Chapter 54

Chapter 54

But then again, their place had already been cleaned out, so there probably wasn't anything worth stealing left.

The boy's eyes lit up at that. He turned and dove under the bed, pulling out a box from underneath.

His dad had hidden this box, and inside was a gold bracelet and a few chunks of silver.

His dad never told him where he stashed stuff, but this time he hid it right in front of him—probably so he'd have something to fall back on.

The thought made him want to cry, but before he could, the woman spotted the gold in his hands and went at him like a crazy person.

She lunged at him, screaming, "Gold! Gold! That gold belongs to our family!"

Startled, the boy hugged his stuff tight and bolted toward Xie Licheng.

The woman was a little scared of Xie Licheng, but to her, gold and silver mattered way more than fear.

She screeched at Xie Licheng, "Stay out of this! This house is ours, so that gold is ours too."

Xie Licheng shook his head. Drawing his long blade, he said to her, "I'll give you a choice. You either stay and fight over his gold, or you get the hell out of my sight."

The woman yelled, "My brother's one of those soldiers' men! Once they bring the troops here, neither of you will—"

Before she could finish, Xie Licheng gave his blade a light flick and sliced her throat clean open.

The lovesick young man, still in a daze, saw his mother's body go limp and only then screamed, scrambling out of the room.

He ran off yelling, "Dad! Uncle! Cousin! Something awful! A bad guy killed my mom!"

The boy was scared out of his wits. This man in front of him was terrifying, but... he also worried the neighbors might come looking for them.

He looked at Xie Licheng, then at the body on the ground, totally lost on what to do.

Seeing this, Xie Licheng smirked. "What, you don't wanna come with me?"

The boy wanted to ask, "Are you a good guy or a bad guy?"

But then he looked at the gold bracelet in his hand—a bad guy would've tried to grab the gold first, right?

But this guy was different—he didn't seem to care about the gold at all.

He'd killed that old hag because she was trying to take his gold.

With that, the boy figured this guy must be a good person.

He quickly went back to packing, grabbing only his own clothes like the man had said.

Just then, the guy from before showed up with the neighbor family, clearly planning to gang up on Xie Licheng.

But when they barged in and saw the body already cold on the floor, none of them dared to mess with Xie Licheng.

The neighbor guy the boy had mentioned pointed at Xie Licheng, who was sitting there like a big shot, then quickly hustled his sons out.

The guy followed them out, his face all twisted up, and said, "Brother-in-law, why, why are you backing down? Your sister—my wife—she, she got killed by him! Aren't you gonna get justice for her?"

The neighbor guy cursed at him, "Justice, my ass? Didn't you see that devil in there?"

He'd seen Xie Licheng twice before, and both times the guy was killing someone.

The first time was right when Lingzhou had fallen into chaos. He heard a racket outside and, rubbing his eyes, stumbled out in the middle of the night. Then he saw that devil in the room, one guy with one blade, skewering three grown men like meat on a stick.

The second time he ran into him, he was chasing down a bunch of yamen runners. Those runners were usually so cocky—when they'd ransacked his place before, they'd acted like they'd kill you on a whim. But that same bunch turned into scared mice the moment they saw him.

Now this was his third run-in with Xie Licheng, and this time the guy had killed his own sister.

Did he hate him?

Yeah.

Of course he did.

But with hate and no skill, going for revenge would just end with him dead by that blade too.

He didn't wanna die, so of course he didn't dare go after revenge.

...

When Xie Licheng led the boy out, the yard was already empty. Those folks had either gone to get backup or gotten scared off by Xie Licheng.

Xie Licheng didn't give it much thought. He dropped the boy and his stuff off at Peach Blossom Village.

The boy and his stuff got dumped right in the middle of the village.

It was daytime, so the moment the boy showed up, a few villagers spotted him.

Seeing it was just a kid, they quickly crowded around.

Still in shock, the boy looked around in a daze, clutching his blanket.

Where was this?

How'd he get here?

And... where was that guy?

Weren't they just together?

Before he could snap out of it, a kindly looking woman stepped up.

"Oh, sweetie, what's your name?"

The boy's face went red. He wasn't a little kid anymore—he was already ten.

He said to the woman, "Hi, Auntie. I, I'm Xiao Zhuang, and I'm ten."

Seeing how polite he was, the woman asked what had happened to him.

Hearing her care, the boy couldn't help but think of his troubles again.

He broke down crying as he told everyone what happened.

After hearing his story, everyone couldn't help but sigh.

The woman said, "Is Lingzhou really that messed up now?"

Xiao Zhuang nodded. "Yeah, it's bad. They say even the prefect's dead, and the rebels run the place now. A few days ago, they stole grain and money, and grabbed all the pretty women and young men. If anyone fought back, they killed them. They tried to take my dad, but he refused, so they killed my dad, my other dad, and my grandparents."

A young guy cursed in anger, "Those animals!"

The others chimed in too, "Exactly, they've got no humanity at all. How are they any different from bandits?"

"That's right, at first we thought they were decent, but now it's obvious they're all the same."

The woman said, "Okay, now, now, stop crying. Now that you're in Peach Blossom Village, you're one of our own. From now on, you'll live with all of us, and we're your family now."

After saying this, the woman paused to think, then found an empty house and had everyone help move the stuff in.

The little boy, still not sure where he was, carefully hid the gold bracelet.

In times like these, he couldn't trust anyone but that uncle. Now that the uncle wasn't around, he had to be careful when he was alone.

Xiao Zhuang was staying temporarily in the house across from Xiao Rui's place.

Xiao Rui didn't live by herself; she stayed with Grandpa Village Chief.

The village chief of Peach Blossom Village turned out to be the same old man from before.

Since Xie Licheng was often away from the village, they'd temporarily appointed a village chief to run things.

The village chief used to be a mountain man and had never had a real name his whole life. Back when he was the third child in his family, everyone called him Old Third Chen. Now that he was the village chief of Peach Blossom Village, everyone called him Village Chief Chen.

Xiao Rui was just a little girl, and living alone scared her. She'd originally wanted to stay with one of the village women or young men, but she heard many of them were planning to get married, and having her around would be a hassle.

So after looking around, Xiao Rui decided to stay with Grandpa Village Chief.

As it happened, Grandpa Village Chief had no family either. He was getting up there in years, and having a kid nearby meant that if something happened to his health, there'd be someone to run and get help in the village.

It took Xiao Zhuang a full hour to slowly piece together from the villagers where he actually was.

He tidied up his place, washed his face, and got ready to take a walk around the village.

Kids are like that—always full of energy, and since he was so curious about the place, he couldn't stand staying cooped up inside.

When Xiao Zhuang went out, he grabbed something to defend himself with. As he strolled through the village, he ran into Xuan Cui, who was all dressed up and looking gorgeous.

He'd seen Xuan Cui before in Lingzhou City; she was the personal maid of the Gu family's eldest young master.

A lot of people in the city knew her because she always dressed so flashy, looking nothing like a servant.

When Xiao Zhuang saw her, he cautiously approached and struck up a conversation.

He said, "Sister Xuan Cui."

Xuan Cui looked over at him and felt he seemed somewhat familiar.

Before she could recognize him, her attention was drawn to Xiao Rui nearby.

Xiao Rui ran up to her and called out, "Sister Xuan Cui, why have you come to the village?"

Xuan Cui stepped down from the carriage and said with a smile, "Our young master was brought to the farmstead by Master Xie yesterday. Master Xie went out today and asked me to come attend to the young master."

Xiao Rui teased with a laugh, "Then... will Brother Changyuan soon have a little baby?"

Xuan Cui giggled in response, "It'll probably take a year or so. My young master is just too busy; now isn't the time for having a child."

With that, she waved her hand in slight exasperation—why was she discussing this with a little kid?

"Alright, alright, I need to head to the farmstead now. I won't keep chatting with you."

Xuan Cui said this, then got back on the carriage and headed off toward the farm.

Xiao Zhuang, who had witnessed the whole scene, quietly moved closer to Xiao Rui.

Xiao Zhuang asked, "Um... is the Eldest Young Master of the Gu Family here too?"

Xiao Rui hadn't noticed him before, and the sudden sound of his voice startled her.

She turned to look at him and asked, "You're the new kid who came today, right?"

Xiao Zhuang nodded. "Yeah, I... I'm Xiao Zhuang."

"My name is Xiao Rui. I got here before you, so if there's anything you don't get, you can come ask me."

When he heard that, Xiao Zhuang felt like he'd grabbed a lifeline. He figured this kid was really nice, and he happened to have a lot of things he didn't understand.