Haunted by Her Own Ghost (2)

"But Yaoyao…" Shen Qing couldn't allow Shen Minyao to ruin her. She didn't even understand how Shen Minyao was able to survive without sustaining injuries. She and her brother made sure she would never make it back alive after getting pushed down the cliff. One could only imagine how much of a shock it was when Shen Minyao surfaced again.

How did Shen Minyao survive that fall? Shen Qing was sure that it was impossible for a person to fall from such a height and only sleep for three days. There was simply no way it could happen. Unless the person she pushed to death wasn't the same Shen Minyao that was in front of her now.

"Auntie, I really didn't mean for it to happen. Please…" Her eyes shimmered with tears as if she was the one wronged by Shen Minyao. It made Shen Minyao look like she was the unreasonable one between them.

However, Cheng Lifan would hear none of it. In her age and career, she had met a lot of different kinds of people, and she could tell that this Shen Qing was up to no good.

"Your Uncle already left; why are you still here? Hurry and go back first. I will speak to Yao'er alone." She dismissed the cheating couple away, not wanting Shen Minyao to be upset any further by seeing them together.

Shen Qing wanted to argue but chose to keep her silence and leave with Su Yin. Meanwhile, Su Yin looked at Shen Minyao, confused as to why he felt like she wanted him to drop dead at that very instance. After not seeing her for a week, how could she change so much in a short span of time?

They were puzzled, and yet they knew they had no choice but to leave. Shen Qing had been obedient to Cheng Lifan because of the older woman's influence, and she didn't want to offend the Cheng family because of Shen Minyao.

Once they were gone, the fox woman checked the memory of her host regarding Cheng Lifan and was surprised to know how much this woman was willing to do for the sake of her host. Perhaps, if the real Shen Minyao had been obedient and listened well to Cheng Lifan's advice, she wouldn't meet her untimely death by Shen Qing's hands.

Cheng Lifan was the second wife of Shen Xin, Shen Minyao's father. While the union between the two was only due to the business arrangements of two families, Chen Lifan hadn't maltreated the young Shen Minyao since she joined the Shen family.

In fact, the reason was that Cheng Lifan saw her younger self in Shen Minyao. Because she was born as a daughter, her parents treated her brothers better than her. As she saw how her husband treated his own child, Cheng Lifan couldn't help but feel sympathy for the young girl.

As a fox spirit who'd lived for centuries and spent a lifetime as a human, the fox woman didn't have any experience when it came to maternal ties. Her previous host only had an older brother and a grandfather to raise her, and as a fox spirit, she only had an older brother to look up to.

So having a mother holding her affectionately like this… felt surreal for the nine-tailed fox.

"M-Mama?" The fox spirit tested the word and felt it was too foreign on her tongue. However, she tried to imitate Shen Minyao's tone and facial expression as well as she could.

"Mama, are you angry?" She asked with a slight hint in her voice. When it came to Cheng Lifan, Shen Minyao would always use a gentle voice.

Cheng Lifan was taken aback by her question and furrowed her brows.

"Why would I be angry at you, Yao'er?"

The fox woman had to keep up with her acting and lowered her eyes as if she was ashamed of what she'd done. She had to be careful in front of Cheng Lifan.

"Yao'er is my daughter. Why would I let an outsider bully my child in front of me?" The older woman chuckled, pushing the stray strands of Shen Minyao's hair away from her face. Her stepdaughter was a meek and gentle child so it was no wonder she was easily deceived and bullied by Shen Qing.

Of course, Cheng Lifan understood her stepdaughter better than anyone else as she was practically the one who raised this young woman. She understood why Shen Minyao had acted like that earlier in front of her father.

"But I must say that I'm disappointed, Yao'er. You shouldn't have talked to your father like that, no matter how upset you are," she said worriedly.

The fox woman fought the urge to roll her eyes. Just taking a peek at Shen Minyao's memory and Shen Xin's reaction today were enough to tell her that the man didn't care about his daughter one bit.

However, she was also aware that what she did earlier was far from the Shen Minyao everyone was accustomed to. The fox woman realized that it would confuse everyone as if she was not the Shen Minyao that had left.

Moreover, it wouldn't be good if the Li family caught wind of the news that Shen Minyao was in the vicinity of the Qingqiu Mountain when the fox spirit was released from its seal.

Sighing to herself, the fox woman resigned to the need of being wary of her actions in the future. She hugged Cheng Lifan awkwardly and trembled in the mother's arms.

"I'm sorry, Mama. I was just upset, hearing him speak to me like that. Does Dad hate me that much, Mama? Why does he speak as if he isn't worried about me?" she spoke in a low tone, hinting her host's grievances at her stepmother.

Cheng Lifan's heart ached upon hearing her stepdaughter speak like this, but she understood that the young woman had truly been deprived of affection from her father.