Little Miss Witch: Revenge of the Tainted Angel

The next time Li Chuntao opened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was the unfamiliar ceiling above her. She turned to her side and saw Shen Zichen's head resting next to her arm while one hand was twined with hers. 

She tried to remember the last thing that happened before she passed out. She remembered feeling dizzy while talking to Yao Qigang and the next thing she knew, she was already sinking down the pond. 

She also remembered seeing a glimpse of her husband's face as he dived into the pond to save her. Her forever partner in crime, Li Chuntao chuckled to herself, as she gently touched Shen Zichen's head. 

Shen Zichen stirred in his sleep and cracked an eye open. He pulled his torso up and ran both hands in his face. Glancing at his wristwatch, he saw that it was already past one in the afternoon. 

"Chuntao, how do you feel? Are you feeling dizzy? Hungry perhaps?" 

Li Chuntao arched a brow at him, suspicious of his response. He was unusually attentive today. Did something happen while she was asleep? She wondered. 

"Zichen, whatever it is, you know you can tell me, right?" She held his hand after she shifted on the bed to sit up with her back leaning on the pillows behind her. 

Shen Zichen stilled for a moment and Li Chuntao swore that she saw his eyes glimmer with tears before he blinked it away. 

"Chuntao, you are pregnant," 

There he said it. He didn't think he would be able to keep it from her anyway, not when his mother and her Auntie Yue had taken on the mission to prepare everything their baby may need themselves, and decided to shop together. 

Li Chuntao opened her mouth to say something but she clearly lost the words upon hearing what he'd told her. She wasn't hearing things, right? She thought.

She looked at his face, trying to see if he was trying to pull her leg with a joke, but she'd seen none. 

"Pregnant?" 

"Definitely pregnant." Shen Zichen reaffirmed. 

It then dawned on Li Chuntao how foolish she was for pushing her plans to trap Yao Qigang. She realized how dangerous it was for her and her baby and she hated herself for being the arrogant bitch that she was. 

"Oh, God, Zichen! I'm so sorry!" She burst into tears and felt a slight dip on the bed when Shen Zichen sat next to her, allowing her to bury her face on his chest. "What have I done?"

He'd warned her, her mother-in-law had warned her. She was well informed of what could happen if she continued to take her path to revenge. Not only did she put herself in harm's way, her baby was also at risk. 

If something bad happened to her and she lost her baby again, she didn't think Shen Zichen would be able to forgive her this time. Her guilt about Li Zirui's death was still painful up to this day and she didn't want to experience losing another child. 

Shen Zichen hushed her and dried her tears when she pulled away to look at him. 

"It's alright, Chuntao. Nothing bad happened but please…" He said almost with a pleading tone. "Please don't do such a thing next time. You don't know how scared I was when I heard you fell into the water." 

Li Chuntao gave him a warm smile, aware that her tears continued to roll down her cheeks. 

"Too bad for him, I'm not the one who has a fear of drowning." She replied. 

Her family and a handful of people knew about Li Xiuying's fear of drowning and being submerged deep in the water for too long, but they didn't know about Li Chuntao's fear. 

Li Chuntao's fear was being trapped in a fire again. This was why she avoided going hiking and camping because of bonfires. A fire, no matter how small or large, was enough to evoke the fear within her. 

"Stop it. Please... no more schemes and plotting this time, Chuntao. I don't think I can…" Shen Zichen trailed off, but Li Chuntao understood what he meant by that. 

She was now a mother again, pregnant for the second time around. It was normal for Shen Zichen to get worried about her welfare. 

Shen Zichen took her hand and placed it on his cheek and in a low voice he told her, "I know I was the one who told you to seek justice for Ying and to continue living with revenge in mind, but… this time," he paused as he looked straight in her eyes, "Chuntao, would you leave it for me and our future children? Can you let go of the hate in your heart and live happily with us? If you aren't comfortable living here as 'Li Xiuying', we can migrate wherever you want and I'll go with you." 

Li Chuntao found herself stunned again and incapable of forming a speech. Shen Zichen had tried to placate every one of her wishes, never arguing, never demanding anything, as long as she would stay by his side. 

"You.. you would do that? For me?" She was left flabbergasted by his words. 

Shen Zichen nodded and kissed her nose. 

"Anything for my wife. Here, you'll be forever known as Li Xiuying, but never as Li Chuntao. Li Chuntao is my wife, my only love. You know I'll do anything within my power to give you everything you want."

How can he turn his back from everything for her sake? His family was here, his work was here. It wasn't easy to suddenly leave the place where you grew up and uproot to a foreign place. 

It felt like someone had punched her in the gut, twisting it to make sure she would feel it. No one had dared to do something for her, not to that extent. Shen Zichen was the first. 

How did he even know that she didn't like being here? That her life was already in a foreign land, waiting for her return? How could she take him away from the only family he ever knew? How could she abandon her Uncle Yuren and Auntie Yue like this? 

However, as Shen Zichen said, Li Chuntao had no place in this place, in this society. She would forever be under the scrutiny of the public, always receiving unsolicited opinions about being a Li princess. She yearned to live as a commoner, away from everyone's prying eyes. 

Still, how could she let go all of the hate that she nurtured in her heart ever since Li Xiuying died? It was the sole reason why she continued to wake up each day, knowing that Ying would never return. 

"You really want to start fresh?" She asked him curiously. She was reminded that her life wasn't hers now and there were people who needed her, wanted her, people who loved her.

To be honest, she was also starting to get tired living in hate and revenge but she didn't think throwing Yao Qigang into prison was enough to quell her desire to make them pay the price for killing her twin sister. 

No. Not yet.. She was not going to let go until she sees Lin Meirong and Mu Jianyu crumble in despair.