Mrs Fox Heinous Revenge: Can You Love A Villainess like Me?
Chapter 231: Finding What’s Lost

Chapter 231: Finding What’s Lost

Li ZiChen knew a lot.

He knew a lot about the suffering AiLin had gone through even without digging so much. He knew that she wouldn’t be happy if he had looked thoroughly into everything that had happened to her and he didn’t want that her trust in him to fade, that one day she would look at him with a distrusting gaze and decide that he wasn’t someone she would like to be in her life.

That was partly the reason why he had hidden the fact he knew a lot about the bullying she had gone through or the abuse that she had been forced to endure in the Jiang Family.

But in exchange for hiding his knowledge, he replaced it with immense kindness for her.

Making sure she wasn’t lacking in love and attention anymore, making sure she was happy to bury that sadness that had stemmed into her life, making sure that she could find a new passion.

He would make sure anything. Destroy the ugliness, hide the flaws, and make her life to walk down the shiny flowery path.

For that, he could submerge himself in any dirty things, and take care of it for her. As long as she remains oblivious.

But he doubted this time he could hide it.

He pressed his hand on his forehead, "Give me some time to think about this."

Looking at him MengYan could see his inner turmoil. The anger that he couldn’t do anything as it happened in the past, the stress of how to break the news to AiLin, and the worry of having to see her breaking apart again.

Although MengYan felt terrible for what he had said, he still thought about LiAi, knowing well that no adults near the Hua Family were safe enough for her.

Cutting loose ends for her protection was better than having to see the young baby he had picked up, drenched with blood to die before him.

He gave Li ZiChen a small nod before walking out of the room. On the way, he met AiLin who was worried. Seeing the girl, MengYan’s heart aches. He offered her a polite small and decided to start the conversation, "How have you been, Miss AiLin?"

AiLin looked at Li ZiChen who was now alone and was about to come over to his side but didn’t want to be rude and instead answered to MengYan’s question politely, "Better. What have you talked about with Zi Chen? Was it about my past?"

MengYan gave her a thin smile, "No, it wasn’t about your past. Miss AiLin, have you ever regretted doing something before?"

AiLin followed his line of sight and was now looking at the stage that had glowed as the light had shone over the opera singer who had been invited to perform.

Eyes locked she answered him, "A lot of things. Once I regret that one thing I did in the past, I soon regret everything that I have failed to do right throughout my entire life."

"I see."

When AiLin looked at his eyes, she saw his gaze that flickered with sadness. He didn’t say anything after that, bidding his goodbye and then leaving the party early as Xiao MuChen did. The conversation had left her with a sense of loss as if there was a gaping hole around her chest.

They didn’t stay at the party for long. After the incident and with so many eyes on them, they had decided to go back home early. Before their car moved, however, AiLin saw how Su HaiTan had also come out of his own birthday party, watching their car leaving the house ominously with a dark smile on his lips.

AiLin didn’t look back at the car after that, knowing well that tonight wasn’t the end of Elder Hua’s pressure of marrying the two of them. Despite what she had said, that old fox despised the idea of her staying together with Li ZiChen. To kill two birds with one stone, she could control her life again and stop Li ZiChen’s happiness by marrying her to Su HaiTan.

What put her at unease is how Su HaiTan seemed happy about this too, on board with Elder Hua’s idea.

"Do you think that Su MengYan is someone we can trust?"

Looking at her, Li ZiChen was smiling. Even after stepping out of the balcony, he held a smile on his face, as if the thing he had heard from Su MengYan was a moving news.

"I don’t trust so many people easily, even those who seem to be on my side," he explained to her, "But it would be better to take their words into consideration, even if it’s not something we could truly put our trust on."

"What did he say to you?"

He looked at her, how her shiny black eyes that he saw was dark and full of despair in the beginning but now had returned to its glistening self.

He didn’t want to take those shine away.

"It was about the Jiang Family," he answered her, and instantly she became nervous and stiff. Her whole body flinched and her eyes narrowed severely. He continued while looking to her eyes, "Apparently on that night, he spotted a group of people carrying a dead baby. He said he had seen it accidentally as he was the first one to call the firefighter after spotting the intense fire that burnt the half end of the garden."

AiLin gulped, "That baby..."

"He suspected that it was the baby from the late maid who had died from the fire. Since her body was too severe with burns, they couldn’t fully did an autopsy to find the reason for her death. So it’s a suspicion but that baby could be hers or..." he looked back at her eyes as she felt a flicker of tears that had started to well up, but she quickly blinked them away. AiLin’s heart pounded in her chest as the weight of MengYan’s words settled over her like a suffocating veil.

Or...

That one single word left endless possibilities hanging between them, a truth too cruel to voice outright.

Li ZiChen clenched his fists, his mind reeling with the implications. If the baby had belonged to the late maid who perished in the fire, then why was it hidden? And if it wasn’t hers... then whose child could it be?

Was it hers...?

"Was it really dead?" She questioned him. Her voice trembling when she had asked the question to him.

Looking at her, hesitation covered Li ZiChen’s fists, "Not certain. Whether that baby belongs to you or the maid. Whether it’s really dead or alive."

"But-"

"But," He stopped the terrible thoughts that raced into her mind, rushing to hug her. One had placed on her head and the other was on her back. He pulled her tight to his embrace, his nose sinking to her shoulders, "But we could find the baby. I promise to you. I will do everything to find that baby. I’ll find it and I’ll answer all your questions."

Staring at her, drops of water dripped from her eyes, "Yes," she smiled, wiping her tears, "Yes. There is still hope."

She wondered how could Li ZiChen make her heart feel so secured. That baby wasn’t his. He didn’t have any reason to find the baby, yet for her sake he was willing to search, to fight, to uncover the truth, no matter how dangerous it was.

AiLin clung to him, feeling the steady rhythm of his heartbeat against her cheek. The warmth of his embrace was like a shield against the storm raging inside her. He didn’t have to do this. He had no obligation, no personal stake in this mystery.

And yet... he was here.

For her.

Li ZiChen gently pulled back, his fingers brushing away the damp streaks on her face. His touch was light, almost reverent, as if she were something fragile, something worth protecting.

"We’ll start tomorrow," he murmured, his eyes never leaving hers. "We’ll retrace everything, find out who was there that night, who saw what. If that child is alive, we will bring them back."

AiLin nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat. She had spent so long feeling lost, haunted by unanswered questions, trapped by shadows of a past that refused to let her go.

But now, there was light.

There was him.

For the first time in years, she felt like she wasn’t searching alone.

"Yes," she answered him firmly. "Yes. Thank you."

"No. All I did was finding our child," he answered.

Our. Our.

Li ZiChen was indeed her other half. How easy was it for him to acknowledge her child as his own?

As they hugged, a part of AiLin felt soothed.

Meanwhile still remaining inside the party hall, it was Bai HaiZe who had took another sip of his alcohol. His eyes were unfocused as he stared at the floor and then irk rose from the depth of his heart to his throat, causing him to clench his jaw.

"Such a dark expression," Su HaiTan’s words accompanied him. Pulling the chair beside him, the young master sat down with a faint trace of smile lingering on his lips. "Were you also rejected?"