Instantly, the atmosphere turned awkward.

Third Uncle waved his hand and spoke to Madam Cheng, “Sister, let’s not talk about the past. Let’s not ruin the rapport that we have built between our families.”

He was the Lin Family’s Third Master. Her husband would call him Third Brother respectfully whenever he met him. It was not good for her to make him look bad. Besides, her disappointing son kept pulling her sleeve, begging her not to trouble Lin Wan anymore.

After all, she had been in the underworld for years and had gone through lots of adversaries. Her ability to control the atmosphere was quite strong. Madam Cheng smiled and did not take Lin Wan’s words to heart.

“You’re right. We shouldn’t let this ruin our rapport. I’m here for two reasons. Firstly, I want to discuss something with all of you. However, this is not that urgent. Also, I would like to ask for a favor from your family!”

“Please let us know anything that our family can help you?” Third Uncle asked.

“The story is like this. After the death of one of the elders in our family, he voluntarily offered his corpse to become a Corpse of Death to protect our younger generation. However, it was stolen by some robbers when it was about to complete. Have you ever heard any news about this in the southern part of the mainland?”

Madam Cheng secretly observed their expressions after telling the story. Then, disappointedly, she saw all of them looking confused and puzzled as if it had been their first time listening to this news.

As expected, Third Uncle replied, “We’ve not listened to any news about this. Sister, where did you bury the corpse?”

“The burial site is about five hundred miles away from here, in the depth of a barren mountain.”

The Lin Family members shook their heads as they did not know anything about it.

“Sister, our family will help you in the investigation. Don’t worry. Once we receive any information about it, whether true or false, we’ll inform you at once.”

“Alright. Thanks, Third Brother!”

“Don’t mention it, sister. We’re friends. Our family will surely help you out with this. By the way, do you have any clue about the robber?”

“Yes, but not much. There are at least two robbers. Through the cicada I left there, I saw a girl. She was very defensive. I couldn’t see her face. But from her body size and voice, I suspected she was a girl!” The Lin Family realized something but they did not show anything on their faces. Third Uncle maintained his composure and asked, “What about the other person? Any special characteristics?”

“The person did not show his or her face and only made a statement as I observed them. I’m not sure about his or her gender and his characteristics.”

Third Uncle nodded and comforted her immediately, “Sister, did you all leave any marking on the Corpse of Death? Even after the stealing, the robbers won’t dare to use it because of the marking. We’ll find it out if she dares to do anything with the corpse. Please be patient as we track them down.”

After listening to what he said, Madam Cheng’s face was darkened.

Third Uncle asked puzzledly, “Sister, is there anything wrong? Could it be that there are other circumstances?”

“I think I shouldn’t conceal the truth from you, Third Brother. The damn robbers have stolen the arm bones and leg bones. My elder’s corpse has been destroyed by them!”

“Ah!”

The Lin Family members were astonished. And a few of them said, “She must be thinking of bone replacement!”

Madam Cheng nodded bitterly and angrily said, “Yes. The badass destroyed and stole the corpse for bone replacement. I feel sorry for my elder as she ruined his wish!”

The rest looked alright with what she said, except Lin Wan and Mrs. Hong. Lots of emotions ran in their hearts. They knew who did that and their purpose of doing it.

Third Uncle and the rest also knew what was going on. Most probably, it was done by Li Mu. If he was the one behind it, they had to help him cover up the matter.

“Sister, don’t be sad. We won’t leave it undealt since you’ve found us to help. Let’s do this. Since we’re available now, we’ll go with you and look into this matter. I’m sure we can get some clues if both families investigate together.”

Madam Cheng was pleased listening to it. She did not bring many people with her. So it might take a long time for her to do the investigation. Therefore, it would be easier for them if the Lin Family was willing to help them.

She was sure that the Lin Family had nothing to do with the matter. She had been in the underworld for years so she could observe whether one had anything to do with it by looking at one’s facial expressions and words. She was confident in her judgment of people.

“Thank you very much, Third Brother!”

“Don’t mention, sister. We’ll definitely help you in this since we’re good friends!”

Suddenly, Fifth Uncle asked, “You said you wanted to discuss something with us just now. What did you want to discuss?”

Madam Cheng smiled and looked at Lin Wan. “Of course, it’s that matter about Dantong.”

Though they were good friends, it was still a shameful matter to both the families as Lin Wan ran away from the wedding. In this case, the Cheng Family was the most humiliated one. But they did not pursue the matter further because they could not find Lin Wan at that time. Since they met her now, they wanted a proper explanation from them.

The Lin Family understood what she said and the atmosphere became embarrassing at once.

Lin Wan got up without feeling embarrassed at all. Subsequently, she bowed deeply before Madam Cheng. “Aunty Cheng, it’s my fault for being reckless and inconsiderate. I have brought shame to the elders. I’m here to officially apologize to you and Uncle Cheng!”

It was a big thing for the master of the family to bow and apologize to them. Instead of fighting with them, that was what they wanted from them exactly.

“Sister, it is indeed our master’s fault for not handling this matter well. During the clans meeting, our family will share a sum of our portion with you.”

It was not about money, though. It acted as a chip in exchanging profits between the clans. One should not underestimate it as it could be a gigantic sum of wealth. This would be more than enough to express their apology to them.

Madam Cheng was satisfied with the outcome as she had gotten the profit and dignity that she wanted. Also, she knew that she had to be contented with her gains because it would hurt their relationship if she was too greedy.

She was planning to say something nice to bring an end to the discussion.

Unexpectedly, before she could say anything, Cheng Feng got up all of a sudden and screamed, “Dantong, you don’t have to apologize. I can understand you and it’s not your fault at all. It’s my fault that I have disappointed you. I don’t want anything from the Lin Family, but please talk to me again. Is that okay with you?”

Madam Cheng almost fainted after hearing this. “Is this disappointing man really my son? Who does he follow after?” She thought.

Her heart was full of regret. If she had known Cheng Feng would say that, she wouldn’t have brought him along with her.

The Cheng Family lowered their heads shamefully and felt their young master had embarrassed them. It was such an embarrassment!

Lin Wan also looked embarrassed. And she did not know how to reply to Cheng Feng.

Madam Cheng turned her head and shouted, “Tian!”

Cheng Tian walked over immediately and asked, “Yes. Madam. What would you want me to do?”

“Send the young master back to rest. He must be tired!”

After replying to Madam Cheng, Cheng Tian hugged Cheng Feng and dragged him away from the scene.

Cheng Feng yelled. “Dantong, give me one more chance. We can start all over again. You don’t have to look for Li Mu anymore. He doesn’t deserve to have you at all.”

Everyone did not feel like continuing the conversation anymore. Madam Cheng felt ashamed to stay there anymore. After talking to Third Uncle casually for a while, she left the place hastily.

After the Cheng Family left, the leaders of the Lin Family came together to discuss the matter of the stolen bones at once.

Mrs. Hong looked excited and happy while Lin Wan looked worried and anxious with a crying face.

“Third Uncle, do you think Li Mu and his friends were behind it?” Mrs. Hong asked.

“One of the robbers was a little girl and the group was more than one person. Besides, they wanted to perform a bone replacement. I guess no one else would do things in such a way.”

“Yeah. It was difficult to get hold of a Corpse of Death. Who would ruin such a good thing? I feel that they are the most suspicious ones. The girls must be trying to replace Li Mu’s bones.”

Third Uncle and the rest smiled and did not say a thing. For a big clan, this act was indeed a disgrace to the family. But in this case, what Li Mu did was appropriate.

Everyone clearly knew that Li Mu’s body was too weak to become a cultivator. It was a good idea to strengthen his physique with bone replacement.

Most importantly, it did not require the Lin Family to spend a single cent to ruin the opportunity of the Cheng Family harvesting the corpse. Besides, it helped enhance Li Mu’s ability. It was something that they would gladly do as it hit two birds with one stone.

Perhaps, some might wonder why the Lin Family treated the Cheng Family in this way since they were good friends.

It was because they were good friends and opponents at the same time. They were competitively partnering with each other. Everyone would do it if one had the opportunity to reduce one’s opponent’s strength.

Though it sounded easy for the Lin Family to offer them a portion of their profits because Lin Wan escaped from the wedding, they did that in pain when they said that, in reality.

It took a few generations to give their sweat and blood in acquiring the profit. It was a lie if they were to say that they were okay with offering a portion to the Cheng Family. However, they had no choice but to give them that because they did not want to become their enemy.

Third Uncle’s decision of giving away the profit was not made out of impulsiveness. It was a decision made after the leaders came together to discuss how to tackle the incident of Lin Wan escaping from the wedding. They had been waiting for the Cheng Family to bring them trouble and used that to calm their anger once it happened.

The Lin Family even prepared for the worst. If the Cheng Family refused to compromise, they would offer one more portion of their profits because it was indeed Miss Lin’s fault in this case. No matter how long it remained unresolved, it would always be the Lin Family’s fault.

The saving grace was that the Cheng Family did not go mad with them. When the emergency happened, they did not come to argue with the Lin Family and chose to react passively in handling it and never came to find trouble with the Lin Family. They only brought this up with the Lin Family after Lin Wan appeared again.

The Cheng Family did it because they did not want to ruin their rapport with the Lin Family and their partnership with them. They had indeed given the Lin Family face in this.

Therefore, the Cheng Family deserved the Lin Family’s apology and compensation. However, the Lin Family might be a little unhappy with the arrangement.

The reason was simple. The Cheng Family lost their face but the Lin Family lost their benefits. Both families held a different opinion on evaluating whether reputation or profit was more important!

Because of this, it did not make the Lin Family unhappy but relieved when they knew about Li Mu stealing the Bone of Death.