Chapter 39

Chapter 39

Gu Zhangyuan pointed at a box not far away. "The meat here looks super fresh. When did you get all this in?"

If he remembered correctly, hadn't Xie Licheng been busy fighting those bandits lately? He shouldn't have had any time to go hunting these past few days.

Xie Licheng told him, "This is a cold storage warehouse. Fruits come in fresh, and they stay that way for ten to fifteen days."

As he spoke, he grabbed a box of pastries from a nearby shelf.

He'd picked these up on a whim when he left the Gu residence a while back.

Apparently they were a well-known local pastry from Lingzhou City, so Xie Licheng had bought a box and stored it in his portable world.

Gu Zhangyuan had been scared and anxious these past few days, so he probably hadn't had a proper meal.

Xie Licheng placed the pastries in his hands and said, "Alright, I'll leave you to look around on your own. You can come and go freely on my farm, and you can take any food here as you please. I'm going to take the grain out now, and then I'm heading out."

When Gu Zhangyuan heard he was going out, he took the pastries in one hand and pinched Xie Licheng's ear with the other.

Gu Zhangyuan said softly, "I want to go out and see what's happening."

He didn't want to leave—he was just curious about what was going on outside.

Xie Licheng held him, his dark eyes locked on Gu Zhangyuan.

"You can't go out. It's a mess out there right now. I've told you before—once you leave, you can't come back."

Gu Zhangyuan knew Xie Licheng was more easily swayed by soft words than force. He just couldn't believe that once someone left, they couldn't come back.

So he tried to sweet-talk Xie Licheng, "You're going out to find a doctor and look for the secret room at the Gu house, right? It'd be easier if you took me—I know where the secret room is. And if we run into trouble, you can just tuck me back in here."

Xie Licheng wanted to say no—it was too much of a hassle.

But just as he was about to turn him down, Gu Zhangyuan leaned in and kissed his cheek.

Gu Zhangyuan was gorgeous, and his lips were incredibly soft.

When his lips brushed against Xie Licheng's cheek, he was so close that his scent seemed almost intoxicating.

Xie Licheng said to Gu Zhangyuan, "You're using your charm on me again."

Caught in the act, Gu Zhangyuan didn't feel the least bit guilty.

He let go of Xie Licheng's ear and pressed a fingertip to the tip of his nose.

Gu Zhangyuan: "So, do you fall for it or not?"

Xie Licheng parted his lips and bit down on his fingertip. Seeing Gu Zhangyuan wince, he let go with a soft snort.

"Fine, I'll take you out to see for yourself, so you don't think I'm lying. Once you see how scary it is out there, you'll realize how good you've got it here."

With that, Xie Licheng put Gu Zhangyuan down.

He grabbed a few bags of premium rice and a few bags of premium flour, planning to give the grain to the servants outside.

Gu Zhangyuan left the pastries behind. He figured since he was heading out with Xie Licheng, he'd leave them here for now—the warehouse kept things fresh.

He set the things down and walked over to the fruit shelf.

He glanced back at Xie Licheng, who nodded for him to pick whatever he liked.

He picked up a strawberry. They had these small wild berries around here that looked a bit like strawberries, but the taste was totally different.

Wild berries were smaller and not as brightly colored as strawberries.

Wild berries were more tart, while strawberries were sweeter.

Seeing him take just one, Xie Licheng walked over and grabbed him a box.

The box only had about seven or eight strawberries in it.

Xie Licheng: "Want something else to eat?"

Gu Zhangyuan definitely hadn't eaten well lately, and he was still set on going out with him.

If he didn't eat enough, he wouldn't even have the energy to run later.

Gu Zhangyuan: "You've got so much stuff here, I don't even know what's good."

Hearing that, Xie Licheng picked things out for him. He hadn't eaten anything today either, as it happened.

He looked through the cooked food shelf and picked out a still-warm braised fish, a plate of egg fried rice, and two steamed buns.

The fish and rice were things Xie Licheng had cooked himself before—he'd made a ton of dishes back when he was trying to level up.

The buns were bought from outside—some were from his stash in his past life, and some were from Lingzhou.

The two of them left the warehouse and had a quick lunch.

It wasn't even noon—more like ten in the morning—so calling it lunch was a stretch.

Gu Zhangyuan was picky, and it was clear he didn't really like Xie Licheng's cooking. He only had a few bites before pushing it away.

Xie Licheng took the plate in front of him. Since they'd already eaten from it, he couldn't put it back, so he finished it off himself.

Gu Zhangyuan only had one bun, then moved on to the strawberries.

The buns were from outside, and they were pretty tasty.

The strawberries were great too—tart and sweet, plump and juicy.

He ate three in a row, then decided he only wanted the tips.

Probably remembering these were troubled times and he couldn't be as wasteful as before, he forced himself to eat the strawberry bottoms with a reluctant look.

Seeing that, Xie Licheng said, "If you don't want the bottoms, don't eat them. Our farm can grow strawberries—we won't run out."

Gu Zhangyuan smiled. As he ate the tips of the other strawberries, he said, "Then wouldn't I be a real jerk? These are chaotic times, and I'm still acting like a spoiled young master."

"No, we've got plenty here. From now on, you eat the tips, and I'll take the bottoms—or give them to Yuan Qiao and the others."

Gu Zhangyuan felt bad about eating the good parts and making Xie Licheng eat his scraps.

But he couldn't make Xie Licheng eat his leftovers—though he could definitely let Yuan Qiao and Xuan Cui have the bottoms later.

When the time came, he'd have Yuan Qiao slice the strawberries, and he'd just keep the tips.

Since Yuan Qiao and the others weren't around, and Gu Zhangyuan couldn't stand to waste the strawberry bottoms, he...

He raised his eyes to look at Xie Licheng, who understood what he wanted and dutifully took what he hadn’t finished.

Watching Xie Licheng eat the strawberry ends, Gu Zhangyuan suddenly felt a bit shy again—their relationship had really gotten way too close.

But then he reconsidered: before the chaos, he had wanted to make Xie Licheng his chamber attendant, and after the chaos, he had become Xie Licheng’s husband to save his family.

Either way, they’d always been close.

Besides, his father had taught him that, as the Eldest Young Master of the Gu family, his status was different from ordinary people.

He didn’t have to be virtuous, kind, dignified, and proper like other men of his kind.

His upbringing and surroundings had shaped a different temperament from most people’s.

He didn’t see anything shameful in a man like him checking out another man’s looks.

Men could admire the beauty of women and other men, so why couldn’t he do the same?

Of course, calling Xie Licheng beautiful wasn’t quite right—he wasn’t the type you’d call pretty.

Even if he was good-looking, it wasn’t in the same way women or other men were.

To describe the beauty of women and other men, one might use flowers, dew, gems, or pearls.

To describe Xie Licheng, you’d have to reach for blades and sword edges.

Maybe it was just him, but lately Xie Licheng seemed to care less and less about how he looked.

Luckily, he had a solid base, and he was slowly filling out, so a little rough edges didn’t hurt.

After giving himself that little pep talk, Gu Zhangyuan walked behind Xie Licheng and hugged him from behind, arms around his shoulders.

Xie Licheng, still eating, asked, “What’s up?”

Gu Zhangyuan smiled. “Nothing, just felt like hugging you.”

He loved holding Xie Licheng—it gave him a sense of safety he couldn’t put into words.

Xie Licheng nodded and didn’t bother asking why he was being hugged.

He finished the food, then hoisted Gu Zhangyuan onto his back, grabbed the bucket of fresh fish, and carried them both out of the farm.

He handed the food to the servants and said, “Your young master is going out with me. Tell your lord not to worry.”

After saying this, Xie Licheng prepared to take Gu Zhangyuan out.

Just then, the system popped up a prompt asking whether to clear Gu Zhangyuan’s memory.

If he chose to clear it, Gu Zhangyuan would never be able to come back here again.

Xie Licheng barely glanced at it and immediately chose not to clear it.

If someone’s memory wasn’t cleared, even if they left the pocket world for a while, the population count wouldn’t drop.

He was counted as part of the pocket world’s population, and only if he died would that number go down.

If someone’s memory was cleared, they no longer belonged to the pocket world. The population would drop, and the world would never take them back.

Once they were outside, Gu Zhangyuan asked to walk on his own.

Seeing he was doing okay, Xie Licheng set him down.

Once outside, they remembered there were still plenty of injured people in the pocket world, so they needed to find a doctor first.

Of the people Xie Licheng had taken in, Xuan Cui wasn’t the only one hurt—plenty of others were injured too.

He hadn’t thought about finding a doctor before because he’d been too busy, and their injuries weren’t as bad as Xuan Cui’s, so he hadn’t been in a hurry.

Now that there were serious injuries in the pocket world and the population was growing, they really needed a doctor.

On the way to find a doctor, Xie Licheng and Gu Zhangyuan saw that the once-bustling streets had turned into total chaos.

Many doors were hanging open, courtyards torn apart.

Some doors had blood on them, and there were even corpses by the roadside.

Gu Zhangyuan knew things were bad out there, but he hadn’t expected it to get this crazy in just two days.

His eyes went red and he couldn’t stand to look. He asked, “What’s going on in the capital? Why haven’t they sent troops?”

“The capital’s a mess too. A prince is trying to grab the throne in all the chaos, so they probably don’t have time to deal with this place.”

According to the book, the last emperor of Great Zhou was the Seventh Prince.

The Seventh Prince only sat on the throne for two months before the Marquis of Shubei’s men caught him during the capital’s relocation.

After capturing him, the Marquis of Shubei declared himself king, took over the capital and everything north of Lingzhou, and became known as the King of Northern Zhou.

In the book, the male lead’s love interest couldn’t hold Lingzhou, and it stayed under the King of Northern Zhou’s control for a long time.

The King of Northern Zhou and the Marquis of Jincheng held down the northwest of Great Zhou for a long stretch.

As for the protagonist’s group, they started in the northeast, but they grabbed too much land and didn’t have enough troops to hold it, so they stayed holed up in the central region until the protagonist’s older brother died.

This was the most chaotic time: two marquises in the northwest, the protagonist’s group in the middle, and a bunch of bandits playing king in the northeast.

The south was split into a bunch of small factions, and some areas were taken over by foreign sea raiders.

Only the southwest was still Great Zhou territory, held by a military family loyal to the dynasty.

But that didn’t last long either—people inside started resenting the family’s control, and the southwest slowly fell apart.

In the book, this mess lasted a full eleven years.

During that time, disasters and plagues never let up.

People would do anything to fight for land.

With all the fighting, people were scattered and couldn’t farm.

With disasters, plagues, and famine on top of all that, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say Great Zhou was nearly empty.

A lot of towns were just empty—houses with no one in them, fields with no one farming, weeds everywhere.

It was because so many people had died over those years that the protagonist didn’t feel much pride when he became the new emperor.

After all, when this huge nation ended up in his hands, the total population was under two hundred thousand.

This is a truly terrifying concept. The male lead's own army numbered over a hundred thousand, meaning only a few tens of thousands of common people remained.

And among those few tens of thousands, there were the elderly and children.

Those actually of marriageable and childbearing age numbered fewer than twenty thousand.

With so few people, so much land, and a severely damaged environment, subsequent development became extremely difficult.

Even by the end of the novel, the territory under the male lead's control was only one-third of Great Zhou's original territory.

Xie Licheng possessed a personal world and had no intention of contending with the male lead for the throne.

It wasn't that he was particularly magnanimous, nor that he lacked ambition.

Rather, he discovered that the map of his personal world was larger than Great Zhou's.

His personal world was a game world where resources refreshed daily, meaning they would never face shortages.

With resources refreshing every day, food would never run out.

Xie Licheng thought that even if he died someday, this world would likely continue to exist.

The only difference was that he served as the portal for other humans to enter his personal world.

Once he died, that door allowing back-and-forth travel would be sealed forever.

Additionally, the maps further ahead could no longer be unlocked.

Their place was like a hidden paradise, cut off from the outside world for eternity.

...

Xie Licheng snapped back from his thoughts and led Gu Zhangyuan into a medicine shop.

There were still people inside the medicine shop. Probably because they were physicians, their family hadn't been killed.

Everyone gets sick and dies eventually—even those bandits and robbers probably feared that if they killed all the doctors, no one would be left to treat them when they got sick.

When Xie Licheng brought Gu Zhangyuan to the door, the little old man who was packing up his belongings was startled.

The little old man was terrified of Xie Licheng, mainly because he was so tall and imposing that he clearly wasn't someone to mess with.

But then he glanced at Gu Zhangyuan and recognized him—he knew the Gu family's eldest young master.

Many people in Lingzhou City knew him and had always had a good impression of him.

Seeing Gu Zhangyuan, the old doctor relaxed a bit.

He continued packing while speaking to Gu Zhangyuan, "I'm sorry, young master, but we're not seeing patients today. We're closing down."

Gu Zhangyuan said anxiously, "Please come with us—we have a severely injured patient. Don't worry, we can absolutely guarantee your safety."

The old doctor shook his head. "That won't work either. Lingzhou City is about to fall. We need to flee with my family before those people outside start killing indiscriminately."

Gu Zhangyuan pulled out a money pouch and continued speaking in a gentle tone, "How about this—it won't be easy for you to get out of the city anyway. If you agree to treat our patients, I'll have someone escort your family out of the city."

The old doctor was taken aback, somewhat skeptical of Gu Zhangyuan's words.

The Gu family had already been looted clean—those inside had either fled or died. Gu Zhangyuan himself was still trapped in the city, so he didn't believe he could get them out.

But then he thought again—he wasn't confident he could safely escape with his family either.

Besides, Gu Zhangyuan was a man of good character, and the doctor didn't think he would lie to him.

Besides, even if the Gu family had fallen, they were still better off than a medicine shop owner like him. Maybe they really did have connections to escape.

After thinking it over, the old doctor said to them, "Fine, but I need to bring my family along. I don't feel safe leaving them at home."

Gu Zhangyuan immediately handed him the silver. The old doctor didn't refuse—given the current situation, he needed as much money as he could get for protection.

Seeing that the little old man was being sensible, Xie Licheng asked, "What do you all need to bring? I have a way to help you take it all."

The old doctor replied half-doubtfully, "Naturally, the more we can bring, the better."

Xie Licheng said, "Then pack everything up. I'll take both your family and your belongings all at once."

Hearing this, the old doctor assumed someone would come to help them later, so he hurried to the back to notify his family.

They spent an hour packing together, mainly gathering household valuables and herbs.

Since Xie Licheng said he could help carry everything, the pile of packed belongings was quite large.

Xie Licheng and Gu Zhangyuan walked into the courtyard and looked at the pile of items in the yard. "Are you done packing?"

The old doctor felt a bit sheepish—he knew he had packed too much.

But he was a doctor, and these herbs were very important to him.

He couldn't bear to throw away this, and he couldn't bear to throw away that, and he had also brought many medical books.

The old doctor said, "I know we have a lot of things, but we'll also carry some ourselves."

Xie Licheng nodded nonchalantly. "Then I'll send you in first, and come back for your things afterward."

As he spoke, he gestured for the family to hold hands, which would make it more convenient for him to take them away.

Hearing this, the old doctor's family instinctively glanced outside.

"There's... no one else coming?"

Xie Licheng didn't understand what he meant and, with a wave of his hand, brought them to Peach Blossom Village.

Upon arriving, the old doctor's family was almost scared out of their wits.

The old doctor, being elderly, clutched his chest and took a long while to recover before stammering, "Th-this... what place is this?"

The old doctor's son quickly asked, "Are you... are you immortals? Is this a place where immortals live?"

Gu Zhangyuan couldn't help laughing. "This isn't a place where immortals live, and we're not immortals either."

The old doctor's wife said, "Then... then what is this place? Weren't we just at home a moment ago?"

Gu Zhangyuan glanced back at Xie Licheng. In truth, he still didn't fully understand what this place was, so he really didn't know how to answer.

Xie Licheng said, "This is my territory. You don't need to know the details—just know that it's safe here. Now, let me take you to see the injured. As long as you can heal all their wounds, I'll escort your family out of the city afterward."

The old doctor suddenly remembered their belongings. "What about... our things and those herbs?"

The moment his words fell, Xie Licheng disappeared.

Then, the items piled in their courtyard began appearing one by one next to them.

Even their carriage and the pots and pans from their kitchen were later sent in by Xie Licheng.