Even Xie Licheng from his previous life couldn't confidently say that the eldest young master would definitely take a liking to him.
Xie Licheng genuinely couldn't understand where this short, ugly little thing with thinning hair and bulging eyes got the confidence to claim he could compete for favor with him.
Xie Licheng himself hadn't even truly become the favored one, so what right did this little thing have to compete for favor?
When Xie Licheng suddenly made a move, not only was the short male slave frightened, but the other male slaves were too.
They quickly stepped forward to stop Xie Licheng, trying to rescue the short male slave from his grasp.
In the end, several of them had to work together and expend considerable effort before they managed to free him.
It was only at this moment that the short male slave finally felt fear.
He said pitifully, "Brother, brother, let's talk this out, talk this out. I won't compete with you anymore, alright? There's no need for you to resort to violence."
The other male slaves chimed in, "That's right, we're all low-ranking male slaves. We should be helping each other. What's there that can't be resolved through discussion, that you have to resort to violence and hurting people?"
"Exactly, your temper is way too fierce. He didn't even say anything that bad, why did you have to lay your hands on him?"
Xie Licheng rolled an unrefined eye roll at this. He hadn't actually hit anyone—he was just trying to scare him—but in their words, it became him attacking someone for no reason.
These people were clearly biased, and he had even less desire to waste time with them here.
He threw out the things the short male slave had brought and unceremoniously shooed everyone out.
Staring at the courtyard gate that had slammed shut, the people who had been kicked out were furious.
They lowered their voices and said, "This horse slave is going too far. Just because he's the young master's man now, he dares to hit and curse at us. If we let him keep being so smug, won't he turn the Gu household upside down?"
"That's right, and he's still a criminal slave. With that status, he can never become a free citizen. No matter how desperate the eldest young master is, he won't let a criminal slave become his live-in son-in-law. Just wait—once the eldest young master picks his son-in-law, there won't be any room for him to be so pleased with himself."
The short male slave covered his face with his hand. He was actually somewhat intimidated by the current Xie Licheng.
When Xie Licheng had grabbed his head just now, he felt like the other man seemed to want to crush his skull in one squeeze.
He didn't know if it was his imagination, but ever since the other man had moved out from their quarters, he carried an air of lawlessness about him.
He was afraid of Xie Licheng in his heart, so he didn't dare join the others in cursing him outside the gate.
But not daring to voice his complaints didn't mean he didn't harbor resentment toward Xie Licheng.
If he could get a chance to appear before the young master and win his favor, he would definitely repay the humiliation he suffered today.
Not long after shooing everyone out, Xie Licheng simply took his waist token and left the estate.
He was worried that if he stayed in the Gu household, more people would come looking for him.
And if he happened to be in the Portable World at that time, those people in the Gu household would discover something was off.
Fortunately, Gu Changyuan had agreed today that he could come and go freely through the Gu family gates from now on.
He thought he might as well head out now, and under the pretext of going hunting, secretly slip into the Portable World to continue leveling up.
The moment Xie Licheng left the Gu estate, a servant slave from the Gu household secretly followed him out.
Xie Licheng sensed it but didn't bother with him.
He left Lingzhou City in the evening and promptly shook the tail off.
Only after confirming that no one had followed him did he find a secluded spot and enter the Portable World.
Back on his own turf, Xie Licheng felt much more relaxed.
He changed into a loose, comfortable set of clothes and headed to the bamboo forest at the foot of the mountain to hunt snakes.
The snakes here could respawn—even if he killed them all in one go, there would still be just as many the next day, without affecting the surrounding ecology.
Xie Licheng swept through the area and successfully killed three snakes.
Since it was getting dark, he didn't continue hunting but returned to the farmstead to go fishing instead.
In the pond at his farmstead, he could only catch grass carp, silver carp, and crucian carp.
In the river at the Novice Village, he could catch grass carp, black fish, loach, and eel.
Other maps that hadn't been unlocked yet should yield even more varieties of fish.
Xie Licheng fished for three hours at the farmstead and caught four grass carp, one crucian carp, and two silver carp.
He didn't kill any of them, instead keeping them in a large bucket to raise.
Later, he could either sell them or bring them back for Gu Changyuan.
He had said he would get him something good to nourish his body, so it wouldn't be right to go back empty-handed.
As for the prey on the big mountain in the Novice Village, there were only tigers, bears, wolves, jackals, wildcats, deer, rabbits, and the like.
Creatures like deer, rabbits, wild chickens, and wild ducks only appeared in limited numbers each day, and some would even be hunted down by the larger beasts.
On ordinary days when Xie Licheng went up the mountain, it was rare for him to hunt prey like deer.
However, thinking about how the quality of the deer meat in his Portable World couldn't be compared to that of the real world, he still wanted to bring a deer back.
Early the next morning, Xie Licheng packed up and headed into the mountain.
This time, he went into the mountain with the intention of hunting as much prey as possible.
So when he entered the mountain, he not only brought extra food and water but also carried his hunting rifle along.
He brought the rifle not necessarily to hunt with it.
The purpose of the rifle was to ensure his personal safety.
If he encountered tricky prey, such as tigers or black bears, for safety's sake, using the rifle would be more reliable.
Then, unexpectedly, whatever he thought of, he encountered.
The deer he had been thinking about yesterday—he ran into one as soon as he entered the mountain.
It was rare to have such good luck, so Xie Licheng naturally wouldn't let this deer escape easily.
After spending considerable effort, Xie Licheng finally killed the deer.
He looked at the dead deer and sat down to rest for a bit.
His stamina was a bit low right now, and he needed to recover before continuing deeper into the mountain.
When in the Portable World, Xie Licheng had a Portable Backpack.
This backpack only had ten slots, and each slot could only hold one item.
Because the current map only unlocked his farm, the Novice Village, and this big mountain, he rarely used the backpack on ordinary days.
Since he would be spending more time on the mountain today, Xie Licheng butchered the deer he had hunted and stored the hide and meat in the backpack.
After resting until his stamina recovered to 78, Xie Licheng picked up his gear and continued into the mountain.
For the rest of the morning, he didn't encounter any large prey, only hunting two rabbits and a wild chicken.
He stayed until around two or three in the afternoon before he encountered another big one.
This time, the big one was a black bear, and it looked quite intimidating.
Xie Licheng's current combat power was a bit lacking, so he didn't dare approach it recklessly.
He kept his distance, first shooting it with an arrow from his bow.
The big black bear had thick skin and tough flesh, so that arrow didn't deal much damage to it.
Seeing that it had noticed him and started moving in his direction, Xie Licheng swiftly climbed up a large tree while pulling out the rifle from his back and firing another shot at it.
That shot was extremely powerful and hit it directly in the head.
Afterward, Xie Licheng fired two more arrows to confirm the black bear was dead before going down to collect the prey.
The more dangerous the prey looked, the richer the experience gained.
The experience from the earlier deer was equivalent to five or six rabbits.
The big black bear from just now had experience five or six times that of the deer.
Later, while coming down the mountain, Xie Licheng also shot a wild boar that was out for a stroll.
Today's harvest was quite substantial—first of all, his level had risen to 43.
Adding the 3 attribute points he had saved before, he now had 8 attribute points in hand.
Secondly, he had harvested three animal hides: one deer hide, one wild boar hide, and one black bear hide.
Then there was a portion of deer meat, a pair of antlers, a portion of deer blood, and a portion of deer bones.
A portion of wild boar meat and a portion of wild boar bones.
A portion of bear meat, a portion of bear blood, one bear gall, four bear paws, a portion of bear bones, a portion of bear fat, and one bear head.
Ordinary prey only yielded hides, meat, and bones.
Only the more dangerous prey could yield more items.
Finally, there were the rabbits and the wild chicken. Xie Licheng carried a large pile of prey back to the farm.
He put the things that needed to stay fresh into the warehouse and tossed the ones that didn't into the kitchen.
For the next three days, Xie Licheng worked as hard as he had on the first day.
He kept pulling his level up to 51 before bringing a few items of prey back to Lingzhou City.
When Xie Licheng returned from outside, he was carrying a basket full of things on his back.
He entered through the side gate and was grabbed by the steward for a thorough inspection.
Seeing that the things he brought back were all bloody, the steward looked a bit frightened.
In the end, it took Xuancui personally coming over before Xie Licheng was allowed to successfully enter the Gu residence.
Having not seen him for a few days, Xuancui noticed that he had not only gotten darker but also thinner, and his body carried an unpleasant smell of blood. She couldn't help but frown and give him a piece of advice.
Xuancui: "How did you get yourself into this state? Dark and skinny, and reeking all over—how are you going to meet the young master looking like this?"
Xie Licheng: "Then I won't go see the young master. Miss Xuancui, just deliver these things to him for me."
As he said this, Xie Licheng set down the basket from his back.
He first pulled out a live rabbit from the basket, then took out several wrapped bundles.
These bundles contained deer meat, deer blood, antlers, and deer bones respectively.
These items were all precious, and many of them could be used as medicine.
Xuancui was stunned speechless for a moment and didn't dare reach out to take them for quite a while.
She truly didn't dare take them—those things were all covered in blood, and she was afraid of getting herself covered in blood.
Seeing this, Xie Licheng smiled and said, "How about this—I'll follow you and deliver it to the young master myself."
Xuancui pressed her lips together and hesitated for a long while before finally nodding. "Fine, then. Follow me through the side path. With you looking this disheveled, it's better if no one else sees you—lest you accidentally startle one of the masters."
Xie Licheng acknowledged with a simple "all right" and followed behind her as she walked toward the inner residence.
Because they took the side path, they only encountered two servants responsible for cleaning along the way, and indeed, they did not run into anyone else from the Gu family.
When they were nearly at Gu Changyuan's courtyard, Xuancui decided not to bring him inside.
It wasn't that she didn't want Xie Licheng to see the young master—it was mainly that Xie Licheng looked far too shabby in his current state, and on top of that, the things he was carrying were a bit too bloody. She was worried it might accidentally startle the young master.
Xuancui stopped in her tracks and was about to find a rough-serving maid to have the items taken to the small kitchen.
Seeing her stop, Xie Licheng spoke up. "Let me help you carry the things inside. I won't see the young master—I'll sneak in quietly, set the things down, and leave right away."
Xuancui wanted to say there was no need—the young master's courtyard had plenty of servants to call upon—but before she could get the words out, Xie Licheng had already walked into the young master's courtyard on his own.
Xie Licheng had been here before, and the guards watching the courtyard recognized him, so they didn't reach out to stop him.
And so, under Xuancui's utterly incredulous gaze, Xie Licheng strode boldly into the courtyard with the things on his back.
When Xie Licheng said he wouldn't go see Gu Changyuan, that was actually a deliberate lie to deceive Xuancui.
He had insisted on returning today and had eagerly followed all the way into the inner residence precisely so he could see Gu Changyuan.
He thought back to that day when those male slaves had come looking for him.
The Gu household had quite a few male slaves, and seeing how he had risen in status through his "connections," he figured quite a few of them harbored the same improper thoughts as that short male slave.
To prevent any harm from befalling Gu Changyuan because of his affairs, he decided it was best to come and see him.
Xuancui followed closely behind Xie Licheng, and when she saw that he had no intention of heading to the small kitchen at all, she cursed him under her breath as a shameless scoundrel.
Xie Licheng's sharp ears caught it, but he didn't feel angry about it.
He curled the corners of his mouth slightly, and with Yanqiao's help, he successfully managed to see Gu Changyuan.
Truth be told, the reason he could see Gu Changyuan so easily—aside from his own thick skin—was mainly because of Gu Changyuan's indulgence toward him.
If Gu Changyuan hadn't wanted to see him, he wouldn't even have had the right to set foot in the inner residence.
Nor would Xuancui and Yanqiao have allowed him to waltz in so easily.