Chapter 57

Chapter 57

Gu Zhangyuan hadn't actually known that Xie Licheng was back from outside. He'd been in the village since morning, and it wasn't until Xuan Cui went to the village that they found out Xie Licheng was back.

Xuan Cui figured that with Xie Licheng back, Peach Blossom Village had its pillar of support again, and naturally, the village would be safe. Since their young master hadn't left the farmstead all day yesterday, she figured now was a good chance to get him out for some fresh air.

So she went back and came to the village with Gu Zhangyuan.

Gu Zhangyuan was gorgeous, like a rare, pampered flower that had never known hardship.

A beauty like him wandering into the village alone would definitely stand out and draw trouble.

But... now that Xie Licheng was back, no matter how many people were in the village, as long as Xie Licheng was around, nobody would dare act up. So at a time like this, it was safe enough for Gu Zhangyuan to get out and about.

Xie Licheng and Gu Zhangyuan went together to the village chief's house. The village chief was still out working, so only the two kids, Xiao Ruan and Xiao Zhuang, were home.

Xie Licheng walked in and asked, "You planning to put all your money into farmland, or save some for a house?"

Xiao Zhuang said, "I don't really get any of this stuff."

Seeing that, Xiao Ruan quickly chimed in, "Get him a house in town. And if he's got enough money left over, buy him some farmland too."

When Xiao Zhuang nodded, Xie Licheng told him to go get his silver.

Xiao Zhuang kept a few bits of loose silver for himself and just brought over the gold bracelet.

Xie Licheng looked at it and said, "Houses in town are cheap. You're still young and you're the only one in your family, so I'll get you a small place. The rest should be enough to buy you a plot of farmland. The farmland here is different from outside. Out there, it goes for about 2 to 5 taels a mu, but here it's 10 taels a mu. Yeah, it sounds like double the price, but since this land can be passed down and the soil doesn't lose its fertility no matter how many years you farm it, it's actually a pretty good deal."

Xiao Zhuang didn't understand any of that, but hearing he could get a house and a mu of land to boot, he was pretty happy.

Xie Licheng went to the village shop to handle the land purchase and also picked up some grain seeds for Xiao Zhuang.

After buying and registering the land for Xiao Zhuang, he took Gu Zhangyuan back home to rest.

As for Xiao Zhuang's house, that would have to wait until Gu Zhangyuan went back to town tomorrow to handle the deed. Good timing, too—there were other people heading to town tomorrow to look at houses, so they could take care of everything at once.

Xie Licheng went back and rested, but headed out again that night and brought back four or five more people.

Among the new arrivals, there was a young couple who were pretty well-off. Once they got in and heard they could buy property here, they tagged along with Xie Licheng and Gu Zhangyuan to town the next day.

Once they got to town, Gu Zhangyuan had a lot on his plate, so he got to work with his servants.

Xie Licheng didn't go with him. He'd been up all night and sleeping during the day lately, so he hadn't gotten proper rest.

He went with Gu Zhangyuan to their place in town, then immediately crashed in the bedroom.

By the time he woke up in the evening, Gu Zhangyuan had just about wrapped up everything in town.

In a single day, they'd sold five houses in town.

Xiao Zhuang got himself a small place—a little three-room house with no courtyard.

Then there was that young couple who'd come in last night. They both seemed to come from decent families, so they still had some valuables on them when they were brought in.

On the alley next to the Gu family's place, they bought three houses all at once. One was just a few steps from the alley entrance, while the other two were further inside.

All three houses had large courtyards. They'd arrived in the village the night before and picked up a lot of info from the locals. They figured things outside weren't going to stay peaceful, so this place could work as a temporary base.

And since houses in town were cheap, they just went ahead and bought two extra, thinking they could rent them out later.

On top of those four houses, the family from the shop that Gu Zhangyuan and Xie Licheng had rescued together also bought a place in town today.

They were close to the Gu family, so they bought a place nearby. That way, they could all live close and look out for each other.

All told, the five houses brought in over a hundred taels of silver.

Gu Zhangyuan brought the silver home, and just then Xie Licheng woke up, so he moved to hand it over.

Gu Zhangyuan had the servant set the silver down, and only once the servant was gone did he speak up: "Husband, this is all the money from today's house sales. I'm handing it all over to you."

Hearing that, Xie Licheng said as he got dressed, "You keep it."

"Why?"

"From now on, you handle the houses and shops, and you manage the money from the sales too. Because you're going to have kids someday—whether it's for raising them or taking care of you, that money should come from me."

Gu Zhangyuan couldn't help but smile, but he still shook his head and said, "You're the one who saved the Gu family and seized back their silver. Even handing all of it over to you wouldn't repay that debt. How could I dare take more from you?"

Besides, this world was different—there were bound to be more towns and cities down the line.

No matter how capable Gu Zhangyuan was, he couldn't run all those places on his own.

With only a few places right now, Gu Zhangyuan could still run back and forth. But once there were more, it'd be way easier for Xie Licheng—who could literally "fly around"—to handle it all.

Seeing that Gu Zhangyuan really didn't want it, Xie Licheng took the silver. He pocketed the house money, then went back and brought out a jewelry box.

Xie Licheng placed the box in front of Gu Zhangyuan. "This is for you. Come to think of it, I've never given you a gift. These would just collect dust with me, so might as well bring them for you to wear."

Hearing that, Gu Zhangyuan walked over and sat down next to him. He opened the jewelry box and found all kinds of ornaments inside—new styles he'd never seen before.

He remembered seeing a bunch of similar ornaments when he'd taken Xuan Cui to Feng Garden the other day. Back then, since Xie Licheng wasn't home, he hadn't felt right about going in and poking around. He never expected that just two days later, Xie Licheng would hand him a whole box of them.

These weren't like the houses and shops—these were a gift from a husband to his spouse. That, Gu Zhangyuan felt, he could accept.

He dumped the contents of the box out and picked up a bright red ruby ring.

A ring was what later generations called it; in Gu Zhangyuan's time, they called it a finger ring.

Gu Zhangyuan had seen plenty of fine things, but he'd never seen a ruby this big.

He slipped it onto his finger, only to find it was a little too big.

Seeing that, Xie Licheng said, "I'll find a jeweler to resize it for you sometime."

Gu Zhangyuan laughed at that. He turned to look at Xie Licheng beside him, then stood up and swung a leg over to sit in his lap.

Xie Licheng steadied him with one hand, then picked up a pearl necklace with the other and held it up to Gu Zhangyuan's slender neck to see how it looked.

Gu Zhangyuan didn't like it—the pearls weren't great quality. He brushed the necklace aside and picked up a piece of jade instead.

"This one's good quality. Where'd you snatch this from?"

Xie Licheng said, a little helplessly, "This one wasn't snatched. A long time ago, someone gave it to me in exchange for antibiotics to save their life."

Sure, he took things from people, but not from just anyone.

He only took from bad people, mostly. In fact, a lot of his treasures came from trading supplies.

"A life-saving medicine."

"Such a powerful medicine?"

Seeing Gu Zhangyuan's eyes sparkling as he gazed at him, Xie Licheng thought his eyes were truly beautiful. He couldn't help but lean over and plant a kiss on Gu Zhangyuan's lips.

Gu Zhangyuan's face grew warm, but he made no move to push him away. Instead, he wound his fingers through Xie Licheng's hair, parted his lips slightly, and leaned in to kiss him back.

Xie Licheng thought Gu Zhangyuan was just like a snake—alluring, gorgeous, and clingy.

He wrapped his arms tightly around him, kissing the beauty's lips one moment, then peppering kisses on his neck the next.

Because the weather was a bit sweltering, and the town was hotter than the village, the two of them cuddling like this in the bedroom made it feel like a fire was burning through them.

Xie Licheng just hoisted him onto the table, shucking off his clothes as he pressed down on him.

Gu Zhangyuan, annoyed by the jewelry digging into his back on the table, lifted his leg with a pout to block Xie Licheng.

He whined, acting all coy, "Hubby, these things are digging into me."

Hearing that, Xie Licheng reached out to sweep the stuff off the table.

Gu Zhangyuan couldn't bear to lose them, so he quickly coiled around Xie Licheng like a snake.

That move would've been too much for most people to handle, but his husband wasn't just anyone.

Gu Zhangyuan felt his robes get yanked open, one hand gripping Xie Licheng's neck, the other grabbing his hand.

He said, "Those are mine—don't you dare break them."

Every single thing Xie Licheng had given him was worth a small fortune. Xie Licheng was a rough-and-tumble guy who didn't appreciate fine things.

But Gu Zhangyuan was different—he adored those delicate, pricey trinkets and couldn't stand to see them wrecked.

Hearing that, Xie Licheng nodded and said, "Then how about the bed?"

At the sound of Xie Licheng's low, husky voice, Gu Zhangyuan blushed and murmured, "We're not doing the full deed today—you need to rein it in a little."

Seeing he wasn't opposed, just didn't like doing it during the day, Xie Licheng couldn't help but chuckle softly.

"Alright, no full deed today."

Gu Zhangyuan had only said no consummation today, but he hadn't said nothing else was off the table, so Xie Licheng got the hint. Meaning—anything but the final act was fair game.

Letting Xie Licheng have his way meant Gu Zhangyuan took a bit of a physical beating.

Well, calling it purely physical wasn't quite right either. If it were all pain, Gu Zhangyuan wouldn't have gone along with it, knowing him.

He was used to the good life and loved acting spoiled around Xie Licheng. If it were really all misery, he'd have thrown a fit and sobbed ages ago.

As evening rolled around, Xie Licheng headed to the next room to wash up.

Xuan Cui and Yuan Qiao came in to help Gu Zhangyuan wash up and change. Yuan Qiao eyed the marks on Gu Zhangyuan's body, looking a bit pained.

Yuan Qiao whispered, "Young master... does it hurt bad? How can the master be so rough, bullying you without any restraint?"

Hearing that, Gu Zhangyuan shot him a lazy look and said, "Don't talk nonsense—my husband treats me extremely well."

His voice came out a little hoarse as he spoke, and Xuan Cui quickly handed him a cup of warm water to wet his throat.

Gu Zhangyuan glanced at the closed door and asked, "Nanny hasn't come by, has she?"

"No, she's busy with stuff at the main house. She shouldn't be by tonight."

Hearing the nanny wasn't coming back, Gu Zhangyuan breathed a small sigh of relief.

"That's good."

Xie Licheng had things to do tomorrow, and by then the marks on his body should've faded a bit. As long as no new marks showed up, the nanny shouldn't catch on to their "shenanigans."

Yuan Qiao eyed the jewelry on the table. "Did the master give you all that?"

There was so much—you'd think they'd robbed a jewelry store.

At that, a flicker of guilt crossed Gu Zhangyuan's eyes.

He raised a hand, signaling Xuan Cui to stash the stuff away first.

Gu Zhangyuan said, "Those things are all too flashy—I can't wear them out like this. Put them away properly for now, and they can be kept for the children later."

Hearing this, Xuan Cui found a better box and began carefully placing the items in one by one. As she did, she couldn't help but say, "Young master, the master is truly good to you. Any one of these pieces could probably buy a dozen or more estates."

Gu Zhangyuan combed his hair with a brush, staring at his reflection in the mirror, lost in thought. His mind was filled with the flirtatious words Xie Licheng had said while pressing kisses on him earlier—how he said Gu Zhangyuan was truly beautiful.

Actually... he didn't think he was that beautiful. There were many beautiful people in this world, and he was only somewhere in the middle-upper range.

But Xie Licheng said that in his eyes, Gu Zhangyuan was the most beautiful of all. Whether it was to take advantage of him or to charm him into a daze, he didn't know.

For dinner, they went to the Gu family's place.

Gu Zhangyuan was dressed impeccably, wearing a stunning platinum openwork bracelet.

This bracelet was among the jewelry Xie Licheng had given him, and Xuan Cui had picked what she thought was the most understated style for him to wear.

Originally, Gu Zhangyuan hadn't wanted to wear it—who was there to show it to this late in the evening?

But then he thought that since it was a gift from Xie Licheng, it wouldn't hurt to let Xie Licheng, as his husband, see it. So he extended his fair wrist and let Xuan Cui put it on.

As the two walked together to the Gu residence for dinner, Gu Yangxue, who had always been close to Gu Zhangyuan, noticed it.

She lifted her brother's sleeve for a peek and not only saw the bracelet on his wrist but also spotted what seemed to be a bite mark on his arm. Being still young and naive, Gu Yangxue reached out, wanting to touch that spot.

Xuan Cui, quick-eyed and quick-handed, hurried forward and pulled Gu Yangxue over to her side.

Xuan Cui whispered, "Miss, don't cause trouble."

Gu Yangxue wanted to say she wasn't causing trouble—she'd seen her brother's arm was injured and just wanted to remind him.

But seeing Xuan Cui so nervous, she caught on belatedly.

She quickly glanced at Xie Licheng, then moved to sit a bit farther away from her brother and brother-in-law.

Neither Xie Licheng nor Gu Zhangyuan noticed her actions. At that moment, Gu Zhangyuan was feeling sweet and was busy talking with his father, so naturally, he didn't pay attention to his sister.

Xie Licheng wouldn't have noticed Gu Yangxue either.