Chapter 48: A Chance Encounter with a Beauty

  Seeing the four ghosts of the Yellow River hanging on the tree again, Ling Yun knew that Huang Rong must be nearby, so he walked forward and teased with a smile: "How did you four guys end up hanging here again?"

  The four ghosts of the Yellow River were overjoyed when they heard someone coming, thinking they would be saved. But as soon as they saw who it was, they immediately hung their heads in despair again. Although the four of them had some flaws, they weren't fools. They had all seen Ling Muyun's methods before, and besides, they were on opposing sides. It was already a blessing that Ling Muyun didn't take their lives when he had the chance. To think that Ling Muyun would come to rescue them was simply a fantasy.

  The Yellow River Four Ghosts stopped and dispersed, and Ling Muyun nodded in satisfaction. To him, the Yellow River Four Ghosts were like four little clowns, always making a scene and providing him with some amusement. That's why he had spared their lives several times when he encountered them, partly because he didn't bother to care about them, but also because he expected they would create more interesting news in the future. However, the value of the Yellow River Four Ghosts was limited to this, if they failed to recognize the situation and irritated him, he wouldn't mind killing them offhand.

  Just then, a faint sound of water came from behind, followed by a soft laugh. Ling Mu Yun turned his head to look, and saw a small boat emerging from the trees by the lake, drifting gently towards him. At the back of the boat was a woman holding an oar, smiling sweetly as she rowed. Her long hair cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall, and her white dress shone brightly in the sunlight. A simple golden ribbon tied up her black hair, which sparkled even more against the snowy background. As the boat drew closer, the girl's features became clearer, revealing a beauty of about fifteen or sixteen years old, with skin as fair as snow, and a face so lovely it was almost too much to behold.

  Ling Yun's eyes lit up instantly, although he had long known that Huang Rong was beautiful and lovely, but this time seeing her true appearance, he still felt dazzling and stunning, making him unable to help but admire, indeed worthy of the reputation of being a beautiful Huang Rong.

  Actually, before this, Ling Yun had always known that Huang Rong was a girl, but he had always treated her as a child. After all, Huang Rong was only fifteen or sixteen years old and her body had not yet fully developed. In terms of figure, she only had the shape of a woman and still needed two to three years to become a beautiful and alluring woman.

  However, when Huang Rong truly recovered and appeared in front of him with her true face as a daughter, his thoughts couldn't help but change, because for a beauty like Huang Rong, the temporary defect in her figure would make her imperfect, but it was also a minor flaw that could be overlooked, as her lovely appearance and captivating demeanor were enough to cover up this small deficiency. No wonder even someone like Ouyang Ke, who had seen countless women, would be infatuated with Huang Rong to the point of being bewildered, because Huang Rong indeed possessed this charm.

  Just as Ling Yun was dizzy and confused, he saw Huang Rong rowing the boat to the shore, her face as lovely as a flower, and she called out in a crisp voice: "Cloud brother, come aboard!"

  Ling Yun saw Huang Rong's smile and thought she was as lovely as a spring breeze, so beautiful that nothing could compare to her. He couldn't help but exclaim: "Huang Xiongdi, I never expected that after you changed back into women's clothes, you would be so lovely, just like a celestial maiden descended from heaven! If I weren't your brother and didn't have some discerning eyesight, I'm afraid I wouldn't even recognize you!"

  "Haha......" Huang Rong smiled and said, "Brother Yun, you're really interesting. At this time, you still call me Young Master Huang, I don't know what you're thinking."

  "Right, it's indeed not suitable to call you Huang Xiaodi anymore. To address a little fairy like you as brother is really too awkward. But if I don't call you Huang Xiaodi, what should I call you instead? Huang Xianmei? Huang Rongmeizi?"

  "Huang Rong pouted and said: 'Hmph, Huang Xiangniang, it's really unpleasant to hear that. Just call me Rong'er, my father has always called me that.'"

  "Haha, great! From now on, I'll call you Rong'er. Natural and unadorned, like a lotus flower emerging from clear water - this name suits you perfectly."

  Huang Rong smiled and said, "Yun Gege, is your mouth smeared with honey? It's really sweet, you haven't cheated many little girls with this mouth of yours, have you?"

  "Rong'er, you're really wronging me. Up till now, apart from you, I don't even have a single female friend. Where would I go to deceive young girls?" Ling Mu Yun said with a spread of his hands and an innocent face.

  "Huang Rong smiled and said: 'You'd better stop deceiving people here, from the moment I met you, you've been using your glib tongue to deceive people, who knows what's true or false in what you say?'"

  "When did I ever cheat?"

  "You also said you didn't deceive people, as soon as we met, you saw that I was a girl, right? Don't think I didn't notice. You're not like your brother Guo, who is so honest and has already seen that I'm a girl, but still calls me 'Huang Xian Di' with a straight face, without even blushing. And what's this nonsense about us meeting being fate? How shameless! Who has fate with you? I think you just want to take advantage of me!" Huang Rong said with a pout, looking like she was saying "believe it and you'll lose".

  Ling Muyun suddenly felt embarrassed, and Huang Rong was not only beautiful but also clever. She had seen through his tricks long ago. He cleared his throat twice to cover up his awkward emotions and dryly said: "Rong'er, you're wronging me! I admit that I recognized you as a girl earlier, but since you disguised yourself as a boy, it's clear that you didn't want people to know. I couldn't very well expose you. But saying that I had bad intentions towards you is truly a great injustice! At the time, I didn't even know how beautiful you looked, so why would I have bad intentions?"

  "So you're saying that if you had known I was beautiful from the start, you would have had bad intentions towards me, right?" Huang Rong immediately seized Ling Muyun's words and asked.

  "No, no, Rong'er you misunderstood me, I didn't mean that..." Ling Mu Yun waved his hands repeatedly, he felt for the first time that he was tongue-tied and not a match for Huang Rong this little beauty.

  Huang Rong looked at Ling Yun's slightly flustered appearance and couldn't help but let out a "heh" of laughter. She then suddenly retracted her smile, and said in a hushed tone: "Brother Yun, I've been without my mother since I was young. My father is either practicing martial arts or thinking about Mother, so he doesn't have much time to spend with me. Growing up this way, I never knew what it felt like to be cared for... until I met you. So even if you didn't intentionally try to deceive me, even if you deliberately tried to take advantage of me and harm me, I'd still be willing to be deceived by you..."

  As she spoke, Huang Rong's eyes reddened and a layer of mist floated in her beautiful eyes. Several crystal tears overflowed from the corners of her eyes and slid down her lovely and delicate cheeks, making one unable to help but feel pity for her.

  Ling Yun's heart skipped a beat, and a surge of affectionate feelings rushed to his head. He reached out and grasped Huang Rong's wrist, speaking softly: "Rong'er, don't worry, I won't deceive you again, nor will I harm you. I'll take good care of you."

  Huang Rong raised her head and stared blankly at Ling Yun, her beautiful eyes filled with more tears, becoming even more crystal clear: "Gege, I believe you."

  Although Huang Rong is extremely intelligent and beautiful, she can be said to be a girl who lacks care and yearns for attention and protection. The appearance of Ling Mu Yun just satisfies her desire in this regard, and the girl's heart is thus lightly opened.

  "Cough, cough, can you two please put aside your romantic talk for now and help us down first? As long as you let us down, we'll leave immediately without any delay, and won't dare to linger."

  Just then, Shen Qing, the eldest of the four ghosts hanging from the tree, suddenly said in a majestic tone.

  Ling Mu Yun and Huang Rong, who were deeply immersed in their tender moment, were both startled. They suddenly remembered that there were others around them. Ling Mu Yun's face turned red as he released Huang Rong's hand. Huang Rong glared at the four men with a mixture of shyness and anger, scolding: "You four can just wait to hang from the trees for the rest of your lives!"

  Huang Rong immediately turned her head and said to Ling Yun, "Brother Yun, there are a few little devils here making a racket, come on board, let's go to the middle of the lake to enjoy the snow."

  Ling Muyun had already regained his composure at this time, smiled and nodded: "Good." After finishing, he jumped onto the boat.

  At this time, the four ghosts of the Yellow River saw that the two were about to leave and suddenly became anxious. They cried out in unison: "Little girl, come quickly and cut off the ropes on our bodies! Let us down!" "You help me with this, and I'll give you 100 taels of silver!" "Each person gets 100 taels, that's a total of 400 taels!" "I'm willing to give you 800 taels if you want."

  Due to their fear of Ling Mu Yun's power and methods, the Four Ghosts of the Yellow River did not dare to ask for his help, but instead turned to Huang Rong for assistance. However, the Four Ghosts were dim-witted and had poor eyesight, and they failed to realize that Huang Rong was actually the same person who had twice tricked them and hung them from a tree. Ling Mu Yun heard that they were seeking help from Huang Rong, the very person who had tormented them, and he couldn't help but shake his head in silence, losing all desire to kill them. The Four Ghosts were just too amusing, and even as an enemy, he found it hard to bring himself to deal with them.

  Huang Rong saw Ling Yun get on the boat, and immediately pushed the boat away from the shore with a pole. At this time, the four ghosts of the Yellow River were still increasing the reward for rescuing people, wanting Huang Rong to come and rescue them, but Huang Rong's mood was annoyed after being disturbed while talking about love, so she didn't care about them.

  Ling Muyun gazed at the four Yellow River ghosts who were still shouting from the trees on the shore, and asked with a suppressed smile: "Rong'er, are you going to let them hang there forever?"

  Huang Rong smiled and said, "These four guys call themselves '刚烈雄健' (Fierce and Heroic), they're quite formidable. Even if they freeze to death or starve to death, being able to rest in this beautiful plum forest is their good fortune. 'Plum Forest Four Ghosts' sounds much more elegant than 'Yellow River Four Ghosts'."