Chapter 572: Do You Want to Hear It?

Inside the tent, silence fell instantly, and everyone turned their heads in unison toward the young man.

His smile froze on his face: "Little girl, what did you say?"

Tuan Tuan tilted her little head and looked at him: "It was you who told that person to go find these two little brothers!"

The young man's face turned pale in an instant: "Nonsense! You're slandering me!"

He lifted his head to look at Bogeda: "Chief! You must absolutely not listen to her nonsense!"

"You've seen with your own eyes how I usually treat Aleteng and Aiyiku—how could I harm them?"

Bogeda wore a look of doubt as he looked at Tuan Tuan: "Little girl, are you telling the truth?"

Tuan Tuan nodded seriously: "Of course! Uncle."

She raised her hand and pointed at the woman holding the two children: "He told that person that if the two little brothers couldn't be found..."

"... then let them take advantage of your and this auntie's grief, when the place is in chaos, and just rush in to attack."

An uproar broke out among those in the tent:

"Ashina? No way?"

"Why would he help the Black Wolf Tribe?"

"Aleteng and Aiyiku are the chief's lifelines!"

Xiao Ningxun and her older brother exchanged a glance; tribal disputes are commonplace, but such vicious methods are truly despicable.

Xue Tong narrowed his eyes, sizing up Ashina up and down; such a shameless wretch deserves to be crippled.

Xiao Er and Lu Qi looked at Ashina with utter contempt; attacking children is outright disgraceful!

The woman sprang to her feet: "Ashina! It's really you?"

"My Aleteng and Aiyiku, what have they ever done to you?"

"You always call yourself a good nephew, more affectionate than anyone—yet behind their backs you dealt them such a vicious blow?"

"Where is your conscience? Has it been eaten by wolves?"

"Hold on," Bogeda said in a low voice, pressing down on his wife's shoulder.

The woman trembled all over, biting her lip hard, tears streaming down uncontrollably, but she held back from speaking again.

Aleteng was frightened by his mother's state, clinging tightly to her: "Mom, don't cry."

Bogeda looked at his wife and child, slowly turned his head, and fixed a grim, terrifying stare on Ashina: "Ashina, I ask you once more—is what she said true?"

"If you now confess honestly and name the person in the Black Wolf Tribe you colluded with, I might still consider a lenient punishment."

Ashina's face had turned as white as paper.

He slowly rose to his feet: "Chief, if you believe an outsider over me, your own tribe's brother, then I have nothing more to say."

"But I, Ashina, swear to heaven," he raised his hand to the sky, "that I have never harmed a single person in the tribe!"

"Especially not Aleteng and Aiyiku, the two children I've watched grow up!"

Bogeda ignored his defense, turning to Tuan Tuan: "Little girl, what else do you know?"

Tuan Tuan nodded: "He also told that person that if the little brothers were found, he'd find a way to get everyone to attack that whatever wolf tribe."

"Then he went ahead and made arrangements with them, telling them to wait for you all, so they could eat the people and camels here."

She gave Ashina a strange look: "Uncle, have you forgotten?"

The tent erupted in an uproar:

"Ashina! You're trying to get us all killed!"

"What have we, the Golden Camel Tribe, done to deserve this?"

"Why would you do this to us?"

Ashina's face was full of shock as he stared at Tuan Tuan: "You!"

"Impossible!"

"How could she know this so clearly? Someone must have told her!"

He took a deep breath, steadied himself: "Who are you? Why are you fabricating these lies to harm me?"

He suddenly turned to Huerman: "Huerman! They're the ones you brought in, aren't they? Did you put her up to saying this?"

Huerman froze: "Me? I don't know any of this—how could I tell her?"

Seeing everyone look at him with suspicion, he panicked: "Little girl, it wasn't me who told you—quick, tell them!"

Xiao Ningxun spoke up: "Huerman never said any of that; he merely stopped our carriage and asked us for help finding someone."

Tuan Tuan nodded vigorously: "Exactly! Uncle Huerman is a good person—don't wrong him!"

Ashina sneered: "Oh? If you really were just passing by, how could you possibly know all this?"

He looked around with a righteous air: "People from the Central Plains are the most deceitful! Who knows whether they're truly passing by or just pretending?"

"Maybe they cooked this up together with the Black Wolf Tribe!"

He suddenly pointed at Tuan Tuan: "Otherwise, we've searched for two days and still can't find Aleteng and Aiyiku—how would they know where the people are?"

"She's clearly trying to frame me and pin the blame on me!"

"Pretending to rescue people, then stirring up discord here, making us distrust each other and turn against the chief!"

Upon saying that, the men in the tent looked at one another:

"What Ashina said actually makes some sense."

"What on earth is going on?"

Sa Dike rolled his eyes at Tuan Tuan: "See, I told you not to meddle."

Xiao Ningyuan frowned: "Isn't this just turning the tables on yourself?"

Xiao Ningxun gave a cold snort: "Not bad, no wonder you can be a spy—quick-witted and slick-tongued—but do you really think evil can triumph over good?"

Xiao Er and Lu Qi looked at Ashina with icy gazes, as if looking at a dying man.

Kang An was tense all over, anxiously tugging at Tuan Tuan's clothes, and whispered, "What should we do?"

Xue Tong's eyes widened: "What nonsense are you talking? Could it be that I, old man, saved the wrong people?"

"Those two kids had only a breath left at that time; if it weren't for my disciple, by the time you found them, they'd be two corpses!"

The woman trembled all over upon hearing that, and held her two sons even tighter.

Tuan Tuan patted Kang An's hand, her big eyes shining as she looked at Ashina: "I just know! What business is it of yours how I know?"

Ashina snorted: "Nonsense! If you can't say how you know, then this matter is definitely your doing!"

"'Oh!' Tuan Tuan thought for a moment, then said, 'Well then, I know plenty more, Uncle Bogeda—do you want to hear?'"

Bogeda nodded.