My Evil Wife Is a Nine-Tailed Fox
Chapter 149 - In Seclusion (1)

Of course, Shen Minyao and Xiao Bai knew where Xie Yan was, but they took their time walking around the huge supermarket with a flustered young girl next to them. The young girl worriedly looked around, wondering where her mother had gone. 

"Why don't I take you to the lost-and-found area and ask for help?" Shen Minyao asked Qiao An with a gentle smile. 

"Okay." The young girl agreed, her hold tightening on Shen Minyao's hand. 

In no time, they spotted Xie Yan frantically looking around for her missing daughter. When their eyes met, Shen Minyao braced herself for another round of crying she had to endure. 

"Xiao An!" Xie Yan burst into tears upon seeing her daughter. She had been scared to death when she noticed that her daughter had slipped from her hold. How could she easily lose Qiao An like that?!

"Mommy!" Qiao An released Shen Minyao's hand and ran towards her mother as tears spilled from her eyes.. 

The fox woman inwardly winced from the scene, but she kept the gentle smile on her face. She needed to get a favorable impression on Xie Yan for her to earn the mother's trust. 

Xie Yan knelt down and hugged her daughter tightly. She then looked up to see Shen Minyao smiling at the two of them. 

"Thank you for helping my daughter, and I'm sorry for the trouble. It's my fault for not paying attention and losing her," she said once Qiao An calmed down and wiped away her tears. 

"It's no trouble, Madam. My heart couldn't help to feel hurt when I saw her crying for her mother," Shen Minyao replied politely. 

'Ah, Milady surely isn't afraid to be struck by lightning,' Xiao Bai thought as he watched Shen Minyao lie right in front of this human. Anyway, they needed to replace a lead to replace that demon. 

Aside from schools and hospitals, there were other places where negative energy coming from these humans would accumulate over time, and it wasn't surprising that a crowded place like this was also inhabited by such negative forces. 

Shen Minyao helped the two with their shopping and carried some bags herself, much to Xie Yan's embarrassment. 

"Miss has already helped us replace Xiao An. You don't need to send us home," Xie Yan said, while Shen Minyao was busy on her phone, calling her older brother. 

"It's fine, Miss Xie. My brother is about to arrive, and your home is in the same direction as our destination." 

It didn't take long before Qin Zhi came, driving a car himself. He pulled up into a stop near Shen Minyao and the mother-and-daughter pair. 

"Get in," he told Shen Minyao once he lowered the window of the front passenger seat. 

"Not even offering some help here?" Shen Minyao frowned. She was already playing her role; did he really have to impose on her kindness? 

Qin Zhi shrugged. "It's not like you can't lift any of it." It was true for a fox demon like them. 

Shen Minyao could only sigh and allow the mother and child to take their seats inside as she loaded their supplies in the trunk. Once they were settled, Qin Zhi asked Xie Yan for the address, although he already knew about it. 

"If you don't mind, you aren't from this place, right? May I know where you are going?" Xie Yan asked curiously. 

"Ah, my brother and I came here to investigate the case at the kindergarten," Shen Minyao said nonchalantly, while Qin Zhi remained silent. 

"The case at the kindergarten?" Xie Yan frowned. Of course, she knew what Shen Minyao was talking about. "I'm not sure what happened. It's only been weeks since I started working there, but those poor children…" 

"Miss Xie, actually, my brother and I are working on paranormal cases. We wanted to check whether it is a rare case of an outbreak or a paranormal case," the fox woman said. 

Xie Yan remained silent, but the way she chewed her lower lip grew apparent, rooting from her anxiousness that filled the car. The fox demon glanced at her, waiting for her to spill something. She must know something for her to act like this. 

Shen Minyao and Qin Zhi helped with the shopping bags, while Xie Yan held her daughter's hand and pressed the button of the elevator to where her apartment was. The two demons looked around Xie Yan's place and could sense a hint of demonic trace in her home. It was the same one they had felt at the hospital and the school premises. 

"Thank you for your assistance today," Xie Yan said as she served each a cup of newly brewed tea that neither of the two demons touched. 

"It must have been hard for you to suddenly get laid off from work just as soon as you were employed," Qin Zhi commented, the sound of his voice feeling like a calming breeze on a spring day. 

Xie Yan sighed, taking a seat across them and then nodding. She then glanced at her young daughter. She was busy playing with her toys on the couch where the three adults could clearly see her.

"To be honest, I thought that I was lucky that I got accepted for the job. Ever since Xiao An started attending school, it allowed me to have spare time to get a part-time job." 

Shen Minyao hummed. According to Qin Zhi's investigation, Xie Yan was a single mother raising her daughter alone. This was why Xie Yan was having a hard time replaceing another job after the school decided to suspend the class in fear that the number of pupils affected by the unknown illness would increase.

"Well, it couldn't be helped. They could have told us that this wasn't the first time it happened." 

Her next words were enough to stun the two fox demons in front of her by surprise. None of them had expected that this was what they would hear today.