie Licheng, but he and Xuan Cui knew it very well—his young master had already planned to marry Xie Licheng.

The two of them were just one step away from that, and if not for everything that had happened afterward, he would have suspected his young master might already have a baby on the way.

So when he heard that his young master was going to marry Xie Licheng to save everyone, he didn't think his young master was being wronged in any way.

In these chaotic times, no matter how noble his young master's status was, if he couldn't survive, that nobility was worthless.

In Yuan Qiao's eyes, whether his young master married Xie Licheng or Xie Licheng married his young master, there wasn't much difference.

He didn't have many extravagant hopes—just that his young master would be happy and healthy. As for everything else, status truly didn't matter.

Watching Yuan Qiao leave, Gu Zhangyuan touched his burning cheeks and reached for Xie Licheng's waistband.

Xie Licheng, eyes still closed, grabbed his wrist. "Don't fool around."

Gu Zhangyuan: "I'm not fooling around. You won't sleep well with your clothes on."

And they're dirty too—can't he smell himself?

Xie Licheng: "That still doesn't mean you should be the one undressing me."

If he really let Gu Zhangyuan undress him, he wouldn't get a wink of sleep today.

Xie Licheng sighed and got up to take off his pants himself.

He was quite casual about undressing, not treating Gu Zhangyuan like a stranger at all.

That was just how Xie Licheng was—when Gu Zhangyuan wasn't his yet, he had to be a bit more courteous with him.

But now that Gu Zhangyuan had said he'd be his wife, his body was naturally something his wife could see.

Once he was undressed, Xie Licheng flopped down onto the bed with a thud.

Gu Zhangyuan's face turned bright red at his shameless behavior. He wiped his own hot cheeks with a clean damp cloth, then used it to wipe Xie Licheng's arm.

He was too embarrassed to continue wiping, and didn't dare look at Xie Licheng's body any more than he already had, so he hurried out of the room.

As he left the house, Gu Zhangyuan said to Yuan Qiao outside, "Watch over him. Don't let anyone in to bother him. Also, he's not wearing any clothes, so don't go in there yourself."

Yuan Qiao replied, "Understood. I'll keep watch and won't let anyone near your husband."

Gu Zhangyuan was both annoyed and embarrassed by his words, but since he was worried about Xuan Cui, he didn't stick around to argue with him.