Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Since that night when he saw Gu Zhangyuan, Xie Licheng had been keeping his head down and grinding levels for the past few days.

Combined with the two attribute points he'd had before, Xie Licheng now had fifteen attribute points altogether.

Xie Licheng's current stats were as follows:

Name: Xie Licheng

Gender: Male

Race: Human

Age: 21

Height: 190 cm

Weight: 54 kg

Strength: 23

Defense: 59

Agility: 28

Health Points: 47

Stamina: 45

Appearance: 79

Charm: 49

Luck: 10

Over the past few days, thanks to the food from his pocket world, Xie Licheng had managed to put on two pounds.

The original body was thin because of abuse and starvation.

That kind of thinness wasn't hard to fix—it just took time.

Health points and stamina could also be recovered with proper rest, good food, and proper treatment of his injuries.

Xie Licheng didn't waste his precious attribute points on health or stamina.

Instead, he put his fifteen attribute points into strength, agility, and luck.

He put 7 points into strength, bringing it up to 30.

That strength was still on the weak side, but with his extensive fighting experience from before, he could make up for his lack of strength with skill and technique.

He put 2 points into agility, also bringing it to 30.

The remaining 6 points went into luck, bumping it up to 16.

At this point, Xie Licheng's character panel showed his level as 22.

Leveling up was only easy for the first twenty levels; after that, the higher the level, the harder it got.

Recently, as his body improved, Xie Licheng started hunting in the mountains of his pocket world.

Hunting was the fastest way to level up, but it came with risks.

Xie Licheng didn't dare go into the deep mountains; he only hunted on the outskirts.

He mostly caught small game like snakes, rats, rabbits, wild chickens, and birds.

If he got lucky and found rare plants in the mountains—like precious herbs or flowers—he'd earn a ton of experience.

However, those kinds of rare plants usually grew deep in the forests.

Plus, with his low luck stat, running into them wasn't easy.

One morning, just as dawn was breaking, Steward Xu came looking for Xie Licheng.

He smiled at Xie Licheng and said, "Today, the Eldest Young Master is taking the whole household to the temple outside the city to burn incense. Miss Xuancui said we need more grooms to go along. Get ready and come along."

Xie Licheng nodded. Since he'd transmigrated, he hadn't left the Gu estate, so this was a good chance to see what was out there.

Gu Zhangyuan had given him a pass that let him come and go freely from the Gu estate, but Xie Licheng knew he couldn't use it freely right now.

That handsome young master was testing him, trying to see if he was trustworthy.

So even with the pass in hand, Xie Licheng hadn't gone out these past few days.

He stayed put in the stables, kept to himself, and avoided contact with others.

He looked like nothing more than an ordinary, honest, well-behaved servant who was easy to control.

Maybe because he'd done well these past few days, Xuancui had sent Steward Xu to fetch him—meaning she really intended to put him to work.

Xie Licheng didn't really care whether Gu Zhangyuan wanted to use him.

He only cared about whether he could get through the next six months at the Gu estate without trouble.

Even if Gu Zhangyuan didn't want to use him, he wouldn't be disappointed.

After Steward Xu left, Xie Licheng made some simple preparations and waited quietly.

When the other grooms came to hitch up the carriages, he led out a horse and joined them.

He kept a low profile the whole time, doing whatever he was told.

It wasn't until the carriages rolled out of the Gu estate gates that Xie Licheng caught sight of Gu Zhangyuan.

Later, while on the road, he learned that Gu Zhangyuan's carriage was the fanciest one at the very front.

The original body had arrived at the Gu estate late, and Xie Licheng was still recovering from injuries. A groom like him wasn't qualified to drive carriages for the Gu family's nobles.

The carriage Xie Licheng was driving carried clothes—not the masters' clothes, but the maidservants'.

It was said that the Gu family were big patrons of the temple outside the city, and every year at this time, they'd stay there for a few days.

One reason was to pray for blessings for the family, and the other was to relax and have fun.

Hearing they'd be staying outside for several days, Xie Licheng's eyes flickered.

That was good—he could use the chance to learn more about Lingzhou and find a way to trade his gold and silver for supplies.

His portable world really did have a lot of supplies, but for someone who had survived the apocalypse, no matter how many supplies he had, he'd never think it was enough.

Also, back when he was dealing with that dead body, he noticed a quest panel had shown up in his portable world.

Back in the apocalypse, he'd never let anyone else into his portable world.

He'd always figured his portable world was just his own private space.

But to his surprise, after he helped Gu Zhangyuan stuff that body into his portable world, something like a quest progress bar popped up in there.

A quest bar showing (1/20) had appeared.

That "1" probably meant one person.

Even a dead body counted as one.

Xie Licheng had a hunch that if he filled his portable world with twenty people, he might get some kind of special reward.

But he didn't want to stuff other people in there, and he couldn't find that many dead bodies right now, so he had to put that quest on the back burner for now.

He figured that if worst came to worst, he could pick up some abandoned kids later.

After all, his portable world was huge, and the starter village was packed with empty houses.

In times like these, everything was in short supply except for unwanted kids.

When the time came, he could rescue them and treat them as his own little sidekicks?

While Xie Licheng was lost in his thoughts, their carriage slowly rolled out of Lingzhou City.

Inside and outside the city were two totally different worlds. The main streets in the city looked pretty lively, but nowhere near as bustling as what Xie Licheng had seen in TV shows.

Most of the buildings in the city were wooden, and some were pretty old and run-down. Only well-off families could afford to build their houses with blue bricks.

The streets were paved with stone slabs, but years of neglect had left them badly damaged, making the carriage ride bumpy and rough.

In short, it was nothing like the ancient world Xie Licheng had pictured.

The buildings here were all old, and people's clothes were drab and gray, not as colorful as on TV.

Outside the city, there were way fewer houses, and the terrain got even rougher.

But the scenery outside the city was really nice—flowers and grass lined the road, and you could see plenty of forests and farmland.

Xie Licheng spent the whole trip taking in the scenery, and they reached the temple just before dusk.

The temple sat at the foot of a mountain.

The mountain was covered in tall trees that looked like a deep, dark green from afar, giving the whole place a mysterious vibe.

Xie Licheng followed the carriage convoy to the temple's backyard, where he helped tend to the horses and moved supplies with the other servants.

Before Xie Licheng could even finish, Xuan Cui came looking for him.

She didn't come close—just stood a little ways off and glanced at him.

Xie Licheng immediately got the hint, dropped what he was holding, and followed her.

A male slave nearby saw this and tried to grab him to ask where he was off to.

But a matron next to him quickly stopped him. "Are you crazy? Didn't you see that's Miss Xuancui?"

The male slave looked confused. "I saw her, but... what's that got to do with him? Why's he running around free while everyone else is working?"

The matron laughed at his stupidity and pointed at Steward Xu in the distance.

"You figure it out—Steward Xu isn't even bothering with him, so you should mind your own damn business."

The male slave still didn't get why Xie Licheng could just wander off, or why the matron had stopped him.

Meanwhile, Xie Licheng followed Xuan Cui along a winding path until they reached a small stream behind the mountain.

Beside the stream was a pavilion, where Gu Zhangyuan was talking with his wet nurse.

Xuan Cui told him, "Show some respect when you see the young master, and don't keep staring at him."

Xie Licheng felt wronged hearing that—when had he ever kept staring at the young master?

But thinking about how few of the Gu family's servants dared to even look at their master, he guessed he... really was kind of an oddball.

Xie Licheng said helplessly, "Yes, your servant understands."

He answered politely and looked perfectly obedient.

But as he followed Xuan Cui toward the pavilion, he couldn't help lifting his eyes and stealing a glance at Gu Zhangyuan.

Gu Zhangyuan was stunningly beautiful—even dressed so plainly today, he was still so handsome you couldn't look away.

Xie Licheng figured he'd just take one look, no unrealistic thoughts—just pure appreciation. Surely that wasn't some big crime.

Besides, he was so far from Gu Zhangyuan that a quick glance wouldn't get noticed.

To his slight surprise, just as he looked at Gu Zhangyuan, the guy happened to turn his gaze his way.

Their eyes met for a split second, and Gu Zhangyuan, remembering what his father had said earlier, quickly looked away.

He thought, a lowly servant, and just a horse groom at that.

Aside from being kind of good-looking, he didn't seem to have any other merits.

Even if he needed a man, it shouldn't be some guy like this.

Besides, he wasn't sure if he was overthinking it, but he felt this horse slave wasn't as good-looking as when he'd first seen him.

And sure enough, Xie Licheng wasn't as good-looking as when they first met, since he'd dropped his appearance by 10 attribute points in one shot.

Xie Licheng didn't give a damn about his looks—if he weren't afraid that dropping his appearance too much would change his whole face, he would've cut even more points back then.

As Gu Zhangyuan looked away, he thought: He's not as handsome as before, but he's really tall, with long, well-built limbs. He probably has some other foreign blood in him—his facial features always seemed a bit different from theirs.

Soon, Xie Licheng followed Xuan Cui to the edge of the pavilion and heard Gu Zhangyuan ask from inside, "Are your injuries healed?"

Xie Licheng replied, "To answer the young master, your servant is feeling much better now."