Chapter 38

Chapter 38

Xie Licheng slept straight through until the next morning, having basically slept through a whole day and night.

He was still groggy from all that sleep, and when he woke up, he had that feeling of not knowing what day it even was.

Xie Licheng sat on the bed, dazed for a long time, then suddenly remembered he apparently had a wife now.

A married man was different from when he was a bachelor.

He couldn't just wing everything anymore. Remembering that he had promised to help Gu Zhangyuan move the treasures from the secret chamber, Xie Licheng quickly got out of bed, getting ready to head out again.

Since he still hadn't found Xuan Cui and the wet nurse, he still hadn't gone to the Gu family's secret chamber. Now that he had slept through an entire day, he had no clue what was going on out there.

Yuan Qiao, who had been waiting outside the whole time, heard the noise and quickly scrambled up from the ground, using the door frame for support.

Through the closed door, Yuan Qiao asked Xie Licheng inside the room, "Young Master, are you awake?"

Xie Licheng grunted in response, and Yuan Qiao quickly grabbed the clothes that had been set aside nearby.

She pushed the door open with one hand and walked in with her eyes closed.

Yuan Qiao: "Then I'll come in. The young master found you a clean set of clothes. He came by to drop them off while you were still resting, so he left them for me to bring in."

Xie Licheng: "Just leave them at the door."

Yuan Qiao: "Then... are you bathing here, or somewhere else?"

If Xie Licheng was bathing here, she'd have someone bring hot water over.

Xie Licheng said, "Don't bother."

Once Yuan Qiao put the clothes down, he grabbed them and disappeared.

Xie Licheng didn't leave the pocket world—he just teleported straight back to his farm.

In the pocket world, he could use teleport once he hit level 100.

The teleport function here meant teleporting between different areas.

For example, from Peach Blossom Village to the farm, from the farm to Peach Blossom Village, from the farm to Peach Blossom Town...

If Xie Licheng was already at the farm, he couldn't teleport back to it.

If he wanted to go somewhere else on the farm, he had to walk there on his own two feet.

Normally, whenever he entered the pocket world, he'd go straight to his farm.

But now, since he needed to save people and didn't want anyone entering his farm, he'd just sent everyone to Peach Blossom Village instead.

Meanwhile, Gu Zhangyuan found out Xie Licheng was awake and came looking for him with red-rimmed eyes, looking pitiful.

Last night, Xuan Cui had spiked a high fever, and they desperately needed a doctor.

He couldn't go out himself, so he had no choice but to come find Xie Licheng.

But to his surprise, just as he ran over to find him, he discovered Xie Licheng was gone.

Gu Zhangyuan couldn't help asking, "Where is he? How did he just disappear?"

Yuan Qiao replied, "He was just here a second ago. I asked him where he wanted to bathe, and he said not to bother."

"Did he go out again?"

"That shouldn't be it—he hasn't bathed yet."

"Then where'd he go?"

He'd been reluctant to disturb Xie Licheng's rest earlier, which was why he'd kept putting off coming to find him.

But now Xuan Cui's condition had gotten worse, and he really didn't dare delay any longer.

Gu Zhangyuan came out of the room where Xie Licheng had been resting and couldn't help but yell out anxiously at the top of his lungs.

"Xie Licheng!!!"

At that moment, Xie Licheng was bathing at the farm. There wasn't a single person around, so he was washing up in the courtyard outside.

Then he vaguely heard someone calling him. Since Gu Zhangyuan had called him like that before when he was in danger, he couldn't help but feel a pang of anxiety.

He hadn't seen Gu Zhangyuan since he got back—could something have happened to him?

With that thought, Xie Licheng got out of the water and shook off the droplets like a big dog.

He didn't put on the clothes Gu Zhangyuan had prepared for him. They were traditional ancient-style garments—the kind with elaborate layers that required putting on three pieces inside and out.

Xie Licheng ran hot, and since the weather was warm these days, he really wasn't used to wearing stuff like that.

Plus, he was worried about Gu Zhangyuan right now, so he didn't have time to get dressed slowly.

He just grabbed a casual outfit—a white short-sleeved shirt and a pair of black knee-length pants—and teleported to Peach Blossom Village in his slippers.

When Xie Licheng teleported over, two of the Gu family's servants happened to see him.

Even though they already knew he was mysterious and unpredictable, they were still startled by his sudden appearance.

The two servants steadied themselves and quickly came over to bow to him.

"Greetings, Master Xie."

Seeing them bow to him, Xie Licheng felt pretty awkward about it. He raised a hand and asked, "Where's your master?"

A slightly sharper-looking maidservant said, "The Eldest Young Master was just looking for you."

"Where is he?"

"He went to where you were resting."

Xie Licheng acknowledged that and was about to leave.

Then he saw Gu Zhangyuan not far away, walking toward him with red-rimmed eyes.

The moment Xie Licheng saw his red eyes, he knew he must've run into trouble again.

He walked toward him, asking, "What's wrong?"

Gu Zhangyuan only noticed him then—he'd been so consumed with worry and anxiety that he hadn't even noticed such a big person standing right there.

Now that he saw him, Gu Zhangyuan ran over to him, eyes still red.

He'd sprained his ankle earlier, so he ran a little funny.

As he ran over, Xie Licheng raised an arm to steady him, so he wouldn't accidentally trip and fall again.

Gu Zhangyuan sidled up to him, and the two servants who'd been there quickly took the hint and cleared out.

Seeing no one else was around, Gu Zhangyuan hooked his index finger around Xie Licheng's thumb.

He asked, "Where'd you just go?"

Xie Licheng said, "I went back to the farm to wash up."

"You have no idea how worried and scared I was just now."

"What happened?"

This place was pretty safe, though.

"Xuan Cui's wound got worse. I want to take her out to see a doctor."

"Getting out of here won't be easy."

"Why?"

"Because this place is my secret. Now that you know about it, I can't just let you walk out."

Gu Zhangyuan's eyes widened, and he looked up at Xie Licheng.

"So this is your secret. You're afraid I'll spill the beans."

"I'm not worried about you, honestly."

Gu Zhangyuan was a bit sly—every time he got into trouble or needed something from Xie Licheng, he'd cozy up to him.

Those little tears, those little tricks—he'd lay them on Xie Licheng one after another.

When there was no danger, he was still nice to Xie Licheng, but not as warm.

Xie Licheng was sharp, so he naturally saw through Gu Zhangyuan's little games.

But he didn't mind—in fact, he kind of enjoyed watching Gu Zhangyuan flirt with him.

Helping Gu Zhangyuan wasn't hard for him, so he was happy to play along.

But when it came to his own secrets and safety, he wasn't so easygoing.

"I'm not worried about you, but I have to be careful about others. Let me be straight with you—it's not impossible for you to leave. But there's a catch: once you leave, you can't come back. And I'll use some means to make you completely forget me and this place."

Hearing how serious it was—that leaving meant never coming back and forgetting Xie Licheng completely—Gu Zhangyuan was genuinely scared and panicked.

He didn't want to forget him, and he didn't want to leave him either.

Gu Zhangyuan quickly grabbed Xie Licheng's hand. "I won't leave, but with Xuan Cui like that, she has to see a doctor."

Xie Licheng patted his hand. "Don't rush. First, take me to see how she's doing."

Xie Licheng had some medicine at his farm, so he planned to check on Xuan Cui first.

If her condition was really bad, he'd go out and grab a doctor to bring back.

Hearing this, Gu Zhangyuan immediately took Xie Licheng's hand and led him to the house the Gu family was staying in.

The house the Gu family was staying in was the biggest courtyard in Peach Blossom Village.

The Gu family had a lot of people, and most of them were servants.

To make it easier to take care of the masters, they all lived together.

When Gu Zhangyuan brought Xie Licheng over, Gu Yangxue was already there with the servants, taking care of Xuan Cui.

Gu Tinghe sat on a chair in the courtyard, looking bored as he watched everyone scurry around.

He just couldn't understand it—Xuan Cui was just a servant, so why bother with all this trouble for her?

Xie Licheng had saved so many servants—even if one died, there were others to use. No need to put in so much effort.

When he saw that young man—his own attendant—about to go help boil water and stuff, he frowned and snapped, "Where are you going? It's not my people dying, so why are you sticking your nose in?"

That attendant was named Wan Liu, the young man Xie Licheng had casually saved when the bandits were dragging him that day.

Wan Liu glanced at him and said timidly, "Young master, the Gu family has suffered such a great disaster, and there are so few of us left. It's better if we all work together."

Seeing that Wan Liu dared to talk back, Gu Tinghe stood up angrily, ready to hit him.

Just then, Gu Zhangyuan came back with Xie Licheng.

Seeing him about to hit someone again, Gu Zhangyuan immediately spoke up, annoyed. "Stop it. If you've got nothing to do, go dig up wild vegetables outside. Don't get in the way."

If Xie Licheng hadn't been there, Gu Tinghe would've definitely picked a fight with Gu Zhangyuan.

He knew that no matter how much Gu Zhangyuan disliked him, he wouldn't actually do anything to him.

And that's exactly why he dared to act so recklessly.

They were blood brothers—as long as their father was alive, no matter how deep their grudges ran, Gu Zhangyuan wouldn't kill him.

But Xie Licheng was different—he was the master of this place.

He seemed to know some strange arts, and now the whole Gu family depended on him to survive.

If he dared to challenge him now, he'd definitely get thrown out.

Gu Tinghe shot Gu Zhangyuan a glare and quickly ducked back inside the house.

Xie Licheng, focused on Xuan Cui's injury, didn't go after him right away either.

He followed Gu Zhangyuan into the room where Xuan Cui was resting and took a quick look at her wound.

Gu Zhangyuan asked worriedly, "How is she? Can you save her?"

Xie Licheng nodded, then teleported back to grab some stuff.

Xuan Cui's wound wasn't as bad as Gu Zhangyuan had thought.

Xie Licheng went back and grabbed fever reducers and anti-inflammatory meds, plus two cooling patches for bringing down a fever.

He had someone give Xuan Cui the medicine and put a cooling patch on her too.

Gu Zhangyuan looked at the patch and asked, "What's this?"

"Fever patch. It can help bring down a high fever. After four hours have passed, you should replace it with a new one. I'll go out later and see if I can find a doctor."

Gu Zhangyuan took the patch upon hearing this, quickly wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with his head bowed, then walked up to Xie Licheng and thanked him again.

"I've troubled you once more. It seems all I've ever done is say thank you, without ever being able to do anything for you."

Xie Licheng said, "You're my husband now. Of course I'd help you."

Gu Zhangyuan didn't see it that way. "Still, I can't always rely on you. I... I'll try my best to help you out from now on."

Xie Licheng thought that was a bit funny and asked curiously, "What do you plan to do to help me?"

Gu Zhangyuan pointed outside and said, "I can help you manage the village. I'm pretty good at running a household."

"Alright then, I'll leave the village folks to you."

With that, Xie Licheng was about to leave the pocket dimension, but then he remembered that the village didn't seem to have any food stored up.

Although the mountains around Peach Blossom Village had plenty of things to eat, and the river by the village had plenty of fish and shrimp, the village had quite a few people, mostly old folks, the frail, women, and kids.

They could handle catching fish in the river, but there's no way they could hunt in the mountains.

After thinking it over, Xie Licheng said to Gu Zhangyuan, "Grab a few people and come with me. We'll go get some grain from my farm."

Gu Zhangyuan quickly followed, calling a few servants as he left the room. Since they were going to be hauling grain, they also grabbed a small cart.

Xie Licheng led the way, with Gu Zhangyuan following curiously behind him.

He had noticed that estate the day before, but weirdly, he couldn't get in.

There was clearly a path ahead, and he could see the farm in the distance, but when he reached a certain point, something invisible was blocking his path.

It wasn't just the farm—the same thing applied to the road leading out of the village.

There was a wide road there, clearly leading out of the village. Some folks had tried to leave, but no matter what they did, they couldn't get out.

It was exactly the same as Gu Zhangyuan not being able to get into the farm.

Gu Zhangyuan didn't understand why, and as they neared the farm, he brought it up.

Pointing ahead, he said, "I came here yesterday, but it's weird—I couldn't get in at all."

Xie Licheng pulled up the population management panel and granted Gu Zhangyuan access to the farm.

Then he said to him, "You can go in now."

Hearing this, Gu Zhangyuan tentatively stepped forward to test it.

To his surprise, he really could walk right in.

However, while he could enter, the servants who had come with them couldn't.

Xie Licheng looked at the servants and said, "You all wait here. I'll bring the grain out."

Xie Licheng had a portable backpack in his personal dimension, so moving things was a trivial matter for him.

With that, Xie Licheng motioned for Gu Zhangyuan to follow him, and the two entered the farm together.

Watching their receding figures, the servants couldn't help but look curious.

They walked to that spot and tried again. One servant whispered, "It's truly magical—he can go in, but we can't. There's something strange about this Master Xie. Could he really know some kind of magical arts?"

The other servants dared not speak carelessly. By now, they both feared and respected Xie Licheng deeply.

So when it came to talking about Xie Licheng, they generally didn't dare say anything careless.

They were very worried that if they said something, Xie Licheng would somehow find out, even in this strange place.

Meanwhile, after Xie Licheng brought Gu Zhangyuan inside, he went to the grain storage area to get some.

He had several storage spots for grain—some for perishables, kept in cold storage.

Easily storable items, or foods he didn't particularly like, were placed in a separate building.

There were also some grains he had taken from the mountains not long ago.

These hadn't been sorted yet and were piled up by the side of the building.

Xie Licheng went over and took twenty sacks of grain from the pile, mostly rice and sorghum.

These grains didn't taste very good. Thinking of Gu Zhangyuan's picky nature, Xie Licheng packed the twenty sacks and said to Gu Zhangyuan, who was nearby, "Come inside with me."

Gu Zhangyuan quickly followed, and the two pushed the door open and entered the house.

From the outside, the house looked small, like a small cottage with about three rooms.

But once he followed Xie Licheng inside, he realized the space was vast—the entryway living room alone was as big as three rooms.

Xie Licheng pointed to the right side of the living room. "That's the bedroom, where I usually sleep."

He then showed Gu Zhangyuan around before taking him into the kitchen on the left.

Xie Licheng said, "This is the kitchen. Below the kitchen is the storage room. There's plenty of good food down there. If you ever get a craving, come here to grab a snack."

Then, remembering he had stored many medicines in the cold storage, he worried Gu Zhangyuan might not recognize them and mistake some pills for candy.

Xie Licheng reached out, intending to take Gu Zhangyuan inside to show him around.

But Gu Zhangyuan didn't immediately follow him. Instead, he tugged at Xie Licheng's sleeve and stared at the live fish in the kitchen bucket.

Gu Zhangyuan asked him, "How come you have so many fish here?"

Since he got here, he had only eaten some soup made from wild vegetables.

Suddenly seeing fish here—live, fresh fish—made his mouth water.

Xie Licheng said, "If you want some, I can carry a few out for you."

Gu Zhangyuan looked at him a bit sheepishly, but then thought that since Xie Licheng was now his husband, helping himself to a few of his fish should be fine.

With that thought, Gu Zhangyuan smiled and said, "Thank you, husband."

Xie Licheng was so stirred by that "husband" from him that he almost couldn't resist pulling the man into his arms.

But remembering he still had things to do, he could only reach out and give Gu Zhangyuan's fingertips a gentle squeeze.

Xie Licheng: "Don't thank me just yet. Once you see the storeroom below, you'll know just how much good food your man has here."

Hearing this, Gu Zhangyuan grew curious. He placed his hand in Xie Licheng's large hand and let himself be led downstairs.

Below the kitchen was a large storeroom.

The moment Gu Zhangyuan entered, he spotted two rabbits that had been skinned in a crate by the door.

Caught off guard, he was startled and instinctively threw himself into Xie Licheng's arms.

With one arm, Xie Licheng scooped him up.

He had wanted to hold him just moments ago, and now that Gu Zhangyuan had thrown himself at him, it would've been stupid not to hold him now.

Gu Zhangyuan was lifted entirely off the ground, his butt resting on Xie Licheng's arm.

He hadn't been held like this since he was a child, and suddenly being picked up by a man like this made his handsome face turn bright red.

Gu Zhangyuan said, "Put me down. I'm not scared now."

Xie Licheng didn't believe him. "Two dead rabbits got you that scared. When you see the pork, beef, lamb, and even tiger meat later, are you gonna cry?"

Gu Zhangyuan looked astonished. "This place... isn't this where you rest? Why would you keep so many bloody things where you sleep?"

Xie Licheng carried him further inside while frowning in explanation. "I used to be a bachelor and never thought about any of that. I assumed I'd stay single forever, and since these were my food supplies, I naturally kept them close at hand."

He never expected that after transmigrating, he'd end up with a soft, spoiled wife.