Chapter 69

Chapter 69

After that, Xie Licheng sent a few more people in one after another, but the child Cui Niang was looking for still wasn't among them, and her condition was clearly getting worse by the day.

Chen Yaosan was worried she couldn't hold on, so he had two people take her to his home to rest. As it happened, Xiao Zhuang was also tired by then, so he went back with her to rest as well.

Xiao Zhuang was just a little kid—he hadn't slept since last night, so he was definitely getting sleepy by now.

Chen Yaosan, worried about Cui Niang's condition, had Xiao Zhuang go with her to his place, just in case something happened while she rested.

Cui Niang wasn't the type to try to end her life. She still didn't know if her child was alive or dead, so there was no way she'd kill herself at a time like this.

Besides, the kid Xie Licheng had brought back was still with her, and she didn't want to break down in front of such a young one.

So she stayed strong, holding Xiao Zhuang's hand in one hand and the young man's in the other, as she headed to Chen Yaosan's place to rest for a bit.

She knew she couldn't afford to collapse now—she had to keep up her strength to keep waiting for her child.

She actually wanted to go out and search herself, but after learning how things worked here, she realized once you came in, you couldn't just walk out.

To make sure bad people didn't find out the secrets of this place, and to keep Xie Licheng and everyone else here safe, Xie Licheng wouldn't just take a bunch of people out of here.

That afternoon, Gu Zhangyuan brought the Gu family servants to the village.

Since Xie Licheng hadn't come to get him, he figured something must have happened. Once he brought people back to the village, he found that something had indeed gone wrong.

Gu Zhangyuan went back to the farm, called out Xuan Cui and Yuan Qiao, put down the stuff he'd brought, and then led the Gu family servants to help out.

Xie Licheng had brought in a lot of people this time, mostly young men, girls, and kids, and they all looked like they'd been through a lot.

Seeing these people, he felt both heartbroken and angry, and as he worked, he couldn't help secretly wiping his tears away.

But knowing there was still a lot to deal with in the village, Gu Zhangyuan pulled himself together and continued leading everyone through the busy work.

When evening came, Gu Zhangyuan took Xuan Cui and Yuan Qiao back to the farm for a quick rest.

After a short rest, Gu Zhangyuan led them to the orchard to pick fruit, planning to give some to the new arrivals.

These people had no food, and the villagers could only spare so much.

He figured the farm had plenty of fruit—it'd be a shame to let it rot in the orchard—so why not share some while the chance was there?

That way the fruit wouldn't rot, and they could help the poor newcomers too—two birds with one stone.

While Gu Zhangyuan was picking fruit with the two, Xie Licheng shoved two more people into Peach Blossom Village, and then he started bringing supplies in.

Master Cao's courtyard had no living people left, so with no one around, he could start gathering supplies.

This time it wasn't just Xie Licheng by himself—the supply gathering went a lot faster.

Everything Liu Xiaoyuan and Han Xihe scavenged was piled up in the courtyard where they'd first come in.

When Xie Licheng finished his own search and came back, he'd sweep everything into his pocket world all at once.

Ever since they'd found out what kind of business Master Cao was running, Liu Xiaoyuan and Han Xihe had been hauling things out of there without a second thought.

Every blade of grass and every tree in that place had been fed by sucking the blood of ordinary folks.

As the oppressed ones, being able to turn around and rob these people didn't fill them with guilt—it filled them with pure satisfaction.

The stuff here shouldn't be left for that gang—it should go to the people who'd been bullied.

With that thought, even though they were worn out, they suddenly didn't feel so tired anymore.

Swords, blades, rice, flour, oil, grain, tables, chairs, stools, potted plants, beds, mattresses, clothes, shoes—they hauled it all out with gusto.

At first Xie Licheng looked down on this stuff, but later he saw they'd worked so hard to haul it all out and pile it together.

It was too much trouble to sort through, so he just swept it all up at once.

Everything was stored in the village, and once they'd stripped the place clean, Xie Licheng brought them back.

When Xie Licheng got back, Gu Zhangyuan was in the middle of having people hand out fruit to the newcomers.

The fruit from Xie Licheng's farm was big, plump, and juicy, and since it was hot weather, perfect for eating fruit, Gu Zhangyuan's timing was perfect—it let everyone cool off and enjoy a snack.

When he heard Xie Licheng was back, Gu Zhangyuan quickly handed the fruit distribution job to a village woman.

When Gu Zhangyuan brought Yuan Qiao over, Xie Licheng was resting with Liu Xiaoyuan and the others in front of the big pile of supplies.

These supplies had been sitting there for a while, and the villagers didn't dare touch anything without permission. Every time Xie Licheng brought stuff in from outside, they only dared to touch it if he specifically said it was for them.

This time, a lot of supplies had been brought in, and a lot of it looked pretty valuable. Even though everyone's eyes were full of greed, not a single person dared to walk over and touch anything.

Xie Licheng was sitting in a grand armchair, and since it was so hot, he'd taken off his shirt.

An older woman had fetched some water and wanted to wipe the sweat off his face and body.

She was a mother herself, and Xie Licheng hadn't slept since yesterday. Looking at him reminded her of her own son, and she couldn't help but feel a twinge of sympathy.

She figured that at her age, taking care of Xie Licheng wouldn't be improper. But before she could actually do anything, Yuan Qiao came rushing over.

Yuan Qiao smiled and thanked the woman on Gu Zhangyuan's behalf, then took the basin of water from her.

Yuan Qiao said, "My master is Master Xie's husband—let my master take care of this."

Seeing Gu Zhangyuan arrive, the woman smiled knowingly and walked away.

Yuan Qiao took a clean handkerchief, soaked it in the water, and handed it to Gu Zhangyuan.

Gu Zhangyuan smiled, and with so many people around, he felt a little embarrassed. But when he saw everyone was being casual about it and didn't seem to want to leave, he steeled himself and stepped forward.

He took the handkerchief and told Xuan Cui, who had followed him, "Go back to the farm and bring my husband a bowl of hot soup."

Xie Licheng said, "No need—I already ate out there."

He'd grabbed food from the farm twice while he was out.

Neither he nor the two young men were hungry right now.

Seeing he really wasn't hungry, Gu Zhangyuan motioned for Yuan Qiao to fan Xie Licheng from the side.

Yuan Qiao took out a small folding fan and stood off to the side, gently fanning Xie Licheng.

Then Gu Zhangyuan took the handkerchief and began carefully, gently wiping the sweat from his face.

Xie Licheng was a rough guy—he'd never had this kind of treatment before.

Someone fanning him, and his husband wiping his face and body with his own hands.

He wasn't quite used to it, and he also didn't want to be smelling other young men's fragrance.

That other young man referred to Yuan Qiao. The weather was hot, and Yuan Qiao had also put on some incense.

Standing nearby fanning him now, the scent naturally drifted over with each wave of the fan.

It wasn't that Xie Licheng disliked the scent on him, but he just didn't want to be smelling another young man's scent when he already had a husband.

So Xie Licheng spoke up: "You don't need to fan me anymore. Go take a break over there."

Xie Licheng's words were clearly meant to send him away, and as it happened, Yuan Qiao didn't want to wait on Xie Licheng either, so he ran over to the pile of supplies and asked, "Young master, what should we do with all this stuff?"

Xie Licheng was enjoying his husband wiping his face for him and said with his eyes still closed, "Grab some people to sort everything out and lay it all out by category around the village."

Yuan Qiao took the order and got to work with a few of the stronger villagers.

Gold, silver, and jewelry in one pile; clothes, shoes, and socks in another; then bedding and gauze curtains...

That pile was pretty big, and sorting through it all would take a while.

Gu Zhangyuan rolled up his sleeves and first wiped Xie Licheng's face, then his upper body. He'd never done stuff like this before, but now that he had a husband, he'd picked up a bit and was getting better at it.

In the past, Gu Zhangyuan couldn't understand why having a husband meant you had to take care of him and wait on him.

He figured, since they had servants, why should he have to do this kind of stuff himself?

Now that he actually had a husband, and one he loved, he found he could do it after all—and he did it willingly, even happily.

After Gu Zhangyuan finished wiping Xie Licheng's upper body, he washed his hands and looked at Xie Licheng's chapped lips. He said, a little worried, "Didn't we agree you wouldn't get into fights with them?"

Xie Licheng: "The one who came after us was just some thug. He was on his own."

"Then... what happened?"

Not only had he taken in all these people at once, he'd also piled up a ton of supplies over there.

Xie Licheng looked a little helpless. "I originally wanted to help Liu Xiaoyuan find his family, but as I was looking... I ended up stumbling onto some Master Eight's hideout."

Gu Zhangyuan looked a little helpless too. "Did he do something bad, and you got pissed and took out his whole operation?"

Xie Licheng nodded. Seeing no one was looking their way, he lifted Gu Zhangyuan's hand to his lips and kissed it.

Gu Zhangyuan's face went red. He quickly glanced around to make sure no one had seen what Xie Licheng just did, then pinched his arm in mock annoyance.

Before Xie Licheng could keep teasing his young husband, Xuan Cui came over with a bowl of hot water from the village. Xie Licheng took it, drank, and then said, "Yeah, they all deserved to die."

If they deserved to die, then there really wasn't anything more to say.

Gu Zhangyuan knew Xie Licheng well. He'd killed a lot of people, but he never killed the innocent, and he'd even rescue the elderly, the weak, women, and kids.

If he said those people deserved to die, then they definitely weren't good people.

Once he felt his strength had mostly come back, Xie Licheng stood up and started handing out the supplies.

He walked over to the gold, silver, and jewelry first and had Yuan Qiao fetch a chest.

He said to Gu Zhangyuan, "Pick out a few things you like first."

He didn't plan to keep all of it—he'd leave some for the kids who didn't have parents.

A lot of these kids had been kidnapped and sold into Wencheng.

There was no way Xie Licheng could help them find their families one by one.

He could only keep heading south, helping if he happened to run into their families, and if not, then it was just their bad luck.

To make sure these kids could survive, he figured it was better to give them some silver. Ideally, they'd go live in a town or city, but either way, they couldn't stay in Taohua Village to fend for themselves.

In the future, Taohua Village was going to become a chaotic place, and a lot of people would be sent here. Kids without adult guardians shouldn't stay here.

Gu Zhangyuan didn't really want those things. In his eyes, they weren't just material goods—they'd been gotten through other people's women, young men, and kids.

Xie Licheng could tell what he was thinking and still urged him to keep just one or two things.

These were Master Cao's stolen goods. Xie Licheng had saved so many people—even if he didn't have any great merit, he'd put in the hard work. He figured keeping some for himself and Gu Zhangyuan was no big deal.

Because without Xie Licheng, not only would those stolen goods never have been recovered, but the people who'd been captured would've kept suffering. Once Wencheng fell into chaos, the captives might've even been killed.

Xie Licheng didn't owe those captured people anything. On the contrary, he was their benefactor—he'd put in time and resources to save them, and now he was giving them a safe place to stay. He was only taking a little something for his trouble, not hoarding all the wealth. He figured he was already a pretty good guy.

Xie Licheng: "Pick some. Consider it payment for all your hard work today."

Gu Zhangyuan thought it over and finally picked out a few things from the pile.

After Gu Zhangyuan picked his, Xie Licheng took half of what was left for himself.

He had the Gu family servants move their stuff away, and only then did he start handing out supplies to everyone in the village.

First, he gave to the hardest workers, Liu Xiaoyuan and Han Xihe. Those two young men had put in a lot of effort this time.

Xie Licheng said to them, "Pick three things each from the pile."

Han Xihe immediately asked, "Anything I want?"

"Yeah, you two worked hard this time. This is your reward."

Hearing that, Han Xihe didn't hold back anymore.

He stepped up and picked three things. The first two were made of gold, and the last one was a jade bracelet.

Gold was worth money; he planned to use it to buy a house and some land.

The jade bracelet was for winning himself a wife. At his age, he'd be of marriageable age soon.

After Han Xihe picked his, Liu Xiaoyuan stepped forward a little shyly.

He took a gold ingot, a jade bead bracelet, and finally a fine inkstone.

Xie Licheng was pretty surprised and asked, "You want to become a scholar someday?"

Liu Xiaoyuan nodded. "I want to study, but that can wait. For now, I still want to follow you."

Even if he became a scholar, he couldn't be some weakling who couldn't even truss a chicken.

He wanted to be good at both books and fighting—only then could he be truly useful.

Xie Licheng praised him, "Mm, ambitious. Once more people gather here, we should be able to find a teacher. Then you can study for real."

Whether civil officials or military generals, each had their own strengths. They already had a few military types here, and it was about time to start cultivating some civil officials.

After they left with their items, Xie Licheng then had the villagers who had worked hardest since yesterday each pick one valuable item.

Altogether, eight people were singled out, and Chen Yaosan was among them.

When the village head came to pick his item, he said to Xie Licheng with some shame, "I'm really getting old, I can't really keep them in line anymore. Kind sir, why not take this opportunity to appoint a new village head?"

Xie Licheng nodded at this, looking at the increasingly aged village head and saying, "Why don't you move to the town, sir?"

The village head quickly shook his head at this, "No need, this place is just fine. I'm a mountain villager, and I'll grow old and die here. Also, I'm still not quite at ease about this place, so I want to stay and keep a good eye on things."

Xie Licheng didn't force him, letting him follow his own wishes.

Then he looked at Chen Yaosan, "How about you take over as village head from now on?"

Being village head was destined to be troublesome, and he'd be tied to this place in the future.

Before, Chen Yaosan had been alone, but now he not only had Xiao Zhuang, but he'd probably also be living with Cui Niang. Xie Licheng wondered if he might be unwilling.

Chen Yaosan said, "Alright, I'll take care of this place."

Xie Licheng glanced at him, "Are you sure you want to take this on?"

"Isn't it what you wanted me to do?"

"I do want you to take it, because right now you're the only one who can keep them in line. But if you don't want to stay in the village, you can also turn down my offer."

Chen Yaosan shook his head, "I quite like the village too. I'll be the village head."

At that point, Chen Yaosan asked, "Cui Niang's child... wasn't found?"

Xie Licheng shook his head at this, "I took people and searched twice, but didn't see any trace of the boy. When you go back, comfort her well. I'll probably stay in Wencheng for a few more days, and if I happen to come across her child, I'll help bring him back."

Chen Yaosan quickly said, "Thanks, boss."

Because Chen Yaosan had taken on the heavy burden of the village, he could no longer continue living in that out-of-the-way little courtyard.

As village head, it was best to live near the village center. If anything happened, living there would let him be the first to know. Since Xie Licheng was currently in the village, he planned to take advantage of this time to move to a new house.

While Chen Yaosan went to handle the house change, Xie Licheng packed the remaining gold, silver, and jewels into a chest, then took Liu Xiaoyuan to check on everyone's situation in the village.

He counted the number of orphaned children, used the remaining gold, silver, and jewels to buy them a large house in town, and also purchased four mu of farmland for them next to the town.

From then on, they would live in town, plant grain on the four mu of land, and wouldn't starve in the winter.

After sorting out the kids' situation, Xie Licheng began dealing with the remaining supplies.

The remaining supplies were things like rice, flour, cooking oil, grain, clothes, bedding, and furniture.

Xie Licheng didn't set much store by these items, so he decided to distribute them among the villagers.

These past two days, everyone in the village had been busy helping out as well, and quite a few households had given a good amount of food.

They themselves hadn't been there long and didn't have much money or food on hand.

Now they also had to help others, so their own households were probably not doing well either.

Xie Licheng first distributed the rice, flour, cooking oil, and other staples. Whether new arrivals or old villagers, every household got a share based on headcount.

Then he moved on to handing out clothes, bedding, furniture...

By the time everything was distributed, it was already the next morning.

Xie Licheng was really worn out this time, and after finishing all that, he was about to head back to the farm to rest.

Just then, Chen Yaosan came over carrying a little boy. This boy was none other than the very child Xie Licheng had carried in earlier.

The child had been fairly good when Cui Niang took him, but later, when Cui Niang realized Xie Licheng hadn't found her own child, she fell into a bad state and had no energy left to deal with this child.

Alone and feeling completely out of place, the child couldn't help but start whimpering and crying.

Chen Yaosan looked rough and didn't know how to comfort a little kid like that. Since the kid was asking for Xie Licheng anyway, he just brought him straight over.

Xie Licheng looked at the child with a look of utter speechlessness, wanting Chen Yaosan to just find some mother or father to look after the kid.

Quite a few families in the village had lost their own kids. This kid was fair-skinned and pretty cute, so plenty of families would probably want him.

He could also be sent to town along with the other kids.

But the kid only wanted Xie Licheng, otherwise he'd just keep silently crying.

In the end, with no other option, Xie Licheng had to carry the kid back with him.

He granted the child access to the farm. Once back, he had Xuan Cui look after the kid for the time being, then he went back to the bedroom in Xiyuan to rest.

Seeing a kid suddenly brought back, Yuan Qiao couldn't help but gossip quietly with Gu Zhangyuan.

"Master, what's the young lord's deal? Why'd he suddenly bring a kid home?"

Gu Zhangyuan ate a lychee and said nonchalantly, "Probably he saw the kid was pitiful and well-behaved, so he's keeping him at the farm for now."

Yuan Qiao peeled a lychee and said quietly, "But... you two haven't even consummated the marriage yet, and he's already brought back some strange kid. Is he trying to say he wants kids?"

Gu Zhangyuan gently shook his head, "I don't think he's someone who likes kids. The reason he brought that kid back is probably because the kid has a likable personality."

Hearing this, Yuan Qiao got even more worked up, "How can that be?! If the young lord takes a liking to another kid, won't it be a hassle when his own child is born later?"

Gu Zhangyuan couldn't take it anymore. He looked up, shot Yuan Qiao a glance, and said, "That kid wasn't born to some mistress of his, and he was even trafficked by those bad people. You can't be that lacking in tolerance."

Yuan Qiao's lack of tolerance mainly came from the fact that Xie Licheng had let Xuan Cui into the farm first, and only after a while allowed him in.

But this kid—he'd just arrived and got into the farm that easily.

This was the farm, after all—only people Xie Licheng trusted most would be let in.

He felt Xie Licheng treated the kid specially and feared he might threaten the standing of his master's future children.

Now that his master had scolded him, he also felt he was being a bit paranoid.

Xie Licheng slept all the way until the next morning. When he woke up and found his handsome husband beside him, he couldn't help but lean over and sniff all over his husband.

Woken up by Xie Licheng's fussing, Gu Zhangyuan blushed and pushed him back a few times. Seeing Xie Licheng getting worked up, he half-heartedly let Xie Licheng undo his clothes.

At first, Xie Licheng just wanted to sniff and then kiss his pretty husband. But when he found his husband being so obedient, he couldn't help getting more and more bold.

Xie Licheng undid Gu Zhangyuan's top, pulling the collar down below his shoulders.

He kissed his pretty spouse for a while, then grew a bit annoyed with his spouse's long, lovely hair.

He raised his head, pulled off his sash, and intended to tie up Gu Zhangyuan's long hair with it.

Gu Zhangyuan looked displeased and said, "I don't want to use this."

Xie Licheng and Gu Zhangyuan were like a rough, unromantic brute and a fussy, high-maintenance scholar.

One was so careless he bordered on crude.

The other was so particular he came off as finicky.

Gu Zhangyuan slowly swept his long hair back over his shoulders, lying against Xie Licheng while pulling his loose robe shut.

Seeing him pull his clothes shut with a demure look on his handsome face, Xie Licheng, out of pure mischief, grabbed and ripped, tearing the beauty's clothes clean off.

Gu Zhangyuan scolded, "You have no shame!"

Xie Licheng lowered his eyes, openly admiring the view while brazenly saying, "If I had any shame, how would I knock you up with my kid?"

As Xie Licheng pressed down on him again, Gu Zhangyuan asked him in a small, aggrieved voice.

"Is being with me just so I can give you a kid?"

"No, haven't we already talked about this?"

Xie Licheng wasn't particularly fond of children. If anything, between the two of them, Gu Zhangyuan was the one who wanted children more.

Xie Licheng: "I said that just to tease you, to bully you."

Gu Zhangyuan understood now and muttered softly that he was truly wicked.

But when Xie Licheng grabbed his legs, he still cooperatively wrapped himself around him.

After all, even if he could be a bit wicked at times, this man was the one he wanted.