Chapter 54

Chapter 54

But then again, their place had already been robbed, so there probably wasn't anything valuable left.

The boy's eyes lit up at that. He turned and ducked under the bed, pulling out a box from underneath.

His dad had hidden this box, with a gold bracelet and some loose silver inside.

His dad never told him where he stashed stuff, but this time he hid it right in front of him, probably keeping it for the boy to use in an emergency.

Just thinking about it made the boy want to cry, but before he could even start, the woman spotted the gold in his hands and went crazy, lunging at him.

She lunged at him, screaming, "Gold! Gold! That gold is ours!"

Startled, the boy clutched his stuff and ran over to Xie Licheng.

The woman was a little scared of Xie Licheng, but to her, gold and silver mattered way more than fear.

She screeched at Xie Licheng, "Mind your own damn business! This house is ours, so that gold is ours too."

Xie Licheng shook his head in disagreement. He drew his long blade and said, "I'll give you a choice. You either stay and fight over his gold, or you get the hell out of my sight."

The woman yelled, "My brother works for those soldiers! Once they get here with the troops, neither of you will—"

Before she could finish, Xie Licheng gave his blade a slight flick and cleanly sliced her throat open.

The young man, who was still busy swooning, noticed his mother's body go limp, and only then, finally snapping out of it, screamed and ran out of the room.

He ran, yelling, "Dad! Uncle! Cousin! Something awful happened—some bad guy killed my mom!"

The boy was scared out of his wits. He thought this uncle was terrifying, and... he was also worried the neighbors would come after them.

He looked at Xie Licheng, then at the dead body on the ground, completely lost.

Seeing this, Xie Licheng smirked and said, "What, you don't wanna come with me now?"

The boy wanted to ask, "Are you a good guy or a bad guy?"

But then he looked at the gold bracelet in his hand—a bad guy would've tried to grab the gold first, right?

But this uncle was different. He didn't seem to care about the gold one bit.

He'd killed that old hag because she was trying to take the boy's gold.

With that in mind, the boy figured this uncle must be a good guy.

He quickly went back to packing, just his own clothes like the uncle told him.

And right then, the guy from before came back with the neighbors, apparently planning to gang up on Xie Licheng.

But when they barged in and saw the corpse already cold on the ground, none of them dared to mess with Xie Licheng.

The neighbor uncle the boy had mentioned pointed at Xie Licheng, who was sitting there like a boss, then quickly led his sons out.

The guy followed them out, his face all twisted with grief, and said, "Brother-in-law, how... how could you chicken out? Your sister—my wife—was killed by him! Aren't you gonna get justice for her?"

The neighbor uncle cursed at him, "Justice, my ass! Didn't you see that grim reaper in there?"

He'd seen Xie Licheng twice before, and both times Xie Licheng was killing someone.

The first time was right when Lingzhou had fallen into chaos. He heard a racket outside and, rubbing his eyes, stumbled out of his room in the middle of the night. Then he saw that grim reaper in the room, skewering three grown men on one blade like candied hawthorns on a stick.

The second time he ran into him, the guy was chasing after a bunch of yamen runners. Those runners were always so cocky—when they'd ransacked his place before, they acted like they'd kill and maim anyone. But that same bunch turned into mice in front of a cat the moment they saw him.

Now this was his third time running into Xie Licheng, and this time Xie Licheng had killed his own sister.

Did he hate him?

Yes.

Of course he did.

But with all that hate and no real skill, going for revenge would just end with him dead by that blade too.

He didn't wanna die yet, so of course he didn't dare go after revenge.

...

When Xie Licheng walked out with the boy, the courtyard was completely empty. Whether they'd gone to get backup or just ran off scared, Xie Licheng didn't really care.

Xie Licheng dropped the boy and his stuff off at Peach Blossom Village.

The boy and his stuff got dumped right in the middle of Peach Blossom Village.

It was daytime, so the moment the boy showed up, a few villagers spotted him.

Seeing it was just a kid, everyone immediately crowded around.

Still in shock, the boy clutched his bedding and stared around blankly.

Where is this place?

How did I get here?

And... where's that uncle?

Weren't we just together a second ago?

Before the boy could keep freaking out, a kind-looking woman stepped forward.

"Oh my, little fella, what's your name?"

The boy's face flushed—he wasn't some little kid anymore; he was already ten.

He said to the woman, "Hello, Auntie. I... I'm Xiao Zhuang, and I'm ten."

Seeing how well-behaved he was, the woman asked what happened to him.

Hearing her care, the boy couldn't help but think of his troubles again.

So he cried as he told everyone what happened.

After hearing his story, everyone let out a sigh.

The woman said, "Has Lingzhou really gotten this bad?"

Xiao Zhuang nodded. "It's really bad. They say even the prefect is dead, and the rebels are running Lingzhou now. A few days ago, they looted grain and money, and took all the pretty women and young men. Anyone who resisted got killed. They tried to take my father away, but he refused, so they killed my dad, my father, and my grandparents."

A young man cursed angrily, "Those bastards!"

Others chimed in as well, "Exactly, they truly have no humanity. How are they any different from those bandits?"

"Exactly, we thought they were good at first, but now it's obvious they're all the same."

The woman said, "Alright, stop crying, stop crying. Now that you're in Peach Blossom Village, you're one of us now. From now on, you'll live with everyone here, and we're all your family."

After saying that, she thought for a moment, found an empty house, and had everyone help move the stuff in.

The little boy still didn't know where he was, but he carefully hid the gold bracelet.

In times like these, he couldn't trust anyone except that uncle. Now that the uncle wasn't around, he had to be careful when he was alone.

Xiao Zhuang was staying temporarily in the house across from Xiao Ruan's place.

Xiao Ruan didn't live alone; she lived with Grandpa Village Chief.

The village chief of Peach Blossom Village was none other than that old man from before.

Since Xie Licheng was often away from the village, they'd temporarily appointed a village chief to run things.

The village chief used to be a mountain man and never had a real name his whole life. Back then, he was the third son in his family, so everyone called him Old Third Chen. Now that he was the village chief of Peach Blossom Village, everyone called him Village Chief Chen.

Xiao Ruan was just a little girl, and living alone scared her. She'd originally wanted to live with some of the village's young men or women, but she heard many of them were planning to find spouses, and having her around would be a hassle.

So after looking around, Xiao Ruan decided to live with Grandpa Village Chief.

As it happened, Grandpa Village Chief didn't have any family either. He was getting up there in age, and having a kid around meant that if something happened to his health, someone could go into the village to get help.

It took Xiao Zhuang an hour to slowly figure out from the villagers what kind of place this was.

He tidied up his place, washed his face, and got ready to take a walk around the village.

Kids are like that—always full of energy, and with his curiosity about the place, he couldn't stand staying cooped up inside.

When Xiao Zhuang went out, he grabbed something to defend himself with. As he wandered through the village, he ran into Xuan Cui, who was all dressed up.

He'd seen Xuan Cui in Lingzhou City before—she was the personal maidservant of the Gu family's eldest young master.

A lot of people in the city knew her because she always dressed so flashy, looking nothing like a servant.

When Xiao Zhuang saw her, he carefully went up and tried to talk to her.

He said, "Sister Xuan Cui."

Xuan Cui looked over at him when she heard that and thought he looked kind of familiar.

Before she could place him, her attention was pulled to Xiao Ruan nearby.

Xiao Ruan ran up to her and called out, "Sister Xuan Cui, why have you come to the village?"

Xuan Cui got down from the carriage and smiled at her. "Our young master was brought to the farm by Master Xie yesterday. Master Xie went out today and told me to come take care of him."

Xiao Ruan teased with a laugh, "Then... is Brother Changyuan going to have a little baby soon?"

Xuan Cui giggled at that. "Probably have to wait a year or so. My young master's too busy; now's not the time for having a kid."

With that, she waved her hand helplessly—why was she talking about this with a little kid?

"Alright, alright, I need to head to the farm now. I can't keep chatting with you."

With that, Xuan Cui got back on the carriage and hurried off toward the farm.

Having seen the whole thing, Xiao Zhuang carefully sidled up to Xiao Ruan.

Xiao Zhuang asked, "Um... is the Eldest Young Master of the Gu Family here too?"

Xiao Ruan hadn't noticed him before and jumped at the sudden sound of his voice.

She turned to look at him and asked, "Are you the new one who arrived today?"

Xiao Zhuang nodded, "Yes, I, I'm called Xiao Zhuang."

"I'm Xiao Ruan. I arrived earlier than you. If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask me."

Hearing that, Xiao Zhuang felt like he'd grabbed a lifeline. He thought this kid was really nice, and he happened to have a ton of stuff he didn't understand.