Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Can you go check on him for me? I'm really scared right now, scared... what if he killed himself falling? Then... would that count as me killing someone?"

Gu Zhangyuan asked Xie Licheng to go check, firstly to see if Xie Licheng would obey him. Thinking of Xie Licheng's wolf-like eyes, he felt that someone like him wouldn't be very obedient.

If the other party didn't obey, having witnessed something like this today, whether that person was alive or dead, he would have to find a way to send him far away.

Secondly, he really didn't dare go look himself. No matter how strong his will was, he was still just a young lord.

He was terrified the man had died. Even if he hadn't killed him directly, he had indirectly caused the man's death.

It was normal for him to feel scared and guilty.

Since Xie Licheng happened to be there, he asked him to go check.

If the man was still alive, of course he should be saved.

Although he understood that saving him would bring a lot of trouble, it was still better than being saddled with a life for no reason at all.

Xie Licheng walked forward while speaking to Gu Zhangyuan, "He meant you harm, Young Master. Even if you accidentally killed him, it wouldn't be your fault. Besides, you didn't actually kill him—you merely pricked him with your hairpin to defend yourself. If he accidentally killed himself falling, that's just retribution for his misdeeds. You have no reason to blame yourself."

Even in modern times, Gu Zhangyuan wouldn't be at fault here.

Let alone the fact that this wasn't modern times, but an ancient era where class was everything.

The Gu family was a prestigious ancient clan. A guest lodging with them who died by his own carelessness—how could that be pinned on Gu Zhangyuan?

He was just scum; dead is dead.

He probably hadn't expected a lowly groom to be so articulate.

After hearing his words, Gu Zhangyuan truly felt less panicked than before.

Gu Zhangyuan asked quietly, "How is he? Can he be saved?"

Xie Licheng crouched in front of the man and said coldly, "He's dead. He landed on the back of his head and lost this much blood—there's no way he could have survived."

Xie Licheng had lived through the apocalypse; he had killed many beasts and many people.

With that much blood loss and a hole that big in the back of his head, even if he weren't dead, he might as well have been.

With the medical capabilities of this ancient era, there was no way to save him.

Hearing that the man was dead, Gu Zhangyuan's legs gave out and he nearly fell.

Fortunately, Xie Licheng reacted quickly and caught him, keeping him from actually hitting the ground.

Gu Zhangyuan said, "I really didn't kill him. You have to believe me."

Xie Licheng replied, "I know. He hurt himself falling—it has nothing to do with you."

Gu Zhangyuan said worriedly, "But will others believe that?"

He was an unmarried young lord, showing up here in the dead of night with a corpse.

When others found out, their first instinct would definitely be that he had killed the man.

They would also gossip, assuming he had some illicit relationship with the man.

"Also, I came here with Concubine Xu and my sister. Concubine Xu must be in cahoots with this man—I suspect she'll soon bring people here."

Hearing this, Xie Licheng's eyelids twitched involuntarily. He reached out and pushed Gu Zhangyuan toward the exit.

"Then you really can't stay here, Young Master. You need to leave now."

"But what about here?"

If Concubine Xu discovered her nephew was dead, she would definitely claim Gu Zhangyuan killed him.

Even if the Gu family was extremely wealthy, being tangled in a murder case would make it very hard to protect Gu Zhangyuan.

"Leave it to me. Don't worry—no one will find him."

"But..."

"No buts! Young Master, get going!"

With that, Xie Licheng pushed him forward again.

Gu Zhangyuan had no idea how Xie Licheng would handle it, but he knew staying wouldn't do any good.

He couldn't let Concubine Xu catch him in the act. As long as he wasn't caught in the act, he remained the esteemed Eldest Young Lord of the Gu family, with enough time and money to handle this matter.

If that horse slave happened to get caught, he would do everything in his power to get him out.

With that in mind, Gu Zhangyuan planned to head back through the small gate, but unexpectedly ran into Concubine Xu and her group along the way.

They came searching in full force, leaving Gu Zhangyuan no choice but to turn and bolt toward the outer courtyard.

Meanwhile, Xie Licheng had already stashed the corpse into his personal space.

In his past life during the apocalypse, Xie Licheng had been a lone wolf.

He had only ever stored livestock and such in his personal space—this was the first time he'd stored a person, and a freshly dead one at that.

And just like that, the storage actually coughed up something unexpected.

But given the urgency of the situation, Xie Licheng had no time to dwell on that.

After sending the body in, he started frantically scrubbing the bloodstains off the ground.

This was a real pain to clean. Xie Licheng scrubbed for ages, and the ground still reeked of blood.

Just then, a racket of voices came from outside.

A woman said, "It's around here. I saw it with my own eyes—that person's definitely a thief. You must search thoroughly and not let him get away."

Hearing this, Xie Licheng rolled his eyes hard. He stopped wasting time cleaning the bloodstains and instead blew out the candle in the rockery and slipped out into the dark.

He could have slipped away silently, but to keep them from searching the rockery further, he deliberately made some noise.

The people Concubine Xu had brought immediately chased after the sound.

Concubine Xu hurriedly called out, "Hey, it should be around the rockery—where are you all going?"

A house guard shouted, "There really is a thief! He ran that way—everyone, after him!"

Concubine Xu couldn't shake the feeling that something was off when she heard this.

Hadn't they agreed she'd lure people over to catch them red-handed and blow the whole thing way out of proportion?

Why the hell did that fool take off?

Could it be... that the one who ran off was Gu Zhangyuan?

The moment it hit her that Gu Zhangyuan might have been the one to bolt, Concubine Xu took off after them too.

Gu Zhangyuan, who'd been hiding nearby and hadn't gotten far, slipped back into the inner compound through that same little gate as before.

He figured the body would be a pain to get rid of, and that the horse slave had probably lured those people away on purpose to help cover for him.

He needed to round up a few people he could trust to deal with it before Concubine Xu and the others caught on.

Gu Zhangyuan sprinted all the way back, knowing the inner courtyard like the back of his hand compared to the outer one.

The main branch's quarters were packed with his own people, so he didn't have to worry about running into trouble.

He made it back to his courtyard in no time and immediately called for his wet nurse and Xuan Cui.

Gu Zhangyuan gave them a quick rundown of everything that had gone down.

Having someone to talk it over with calmed him down, and little by little, his shaking hands steadied.

"Xuan Cui, take some people to help Concubine Xu's crew catch the thief—try to get to him before they do. If you're not sure you can nab him, at least make damn sure they don't."

Xuan Cui acknowledged the order without wasting a second and hurried out.

She was in such a hurry that she nearly slammed into Gu Yangxue, who was on her way to see Gu Zhangyuan.

Seeing Xuan Cui all flustered, Gu Yangxue asked, puzzled, "Xuan Cui, where are you rushing off to?"

Xuan Cui didn't bother answering—she figured today's close call for the young master was all Gu Yangxue's fault.

If it weren't for her concubine mother always stirring up trouble, their young master wouldn't have to put up with this crap.

Gu Yangxue felt a little stung when Xuan Cui blew her off.

Today her mother had been acting weird, dragging her for a walk in the outer garden.

She'd felt uneasy when they got back, so she decided to go find her brother.

She and her brother were super close; since they were kids, she'd often crash at his courtyard, and even though they had different moms, he spoiled her rotten.

Whenever anything happened, her first instinct was to run to him.

Gu Yangxue shrugged off Xuan Cui's attitude and kept walking into the courtyard.

Normally, she could see her brother whenever she felt like it.

But today she'd picked a bad time—he was in the bath, and his young attendant blocked her way.

The attendant Yuan Qiao smiled and said, "Miss Xue, you've picked a bad moment. Our young master is bathing and probably needs another fifteen minutes. How about I take you to the side hall first, then bring you to see him?"

Gu Yangxue didn't have much choice, so she followed Yuan Qiao into the side hall.

While she was being led off, Gu Zhangyuan's wet nurse rounded up two female martial guards, and without even lighting a lantern, they hustled through the dark toward the outer courtyard.

They moved fast and tense, every one of them stone-faced.

They'd expected to find a nasty corpse at the spot.

But when they actually got there, all they found were some bloodstains on the ground—not a single sign of a body.

The wet nurse didn't have time to overthink it and immediately ordered them to clean up.

No matter where the body had gone, they needed to clean the place up first.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Xie Licheng was using his cheat ability to lead people on a wild goose chase.

His original plan was simple: draw the people away.

Make them think a thief had actually broken in, pulling them toward the outer courtyard's side rooms or somewhere else.

Then he'd figure out a way back to clean up the blood. But out of nowhere, while he was leading them around, he ran smack into Xuan Cui.

He recognized her—she was the Eldest Young Master's trusted personal maid, someone he favored and relied on heavily.

Her showing up here obviously meant Gu Zhangyuan was safe.

As long as Concubine Xu and her crew hadn't personally caught Gu Zhangyuan with the dead body,

Even if they found the bloodstains later, they couldn't pin this on him.

So at this point, Xie Licheng just wanted to duck into his pocket dimension.

If he hid, then found a way back to the stables, none of this would involve him.

Even if Concubine Xu later found her nephew missing and stumbled on the blood in the rockery, it would at most... be tied to the "thief" she'd been talking about.

Xie Licheng glanced down at the blood on his hands, hesitated a beat, then followed her.