Chapter 1: Destroying Someone's Reputation

  Gusts of spring breeze blew by, blowing down small clusters of willow catkins from the trees. The white catkins scattered in the wind like cotton, one of which floated onto Lingyun's disheveled and damp hair, making him look even more disheveled and bedraggled at this moment.

  But at this time, amidst Lingyun's anxiety and unease, there was even more anger mixed in.

  In front of him, who was extremely disheveled and covered in mud, Gao Mingyue had two young women and eight burly men surrounding Lingyun tightly. Gao Mingyue, who looked only sixteen or seventeen years old, glared at him with eyes that were even angrier than Lingyun's.

  "Yifeng, you must marry into the Gao family!"

  Ling was taken aback for a moment, then immediately glared at them with eyes wider than those of the barbaric girlfriend, High Moon. In a low, stern voice, he said: "Firstly, my name is not Easy Wind. Secondly, I already have a girlfriend. Thirdly, just now I went to great lengths to rescue that person, and instead of thanking me properly, you're actually trying to extort me? In short, I'm too lazy to bother with you people here, no time for this nonsense, goodbye!" It's said that in these times, there have been cases where people who helped an elderly person who fell were extorted for medical fees, but never had he heard of someone being rescued from a river and then being extorted into becoming a live-in son-in-law.

  "A real man should dare to take responsibility for his actions. Don't you know that men and women shouldn't be intimate, especially in broad daylight with everyone watching? You were so affectionate with my sister, and now you still want to deny it?"

  Gao Mingyue said a few key points, her voice was soft and small, suddenly vague and unclear. Lingyun laughed. "What's that again? You'd better speak louder."

  "Shameless!" Gao Mingyue's face flushed with a few strands of crimson, seemingly somewhat embarrassed.

  It was the little girl next to her, who might have been only twelve or thirteen years old, who pointed at him loudly and said: "You were just hugging and kissing our young lady by the river, and you even...and you even tore off our young lady's clothes..." However, before this bold little girl could finish speaking, she was immediately covered by Gao Mingyue, who was furious and didn't let her say the rest of the words.

  "Don't cover it up, let that little girl speak, is there still a place to reason? I kindly rescued someone from the river and she almost suffocated, I gave her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, wasting half a day's effort. You're now actually treating me like a ***, you don't even thank me, is this how you repay kindness? As he spoke, Lingyun couldn't help but think of the beautiful face and snowy skin of the girl he rescued earlier, and secretly gave her a thumbs up. Thinking back to when he was giving her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, although it was unintentional, he had indeed unbuttoned her collar and caught a glimpse of the hidden snowy peaks, but now wasn't the time to think about that."

  Although Ling seemed tough on the surface, he was secretly feeling a little lost and even terrified in his heart.

  The people in front of me, at first glance, are extraordinary.

  That one who just called herself Gao Mingyue, and these two little girls by her side, although they are unreasonable and sharp-tongued, but the eight big men behind them, each and every one of them has a strong back and waist like a tiger, can stand on their fists, and run horses on their arms.

  At this moment, all eight of them were wearing ancient costumes and hairstyles, with their faces solemn and swords at their waists. Gao Mingyue, the two little maids, and the beautiful woman he had just rescued from drowning were also dressed in traditional Han clothing. If that was all, he wouldn't have been so shocked.

  He had too many unresolved doubts in his mind, and he vaguely remembered that a few days ago, he and a group of friends were talking about emulating the ancients and going to Yangzhou for three months. So they chartered a painted barge from Nanjing and cruised down the Yangtze River to Yangzhou. On the evening before arriving in Yangzhou, they had a banquet on the boat, during which he drank quite a bit of wine. In the middle of the night, he went to the bow of the boat to sober up by blowing wind, but accidentally fell into the river.

  After falling into the river, he felt that there was a bright moon in the middle of the river that was attracting him, and then he was suddenly surrounded by a mass of light. Then, it seemed like a long time had passed, but also just an instant, he suddenly floated to the surface of the water, and he woke up from his drunkenness. Before he could even think about what was happening, he saw a figure in the river bobbing up and down with the waves. He hurriedly swam over, exerting great effort, and finally rescued the person who had fallen into the water and was trying to entangle him like an octopus.

  She was dragged to the riverbank, where he performed CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until she finally regained consciousness. Only then did he notice that the young woman he had saved was dressed in traditional Han clothing, with narrow sleeves reaching her wrists, a high-waisted skirt, and long hair trailing on the ground. Her feet were clad in high-heeled shoes. Although she looked disheveled after falling into the water, there was something alluring about her wet appearance. He even thought of a line from a poem: "Slender waist, light makeup, six Hu palace-style narrow clothes." What struck him most, however, was that despite being only seventeen or eighteen years old, the girl had a full head of white hair.

  However, Lingyun soon discovered that he himself was also wearing a wet long gown. Before he could figure out what was going on, Gao Mingyue and others, who were also dressed in ancient attire, surrounded him. If it weren't for the girl he had rescued but had been pretending to be unconscious suddenly waking up at the right moment to explain, Lingyun estimated that even if he hadn't drowned in the river, he would have been beaten to death and thrown into the river by them.

  "Yifeng, are you even a man?"

  Gao Mingyue scolded Lingyun in a dialect similar to Henan accent, and the white-haired girl earlier had a similar tone. Suddenly, he realized that he didn't understand Henan dialect before, let alone this ambiguous dialect, but now he could understand everything, and what he said earlier seemed to be in this dialect too, which was very strange, and there was an inexplicable sense of discomfort.

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

  Who would have thought that as soon as the words fell, Gaoming Yue's wrist rose, and a jade pendant shone brightly. She said disdainfully, "This jade pendant you took from your body clearly has the words 'Yifeng' written on it. This kind of jade pendant is always worn close to the body, mostly by young masters. Do you still want to deny it?"

  Looking at her serious expression, Lingyun's face turned solemn. Could it be that he had traveled through time? Otherwise, how could he explain the clothes on his body, and the fact that he had fallen into the river in the middle of the night, only to emerge on the surface as if it were daytime, with no sign of boats on the river? And what about the long gown on his body, and the fact that he suddenly understood and could speak their dialect? Lingyun suddenly remembered something and hastily looked down at himself, left and right, leaving Gaomingyue and others bewildered.

  "We didn't steal your things, this jade pendant was just picked up by my sister a moment ago."

  However, Lingyun didn't have time to think about these things now. His brain was almost exploding because he discovered that this body wasn't his own at all. This body was obviously much stronger, with bulging muscles and eight-pack abs. Even using those big men as a reference point, he estimated that his height should be around 180 cm or so.

  "Is there a mirror? Can I borrow it for a moment?"

  Gao Mingyue didn't understand Lingyun's sudden change, but she still had the maid who spoke earlier bring over a small copper mirror.

  The copper mirror was small and blurry, but it allowed Ling Feng to see the face in the mirror clearly. It wasn't a familiar face anymore. He was bewildered, even terrified. Was this Zhuang Zhou's butterfly dream or a fleeting illusion? Which one was real, which one was true, or were they just past lives?

  "What, do you want to pretend to be crazy? Don't tell me you dare to despise my sister?" When she said this, Gao Mingyue was like a mother leopard ready to pounce. "If you dare to say yes, I'll immediately let you go back to the river to cool off..."

  "My goodness, is it that serious?" Looking at her expression, she didn't seem to be pretending. At least those eight burly men had already leaned forward, ready to take action.

  Lingyun was somewhat unclear whether this was an illusion or reality, or rather, he found it difficult to accept and didn't want to admit it. Moreover, the group of people in front of him also gave him a deep sense of crisis. He kicked off his two wet boots and shouted loudly: "When it comes to emotional matters, it's about mutual consent, how can you force it? No need for you to take action, I'll jump myself!" Although he had been struggling in the river for half a day earlier, he was still very confident in his swimming skills. The 36th strategy, retreat is the best policy.

  "Does Yigongzi really dislike Nu so much?"

  At this moment, the white-haired girl who had just been escorted away by a group of people reappeared. She changed into a new set of clothes, with a high-collared top that was tied directly under her armpits and chest, which made the peaks that Lingyun and Xiongling had previously glimpsed even more prominent, attracting admiring glances from onlookers. However, what really caught people's attention was still her white hair, which always gave Lingyun a sense of mystery and fantasy.

  "If that's the case, I've troubled you too much. It was my fault, not yours. Before I could even thank Young Master Yi for saving my life, it's time to part ways. I hope you'll take care of yourself on your journey. Sister, return the jade pendant to Young Master Yi and see him off."

  Lingyun stood there, his rationality telling him it was better to stay away from these people.

  Looking at her desolate back, and the tears that slid across her pale cheek as she turned away, and that lonely figure, he suddenly had an inexplicable feeling in his heart. Was it pity or something else? He couldn't quite put it into words. But he couldn't bear to watch her leave like this. Suddenly, he thought that perhaps she hadn't accidentally fallen into the water earlier, but had intentionally jumped in to end her life. What could have driven a woman like her to choose such an act?

  Could it be that one white hair?

  Gao Mingyue stamped her foot and said urgently, "Sister, that scoundrel just insulted you like that, it's already damaged your reputation. If you don't like this good-for-nothing rogue, then kill him with one sword and throw his body into the river, letting him leave is absolutely not allowed."

  "My god, in broad daylight, this is the rhythm of robbery. The sympathy I had for the white-haired beauty was immediately replaced by anger. Lingyun didn't say a word and turned to run towards the river."

  PS: Originally scheduled to be uploaded on August 10th, but as a result of the broadband line maintenance and upgrade starting from the 10th, it wasn't until today that it was fixed. I'm so sorry, Muzi is guilty, Muzi apologizes to everyone!

  PS2: New book uploaded, please support new and old reader friends, recommend, collect, click on one is not less.

  PS3: Regarding the issue of titles, Muzi thought for a long time and finally decided to use some more common titles, such as "Miss" or "Sir", hoping that all parties will understand and avoid causing trouble for readers.