Chapter 55

Chapter 55

Xiao Zhuang followed behind Xiao Rui as they walked, asking, "Is that uncle really a god?"

"Which uncle?"

"The uncle... the one who saved me and got me in here."

"Oh, you mean the Benefactor. Everyone in Peach Blossom Village calls him the Benefactor, so you should call him that too from now on. The Benefactor himself says he's not a god, but everyone here thinks he is. Because he's incredibly powerful—he can bring us to a place like this and easily kill those vicious bandits. Brother Changyuan said that the Benefactor planted five mu of farmland (about an acre) in the village, and crops can grow there in just a little over ten days."

Xiao Zhuang's face was full of shock. "Ten-something days... crops can grow in just ten-something days? That, that's amazing!"

When Xiao Rui heard him say this, she couldn't help but lift her chin proudly.

"Of course! That's why everyone thinks the Benefactor is a god, but for certain reasons, he can't admit it."

"Can we still get out of here later?"

Xiao Rui stopped walking at this and looked at him with confusion.

"What would you go out for? Do you still have family out there?"

Xiao Zhuang shook his head. "I was just curious and wanted to ask."

Xiao Rui said, "It's not impossible to go out, but to keep the secrets here from getting out, those who want to leave will lose their memories of this place. They'll forget the Benefactor and this place too. And the Benefactor said that once someone loses their memory, they can never enter here again."

"It's that serious?"

"Of course! Everyone says this place is Peach Blossom Spring, a legendary paradise only gods can enter. If everyone could come and go freely, then this place wouldn't be safe anymore."

As the two kids talked and walked, they ran into Qing Niang, who had just arrived in Peach Blossom Village.

Qing Niang was pretty, but she was still hurt. Over the past few days, Xiao Rui had often visited her. Now seeing Qing Niang out by herself, Xiao Rui walked over with some concern and asked, "Qing Niang, why are you out here?"

Qing Niang covered her mouth and coughed lightly, then smiled at Xiao Rui. "The weather is so nice today, I wanted to come out for a stroll."

Hearing that, Xiao Rui reached out to take her basket.

Qing Niang pulled away and said softly, "It's okay, this little basket isn't heavy."

Xiao Rui asked her, "Are you going to pick wild vegetables at the base of the mountain? Come on, I've got nothing to do today, I'll go with you."

Qing Niang glanced at Xiao Zhuang, who was behind her, and Xiao Zhuang quickly spoke up, "I, I've got nothing to do either. I'll go pick wild vegetables with you—it'll also be a good chance for me to get to know the village."

So the three of them—one grown-up and two kids—slowly headed toward the mountain.

Qing Niang walked slowly because of her injuries, occasionally coughing a little.

Xiao Rui was young but mature, and she ended up carrying Qing Niang's basket.

When they got to the bottom of the mountain, Xiao Rui continued introducing things to Xiao Zhuang.

"This big mountain has a lot of wild animals, but there's also plenty of food on it. Things like wild veggies, wild fruits, herbs, and mushrooms. If you run out of food, you can just wander around the base of the mountain and find plenty to eat. And that's not all—the village stream has lots of small fish and shrimp too. But since you're young, it's best not to get in the water by yourself."

Xiao Zhuang asked, "Do you have family here?"

A little sadness flashed in Xiao Rui's eyes. "I don't have any family left, but... I live with Grandpa Village Chief now. He's like my real grandpa now."

Xiao Zhuang thought for a moment, then asked hesitantly, "Then... can I live with you and Grandpa Village Chief?"

Xiao Rui looked at him, a little confused. "Don't you have a place to stay?"

There weren't many people in Peach Blossom Village yet, so there were lots of empty houses around.

Xiao Rui lived with Grandpa Village Chief because she was afraid to live alone, and she also had to take care of him.

Xiao Zhuang said, "My family's all gone. I'm too scared to live alone."

Xiao Rui nodded at this. Actually, she could kind of understand how he felt.

He probably wasn't scared of his family who had passed, but afraid that with no one around, he'd be overwhelmed by the painful longing for the people he'd lost.

Xiao Rui said, "Okay, I'll go ask Grandpa Village Chief. If he's okay with it, you can live with us."

After that, they got down to picking wild vegetables and gathering wild fruits.

Xiao Rui was a country kid, way better at taking care of herself than Xiao Zhuang.

She knew what was edible and wasn't afraid to climb trees to raid bird nests for eggs, catch cicadas, and pick fruit.

Xiao Zhuang watched her catch a bunch of cicadas that were still in their shells and asked with confusion, "Why are you catching those?"

Xiao Rui said, "These are edible."

Hearing that she wanted to eat bugs, Xiao Zhuang couldn't help but feel sick to his stomach.

Just as he was about to ask what was so good about eating bugs, he saw a very tall man dragging a bloody deer down the mountain.

Suddenly seeing so much blood, Xiao Zhuang couldn't help but get scared.

Xiao Rui noticed his expression and shot a quick glance in the man's direction, then lowered her eyes and continued playing with the cicadas.

After the man was long gone, Xiao Rui finally spoke to him. "That man is very dangerous. They say he used to be in the rebel army, and everyone in the village is scared of him. If you ever run into him, try to stay as far away as possible."

Xiao Zhuang quickly nodded and committed the man's face to memory.

Meanwhile, Xuan Cui drove her carriage into the farm, bringing a bunch of stuff with her.

When she got to the farm, Gu Zhangyuan was figuring out how to set up the huge floor mirror. Hearing the commotion outside, he went out and had Xuan Cui come in to help him.

Xuan Cui looked at the large floor mirror and said, "Why is this mirror so big? And it doesn't look like it's made of bronze either."

As she spoke, she reached out and touched it—the feel of it was different from a bronze mirror too.

Gu Zhangyuan didn't know what kind of mirror it was either, so he didn't say anything to Xuan Cui about it.

"Can you help me figure out if we can mount it on that wall over there?"

Xuan Cui looked at the mirror, then at the wall, and said with disapproval, "It's not good to have a mirror facing the bed. How about this—let's put it in the living room?"

The "living room" Xuan Cui meant was the living room in Xie Licheng's house.

Xie Licheng's farm wasn't for entertaining guests, so the rooms were set up just for comfort.

She moved the floor mirror to the living room, and after a lot of effort with Gu Zhangyuan, they nailed it to the wall.

Once the mirror was up, Xuan Cui said, "Young Master, I brought you quite a lot of things—a change of clothes, makeup, and even your jewelry box."

After saying this, she started hauling stuff inside.

After everything was moved in, Xuan Cui asked curiously, "Where will I be staying from now on?"

The house Xie Licheng lived in had quite a few rooms, so Gu Zhangyuan gave Xuan Cui a tour of the place.

Since it was still daytime and Xuan Cui was there to keep him company, he didn't find the place unfamiliar or scary as they walked around.

Xie Licheng's farm had three houses in total.

The one Xie Licheng lived in was the largest of the three.

Since the three houses looked similar from the outside, he'd given each one a name and hung a plaque above the door to tell them apart.

The largest was called "Xi Yuan," and the other two were "Feng Yuan" and "Xi Lou."

Xi Yuan was where he rested daily, and it held his personal belongings—clothes, food, and the like.

Feng Yuan was a big warehouse used mainly for storage. Things like melee weapons, guns, gold, silver, and jewelry were all kept there.

Xi Lou stored vehicles—bicycles, motorcycles, tricycles, e-bikes, and cars. To make it easier to store vehicles, he'd built the main gate extra wide.

Gu Zhangyuan took Xuan Cui to check out Xi Yuan first.

Xi Yuan had a lot of rooms—a kitchen, a dining room, a big underground storage area, a living room, a walk-in closet, and a bedroom.

Past the living room, there were four empty rooms. Xie Licheng had turned one of those four into a bathroom. That left three rooms, so one could easily go to Xuan Cui.

Gu Zhangyuan picked the room farthest from the bedroom for Xuan Cui. "You can stay here for now. When my husband gets back, I'll ask what he thinks."

Xuan Cui nodded. She put her stuff in the room and then kept following Gu Zhangyuan around.

Next, they went into Feng Yuan, which was packed with all sorts of supplies, many they'd never seen before.

When Gu Zhangyuan pushed open one door, he found the room full of gold, silver, and jewelry.

The stuff near the front of the room was probably what Xie Licheng had recently scavenged from outside.

A lot of it looked familiar to Gu Zhangyuan—it was probably what the prefect's men had stolen from the Gu family, only for Xie Licheng to snatch it right back.

Gu Zhangyuan couldn't help but smile. Xie Licheng had done a huge favor for the Gu family, and Gu Zhangyuan was genuinely happy these things had ended up with him.

Further in, the gold and jewelry got weirder in style, and Gu Zhangyuan thought a lot of it looked pretty nice.

But since all this belonged to Xie Licheng and he wasn't there, Gu Zhangyuan didn't feel right touching it. Even though he was now Xie Licheng's husband, the two of them weren't all that close yet. When Xie Licheng wasn't home, he really didn't feel comfortable touching or taking anything.

Gu Zhangyuan said to Xuan Cui, "Come on, there's nothing interesting in here."

Gu Zhangyuan figured the stuff in Xi Lou was probably similar to what was in Feng Yuan, so he didn't bother checking it out.

He led Xuan Cui south, passing a few fields and a pond.

It was summer, and the lotus flowers in the pond were in full bloom—it was a pretty sight. If there were a pavilion over the pond, it'd be nice to sit here and enjoy the lotuses.

Xuan Cui looked at the lotuses and said, "Master, your husband's farm is really nice. I noticed a bunch of trees in the southwest corner—looks like there are even some peach trees in there."

Gu Zhangyuan looked over. "Want to go check it out?"

Xuan Cui nodded quickly. She held up an umbrella to shade Gu Zhangyuan from the sun, and the two of them slowly headed over.

As they got closer, Gu Zhangyuan said in surprise, "They really are peach trees—and they're loaded with peaches already."

He rolled up his sleeves and got ready to pick a few.

Xuan Cui didn't want him doing it himself, so she quickly set the umbrella aside and came over to help.

Xuan Cui said, "Master, let me do it. There could be bugs on them."

Hearing there were bugs, Gu Zhangyuan was actually a little scared. But then again, it wasn't that tiring or hard, and he figured he could handle it.

Gu Zhangyuan said, "It's fine. I'll just pick the ripe ones. It's not a big deal."

Xie Licheng hadn't planted many peach trees, and not all the peaches were ripe. If they picked together, they'd be done in no time.

After they finished the peaches, they found Xie Licheng had also planted pears, grapes, apples, cherries, lychees, pomegranates, mulberries, and dates.

There were ten of each kind.

The grove Gu Zhangyuan had seen that night was this exact fruit orchard.

He didn't want to keep going—it was midday, muggy, and the place was crawling with mosquitoes. His face had already been bitten twice, and if he got bitten any more, his whole face would be wrecked.

Xuan Cui noticed he was tired and immediately suggested, "Master, it's already noon, and you must be hungry. Let's head back and fix something to eat. After a nap, we can come back out and look around."

Gu Zhangyuan nodded. His face itched like crazy, but he didn't dare scratch it. He'd just been picking peaches, so his hands were covered in fuzz. If he accidentally scratched his face, it'd only make it itch worse.

Once they got back inside, Gu Zhangyuan hurried to wash his face.

Xuan Cui drew some water and washed a few peaches. Nobody tended the fruit trees on the farm, but the fruit had still grown nice and plump.

The peaches they picked were huge—twice the size of the ones they usually saw.

Xuan Cui cut the washed peaches into small pieces so her master could eat them easily.

She popped the leftover scraps into her mouth to taste them herself, and only relaxed once she confirmed they were crisp and sweet.

If they'd been too sour, she wouldn't have served them to her master.

Back at the Gu residence, anything that didn't taste good went to the servants.

Only when they thought something tasted great and wouldn't upset his stomach would they dare serve it to Gu Zhangyuan.

Xuan Cui brought a small plate of peaches for Gu Zhangyuan to try, then hurried to the kitchen to start making him a meal.

In the past, Xuan Cui never cooked—their master's courtyard had a dedicated cook.

That cook was incredibly skilled and could make just about anything.

Unfortunately, Xie Langjun hadn't run into her when he went to rescue people, or she could've taken refuge here with everyone else.

Halfway through cooking, Xuan Cui hit a wall, and just then Gu Zhangyuan walked into the kitchen carrying a small plate.

He'd already finished the peaches and found them excellent—crisp, sweet, and not tart at all.

Xuan Cui hadn't given him too many because she was afraid he'd fill up and not want his meal later. But Gu Zhangyuan still wanted more, so he came to find the peaches himself.

When Xuan Cui saw Gu Zhangyuan come in, she quickly asked, "Master, what... what are all these?"

Gu Zhangyuan knew the place better than she did, so he walked over and took a look.

"I'm not really sure either, but I know this is salt, and this is sugar."

"Then how am I supposed to cook, sir?"

Gu Zhangyuan comforted her, saying, "It's fine, just make something light, that'll do. Steam an egg custard for me and just stir-fry some green beans plain."

With that, he headed into the fresh-produce storage room below. He remembered there were green beans in there—really fresh ones.

While he was looking for the beans, he heard Xuan Cui's voice ring out from outside. Since Gu Zhangyuan was in the cellar, it was clear she wasn't talking to him—it must be Xie Licheng who'd just come back from outside.

Thinking this, Gu Zhangyuan decided to go out and see, and he ran into Xie Licheng, who was heading in.

As soon as Xie Licheng came in, he noticed Gu Zhangyuan's face and asked, "What happened to your face?"

Gu Zhangyuan hurriedly raised his hand to cover his face—he'd been bitten twice by mosquitoes, making his whole face look a bit blotchy.

Seeing this, Xie Licheng took his hand and pulled him into the living room.

Gu Zhangyuan asked, "Why are you back? I thought you'd be gone for a long time once you left."

Xie Licheng replied, "I wanted to come back for a bite, and figured I'd check on you while I'm at it."

He could've easily grabbed something to eat outside, but he'd made a special trip back mainly to check on Gu Zhangyuan.

Xie Licheng had him sit down in a chair, then took out a tube of ointment, squeezed some out, and gently dabbed it on his face.

Gu Zhangyuan twitched his nose and asked, "What is this? It smells a bit strange."

"Ointment. Once it's on, the itching will stop."

Whether the ointment was really that effective or not, Gu Zhangyuan's face did stop itching after hearing Xie Licheng say that.

He still wanted to touch it, but Xie Licheng caught his hand.

Xie Licheng said, "Don't mess with it."