After Becoming the Mother of the Scumbag Stand-In Female Lead - Chapter 2

On the way to the hospital room, Steward Li hesitated repeatedly before finally speaking to Sheng Yunjin, “Miss, since you’ve finally come back, please try to have a proper conversation with Chairman Sheng. Don’t end up arguing again.”

As he spoke, he cast a worried glance toward the hospital room. “Chairman Sheng hasn’t been in good health lately. Although this car accident turned out fine, the doctors said he still needs proper rest.”

Sheng Yunjin listened quietly without responding, leaving Steward Li uncertain whether his words had gotten through.

After a long pause, they stopped outside Sheng Mingzhao’s hospital room. Only then did Sheng Yunjin turn her head with a smile and say innocently, “It’s not like I’m going to anger him to death.”

With these words and Steward Li’s stunned expression, she pushed open the door and entered the room.

As the door closed before him, Steward Li stood frozen for a few seconds before shaking his head with a helpless chuckle.

Having served the Sheng family for over twenty years, he’d practically watched Sheng Yunjin grow up. The child had lost her mother at birth, but fortunately, the Sheng family was wealthy, and Sheng Mingzhao doted on this only child from his late wife, hiring numerous nannies to care for Sheng Yunjin meticulously.

If there was one flaw in this household, it was Sheng Mingzhao’s excessive sentimentality.

Even in front of his child, he never bothered to restrain himself.

When Sheng Yunjin was three years old—three years after his wife’s passing—Sheng Mingzhao first brought a strange woman home openly.

That was when Steward Li first realized Sheng Mingzhao had never truly emerged from the shadow of his wife’s death.

At first glance, Steward Li nearly mistook the unfamiliar woman for Ming Ruohua, Sheng Mingzhao’s late wife.

The Sheng family’s living room and study were filled with photos of Sheng Mingzhao and Ming Ruohua together. After her passing, Sheng Mingzhao had even hung an enormous portrait of Ming Ruohua on the living room wall, ensuring it would be the first thing anyone saw upon entering.

From childhood, Sheng Yunjin had been taught to recognize her mother through these photos.

So that day, when three-year-old Sheng Yunjin saw the woman leaning against her father’s embrace, she instinctively called out, “Mommy.”

The woman, having noticed the portrait in the living room, panicked momentarily before realizing she was merely a substitute. Yet the opportunity to attach herself to the CEO of Ming Sheng Group was too rare to pass up.

Thus, when addressed as “Mommy,” she quickly slipped into the role, bending down tenderly to pick up Sheng Yunjin.

Unexpectedly, Sheng Mingzhao’s expression darkened beside them. He pushed the woman aside and lifted his daughter himself.

“She’s not your mother.”

The young Sheng Yunjin, nestled in her father’s arms, continued staring curiously at the woman on the floor. “But… she looks just like Mommy…”

Sheng Mingzhao turned toward the giant portrait in the living room, pointing at Ming Ruohua. “This is your mother. You mustn’t mistake anyone else for her.”

Little Sheng Yunjin struggled to distinguish between the two similar faces. “Then… who is she?”

The woman being pointed at had risen unsteadily to her feet, standing nervously nearby while casting hopeful glances at Sheng Mingzhao.

Sheng Mingzhao had already brought her home—didn’t that mean she was acknowledged by him? Would she become the new lady of this household?

Yet the look Sheng Mingzhao gave her held not a trace of affection, as cold and indifferent as his voice when he spoke, “She is nothing.”

From then on, Sheng Mingzhao changed companions almost every month, yet without exception, he would unhesitatingly bring them home before callously ending things.

This continued until Sheng Yunjin’s third year of junior high. On a rainy evening, she was driven home by the chauffeur as usual after school.

Perhaps because of the weather, Sheng Yunjin felt something was off with her body—as if a block of ice was coursing through her from head to toe.

When she arrived home and changed her shoes in the entryway, she spotted an unfamiliar pair of women’s high heels on the shoe rack. Without even thinking, she knew Sheng Mingzhao had brought another woman home.

As she grew older, Sheng Yunjin gradually understood her father’s habit of seeking substitutes.

Pathetic.

With a bored glance at the portrait in the living room, she pressed her lips together.

…

Clutching a steaming cup of ginger-infused cola, Sheng Yunjin didn’t retreat to her room. Instead, she stood by the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room, staring unblinkingly at the intermittent flashes of lightning outside.

The icy sensation in her body seemed to have settled in her lower abdomen. She pressed a hand there but felt nothing unusual.

Yet from an angle she couldn’t see, a faint golden glimmer flickered briefly in the depths of her clear, peach-blossom eyes before vanishing.

At dinner, Sheng Mingzhao descended with his latest companion. Sheng Yunjin ate in silence, not sparing them a glance.

Following routine, the housekeeper handed the woman a glass of water and the pre-prepared contraceptive pill—Sheng Mingzhao’s standing order for years.

But this time, the woman didn’t comply. Clutching her stomach, she tearfully confessed her love, how desperately she wanted a child with him.

Her dramatic monologue filled the dining hall, yet no one paid her any mind.

Sheng Mingzhao continued eating leisurely. Only after she finished did he respond indifferently, “Take the pill, or get out.”

Sheng Yunjin glanced at him, suppressing an eye-roll.

Her father truly lived up to the title of scumbag.

Then she studied the woman—pitiful yet quick to swallow the pill.

Internally, she sighed. This one didn’t even cry as long as last month’s.

Any woman brought home by Sheng Mingzhao with half a brain knew she was just a stand-in. They either stayed for money or left immediately.

As for those who sought his affection? Sheng Yunjin could only advise them to get their heads checked.

After dinner, Sheng Mingzhao retreated to his study. Still feeling unsettled but unable to pinpoint why, Sheng Yunjin stayed in the living room, idly watching TV.

The woman still hadn’t left. After circling the living room, she walked straight to Ming Ruohua’s portrait and began muttering to herself.

The television and photo wall weren’t even in the same direction, separated by a good ten meters. Yet despite the thunder outside and the TV noise inside, Sheng Yunjin could clearly hear the woman’s whispers.

“…not even that pretty…no better looking than me…can’t imagine why Chairman Sheng keeps you hanging here all these years…”

Sheng Yunjin slowly turned around. Unaware of being watched, the woman continued her soliloquy.

“…just a dead woman…still monopolizing Chairman Sheng’s heart…”

From over ten meters away, Sheng Yunjin watched the woman’s lips moving, then calmly glanced at others in the room.

In the dining area, two maids were clearing the table. At the other end of the living room, Uncle Li was busy with his own tasks. In this spacious living room, it seemed only she could hear the woman’s voice.

“…seeing your face every visit…so damn irritating…”

As the woman kept talking, Sheng Yunjin felt the icy chill in her abdomen again. Turning to see her reflection in the floor-to-ceiling window, she distinctly caught the golden flash in her eyes this time.

With a subtle thought, Sheng Yunjin took a step forward and slightly raised her fingertips at her side.

Snap.

A crisp sound echoed through the living room, followed by a piercing scream.

“Ah! Who hit me?”

The woman clutched her cheek in panic, her eyes darting around frantically.