Hearing that the noise outside had finally quieted down, Gu Changyuan no longer had the mood to play with the dog.
He glanced at Xie Licheng and said to him, "Don't mind what he said. He was just talking nonsense deliberately to provoke me. Alright, take the wolf cub back now."
Upon hearing this, Xie Licheng did not immediately get up to leave. Instead, he looked up at Gu Changyuan and said, "That young master is so reckless with his words and acts willfully and arrogantly. If he isn't properly disciplined, he will bring a great deal of trouble to the Gu family."
Xie Licheng's words were not an exaggeration. In the original story, this young master had nearly caused Gu Changyuan's death.
When Lingzhou fell into chaos, Gu Changyuan led the Gu family members in their escape.
The young master, Gu Tinghe, had somehow acquired a handsome scholar and insisted on bringing him along.
Because the scholar was frail, he soon developed a stomachache not long into their journey, and Gu Tinghe insisted that Gu Changyuan find him a doctor.
Gu Changyuan only wanted to protect the Gu family and had no desire to bother with that scholar at all.
For the sake of that scholar, Gu Tinghe ultimately threatened Gu Changyuan with his own life, forcing him to go look for a doctor—during which he was nearly captured by a group of bandits.
Xie Licheng felt that Gu Tinghe had a screw loose, with a temper that could explode at the slightest provocation.
If he hadn't known that Gu Tinghe was merely a concubine-born young master of the Gu family, given how he swaggered around daily, threatening to kill people at the drop of a hat, Xie Licheng would have thought he was a prince of the Great Zhou imperial family who had been lost outside the palace.
Xie Licheng truly disliked people like this—those who were not only troubled themselves but also enjoyed dragging others down with them.
When Gu Changyuan heard him say this, he suddenly sat down in front of him again.
He asked, "Then what do you think? How should someone like him be disciplined? I am his elder brother—I'm born of the legitimate wife, while he's born of a concubine. If I'm too harsh in my discipline, everyone will think I'm bullying him because of my status. Moreover, he is after all my father's child. If I were to discipline him with a firm hand, even my father would think me cruel. Tell me… in my situation, how am I supposed to manage him?"
Looking at it that way, Gu Changyuan was indeed in a difficult position.
Especially since his biological father treated him fairly well.
Faced with such a lunatic younger brother, it was truly hard for him as the elder brother to handle things.
Seeing that he seemed a little upset, Xie Licheng spoke to comfort him, "Young master need not worry too much. If there's truly no way to discipline him, then simply don't discipline him at all."
"But if I don't, you said he would bring great trouble to the Gu family."
"Then let him bring it. When he truly stirs up serious trouble, your father will naturally discipline him himself. However, young master must be careful not to let his troubles rub off on you. As long as he doesn't harm you, just let him fend for himself."
As Xie Licheng said this, he kept his head lowered, and at the bottom of his eyes was a coldness so thick it could never melt away.
He didn't think what he said was excessive, nor did he think he was being malicious.
Every person is an individual, and everyone must take responsibility for their own actions.
Even if the other party was a child, when they did something wrong, they should be held accountable for their behavior.
One couldn't use youth and ignorance as an excuse for reckless behavior.
Nor was there any logic in allowing him to harm others while forbidding others from harming him.
In the original story, Gu Tinghe was the one who killed the original owner.
Now that Xie Licheng had become the original owner, Gu Tinghe's malice toward the original owner had been transferred to him as well.
Given their opposing positions, it was hardly excessive for Xie Licheng to want nothing to do with him and to despise him.
Gu Changyuan couldn't see his expression, only hearing the deep concern for him in his voice.
Because his words showed more care for him, even if what he said was somewhat sinister, it was hard for Gu Changyuan to think of him as malicious.
"Alright, I understand. You may go back now."
Upon hearing this, Xie Licheng prepared to rise and leave, but Gu Changyuan suddenly reached out and tucked the jar of medicinal ointment into his chest.
The spring temperature wasn't very high yet, and Gu Changyuan was a young master who feared the cold, so his fingertips were a bit icy.
When he tucked the ointment into Xie Licheng's chest with his hand, Xie Licheng distinctly felt the chill of his fingertips brushing across his wrist.
Unlike the coldness of his fingertips, Xie Licheng's body temperature was very high, and the warmth at his wrist was also hot—his whole body like a large furnace.
When those icy fingertips touched that patch of warmth, both Gu Changyuan and Xie Licheng clearly hesitated for a moment.
Xie Licheng grabbed the ointment in his chest and, while straightening up, said to Gu Changyuan, "Young master has a cold constitution. Would it be alright if I frequently go hunting outside the city in the future and bring back some nourishing game for you?"
Gu Changyuan understood very well in his heart that this horse servant was probably just looking for an excuse to go out often.
But looking at him, he thought it over and still agreed.
Let him go out then—he was actually a bit curious about what he was really up to going out so often.
Gu Changyuan: "Fine."
After that, Xie Licheng left Gu Changyuan's courtyard.
He walked from the inner courtyard toward the outer courtyard, encountering many of the Gu family's servants along the way.
They all avoided him when they saw him, seemingly somewhat afraid of him.
But after he passed by, they would poke their heads out one by one and whisper among themselves.
"That's him, right? He is indeed quite handsome, just… a bit too thin."
"How could he not be thin? He was a criminal slave in the slave camp before—that place isn't fit for humans. Later, he finally managed to come to the Gu family, but because he accidentally offended the young master, he was either beaten or starved every day. I used to feel sorry for him."
"Tsk tsk, things are different now. Even his way of walking has changed. Before, when he walked down the road, he wouldn't dare hold his back as straight as he does now."
…
Xie Licheng paid no attention to the faint murmurs behind his back.
He returned to the small courtyard where he lived and planned to go back to continue leveling up.
At this point, there were still a little over four months until the chaos in Lingzhou.
He needed to level up and stockpile supplies—looking at it that way, time was truly running short.
But before he could find an opportunity to enter the Portable World, several male slaves suddenly came looking for him.
These male slaves were the ones who used to frequently bully the original owner. They had probably seen that he was summoned to the inner courtyard by the eldest young master today, and worried that now that he had backing, he might want to take revenge on them. So they wanted to take this chance to quickly smooth things over.
What surprised Xie Licheng somewhat was that among these male slaves were the two who had previously lived with the original owner.
One of them, a short male slave, was exactly the one who had soaked Xie Licheng's bedding with water that day.
When the short male slave saw Xie Licheng looking at him, he quickly walked up to Xie Licheng with a fawning expression.
He had brought some food and a new set of clothes.
They were all household slaves of the Gu family, and on ordinary days it was difficult for them to leave the estate.
But not being able to leave the estate didn't mean they couldn't buy things from outside.
The Gu family had slaves specifically responsible for going out to do shopping. As long as you gave them a few coppers as a tip, and the items you asked them to bring weren't dangerous, they would be willing to help carry things.
The items in the other's hands were probably things he'd had someone bring in for him.
He handed the items to Xie Licheng, hoping to ease the tension between them.
At this moment, Xie Licheng truly didn't have time to waste on them.
He put on a flattered expression, planning to brush them off and send them away quickly.
These people were all insignificant nobodies to him—he wasn't willing to waste time on them.
But what surprised Xie Licheng a bit was that some people just knew how to push their luck.
Seeing how good-tempered he was and that he didn't hold any grudges about the past, the short male slave pulled him aside and asked with a sly grin: "Brother, can you teach your little brother here—how exactly do you make the eldest young master happy?"
Xie Licheng frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, don't be so secretive about it. Everyone in the Gu family knows you're the eldest young master's man now."
"His what?"
"Ah, are you really that dense or just pretending? That thing—you know, the bed warmer, the lover. Last time when the Gu family returned from the temple, the eldest young master disciplined Young Master Yue for your sake. And now, for you, he's even locked the young master in the ancestral hall. Everyone says that since the eldest young master can't marry out, he's planning to take you into his chambers. You've got real skill yourself—a lowly slave from criminal origins, and you actually managed to become the eldest young master's bed companion. Me, I just want to ask you—how exactly did you manage it?"
"Heh."
Xie Licheng let out a cold laugh.
Today, Gu Tinghe had gone to make a scene at Gu Changyuan's place, and Gu Changyuan didn't really care what the Gu family said about him.
As a young master, Gu Changyuan was so unconcerned about his own reputation.
Even when his own younger brother caught him meeting a male slave in the inner residence, he could discipline his brother without changing his expression.
Clearly, the elders of the Gu family didn't care about this matter, and might even have permitted him to do so.
The Gu family probably didn't want him to marry out, but rather wanted to groom him as the head of the Gu household.
Because his family gave him that confidence, he naturally wasn't afraid of what others said.
As for why he had been afraid back then when a servant caught him with that aunt's nephew—
It was probably because in Gu Changyuan's mind, finding a male slave from within the household for his own amusement was a different concept from being schemed against and having an affair with an outsider.
One was voluntary—amusing himself from the position of a superior.
The other was forced, framed, and had even resulted in a death. That was something he didn't want too many people to know about.
Since Gu Changyuan himself didn't care about being misunderstood, Xie Licheng didn't care much about it either.
He was a man, and a male slave at that.
Things like reputation were of no use to him.
Moreover, the world was about to descend into chaos. In a time of upheaval, people couldn't even survive properly—who would still care about reputation or not?
Xie Licheng sneered—not because he was being misunderstood as having something with Gu Changyuan.
Rather, he was laughing at this person before him for his wishful thinking—a toad who didn't even bother to take a piss and look at his own reflection.
Gu Changyuan was a breathtaking beauty like a celestial being. Would he be insane, would he have lost his mind, to fall for a male slave who had neither looks nor skill, and could even be called ugly?
The short male slave noticed Xie Licheng staring at him with a cold sneer and suddenly felt a chill run down his spine for no apparent reason.
He said somewhat awkwardly, "If you don't want to say it, then don't. Isn't it just because you're worried I'll compete with you for favor? Then I'll just leave right now—"
Before he could finish speaking and slip away, Xie Licheng reached out with his big hand and grabbed the back of his head.
Having big hands was convenient—grabbing someone's head was like grabbing a large apple.
He pulled the man back and looked down at him from above, saying, "You—why don't you take a look at what you look like? Where on earth do you get the confidence to think the young master would ever fancy you?"