Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Afterwards, Fat Beard led Xie Licheng not only to their hidden money and grain, but also to the people they had captured.

The captives were not all held together—men were kept in one place, while women and ge'er were kept in another.

Because there were so many of them, and the holding areas were cramped and narrow.

Many ate, drank, and relieved themselves in that same cramped space, and went long stretches without seeing daylight. Quite a few had developed sores on their bodies.

When Xie Licheng found them, there was already a young ge'er in the cage holding the women and ge'er who had died of illness.

Xie Licheng sighed at the sight. He stepped forward to release the people and said to Fat Beard, "Since you've told me so much useful information, I won't kill you with my own hands. Whether you live or die is up to them now."

Fat Beard, bound hand and foot, glared with eyes wide with fury, his face a mix of terror and hatred toward Xie Licheng.

"You—you beast! You might as well have killed me yourself!"

Xie Licheng killed swiftly and cleanly—if he could end a life in one strike, he never wasted any effort.

With his method of killing, those who died rarely suffered much.

Take the earlier ones, for instance—they were gone before they even woke.

Now, who exactly were these people Xie Licheng had released?

There were ge'er and women that the bandits had captured on the road.

The bandits had slaughtered their families in order to take them.

There were common folk from outside Lengzhou, young able-bodied men who had been kidnapped because the bandits needed labor to build houses.

And of course, they didn't spare their families either.

There were also villagers from the mountains themselves—the bandits had stormed in, seized their homes and farmland, killed their loved ones, and violated the ge'er and women of the village.

No matter where these captives came from, they all burned with hatred for the bandits.

And since Fat Beard was the bandits' leader, their hatred for him was even deeper and stronger.

Now that Xie Licheng had freed them all, even though they were so hungry they saw stars, weak in the limbs, and some were sick—still, the thought of avenging their families and neighbors gave them the strength to tear him apart with their bare hands.

Xie Licheng paid no more attention to Fat Beard. The man was badly wounded, alone, and facing a crowd of captives—there was no way he'd survive.

Xie Licheng went to the cave where the bandits had stashed their goods. The cave held plenty of valuable goods.

There were two large chests of gold and jewels—gold ingots, silver ingots, pearl necklaces, luminous pearls, gold hairpins, jade bracelets—everything one could imagine.

There were also bolts of fine silk and satin, furs, leather boots, quality blades, and fine swords...

And to Xie Licheng's surprise, the thing Gu Zhangyuan had asked him to find was there as well.

Xie Licheng gave it only a glance before tucking the formula away with everything else into his personal dimension.

He didn't take all the grain—he left a portion for the captives.

In the coming chaos, leaving them gold and jewels would do them no good. They wouldn't be able to protect it, and having wealth might just make them targets for other mountain bandits.

Better to give them grain to sustain themselves than precious metals. Because when true chaos descended, gold and jewels would matter far less than food.

A chaotic ancient era was no different from the apocalypse in Xie Licheng's original world.

During the apocalypse, having money or gold didn't guarantee you could trade for food.

When times got turbulent, having grain in hand was the only way to keep from panicking.

When Xie Licheng went to check on the captives, he found Fat Beard already dead.

These common folk were still kind at heart. For all the evil he'd done, they'd only beaten him to death—they hadn't captured him and tortured him. Compared to the bandits who loved to seize and torment people, they were truly kind and simple.

Afterwards, Xie Licheng led them to divide the grain, planning to wash his hands of their affairs.

He figured that as a stranger, he'd done plenty for them.

He knew chaos was coming, yet he'd saved them and given them grain—he might as well be a bodhisattva reborn.

But when the grain was being divided, quite a few women and ge'er began to weep.

There was also a girl around ten years old whose entire family had been killed by the bandits.

When she heard Xie Licheng say they could go home—

It should have been good news, but the little girl opened her mouth and let out a silent wail.

She had no home anymore. She didn't know where to go.

Her hometown was very, very far from Lengzhou, and even if she somehow made it back, her relatives wouldn't want to take her in.

Because back when her parents were alive, some relatives had called her a drain on the family and kept urging her father to sell her for grain.

Now her parents were gone, and her little brother had been killed by the bandits too.

If she went back, they'd only sell her off so they could seize her family's house and land.

In truth, most of the others weren't much better off than she was.

The best off were the few able-bodied young men—they were grown men. Even without family, as long as they were willing to work, they could probably support themselves.

It was the little girl and the other women and ge'er who were the real problem.

This world was harsh on women and ge'er, and those who'd been captured by bandits faced even harsher treatment.

Even if they wanted to return to their hometowns, anyone who knew they'd been taken by bandits would point and whisper.

Even though none of it was their fault—they were simply pitiful victims.

Once a woman or a ge'er lost their virtue, they became fair game for anyone to criticize.

Even in the modern world of his past life, the same logic applied—if you wanted to attack a woman, you started by spreading rumors about her.

No matter who she really was, once such a rumor stuck, men felt free to harass her and women felt free to berate her.

And this was ancient times—it would only be worse.

Xie Licheng looked at the able-bodied young men, then at the women and ge'er.

He saw that none of them seemed inclined to leave, and noticed one man showing particular concern for one of the ge'er.

Xie Licheng spoke up, "Banditry is rampant everywhere now—chaos in the north, chaos in the south, and Lingzhou won't stay peaceful for long either. You'd do better to team up and live together, so life can be a bit more bearable in the days ahead."

His meaning was simple: if anyone hit it off with another, they could pair up. After all, everyone here had been through hardship, so they shouldn't hold the usual societal prejudices.

Moreover, with troubled times ahead, two people together could withstand more risk than one alone.

Hearing this, the man who had been so attentive to that young man's face turned red, then he quickly walked over to that young man.

The young man he had his eye on had been wed before and had now suffered such a terrible ordeal, leaving him with a sense of inferiority. When he suddenly saw the man approaching, he instinctively recoiled a little.

But soon he had no chance to retreat, because the man came over and took his hand.

He was frightened, yet recalling how the man had been tormented by those bandits for his sake earlier, he was reluctant to push him away.

Holding the young man's hand, the man knelt and kowtowed to Xie Licheng.

He was a simple farmhand, clearly not much of a talker.

He said awkwardly, "Thank you, Benefactor, for saving us. We'll go down the mountain now, and I won't treat him badly."

Xie Licheng cast his eyes down at him and said, "You'd best not stay in Lingzhou. Take your provisions and find a way to head southwest."

Xie Licheng figured that with his face masked, no one knew his identity.

Besides, with the world's descent into chaos now a foregone conclusion, anyone with even a little understanding of the situation could see it—it wasn't like he was revealing secrets. Saying it wouldn't have any consequences for him.

"Also, don't trust the officials in Lingzhou. Stay safe."

Hearing that the road ahead was full of hardships, the young man couldn't help trembling a little. The man kneeling next to him noticed and tightened his grip on his wrist even more.

The man said, "Don't you worry. Even if I die, I'll protect you."

He was just a simple farmhand, just a... he never thought he'd one day risk his life for someone.

But unexpectedly, captured and brought to this mountain stronghold, he met someone like this.

Someone... he would give his last drop of blood to protect.

After that, two more young couples got together, and the three pairs were the first to head down the mountain.

There were quite a few local villagers among them, and some folks from the foothills. After setting those people aside, there were still nine people left.

Among those nine was the ten-year-old girl; the rest were all omegas and women.

Xie Licheng still hadn't left—not because he particularly wanted to deal with this mess.

Rather, he was thinking about his quest log and planned to pick two people to bring into his personal world.

In the starter village of his personal world, he had been raising a number of cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks, and some rabbits.

These chickens, ducks, and rabbits had no one tending them, and some stupidly wandered up the mountain, where they got eaten by the NPC animals there.

Some newborn rabbits, not knowing any better, would jump into rivers and drown themselves, or get stepped on and killed by the cattle and sheep.

All of that was meat, food supplies, and Xie Licheng felt a bit heartbroken seeing that.

Since he wanted to find out what that quest log actually was, he thought he might as well bring one person in to test it out.

He had the power to take them all in, but the Great Zhou dynasty hadn't completely fallen into chaos yet.

In this situation, not everyone was willing to give up the beautiful world outside and be locked up in a small village for the rest of their lives.

Xie Licheng still didn't know whether collecting twenty people would unlock a new map.

If it turned out that it couldn't unlock a new map, and he brought in a group of omegas and women—

not allowing them to marry or leave—they'd probably feel miserable and oppressed.

So in the end, Xie Licheng decided to first choose someone obedient and easy to control, like that ten-year-old girl.

She was still young and had no other options.

She couldn't survive in such chaotic times on her own, so she could enter his personal world and tend his livestock.

As for when she grows up and wants to get married or something—

that would be more than ten years from now, and maybe things would be peaceful by then.

If she wanted to come out, Xie Licheng would erase her memories, and she could get married normally then.

That was what he thought, anyway, but Xie Licheng didn't take the child away immediately.

Quite a few of those bandits had escaped earlier, and the bandits had close connections with the officials.

Xie Licheng was a bit worried that if he stayed here any longer, the bandits might bring the officials down on them.

Before everything completely fell apart, he didn't want to go up against the officials directly.

He was also a bit worried about the Gu family—the officials clearly had their eyes on the Gu family's riches.

If they found out the bandits' hideout on the mountain was gone, he didn't know if it would have any impact on the Gu family.

He wanted to go down the mountain alone to check things out, and make his plans then—there was no rush.

As for whether these rescued people would be harassed by the officials later—

Xie Licheng thought the current officials still needed to keep up appearances, so they probably wouldn't dare to do anything to them.

Besides, even if the officials really ignored the law and did something to them, the root of the problem didn't lie with Xie Licheng.

The root problem was the corrupt imperial court and the dark officials—otherwise, so many common people wouldn't have suffered.

Xie Licheng had only saved them; just because he'd been kind enough to save them didn't mean their lives became his responsibility.

But soon, Xie Licheng realized he had thought too highly of those officials.

This era becoming a time of chaos indeed had its reasons.

...

Because Xie Licheng had said the officials couldn't be trusted, whether it was those who had already gone down the mountain or those still on it, no one had any intention of going to the officials to report anything.

Actually, they had already thought the officials couldn't be trusted—someone had reported to the officials before, but they hadn't done anything about it.

That person, having no other choice, had gone into the mountains alone to look for his child.

In the end, he didn't find the child, and he was captured by the bandits himself.

In addition, Xie Licheng had saved them, so naturally they were even more willing to trust him.

However, even if they didn't report to the authorities, the government soon found out anyway, because the bandits who had escaped went and reported the villagers to the authorities.

Yes, you read that right—it was those fleeing bandits who went to report them to the authorities.

What was chilling was that when the common people had reported crimes to the authorities before, the authorities had ignored them entirely.

But now that the bandits were the ones reporting, the authorities actually responded this time.

They sent people into the mountains, claiming they wanted to catch the bandits.

But in reality, when they interrogated the villagers in the mountains, they kept asking about Xie Licheng's physical appearance.

"We heard you were rescued by a young man—how old is he, what does he look like, how tall is he, and is he fat or thin?"

An old man from the village broke into a cold sweat upon hearing this.

He'd only been rescued that morning and had just eaten a bit; he hadn't even had a chance to rest yet.

Now, all of a sudden, the authorities had grabbed him and were interrogating him, and they weren't asking about what the bandits looked like, but about what their benefactor looked like.

The old man felt something was off, and he replied cautiously, "I'm old and didn't get a good look. I only know he's a man, and he doesn't seem very tall."

The other villagers glanced at the old man, and every one of them gave equally careful answers.

"Yeah, not tall, and probably not much to look at either, since he deliberately covered his face."

"He's a bit chubby and has a really bad temper."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah—he's an ugly guy, small eyes, and really short."

Before heading up the mountain, the authorities had gotten a portrait of Xie Licheng from the bandits.

The man in the portrait was completely different from what the villagers described, and the officers couldn't help but start losing their tempers.

"How dare you! He's a bandit, a thief, and you've got the nerve to lie to the authorities? Do you know what a grave crime this is?!"

The old man stammered, "Officer, officer, I—we didn't lie to you, he really..."

Before he could finish, one of the officers kicked him, sending the old man tumbling to the ground.

Another officer held up the portrait and said, "This man is the leader of the bandits. By hiding who he really is, are you trying to defy the authorities and the whole court?"

A middle-aged woman said, looking confused, "The leader you're talking about is already dead, officer. There's gotta be some misunderstanding—our benefactor isn't the bandit leader at all."

When she said they'd killed the bandit leader, one of the officers snarled, "Bullshit! This man is the real bandit leader. The one you killed was an imperial official. Men, arrest these troublemakers and take them back to the yamen for a proper interrogation."

"No, no—officer, sir, we're just regular villagers. The one we killed was the bandit leader himself."

"That's right, that's right. They locked us up before, and we can tell who's good and who's bad!"

"Oh, I get it now—you're in cahoots with the bandits. No wonder, no wonder our benefactor said the authorities can't be trusted and that Lingzhou would fall into chaos. With corrupt officials like you, Lingzhou will never have a good day."

The officer holding the portrait sneered and walked over to the villager who'd been shouting the loudest.

"It's not because of us that Lingzhou has no good days—it's because of troublemakers like you that Lingzhou is unstable!"

...

Meanwhile, after Xie Licheng came down the mountain, he found out the authorities were looking for him.

Luckily, the people looking for him still thought he was up in the mountains, so they were only searching the mountain area.

After that, Xie Licheng ran into some people from the Gu family who were searching everywhere for him.

With their help, he hid under a carriage and got into Lingzhou City.

Once inside the city, Xie Licheng moved from under the carriage to inside it.

There were two people in the carriage—one was a maidservant he didn't quite recognize, and the other was none other than Gu Zhangyuan's wet nurse.

When Xie Licheng saw the wet nurse had come out of the city personally to pick him up, he felt something was off.

Xie Licheng asked, "What's going on with the Gu family?"

The wet nurse didn't hide anything from him. This horse slave was capable, and Gu Zhangyuan thought highly of him. No matter what the wet nurse thought of Xie Licheng personally, they had to work together when it came to Gu Zhangyuan's matters.

The wet nurse said, "Last night, the eldest master came back and wants the young master to marry out of the Gu family soon. Before, the eldest master wanted the young master to take over the household, so he never brought up marriage—he only wanted to find a son-in-law to marry into the family. But the master thinks the world outside is falling into chaos, and the Dazhou dynasty will probably be unstable in the future, so he wants to secure a way out for the Gu family."

Xie Licheng's eyes darkened. "He wants to use Gu Zhangyuan to get the Gu family a powerful backer?"

The wet nurse nodded. Thinking of how the young master was being wronged, her heart ached like it was being cut with a knife.

She'd raised the young master since he was a kid, and she cared for him more than her own two children.

So she absolutely didn't want the young master to suffer any injustice—her young master deserved to be treated like treasure.

Xie Licheng asked, "What does the young master think himself?"

Does he want to get married, or not?

If he wants to marry, Xie Licheng won't stand in his way.

If he doesn't want to, Xie Licheng naturally has plenty of ways to stop it.

It all depends on what he wants.

The wet nurse said, "It's obvious the young master doesn't want to marry—otherwise, I wouldn't have come out myself to find you."

Hearing this, Xie Licheng understood, and the heaviness in his eyes lifted.

The wet nurse said, "The young master asked me to bring you back because he wants you to help think of a plan."

Xie Licheng said, "Actually, there's no need for me to come up with a plan. Lingzhou won't hold out until he gets married—by then, Lingzhou will definitely be in chaos. The big backer the eldest master found for the Gu family won't be able to protect them from a thousand miles away."

The current situation had gone back to what was in the book. In the book, the eldest master had also found a fiancé for Gu Zhangyuan.

That fiancé was none other than the Marquis of Jincheng, who would later rebel—also a somewhat famous villain in the book.

In the original story, when the eldest master was away and realized the Dazhou situation was turning bad, he made a verbal marriage agreement with the Marquis of Jincheng.

Then, before the eldest master even got back, the whole of Dazhou was engulfed in the flames of war, and Lingzhou especially was thrown into complete chaos.

The Gu family was a prestigious clan in Lingzhou, a wealthy household.

They had plenty of money and plenty of food.

They were soon targeted by forces that had risen to prominence near Lingzhou, and Gu Zhangyuan, having no choice, had to flee Lingzhou with his family.

And it was at that moment that he encountered the protagonist, Song Qiyue.

Song Qiyue had his sights set on both the Gu family's money and supplies and Gu Zhangyuan's looks.

So, under the guise of helping Gu Zhangyuan, he made off with both him and the Gu family's money and grain.

Upon hearing this, the nanny was confused about many things and wanted to press Xie Licheng for more details, but Xie Licheng gave her no further answers.

Xie Licheng felt it would be better to talk things over directly with Gu Zhangyuan, and since he didn't trust the nanny much, he wasn't willing to say more to her.

Soon, they changed to another carriage and returned to the Gu estate through a side gate.

Without resting, Xie Licheng went straight to the inner courtyard to see Gu Zhangyuan.

Since the authorities were looking for him, he couldn't stay long at the Gu estate without bringing trouble to the family.

As soon as Xie Licheng saw Gu Zhangyuan, he said, "You can agree to the marriage your father arranged for now."

Gu Zhangyuan had been pleased to see him, but at these words, his fine brows immediately furrowed in displeasure.

Seeing this, Xie Licheng smiled and explained, "The fiancé your father has chosen for you is likely the Marquis of Jincheng, who commands a powerful army. The Marquis is currently stationed at the northern border. Even if you agree to the marriage now, it would take ten days to half a month for a letter to reach him. Moreover, with the north in chaos, he may not receive it right away. Even if he gets the letter, by the time he prepares the betrothal gifts and the wedding procession arrives in Lingzhou, it would be over a month. By then... unless something unexpected happens, Lingzhou should already be in total chaos."

According to the original story, the real chaos was supposed to break out two months later.

But now, the situation had changed slightly—Xie Licheng had stirred things up, and he reckoned it wouldn't take that long.

Gu Zhangyuan glanced at him after listening. "How can you be so certain that Lingzhou will fall into chaos within a month? If it doesn't, I'll actually have to marry him."

Hearing this, Xie Licheng walked over and crouched in front of him.

Gu Zhangyuan was seated at the time, and Xie Licheng, kneeling down, placed both hands on the armrests of the armchair.

He looked up slightly and said, "If you don't want to marry him, even if you're wed, I'll snatch you away."

After saying this, Xie Licheng's nose twitched.

He noticed that after a few days apart, the fragrance on Gu Zhangyuan seemed to have changed.

Just as he leaned in to catch a whiff, a finger pressed to his forehead.

Gu Zhangyuan, with his finger against Xie Licheng's forehead, said with disapproval, "That won't work. If you don't like someone, you shouldn't agree to marry them—otherwise, you'd be wasting their effort."

Xie Licheng frowned immediately. "Why do you pity him? He's not a good person. He wants to marry you for your looks and your family's money and supplies. He has plenty of women and men around him—what's there to pity about someone like him?"