Chapter 56

Chapter 56

After putting the ointment on his face, Gu Zhangyuan felt a lot better. Remembering he still needed to find the green beans, he hurried back to the storage room.

Xie Licheng didn't follow him inside—he stayed in the kitchen to show Xuan Cui how to cook.

There were many things in the kitchen that Xuan Cui didn't recognize, such as modern cooking utensils and seasonings.

Xie Licheng helped in the kitchen while introducing those items to Xuan Cui.

But before he could finish introducing everything, Gu Zhangyuan came out holding two boxes.

Of the two boxes Gu Zhangyuan carried, one contained the green beans he was looking for, and the other held grapes.

Seeing that the grapes looked especially plump, each one quite large, he wanted to try some.

He handed the green beans to Xuan Cui and asked, "Husband, can I eat some?"

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

Since Gu Zhangyuan was his wife now, why would he begrudge him a little food?

If he was going to be stingy about this and that, he might as well have stayed single. There would have been no need to take a wife at all.

A man who won't share with his own wife is better off staying single for life. That way, everything he owns stays his, and he never has to worry about anyone else touching it.

Hearing this, Gu Zhangyuan went to wash the grapes. Xuan Cui, seeing this, shot him a disapproving look.

Gu Zhangyuan had already eaten fruit earlier. If he ate grapes now, how would he have room for lunch?

But since Xie Licheng was home, Xuan Cui didn't want to scold her master in front of him, so she could only sneak a glance back at Gu Zhangyuan.

Feeling a bit guilty under her gaze, he muttered, "I won't eat too many, just one or two."

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

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

Xie Licheng looked out from the kitchen window and saw Gu Zhangyuan heading toward the pond alone. 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 basic.

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

Building here wasn't like the real world either—it wasn't about laying bricks one by one. Instead, as long as he had the materials, the structure could be built in no time.

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

A well required ten stones and twenty pieces of wood.

His farm could support a lot of structures—like a garden, pavilion, livestock shed, stable, greenhouse... and even an underground cellar for storage.

The cellar was another kind of storage that didn't take up much ground space—kind of like a storage chest in a sandbox game.

Only Xie Licheng, as the player, could use the cellar—so even if someone else 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 a good idea to build two cellars to store dangerous stuff.

Xie Licheng definitely trusted Gu Zhangyuan, but trusting him didn't mean he could trust everyone else.

Besides, some things were dangerous—like guns. If they fell into the wrong hands, they could be a real threat to Gu Zhangyuan.

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

While Xie Licheng was thinking this over, he reached the pond and found Gu Zhangyuan.

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

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

When he saw Xie Licheng had followed him out, he looked up with a smile and asked, "Why did 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 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 paying attention to Gu Zhangyuan's smudged face.

"You don't need to pick those. I'll pick them when I have time."

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

Picking peaches wasn't all that tiring—the real problem was the bugs in the orchard.

Hearing that, Xie Licheng crouched down and started washing the 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 these past few days, so stay out of 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 cooking.

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.

After learning that Xie Licheng's storage room could keep things fresh and at the right temperature, Xuan Cui decided to cook extra dishes that afternoon to store in there.

That way, even if she wasn't at the farm one day, her master and the young lord wouldn't go hungry.

So that afternoon, while Xie Licheng left the farm 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 underclothes and hung them under the eaves to dry.

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

But as he sat under the eaves, he gradually got sleepy 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 prevent Gu Zhangyuan and Xuan Cui from falling in, he put a fence around the well.

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

After finishing the well, Xie Licheng built a pavilion by the pond.

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

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

He'd originally planted the fruit trees so they'd never run short of fruit, but later, with how busy he always was, he'd completely forgotten about it.

In his past life, when he was busy, the fruit would drop all over the ground and he never had time to pick it up.

This life, he was busy too. If Gu Zhangyuan hadn't brought it up today, he'd have forgotten the fruit was even ripe.

Summer was when a lot of fruit ripened.

Xie Licheng went in for a quick look, and when he came out, he'd picked a whole basket of fruit.

He carried the fruit back and let Gu Zhangyuan, who'd just woken up, pick out whatever he liked. Whatever Gu Zhangyuan didn't want, he hauled to the village to hand out.

There was still plenty of unripe fruit left in the grove, so they wouldn't be running short anytime soon.

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

Besides, Xie Licheng had been eating the village's food for days, so handing out some fruit was no big deal.

When Gu Zhangyuan heard Xie Licheng was heading out again, he kept picking his fruit and said, calm as ever, "Do you need me to 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 kind of folks they are yet, and you've got no guards with you right now. You're safer staying put at the farmstead."

Gu Zhangyuan nodded. "Alright, got it."

After that, Xie Licheng hauled the basket to the village and let everyone know a bunch of people would be arriving soon. He also had someone fetch Chen Yaosan, just to make sure the newcomers wouldn't stir up trouble once they got there.

When Xie Licheng headed out, he handed the basket of fruit over to the village chief.

The village chief grabbed a stool, sat down by the basket, and started handing out the fruit.

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

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

Qing Niang, who'd come out to hand out fruit, spotted them and smiled, trying to coax them. "You two shouldn't get mixed up in all this. Go on back and get some sleep."

Xiao Rui shook her head. "No way. The village is gonna be a racket soon. We wouldn't be able to sleep anyway."

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

The old village chief was getting up there in years. He'd once had a grandson and a granddaughter, but both kids had died in an accident.

He'd figured that was how his life would end, but turns out heaven had been pretty good to him after all.

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

They weren't his own flesh and blood, but the two kids were well-behaved, and having them around meant he wasn't lonely anymore.

Qing Niang was about to say more, but when she saw Chen Yaosan coming over, she ducked into the crowd, scared stiff.

She knew Chen Yaosan was one of the rebels.

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

Chen Yaosan didn't even notice her. Xie Licheng had put the village's safety in his hands, and he'd taken a real liking to the place, so he sure didn't want anything bad to happen to it.

He got an apple too. He'd been a farmer back in the day—when had he ever eaten anything so fancy? One bite, sweet and juicy, and his spirits picked right up.

Life was good now—a quiet mountain village with plenty of game to hunt up in the hills.

The villagers down below were plain 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.

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

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

Before they'd even gotten that family settled, a few more people started trickling in one by one.

And with them came whatever belongings they'd brought along.

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 flood the place all at once, Xie Licheng didn't send anyone else in after that.

He started tossing in supplies every so often—grain, clothes, bedding, stuff like that.

It was still hot out, so the folks in Peach Blossom Village didn't need clothes or bedding just yet.

But once it got cold later on, if they still had nothing to wear or sleep under, they'd have a hard time surviving in this world.

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

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

Once he was back, he didn't head straight to the farmstead to rest—he stayed in the village to hand out the supplies.

Xie Licheng didn't need any of it; he had way better stuff back at the farmstead.

If it was something he actually 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 based on headcount.

Men, women, kids—everyone got their share.

When Xiao Zhuang went up with Xiao Rui to get his supplies, he asked Xie Licheng, "Uncle Benefactor, can I buy some land from you?"

Xie Licheng handed him a sack of coarse grain and two packets of coarse salt.

Xie Licheng looked at him. "Sure, how many plots you looking to buy?"

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

He had no idea what farmland cost around here, or how much his gold bracelet was worth, so he needed Xie Licheng's help with the whole land-buying thing.

Xie Licheng nodded. "Alright, soon as I'm done handing these out."

Xiao Zhuang was overjoyed at this and struggled to haul their stuff back with Xiao Rui.

On the way, Xiao Rui lowered her voice and murmured to him, "If you're really wealthy, you could take this chance to buy a house in town. Even if you don't go live there for now, you'll definitely end up in town eventually."

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

Since he was new to the area and didn't know anyone, he felt quite dependent on Xiao Rui and Grandpa Village Chief.

Xiao Rui 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. Sooner or later, anyone who can afford it will move to town."

Xiao Zhuang felt completely lost at this, having no idea what to do. Should he buy more farmland in the village, or should he buy a house in town?

He decided to wait until Uncle finished his work and then ask his opinion. This was Uncle's territory, so he probably knew much more than they did.

The two kids went home and waited quietly for Xie Licheng to show up. They waited and waited, and finally, after an hour, Xie Licheng arrived.

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