My Evil Wife Is a Nine-Tailed Fox

Shen Minyao and Xiao Bai finally reached the end of the hallway within the ICU. However, before they could enter, they saw several men in black suits escorting an old man with grey, long hair, dressed in robes walking towards the room where her human contractor was. 

The old man stopped in his tracks and looked at her curiously, wondering what she was doing there, standing outside his grandson's room. He wasn't expecting anyone to visit Zhao Yichen as he had recently come back from the states and had been greeted with an ambush since his return. Obviously, the bodyguards stationed outside the room had forbidden the young woman from seeing Zhao Yichen. 

"What happened here?" The old man's gruff voice asked the bodyguards he left to look after his grandson. 

"Master Zhao, this woman here wanted to see the fourth young master," one of the bodyguards explained. They gave Shen Minyao a suspicious look, wondering why she was visiting Zhao Yichen late at night while wearing pink pajamas. 

"Miss, are you Xiao Chen's friend?" He asked Shen Minyao. 

The fox woman knew that these humans see her as a threat to Zhao Yichen at the moment. How foolish. They probably didn't know that she was the one who saved that little boy on the verge of death, so why would she kill him? 

Anyway, even if she needed to retrieve her fox orb from her human contractor, she would be doomed by the heavens if she dared to end his life. 

"Grandpa, I was the one who helped him get down the mountain…" she said sheepishly, attempting to mimic Shen Minyao's shy personality to the best of her ability. 

"You see, I'm about to get discharged tomorrow and was allowed by the doctor to go home. But I wanted to see how he's doing before I go," she said in a gentle voice. The fox woman tried her best not to wrinkle her nose as the scent of sickness coming from the old man reached her. 

The fox woman thought that this old man would—no doubt—die first before Zhao Yichen, given how serious his illness was. 

The old man regarded Shen Minyao and gave her a good look. Of course, he had asked someone to run a background check on the girl who was found along with Zhao Yichen at the foot of the Qingqiu Mountain. It was just, of all people, he'd never thought that his grandson would get acquainted with a Shen family member.

The possibility that she was involved in assassinating his grandson dissipated when reports came back that she was left alone in the wilderness by her cousin… the same night Zhao Yichen was brought to the mountain to be killed. 

"You are Shen Minyao?" He asked with a stern voice that held authority, something that would never be enough to intimidate the fox woman in front of him. 

"I am." The fox woman replied, blinking her round eyes innocently. "How come Grandpa Zhao knows my name? Have we met before?" She asked curiously. Thinking about it, even Cheng Lifan was acting suspicious when she talked about Zhao Yichen, asking her if she had met the man before. 

Just what was going on between the Shen family and the Zhao family? She wondered. 

The fox woman tried to peek into the memory her human host left for her to use, and there was no indication that she had gotten involved with any of the Zhao family… prior to her meeting with Zhao Yichen at the Qingqiu Mountain. 

The old man smiled while touching his long beard thoughtfully, but Shen Minyao knew better than to trust him. She had met a lot of old men in the past that hid their true nature behind a mask and a smile. This was one of the kinds of humans she hated dealing with the most. 

"I'm acquainted with your grandfather," Old Man Zhao said in response, "Unfortunately, Xiao Yao, I don't think you would be able to talk with Yichen right now." He added, before gesturing to the guards to open the door for him, letting her step inside with him. 

Inside, the fox woman found her human contractor bound to several machines to aid him breathe properly and to keep him alive. If she hadn't witnessed herself how brutally those hired killers tortured Zhao Yichen, she wouldn't believe that the man lying on the bed was seriously ill. 

"The doctors found it odd that he didn't have any external injuries. Not a scratch could be seen on his skin, but his internal organs were badly injured." He sighed. "How did you cross paths with him anyway?" 

The fox woman then relied on the story that she and Zhao Yichen came up with as they made their way to the foot of the mountain. Each of them knew that they needed to be consistent with their stories, so people would only find it coincidental that they met each other at the mountain. 

One had escaped from his kidnappers, while the other had gotten lost and parted from the party she came with at the mountain. Since Shen Minyao had never met Zhao Yichen before, others wouldn't suspect that the woman who came back with him wasn't a human anymore. 

"He only told me that he was running from someone, and he looked like he was in pain." She told that old man whose eyes remained fixated on Zhao Yichen. 

"I see," he replied and said nothing more. 

"If it's okay, can I still visit him some other day? I would really like to thank him personally for other things, Grandpa." She asked. However, it didn't matter if this old man agreed or not because Zhao Yichen's life was bound to her until she retrieved her fox orb from him. 

The old man gave her a weak smile and nodded. 

"Please do. He didn't have many friends here.. I think Yichen would be pleased to know you paid him a visit."