It had already been three days since she had reached the outskirts of Huai City with the Wu family brothers. Originally, she wanted to rush and get there as soon as possible, but these three brothers were even more naggy than Yu Fenger. They adhered strictly to everything Yu Fenger exhorted. When it was mealtime, it was mealtime. When it came time to sleep, it was time to sleep. They wouldn’t even let her travel at night.
Every single time she had to adopt a stern air in order to make them agree to keep traveling for a few more hours after dark. Only with that did they finally manage to make it to the city.
They rode for a little while longer and were able to see a huge crowd of people had gathered at the entrance of Huai City.
“Wu Li, go see what’s going on?” Originally she had planned to just wind around the crowd, but she noticed that there were several people she recognized in the crowd so she sent Wu Li over to see what was going on.
Wu Li nodded and headed over. Tang Doudou got off her horse and stood in the shade of a tree to wait for him to come back. She waited a while, only to see that he was getting into an argument with someone over there. He and that person seemed ready to come to blows.
Tang Doudou’s gaze sharpened slightly. She called the other two over, then strode in that direction.
“Wu Li, what’s going on?” When Tang Doudou reached Wu Li’s side, she saw that his expression was extremely ugly as if he was looking at a hated enemy.
Wu Li didn’t respond, but Wu Qing soon exclaimed in surprise, “It’s you!?”
Upon hearing this, Tang Doudou turned to look at the person Wu Li was facing. Unexpectedly, it was someone she knew.
The person was wearing a blue brocade garment and holding a fan. If it weren’t for those dark eyes of his, he would have made an elegant-looking gongzi.
Wasn’t this Murong Ming? Truly, the paths between enemies were narrow. He had been thrashed by Su Yi when he blocked her way in Mist City yet in the blink of an eye she ran into him again right when she got to Huai City.
Murong Ming had noticed her right when she had headed over, but he didn’t say a thing. His gaze was so dark it seemed like he wanted to eat someone.
However, the brooding expression instantly disappeared when Tang Doudou turned to look at him. In its place was a seemingly smiling expression. “And I was just asking whose family’s dog this was that was going around biting people. I was just about to act to help its master teach it a lesson. I never expected that it was actually one of Alliance Head Li’s subordinates! Alliance Head Li, long time no see, have you been well?”
Wu Li was stunned by the words ‘Alliance Head Li’ and looked towards Tang Doudou in astonishment. She was actually the Alliance Head of the martial arts circles, Li Xueyi!?
But wasn’t Li Xueyi a man!? Could it be that the Stronghold Masters got it wrong? Or was Murong Ming mistakened?
Or was it that neither side was wrong?
Wu Li thought, from the looks of it Tang Doudou was just an alias, no wonder her attack that day was so powerful. They had been naive to think that she was just a noble daughter from some sect. Having found out about Third Chief’s true identity, Wu Li’s honest face immediately flushed red. He shouldn’t have rashly offended this Murong Ming. He had caused Third Chief trouble…
This was his train of thought. He had completely forgotten about how Murong Ming insulted him.
Tang Doudou’s gaze turned slightly cold. She hated sharp-tongued people like Murong Ming the most. People like that always considered themselves to be a cut above others, but in reality, from other people’s points of view, they were nothing but fools.
“Spring hasn’t even arrived yet, where did such an annoyingly noisy dog come from?” Tang Doudou dug at her ear with a very puzzled expression, acting as if she didn’t see Murong Ming in front of her.
She actually dared to say that he was a dog in heat!?
Murong Ming’s facial color immediately turned ugly. He gave a cold laugh and said, “Li Xueyi, I’d like to see how much longer you can continue to act so arrogant!”
“Aiyah, why is this dog barking even more fervently now? Tsk, tsk, it’s also quite pitiful ah! Wu Qing, hurry and go see if there are any female dogs in the city. Go bring a couple over here for this Alliance Head, treat it as this Alliance Head bestowing them to him!”
The words earlier were still quite veiled but these words were extremely blatant. Several of the spectators nearby burst out laughing. Murong Ming gritted his teeth angrily and spat, “You will regret this!”
Then he turned and angrily strode away, flustered.
Tang Doudou felt refreshed from having successfully discomfited Murong Ming. He wanted to compete with her on whose tongue was more poisonous? He had better go practice a couple more lifetimes!
“Doudou… Alliance Head…” Wu Li only returned to his senses after Murong Ming left. He looked at Tang Doudou and couldn’t put together a coherent sentence for quite a while.
“Just call me Doudou, I like this name.” Tang Doudou then sighed. When would she finally be able to openly declare that her name was Tang Doudou?
Wu Li thought about it a little and felt that it felt more natural to call her Lady Doudou so he replied, “Understood, Lady Doudou.”
“What was that about earlier? You had a past dispute with Murong Ming?” asked Tang Doudou curiously.
Wu Li didn’t speak. Once again it was Wu Qing who replied indignantly, “How could it be described as simply a dispute? It’s a deep-seated grudge and hatred!”
All three brothers looked very angry as if they were itching to cut Murong Ming into a thousand pieces. From the looks of it, the matter wasn’t simple ah!
Tang Doudou deliberated for a while, then glanced at the nearby city entrance. She said, “Let’s talk about it after we get to the Alliance Head Residence.”
After she finished speaking, she started walking towards that direction.
Wu Li called for her to stop. “Lady Doudou, wait a minute!”
“What is it?” asked Tang Doudou.
Wu Li pointed towards the area where the crowd was earlier. As of now, the crowd had mostly dispersed so the center could be seen. It was a beggar with shabby garments whose face was covered by his messy hair.
He crouched there with his head lowered, trembling. It was a pitiful sight.
What those people were looking at earlier was this beggar?
That’s not possible ah. It wasn’t like beggars were anything rare, how could he attract so much attention?
Tang Doudou walked over and crouched down in front of that beggar. She asked softly, “Hello, what’s your name? Why did that crowd gather around you earlier?”
She only discovered after she crouched down that this beggar was a very young boy. There were many scars crisscrossed with recent-looking lash marks on his bony arms. From the looks of it, he had been frequently beaten by people.
The boy didn’t respond to her questions.
Wu Li said, “Murong Ming was also questioning him like this earlier and he also didn’t respond. I thought that Murong Ming was going to bully him so…”
“What did Murong Ming ask him?” Based on what Murong Ming’s personality was like, he probably wasn’t thinking about helping this boy out of the goodness of his heart. The fact that he set aside his status and questioned this boy in front of everyone meant that this young boy probably held some sort of secret!
Tang Doudou became curious. As she looked at the boy, she felt that he looked familiar, like she had seen him somewhere before.
Right after this thought occurred to her, she heard Wu Li say, “He seemed to have asked him if his name was Feng or Yuner.” (Feng = wind, Yun = cloud. It’s that Wu Li doesn’t remember which, not that Murong Ming asked if Yuner’s name was Fenger.)
At that time Murong Ming had said it really quietly so Wu Li wasn’t completely sure what he said.
However, this was enough to allow Tang Doudou to come to a sudden realization. No wonder she had thought that this boy looked familiar. She had seen him before!
Yuner. Wasn’t that the slightly slow little boy from the Prime Minister Residence? The one that called San Yu Big Sister and liked to call her Beautiful Big Brother?
Wasn’t he the Prime Minister’s son? How did he end up like this?
Could it be a mistake? Thinking this, Tang Doudou reached out to part the boy’s messy hair. A pair of limpid, bewildered eyes looked shyly at Tang Doudou. “B-beautiful… Big Brother…”
It really was Yuner!
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