Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu

Ai felt hope rise in her heart.

Maybe this woman could definitely lead us to something, she thought.

She quickly dropped a message to Jun to check if he could find something in Zixin’s room that would point to or belonged to a woman.

Jin got energized with a new vigor and started making some calls to Zixin’s assistant in his office.

Ai tilted her head. “I still wonder how he would have come to know about Chen Zixin’s confession when he had kept it a surprise…”

She peeked at Jin and beamed with pride. “I proved to be useful in the end.”

His gaze darkened.

“It’s also fun doing things together.”

Jin shot her a murderous glare. “With which face did you see me having fun here with you?”

“But I had a lot of fun. It was good doing something other than slapping you,” she seriously nodded.

Jin almost reached his hand to strangle her. The truth was bitter but if she hadn’t told him about MrPerfect, he wouldn’t have thought of a love rival connection.

Ai said, “So since Chen Zixin was a part of Reading Point, attended Authors’ Summit and had presumably planned to go Shanghai for the fest, does it mean the woman he likes is a writer?”

Jin ignored her and kept working on his laptop and in response, Ai poked him on his shoulder. She kept poking him until he finally turned his head. “What!?”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“Which is a cue for you to understand that I don’t want to!”

“But talking about it will help us reach the solution faster,” Ai started poking again.

He felt the top of his lid bursting. “I can take it up from here. Get out.”

She pursed her lips. “So you want to throw me away after using me to your advantage?”

Jin puked blood. “Don’t say misleading things!”

“Then answer my question.”

He took several deep breaths, but he couldn’t even concentrate on that with Ai’s constant poking. He tried his best to smile with his facial nerves twitching continuously. “A writer is one of the possible options. She could be a reader, editor, publisher or anyone belonging to this industry. It’s common to have all these kinds of people in such events. Were there only writers in the Summit and Fest?”

“No.”

“There is your answer. Now if you poke me again, I won’t spare you,” he threatened.

Ai nodded. She got a call from Jun and she quickly picked it up. “Did you find anything?”

Jun drew a long sigh on the other side. “It’s a mess.”

“What happened?”

He gave her the account of how Zixin’s laptop was broken, and how he didn’t find anything useful in his room. “I thought there might be something in the locked drawer, but it was empty.”

“Oh…” she softly lamented.

“Why did you ask me to find something that would point to a woman?”

“Jin and I think that there could be a love rival who didn’t want Chen Zixin to confess. Maybe he likes the same woman and wanted to stop him.”

There was a long pause. “…You are with Jin?”

“Yes.”

“…Working together for Bro Zixin?”

“Yes.”

“Where are you exactly?”

“Liu villa.”

“…”

“What are you doing at the villa? Aren’t you at the library?” He was speechless.

“I wanted to, but your Grandpa brought me here. He was on his morning car ride.”

“…”

“And then…you just naturally went into Jin’s room?”

Ai denied. “Of course not. I was searching for your room but landed into his accidentally.”

“…And he let you in? Just like that?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“I am a naturally lovable and warm person.”

“…”

Jin’s body was shaking with anger.

“And then you casually started to talk about Bro Zixin?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“Just how?”

“I am a naturally lovable and warm person.”

Silence.

Ai said, “I know there is a history between us, but don’t feel jealous,” she assured them, “we are purely working here for Chen Zixin’s sake.”

“…I don’t think I am feeling jealousy at this point.”

“Then what might you be feeling?”

“How about shock?”

“About what?”

“…”

“Why don’t we chat in detail back in the condo?”

“Sure.”

Jun asked after a few moments, “How is Jin?”

“He is fine. We are getting along very well,” she spoke with a beaming happiness, a sentiment which Jin didn’t share from the bottom of his heart.

Jun replied. “Yeah I think we need to talk about the getting along part.”

They hung up, and Jin lashed out immediately. “You are such a liar!”

Ai frowned. “What part of the conversation was a lie?”

He gritted his teeth. “The whole of it?”

“Preposterous. I don’t lie.”

He threw his laptop aside and once again, took several long breaths. Calming down, he asked her a question he had wanted for a long time, “How are you so chill about this whole rebirth thing?”

“Chill?”

“How can you believe Bro and me so easily? People will call us crazy if they hear this,” he narrowed his eyes.

She smiled. “Firstly, I am his girlfriend. I love him, and it’s my responsibility to believe him if he is talking about something serious and not dismiss it as a joke. Jun is not the kind of a person to fool around with a lie like this. If I don’t believe him, then who will?”

He snorted.

Trying to act all great.

“Secondly, it’s actually easier to believe him even more when I have gone through the same thing.”

“What?”

Ai observed his confusion and revealed. “I am also reborn. I had died in my previous life by falling off Dream High’s building and woke up to realize that I had gone ten years back in time.”

Jin blankly stared at her in silence. She dropped the bomb so swiftly that he didn’t have any time to react. It felt absolutely still. “…Reborn? You?”

“Yes,” she stared at him hard. “I died the same night as Jun. At the same time.”

He froze.

“I crashed on his car’s roof after I fell – Jun’s car which had crashed into the building.”

His eyes widened, a million questions instantly barraging his mind like missiles.

She then slowly emphasized. “Jun’s car which HE crashed into the building on purpose to commit suicide.”