After changing into new clothes, Gu Qingyan felt a relaxed sense of completely breaking away from the Li family.

Madam Liu, fearing that Lady Xu might really send someone to chase after them, forced herself to keep going, walking even faster than Gu Qingyan.

The three of them walked all the way to the city gate and only breathed a sigh of relief after leaving the city.

Cuihong stopped and her eyes were red: “Young master, once we part this time, I don’t know if we’ll ever meet again. Please be sure to take care of yourself.”

“There will be a chance,” Gu Qingyan wanted to comfort her but didn’t know how.

Cuihong wiped her tears and forcefully stuffed a handkerchief into his hand. “Young master, this time you definitely can’t refuse.”

The handkerchief was heavy, wrapped with quite a bit of silver—more than last time.

She explained, “The sisters in the mansion know I found you, so they entrusted me to give this silver to you. Even several sisters from the madam’s room gave silver.”

“It’s not just from me alone; young master, you must accept it.”

This kindness weighed heavily as well.

Gu Qingyan accepted it, filled with gratitude but unsure how to respond, so he finally just said, “Please thank them for me.”

“Yes, I will.”

Cuihong, worried about wasting time, said, “Young master, you should hurry. Madam Liu, you also take care.”

Gu Qingyan looked at the redness and swelling on her face and said softly, “Cuihong, the Li family is not a good place to stay. If you get the chance, you should leave the Li mansion as soon as possible.”

Cuihong sniffled and stretched her neck to watch them leave.

She thought to herself, the madam is harsh to others, and before, the young master always protected them and spoke up for them.

Now even such a good young master has been driven out. The Li mansion really is not a good place.

But what could she do? Having signed a servitude contract, she is a slave. To redeem herself, she would need to come up with silver.

Where would she get the money to redeem herself?

Only after the two were out of sight did Cuihong wipe her tears and head back.

Tired, bitter, beaten, scolded—none of it mattered. She worked in the Li mansion and received a monthly wage to help support her family.

Suddenly, Cuihong stopped.

She looked in disbelief at something that slipped out of her sleeve.

Twenty taels of silver notes—enough to redeem herself, to take home and start a small business for a living.

Madam Liu, injured, was already struggling after walking a while.

Gu Qingyan bent down: “Mother, get on, I’ll carry you.”

Madam Liu looked at his thin frame and didn’t want to burden him, repeatedly saying, “I’m fine, no need for you to carry me.”

No matter how Gu Qingyan pleaded, Madam Liu refused.

He had no choice but to support her slowly walking forward.

“When we find a place to stay, I’ll see if I can buy a cart.”

Unfortunately, time was not on their side. By the time dusk fell, they still hadn’t reached the next resting point.

There was an inn, but it did not admit ordinary people, so they couldn’t go in.

Even walking the official road at night was a bad choice—there really were tigers in the mountains these days, and they would attack people.

In the night, wild beast cries occasionally sounded through the forest, terrifying. Madam Liu’s face turned pale, but she still tightly held his arm and comforted him: “Don’t be afraid, your wet nurse is here.”

Gu Qingyan looked up and suddenly saw a dazzling inverted triangle.

[Discovered Qingzhou Prefecture Land Temple sign-in point. Consume 1 point to sign in?]

He had no points, so he couldn’t sign in, but spending the night at the Land Temple was a good option.

“Look, there’s a temple over there,” Gu Qingyan shouted. “Let’s stay there overnight and set off again tomorrow morning.”

Madam Liu saw it too and relaxed inside. The two helped each other walk over.

The Land Temple still had incense burning. On the altar were offerings, the roof tiles intact—someone must usually come to worship and take care of it.

Having shelter from the wind and rain, their moods relaxed considerably.

Gu Qingyan took a meat pie from his bundle; it had been a gift from the Yanwang Hall ceremony.

Because time is paused in the system backpack, the meat pie was still warm.

“Mother, eat this.”

Gu Qingyan handed one over and tore one open for himself.

Madam Liu was surprised: “When did you prepare this?”

“I was afraid I’d get hungry on the road,” Gu Qingyan covered up.

Fortunately, he carried the bundle, or else he couldn’t explain. He even took out other items like a water pouch and a fire striker.

Madam Liu was increasingly amazed, praising him: “Brother Yan really thought everything through—first time going out and already prepared so well.”

Soon, they made a fire in the Land Temple, leaned against each other, and it was no longer so cold.

Gu Qingyan regretted, “Forgot to bring the clay pot, can’t boil medicine.”

“I drank medicine today anyway. We can figure it out tomorrow,” Madam Liu said, even feeling she was better now and could manage without medicine.

Gu Qingyan opened the handkerchief Cuihong gave him. There were indeed more items inside than before, including a silver bracelet that looked familiar—it belonged to Hongdou who was often with Lady Xu.

His eyes reddened: “They suffer themselves but still worry about me.”

“That’s because Brother Yan is kind-hearted; otherwise, who would care?” Madam Liu said.

She gently patted his back, thinking only the madam could be so heartless—raising children for fifteen years and then driving them out without mercy, truly cold-hearted.

After eating and drinking their fill, the fire made them drowsy.

Gu Qingyan closed his eyes and pretended to nap, beginning system learning.

He now had to earn money to support his family. More study, more points earned, life could be better.

Studying, he eventually fell asleep from exhaustion.

The next day, he woke first to the smell of food.

“Brother Yan is awake. Get up, wash your face, and eat.”

Since seeing the child, Madam Liu felt healed. She had to take care of him and couldn’t stay sick.

Gu Qingyan looked and was amazed—out here in the wild mountains, she actually managed to prepare a bowl of porridge, a stack of small dishes, and two meat pies.

The pies were his meat pies, but where did the porridge and side dishes come from?

Madam Liu saw his doubt and explained: “I woke early and walked around the Land Temple. I found a clay pot behind and used it. The wild vegetables were dug up from behind too.”

It must have been placed there by nearby villagers who sometimes stayed overnight when they couldn’t make it home in time.

“No salt, no oil, so it might not taste good,” Madam Liu said, feeling it still wasn’t quite enough.

Gu Qingyan didn’t mind and ate happily, “Delicious, mother, you’re really good at cooking.”

“If you like it, eat more. Later, I’ll dig more wild vegetables to take with us,” Madam Liu smiled.

Gu Qingyan quickly stopped her.

After finishing, wiping his mouth, he stood and said, “I’ll go check around the back to see if there’s any nearby household.”

“Be careful then.”

Gu Qingyan walked behind the Land Temple, where the mountains began—no farmland or houses in sight, only dense forest.

On the ground grew clusters of wild vegetables, thriving.

[Host: Gu Qingyan]

【Age: 15】

【Points: 11】

【Skill: Basic Medicine 13%】

Gu Qingyan checked the system. After a whole night of learning, his points skyrocketed by ten. Adding the daily base points, he had already reached a peak of 11 points.

Sudden overnight wealth made him restless.

【You have signed in at the Qingzhou Prefecture Earth God Temple and received 100 jin of rice.】

Gu Qingyan’s face fell. The Earth God Temple actually gave out rice.

Although fine grains were good, he couldn’t carry such a big sack around. He couldn’t exactly say he had specially bought it to stuff in his pocket.

So he could only store it in the system backpack for now.

He looked around but found no other sign-in spots besides the Earth God Temple, so he had to keep traveling.

When leaving, Gu Qingyan took a clay pot with him. This pot could be used to cook porridge or brew medicine.

In the morning, Mother Liu drank the porridge, then used the clay pot to brew some medicine. After drinking it, she said she felt much better.

He left ten wen coins as a deposit for the clay pot, then took Mother Liu and left.

Without a cart, the two could only walk on foot.

However, the official road during the day was bright and wide, not as scary as at night.

If only they had a cart, Gu Qingyan thought.

But they hadn’t seen any villages along the way. Gu Qingyan looked up and saw golden light shining on mountain peaks in the distance.

Mother Liu followed his gaze and explained, “That’s Qingcheng Mountain outside Qingzhou Prefecture. There’s a Qingcheng Taoist temple up there. It’s very effective.”

Unfortunately, it was too far away to sign in.

After walking further, they finally saw farmland. If there were fields, there must be villages nearby.

Gu Qingyan helped Mother Liu sit down, then stood and said, “I’ll go over there to have a look. If I can find a village, I’ll buy a cart from there.”

If he couldn’t get a horse carriage, a cattle cart that could carry people would do.

Mother Liu was worried and wanted to go along.

“Mom, my legs are fast. I’ll be back soon.”

Gu Qingyan sprinted ahead because he had already seen a gleaming sign-in point.

He ran a full li (about half a mile), then stopped to catch his breath. He felt his body was a bit better—maybe it was the effect of the Ginseng Yangrong Pills.

Wiping the sweat off, he suddenly realized something was wrong.

He had clearly been running toward the inverted triangle, but there were no farmlands left ahead. Where was the village to sign in?

Gu Qingyan frowned. The golden glowing inverted triangle was right in front of him, just behind a dense thicket.

He peered inside. It was a steep slope, and he couldn’t see what was below.

【Found Pei Xuan, use 1 point to sign in?】

Pei Xuan? What’s that?

Gu Qingyan narrowed his eyes. This prompt was different from before. Could this sign-in point be special?

Last time, an anomaly happened—after signing in, a system skill appeared. What about this time?

Looking at the slope, Gu Qingyan decided to take the risk—fortune favors the bold.

Since he already had the sign-in system, he had to take advantage of the opportunity and not miss out on great wealth for being too cautious.

He lowered his center of gravity and carefully climbed down.

The sign-in point got closer and closer.

At the last few steps, Gu Qingyan looked over and was stunned.

In a waist-high patch of grass lay a person, dressed in black clothes and pants, exuding an aura that screamed “not a good guy.”

“Is this Pei Xuan? Pei Xuan is a person?”

Gu Qingyan couldn’t believe it. Sign-in points shouldn’t be people. How could you sign in to a person?

“Dead or alive?”

He poked the man on the ground with his finger. There was still warmth. He was alive.

“Maybe the sign-in point is just being pressed down by him.”

Gu Qingyan thought, then dragged him a few steps to the side.

Soon, he couldn’t deceive himself anymore—the sign-in symbol moved along with the unconscious man. Pei Xuan was indeed a person.

“You can’t pick up random men on the roadside,” Gu Qingyan kept telling himself.

But he was too curious. How could a person be a sign-in point? What would you get after signing in?

A loyal servant? A devoted warrior? A god of war returning with 80,000 dead soldiers?

The man was young, barely in his early twenties, with a handsome but fierce-looking face. Even unconscious, his brows were furrowed, showing a bad temper.

Despite all this, the man didn’t wake up and had no external injuries. No one knew why he was unconscious here.

After much hesitation, Gu Qingyan couldn’t resist the temptation of signing in.

He shamefully stretched out his hand: 【Sign in.】