"After Miss Hongshi stepped down as clan chief, she took her father's remains back to their hometown for burial. As for where she is now, we do not know," Chen Youliang replied blandly.
Hearing him call her Miss Hongshi rather than clan chief, Song Qingshu sighed inwardly. Given Chen Youliang's ruthless nature, Shi Hongshi was most likely dead.
"You!" Shi Xiangyun had clearly realized this as well. She glared at him in shock and fury, but Chen Youliang's explanation was perfectly reasonable, leaving her with nothing to say.
"Stop dwelling on this." Wei Ruolan pressed a hand to her shoulder, signaling her to stay calm. Then he raised his head and addressed Chen Youliang and the others. "As I understand it, you announced that whoever avenges the Transmission Elder and the others, and wipes away the Beggar's Clan's humiliation, will be elected the new clan chief. Until then, you will handle the clan chief's affairs as acting chief. Is that right?"
"That's right!" Chen Youliang lifted his chin smugly. This had been his brilliant idea. Forcing Shi Hongshi from office had drawn plenty of criticism, so to silence the complaints, he had come up with this measure. In his view, with Song Qingshu's current influence and martial arts, avenging the Transmission Elder and the others was nothing but a fool's dream. That meant he could remain acting clan chief indefinitely. Once enough time had passed and he had fully taken control of the Beggar's Clan, finding some excuse to become the real clan chief would be easy.
This was exactly the answer Wei Ruolan had been waiting for. He discreetly nudged Shi Xiangyun, and she nodded, stepped forward, and pulled Song Qingshu out from behind her. "Fine. I have brought Song Qingshu here. According to the agreement, I am the