Chapter 1 A Dream Interrupted in the Water Pavilion "Cicadas, cicadas..."

Chapter 1 A Dream Interrupted in the Water Pavilion "Cicadas, cicadas..."

"Cicada, cicada..."

A series of sharp, noisy sounds came to Yan Hui's ears. Startled awake but only half-awake, Yan Hui felt his heart pounding as if it would burst out of his chest, but his mind was hazy and shrouded in a fog.

He reached out to hug his still-not-fully-awake head, and then expertly pulled the blanket over his ears, trying to block out the piercing sound, but of course it was to no avail.

"What's wrong with the neighbors? They keep choosing bizarre alarm clocks to wake us up like we're going to die."

Even if I'm angry and complaining inside, based on past experience, once the alarm clock next door goes off, it will go on at least three times, so there's no way I'll stay in bed.

Forcefully opening his still dry eyes, Yan Hui was immediately shocked by what he saw – a man's face right in front of him, a very handsome but completely unfamiliar face.

For her, who lives alone, this was terrifying enough to be described as a horror movie.

But what's even more terrifying is the surrounding environment.

With its carved lattice windows, exquisite and classic wooden furniture, calligraphy and paintings that look like they belong in a museum, antique shelves displaying various precious objects, and a chaise lounge covered with brocade, this is a room with a completely antique feel.

The noise I heard earlier wasn't the neighbor's alarm clock, but rather the chirping of cicadas coming from outside the window, and the temperature I sensed was completely off.

The night stretched from late autumn to midsummer, from a simple European-style bedroom to this classically decorated room with carved beams and painted rafters. Beside me stood a handsome man in ancient costume, his eyes closed, wearing a slightly disheveled blue-gray wide-sleeved robe, and his long hair tied up with a matching hairband.

All of this seemed absurd to Yan Hui.

A long, wide-sleeved, blue-gray robe?

Yan Hui suddenly realized that the fabric she was holding was indeed blue-gray. It turned out that the blanket she had vaguely pulled over to cover her ears was actually the wide sleeve of the person next to her!

As if burned, she quickly flung the cloth from her hands, and with her slightly numb limbs, she awkwardly rolled over the unconscious man and half-stumbled off the chaise longue.

.

Looking up, he saw a beautiful face, about seven-tenths mature, reflected in the bronze mirror opposite him. The features of this face were very similar to his own, but the woman looked only fourteen or fifteen years old.

"Ouch!" The moment I looked into the mirror, my brain felt like it had been cleaved open by an axe, and a sharp, rapid pain shot through it. Countless pieces of information rushed in from the gaping wound.

"Swallows return... Swallows return... Garden banquet... Lotus picking..."

Although there was still a lot of information tangled up and couldn't be sorted out in time, Yan Hui at least understood her current situation. If she wasn't crazy, then she had transmigrated.

The memories that flooded her mind told her that the original owner of this body was surnamed Xiao, which coincidentally was the same name as hers.

The original owner, Xiao Yan Hui, was the third daughter of the Xiao family, a wealthy merchant family in Jiangzuo. She was not yet fifteen years old and was at the age of innocence and carefree. She was also quite pampered at home.

Today was originally a banquet hosted by the Xiao family for guests from the Qin family. The two families are also close friends, so the Qin family not only had male guests, but also female relatives. The women's banquet was held at the Sishiju restaurant near the garden, and the older girls also toasted each other with a few cups of sweet wine during the banquet.

The original owner had come out to get some fresh air because she felt a little tipsy, but she happened to hear the maids in the garden saying that the lotus flowers in the lake at home were blooming very well, and there were even several twin lotus flowers. The original owner, who was curious, thought of picking some twin lotus flowers to put in a vase.

The lake was teeming with lotus blossoms, and since the original owner couldn't find any twin lotuses and the sun was too strong, she simply picked a few that were of decent quality and went to the nearest lakeside pavilion to cool off. And then...

And then it is now. The person who woke up in a daze was no longer the same person. Xiao Yan, who had transmigrated, found herself lying on the same chaise longue with a strange man, both of them disheveled. If her memory served her right, this room was the east wing of the Lakeside Pavilion on Lotus Lake.

Oh, actually, she and the man lying there weren't exactly strangers. In the memories that had just flooded her mind, he had appeared briefly before. He was Xiao Yanhui's second sister Xiao Quexian's fiancé.

In other words, at this moment she and her future brother-in-law were lying on the same couch, their clothes disheveled.

In this situation, it's obvious without even thinking that the original owner of this body must have been tricked by someone. Although she doesn't know who set the trap or what their purpose is, Xiao Yan Hui understands very well that if she were caught "in bed with someone else" right now, what awaits her will definitely not be a good ending.

But since they've set this trap, the "catching the adulterer" drama could unfold at any moment.

She must leave here immediately!

Struggling to support herself on the chaise lounge, Xiao Yan Hui realized that compared to the man on the chaise lounge whose clothes and hair were only slightly disheveled, she herself was in a much more sorry state.

Her hair was mostly loose, and the hairpins and ornaments on it had either fallen off or were crookedly and barely holding the hair together. She was only wearing a loose undergarment, and the apricot-pink outer garment and embroidered long skirt lying on the ground were obviously whose.

"Damn it."

With a low curse, Xiao Yan tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and hurriedly picked up her clothes from the ground and put them on.

After managing to put the clothes on, she discovered that the collar had been torn open, and besides the damaged outer garment, her long, messy hair was something she couldn't possibly fix herself in a short time.

The person behind the scheme was deliberately trying to give her no chance to escape.

"It's just ahead...the waterside pavilion..." The few words carried by the lake breeze made Yan Huitou's skin crawl, and a layer of cold sweat immediately ran down his back in the sweltering heat.

Although she couldn't hear clearly, she knew that someone was coming this way, and her intuition told her that this was a deliberate plan by the person behind the scenes, who wanted to use them to uncover this daytime affair.

"What to do, what to do, what to do..." These words were almost constantly on her mind, but faced with this situation, Xiao Yan Hui really couldn't think of a safe way to escape.

This place is called Lakeside Pavilion, which, as the name suggests, is located in the center of Lotus Lake. The only way to enter and exit this pavilion is through a winding corridor connecting to the lake shore.

"The lotus viewing is best done in the waterside pavilion; the ladies and young women will not be disappointed."

Xiao Yan Hui could already hear the sweet voices from the other end of the winding corridor gradually approaching. Not to mention that her only way out was blocked, even if it weren't for the group of people coming gracefully from the winding corridor outside, she would not have been able to step out of the water pavilion's gate in her disheveled state.

In a wealthy family like the Xiao family, there are countless maids, servants, and young men serving in the courtyard. But in her current state, how could anyone possibly see her? If she dared to show herself, she would face the complete ruin of her reputation. But if she stayed in this room, the evidence would be irrefutable, and she would have no way to defend herself.

A gust of lake breeze blew by, but Xiao Yanhui shivered in the hot weather, and felt a chill on her back, which was already soaked with cold sweat.

The increasingly approaching, gentle conversations and soft, pleasant laughter sounded to her like the prelude to a raging storm.

......

Looking at the exquisite and beautiful waterside pavilion ahead, Zhao, who was walking at the front, gradually slowed down until she stopped.

She knew very well what would happen if she brought this group of women into the lakeside pavilion. Her stopping at this moment was not out of kindness or reluctance. She just felt that even if this marriage was a worthless thing, it was a glamorous one. It would be too easy for that little hussy to pick it up for nothing.

And is the better man her daughter spoke of really true? If she abandons this one now, what if the other doesn't work out? She's really out of her mind. Even though her daughter has already started things today, she still has a chance to make things go smoothly. How could she have been so bewitched by her daughter's few words and swayed by her?

She glanced instinctively at her daughter beside her, her eyes filled with hesitation and a final question.

"Mother, let's walk a little faster, the sun is making us dizzy." Xiao Quexian saw the look in her mother's eyes and knew that her indecisive nature had resurfaced, so she quickly took her hand and pulled her towards the lakeside pavilion.

Today's plan is the beginning of her changing everything, the start of her bright future, and this is a step she is bound to take.

“Yes, sister-in-law, I see that Mrs. Qin and the two young ladies are sweating. Let’s hurry up.” Zhang, who was walking a few steps behind and chatting casually with Mrs. Qin about the lotus flowers in the lake, couldn’t help but urge Zhao to hurry up when she saw that Zhao had stopped ahead.

After saying that, she glanced at the somewhat dazzling sun and then worried about her daughter who had sent a maid to pick lotus flowers: "In this sweltering heat, I wonder where that girl Yan Hui has gone off to be naughty. If she wants lotus flowers, she can just tell the servants. Why does she have to pick them herself?"

“Aunt, my sister must have found a cool place to rest, so don’t worry.” Xiao Quexian glanced at the water pavilion a few steps away, which had only half-opened doors, and spoke gently as she offered words of comfort, but what she concealed in her eyes was naked malice and the excitement of watching a good show.

"Aunt, I've found the best and most comfortable place for my third sister to rest. She'll definitely have a good night's sleep, and when she wakes up, there will be a wonderful marriage waiting for her. Ah! Where in this world can you find a sister as good as me!"

Xiao Quexian raised her round fan to cover her face. After thinking it over carefully, she remembered that her aunt had been very interested in the marriage with the Qin family a few years ago. Now she could be considered to have fulfilled the wishes of the mother and daughter back then, making them happy.

As they spoke, two maids who had cleared the way entered from the left and right. Xiao Quexian's eyes lit up with excitement, and the corners of her mouth, hidden behind her fan, couldn't help but curl up.

"Ah!" A few breaths later, just as Xiao Quexian had predicted, a maid's exclamation came from inside the water pavilion.

A note from the author:

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I'm so happy! A new article is starting.