The water of Han Lake was icy cold. The moment Ye Chu plunged in, a bone-piercing chill struck him. The freezing cold startled him, and he instinctively grew worried for the two females. He sharply increased his speed, tumbled a few times through the water, and dived towards the depths. Neither the little girl nor the seductive woman knew how to swim properly, so they could not have drifted far.
Sure enough, he had not gone deep when he spotted the child. He reached out, pulled her into his arms, and found she had already lost consciousness. With no time to hesitate, he soon located the seductive woman still thrashing nearby. Even through the murky water, he could make out her pale, ample skin. Though clothed, her outstanding figure was plain to see. Her arms flailed, causing her body to rise and fall, her hips swaying now and then in tempting curves. But the struggle did not last long. Her long, pale legs soon went limp, and she sank steadily downward.
Though a beautiful temptation lay before him, Ye Chu had no leisure to admire it. He swiftly grabbed her, one arm around each of them, and surged upward.
The woman’s body was ice-cold, yet as he held her close, he could feel her astonishing smoothness. Even with his mind fixed on rescue, a ripple of desire stirred in his heart.
The weeds in Han Lake grew thick and lush. As Ye Chu swam up, they wrapped around his ankles. He kicked several times but could not shake them off. This was precisely why the lake was so treacherous. When the two had fallen in earlier, few onlookers had dared to help. Once entangled in the weeds, survival was rare.
Holding both of them, even Ye Chu’s excellent swimming skills were pushed to the limit. The situation was perilous. Any swimmer, no matter how skilled, would have been in grave trouble.
After several failed struggles, Ye Chu gave a fierce shout. “Break!”
In an instant, a miraculous thing happened. The weeds coiled around him snapped apart section by section. Seizing the chance, Ye Chu kicked hard, shot upward, and hauled the child and the seductive woman onto the bank.
“They’re saved, they’re saved!” Several young women cried out in excitement and hurried over to help Ye Chu drag the pair fully ashore.
The women looked at Ye Chu, soaked to the skin, their eyes gleaming with admiration. They had not expected this youth to be so capable, rescuing two people from such a dangerous lake in one go.
“What a pity,” they thought to themselves. “Such a fine young man, yet he resembles that scumbag.”
Ye Chu paid no mind to their stares. Why else would a man be so handsome, if not to be admired by women? In his previous life, he had made a point of strolling through the city centre twice a day.
“Help wake them,” Ye Chu called to the women pressing on the child’s chest. After several firm presses, water gushed from the girl’s mouth. She coughed violently and came round.
“She’s awake, she’s awake!” The women turned excitedly towards Ye Chu, only to see him lean down towards the seductive woman as if to kiss her. “What are you doing? Taking advantage while she’s helpless!”
Ye Chu’s brow furrowed. He snapped, “She swallowed too much water. I’m going to breathe air into her lungs.”
At his angry tone, the women wavered. One ventured, “In that case, let us do it.”
“Nonsense!” Ye Chu barked. “Can a woman’s lung capacity compare to a man’s? If we miss the best moment to save her and something goes wrong, will you take responsibility?”
Rebuked so sharply, the women fell silent, afraid to insist in case disaster really struck and they were blamed. “Then hurry!”
Seeing their reaction, Ye Chu briefly considered teasing them further, claiming the woman needed her wet clothes removed to wake properly. But he decided it would be too obvious and restrained himself.
His gaze shifted to the seductive woman. She had a strikingly beautiful face and fair skin. Though her clothing was modest, it clung tightly to her soaked body, revealing an exquisite figure and pronounced curves. Her bosom rose high. She was an extremely attractive woman.
He forced himself not to stare brazenly at her thighs, chest, or hips, and fixed his eyes on her lips. They were somewhat pale yet still glossy. From this he could tell that, though unconscious, she was in no immediate danger.
“Hurry!” the women urged, anxious that he was not yet giving her air.
Very well.
Ye Chu, who had been hesitating over whether to take slight advantage, no longer held back. He lowered his head towards her tempting lips.
“Cough…”
Before his mouth could touch hers, the woman coughed violently. A jet of water, mixed with weeds, sprayed straight into Ye Chu’s face.
“Ah!”
Wiping his soaked face and seeing the weeds on his hand, Ye Chu could only laugh helplessly. Was this karma? If it was karma, couldn’t it have waited until after he had at least tasted those alluring lips?
“She’s awake, she’s awake!” The women ignored Ye Chu’s bedraggled state and tended to the child and the woman. With everyone’s help, though still weak, the pair soon recovered most of their strength.
“Yao Yao!” The seductive woman clutched the child tightly and burst into tears. The little girl, equally frightened, clung to her and sobbed.
“Um… you’re both completely soaked,” Ye Chu reminded them. “In this weather, you’ll fall ill. You should find somewhere to change into dry clothes.”
Only then did the woman turn her attention to Ye Chu. Gratitude filled her face. Had this youth not saved them today, she and Yao Yao would have perished in Han Lake.
Bai Xuan’s eyes were red and swollen, lending her pale, delicate face a touching vulnerability. “Many thanks to the young master for saving our lives!”
Ye Chu shook his head. “It was no great effort. Don’t mention it. Hurry home. A child cannot withstand such cold.”
Bai Xuan nodded. “May I know the young master’s name?”
“Ye Chu,” he answered directly, without concealment. In his heart he hoped that, seeing his handsome face, the women might not turn against him. Ye Chu had always believed good looks improved one’s character points.
“What? You really are Ye Chu?” The women who had begun to feel favourably towards him stared in disbelief, almost dazed.
They could not accept it. That infamous Yao City scumbag, saving people? His proper behaviour would have been to throw stones from the bank. And that good-for-nothing weakling with no strength at all had actually rescued two people from Han Lake?
Shock quickly turned to disgust. Alarm flashed in their eyes. They edged away, treating Ye Chu as though he were something foul, keeping their distance.
Bai Xuan was also familiar with the name that had been notorious in Yao City three years earlier. She had not imagined her rescuer would be such a person. The gratitude on her face became complicated.
She murmured a distracted farewell to Ye Chu and hurriedly led Yao Yao away, as if fleeing a wild beast.
Though the youth before her did not look unpleasant, his vile reputation demanded caution. Bai Xuan knew her own beauty. Who could guarantee his rescue had not been motivated by desire for her?
In Yao City, he was depravity incarnate. Originally, several people had shared the name “Ye Chu”, yet because of him the name itself had become reviled. Everyone who bore it changed their name, unwilling to be tainted by association.
What other city’s villain had ever driven those who shared his name to abandon it out of disgust? Yet Ye Chu had achieved exactly that. He was truly one of a kind.
Watching the group of women flee in revulsion, Ye Chu gave a helpless, bitter smile. The title of scumbag truly ran deep in people’s hearts. Even the strong gentlemanly aura he felt radiating from his very soul could not cover it. Just how deeply had the original owner been hated?
