Gu Changyuan nodded upon hearing this, then raised his eyes to glance at the wet nurse beside him.
The wet nurse immediately understood and walked slowly out of the pavilion, handing a pouch to Xie Licheng.
Xie Licheng took it while asking with a puzzled expression, "What is this?"
Gu Changyuan: "We will be staying here for three days. Take this silver and go up the mountain to find someone for me."
Xie Licheng: "Who?"
Xuancui answered on Gu Changyuan's behalf: "An old hunter with one eye, around forty or fifty years old. Our young master doesn't know his name either, only that he lives on this mountain. Just go up the mountain and find him. When you do, give him the silver and tell him the young master has a task for him."
Xie Licheng didn't understand—why did something need to be so troublesome, requiring him to go into the mountains to find an old hunter? Why not just give the task directly to him?
Was it because they thought he wasn't capable enough, or for some other reason?
He asked directly whatever came to mind.
"If the young master has any tasks, you can also assign them to me. As I said before, as long as you have use for me, I will serve you with utmost loyalty."
Xuancui frowned and looked at him upon hearing this. "Why don't you take a good look at yourself?"
A person who was just recently wounded and looked half-dead—where on earth did he get such confidence?
Hearing her say this, Xie Licheng instinctively looked at himself.
Well, he had to admit his current appearance did look somewhat frail.
But whether it was killing or robbery, he was truly very confident in himself.
Seeing that her young master didn't seem to mind her speaking further, and since there was nothing secretive about this matter, Xuancui hesitated briefly before telling Xie Licheng.
"Our young master is going through all this trouble to find him because he's the most famous hunter in this area. The young master needs his help to capture a venomous snake alive, to give as a gift to the third young master of the Lingzhou Prefect's household. That young master is fond of raising snakes, and his favorite kind is the highly venomous type. It's to befriend someone with such peculiar tastes that our young master is going to all this effort."
Xie Licheng smiled. "A venomous snake—I can catch one too. Leave this task to me, young master. I'll take this silver for now."
With that, Xie Licheng turned and prepared to leave.
Gu Changyuan, who had been sitting very calmly all along, grew a bit anxious. He quickly stood up and walked out of the pavilion.
He said, "You'll catch one? You're just a lowly horse groom—do you know how dangerous the mountains are, how many venomous insects and snakes there are?"
If he hadn't had no male servants available, and if he hadn't wanted to prove to his father that he could manage subordinates, he wouldn't have sent a wounded servant into the mountains to find someone.
Xie Licheng said seriously, "I know, but don't worry, young master. Within three days, I will safely bring you back a venomous snake."
Gu Changyuan wanted to say he wasn't worried about him, but seeing his confident expression now, he thought about it and swallowed the words that were about to come out.
This horse groom really wasn't as obedient as he appeared.
His personality carried a streak of assertiveness and arrogance, completely unlike an ordinary servant. His earlier docility was indeed just an act.
Watching Xie Licheng's figure walk into the distance, Xuancui said with dissatisfaction, "Young master, this man is truly arrogant. The silver wasn't meant for him, yet he took it upon himself to accept it."
Gu Changyuan didn't care about the silver at all. "If he can get it done, he deserves to be rewarded anyway."
"But…"
What the young master rewarded willingly, and what he demanded for himself, were still different.
She had never seen a servant like him—he didn't have the slightest bit of the demeanor a servant should have.
…
Xie Licheng didn't go into the mountain. He had never been to this mountain before, so he wasn't familiar with the environment here.
Gu Changyuan only said he wanted a venomous snake—he never specified it had to be from this mountain.
Xie Licheng simply entered his Portable World instead. He was more familiar with the mountains in the Novice Village of the Portable World. Given his current physical condition, it was safer to stay on familiar ground.
After returning, Xie Licheng found the tools for catching snakes—the kind of trash picker that sanitation workers use to pick up garbage.
He went up the mountain before dark, took a stroll around, and successfully caught a venomous snake.
By this time, the sky was gradually darkening. After properly storing the snake, Xie Licheng took the silver and left the Portable World.
Gu Changyuan had given him three days to catch a snake, but he had completed it in just two hours. He planned to use the remaining time to look around the area.
Since he didn't have a carriage and relied purely on his own two legs, he walked for a long time before reaching a small town.
It was now close to eleven or twelve at night. Apart from the night watchman making his rounds, there was hardly a soul to be seen in the entire town.
Seeing this, Xie Licheng returned to his Portable World, planning to get a good night's rest.
He really was tired today. Between driving the carriage and traveling, his frail, injured body was struggling to keep up.
Xie Licheng rested for a night in the Portable World. The next morning, he went to the kitchen storage and fetched a bowl of hot congee.
Having a warehouse that could preserve things indefinitely was truly convenient. Making extra hot meals saved him a great deal of effort.
After finishing the congee and taking his medicine, he checked his status.
Health Points: 53. Stamina: 51.
This was a decent state. As long as he didn't sustain further injuries, he should recover to full health soon enough.
Xie Licheng left the Portable World and headed to a medical clinic in town.
Now that he had money on hand, he wanted the physician to give him a proper examination and also buy some ointments for bruises and sprains.
When the physician saw the injuries all over his body, he looked at him and asked, "Are you a runaway slave from some household? I wouldn't dare treat a runaway slave here."
Upon hearing this, Xie Licheng produced the waist token the Gu family had given him. Only after confirming that Xie Licheng was not a runaway slave but a servant bearing the family's token did the physician dare continue treating him.
The physician said, "You have a decent constitution. You've been properly treated before, so there's nothing seriously wrong now. What you mainly lack is qi and blood. Eat well to nourish yourself. I'll prescribe some medicine to supplement your qi and blood. Take it for ten days to half a month, and you should recover quickly."
The qi and blood medicine was rather expensive—half a month's supply cost nearly three taels of silver. Adding the ointments Xie Licheng also purchased, he spent about five taels in total.
Fortunately, he wasn't short on silver now, so spending it didn't pain him much.
Gu Changyuan had given him ten taels of gold earlier, and today's pouch contained ten taels of silver and two gold leaves.
With that much money, he could get by for quite a while.
By the time he left the clinic, it was already afternoon.
Xie Licheng didn't dare delay further. He asked around about the situation near Lingzhou, inquiring whether there were any bandit troubles in the area. At the same time, he bought a large quantity of supplies from the town—rice, flour, grain, oil, clothing, fabric, and plenty of pots, pans, bowls, and dishes.
The country they lived in was called Great Zhou. This novel was entirely fictional—this Great Zhou was not the one he had known.
Great Zhou had lasted over two hundred years. Now, with a corrupt court, chaotic officialdom, and powerful enemies eyeing them from outside, the dynasty was already in its twilight, not far from falling apart.
When Xie Licheng was buying clothes at a ready-made garment shop, the shop assistant said to him, "It's chaotic—things really have gotten chaotic lately. I hear bandits are stirring in northern Lingzhou. On the surface, they say it's mountain bandits causing trouble, but really, it's the local officials losing control. I have a feeling things won't stay peaceful from here on. We common folk are going to suffer again."
Xie Licheng nodded, quickly settled the bill, and left the shop.
Everything he bought was tossed into the Portable World.
In a single day, he had spent over thirty taels of silver.
He exchanged all the gold Gu Changyuan had given him into silver, which was more convenient to spend.
Ten taels of gold exchanged for one hundred taels of silver.
The two gold leaves exchanged for fifty taels of silver.
After deducting today's expenses, he still had roughly one hundred and thirty taels of silver left.
After leaving the town, Xie Licheng hitched a ride on a merchant caravan's cart back to Lingzhou City. When it came to buying supplies, the city was far more convenient.
Over the next two days, Xie Licheng frantically shopped in the city during the day and worked on leveling up in his Portable World at night.
This time, his main purchases weren't rice, flour, grain, oil, or clothing.
Once Lingzhou descended into chaos, those things would become worthless—streets and roads would probably be littered with them.
Besides, Xie Licheng figured he was just one person. He didn't need that much grain or clothing, so there was no point spending more silver on such things.
Back in the city, his main purchases were prepared meals—food that others had already cooked.
He was a lazy man. And a lazy man with a warehouse that could preserve things indefinitely would naturally stock up on all kinds of delicious food.
That way, he'd never have to cook again and could still enjoy fresh, tasty meals. That was what a good life looked like.
So in the mornings, he'd visit some restaurant and buy roast chicken, roast goose, roast pork, roast lamb…
In the afternoons, he'd stop by some stall and buy crispy pastries, candied hawthorn skewers, fried cakes…
In the evenings, when he spotted a wonton vendor, he'd buy ten servings in one go.
He also visited several pastry shops and bought a pile of premium desserts from each.
Two days passed, and silver flowed out like water.
Xie Licheng had originally thought he had plenty of silver, but when he truly spent without restraint, he realized that no matter how much silver one had, it never lasted.
When the three days were up, Xie Licheng leisurely made his way back to the temple outside the city, planning to find an opportunity to seek out Gu Changyuan and turn in his assignment.
But to his surprise, the moment he returned, he ran into that little menace, Gu Tinghe.
He had forgotten that Gu Tinghe was also a member of the Gu family, and this time Gu Changyuan had brought him along as well.
From a distance, Gu Tinghe spotted him. He gestured for Xie Licheng to stay where he was and wait for him.
But Xie Licheng was not the obedient original owner—why would he stand there waiting to be beaten?
So the moment he saw Gu Tinghe, Xie Licheng turned around and walked away without the slightest hesitation.
Gu Tinghe failed to catch him and couldn't help but curse in fury.
"Bitch! Filthy slave! How dare he defy my orders! I'll catch him and tear him to pieces!"
The servants following him heard this, but none dared to make a sound.
They were like quails, all keeping their heads down, not daring to look at him.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Xie Licheng had shaken off Gu Tinghe and was now wandering around the temple.
He didn't dare go back right now—he had a feeling that little bastard Gu Tinghe would be waiting for him at Steward Xu's place.
He couldn't just kill people casually right now, so it was better to avoid running into that little bastard.
Perhaps having guessed that he would return today, Gu Changyuan had sent someone to wait for him early on.
Xie Licheng hadn't wandered around the temple for long before he ran into a servant from Gu Changyuan's courtyard.
The man said to Xie Licheng, "Come, the eldest young master is looking for you."
Xie Licheng recognized him, so he didn't worry about being led somewhere else.
He followed the young attendant all the way to the temple's side rooms, where Gu Changyuan was staying separately from the rest of the Gu family members.
So when Xie Licheng followed him over, he didn't run into anyone else from the Gu family.
When they reached the courtyard, the attendant gestured for him to go in alone, saying he would guard the door outside.
Xie Licheng found it a bit strange, but since the man was Gu Changyuan's person, he set aside his misgivings and stepped inside.