Chapter 77

Chapter 77

The next morning, the rain cleared and the sky brightened.

Xie Licheng took his fishing rod to the village to fish—different fishing spots yielded different kinds of fish.

The pond on their farm could only yield those few types of fish, and Xie Licheng figured since he had nothing to do in the morning, he might as well go fishing in the village.

He could catch plenty of fresh fish and have the wet nurse make something nutritious to put some meat on his beloved husband's bones.

In Xie Licheng's view, a little more meat on his bones meant better health and an easier childbirth.

More weight meant more strength when the time came to give birth.

Then, while fishing in the village, he ran into the female physician he had rescued earlier.

Her injuries hadn't fully healed yet, and her face looked rather pale. She had gotten up early to dig for herbs at the foot of the mountain, and wanted to check beyond the village for more medicinal plants.

Since Xie Licheng was her lifesaver, she caught sight of him from a distance and felt obliged to come over and thank him.

The female physician was named Lin Xiuniang, and Xie Licheng noticed that many young women in the Great Zhou had "niang" in their names.

There was Qing Niang from before, Cui Niang from Chen Yaosan's household, and now another Xiuniang.

Lin Xiuniang was an introvert by nature—she didn't smile much and didn't enjoy interacting with people.

But because she was a physician, even if she disliked dealing with people, she had to force herself to do so.

Take this very moment: she clearly didn't want to come talk to Xie Licheng, but since he was her lifesaver, she had to steel herself to thank him.

Lin Xiuniang stood on the riverbank and bowed to Xie Licheng.

She said, "My name is Lin Xiuniang. I thank you, Benefactor, for saving my life the other day."

Xie Licheng glanced at her upon hearing this, and seeing the particularly gruesome scar on her face, he recalled how badly she had been injured back then. She was lucky to be alive—not only had she survived, but she was already up and moving around.

Xie Licheng: "Have your injuries improved?"

For someone with her skills, Xie Licheng was always more patient and courteous.

Lin Xiuniang replied calmly, "They are much better now."

"That's good, then go on with your business."

Hearing Xie Licheng say this, Lin Xiuniang breathed a quiet sigh of relief. She truly wasn't good at socializing and was afraid that staying longer might say something wrong.

As she walked away slowly with her basket on her back, she thought about how Xie Licheng had saved her, and resolved to find a way to repay him someday.

Someone like the Benefactor probably didn't lack money or food. So if she wanted to repay him, she would have to find another angle.

Xie Licheng didn't know what she was thinking—he was fully focused on his fishing.

But he hadn't been fishing long before a handful of kids gathered around him.

Leading the group, of course, was Xiao Rui, who had known Xie Licheng the longest and had been the first to enter the hidden world. Compared to the others, she understood both this place and Xie Licheng better, so she wasn't as scared of him.

When Xiao Rui noticed Xie Licheng had come to the village today, she immediately ran over, beaming.

The other kids were close to Xiao Rui, and seeing her dare to approach Xie Licheng, they all trailed after her.

Xiao Rui sat down beside Xie Licheng and asked, "Benefactor, when you go out in the future, can you take me with you?"

Xie Licheng smiled. He looked down at her and asked, "Why? It's so dangerous out there—why do you want to go?"

He had brought many people into the world over time, and even if Xiao Rui and the others had never been outside, they could still learn from those people what the outside world was like.

With the world so chaotic, it would be very dangerous for a little kid like Xiao Rui to go out.

Xiao Rui: "I want to go out and help you save people, Benefactor! Brother Xiao Yuan and the others said that going out with you to rescue people is hard work, but you get paid in gold when you come back."

Xie Licheng chuckled. "So... you just want the gold?"

Xiao Rui felt a bit embarrassed. She rubbed her little hands together, then smiled and said, "Not entirely—I really do want to help you save people. There are lots of poor souls out there, and I want to help bring them in."

Xie Licheng said offhandedly, "Alright, if it's not too dangerous, I'll bring you along."

Not everywhere in the Great Zhou was at war these days—the main battlefields were in the north and the central plains.

The troubles in the south now were mainly floods and plagues.

After great floods come plagues—that was the real reason the south would become so dangerous.

Xie Licheng's resistance was very high, so those plagues posed no threat to him whatsoever.

But once the plagues spread, it wouldn't be wise for him to rescue too many more people.

Xie Licheng: "By the way, do you want to go to school?"

At the mention of studying, Xiao Zhuang quickly popped his head out from behind the others.

Xiao Zhuang said to Xie Licheng, "Uncle Benefactor, do I have to go study?"

Xie Licheng glanced at him. "Why don't you want to study?"

Xiao Zhuang: "I don't like studying—it's not as fun as learning martial arts. I want to go to the military camp and train in martial arts."

Xie Licheng: "Your father won't let you train?"

Xiao Zhuang nodded. He squeezed in next to Xie Licheng and hugged his leg, saying, "He insists I study and says I'll amount to nothing if I don't."

Xie Licheng: "Then just go study. He's your father—you should listen to him."

"But I don't want to study. I think that teacher is really ugly."

Hearing this, Xie Licheng laughed. He had seen the scholar several times before. While the man wasn't exactly drop-dead handsome, he definitely wasn't ugly either.

Xie Licheng disagreed, saying, "It's fine that you don't like studying, but you can't badmouth the teacher's appearance. He's decent-looking—and with that scholarly air about him, plenty of young ladies and lads would fancy him. If you want to land a pretty wife in the future, you need to know both martial arts and how to read and write. Otherwise, it'll be very hard to find a pretty wife."

Xiao Zhuang stared, annoyed. "Why do I need to know so much just to find a wife? And... Uncle Benefactor, aren't you also a rough-and-tumble guy? Don't you have a handsome husband? I can see Young Master Gu doesn't seem to mind you. So why do you insist I go study?"

Xie Licheng really wanted to spank Xiao Zhuang—he wasn't actually illiterate.

Before he had crossed over to this world, he had been a college student.

His current ruggedness came from surviving a brutal apocalypse, which had turned him into the rough, uncouth man he was now.

Also, he could read the local language.

He just didn't write much because he didn't know how to write with a brush.

If you swapped the brush for a fountain pen or a pencil, he could still write a few traditional Chinese characters.

Xie Licheng's face darkened. "Go, go, go. If you don't want to study, go tell your father. I'm not your dad."

Seeing Xie Licheng's expression change, Xiao Zhuang didn't dare say another word.

He shuffled aside looking all wronged, pouting and stealing glances at Xie Licheng.

Xie Licheng ignored him and looked over at Xiao Rui.

Xiao Rui smiled. "I... can I go study?"

Xie Licheng: "If you want to study, I can pay for your schooling."

Xiao Rui hesitated, then carefully tugged at Xie Licheng's sleeve. "But I'm a girl. Would that be a problem?"

Xie Licheng looked at her. "No. You just need to tell me if you want to go. You don't need to worry about anything else."

Xiao Rui: "Then I'll go. I'll study. My parents always said studying is a good thing, and that only boys got to do it. Since it's a good thing, then I'll go study."

Hearing that Xiao Rui was going to study, Xiao Zhuang, who hadn't wanted to before, quickly spoke up. "Then... I'll go study too."

The training grounds happened to be near the school, so he could still sneak off there to play from time to time.

Xie Licheng didn't waste any time. He stood up and packed away his fishing gear.

He said to Xiao Rui, "Go tell your grandfather, then wait for me at the edge of the village."

Xiao Rui nodded and took off running.

Xiao Rui said that Xie Licheng was sending her to school to study, and her grandfather was thrilled to hear it.

Grandfather said to Xiao Rui, "Schooling costs a lot of money. You must study hard in the future and not let down the Benefactor's kindness to you."

Xiao Rui nodded. "I know. He's been really good to me. I treat him like a father."

Xie Licheng went back to grab dried meat and grain. When Gu Zhangyuan heard he was going to the school, he wanted to tag along and check it out.

Gu Zhangyuan asked, "Can I come too?"

Xie Licheng: "Sure, but your legs are bothering you. How about I give you a ride on my bicycle?"

"Aren't you also bringing the kids? If you give me a ride, what about them?"

So in the end, they got a horse-drawn cart. Xie Licheng drove it, while Gu Zhangyuan, Xiao Rui, and Xiao Zhuang sat inside.

When Xie Licheng brought Gu Zhangyuan and the others to the school, there was only one young boy from town inside.

The scholar was with his only student, making a sandbox for writing practice.

Paper and pens were hard to come by these days, so to cut down on study costs, he'd come up with the idea of making this kind of sandbox.

Then at that moment, he saw Xie Licheng and the others arriving at the door and quickly got up from the ground.

The scholar bowed to Xie Licheng. "Young Master Xie."

Seeing Gu Zhangyuan behind Xie Licheng, he should have addressed him as Xie's husband. But then he remembered Gu Zhangyuan's situation was different, so after thinking it over, he cautiously addressed him as Young Master Gu.

Xie Licheng: "I'm sending these two to study. Here's their tuition."

Xie Licheng had only prepared Xiao Rui's tuition; Xiao Zhuang's was covered by Chen Yaosan.

With so much tuition coming in all at once, the scholar felt a little more relieved. It looked like he wouldn't starve anytime soon.

Xie Licheng said to the two boys at the school, "You're boys, so you can't bully the girl. If I find out you've bullied her, I'll throw you into the mountains to feed the wolves."

Xiao Zhuang wasn't afraid of Xie Licheng at all. He chuckled and grabbed Xiao Rui's hand.

Xiao Zhuang: "I won't bully her. I came to study so I can protect her."

Gu Zhangyuan glanced at Xiao Zhuang. The boy wasn't even as tall as Xiao Rui—how was he supposed to protect her?

Afterward, Xie Licheng took Gu Zhangyuan to check the place out.

Gu Zhangyuan had never been here before. As they strolled, he couldn't help but say softly, "If I didn't have so much on my plate and weren't trying to have a kid, I'd actually like to come here and teach the kids to read."

Xie Licheng said, "The school only has three kids now. Better not take the man's job."

Gu Zhangyuan had no intention of taking anyone's job, but Xie Licheng's mention of it reminded him that the Gu family had once run a paper mill.

Gu Zhangyuan turned back to look at Xie Licheng. "There are a few decent plots of land outside the county town. I want to buy them and set up two properties. One for growing medicinal herbs, and one for a paper mill."

Xie Licheng nodded at that. "Alright, see which spot you like. I can help you build them. I build faster, so it'll be more convenient than doing it yourselves."

Gu Zhangyuan blinked. "Then I'll pay you for it."

Xie Licheng was about to say he didn't need payment, but then he remembered this was Gu family property. The wages for helping build the estates wouldn't be too high, and it wouldn't be a big deal to the Gu family. Besides, Gu Zhangyuan had a lot of pride—if he helped without taking anything, Gu Zhangyuan would probably feel too embarrassed to ask for his help again in the future.

Xie Licheng thought it over and said, "Alright then. When are you planning to start building?"

"No hurry. The Gu family just bought the fields outside the county town, and they're busy planting these days."

At the mention of planting, Xie Licheng suddenly remembered he still had ten bags of sweet potatoes to plant.

So the two of them strolled around a bit more, and then Xie Licheng took him back to the village.

Ten bags of sweet potatoes could plant ten mu of land. Doing it alone would be too slow and exhausting for Xie Licheng.

He went back to grab the sweet potatoes and fertilizer, then came to the village to hire some temporary workers.

Xie Licheng: "I need ten people to help me plant. I'll pay a hundred jin of sweet potatoes."

A woman from the village quickly asked, "What are sweet potatoes?"

Xie Licheng: "Sweet potatoes are like the corn from last time—they're food, like a grain."

Woman: "Can I help out then?"

Xie Licheng glanced at her. "As long as you don't mind the hard work, sure."

Farming is never easy. He was hiring ten people, one per mu.

If she wanted those hundred jin of sweet potatoes, she'd have to put in more effort than the men. As long as she didn't mind the toil of farming, Xie Licheng was willing to let her try.

He was never picky about who worked for him. As long as they were diligent and could endure hardship, he'd give them a chance.

Woman: "I don't mind the hard work. I've farmed before—this is easy for me."

They spent a day planting the sweet potatoes in the fields. Thanks to the growth-accelerating fertilizer, they'd be ready to harvest in just fifteen days.

Afterwards, Xie Licheng spent five days helping the Gu family build a farmstead and a paper mill.

The land needed for the farmstead and paper mill, the fields the Gu family purchased, and the wages for Xie Licheng's construction work together came to nearly three thousand taels of silver.

This sum was not a small amount for the Gu family. However, thinking about the future planting of medicinal herbs and the money they could earn from papermaking, Gu Zhangyuan wasn't too bothered by it. Silver was something that could be earned as long as one had the skill, and he believed that with him around, the Gu family would only keep improving.

They didn't rush to get the paper mill running. At present, most people in the pocket world could barely afford to eat, and no one would be buying paper for reading at this time.

Gu Zhangyuan, along with Gu Yangxue, focused on the farmstead first, starting by hiring some villagers to come farm the land. A lot of villagers didn't own any land, so they'd be willing to come work as hired hands at the Gu family's farmstead.

Working as a hired hand at the Gu estate came with room and board, plus they'd get some grain and silver every year. The Gu family were all pretty decent and wouldn't deliberately mistreat anyone, so for a lot of folks, it was a pretty good gig.

Meanwhile, Xie Licheng headed into the mountains by himself.

He knew Gu Zhangyuan would be busy, and since he didn't know much about farm work, he didn't stick around.

He hadn't been up in the mountains in a while and wanted to check things out.

If the beasts up there weren't culled regularly, they'd just keep breeding.

Too many beasts up there would end up being a threat to the village below.

Xie Licheng didn't want a bunch of code from the mountain coming down and hurting the real people below.

He ended up staying up there for days, hunting a ton of beasts and bringing back a bunch of good stuff.

By the time Xie Licheng finally came down, Gu Zhangyuan had already been back from the county town for a day.

If he hadn't come back by then, Gu Zhangyuan was planning to use the soulmate teleport to go to him.

When he saw Xie Licheng finally back, he asked curiously, "What have you been doing in the mountains all these days?"

At that, Xie Licheng set down the basket he was carrying, and Gu Zhangyuan leaned in for a peek.

Gu Zhangyuan said, "What's all this?"

To make it easier to see, Xie Licheng dumped everything out of the basket. Before Gu Zhangyuan could get a good look, Xie Licheng went into the Joy Courtyard and came back with a few plastic buckets.

Xie Licheng's basket was stuffed with good things: a wild ginseng, a dozen or so mushrooms, a handful of honeysuckle, some plantain, some mugwort, and a large pile of assorted wild vegetables and wild fruits.

Gu Zhangyuan picked up the wild ginseng and asked Xuan Cui, who had just come out, to find a box for it.

This was a rare find, and being wild, it was way more valuable than the herbs they grew. Good stuff like this had to be stored properly—it might come in handy later.

Then Yuan Qiao and a maidservant started sorting through the herbs and plants on the ground.

Just then, Xie Licheng started pulling things out of his backpack.

His backpack slots went up as he unlocked more maps.

He used to only have ten slots, but after unlocking Peach Blossom Town, he found out he could upgrade his backpack at the player shop there.

Peach Blossom Village had a player shop too, but it didn't sell as much stuff as the one in town.

The village shop only carried stuff like fields, seeds, flowers, and that kind of thing.

The town shop had a bit more variety—town fields, seeds, flowers, lanterns, trees... and backpacks.

Upgrading the backpack cost gold coins, which you could buy with gold, silver, jewelry, and other valuables.

When Xie Licheng sold some town fields earlier, he'd gone ahead and upgraded his backpack while he was at it.

The player shop in town let him upgrade his backpack to fifty slots.

Xie Licheng didn't want to deal with it later, so he maxed out the slots in one go—now he had fifty.

He hadn't had a chance to check the player shop in the county town yet, so he didn't know if he could upgrade his backpack there too.

If he could, he'd want to upgrade it more so he'd have plenty of room for stuff later.

Xie Licheng pulled everything out of his backpack—rabbit, chicken, venison, snake, wild boar, wolf, and more.

Xie Licheng pulled out the furs first. The system processed the prey, so the pelts came out cleaner and more intact than if they'd been skinned by hand.

By now, everyone knew the animals and people in this world weren't real—they'd seen the bandit NPCs vanish after being killed.

Xie Licheng had said it was all fake—even the animals and plants—so seeing all this prey, Gu Zhangyuan didn't think he was being cruel.

Gu Zhangyuan picked up a hide and said, "It's crazy. There's no way we could get them looking this good ourselves."

In their hands, the prey felt totally real, and processing it was a pain.

But with Xie Licheng, one light touch and the prey processed itself.

Skin was skin, meat was meat, bones were bones.

The furs even came pre-cleaned. It was all pretty wild.