Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The next day, before dawn, noise erupted outside.

Xie Licheng heard the commotion but didn't get up. Instead, he pulled the blanket over his head and continued sleeping.

As Steward Xu had said, he didn't need to work for now, so he wasn't about to foolishly get up.

Xie Licheng rested for another hour, but the pain from his wounds kept bothering him. Frowning, he got up and entered his inner world.

He couldn't take it anymore. If he didn't take medicine and just endured the pain like this, his wounds wouldn't heal anytime soon.

When Xie Licheng came in, he brought the new blanket back with him.

His blanket was too new—a bright blue down comforter.

If any of the Gu household staff saw it, it might cause a stir.

Xie Licheng entered the inner world and appeared directly in his farm.

His avatar had changed, but the farm was just as he'd left it—unchanged, still looking the same as before.

He didn't wander around the farm but went straight into a traditional-style house behind him.

The house looked small from outside, but inside it was surprisingly spacious.

Through the main door, there was a living room on the right, and further right, a bedroom.

On ordinary days, Xie Licheng rested in this bedroom.

Above the bedroom, to the north, there was a dressing room.

Since Xie Licheng was the only one here, he hadn't installed a door for the dressing room.

He went in, found a set of clean undergarments, and layered them over his dirty clothes.

Then he went to the living room to find the first-aid kit and pulled out a box of painkillers.

This inner world was also an ancient world.

There were no first-aid kits here—the one he had was gathered during the apocalypse.

Xie Licheng took his medicine, drank some water, ate a bit of food, and prepared to leave.

He didn't want to stay inside too long, worried someone might come looking for him.

When he went out, he brought an apple, a few jujubes, and a survival knife.

The dagger he had taken out earlier had been placed back here.

The dagger was inconvenient to carry—not as practical as this survival knife.

When he came out, he sat on the dusty bed and ate the jujubes.

Many people said jujubes boost blood—who knew if that was true?

But whether true or not, this body was deficient in everything, so eating more was never a bad idea.

Perhaps because the room was remote and few knew he was there, the entire day passed without anyone coming to find him.

Actually, Xie Licheng should have gone to the dining hall during the day, but considering the poor food allotted to a lowly slave like the original owner, he just didn't go on the first day.

Anyway, his inner world had everything—he wouldn't starve for a while.

Late at night, Xie Licheng entered the inner world again.

After a day of rest, his health points had recovered to thirty.

He prepared some nutritious food for himself and took the opportunity to fish in the farm's pond during the night.

Fishing also earned experience points, with each level-up granting one stat point.

For player character leveling, leveling up to twenty was a breeze.

You barely had to go into the mountains—just fishing, chopping trees, and farming could get you to level twenty.

Xie Licheng's current condition wasn't suitable for mountain hunting, and among fishing, woodcutting, farming, gathering, and cooking, fishing was the fastest way to level up.

He'd lounged around all day, so he wanted to fish during the night.

Fishing didn't require much movement—it was a relatively effortless way to level up.

Xie Licheng made a pot of pork rib soup. After drinking it, he grabbed his fishing gear from the storage shed and headed to the pond to fish.

Having fished often in the inner world before, he knew the drill, so he got a bite in no time.

At level one, a single fish was all it took to level up.

Seeing this, Xie Licheng didn't hurry to spend his stat points. Instead, he kept his patience and caught six more.

That put him at level three, with three extra stat points to distribute.

Xie Licheng tossed the rod aside and hauled the bucket of fish back.

He was still hurt and shouldn't push it.

After stashing the bucket in the kitchen, he went straight to the bedroom to rest.

He slept way better than the night before.

In his own space, sleeping on a comfortable double bed, he slept like a log until dawn.

When he woke, he didn't risk staying inside. After taking his medicine, he immediately went out.

He was back in that old, dusty room.

Xie Licheng frowned and started tidying up bit by bit.

He'd probably be here for a while. Even if he sometimes rested in the inner world, he couldn't stand leaving the place this filthy.

He cleaned the room. It was tiny and shabby, with only a small bed and not even a window.

After cleaning, he cracked the door open for some air. Realizing it was almost noon, he limped over to the dining hall in the outer courtyard.

As luck would have it, the moment he arrived at the dining hall in the outer courtyard, he bumped into the male slaves who'd roomed with the original owner.

The moment Square Face spotted him, he marched over, and the other slaves fell in behind him.

With so many people around, Xie Licheng knew they wouldn't try anything with witnesses around, so he kept his hand off the concealed knife.

He asked the woman who ran the mess hall for two coarse corn buns and grabbed a bowl to scoop himself some watery porridge.

The square-faced man sidled up to him and asked, "Where'd you run off to yesterday? Do you know the young master's been looking everywhere for you?"

Xie Licheng paid him no mind, wolfed down the two corn buns, and went over to the cook to get some porridge.

Seeing that he still had the nerve to eat, the square-faced man couldn't help but reach out to stop him.

"You've got some nerve, eating after all that? Because of you, we all got on the young master's bad side. Look at my face—the young master did this to me."

At that, Xie Licheng actually perked up a bit.

He looked up at the other man's face, and upon seeing an ugly whip mark on it, couldn't help but smirk.

The square-faced man couldn't believe he'd dare smile at a time like this.

Furious, he shoved Xie Licheng hard, sending the bowl in his hand crashing to the ground.

Xie Licheng's luck was rock bottom, but his looks were top-notch. Even with a twenty-point penalty to his charm, he was still way above average.

Thanks to that combo, people naturally warmed to him.

It wasn't that kind of liking—not romantic or anything.

It was more like he had a friendly face that made people take a shine to him.

Seeing him get pushed around, the cook couldn't help but snap, "What's all this noise? A bunch of lowly slaves raising a ruckus in the mess hall—who's in charge of you lot? I'll make sure he gives you a proper punishment!"

Xie Licheng turned back and gave her a grateful look.

He was banged up, with thick brows and big eyes, and the more she looked at him, the sorrier she felt for him.

Seeing the troublemakers still hanging around, she chucked the ladle into the pot and marched over.

The square-faced man didn't dare talk back, afraid that kicking up a fuss would tick off Steward Xu.

He shot Xie Licheng a dirty look and led the others to the far end of the mess hall to grab their grub.

Once they were gone, Xie Licheng quickly thanked the cook.

"Thanks, ma'am. If you hadn't spoken up, I'd be in deep trouble today."

The cook knew Xie Licheng's situation and didn't dare do much more than speak up when the low-ranking slaves picked on him.

If it'd been that little brat of a young master picking on him, she wouldn't have dared open her mouth—she was just a cook, after all.

"It's nothing, nothing. Go eat. With all those injuries, who knows... when they'll heal?"

Xie Licheng pointed at the broken bowl on the floor. "What about this? Do I owe anything for it?"

The cook waved a hand. "You didn't break it on purpose. If anyone's paying, it's that slave. This ain't on you."

Xie Licheng thanked her again, scooped himself some porridge, downed it, and headed out.

His luck was too low; hanging around a crowded place like this was asking for trouble.

Back when his luck was above forty, he'd never felt what low luck was like, so he figured it wasn't a big deal.

Now that he'd gotten a taste of it, he decided to pump points into luck first, or he'd keep getting screwed over.

Last night, Xie Licheng earned three attribute points.

The moment he got back to the stable, he dumped all three points into luck.

His base luck was 3, and with 3 more added, it was still only 6.

If the stable was quiet that afternoon, he planned to slip back into the pocket world to grind some levels.

If he could get his luck above ten, maybe he'd stop being such a magnet for bad luck.

But the stable stayed busy all afternoon—some horse was acting up—and it never really calmed down outside. Xie Licheng didn't dare risk going into the pocket world.

He waited until nightfall before he found a chance to duck into the pocket world.

That's when a plot point vaguely came back to him.

The main branch of the family had three young masters and one unmarried daughter.

She was young, the only daughter of the main branch's patriarch, and pretty spoiled at home.

One rainy night, her own mother—a concubine—would trick her into going to the outer garden, where a male guest would take her virtue.

The one setting her up was her own mother, and the guy was her mother's distant nephew.

Her mother had lost her looks and had no son to lean on.

She figured her daughter was useless, so she wanted to marry her off to this nephew—that way, she'd basically have a son.

That way, when she got old, her nephew would take care of her.

Because it was a scandal, the Gu family rushed the marriage.

The male guest married into the family, and they never moved out of the Gu estate.

The male guest treated Miss Gu terribly, and when Lingzhou first fell into chaos, he even tried to take advantage of Gu Zhangyuan.

This plot point wasn't far off, but Xie Licheng couldn't quite remember the details, so he went back to the bedroom and found that book.

The book was one he'd read not long ago, still in his bedroom. He quickly located it and found the plot point.

The ninth day of the second lunar month—it seemed to be tomorrow.

With that in mind, Xie Licheng carefully read the original text again.

Having confirmed the time and place, he planned to disrupt things tomorrow.

Gu Zhangyuan had saved him twice, and even if he hadn't actually been taken advantage of by that male guest, Xie Licheng couldn't let such a person easily enter the Gu family.

His plan to disrupt things wasn't entirely for Gu Zhangyuan's sake.

He wasn't a good person; there was another reason he wanted to interfere—to save Gu Zhangyuan's sister.

In the book, Gu Zhangyuan treated this sister fairly well. If Xie Licheng could save her tomorrow, his own standing in the Gu family would improve significantly.

With a better situation, he wouldn't have to worry about being picked on daily and would have the energy to prepare for the coming chaos.