Chapter 56

Chapter 56

After putting the ointment on his face, Gu Zhangyuan felt much more comfortable. Remembering he still had to find the green beans, he quickly returned to the storage room.

Xie Licheng didn't follow him in but stayed in the kitchen to guide Xuan Cui in cooking.

There were a lot of things in the kitchen Xuan Cui didn't recognize, like modern cookware and seasonings.

Xie Licheng helped out in the kitchen while explaining what everything was to Xuan Cui.

Before he could finish explaining, Gu Zhangyuan came out carrying two boxes.

One of the boxes had the green beans he was after, and the other had grapes.

The grapes looked super plump, each one huge, so he wanted to try some.

He passed the green beans to Xuan Cui and asked, "Honey, can I eat these?"

Without even glancing at what he had, Xie Licheng nodded and said, "Of course. You can eat anything on the farm."

Since Gu Zhangyuan was his wife now, why would he be stingy about food?

If he was gonna be stingy about this and that, he might as well have stayed single forever. A guy who can't share with his own wife is better off staying single his whole life. That way, everything stays his, and he never has to worry about anyone else touching it.

Hearing that, Gu Zhangyuan went to wash the grapes. Xuan Cui, who was standing nearby, shot him a disapproving look.

Gu Zhangyuan had already eaten fruit earlier; if he ate grapes now, how would he even have room for lunch?

But since Xie Licheng was around, Xuan Cui couldn't scold her master in front of him. She could only sneak a glance back at Gu Zhangyuan.

Feeling a bit guilty under her stare, Gu Zhangyuan said in a low voice, "I won't eat a lot, just one or two."

In this kind of heat, he preferred eating fruit. As for stuff like meat, he didn't really feel like eating it right now.

Then Gu Zhangyuan carried the grapes outside, planning to get some water to wash them.

Xie Licheng looked out the kitchen window and saw Gu Zhangyuan heading to the pond by himself. Feeling a little worried, he wiped his hands and followed him out.

Before, it was just him on the farm, so he never thought about digging a well. Now that Gu Zhangyuan and Xuan Cui were there, the farm couldn't stay so bare-bones.

To Xie Licheng, this world was a game, and he could build all kinds of stuff on his farm.

Building here wasn't like the real world—you didn't have to lay bricks one by one. As long as he had the materials, the building would go up fast.

Xie Licheng opened the farm management panel, checked what he needed for a well, and planned to build one that afternoon.

To build a well, he needed ten stones and twenty logs.

His farm could have tons of buildings—like a garden, pavilion, livestock shed, stable, insulated room... and even an underground cellar for storage.

The cellar was like another kind of storage, taking up barely any ground space, kind of like a storage box in a sandbox game.

Only Xie Licheng, as the player, could use the cellar—so even if someone saw it, they couldn't open it.

Before, when it was just him on the farm, he never thought about building a cellar.

Now that there were more people around, Xie Licheng figured it'd be smart to build two cellars for dangerous stuff.

Xie Licheng definitely trusted Gu Zhangyuan, but he couldn't trust everyone else.

Plus, some things were pretty dangerous—like guns. If they ended up in the wrong hands, they'd be a huge threat to Gu Zhangyuan.

So it was best to build a cellar to stash guns, knives, gasoline, or dangerous meds.

While thinking about all this, Xie Licheng reached the pond and found Gu Zhangyuan.

By the pond, there were two big water vats for everyday use, plus two buckets and a plastic scoop.

Gu Zhangyuan had filled a bucket with water and was carefully washing the grapes.

When he saw Xie Licheng follow him out, he looked up with a smile and asked, "Why'd you follow me out?"

Xie Licheng: "Was worried you'd be clumsy and fall in the water."

Gu Zhangyuan protested, "I'm not clumsy. I'm just used to people taking care of me, so I come off that way. You have no idea how many peaches I picked today—I can do farm work too."

"You guys went to the orchard today?"

"Yeah, didn't you see the peaches in the basket in the kitchen?"

He really hadn't noticed. Xie Licheng had only been staring at Gu Zhangyuan's dirty face.

"You don't need to pick those. I'll do it when I get the chance."

Gu Zhangyuan shook his head. "You're so busy with everything. I don't have much going on these days, so let me and Xuan Cui help you pick."

Picking peaches wasn't that tiring, but there were a ton of mosquitoes in the orchard.

Hearing that, Xie Licheng crouched down and started washing grapes with him.

The two of them, each with their own bucket, rinsed the grapes a few times before heading back side by side.

Xie Licheng said, "It's been hot the last couple days, so don't go to the orchard."

Gu Zhangyuan nodded. He could go on a cloudy day when it wouldn't be so hot.

When they got back, Xuan Cui had already finished making the meal.

She'd steamed a pot of rice, made two bowls of egg custard, and stir-fried some green beans.

Xie Licheng went to the storage room and brought out two meat dishes, so lunch was pretty hearty.

Once she learned the storage room could keep things fresh and insulated, Xuan Cui decided to cook extra dishes that afternoon to store in there.

That way, even if she wasn't around one day, the master and the young lord wouldn't starve.

So that afternoon, while Xie Licheng left to gather wood and stones, Xuan Cui was running around the kitchen nonstop.

Since it was so hot, Gu Zhangyuan didn't want to stay in the kitchen.

He washed his underwear and hung it under the eaves to dry.

He'd wanted to keep an eye on them, since they were his personal clothes—he felt embarrassed leaving them out to dry and wanted to bring them in as soon as they were done.

But sitting under the eaves, he got drowsy and ended up going inside for a nap before the clothes were dry.

Xie Licheng soon came back with a pile of wood and stones, and built a well in front of the house.

To keep Gu Zhangyuan and Xuan Cui from falling in, he surrounded the well with a fence.

With the fence around the well, they wouldn't have to worry about falling in even when walking at night.

Once the well was finished, Xie Licheng built a pavilion by the pond.

The pavilion stood in the pond, surrounded by a patch of lotus flowers, which made it look quite elegant.

By the time the pavilion was done, the sun was dipping in the west. Xie Licheng found a basket and headed toward the fruit orchard.

He'd originally planted the fruit trees so they'd never run short of fruit, but later, with his busy schedule, he forgot all about the orchard.

In his past life, when he was busy, the fruit would rot on the ground because he had no time to pick it up.

In this life, he was just as busy. If Gu Zhangyuan hadn't brought it up today, he'd have forgotten the orchard's fruit was ripe.

Summer was when a lot of fruit ripened.

Xie Licheng went in for a quick look and came out with a basket loaded with fruit.

He carried the fruit back and let Gu Zhangyuan, who had just woken up, pick out his favorites. The ones Gu Zhangyuan didn't want, he took to the village to share around.

There was still plenty of unripe fruit in the orchard, so they wouldn't run short.

Xie Licheng still had to head out later to bring in newcomers, and the villagers would need to look after them at night.

Besides, he'd been eating the village's food for the past few days, so sharing some fruit was the least he could do.

When Gu Zhangyuan heard Xie Licheng was heading out again, he picked his fruit and said casually, "Need any help in the village?"

He was a little worried the village might get overwhelmed if too many people showed up at once.

Xie Licheng shook his head. "Don't go. We don't know what these people are like yet, and you've got no guards with you. You're safer staying put at the farmstead."

Gu Zhangyuan nodded. "Okay, got it."

After that, Xie Licheng took the basket to the village and let everyone know a lot of people would be arriving soon. He also had someone fetch Chen Yaosan, so the newcomers wouldn't cause trouble once they arrived.

Before heading out, Xie Licheng handed the basket of fruit to the village chief.

The village chief grabbed a stool, sat by the basket, and handed out the fruit.

Xiao Ruan got an apple, and Xiao Zhuang got a peach.

The two kids washed their fruit and got ready to welcome the newcomers with everyone else.

Qing Niang, who'd come out to hand out fruit, saw them and smiled, trying to coax them, "You two shouldn't get caught up in the excitement. You'd better head back to bed."

Xiao Ruan shook her head. "No, the village is about to get loud. Even if we go back, we won't be able to sleep."

That afternoon, Xiao Zhuang had managed to move into the village chief's house.

The old village chief was up there in years. He'd once had a grandson and a granddaughter, but both had passed away in accidents.

He'd figured that was how his life would end, but to his surprise, heaven had been good to him.

In his old age, he'd been blessed with a granddaughter and a grandson.

Even though they weren't his own flesh and blood, the two kids were well-behaved, and having them around meant he wouldn't be lonely.

Qing Niang was about to say more, but when she saw Chen Yaosan coming, she quickly ducked into the crowd out of fear.

She knew Chen Yaosan was with the rebels.

She'd nearly been beaten to death by those rebels before, so she was terrified of them.

Chen Yaosan didn't notice her. Xie Licheng had put him in charge of the village's safety, and he'd taken a real liking to this little village, so he didn't want anything to happen to it.

He got an apple too. He'd been a farmer before, so when had he ever tasted anything so fancy? One bite—sweet and juicy—and his mood picked right up.

Life was good now—a peaceful mountain village with plenty of game in the hills.

The villagers down below were simple and honest, no scheming in them. This kind of life was simple and steady, just what he'd always wanted.

Xie Licheng didn't make everyone wait long. He brought in a family from outside.

The whole family was in rough shape—some were hurt, some had fevers, and one had a broken leg.

Seeing that, the village chief quickly said, "Come on, everyone, let's get these folks into the empty houses first."

Before they'd even gotten that family settled, a few more people trickled in.

They brought their belongings with them.

Seeing the village chief was getting swamped, Chen Yaosan got up and took charge of settling the rest of the newcomers.

Probably not wanting to bring in too many at once, Xie Licheng stopped sending people in after that.

He started tossing in supplies now and then—grain, clothes, bedding, stuff like that.

The weather was still hot, so the folks in Taohua Village didn't need clothes or bedding.

But once it got cold, if they still had no clothes or bedding, they'd have a hard time surviving.

The supplies Xie Licheng tossed in were things people had thrown away or stuff he'd taken from the rebels.

He worked outside all night and came back early the next morning.

When he got back, he didn't head straight to the farmstead to rest. Instead, he handed out the supplies in the village.

Xie Licheng didn't need these supplies—he had much better stuff at the farmstead.

If it was something he needed, he wouldn't have left it in the village; he'd have taken it straight to the farmstead.

Xie Licheng rounded up all the villagers and handed out the goods by headcount.

Men, women, kids—everyone got supplies.

When Xiao Zhuang went with Xiao Ruan to collect their supplies, he asked Xie Licheng, "Uncle Benefactor, can I buy some farmland from you?"

Xie Licheng handed him a bag of coarse grain and two packs of coarse salt.

Xie Licheng looked at him and said, "Sure, how many plots do you want to buy?"

Xiao Zhuang glanced at Xiao Ruan before saying, "I don't know how many my money'll get me. Could you help me figure it out later?"

He didn't know the price of farmland here, nor how much his gold bracelet was worth, so he needed Xie Licheng's help with buying the land.

Xie Licheng nodded. "Alright, once I finish distributing these."

Xiao Zhuang was overjoyed to hear this, and he and Xiao Ruan worked together to haul their stuff back.

On the way, Xiao Ruan dropped her voice and said to him, "If you're really wealthy, you could take this opportunity to buy a house in town. Even if you don't go live there right away, you'll definitely end up moving to town eventually."

"But... you and Grandpa Village Chief are in the village, so I definitely want to stay with you both."

Since he didn't know anyone or the area well, he felt quite dependent on Xiao Ruan and Grandpa Village Chief.

Xiao Ruan continued, "You don't understand. Grandpa said the houses in the village are free. In the future, when the Benefactor brings people in from outside, they'll all stay in the village. With all kinds of people coming and going, the village won't be as safe or quiet as the town. Eventually, anyone with even a little ability will move to town."

Xiao Zhuang felt completely lost upon hearing this, not knowing what to do. Should he buy more farmland in the village, or should he buy a house in town?

He decided to wait until the uncle finished his work and then ask for his advice. After all, this was the uncle's territory, and he probably knew much more than they did.

The two kids returned home and waited quietly for Xie Licheng to arrive. They waited and waited, and finally, after an hour, Xie Licheng showed up.

Xie Licheng didn't come alone; he brought along a really handsome young man. Xiao Zhuang recognized him—it was the Gu family's precious Eldest Young Master.