Mrs Fox Heinous Revenge: Can You Love A Villainess like Me?
Chapter 210: Complicated History

Chapter 210: Complicated History

Xiao MuChen practically flew into the shopping mall, his usually composed demeanor nowhere in sight. His shirt was a disaster, buttons fastened in all the wrong places, the fabric half untucked, and his hair a complete wreck, as if he had sprinted straight out of bed and into chaos. He had moved so fast that most people barely caught a glimpse of his famous face, thankfully. The last thing he needed was a mob of fans delaying him when he was already in a state of near panic.

His eyes darted wildly around the massive space until they landed on the lost counter. His heart, already pounding from the mad dash, nearly collapsed when he saw the tiny figure he had been frantically searching for.

LiAi.

His niece was fast asleep, curled up securely in AiLin’s arms. And despite the ordeal of being lost, she looked... content. Peaceful. A soft, happy smile lingered on her lips even in sleep, as if she had been dreaming of something sweet.

Xiao MuChen, however, looked like a man who had just crawled out of hell. His face was pallid, breath uneven, as if he had just witnessed death or, perhaps, something even worse.

AiLin, who had been sitting patiently, noticed his arrival and took him in with a slow, unimpressed glance. Her sharp gaze scanned him from head to toe, taking in his ridiculously disheveled appearance, then landed on the most damning detail of all.

A red kiss mark on his neck.

She furrowed her brows.

Pushing herself to stand, she met his wide eyed, desperate stare with a cool, unreadable expression before slowly clicking her tongue.

"So you were busy frolicking around," she remarked, her tone cutting and dry.

Xiao MuChen, still gasping for breath, choked on air.

"I— what?!" MuChen opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He looked down at his shirt, at the mess he had become in his frantic rush, and then, just barely, he caught the flash of red on his neck from the reflection of a nearby glass counter.

Damn it.

His jaw clenched.

He wanted to explain, but what was he supposed

"There was rumors about you," she started, her tone calm but her eyes were the opposite. For some reason she felt annoyed, deeply and rightfully so when she found out that MuChen wasn’t busy but was having the time of his life with women. "I didn’t want to believe in rumors," she continued, her arms tightening ever so slightly around the sleeping LiAi. "I know how dangerous they can be. How most of them are lies crafted simply to hurt someone."

Her words held a certain weight, a hidden edge that made MuChen straighten up, the tension in his shoulders growing unbearable.

"But," AiLin went on, tilting her head, her gaze unwavering, "there’s no explanation from you now, is there? Have you forgotten that LiAi should be your priority Xiao MuChen?!"

Her anger suddenly raised and she snapped. She covered LiAi’s ears so she wouldn’t listen and tried not to shout but her voice betrayed her as she felt immensely disappointed and worried for LiAi on her arms.

Xiao MuChen was quiet. Like a child who was being punished, he grabbed on his neck where the kiss mark was and tightened his hold around it, silently enduring the scolding with a face full of shame.

"Do you know what happened?" AiLin demanded for his reply and he shook his head.

"I had left her with a close friend." Xiao MuChen answered with his tone tight and strained, "She had took care of LiAi a few times, this isn’t the first.."

"I thought it was her nanny. Your friend?" AiLin shook her head, "You have money Xiao MuChen, you could have hired a nanny, no, I could hire it for you if it’s so difficult. Look at what happen now! Where is this friend of yours when she left LiAi here, all alone?"

Xiao MuChen’s lips were bitten till it bleed as anger seemed to swirl inside him toward his own mistake.

AiLin found herself sighing in return, "Fine. Call that friend of yours now. Now!" She repeated when seeing Xiao MuChen’s hands that hesitate on top of the phone.

She knew Xiao MuChen is younger than her and most of the time young people believe deeply in friends so much so that they would leave their friend with important objects. But there should be a line drawn for children, especially whether the friend really do like to take care of children and is a responsible person. Seeing that LiAi was gone after being talked by two men, she couldn’t think that this "friend" of Xiao MuChen was someone you could trust with a child.

Xiao MuChen rang the number and in less than a second response could be heard, from the other end of the call, "M- Muchen?"

Xiao MuChen sucked his breaths and quickly retorted, "Where is LiAi?"

"S- She’s with me. What’s wrong? I thought there is still three hours..."

"Rang Hao! Bring LiAi here now!" Xiao MuChen yelled, his voice seemed to turn into a viscous growl as he spoke to the other side of the call. "Don’t lie to me now. Where is LiAi Rang Hao?!"

RangHao, the woman on the other side of the phone stammered, "I- I’m sorry. I’m sorry MuChen! I just took my eyes away from her and she’s suddenly gone."

"Tell her to come here now," AiLin said, her tone cold and decisive. Even though she isn’t LiAi’s mother, it doesn’t mean that she couldn’t take the role of the girl’s mother now when she clearly needs one for the things that these people had done with so much carelessness.

MuChen sighed and demanded RangHao immediately, "Come here, RangHao."

Not long after came RangHao, the young woman in heels who was rushing toward Xiao MuChen with her face colored in fear. There was a smudge of mascara under her eyes as if she had just cried, her lips were red and swollen. A part of her lipstick was also smudge to the corner of her lips.

Seeing it, AiLin knew almost immediately what had happened. She frustratedly pinched the space between her eyebrows and sat down, "So what? You went with those two men, left LiAi alone and then make out with some unknown men when this girl is lost and could have get kidnapped?"

RangHao was confused as she couldn’t find a way to explain herself to Xiao MuChen but she was even more confused upon seeing that there’s AiLin who was hugging to LiAi. She immediately blinked her eyes and demanded, "Who are you?!" then she quickly added, "You are the one who had kidnapped LiAi!"

RangHao’s face paled, her mouth opening and closing as she struggled to defend herself. But the way Xiao MuChen’s voice thundered through the lost counter made it clear—he wasn’t in the mood for excuses.

AiLin, still holding LiAi securely, narrowed her eyes at the woman. "Kidnap? Are you serious? I’ve been sitting here for two damn hours waiting for someone responsible to show up for her."

She wasn’t the type to get involved in other people’s messes, but something about the accusation ticked her off. Maybe it was the sheer stupidity of it, or maybe it was the fact that LiAi so small and so vulnerable, had been left alone in a crowded shopping mall like an afterthought.

RangHao clenched her fists. "I— I was searching for her!" she insisted, looking at MuChen desperately. "She just... she just disappeared from my sight for a moment! I ran everywhere trying to find her, I—"

"You ran everywhere except back here," MuChen interrupted coldly, his sharp gaze cutting through her. "If you were actually looking for her, you would have come straight to the lost counter."

RangHao’s breath hitched.

She had nothing to say to that.

Because the truth was painfully obvious.

Xiao MuChen’s fury only grew. "LiAi is scared of strangers after what happened two years ago! You, of all people, should know she would never just wander off on her own. She’s terrified of being alone! And yet, somehow, she managed to get lost under your watch?!"

RangHao took a step back, her hands trembling.

AiLin scoffed. "Guess it’s easier to accuse a stranger of kidnapping than to admit you were careless."

RangHao whipped her head toward AiLin, her expression twisting. "I wasn’t careless! I love LiAi! I would never—"

"Then act like it," AiLin shot back, her voice calm but laced with something razor-sharp.

RangHao’s breathing turned uneven, her shoulders stiff. She wanted to argue, wanted to shift the blame onto anything other than herself, but deep down, she knew. She had already lost this battle. And worse than that, she had lost whatever trust Xiao MuChen might have still had in her.

"Just say the truth where were you all this time?" Xiao MuChen demanded, brushing his hair to the back of his head.

"I wasn’t-"

"FUCKING ANSWER ME!"

RangHao flinched, "I was... with old acquaintance."

"The people you used to play with, the one who only has nothing but bad influence which you know and you promised you wouldn’t ever come close with."

"But is it my fault?!" RangHao snapped which made AiLin to frown. It seems that there was history between RangHao and the two men she had seen earlier and Xiao MuChen knew about this.

RangHao continued, "I was just lonely! Because you never reciprocate my feelings. I thought if I-"

"I won’t love anyone, RangHao. I treat you as a friend. But now I will treat you less than that for your carelessness. LiAi is my life, my sole purpose to stay in this world and you had almost took that away from me. If you loved me, you would know how horrible the thing you have done today."

RangHao trembled and Xiao MuChen refused to look at her anymore, "Go. Go before I regret this."