Wife, Protect Me! - Chapter 2

A book floated before his eyes, visible only to him. It stated he had only three days left to live—an utterly absurd situation.

But wasn’t it equally absurd that he had merely fallen asleep and awakened as someone else?

When others crossed worlds, they gained golden fingers or system assistance. Yet Li Nuo opened his eyes to a death countdown.

A death countdown was bad enough, but couldn’t it at least provide some strategies or hints? Were these three days meant for him to obediently await death?

Li Nuo tried using his mind to flip through this Law Codex, searching for methods to extend his lifespan, but it was useless. Whether through mental effort or physical touch, the book remained unopenable.

As Li Nuo waved his arms wildly at the void, the old man by the bedside sighed and cautiously reminded him, “This is Great Xia’s Chang’an. Your surname is Li, given name Nuo. Your father is the current Minister of the Court of Revision. Well, Young Master, does any of this ring a bell…”

Great Xia’s Chang’an?
Li Nuo was naturally familiar with the name Chang’an—he had been born and raised there. However, when he had jumped from the building earlier, this old man had pointed a finger and frozen him mid-air. This was certainly not the Xia Dynasty he knew, nor the Chang’an he remembered.

Speaking of which, the female assassin who tried to kill him last night had likely been immobilized in the same way.

Thinking of that young woman, the wound on Li Nuo’s shoulder throbbed faintly. Without the memories of his previous self, he had no idea what this guy had done to make her hate him so intensely…

“My head hurts terribly—I can’t remember anything…”
Li Nuo shook his head and asked, “What happened last night? Why did that woman want to kill me?”
Even if he were to die in three days, he wanted to be a ghost who understood the truth.

The old man shook his head. “Last night, Young Master was injured and fell unconscious. The entire residence was in chaos. This old servant temporarily locked her in the woodshed but haven’t had time to interrogate her yet.”

Li Nuo had just heard the old man say his transmigrated identity was the son of the Minister of the Court of Revision. As a law student well-versed in legal history, Li Nuo knew clearly that in ancient times, the Minister of the Court of Revision held a position equivalent to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in later eras.

This old man referred to himself as “this old servant,” indicating this was likely a feudal society-like setting.
In feudal societies, the Minister of the Court of Revision wielded far greater power than a modern Supreme Court Chief Justice.
This was a position capable of determining the life and death of ordinary civilians—even high-ranking officials.

Could this namesake of his be some bullying scion of nobility who had committed acts warranting three-year minimum to death penalty sentences against that young woman?
Why else would someone hate him so intensely?But what does this have to do with him, a newcomer?

The book before his eyes had disappeared at some point, but whenever Li Nuo thought of it, it would slowly reappear.

Li Nuo’s mind was in chaos, his heart uneasy. Enduring the pain in his shoulder, he sat up from the bed and said, “Let’s go see her.”

The old man looked at Li Nuo, scratching his head, feeling that something was off about the young master but unable to pinpoint exactly what. He could only help Li Nuo to the place where the female assassin was being held.

Li Manor, woodshed.

The young woman was tightly bound to a pillar, a white cloth stuffed in her mouth. Her hair was disheveled, her face pale, and her once clear, bright eyes had long lost their luster, making her appear utterly pitiful.

“Creak…”
The door of the woodshed was pushed open from the outside.

The young woman slowly raised her head. When she saw the figure entering, intense hatred surged in her eyes again. She struggled incessantly, but with the cloth in her mouth, she could only make muffled “mmph” sounds.

On the way there, Li Nuo had already asked about the girl. She was a maid in the household, hired just last month. She had been diligent and hardworking all along, but for some reason, she had sneaked into Li Nuo’s room to assassinate him yesterday.

In his mind, he had already imagined a scenario where the young woman was violated by him, an official’s son, endured humiliation to infiltrate the enemy’s residence, served attentively on the surface while secretly waiting for an opportunity to take revenge…

And in this drama, Li Nuo was the ultimate villain.

Li Nuo walked up to the young woman and carefully removed the cloth from her mouth. Before he could even ask, she glared at him fiercely and gritted her teeth, saying, “You scoundrel, I won’t let you off even as a ghost!”

The sheer resentment in her voice made it hard for Li Nuo to believe she hadn’t been wronged by this spoiled brat.

How infuriating! He, a law-abiding citizen, a self-disciplined people’s judge, his clear reputation across two lifetimes, ruined in an instant…

Li Nuo rubbed his temples and asked, “Miss, do you have a grudge against me?”

The young woman gritted her teeth. “No.”

Li Nuo was taken aback, then widened his eyes. “Then why did you try to kill me?”

The young woman’s eyes were full of hatred. “Because your father caused my father’s death!”

“My father caused your father’s death?”

“My father was an honest official. How could he do such a thing? It was all your father’s false accusations!”

Li Nuo was both angry and speechless.

All this time, he had been blaming himself and feeling guilty, only to find out he was just collateral damage.

This woman was the relative of a criminal seeking revenge against law enforcement personnel.

Even if what she said were true, grievances have their source, debts their debtor. If she wanted revenge, she should have gone after his father, the Minister of the Court of Revision. Why come after him?

This was retaliation, murder.

After all that, she was the real villain.

The old man beside Li Nuo didn’t seem surprised at all. He glanced at the young woman and said, “So it really is revenge against the master. She has no foundation in Martial Arts, yet she managed to infiltrate the manor by hiding her identity. It was all this old servant’s negligence. How does the young master wish to deal with her?”

Li Nuo waved his hand and said, “Hand her over to the police… the authorities.”
In later times, incidents of criminals and their families seeking revenge against judges were not uncommon.

He still hadn’t figured out the deadline from that book. Right now, he just wanted to be alone with his thoughts. Although he was the victim, he had no law enforcement authority. Detaining the girl overnight constituted compulsory measures restricting personal freedom such as detention or arrest against someone with criminal evidence or strong suspicion. Continuing to hold her would be illegal confinement, let alone having the power to punish criminals.
As a legal professional, he possessed basic occupational ethics.

After Li Nuo finished speaking, the old man beside him remained motionless, simply staring fixedly at him.

Li Nuo asked, “Let’s go. Why are you staring at me?”

The old man’s eyes shifted, suddenly extending four fingers as he inquired, “Young master, what number is this?”

Uncertain whether numbers differed between the two worlds, Li Nuo tentatively answered, “Four?”

“Correct!” the old man exclaimed happily before pressing further, “What’s two plus three?”

“Five.”

“Fifteen plus sixteen?”

“Thirty-one.”

“Seventy-three plus sixty-nine.”

“One hundred forty-two.”

The old man’s eyes filled with utter disbelief. After collecting himself, he spoke again.
“Eight hundred forty-three plus six hundred fifty-two?”

“One thousand four hundred ninety-five.”

While the old man was still mentally calculating, Li Nuo had already provided the answer.

Though puzzled by the old man’s behavior, Li Nuo could basically confirm that addition remained unchanged across worlds. He glanced at the old man and found his expression full of shock and excitement, as if he had discovered something extraordinary.

It’s just three-digit addition – why the fuss? Li Nuo asked irritably, “Why are you so surprised by such simple questions? Do you take me for a fool?”

The old man murmured, “But young master… you are a fool…”
…
That the Minister of the Court of Revision’s son was an idiot was common knowledge throughout Chang’an.

As the Li family steward who had watched him grow up, Steward Wu knew better than anyone his young master’s mathematical abilities. Ordinarily, the boy would need to count on his fingers for even single-digit additions, yet now he could instantly provide correct answers to double and even triple-digit problems. Was this really the same foolish young master?

Could last night’s collision have actually knocked him intelligent?

“What a wonderful collision, truly wonderful…”

Seeing the foolish boy he’d raised suddenly become clever, Steward Wu couldn’t contain his excitement. Rubbing his hands repeatedly, he said, “This old servant will immediately report this good news to the master…”

After a brief moment of astonishment, Li Nuo shook his head. So the previous owner of this body had been a fool who couldn’t even handle arithmetic under one hundred.

No wonder the old man was so excited.

He’d even provided the explanation himself, saving Li Nuo the trouble of concealing his cross-world transmigration.

“Heavens, you are blind!”

Not only had her assassination failed, but her father’s murderer’s idiot son had actually become intelligent. The girl trembled with rage, crying out bitterly, “You villainous thief! May your entire family die horrible deaths!”

For attempting murder while still being so insolent, she deserved to be gagged again to prevent her from shouting “villainous thief” along the way and ruining his reputation. Otherwise, people might genuinely believe he had wronged her.

This way, even if he really died three days later, no one could claim it was suicide from guilt.

Just as Li Nuo prepared to stuff the white cloth back into her mouth, a figure entered through the doorway.This was a young woman dressed in a white fitted gown with delicate floral patterns embroidered along the hem. She held a long sword in her hand, her features were exquisite, and her demeanor was cold and aloof. Her waist was slender enough to be encircled by a single hand, and her jet-black hair was casually tied into a ponytail. The first thing Li Nuo noticed upon seeing her was an overwhelming aura of heroic valor and an icy aloofness that kept others at a distance.

Only then did he take note of her appearance.

Having lived two lifetimes, this was the first time Li Nuo had encountered such a stunningly beautiful girl in reality. The female assassin by his side was certainly a petite beauty, but compared to this woman, she fell short.

The only flaw was that, even in her form-fitting attire, there was little discernible curvature on her chest.

The moment the woman stepped inside, she spotted the young girl tied to the pillar. The girl’s face was pale, her hair disheveled, and her expression one of despair and sorrow. She looked utterly miserable, as if she had just suffered some form of abuse…

And Li Nuo was just about to stuff a piece of white cloth into her mouth.

As if realizing something, the woman’s face instantly turned cold.

Just as Li Nuo was about to ask the old man who this beautiful young lady was, he heard a whooshing sound in his ears. A delayed pain surged in his chest, and his body slammed heavily into a pile of firewood. His already injured and weakened frame couldn’t withstand such treatment, and his vision went black as he passed out once again.

It was only then that the old man’s frantic voice finally reached him.

“Young Mistress, it’s a misunderstanding!”