Little Prodigal Alliance Head (and Cook)

Baili Yiling was really amazing. She managed to get herself accepted by the people of the martial arts alliance almost immediately and no one expressed any unwillingness to work with her even though she was Baili Yu’s younger sister. Even Xiao Yiyun who seemed very hard to get along with would smile towards her from time to time.

There was no need to mention Elder Yu. Ever since Baili Yiling started speaking to him, he hasn’t stopped smiling for even a second. His beard shook from his laughter and his tiny eyes had almost disappeared from his smile. He repeatedly sighed, “If only this old man had a daughter like you ah!”

“Elder Yu, if you say this, Yiling’s going to be unhappy! If you had such a good daughter, you wouldn’t like Yiling anymore, is that it?” Baili Yiling responded with an unhappy pout.

There was no way Elder Yu would ever dislike this adorable brat. He hastily explained, “I mean to praise you. I meant that you’re too likable! I wish I had a daughter as adorable as you so I could listen to her say such pleasing things every day!”

“That’s right.” Mo Yun nodded. “Yiling, you have no idea. If those disciples of mine were half as clever and as thoughtful as you, there’d be much less white hair on this head!”

Baili Yiling covered her mouth as she giggled. “Mother, there’s hair on your head?”

Mo Yun froze for a moment, then she started laughing heartily. “Aiyah! I was trying to praise you in a different way but you saw through it instantly.”

The moment she laughed, everyone in the courtyard started laughing.

The gloomy oppressive air that had been hovering above everyone this entire time instantly vanished. Tang Doudou was relieved to see this. She had been worried that Baili Yiling wouldn’t be able to get along with these people since she had seen how these people treated Baili Yu. They looked at him with deep fear, hidden envy, and for some reason, hatred…

However, it seemed that these things were easily resolved with Baili Yiling’s clever social skills.

Xiao Yiyun spoke in the middle of the laughter with a smile, “Elders are right. Any family that has such a lovely lady like Lady Baili is blessed.”

A lot of people turned to look towards Tang Doudou when they heard this.

Tang Doudou was completely confused. Why were they looking at her? What did it have to do with her? She was already pretty happy to be able to get along with them well.

She was still confused, but someone’s envious remark cleared up her confusion. “I sure envy Alliance Head’s fortune to be able to marry such a good husband and have such an adorable sister-in-law. Other people wouldn’t be able to accumulate such fortune even with several lifetimes.”

“En, Syndicate Leader Shen puts it well. Alliance Head really has such good fortune!”

Several people voiced their agreement and looked towards Tang Doudou with envy, causing Tang Doudou to feel awkward. Was she really that fortunate? That lucky?

However, when she thought about it, it seemed true. Baili Yu was naturally amazingly good to her, and Baili Yiling also treated her extremely well. Back in the modern world, there would be a lot of in-laws fighting in real life and TV shows. The fact that she managed to have such a weird little sister-in-law really was fortunate.

An hour quickly passed. The preparations had been made for the cremation, so servants came to invite them over.

Tang Doudou retrieved her wandering thoughts and looked towards everyone solemnly. “Everyone, let us head over!”

When they heard her serious tone, they stopped joking around and became solemn as well. Baili Yiling sweetly supported Elder Yu and followed behind Tang Doudou to head towards the cremation grounds. However, halfway there, someone came to report that the masters of the four large families had arrived.

Tang Doudou’s eyes flickered when she heard this news, then she told the servant to hurry and invite them in.

The masters of the four large families seemed to have been aware of the fact that the cremation would take place today because they were all dressed in white. Even Lin Shuxuan, Xiao Siyuan, and the rest were dressed this way.

On the surface, this was a show of respect for the martial arts alliance. However, this also meant that they definitely had spies in the martial arts alliance. If not, how would they have been able to get such sudden news so quickly?

The masters of the four families walked in and cupped their fists to salute Tang Doudou. Tang Doudou was young, but her status was clear. However, she didn’t bother to act according to status and returned the salute to them one by one with a faint smile. “In regards to the negotiation, let’s wait until we see off these comrades.”

The four nodded. Stronghold Master Lin said, “There’s no need for Alliance Head to be so alienating. Of course it’s more important to see off the deceased.”

Tang Doudou replied ‘en,’ then turned to continue leading everyone forward.

They soon got to the site.

The cremation was being held at a flat area of land outside Barbarian Mound Garrison. The scenery here was pretty good. She didn’t understand feng shui, but from the looks of it, this place had been carefully selected so that the people could rest in peace after being cremated.

When they arrived, there were already quite a lot of people here.

The decreased were ordinary disciples, and they had died at a stressful time so a lot of people had expected Tang Doudou to just casually order for them to be buried. They hadn’t expected her to order a full funeral to see them off.

This action moved countless people. A lot of people had come this time prepared to die. However, if they were going to die, knowing that they would have a proper funeral rather than being buried in a random place was much better.

Tang Doudou wasn’t aware that something she had done because she found it a matter of course had managed to win so many people’s hearts. Her thoughts had just been that these people were innocent but they had died in such a terrible way, so they wouldn’t be able to rest in peace unless they were given a proper funeral. In addition, she wouldn’t be able to rest easy either.

She retrieved her thoughts. Someone was already walking up to hand her a torch. “Alliance Head, please send our brothers off!”

The person that was passing her the torch was in white mourning clothes. He was probably a friend of the deceased.

Tang Doudou took the torch and as everyone looked on, walked over slowly to the rectangular stack of firewood where the bodies were placed.

The man that had handed her the torch shouted mournfully, “Brothers, safe journey!”

Everyone echoed the cry loudly. “Brothers, safe journey!”

As these shouts continued, Tang Doudou slowly lowered the torch and lit the firewood. As she gazed at the faintly visible corpses that were surrounded by the flickering flames, she also sighed with sorrow. She couldn’t help but sigh at how fickle life was.

This was already the second time today that she had cremated someone. Although the people she cremated earlier didn’t have such a magnificent funeral, her emotions at that time were different.

She knew Xiao Ren and Xiao Yi pretty well, so when she had to personally cremate them, she had been very sad.

However, her heart was very calm now. Even though there was such a heavy atmosphere of grief, she couldn’t join in the mourning. All that she could feel was a sigh of sorrow. Then she recalled Jun Xin. If she couldn’t find a way to revive him, one day, would she also have to cremate his body and watch as his familiar face was gradually devoured by the flames… Afterwards, there would no longer exist a person called Jun Xin in this world. She’d never be able to see his unbridled almond eyes, his disdain-filled sneers, she’d never be able to see him again…

Tang Doudou closed her eyes. Some part of her heart seemed to have collapsed and it ached faintly.