Chapter 42

Chapter 42

After distributing the fields, Xie Licheng exited his portable world.

At that moment, he opened his personal panel to check it out.

Over the past two days, Xie Licheng had leveled up 4 more times, and his current level was 108.

He had gained 4 more attribute points, and he put all four into luck.

He always felt that luck was something mysterious—he'd already seen the downsides of low luck, and now he wanted to see the benefits of high luck.

After these past few days, his weight had also changed somewhat, now up to 70 kilograms.

Overall, he was still too thin at this weight, but compared to before, it had gone up pretty fast.

After all, Xie Licheng had been super active during this time, and gaining weight fast with that much physical activity wasn't easy.

After adding the points, Xie Licheng pulled an apple out of his portable world.

He decided that from now on, no matter what, he'd force himself to eat more.

Then, munching on the apple, he casually kept looking for the Gu family's secret chamber.

He knew exactly where the Gu family's secret chamber was, but he just hadn't figured out how to open it yet.

Gu Zhangyuan had told him it was beneath the stone slabs on the ground. He'd searched the ground piece by piece before finally spotting it under a plain-looking flower stand.

By the time he finally got the secret chamber open, he'd just finished the apple.

Xie Licheng wiped his hands off and stepped into the secret chamber.

The Gu family's secret chamber was way bigger than Gu Zhangyuan's.

Inside, there were two rooms—one in front, one in back. The front room had two traps and was packed with treasures.

If Xie Licheng hadn't known there were two rooms, he'd easily have missed the one behind this one.

The Gu family had deliberately built two secret chambers so that if one was found, not everything would get taken.

They put more treasures in the front room, so anyone who grabbed them would think they'd gotten everything.

Xie Licheng carefully dodged the traps and cleaned out the first room's treasures.

Then he entered the second chamber and was greeted by several big chests of gold ingots.

Seeing all that gold at once, it felt like more than everything he'd stashed before.

Xie Licheng felt a pang of envy—no wonder the officials and bandits both wanted to gobble up the Gu family. Turns out the Gu family had secretly stashed away so much good stuff.

Xie Licheng stuffed it all into his portable world and decided to keep exploring the Gu estate.

He wanted to sweep the Gu family's ancestral hall and the First Master's belongings into his space too.

It wasn't that Xie Licheng was stingy, wanting to shove everything he saw into his space.

Mainly, his portable world was huge, and since the Gu family was Gu Zhangyuan's birth family, Xie Licheng figured he might as well use the space—why not help the Gu family stash more stuff in there?

When you've got a portable space that can hold tons of stuff, you can't help but want to cram everything into it.

While Xie Licheng kept gathering supplies at the Gu estate, Gu Zhangyuan was busy working with a bunch of servants.

He needed to sort out what Xie Licheng had sent over, store it in the warehouse, and keep detailed records so nothing got mixed up.

If you didn't know how much stuff there was, it'd be easy for people to steal from within later.

If there were too many thieves in the house, the family would never have peace.

Gu Zhangyuan had learned to manage a household from a young age, so he was sharp and careful about this stuff.

The Elder Master wasn't in great health, so he didn't join in the work.

He grabbed a chair and sat down, watching Gu Zhangyuan and Gu Yangxue run the household.

He had no doubts about Gu Zhangyuan's skills; he was just watching because he wanted to split up the family's stuff.

Without Xie Licheng's help, they couldn't have taken any of this with them.

Plus, Xie Licheng had saved their lives—even if it was because of Gu Zhangyuan, they couldn't just act like it didn't happen.

The Elder Master said to Gu Zhangyuan, "Split this stuff into four shares—one for the Gu family as our base, one as a thank-you to Xie Licheng, and the last two for you and Xiao Xue, one each."

Gu Yangxue's face lit up at that, and she turned to ask him, "And what about younger brother?"

The Elder Master's face darkened just thinking about him. After a long pause, he sighed and said, "With a temper like that, he's better off not marrying. He can just stay by my side from now on."

Since Gu Zhangyuan was about to marry, and Gu Yangxue would marry too, the Gu family would be left with just him, an old man. Having Gu Tinghe stay with him would also keep an heir for the Gu family.

At that, Elder Master Gu looked at Gu Zhangyuan and asked, "Now that you're Xie Licheng's husband, when are you two planning to have the wedding?"

Gu Zhangyuan kept working as he answered, "With the world like this, I don't think we need a wedding."

The Elder Master disagreed, "You still need a wedding. Otherwise, if you two stay in this unclear situation, what will people think of you later?"

There weren't many people in Peach Blossom Village yet, and since everyone had come here together, they all knew about Xie Licheng and Gu Zhangyuan's relationship.

But as more people came later, they wouldn't know what had happened before. If the two of them kept living together without a clear status, someone would definitely talk about Gu Zhangyuan.

Xie Licheng was a man, so he didn't care much what others thought. But Gu Zhangyuan was different—Elder Master Gu was really worried he'd get hurt or talked about later.

Gu Zhangyuan said, "That won't happen. This place isn't like the outside—no one dares say anything about me. Plus, I don't want to marry out. Even if I'm his husband now, I don't want to just move into his place like that."

"What are you talking about? He'll be upset if he hears that."

After all, Gu Zhangyuan was the one who'd said he wanted to be Xie Licheng's husband. Since he'd said it himself, backing out now wouldn't look good.

Gu Zhangyuan went over to the Elder Master and said, "Father, don't worry. I'm not saying I won't be his husband. It's just that the Gu family has no one in charge right now—younger brother has a hot temper, and sister's still young. Xie Licheng's often away, so I want to help Father carry the Gu family's burdens before I have kids. As for marrying Xie Licheng, we can still get married without me marrying out. When the time comes, we'll bow to heaven and earth, and with everyone watching, that'll count as the wedding."

Gu Zhangyuan's point was simple—he wouldn't marry out as a male wife.

He could move to Xie Licheng's place, and if he wanted to come back and stay, he could.

He figured if he explained it properly, Xie Licheng wouldn't mind something so small.

In fact, Xie Licheng really didn't care about formalities like marrying in or marrying out.

He was an easygoing guy, rough around the edges and straightforward.

Previously, when Gu Zhangyuan wanted to see him, he had even claimed he was going to attend to him in the bedroom.

It was precisely because he knew Xie Licheng's temperament that Gu Zhangyuan dared to say such things.

The head of the Gu family said, "Alright, you've grown up now. Take it easy with your own matters, and don't go and offend him."

Afterwards, Gu Zhangyuan followed his father's instructions and split the Gu family's belongings into four shares.

He took the servants with him and first delivered Xie Licheng's share to the farm.

These goods were way too heavy for Gu Zhangyuan to possibly move by himself.

He figured that no one else could get into Xie Licheng's farm other than him and Xie Licheng, so he just had the servants drop the stuff at the entrance.

He and the servants pushed hard together, shoving the boxes past that boundary.

Once he was sure that no one outside could ever get their hands on what was inside, only then did he leave with the servants.

At this point, the folks who'd come into Peach Blossom Village were mostly honest people.

Earlier, when Xie Licheng had tossed in so many nice things, everyone was curious and jealous, but no one dared to reach out and mess with them.

The head of the Gu family had said those were thank-you gifts from the Gu family specifically for Xie Licheng, so the villagers were even less likely to mess with them.

Gu Zhangyuan had just gotten back from the farm when he saw that the spot where things had been piled up now had a bunch of new stuff scattered around.

This time, the stuff wasn't worth much—just flower pots, potted plants, carriages, horses, buckets, flower stands, vases, screens, and even a swing.

Seeing this, Gu Yangxue hurried over and said to Gu Zhangyuan with a happy look on her face, "Brother-in-law is so nice! This is the swing from Xiao Xue's yard—he even sent the swing in here."

Seeing her so happy, Gu Zhangyuan couldn't help but feel happy too.

"Then take the swing back first and see if there's a good spot for it."

Xiao Xue was about to head back with the servants when she suddenly turned around and said, "Big brother, the house we're in now is too small, and we probably don't have time to build new houses. Why don't we split up and live in different places for now?"

The house they were staying in now was the biggest in Peach Blossom Village, but even so, it couldn't fit over thirty people.

The Gu family originally had 34 people; today, one maidservant gained her freedom, so now the Gu family has 33 people left.

Thirty-three people is no small number—they really couldn't all squeeze in together.

Also, there were other people in Peach Blossom Village now, and they still hadn't properly divided up the houses.

Everyone had just found somewhere to crash, and no one dared to decide who owned which house.

The Gu family had grabbed the biggest house, and they wanted to buy it from Xie Licheng so it would count as their home.

Living in someone else's house is different from living in your own.

Hearing this, Gu Zhangyuan said to Gu Yangxue, "Alright, when he comes back next time, I'll talk it over with him. I'll ask him whether the houses here are for sale or rent, and also about that little town he mentioned. If we can go to the town later, we naturally should."

However, compared to farming, the housing issue wasn't urgent.

It was summer now, and they could still find food in the mountains.

By winter, finding food would be much harder.

Their top priority now was to stock up on food and plant the fields they had acquired.

Xie Licheng didn't return until noon the next day; that night, he had been busy searching for the prefect.

After finally locating the man's hiding place, he had wasted energy dealing with a few rioters on the way.

Lingzhou hadn't fully fallen yet; most of the garrison and conscript soldiers were fighting against the rebels outside.

The main force of these rebels was the protagonist's male lead's army.

Although the city hadn't been breached yet, chaos reigned inside.

The prefect, along with bandits, was burning, killing, and looting everywhere, and many local thugs had turned into rioters, joining in the pillage.

With the protagonist's people also around, the city was in turmoil—nowhere was safe.

Xie Licheng didn't want his stamina to run too low, or he'd be in trouble if he encountered problems.

He thought that since he hadn't slept all night, he might as well come back and rest.

Rest during the day to recover his strength, and at night he'd go find the prefect and have some fun with him.

When Xie Licheng returned, he appeared directly in the village, and many people saw him.

Upon hearing this news, Gu Zhangyuan thought that since Xie Licheng had been out all day, he probably hadn't eaten well.

He knew Xie Licheng's warehouse was stocked with ready-made food, but he assumed it was all cooked by Xie Licheng himself.

Thinking Xie Licheng's cooking was mediocre, he decided to stew a chicken soup for him and let him taste his cooking skills.

The chicken had been caught in the mountains by a male slave of the Gu family.

This was the slave's own property, and since he wanted to earn money to buy his freedom, he sold the chicken to Gu Zhangyuan.

Gu Zhangyuan knew how to cook, but since he was usually busy and had servants to wait on him, he rarely bothered.

By the time Gu Zhangyuan finished stewing the chicken soup, the sun was already setting outside.

He walked slowly toward the farm with Yuan Qiao and noticed that the boxes at the entrance hadn't been touched by Xie Licheng, which made him worry a bit about Xie Licheng's condition.

Could he be injured?

Otherwise, why wouldn't he take all that gold and silver?

Also, he hadn't come back all night—could something have happened?

With these thoughts, Gu Zhangyuan quickly took the food box from Yuan Qiao and strode into the farm.

Yuan Qiao, shut out, couldn't help but pat the invisible barrier in front of her.

She murmured softly, "What is this?"

Gu Zhangyuan soon reached the farm and headed straight for Xie Licheng's bedroom.

By then, it was getting dark outside, and the light in Xie Licheng's room was dim.

Gu Zhangyuan felt a bit uneasy entering, mainly because he wasn't familiar with the place, and Xie Licheng hadn't lit a single candle.

Fortunately, the bedroom wasn't far from the main door.

Gu Zhangyuan quickly found him fast asleep in the room.

It was probably because he was exhausted, and also because this was Xie Licheng's turf.

When Gu Zhangyuan set down the food box, he accidentally made a little noise, but it didn't wake Xie Licheng.

Gu Zhangyuan tiptoed around the bedroom, hunting for a candleholder to light a candle, but after circling the whole room, he came up empty.

Gu Zhangyuan had no choice but to give up on lighting a lamp and decided to go check on Xie Licheng, planning to leave as soon as he confirmed the guy wasn't hurt.

Last time Xie Licheng was resting, he'd accidentally woken him up.

This time, he'd learned his lesson and decided to be super, super careful, absolutely not waking him again.

But to Gu Zhangyuan's surprise, the moment he crept to the bedside, he got yanked onto the bed, and his slender neck was grabbed.

Startled, Gu Zhangyuan let out a sharp yelp.

"Xie Licheng, what are you doing?!"

At that moment, Xie Licheng was genuinely terrifying—his whole vibe was cold and menacing, like a heartless killer.

What Gu Zhangyuan didn't know was that this was Xie Licheng holding back.

He hadn't slept all night, so he was pretty drowsy when he got back.

Since he was back on familiar turf, he slept deeper this time, and he was a bit groggy from sleep.

In his dazed state, he suddenly sensed someone getting close and instinctively moved to attack.

Luckily, his body instinctively remembered Gu Zhangyuan's scent, so he unconsciously held back his strength when striking.

Xie Licheng quickly let him go while awkwardly explaining.

"Sorry, I used to be a lone wolf and never liked anyone near me when I slept, so I accidentally scared you."

With that, he got out of bed, found an oil lamp, and lit it with a lighter.

As the faint light flickered on, it lit up not only Xie Licheng's bedroom but also his body.

Gu Zhangyuan realized this guy was... actually not wearing clothes while sleeping?

Thinking about how he'd just been pinned under him, Gu Zhangyuan couldn't help but feel a wave of heat and embarrassment.

Xie Licheng wasn't completely naked—he still had on a pair of boxers.

Of course, to a refined young gentleman like Gu Zhangyuan, that might as well have been no clothes at all.

Having accidentally scared the guy, Xie Licheng knew he was in the wrong, so he raised the oil lamp and moved closer to check if Gu Zhangyuan's neck was hurt.

He'd caught Gu Zhangyuan's familiar scent and immediately pulled back his strength, so he shouldn't have hurt him.

But the moment he leaned in, Gu Zhangyuan twisted away, looking seriously annoyed.

Damn, first time having a husband, and he had no idea how to make things right.