Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Gu Zhangyuan nodded at that, then raised his eyes to glance at the wet nurse beside him.

The wet nurse understood at once. She walked slowly out of the pavilion and handed a pouch to Xie Licheng.

Xie Licheng took it, looking puzzled as he asked, "What is this?"

Gu Zhangyuan said, "We'll be staying here for three days. Take this silver and go up the mountain to find someone for me."

Xie Licheng asked, "Who?"

Xuan Cui replied for Gu Zhangyuan, "A one-eyed old hunter, around forty or fifty. My master doesn't even know his name, only that he lives on this mountain. Just head up the mountain and find him. Once you do, give him the silver and tell him my master has a task for him."

Xie Licheng didn't get why it had to be such a hassle, why he had to trek into the mountains for some old hunter. Why not just hand it to him?

Did they think he wasn't strong enough, or was there another reason?

He just blurted out what he was thinking.

"If you've got any tasks, master, you can leave them to me. I told you before—as long as you need me, I'll work my tail off for you."

Xuan Cui frowned at him when she heard that. "Why don't you take a good look at yourself?"

A guy who was half-dead from injuries just a while back—where the heck did he get that confidence?

Xie Licheng heard that and instinctively checked himself out.

Okay, he did look pretty scrawny right now.

But whether it was killing or stealing, he had real confidence in himself.

Seeing that her master didn't seem to mind her talking more, and since there was nothing to hide about it, Xuan Cui hesitated for a moment before telling Xie Licheng.

"My master goes to all this trouble to track him down because he's the best-known hunter around here. My master needs him to catch a venomous snake alive, as a gift for the third son of the Lingzhou prefect. This prefect's third son likes raising snakes, and his favorites are the highly venomous ones. It's to make friends with such a weirdo that our master goes to all this trouble."

Xie Licheng grinned. "A venomous snake? I can catch one of those too. Master, leave this job to me. I'll just hold onto this silver for now."

Saying that, Xie Licheng turned to go.

Gu Zhangyuan, who'd been sitting there cool as can be, got a little anxious. He jumped up and stepped out of the pavilion.

He said, "You're gonna catch it? You're just a lowly horse slave—do you have any idea how dangerous those mountains are, how many poisonous bugs and snakes are out there?"

If he'd had any male servants to spare, or if he didn't need to show his father he could keep his people in line, he wouldn't have sent a wounded servant up the mountain to find anyone.

Xie Licheng said earnestly, "I know, master. But don't you worry—within three days, I'll bring you back a venomous snake, safe and sound."

Gu Zhangyuan wanted to say he wasn't worried about him at all, but seeing how confident he looked now, he thought about it and swallowed his words.

This horse slave really wasn't as obedient as he seemed.

He had a strong, arrogant streak—nothing like a regular servant. So his earlier obedience was all an act.

Watching Xie Licheng's figure disappear into the distance, Xuan Cui said grumpily, "Master, this guy is really arrogant. That silver wasn't for him, but he just took it on his own."

Gu Zhangyuan didn't care about the money. "If he pulls it off, he deserves the reward anyway."

"But..."

What the master gives as a reward and what he takes for himself are two different things.

She'd never seen a servant like him—not a shred of humility a servant should have.

...

Xie Licheng didn't go into the mountains. He'd never set foot on this mountain before, and he didn't know the terrain here at all.

Gu Zhangyuan just said he wanted a venomous snake—he didn't say it had to be from this mountain.

Xie Licheng simply entered his personal world instead. He was more familiar with the mountains in the novice village there. Given his current physical condition, it was safer to stay on familiar ground.

Back in his personal world, he found a snake-catching tool—the kind of trash picker used by sanitation workers.

He went up the mountain before dark, took a stroll around, and successfully caught a venomous snake.

By then, dusk was falling. Xie Licheng stored the snake properly and left his personal world with the silver.

Gu Zhangyuan had given him three days to catch the snake, but he finished it in just two hours. He planned to spend the remaining time exploring the area.

Since he had no carriage and relied purely on his own two legs, he walked a long way before reaching a town.

It was now nearly midnight, and apart from the night watchman, there was hardly anyone to be seen in the town.

Seeing this, Xie Licheng returned to his personal world, intending to rest well for the night.

He was indeed tired today—driving the carriage and traveling all day had taken a toll on his frail, injured body.

Xie Licheng rested in his personal world for the night. The next morning, he went to the kitchen's storage and fetched a bowl of hot congee.

Having a permanent preservation storage was wonderful—making extra hot meals saved a lot of effort.

After drinking the congee and taking his medicine, he checked his status.

Health points: 53. Stamina: 51.

This was a decent state. As long as he didn't get injured again, he should recover to full health soon.

Xie Licheng left his personal world and went to a medical clinic in town.

Now that he had money, he wanted to have a proper examination and buy some ointments for bruises and sprains.

When the doctor saw his injuries, he asked, "Are you a runaway slave? I wouldn't dare treat a runaway slave here."

Xie Licheng showed the waist token the Gu family had given him. Once the doctor confirmed he wasn't a runaway but a servant with proper identification, he dared to continue the treatment.

The doctor said, "You have a good foundation—you've been properly treated before. There's nothing serious now. What you mainly lack is blood and vitality. Eat well to replenish yourself. I'll prescribe some blood-nourishing medicine for you. Take it for about ten days to half a month, and you should recover quickly."

The blood-nourishing medicine was quite expensive—half a month's supply cost nearly three taels of silver. Combined with the ointments Xie Licheng bought, it came to about five taels in total.

Fortunately, he wasn't short on silver now, so spending it didn't hurt much.

Gu Zhangyuan had given him ten taels of gold earlier, and today's pouch contained ten taels of silver and two gold leaves.

With that much money, he could get by for quite a while.

By the time he left the clinic, it was already afternoon.

Xie Licheng didn't dare delay further. He asked around about the situation near Lingzhou, inquiring whether there were any bandit troubles in the area. Meanwhile, he bought plenty of supplies from the town—rice, flour, oil, grain, clothes, cloth, and a good number of pots, pans, and bowls.

The country they were in was called Dazhou, a completely fictional dynasty in this novel, not the Dazhou he was thinking of.

Dazhou had endured for over two hundred years, and now the court was corrupt and in chaos, with powerful enemies outside eyeing it hungrily. Dazhou was now in its final days as a dynasty, not far from falling apart completely.

When Xie Licheng was buying clothes at a ready-made garment shop, the clerk at the shop said to him, "Things are getting chaotic, really chaotic lately. I hear bandits are stirring up trouble north of Lingzhou. They say it's mountain bandits, but really it's the local officials losing control. I've got a feeling things won't stay peaceful, and us common folks will be the ones to suffer."

Xie Licheng nodded, quickly paid up, and left the shop.

Everything Xie Licheng bought was stuffed into his personal world.

In a single day, he blew through over thirty taels of silver.

He converted all the gold Gu Zhangyuan had given him into silver, which was easier to spend.

Ten taels of gold got him a hundred taels of silver.

Two gold leaves got him fifty taels of silver.

After what he'd spent that day, he still had about a hundred thirty taels of silver left.

After leaving the town, Xie Licheng caught a ride with a merchant caravan back to Lingzhou City, figuring it'd be easier to stock up in the city.

Over the following two days, Xie Licheng went on a crazy shopping spree in the city during the day and worked hard on leveling up in his personal world at night.

This time, he wasn't mainly buying rice, flour, oil, or clothes.

Once Lingzhou went to hell, those things would be worthless—probably dumped all over the streets.

Plus, Xie Licheng figured he was on his own and wouldn't need that much food or clothes, so there was no reason to blow more silver on that stuff.

Back in the city, he mainly bought ready-made meals—food someone else had cooked.

He was a lazy guy, and with a warehouse that kept things fresh forever, he naturally had to stock up on all kinds of prepared food.

That way, he'd never have to cook and could still eat delicious, fresh food—now that's the good life.

So in the mornings, he'd hit up a restaurant for roast chicken, roast goose, roast pork, roast lamb...

In the afternoons, he'd hit a stall for crispy cakes, candied hawthorns, fried cakes...

In the evenings, if he spotted a wonton vendor, he'd grab ten servings at once.

He also hit up a few pastry shops and bought a bunch of fancy desserts.

Two days went by, and the silver just flowed out like water.

Xie Licheng had thought he had plenty of silver, but once he really started spending without holding back, he realized no matter how much you've got, it never lasts.

When the three days were up, Xie Licheng strolled back to the temple outside the city, planning to find a chance to see Gu Zhangyuan and turn in his job.

But wouldn't you know it, the moment he got back, he ran into that little terror, Gu Tinghe.

He'd forgotten Gu Tinghe was part of the Gu family too, and this time Gu Zhangyuan had brought him along.

From a distance, Gu Tinghe spotted him and motioned for Xie Licheng to stay put.

But Xie Licheng wasn't the obedient original owner—why the hell would he stand there and wait to get hit?

So the second he saw Gu Tinghe, Xie Licheng turned and walked off without a second thought.

Gu Tinghe missed him and couldn't help cursing in rage.

"Bitch! Damn slave! How dare he defy my orders! I'll catch him and rip him apart!"

The servants trailing him didn't dare make a peep.

Like scared quails, they kept their heads down, not daring to look at him.

Meanwhile, Xie Licheng shook off Gu Tinghe and wandered around the temple.

He didn't dare go back now, figuring that little bastard Gu Tinghe would be waiting for him at Steward Xu's.

He couldn't casually kill anyone right now, so it was better to avoid running into that little wretch.

Probably guessing he'd return today, Gu Zhangyuan had sent someone to wait for him early on.

Xie Licheng hadn't wandered the temple for long before he ran into a servant from Gu Zhangyuan's courtyard.

The man said to Xie Licheng, "Come on, the Eldest Young Master is looking for you."

Xie Licheng recognized him, so he didn't worry about being led somewhere else.

He followed the young attendant all the way to the temple's side rooms, where Gu Zhangyuan stayed apart from the other Gu family members.

When Xie Licheng arrived with the attendant, he didn't run into anyone else from the Gu family.

At the entrance to the courtyard, the attendant gestured for him to go in alone while he stood guard outside.

Xie Licheng found it a bit odd, but since the man was Gu Zhangyuan's person, he shrugged off his misgivings and stepped inside.