Since that night he saw Gu Changyuan, Xie Licheng had spent the past few days quietly leveling up.
With the two attribute points from before, Xie Licheng now had fifteen attribute points in total.
His current panel stats were as follows:
Name: Xie Licheng
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Age: 21
Height: 190 cm
Weight: 54 kg
Strength: 23
Defense: 59
Agility: 28
Health Points: 47
Stamina: 45
Appearance: 79
Charm: 49
Luck: 10
Over the past few days, relying on the food from his Portable World, Xie Licheng had managed to fatten himself up by two jin.
The original owner's thinness had been caused by abuse and starvation.
Such thinness wasn't difficult to recover from—it just required time.
Health Points and Stamina could also be restored. As long as he rested well, ate well, drank well, and combined that with proper treatment of his injuries, recovery wouldn't be a problem.
For Health Points and Stamina, Xie Licheng didn't waste his precious attribute points.
He allocated his fifteen attribute points to Strength, Agility, and Luck instead.
He added 7 points to Strength, bringing it up to 30.
That Strength was still a bit weak, but since he had extensive fighting experience from before, his lack of raw strength could be compensated for with technique and experience.
He added 2 attribute points to Agility, also bringing it to 30.
The remaining 6 points went into Luck, raising it to 16.
At this point, Xie Licheng's personal panel level was 22.
Only the first twenty levels were easy to gain; the higher the level, the harder it became to level up.
Recently, as Xie Licheng's body had improved, he began entering the mountains in his Portable World to hunt.
Hunting was the fastest way to level up, but it also came with certain risks.
Xie Licheng didn't dare go deep into the mountains—he only hunted on the outer edges.
Mostly, he caught small prey like snakes, rats, rabbits, wild chickens, and birds.
If he got lucky and found rare plants in the mountains—such as precious herbs or flowers—he would also gain a large amount of experience.
However, such precious plants generally grew deep in the wilderness.
Moreover, with his current low Luck stat, encountering them would be no easy feat.
One morning, just as the sky was beginning to lighten, Steward Xu came looking for Xie Licheng.
He smiled at Xie Licheng and said, "Today the eldest young master is taking the family members to the temple outside the city to offer incense. Miss Xuancui mentioned that we need a few more grooms to follow along. Get yourself ready and come along too."
Xie Licheng nodded upon hearing this. Since he had transmigrated, he hadn't left the Gu estate at all, so this was a good chance to go outside and see what was going on.
Gu Changyuan had given him a waist token that allowed him to come and go freely from the Gu estate, but Xie Licheng understood that he couldn't use that token casually right now.
That handsome young master was testing him, trying to see if he was someone worth using.
So even though Xie Licheng had the token, he hadn't gone out carelessly these past few days.
He stayed obediently in the stables and didn't interact with anyone else.
He appeared to be exactly what he seemed—a truly honest, well-behaved, easily controlled ordinary servant.
Probably because he'd performed well these past few days, Xuancui had sent Steward Xu to find him—this meant she genuinely intended to use him.
Xie Licheng didn't really care whether Gu Changyuan wanted to use him or not.
He only cared about whether he could live smoothly in the Gu estate for the next six months.
Even if Gu Changyuan didn't want to use him, he wouldn't feel disappointed.
After Steward Xu left, Xie Licheng made simple preparations and began waiting quietly.
When the other grooms came to hitch up the carriages, he led out a horse and joined them.
He kept a very low profile the entire time, doing whatever he was told.
It wasn't until the carriages had driven out through the Gu estate's main gate that Xie Licheng finally caught a glimpse of Gu Changyuan.
Later, while on the road, he learned that Gu Changyuan's carriage was the most luxurious one at the very front.
The original owner had arrived at the Gu estate relatively late, and Xie Licheng still had injuries. A groom like him wasn't qualified to drive carriages for the Gu family's honored members.
The carriage Xie Licheng was driving carried clothing—and not even the masters' clothing, but that of the maidservants attending the masters.
Apparently, the Gu family were major patrons of the temple outside the city. Every year at this time, they would go stay there for a few days.
One purpose was to pray for blessings for the Gu family, and the other was to get out and relax.
Hearing that they would be staying outside for several days, Xie Licheng's eyes flickered.
This was good. He could take the opportunity to learn more about the situation in Lingzhou, and also find a way to exchange the gold and silver in his hands for supplies.
His Portable World did have plenty of supplies, but for someone who had survived the Apocalypse, no amount of supplies was ever too much.
Also, when he'd been disposing of that dead body earlier, he'd discovered that a quest panel had appeared in his Portable World.
During the Apocalypse, he had never let anyone enter his Portable World.
He had always believed that his Portable World was simply his own personal Portable Space.
But unexpectedly, after he helped Gu Changyuan stuff that person into the Portable World, something resembling a quest progress bar appeared inside it.
A quest bar showing (1/20) had appeared.
That 1 should represent one person.
Even if it was a dead person, it still counted as completing one.
Xie Licheng vaguely felt that if he filled the Portable World with twenty people, he should receive some special reward.
But he didn't want to put other people in there, and he couldn't find that many corpses right now anyway, so he had to set this quest aside for the time being.
He thought that if it really came down to it, he could pick up some unwanted children later.
After all, his Portable World was very large, and the Novice Village was full of empty houses.
In such chaotic times, everything was in short supply—except for children nobody wanted.
By then, he would have saved them, and it would be like finding himself a few little followers?
While Xie Licheng was lost in these wild thoughts, their carriage slowly made its way out of Lingzhou City.
Outside the city and inside the city were completely different scenes. The streets inside the city looked fairly lively, but nowhere near as prosperous as the ones in the TV dramas Xie Licheng had watched.
Most of the buildings inside the city were made of wood, and some were quite old and run-down. Only families with decent means would choose to build their houses with blue bricks.
The ground inside the city was paved with stone slabs, but because the slabs had not been maintained for years, many places were badly damaged, and the carriage jolted over the bumpy surface.
In short, it was quite different from the ancient world Xie Licheng had imagined.
The houses here were all old, and people's clothing was drab and gray, not as bright and colorful as on television.
Outside the city, there were far fewer houses, and the ground was even rougher.
But the scenery outside the city was quite nice. There were flowers and grass along the road, and plenty of woods and farmland to be seen.
Xie Licheng spent the whole journey admiring the scenery. They arrived at the temple near dusk.
The temple was located at the foot of a mountain.
The mountain was covered in tall trees, which from a distance appeared as a deep, ink-green mass, casting the entire mountain in a mysterious aura.
Xie Licheng followed the carriage convoy to the temple's back courtyard, where he helped take care of the horses and assisted the other servants in carrying supplies.
Before Xie Licheng could finish his work, Xuancui came looking for him.
She didn't approach him but stood at a distance and cast a glance his way.
Xie Licheng immediately understood and dropped what he was holding to follow her.
Seeing this, a male servant tried to grab him and ask where he was going.
But an older woman beside him quickly stopped him. "Are you crazy? Didn't you see that was Miss Xuancui?"
The male servant looked bewildered. "I did see her, but… what does that have to do with him? Why does everyone else have to work while he gets to run off on his own?"
The woman was amused by his foolishness and pointed at Steward Xu in the distance.
"What do you think? Even Steward Xu doesn't bother with him, so you'd best mind your own business."
The male servant still didn't understand why Xie Licheng could run around freely, nor why the woman had stopped him.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Xie Licheng followed Xuancui through a winding path until they reached a small stream behind the mountain.
Beside the stream stood a pavilion, where Gu Changyuan was currently speaking with his wet nurse.
Xuancui said to him, "Be respectful when you see the young master. Don't keep staring at him."
Xie Licheng felt wronged upon hearing this. When had he ever kept staring at the young master?
But then he thought about how few of the Gu family's servants dared to look directly at their master. He supposed… he really was somewhat of an odd one out.
Xie Licheng said helplessly, "This one understands."
His words were agreeable enough, and he looked perfectly obedient.
But as he followed Xuancui slowly toward the pavilion, he still couldn't help lifting his gaze to steal a glance at Gu Changyuan.
Gu Changyuan was beautiful. Even dressed plainly today, he was still so stunning that one couldn't look away.
Xie Licheng figured he'd just take one look. He wasn't thinking anything unrealistic—just purely appreciating the view. That shouldn't be some great offense.
Besides, he was so far from Gu Changyuan right now that one glance probably wouldn't be noticed.
But to Xie Licheng's slight surprise, just as he looked at Gu Changyuan, Gu Changyuan happened to turn his gaze over at that very moment.
Their eyes met for an instant. Gu Changyuan recalled what his father had said earlier and immediately averted his gaze elsewhere.
He thought, a lowly slave, and a groom who couldn't even be presented in polite company.
Aside from being somewhat good-looking, he seemed to have no other merits.
Even if he needed a man, it shouldn't be a man like this.
Besides, he didn't know if he was overthinking it, but he felt that this groom wasn't as handsome as when he'd first seen him.
Indeed, Xie Licheng was not as good-looking as when Gu Changyuan had first seen him—after all, Xie Licheng had deducted a full 10 attribute points from his appearance in one go.
Xie Licheng didn't care about his appearance at all. If he weren't worried that reducing too much of his looks would cause his entire face to change, he would have cut down even more at the time.
Gu Changyuan averted his gaze elsewhere while thinking to himself: Although he's not as good-looking as before… he really is tall, and his limbs are quite long and slender. He probably has the blood of other races in him—I feel like his facial features are a bit different from ours too.
Soon, Xie Licheng followed Xuancui to the outside of the pavilion, and he heard Gu Changyuan inside ask him, "Have your injuries healed?"
Xie Licheng: "To answer you, young master, this one's body has recovered much better."
…
Name: Xie Licheng
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Age: 21
Height: 190 cm
Weight: 54 kg
Strength: 30
Defense: 59
Agility: 30
Health Points: 47
Stamina: 45
Appearance: 79
Charm: 49
Luck: 16