Xie Licheng walked deeper into the courtyard, but did not see the familiar Xuancui, nor did he see Gu Changyuan's wet nurse.
Apart from the young attendant who had brought him here, there was only one maidservant in this courtyard—a face Xie Licheng had never seen before.
The maidservant seemed to steal a glance at him. The sensitive and suspicious Xie Licheng furrowed his brow slightly, then revealed a faintly cold smile.
Acting as though he had noticed nothing at all, Xie Licheng wore an expression of complete ignorance as he reached out and pushed open the door before him.
The moment he stepped inside, the maidservant outside immediately locked the door from the outside.
Xie Licheng pretended to look back with a startled and panicked expression, then pounded on the door and shouted loudly.
"What are you doing? Why are you locking the door?"
The person outside paid him no heed and hurried away with the key.
At the same time, two men walked out from within the room, one after the other.
The man at the front was none other than the young master of the Gu family's second branch—the very one who had originally brought the original owner out of the slave camp.
In the original story, the original owner had not been brought to the temple by Gu Changyuan, so there was no plot in the book involving the original owner encountering the second branch's young master.
After Xie Licheng had transmigrated here, he had never seen this young master of the second branch again, and had completely forgotten about the man.
Seeing that it was him now, Xie Licheng was rather surprised inwardly.
But thinking about how the other man had always harbored feelings for the original owner, and now that he rarely had the chance to be free from his elders' watchful eyes at home, it wasn't surprising that he would do something like this.
Xie Licheng glanced at Young Master Gu, then looked at the other man behind him.
The other man was a servant. This Young Master Gu wasn't completely stupid—he knew he was useless, and he also knew the original owner was disobedient. Worried that the original owner might not be able to resist punching him if they were alone, he had brought a male slave along.
While secretly pulling a short blade out of his Portable World, Xie Licheng pretended to be flustered as he asked the young master before him, "Young Master, wh-what are you doing?"
This young master of the second branch was named Gu Qiyue, only nineteen years old this year.
At that age, in later generations, he would still be just a half-grown child.
But people in ancient times matured earlier—many young masters from wealthy families had chamber maids by the age of fifteen or sixteen.
Gu Qiyue was male, and had liked men since childhood.
The second master of the Gu family had always been furious about this. The male line of the Gu family had always been rather thin.
The main branch had only one son. The second branch was slightly better off—he had three sons under his knee.
But not one of the three sons was obedient. The eldest had run off for the sake of a young master, and to this day no one knew whether he was alive or dead.
The second son was Gu Qiyue, a man who was naturally fond of men.
He liked sleeping with men, and he also liked being slept with by men.
Of course, if it were merely a preference for men, that wouldn't be such a big deal.
What made the second master deeply dissatisfied was that Gu Qiyue had something of a perverse streak in him.
Speaking of perversion, one had to say that Gu Qiyue and Gu Tinghe truly were worthy of being cousins.
Both of them enjoyed abusing servants, and both had at least two deaths on their hands.
One liked sexual abuse, the other simply liked abuse for its own sake—neither of them was anything good.
The third son of the second branch was decent enough, though unfortunately he was fond of wielding swords and spears.
The second master had originally wanted the third son to study, or if not study, then at least learn business—anything but let him go charging off to the military camp.
The military camp wasn't a good place, and the battlefield was full of danger. One careless mistake could cost you your life.
But the child was young and born with a rebellious bone. The more he was forbidden from doing something, the more he wanted to do it.
Now the third son had gone to the border, the eldest son had vanished, and the second master had only his second son left—so naturally he had to discipline him more strictly.
But unexpectedly, none of his three sons had any real talent, yet all of them had a full set of rebellious bones and loved going against him.
The more he forbade Gu Qiyue from seeking out men, the more frantically the young man wanted to make trouble.
Now the man had grown bold enough to make a move on Xie Licheng even in a place like a temple.
Gu Qiyue smiled at Xie Licheng and said, "I heard you've had a rough time lately. Look at you—why put yourself through all this? If you'd just obediently come to me earlier, you'd already be living the good life as a master."
Xie Licheng rolled his eyes inwardly. Who was he trying to fool?
Did he look like someone easily deceived?
Living the good life as a master?
Gu Qiyue himself was a concubine-born young master—he wasn't even living the life of a proper master himself. Where did he get the nerve to say something like that?
Seeing that Xie Licheng remained silent, Gu Qiyue pulled out a thick hemp rope while continuing to chatter on. "Don't worry. You look very much to my liking. As long as you listen to me from now on, I certainly won't kill you."
Xie Licheng said, "But I'm Lord Changyuan's man now. Surely you already know about that, Young Master?"
If he hadn't known, he wouldn't have used the eldest young master's people to lure him over.
Gu Qiyue's expression froze for a moment upon hearing this, then his previously somewhat gentle demeanor shifted as he began cursing angrily.
"That slut—a young master fighting over a man with his own younger brother, he doesn't have a shred of proper young master conduct. If it weren't for the main branch having no man to head the household, how would it ever fall to him to manage things? I'm from the second branch, and I'm a man—I'm not afraid of him."
Xie Licheng slowly backed away while speaking calmly, "My relationship with the eldest young master isn't what you think, young master. I'm currently handling matters for the eldest young master. You'd best release me now, or else…"
Gu Qiyue's expression grew even more furious. "Or else what? What can he do, kill me? No matter how noble he is, no matter how much the elder uncle dotes on him, he's still just a young master. Once his younger brother returns, the main branch will still belong to his brother. Don't keep trying to scare me with him—in my eyes, he's not worth a damn."
By this point, Gu Qiyue was clearly growing impatient.
He glanced at the male slave beside him, signaling for the man to help him tie Xie Licheng up first.
The male slave, seeing this, cast a somewhat sympathetic glance at Xie Licheng.
Few men who fell into Gu Qiyue's hands came out of it unscathed.
Thinking of how Xie Licheng had recently suffered severe injuries, if he were to be tormented by Gu Qiyue again today, he probably wouldn't make it out of here alive.
He felt deep sympathy for Xie Licheng, but his hands moved without any hesitation.
He was just a servant—he was being forced into this too.
If the man happened to die, he hoped Xie Licheng wouldn't hold it against him.
Then, as he approached Xie Licheng, before he could even see what was happening, he toppled straight backward and lost consciousness.
Gu Qiyue stared at the suddenly collapsed male slave, as if not quite processing what had happened.
He turned his head sluggishly toward Xie Licheng, about to say something like "How dare you—how dare you resist?"
But before he could speak, Xie Licheng reached out with a large hand and covered his mouth.
Xie Licheng leaned close to his ear and said, "What was it you wanted to do to me?"
Gu Qiyue let out two muffled sounds, trying to push Xie Licheng away and scream for help.
Seeming to read his thoughts, Xie Licheng let out a cold laugh and produced a knife.
The northern part of Lingzhou had already begun to descend into chaos. Even if Xie Licheng became a runaway slave from the Gu family, the authorities wouldn't have time to deal with him under the current circumstances.
The reason Xie Licheng hadn't wanted to leave the Gu family before was that the original body was a Criminal Slave—an extremely sensitive identity.
If the realm hadn't fallen into chaos, the authorities would have pursued him wherever he went.
That would have been troublesome; even buying things would have been difficult.
But… he had gone out once and discovered that some places in Lingzhou were already in turmoil.
Lingzhou was close to the capital—if things were falling apart here, other places would only be worse.
Under these circumstances, even if Xie Licheng fled the Gu family, he wouldn't draw much attention.
Of course, he hadn't originally planned to leave.
That young master Gu Changyuan wasn't bad—good-looking and generous with money.
He figured he could stay at the Gu residence, helping the young master with tasks while earning money on the side.
Besides, he still owed Gu Changyuan a favor, and maybe he could repay it someday.
Unfortunately, someone had to come knocking looking for death, so he had no choice but to…
Just as Xie Licheng was about to drive the knife down, a familiar voice rang out from outside the door.
"Where is he? I'm asking you where he is?! Someone saw you take him—hand him over right now!!"
The speaker was Xuancui, and the person she was interrogating was the young attendant who had brought Xie Licheng here.
Hearing the commotion outside, Xie Licheng's grip loosened, and Gu Qiyue managed to escape.
The man was ruthless too—the moment he broke free from Xie Licheng, he grabbed a nearby vase and hurled it viciously at him.
Gu Qiyue was terrified. He truly hadn't expected Xie Licheng to dare kill him.
A horse slave, and he was carrying a knife on him?
And he'd just tried to kill him?
The murderous intent radiating from him was too frightening—it scared Gu Qiyue's mind into a daze.
He threw a vase at Xie Licheng, and the previously agile Xie Licheng seemed to have turned stupid.
He didn't dodge or evade, letting himself be hit cooperatively.
Gu Qiyue cursed, "Filthy slave! You filthy slave—how dare you try to kill me? Do you know who I am?"
Xie Licheng touched his forehead where it had been cut open, then slammed his hand hard against the door while whispering provocatively to Gu Qiyue, "You piece of trash—just wait. I'll butcher you sooner or later."
Gu Qiyue stammered, "Y-you, you, you… how d-dare you! I-I'll kill you right now!"
With that, he picked up a shard of the broken vase and lunged to slash at Xie Licheng's neck.
Xie Licheng didn't let him cut his face—instead, he raised his arm in a half-hearted block, letting the shard successfully slice into his arm.
It was at this moment that Xuancui, hearing the commotion, arrived outside the door.
Xuancui called out, "Little stable boy, little stable boy, are you in there?"
Xie Licheng, with a look of feigned weakness, shouted, "Miss Xuancui, save me, save me quickly!"
Gu Qiyue was stunned to hear Xie Licheng calling for help.
Shouldn't the one crying for help be him?