Chapter 53

Qingyao rarely resorted to physical violence. From a very young age, she knew to restrain her strength because hitting people hurt and was impolite.

However, at this moment, she felt that this fetal ghost really needed a good beating.

Bad behavior deserved punishment, but Mom and Dad were not here right now, and Qinglai wasn't around either. The teacher couldn't see the fetal ghost and therefore couldn't punish her, which meant she had to take matters into her own hands.

Qingyao shook her little head and said with a solemn expression, "You must not push people. What you're doing is wrong!"

With that, she gave the ghost a firm smack on her bottom.

The slap was extremely loud—audible, of course, only to Qingyao and the fetal ghost.

The fetal ghost was stunned, the sensation traveling up from her backside leaving her frozen in place for a good while.

Qingyao delivered a second smack: "You mustn't call people names either. Name-calling is impolite."

This time, the fetal ghost finally reacted. She raised her foot to kick Qingyao, but Qingyao lifted her little leg and kicked the ghost's foot right back down. At the same time, a hand pressing down on the ghost's shoulder applied heavy pressure, forcing her straight down to the floor.

"You're not listening, and you tried to kick me. You're a bad child!"

The fetal ghost felt as though she were being crushed beneath a massive mountain; completely immobilized at that moment, she began to feel afraid—she simply couldn't win against this child.

The fetal ghost parted her lips, and the next second, she burst into a piercing cry. Her wailing was as loud and sharp as a newborn infant's, filled with both grievance and deep resentment.

"Why hit me? Why call me a bad child? It was her, it was all her—she stole my rightful place! I was here first, and I could have been a much smarter, more obedient child. That was supposed to be my mother! Waaaah!"

Crying and shouting all at once, the fetal ghost poured out the resentment that had accumulated in her heart.

She had looked forward so much to becoming her mother's child, and she had chosen her mother with such unwavering certainty. She had been so close to being born, yet she was aborted.

The first two times were that villain's fault, but she still wanted to be her mother's child, so she had used up her very last chance. In the end, even that chance was gone, and she had been left behind as a lonely wandering ghost.

Yet she still couldn't bear to blame her mother, so she could only transfer all her hatred onto Li Mengxin.

It was obvious that she had arrived first! That other child was both foolish and ugly, unable to do anything right. If it were her, she could have done so much better and would have been her mother's most beloved, perfect child.

Qingyao was still too young to fully comprehend such intense emotions, so she just stared at her in innocent bewilderment.

"But you're already dead. Once you're dead, you have to go be reincarnated. You'll get a new mother."

The two spirits always brought her along whenever they had business to attend to. Having witnessed a great deal, combined with Daoist Wen Yuan coming over every year to teach her various things, Qingyao knew that if a ghost let go of their resentment and attachments, they could be reincarnated and become a human again.

The fetal ghost's crying grew even louder. "I can't! I only had three chances at reincarnation, and I've used them all up. I can't be reincarnated anymore. I can never be a human again! Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo!"

Qingyao blinked. That meant she would be a ghost forever. Put that way, it sounded a little pitiful.

Being a ghost was miserable; you couldn't eat delicious food, you couldn't bask in the sun, you couldn't sleep, and aside from lingering in dark corners, you couldn't do anything at all.

Qingyao's face scrunched up. Her voice lost its previous firm and vigorous tone as she said in her soft, childish voice, "Then you still shouldn't do bad things; that's wrong. Otherwise... otherwise you could find a master to help release your soul from suffering."

"They'll only kill me and scatter my soul to the winds, and then I'll never get to see my mother again."

"No, they won't. You can go look for Daoist Wen Yuan. He's very powerful, and he doesn't just kill ghosts arbitrarily."

The fetal ghost had no idea who Daoist Wen Yuan was, nor had she ever considered taking that path.

Once she finished crying, the ghost's energy had weakened by quite a bit, causing her to revert back to the ordinary appearance she had before she died. She drooped dejectedly and said, "Let me go. I won't push her anymore."

"Really? You're willing to mend your ways!" Qingyao asked in pleasant surprise.

"Mn," the fetal ghost nodded vigorously. "And I won't curse her anymore either."

Naive and easy to deceive, Qingyao readily released her grip. She curved her eyes and gently patted the fetal ghost on the shoulder, as if a wisp of breath was blending into the ghost's body. "Admitting your mistakes and changing for the better makes you a good child. Good people will like you, and you'll have good luck, too."

The fetal ghost didn't believe a word she said. What could this kid possibly understand? To be a good child when she didn't even have a chance to be discovered—who would ever care about her existence? She was merely a pitiful creature who had been abandoned.

However, since she couldn't beat Qingyao and had no desire to have her bottom smacked again, the fetal ghost turned swiftly and slipped back into Li Mengxin's body.

Li Mengxin had successfully finished using the toilet. Unable to pull up her trousers herself, she stood there half-undressed, staring blankly at Qingyao, who had been talking to thin air.

This classmate was so weird.

"Liu Qingyao, who were you talking to?"

Qingyao turned her head, met the girl's bewildered gaze, and shook her head. "I was talking to myself. Are you done? I'll pull your pants up for you."

It was only when she was two years old that Qingyao learned not everyone could see ghosts, and not every child's parents could transform into animals and soar through the skies like hers did. Therefore, she had learned to keep secrets. These secrets couldn't be shared casually with others because ordinary children would be frightened.

She wasn't scared, though, because she was the child of a fox and a wolf—the bravest and most special Qingyao in the entire world.

After pulling up Li Mengxin's trousers, Qingyao led her over to the sink to wash her hands, and hand in hand, they returned to the classroom together.

The moment the two of them stepped into the classroom, a familiar and massive aura suddenly materialized from the void, enveloping Li Mengxin. It snatched the fetal ghost attached to her right out of her body; before the fetal ghost even had time to figure out what was happening, she vanished from the spot.

Qingyao glanced sideways at the top of Li Mengxin's head, a look of delight crossing her face.

That was her fox daddy's aura.

Daddy definitely knew how to handle the fetal ghost, so she didn't need to worry anymore.

Happily, Qingyao entered the classroom.

Elsewhere, the fetal ghost only felt herself enveloped by an incomparably powerful force. When she regained her sobriety, the scenery before her had completely changed. This place looked so familiar.

She had actually returned home.

The fetal ghost immediately spotted the person sitting before her. This person felt immensely dangerous—far more dangerous than the little spirit she had encountered in the classroom.

The fetal ghost wanted to back away, but her entire body was bound by an invisible force, rendering her completely immobile.

She looked toward Li Jianfeng, sitting off to the side. Could this be another master invited by the family to capture her? They had actually managed to find such a powerful master.

Facing such an overwhelming force, she couldn't even summon the thought of resisting.

This time, her soul would surely be scattered into nothingness. Despair washed over the fetal ghost in an instant. She looked despairingly toward the bedroom, hoping against hope that she might catch one last glimpse of her mother before vanishing.

Hu Yuanfei looked the fetal ghost up and down. He sensed the rich aura belonging to Qingyao lingering on her; the two of them must have had close contact just moments ago.

Wait, why was there some of that aura on her bottom as well?

"What were you just doing? What did you do to Qingyao?" Hu Yuanfei asked coldly.

The fetal ghost was stunned, followed by a surge of intense grievance. What could she possibly have done to Qingyao? Wasn't being grabbed and having her bottom smacked by a little child humiliating enough?! Why was this man asking her this!

No, wait... could this master be... Qingyao's father?

"You're Qingyao's dad?"

"Yes."

The fetal ghost glared at him with bitter resentment. The daughter had bullied her, and now the father was stepping in! This family was simply too hateful!

She screamed, "Your daughter hit me, and now what are you trying to do? Beat me up again?!"

Hu Yuanfei: "..."

Ah. Well, no wonder there was Qingyao's aura on her backside—so she'd been beaten by his daughter.

Well done. Truly worthy of being his child.

A smile crept involuntarily onto the corner of Hu Yuanfei's lips, which only made the fetal ghost even angrier. This was going too far! These humans were bullying a ghost past all limits!

Li Jianfeng, unable to see the fetal ghost, could only watch Hu Yuanfei questioning the empty air, but he knew the ghost had arrived.

"Mr. Hu, is she here?"

"She's here."

"You... what do you plan to do?" Li Jianfeng asked, unusually nervous.

Hu Yuanfei hadn't quite decided yet. While this fetal ghost seemed quite detestable, she hadn't killed anyone; she had merely clung to Li Mengxin. Perhaps she could be handed over to a temple to have prayers read for her release, and once her resentment faded, she might be reincarnated again.

Li Jianfeng glanced toward the master bedroom. "Can you let my wife see her?"

Hu Yuanfei was startled for a moment. "Aren't you afraid she'll be traumatized again?"

Li Jianfeng answered honestly, "I am. But the truth is, she really wants to see this child again." She wanted to apologize to her face.

Having acted as a half-baked master for so long and learned a few tricks from Daoist Wen Yuan, letting ordinary people see ghosts was one of the skills Hu Yuanfei had picked up.

At this point, Ren Pingxiao's condition had improved significantly. She was resting with her eyes closed without actually sleeping, so Li Jianfeng went into the room and helped her up.

Ren Pingxiao emerged looking pale. Hearing Li Jianfeng say there was something he wanted her to see, she allowed herself to be helped into a seat and looked between the two men with confusion.

"What am I supposed to be looking at?"

Hu Yuanfei tapped a finger between their brows. The next second, Ren Pingxiao found that a child had suddenly appeared before her. The child was not pretty; having died before birth, she still retained the appearance she had at the time of death, and her underdeveloped body looked somewhat deformed and grotesque.

Yet, at a single glance, Ren Pingxiao recognized that this was her child. Her lips trembled, and tears welled up instantly in her eyes.

"You... it's you. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, child. It was all my fault. I didn't fulfill my responsibility as a mother; I shouldn't have given you up. If you want to hate someone, hate me."

Though she had repeated these words countless times in her heart, facing the fetal ghost in person made her choke so heavily that she could barely form a complete sentence.

Upon seeing her, the fetal ghost completely broke down, her tears flowing even more fiercely than the mother's.

"I chose you three times! The very first time, I decided you were going to be my mother—you are my mother!"

It was the first time Ren Pingxiao learned that the three lost children were actually all the same one. After the initial shock, she completely broke down as well. "I didn't know! I truly didn't know! If I had known, I never, ever would have given you up."

She lunged forward, wanting to embrace the child, but her arms met only empty air, and she tumbled miserably to the floor.

Li Jianfeng stepped forward and pulled her up, while Ren Pingxiao wept heart-breakingly, consumed by agonizing regret.

Had there been any other choice, how could she have possibly abandoned her own child? But at that time, there had truly been no other way.

The fetal ghost was still crying. "I was all ready to be a good child—to be Mom's most obedient, most beloved, and proudest child. I'm very smart. I could have done so much better than Li Mengxin."

Ren Pingxiao could only repeat "I'm sorry" over and over again. Aside from apologies, she had no idea what else she could possibly say.

Hu Yuanfei, having already learned about what happened to Ren Pingxiao, felt that the fetal ghost's resentment toward her was rather indiscriminate and unfair. Unable to hold back, he chimed in, "It wasn't her fault the first two times the child was lost—she didn't do it on purpose. The one who robbed you of your chance to be human was that abusive piece of trash. Why aren't you haunting him instead of taking it out on an innocent person? Tsk tsk, you little ghost, you really do pick on the weak while fearing the strong."