Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu

On the other side, Kang Nanyou laughed. “I am glad you came, Han Shui. I was wondering why you previously refused.”

Shui smiled. “Business summits are not really my thing…”

“Guess Yuze dragged you in anyway, haha.”

“I did have to convince her a lot,” he shook his head. “Otherwise she would have shut herself in her room drawing and painting the whole night.”

“Don’t make it sound like it’s boring,” she frowned. “It’s fun for me.”

“Going out and meeting people is fun at times too. See, we got to meet Liu Jin after so long.”

Jin silently observed their conversation to which he thought as low key playful bantering. It did express that they had become good friends.

But was love in the mix too?

It has got nothing to do with me, he tried to calm down his pounding heart.

Jin smiled. “Indeed it’s been a long time.”

*Meow!*

The two cats ran among the crowd as if their life depended on it and jumped on Shui with glee.

*Meow*

Shui was left speechless. “Oh my gosh, Jun-cute! Ai-chan! You are here too?”

The furry cats rubbed their heads against her and she carried them in her arms with sparkling eyes. “Ah I missed you so much!! You look so beautiful!”

Jun-cute was thoroughly pleased.

Of course I am.

Yuze asked, taken aback, “You have pets?”

“Ah, they are not mine. They live at the Liu villa. Jin mostly takes care of them. The cats were with him in Paris too for over the years so I really missed them a lot!” she nuzzled her nose against their faces, her eyes tearing up.

“Seems like you missed them a lot more than I thought,” Yuze smiled.

“Ah well…” she wanted to quickly wipe her eyes but the two cats kept her arms busy.

A moment later, Jin took Ai-chan in his arms but instead of snuggling against his chest, she jumped on his shoulder and to the top of his head. She calmly pressed her paws and made her royal seat there.

Shui burst into laughter, wiping the corner of her eye. “Cat hat. There goes away your hairstyle.”

Stay tuned to

Jin scratched his chin. “It wasn’t much of a hairstyle in the first place. Plus my body doesn’t belong to me anyway. The cats have owned it for a long time now.”

“You should be proud.”

“Yes, being their servant is a prideful feeling to behold,” he nodded.

Yuze glanced back and forth at them with an unreadable expression.

Kang Nanyou cleared his throat. “This old man is tired. You kids enjoy the rest of the evening. Yuze, since you dragged her here, be sure to be her company till the end, okay?”

“I know, Dad.”

Jin slightly stiffened. The last sentence again brought an invisible distance between them. It was becoming easier to talk to Shui but he remembered the hard part once again.

Kang Nanyou then squinted his eyes. “Is that Alix over there? Ah! It seems like she is still bringing trouble again.”

Shui quickly looked over to that side and slightly widened her eyes. There seemed to be some mess up happening with Ruwen.

“I will go and check.”

“I will come too.”

Jin restlessly stood at his place, seeing Shui and Yuze leave together. A sour taste settled on his tongue. He didn’t know where to go. But then a small figure nudged his leg and looked at him with her hands on her waist.

He looked down and smiled. “Hey, Ziyi.”

“Uncle Jin! You have to help Ailun and Ruwen!” She shook her head, exasperated. “Such kids they are. Fighting over pastry.”

He arched his brow. “I thought I had seen you fighting with Ruwen too over pastries.”

“Uncle Jin, you don’t e-espose girls like that,” she coughed.

“Who taught you that?”

“Mama.”

“I thought so.”

“That’s not the point. The point is that lady’s dress got ruined from Ruwen’s hands. I don’t know why but Ailun is fighting too. You have to help them!”

Jin’s eyes widened. “What? Let’s go then.”

—

Mui pressed her brows. “Just apologize to him and end the matter, sis. People are looking at us.”

“Hey, what happened?” Yuze asked hastily with Shui following behind him.

He noticed Alix’s ruined dress and Ruwen on the verge of tears. Ailun was also beside him.

Xiao replied. “Just a small accident, Bro. Everything is fine.”

“Everything is not fine. You spoil sis Alix too much,” Mui was speechless.

“Because clearly you don’t,” her eyes narrowed. “You always paint her in a bad light.”

“You want me to take her side for scaring a little kid?”

“She wasn’t scaring him. You are blowing things out of proportion.”

Shui bent and ruffled Ruwen’s head. “Are you alright dear?”

He wiped his eyes. “Aunt Shui, the dress…”

Jin, too, reached carrying Ziyi in his arms. He looked down at Ailun, who looked bewildered and confused for some reason.

Seeing Ruwen’s pitiful state, Yuze exhaled a sigh and threw a stern look at Alix. “Alix, can you not cause a scene for such a minor issue? Your dress can still be fixed.”

Alix raised her brow and scanned him from head to toe without a word.

“Alix?” Yuze frowned.

Shui gently smiled and consoled Ruwen. “Don’t worry. Aunt Alix is a good person. She is not mad at you.”

Ailun nodded sincerely. “Finally somebody who understands. As expected of Aunt Shui.”

Jin tapped on his head. “What do you mean?”

He puffed up his chubby cheeks. “This aunt is not mad at us at all. She is actually cool though!”

His eyes gleamed with gold. “She said,

“Stop crying kid. You don’t shed tears for idiotic reasons like these.”

I was going to say the same thing to Ruwen myself!” He harrumphed. “He is too much of a crybaby when he already said sorry, so what Aunt said is right. And she said it so coolly!”

Ruwen tearfully nodded. “Aunt is very cool.”

Ailun scrunched up his brows. “So I wasn’t understanding as to why this aunt-” he pointed at Mui, “is talking meanly to the pastry aunt.”

Alix’s brow twitched.

Pastry aunt…

Ailun frowned. “She never scolded Ruwen for the dress so why is pastry aunt becoming the bad person here?”