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  This also seemed to occur to Xiao Siyuan and he coughed. He tried to improve Xiao Yi's reputation by telling her the entire situation, "Ahem, Brother Lin had misunderstood. Ah Yi was showering at that time, but some malicious person had placed a dog that was known to be very ferocious in his room."

  "We had seen that dog bite someone to death before. At that time, Ah Yi was still very young, so when he saw that dog, he panicked and could only run for his life. The dog had chased after him and bit off some of his garments and that was the scene Brother Lin happened to see when he came to visit. It was actually a senior from the Lin family that helped chase off that dog. Speaking of that, we really have to thank that senior."

  The struggle for power within clans had always been very fierce, but she never expected that someone would be as heartless as to try and kill a seven-year-old that way.

  By using a dog, it wouldn't be traced back to them and they could just end the matter by killing the dog. The person behind it would be able to get off without any losses.

  She glanced towards Xiao Yi with sympathy. It definitely hadn't been easy to grow up in such a harsh environment.

  However, with how his personality was, Xiao Siyuan had definitely played a large part in the fact that he was able to survive for so long. If it weren't for that, Xiao Yi probably wouldn't be so obedient towards Xiao Siyuan. Although she hadn't interacted with them a lot, it was always Xiao Siyuan that was stopping Xiao Yi from doing something with a glance. This tactful communication wasn't possible without years of familiarity.

  The influence that the four large clans hold over the martial arts community was clear. However, the clan masters were all very mysterious and weren't people she could control at all. Those young men though, weren't bad either. At the very least, their personalities were pretty good.

  If she could become friends with them, it might come into use in the future.

  The moment this thought emerged, Tang Doudou was stunned and touched her face in a daze. When did she become like this? To think of making friends based on how useful they would be to her?

  "Lady Doudou?" Xiao Siyuan saw that Tang Doudou's face was filled with shock after he finished speaking, so he couldn't help but wonder if he had said something wrong.

  Tang Doudou abruptly snapped out of it when she heard Xiao Siyuan call out to her. She was flustered to face Xiao Siyuan's sincere smile and hastily turned away. "I'm fine, you can continue."

  Xiao Siyuan was baffled by her reaction, but he sent Xiao Yi a look and Xiao Yi immediately grabbed Lin Shuxuan's reins and started pulling his horse forward. Lin Shuxuan, who had been absorbed in eavesdropping, was taken off guard and he almost fell off the horse.

  However, fortunately he reacted in time and grabbed the reins to pull himself back up. Once he regained his balance, he looked over and saw that Xiao Yi smirking provocatively. Anger rushed to his head and he shouted, "Xiao Yi, what exactly are you trying to do?"

  "Humph! As someone of the four large clans, you actually don't know martial arts. Don't you feel embarrassed?"

  When his sore spot was prodded at, Lin Shuxuan became even more furious and pointed at Xiao Yi angrily. "Even if I don't know martial arts, in the future I'll still be the master of the Lin Clan Stronghold! So what if you know martial arts? So what if your natural talent is strong? You can't become the master of the clan and when you see me in the future, you'd still have to politely greet me as Stronghold Master Lin!"

  "Even if you become the head of the clan, you'll still be useless trash. You want me to call you Stronghold Master Lin? Keep dreaming!"

  The two had jabbed right at each other's sore spots so the atmosphere immediately turned very tense. After a few moments, they started racing in the sea of flowers. Under Xiao Yi's intentional guidance, the two eventually got further away.

  The masters of the Lin and Xiao families shared a glance, then simultaneously called for a few trusted aids and sent them to get those two to stop causing ruckus and come back.

  Xiao Qian's reaction wasn't that strong, but Stronghold Master Lin was on the brink of panicking. If it weren't for the fact that they still hadn't finished discussing this matter, he would've chased after them himself, then made sure that Lin Shuxuan stayed right by his side.

  Xiao Siyuan saw that some people were following after them. He was pretty sure that Xiao Yi wouldn't lead Lin Shuxuan too far away, so then he turned and looked towards Tang Doudou who was still distracted. He was confused. What exactly was wrong with her?

  Tang Doudou was currently very flustered. At that instant earlier, she suddenly felt like she wasn't herself.

  However, immediately afterwards, she started consoling herself that it was definitely because she was too sensitive after everything that happened in addition to her pregnancy. She wasn't trying to befriend them to use them, she wanted to befriend them because they had good personalities and were friends that were worth making.

  It was definitely not because she wanted to use them!

  There was no way that she was that sort of person!

  Tang Doudou had to continuously tell herself that until her facial color finally improved somewhat. When she saw that Xiao Siyuan hadn't said anything this entire time, she turned back around and asked, "Why aren't you saying anything?"

  Xiao Siyuan was wondering what was wrong with her. When she asked him a question, he replied with a smile, "You were lost in thought earlier. I was worried about disrupting your thoughts so I decided to wait until you were done thinking to speak."

  "Are you dumb? If I kept being lost in thought, then wouldn't Xiao Yi's effort have gone to waste?" Although she had been spacing out, she was still clear on what happened. Xiao Yi wasn't bored or actually angered by what Lin Shuxuan said, he had purposefully led Lin Shuxuan away.

  Xiao Siyuan said, "Truly, nothing can be concealed from Lady Doudou's eyes."

  Tang Doudou yawned and looked towards him with a faint smile. "That includes the last time you tricked me?"

  Xiao Siyuan's expression stiffened, then turned embarrassed. "So you really knew everything."

  "You're not good at lying." Tang Doudou's smile didn't fade. "So stop trying to be so secretive and just come out with it. That side also seems to be almost done with their discussion."

  When Xiao Siyuan heard this, he couldn't be bothered to care about embarrassment anymore and hastily lowered his voice to say, "The four large clans want to seize control of the martial arts alliance."

  After he said that, he returned to his normal volume and said, "Lady Doudou, I can't help but worry so I'm going to go find Xiao Yi. He has a rash personality, so it'd be bad if he really ends up injuring Brother Lin."

  Tang Doudou was stunned by his words, but she feigned calm and said, "En, go, but be careful. If anything happens, just send a signal. I and the heads of the four large clans will head over at once."

  "Alright!" After saying that, he drove his horse in the direction that Xiao Yi had left in.

  Tang Doudou watched him leave, then felt that she needed to tell Jun Xin about this. She looked around. Jun Xin had said that he would follow her from the shadows but she couldn't tell where he had hidden himself.

  Since she was thinking about things, she didn't pay as much attention to the horse and almost fell off several times when the horse stumbled.

  __________

  Credits: Translated by Chiyomira

  [Chiyomira's Corner]

  Enjoy~

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