Chapter 2

As the spring breeze blew, it carried small tufts of willow fluff from the trees, the white fluff floating and scattering like drifting snow. One of these tufts landed on Ling Yun’s wet, disheveled hair, making him look even more disheveled and wretched.

However, at this moment, Ling Yun was not only agitated and uneasy but also filled with more anger.

In front of him, who was drenched and looked extremely wretched, Gao Mingyue was surrounded by two young women and eight burly men, tightly encircling Ling Yun. Gao Mingyue, who looked to be about sixteen or seventeen, glared at him with even more fury than Ling Yun.

"Yi Feng, you must marry into the Gao family!"

Ling Yun was taken aback for a moment, then immediately widened his eyes even more than the fierce Gao Mingyue, and with a deep voice, he shouted, "First, my name is not Yi Feng. Second, I already have a girlfriend. Third, I went through so much trouble to save someone, and instead of thanking me, you now accuse me of something. In short, I don’t have the time to argue with you. Goodbye!" In this day and age, he had heard of people being extorted for medical fees after helping elderly people who had fallen, but he had never heard of someone being extorted into becoming a son-in-law after saving a drowning person.

"A man should stand by his actions. Don’t you know that men and women should not touch each other? Everyone saw you with my sister just now... just now... just now..." Gao Mingyue’s voice became soft and indistinct at the crucial points, and Ling Yun found it amusing. "Just now what? Speak up clearly."

"Shameless!" Gao Mingyue’s face turned a few shades of red, as if she was somewhat embarrassed.

On the side, a young girl who looked to be only twelve or thirteen years old loudly pointed at him, "Just now, by the river, you hugged and kissed our young miss, and even... even took off her clothes..." However, before the bold young girl could finish her sentence, Gao Mingyue, who was furious, quickly covered her mouth to stop her from saying the rest.

"Don’t cover her mouth. Let the little girl speak. Is there any place to reason here? I kindly saved someone from the river, and when I saw she had almost suffocated, I performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. After all that effort, you now treat me like a pervert. Even if you don’t thank me, do you have to turn it around like this?" As he spoke, Ling Yun recalled the beautiful face and fair skin of the girl he had just saved, and he couldn’t help but secretly admire her. Thinking about the artificial resuscitation, although it was unintentional, he had indeed undone her collar and seen the beautiful landscape of her chest. But now was not the time to think about such things.

Although Ling Yun appeared strong on the surface, he was inwardly somewhat bewildered and even panicked.

The people in front of him clearly had some background.

Gao Mingyue, who had just introduced herself, and the two young girls beside her, although unreasonable and quick-witted, had eight burly men behind them, each with broad shoulders and a strong build, capable of standing a person on their fists and running a horse on their arms.

However, these eight men were all dressed in ancient attire, with their hair tied up, solemn faces, and long swords at their waists. Gao Mingyue, the two young girls, and the beauty he had just saved were all dressed in full ancient Han clothing. If it were just this, he wouldn’t have been so panicked.

He had too many doubts and questions. He vaguely remembered that a few days ago, he and a group of friends had decided to follow the ancient custom of traveling to Yangzhou in March. They had rented a painted boat and traveled down the Yangtze River from Nanjing to Yangzhou. When they were close to Yangzhou in the evening, they had a feast on the boat, and he had drunk a lot. In the middle of the night, he went to the deck to sober up, but accidentally fell into the river.

After falling into the river, he felt a bright moon in the middle of the river attracting him, and then he was suddenly enveloped by a bright light. After what seemed like a long time or just a moment, he suddenly surfaced, and the alcohol was gone. Before he could think about what had happened, he saw a figure bobbing in the water. He quickly swam over and, with great effort, saved the drowning person, who clung to him like an octopus.

After dragging her to the riverbank, he performed chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, finally reviving her and saving her life. Then he noticed that the young woman he had saved was dressed in ancient Han clothing, with narrow sleeves to her wrists, a high waist, and a long skirt that trailed on the ground. She wore high shoes. Although she looked wretched after falling into the river, she had a certain charm. He even recalled a line of poetry: "Graceful waist, light makeup, narrow sleeves of the Six Dynasties." What was particularly striking about her was her beautiful face, despite her full head of white hair.

However, Ling Yun soon discovered that he himself was also wearing a wet, long robe. Before he could figure out what was happening, Gao Mingyue and the others, also dressed in ancient attire, surrounded him. If it weren’t for the girl he had saved, who had pretended to be unconscious but woke up at the right time to explain, Ling Yun might have been killed and thrown into the river.

"Yi Feng, are you a man?"

Gao Mingyue, with a Henan accent, accused Ling Yun. The girl with white hair also had the same accent. He suddenly realized that he had never understood Henan dialect before, let alone this somewhat similar dialect, but now he understood it all, and even spoke it himself. This was too strange and felt off.

"I’m telling you for the third time, my name is Ling Yun, not Yi Feng."

Before he could finish, Gao Mingyue raised her wrist, and a jade pendant glowed. She said disdainfully, "This jade pendant, which you took from your body, clearly has 'Yi Feng' written on it. Such a pendant is usually worn by the children of noble families. Do you still want to deny it?"

Seeing her serious expression, Ling Yun’s face turned grave. Could he have traveled through time? Otherwise, how could he explain the clothes on his body, and the fact that he fell into the river at night but surfaced in the daytime, with no sign of the boat? And the long robe he was wearing, and the fact that he suddenly understood and could speak their dialect? Ling Yun suddenly remembered something and quickly looked down at himself, left and right, leaving Gao Mingyue and the others puzzled.

"We didn’t steal anything from you. The jade pendant was accidentally taken by my sister just now."

However, Ling Yun had no time to deal with this. His mind was about to explode because he realized that this body was not his. This body was clearly stronger, with bulging muscles and a well-defined eight-pack. He even estimated, based on the burly men, that he must be at least 180 cm tall.

"Do you have a mirror? Can I borrow it?"

Although Gao Mingyue didn’t understand Ling Yun’s sudden change, she still had a servant girl bring a small bronze mirror.

The mirror was small and a bit blurry, but it was enough for Ling Yun to see that the face in the mirror was not his familiar one. He was bewildered and even panicked. Was this a dream, or was it real? Which was the real world, and which was the past life?

"What, are you trying to act crazy? Do you dare to look down on my sister?" As she spoke, Gao Mingyue was like a leopard ready to pounce. "If you say yes, I’ll throw you back into the river to cool off..."

"Damn, is it that serious?" She didn’t seem to be faking it, and the eight burly men were already leaning forward, ready to attack.

Ling Yun was really unsure whether this was a dream or reality. Moreover, the people in front of him gave him a deep sense of danger. He kicked off his wet boots and shouted, "Matters of the heart should be mutual. How can they be forced? I’ll jump myself, no need for you to do it!" Although he had struggled in the river for a long time, he was still confident in his swimming skills. When in doubt, run.

"Does Master Yi really hate me so much?"

At that moment, the girl with white hair, who had been escorted away, reappeared. She had changed into a new outfit, with a high waist that accentuated her figure, making her even more striking. However, what was most striking was her white hair, which always gave Ling Yun a sense of magic.

"If that’s the case, I apologize for my earlier actions. I haven’t thanked you for saving my life. I’ll take my leave now. Sister, return the jade pendant to Master Yi and see him off."

Ling Yun stood there, and his rational mind told him to stay away from these people.

But as he watched her turn away, the tear that slid down her cold face, and her lonely back, he felt a strange, indescribable feeling. Was it pity, or something else? He couldn’t say. But he couldn’t bear to see her leave like this. He suddenly thought that perhaps she hadn’t fallen into the river by accident, but had jumped in to end her life. What could have driven such a woman to choose suicide?

Could it be her white hair?

Gao Mingyue stomped her foot and said urgently, "Sister, that shameless man has already damaged your reputation. If you don’t like him, just kill him and throw his body into the river. Letting him go is out of the question."

Damn, in broad daylight, this is like a forced abduction. The pity he felt for the white-haired beauty was quickly replaced by anger. Without a word, Ling Yun turned and ran towards the river.

PS: I was supposed to start uploading on August 10th, but the broadband line maintenance and upgrade started on the 10th and only finished today. I’m really frustrated. I apologize to everyone!

PS2: New book upload, please support with recommendations, collections, and clicks.

PS3: Regarding the titles, after much consideration, I decided to use more common titles like "miss" and "sir" to avoid confusion for readers. I hope the history buffs understand.

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