A chance encounter, a helping hand

"Who on earth is messing with me?"

After leaving the Yunying Poetry Gathering, Jun Jingyi pondered that question all the way.

He hadn't offended anyone since he transmigrated...

He thought in silence.

By now, the sky was gradually growing dark.

A cool breeze blew through the pitch-black alley, instantly clearing Jun Jingyi's head a little.

Was it his imagination?

Why did he keep feeling there was a dark figure ahead?

He approached cautiously.

"Thud..."

A soft sound rang out.

Right in front of him, a dark figure covered in blood fell straight to the ground.

Jun Jingyi reflexively looked around and only breathed a sigh of relief after confirming no one was there.

Was this a scam?

But then he remembered that this wasn't the world he knew, and there was the blood...

With a soft sigh, Jun Jingyi rubbed his temples, his head aching.

At a glance, this was clearly a vendetta killing in the jianghu, something all too common in this feudal dynasty of cold weapons.

That brought him to the question.

Should he save him or not?

Given his education as a soul from a later age and his kind heart, he really did want to save him.

But if that brought him trouble...

After hesitating for a moment, he looked at the spreading pool of blood at his feet.

Jun Jingyi shook his head, immediately bent down, and carried the man on his back toward the Jun residence.

Whatever the case, if he came across someone in need and didn't save him, he couldn't live with himself. After all, he still didn't belong to this cold-blooded era...

Watching Jun Jingyi's retreating figure disappear into the darkness,

Bai Ruoli stopped in her tracks and fell silent.

This injured man...

Was called Sikong Ye!

A jianghu wanderer of unknown origins, but with extraordinary martial arts.

In his previous life, the eighth prince had left the Yunying Poetry Gathering early out of boredom and come across and saved him. Afterward, he had become a fearsome killer in the shadows at the eighth prince's side.

This time, she had come here specifically to wait, but she hadn't expected...

"Jun Jingyi again..."

She didn't even know what to say.

She couldn't understand it.

Why?

By all rights, even if Jun Jingyi had seen him, his character meant he should have stood by and watched him die.

That hypocrite had always refused to loose the hawk until he saw the hare, hadn't he? He would never get involved in trouble without something to gain.

But this man had only just appeared in this life!

After a long silence, Bai Ruoli suddenly frowned deeply.

A frightening possibility occurred to her.

Could it be...

"Was Jun Jingyi reborn too?"

Only then would he know the man's value.

And only that could explain why he was completely different from the man he had known in the previous life.

"Is that because he's putting on an act?"

"If that's the case, then that proposal..."

Bai Ruoli frowned deeply.

"Was that a provocation? Or an insult?"

Barely keeping her emotions under control, Bai Ruoli took several deep breaths, then turned and disappeared into the darkness.

She felt she might have to change her plans.

She couldn't set her mind at ease until she knew whether Jun Jingyi had been reborn.

She had already died once, and she didn't want to die a second time.

"Miss, you're back."

Seeing Bai Ruoli walk in, the maid Lian'er hurriedly spoke up in excitement.

"Miss, miss, look! Young Master Jun wrote another poem, and all the scholars say they're ashamed of how they fall short."

"Lots of people also say that with this one poem alone, Young Master Jun can be called Tianfu's foremost scholar!"

A flicker of surprise appeared in Bai Ruoli's eyes.

She had left rather early and hadn't seen what had just happened.

But... according to the plan, shouldn't Jun Jingyi's reputation have been utterly ruined?

After all, she had even brought in the man who sold poems!

What on earth had happened?

A little while later, amid Lian'er's startled exclamations and admiring remarks, she finally heard the whole story.

For a moment...

Bai Ruoli hesitated to speak.

"Clouds call her robes to mind, flowers her face... It really is a fine poem..."

"But is it describing a woman he loves?"

"But as far as he knew, in his previous life, that fellow didn't have a girl he was particularly fond of. In this life..."

Bai Ruoli jolted and froze!

So far in this life, there was no one either, aside from that time he had proposed to her.

So, if it was true, did that mean the poem was describing her?

Bai Ruoli couldn't help gazing at the copy of the poem Lian'er had obtained, her expression complicated. No one knew what she was thinking.

The poem really was beautifully written.

She came from an extraordinary background and had attended a private school since childhood, so she could naturally appreciate it.

So beautiful.

"Isn't this describing a heavenly fairy descending to the mortal world? How could there be such a beauty in the mortal world?"

But when she remembered that in a lover's eyes, their beloved is Xi Shi, she understood.

"But... a poem of this caliber, from Jun Jingyi, the man who bought poems to make a name for himself?"

Listening to Lian'er indignantly denounce Li Ran and recount what Jun Jingyi had said,

She too frowned slightly.

She had the same thought as everyone else.

"He was hiding his abilities!"

But she wasn't thinking of this life. She was thinking of the one before.

Back then, Jun Jingyi hadn't gone through this ordeal, so he had never revealed his earthshaking poetic talent.

He had been hiding his abilities in his previous life, and he hadn't let the slightest clue slip.

Everyone under heaven knew Jun Jingyi as the handsome young master of Tianfu and Jiangnan, but none knew that his poetic talent surpassed even the Yan Kingdom's foremost young master, the Poetry Young Master!

He had deceived everyone under heaven!

"But... why would he do that?"

Bai Ruoli pondered gravely. She felt as though she had stumbled upon something momentous.

At the same time, she was alarmed by how mysterious and frightening Jun Jingyi was!