Little Miss Witch: Revenge of the Tainted Angel

He should be happy, but Mu Jianyu felt nothing as he held the baby girl Lin Meirong had delivered the day before in his arms. He should be ecstatic to know that finally, he had a child of his own, yet as his hand reached and touched the top of his daughter's head, Mu Jianyu couldn't see any feature that resembled him. 

The color of the child's hair, as well as her eyes, didn't match his. In fact, her facial features were more like Lin Meirong's. The longer he looked at the baby in his arms, the more Mu Jianyu felt troubled. 

Ying's words about the possibility of this baby not being his, resounded in his mind. Was that even possible? He wondered.

Lin Meirong had been with other men before him and the thought of him raising another man's child made his blood run cold. What were the chances? 

Mu Jianyu took the child with him, glancing at the woman who was sleeping to recover on the hospital bed. He brought the child to the resident pediatrician and asked for a paternity test between him and the baby in his arms. 

"Mr. Mu, are you sure about this?" The doctor asked him with astonishment. She was aware of Lin Meirong's previous scandals, so she wasn't surprised by Mu Jianyu's suspicion of the paternity of this child. But for him to ask for a test as soon as his daughter was born, wasn't it too harsh for the child? 

"Yes," Mu Jianyu said without hesitation. "I should have done this the moment she claimed she was with child." 

Thinking about it, wasn't it also around the same time that Li Xiuying started to distance herself from him and gave him a cold shoulder? His wife had given him several chances to redeem himself but he was stupid enough not to notice it. 

If Ying was right, he might not be able to control his wrath against Lin Meirong. He shut his eyes, not knowing if he should pray that this child was his or not. 

A part of him didn't want to believe that Lin Meirong had played him and he certainly didn't want the child to get involved in their nasty arguments and problems. 

Because truth be told, if this baby was his, this child would be the reminder of his betrayal towards Ying. He would have to live the rest of his life knowing that he'd thrown aside the only woman he'd love for his selfish desire to have a child in an affair. 

And so, the doctor immediately took samples from him and Lin Meirong's daughter and was advised to wait for at least a week to receive the result. 

When he came back to Lin Meirong's room, she was still asleep, oblivious to what he'd done today. Mu Jianyu placed the sleeping child in the bassinet before looking outside the window overseeing the cityscapes. He laughed at the pathetic state he was in. 

He silently admitted that he missed Ying. He missed the way she smiled at him, the way her eyes curved into a smile whenever she saw something she liked as they walked around downtown in disguise. He missed everything about her and yet he could only blame himself for losing her. 

Unfortunately, Ying was totally out of his reach now. She was someone else's wife and there was no way she would ever return to him. Mu Jianyu knew this but he wasn't ready to accept it yet. He wasn't ready to accept that she had moved on, with another man by her side. 

He sat on the vacant seat near the window and cradled his head with both hands. He felt lost and defeated. There were times he wished that everything that had happened was just a very long nightmare and all of this would be gone once he woke up. That he would wake up and everything was back to the blissful days before he'd started his affair with Lin Meirong.

Would he wake up with Ying still lying next to him? Was it even possible to go back to what they were before? 

However, Mu Jianyu knew that no matter how hard he prayed to all deities, he can never have Ying back in his arms. She had been avoiding him like he was some kind of anathema to her. He couldn't blame her though. He was the one who turned his back on her in the first place. 

Lin Meirong stilled in her sleep and cracked an eye only to see Mu Jianyu groveling instead of rejoicing for the child she'd just given birth to. He didn't look like a father who was excited to pamper his newborn child. 

Was he aware that her daughter wasn't his? She wondered. She'd tried to avoid talking about it with him. 

Her gaze then shifted to the sleeping baby in the bassinet near her. Her daughter had mostly inherited her features that it was almost impossible to suspect who fathered her child. 

Lin Meirong was dumb. She knew that she had already lost Mu Jianyu's favor even if she had this child to use as a bargaining chip. She wondered if they should part ways and if she should just give up the custody of her baby to him. 

She'd already lost her chances to pursue her career in acting. It would be hard to make a comeback, considering that Li Xiuying was backing up Lan Jinyao now. She had no doubt that Li Xiuying was the one responsible for ruining her reputation in public. 

She was really getting tired of this facade. The thrill of having an affair with a married man had finally dissipated. What was left between them were neverending arguments over small and petty matters. 

Lin Meirong couldn't even remember the reason for their recent fight, the one they had just before she was about to give birth. They had been on each other's neck ever since Mu Jianyu's divorce with his wife finally settled. Had she known this would happen, she wouldn't have continued her pregnancy and would have opted for an abortion earlier. 

They were drifting apart from each other, this she was aware of. After having an affair with Mu Jianyu and losing everything she gained throughout the past years, she realized that he wasn't worth the trouble. 

When the lust and thrill subsided, there was no reason for her to remain attached to her lover. Lin Meirong had always stuck to this rule she imposed on herself. It was time for her to part with Mu Jianyu. 

Who knows that maybe by leaving him, her life would start to get better, simply by getting rid of him and the baby from her life. This wasn't the first time she was abandoning her child anyway. Thinking about it, Lin Meirong wondered where her husband and her son went after leaving the remote village. 

Lin Meirong considered her options. Maybe she should leave the capital and find other opportunities, away from Li Xiuying's prying eyes. For as long as she stays near, that 'fake angel' wouldn't waste any chance to pick another fight with her. 

Now that Li Xiuying was married to the Young Master of the Shen family, it would also mean that she would have a hard time getting even with her. She had no idea where Yao Qigang had gone for the past two months and wondered if she should cut off her ties with him, just in case he decided to sell her out to the Li family. 

What happened to him anyway? It wasn't usual for him to go away unnoticed, given that he'd been harping over the money Mu Jianyu was spending on her. 

Yao Qigang never thought that there would be a day that he would be hunted. Damn Lin Meirong. He couldn't think of anything else that would place him in this predicament except for that dumb woman. He just can't stand people who keep obstructing his peace and pot of gold.

At first, he thought that he was just being paranoid about being stalked as he wandered around the capital. 

As soon as he was done with work, he immediately left the set and went to the parking space to get into his car. However, as soon as he buckled up, a sudden shiver ran down his spine, as if someone had been watching his every movement from afar. 

He stilled for a moment before shrugging it off. There must be something wrong with the heater of his car. The darkness of the night also added to the unnerving feeling that someone was watching him. 

Before he ignited the engine, Yao Qigang looked around, making sure that he wasn't being followed. As soon as his car left the parking area, a man stepped out from the dark following him with his gaze. 

The man's breath made a thick fog in front of him before he decided to leave the place as per Li Chuntao's instruction. He didn't need to follow Yao Qigang right now because his purpose had already been met. He only needed to condition the director's mind; to make him think that he was being watched, making him wary of the people around him. 

He pulled his phone and dialed a number. His call was answered on the third ring. 

"Miss, he fell for it." He said without waiting for the other party to say a word. 

"Continue. Just don't let him see you."

Since Yao Qigang was the one who caused her twin sister's death, Li Chuntao planned to prolong his agony and mental torture. Her goal was simple; to drive him insane. She would let him experience the helplessness Ying suffered in her last moments. 

The next day remained the same. Director Yao had to stop several times throughout the filming to look around, feeling someone's eyes on him. This time his instinct was screaming at him, telling him that he was being followed. 

"Director Yao, are you alright? The set is ready." One of the film staff called his attention, breaking his trance. 

He blinked twice, pushing the thoughts away from his mind. This wasn't the right time to overthink. After waiting for so long, he finally managed to get a filming project and he wouldn't want anyone to mess up his chances. 

It was just too bad that he willingly stepped into Li Chuntao's trap without him noticing it. From the moment he signed the contract up to his scheduling, the witch had already laid a path for him to follow. 

Unbeknownst to Yao Qigang, this was just the start of his agony. 

It continued for almost a month, until Yao Qigang started to have hallucinations and was paranoid over being watched. He started to easily get agitated, flinching whenever someone tapped his shoulder to get his attention. Yao Qigang was sure he was being stalked but he couldn't voice out his fears, for he didn't want any unwanted attention on himself. 

For the umpteenth time of the day, Yao Qigang turned around to see if someone was following him but there was none. It was already past midnight when the filming crew decided that they were done for the day and he was one of the last people who left the set. 

"Who's there?" He called out but only silence answered him. 

Yao Qigang started to doubt if he was overthinking or if he was just being paranoid. 

This was one of the rare times he was reminded of the saying 'There's no rest for the wicked'. He knew he'd done something wrong and his peace was easily shattered the moment the news of Li Xiuying's recovery reached him. 

Was it those people he hired to kill Li Xiuying or was it Li Xiuying herself? The news about her recovering her lost memories had sent alarming flags to his mind. 

If there was a hint of suspicion about her accident, shouldn't Li Xiuying turn her attention to her cheating husband and Lin Meirong? So why did he feel like he was the one being hunted by the Li family? This was why he avoided communicating with that woman for the past weeks, hoping that he wouldn't get dragged into the problem if Li Xiuying was really investigating the accident she was in. 

"Lin Meirong, you bitch! This is all your fault!" 

But he was confident that he had already removed the traces that would indicate his involvement. There shouldn't be a chance that the Li family would come sniffing back at him right now. He already paid a hefty price for it. 

He couldn't come clean to the Li family, though he did consider it.. What was he supposed to say anyway? That he used his connections within the underground community to kill their Li princess? He would be shooting his own foot by approaching the Li family.