Chapter 2

It was a very young man.

Handsome and striking, tall of stature, he wore a light yellowish-brown cross-collared hemp robe. His hair ribbon was tangled with mud and sand as he lay face-up upon the shallow rocky shoal.

River water submerged his nose and mouth. Several wounds marked his body, and under the constant battering of the current, the injuries had swollen pale and white, giving him the sickly appearance of a corpse.

Gu Yun did not know whether he was dead or alive. The moment he recovered his senses, his body reacted faster than his mind. Half dragging and half hauling, he pulled the man ashore.

That alone exhausted every ounce of his strength.

Ever since transmigrating here, he had never once eaten his fill. Not only had he lost over ten jin in weight, he was also carrying serious injuries himself.

He had no time to rest. Panting heavily, he raised a hand and lightly patted the man, but there was no response. Leaning down to check, he found neither pulse nor breath.

Forget it. He would try first and think later.

Gritting his teeth, Gu Yun immediately began performing CPR.

By the time his vision was swimming and his head spinning, by the time he was almost ready to give up, he suddenly heard a low groan.

His mind instantly cleared a little. Huffing and panting, he resumed CPR with renewed determination, continuing until he was utterly drained of strength and black spots danced before his eyes.

Life and death were decreed by fate; wealth and honour rested with Heaven.

Gu Yun weakly reached out to check the man’s breathing and pulse again, but before he could touch him, violent coughing erupted, and a gaze as sharp as blades and swords slashed towards him from below.

Gu Yun jolted and lowered his eyes.

The man had awakened.

He had dragged him back from the gates of hell.

Overwhelming joy surged through him. The taut string of tension in his nerves instantly snapped loose. Gu Yun no longer cared that the gravel on the riverbank was digging painfully into his flesh. Covering the chest beneath which his heart pounded violently, he collapsed heavily onto the ground and gulped down breaths of air, an unconscious smile spreading across his face.

Only after his breathing steadied and his heartbeat gradually returned to normal did he remember the hostility in the man’s gaze earlier.

He wanted to tell him that he was a good person, that he had just saved his life.

But although he could barely understand the local language, he was still not very capable of speaking it.

Rather than stammering for ages and painfully forcing out a few crooked, awkward words like an idiot, it was better not to speak at all.

Gu Yun shut his mouth and looked at the man with an innocent expression.

The young man watched him for a while, the sharpness in his gaze softening. He surveyed the surroundings within sight before finally speaking in a low, hoarse voice:

“Thank you. I will certainly repay this life-saving kindness in future.”

The way this man spoke differed somewhat in accent from the speech Gu Yun had heard before. He was probably not a local of Nanling Prefecture.

The geographical distances between prefectures were considerable, so natural differences in accent existed between regions.

After arriving in another county town, Gu Yun had already made enquiries and learned where he currently was. He was presently in Zhuyang County. The county magistrate who had arrested him governed Yanlin County. Zhuyang and Yanlin bordered one another and were not far apart, both falling under the jurisdiction of Nanling Prefecture.

Within the Great Xuan Dynasty, the local administrative divisions were mainly split into four levels: province, prefecture, state, and county. Counties belonged either directly to prefectures or directly to states.

Gu Yun silently repeated the man’s words in his mind before finally understanding what he had said. Just as he was about to nod—

The young man, noticing he had remained silent for too long, spoke again before he could respond.

“Miss, do we know each other?”

In one short sentence, Gu Yun suffered two separate shocks.

Miss? Did he look like a girl?

Although his appearance did lean somewhat towards softness, he was undeniably a man. What kind of eyesight did this fellow have?

And acquainted with him? That was even more absurd. Today was the very first time they had met.

Gu Yun deeply suspected there was something wrong with the man’s brain. Could this be a side effect from taking a stroll through the gates of hell?

His expression darkened.

The young man had been watching him the entire time and naturally noticed the change.

Silently considering the matter, he concluded from Gu Yun’s reaction that they did indeed know one another, and that their relationship was likely quite close. Otherwise, Gu Yun would not have become annoyed by that question.

From a stranger’s perspective, there had been nothing inappropriate about what he said.

From an acquaintance’s perspective, however, it had been extremely inappropriate.

The truth was that he remembered nothing at all.

His name, identity, family… every trace of his past had vanished from his mind like smoke dispersing into the clouds.

Now that he had confirmed the other party meant him no harm and was someone familiar to him, he stopped probing cautiously and admitted frankly:

“I’ve lost my memory.”

Gu Yun froze for a moment before squeezing out a belated, “Oh.”

The young man continued, “Who are you? What is my name? Why are we here?”

The barrage of questions left Gu Yun’s mind spinning slightly. After thinking for a moment, he was just about to answer honestly when his gaze landed on the man’s powerful physique, perfectly outlined beneath his soaking wet clothes, and suddenly an idea sprang into his mind.

Dropping his eyes, he fiddled with the edge of his sleeve. Casting aside all shame, he stammered:

“……I’m your wife.”

“?”

“My name is Gu Yun.”

Originally, Gu Yun had intended to explain which characters made up his name through an idiom, but then he remembered that even the language of this era differed from his own. Perhaps they had never even heard the idioms he knew, so he abandoned the thought.

The man could interpret the characters however he pleased. It was hardly an important matter.

What mattered more was…

Gu Yun rubbed his stomach, which was cramping painfully from hunger.

The young man scrutinised him.

Earlier, his mind had been even less clear than it was now. Probably because of nearly drowning, it felt as though a thousand long needles were stabbing through his brain, his entire forehead throbbing painfully.

So although he had stared at the other person for quite a while, he had not truly seen him clearly, only arriving at the conclusion that the person before him was a young woman.

But now, taking a proper look, he saw skin white as snow and remarkably fine features.

His eyebrows were thick without being unruly, his nose straight and elegant, his lips beautifully shaped and neither too thin nor too full. His eyes were large and round, his pupils occupying nearly half the eye, with slightly drooping corners that made them appear bright, clear, and extraordinarily lively.

However, his condition looked far from good.

His complexion and lips were pale, his cheeks slightly hollowed. Looking carefully, one could even discern traces of sorrow and illness lingering between his brows.

Some areas of exposed skin bore slender scars, as though something sharp had slashed across them.

Several blisters covered his palms. Judging by their placement, they had likely been rubbed raw from labour.

He wore a patched indigo short jacket over brown trousers, entirely male attire. Thin and frail enough that the wind itself might blow him over.

The young man concluded that the person before him, who claimed to be his wife, had originally been a child raised in wealth and comfort, but had since suffered greatly.

The moment this conclusion formed, a strange sensation rose within him. Vaguely, he felt that in the past he had often judged people through all sorts of subtle details.

When the other person claimed to be his wife, he believed it seven or eight parts out of ten.

With looks like these, it was hardly strange that his former self might have taken a fancy to him and married him.

If someone ordinary-looking had said the same thing instead, he would not have believed a word. He did not think his former self had possessed such poor taste.

As for the stammering speech and somewhat unusual accent…

Could the other person perhaps have some affliction?

He hesitated inwardly, though other guesses also surfaced in his mind. For the moment, he remained silent and waited for what would come next.

The young man’s thoughts were spinning ceaselessly.

Gu Yun’s thoughts were spinning just as ceaselessly.

Gu Yun said to him, “Your surname is Lin. Your given name is Yue.”

“As for why we’re here… you really don’t remember anything at all?”

The young man replied, “I’m listening to you.”

Gu Yun racked his brains trying to fabricate an explanation.

“We… we… are… are…”

Gu Yun frowned deeply.

He simply lacked enough life experience and composure to instantly invent a convincing story beneath the man’s piercing gaze.

But the other man was far too clever. He somehow completed the story himself. Though perhaps it was also because Gu Yun’s stammering speech had caused him to mishear shi as si.

The young man said slowly, “……Eloping?”

Gu Yun: “……”

Gu Yun: “Mm, mm.”

The young man: “……”

The young man closed his eyes briefly.

“Look at me and say it again. While you’re at it, carefully explain why we had to elope in the first place.”