Rebirth: Once Again With You

Meng Renshu really didn't talk to her throughout the trip. He drove the car silently, without sparing a glance to her for a moment. However, why did it feel so awkward instead? It felt like the calm before the storm.

Li Caiyi covered her discomfort by gazing outside the window and hoped this trip would end soon.

After Meng Renshu dropped her at Li family's house, he didn't stay for long and only bade her goodbye before he left. Usually, he would enter to greet Su Suyin or Li Jirong before he left, but it seemed he had a lot on his mind this time.

Li Caiyi was bewildered but decided not to think much about it. She thought she would get helpful information if she went along with his whims, but it was proven to be a waste of time, after all.

Well, at least she helped a person to cope with his problem, so she took it as some kind of charity act.

Li Caiyi was exhausted, and wearing this dress made her feel cold, so she quickly went into the house while dragging her feet. However, as soon as she stepped inside, she groaned inwardly when she saw Li Jirong was sitting in the living room, waiting for her.

Li Caiyi pretended not to notice him and sneakily wanted to slip past the living room, but sure enough, it didn't work.

"You are finally home. Sit here for a while, and let's talk."

It was the tone where he wouldn't accept no as an answer. Li Caiyi rubbed her nape before unwillingly making her way towards him. She sat across from him and asked, "What do you want to talk to me about?"

"You are still asking about that? Of course, I want to know what happened to you and Renshu after we left."

Li Caiyi sighed. She knew it would be like this. "Father, nothing happened. Brother Renshu just asked me to stay behind because he needed me as his partner. Please don't make a big deal out of something trivial like this anymore, or we will only embarrass ourselves."

"If you aren't so stubborn and useless, I won't even be worried like this in the first place," Li Jirong sneered.

"..... I'm really tired now, Father. If that's all you want to ask, can I return to my room now?"

"Is this how you treat your father? Do you want to say you don't even have time to spare for your father anymore? You really are becoming rebellious as of late. What an ungrateful child you are!"

Talking with Li Jirong always successfully pushed her wrong button every time. If she wasn't careful, she would probably blurt out his affair out loud right there and then.

"With all due respects, Father. But aren't you forgetting something here?" Li Caiyi asked with a smile.

Li Jirong's eyebrows twitched when he heard that. "What are you trying to say?"

"Didn't we make an agreement that if I win our bet, then you wouldn't go against my wish anymore? I think I have given our family enough face by agreeing to Brother Renshu's arrangement for his coming-of-age party. Please don't expect more from me than this."

Li Jirong slammed the table hard with an enraged expression. "Just because you win one silly competition, do you think you are already so great and can live by yourself? You are still living under the Li Family's house, so you must do whatever you can to elevate that name. It's your duty as the child of this family!"

"Do you really think our family is that great, Father? If yes, then you are being too optimistic about all this."

"Impertinent! Not only do you dare to go against your father, but now you are also looking down on our family. Good, very good!" Li Jirong pointed his finger towards Li Caiyi. "If it were not because you still have some use, I would have disowned you a long time ago! Our Li family doesn't need a useless white-eyed wolf like you!"

His every word made her blood boil. He was the one who wanted to elevate the family name, so why did he dump all the responsibility to her, as if it was her duty? If he really wanted to kiss the Meng family that badly, then he could go do that by himself!

Li Caiyi stood up from her seat with an ugly expression. "Then you should know better not to push me around anymore, Father. I'm no longer that child who used to cower in front of you. Who knows when you will lose this daughter who still hasn't lost all her usefulness yet if you don't know how to behave yourself?"

Li Jirong was so shocked by her comeback that he couldn't speak properly at all. He didn't expect Li Caiyi could spout such poisonous words from her mouth. "Y-you…"

"It seems you have nothing more to say, so I will return to my room first."

Li Caiyi didn't wait for him to yell at him and hurried to her room.

"Finally, it became peaceful…." She sighed.

***

It was a tiring night.

After she successfully returned to her room, Li Chunhua visited her room and bombarded her with many questions. She seemed agitated and kept pestering her for hours. Li Chunhua only left her alone when Li Caiyi finally answered her questions.

This was why Li Caiyi woke up feeling sore all over her body.

Once she arrived at her class, the first thing she did was to make sure she had today's required book ready in her desk drawer. She noticed a small notebook in her desk drawer when she put her textbooks in.

"Oh, did I leave this here?" Li Caiyi muttered in wonder before opening the notebook and flipping the page randomly. Her movement halted when she arrived at a particular page in her notebook.

"Shen Qiang…" Li Caiyi read the name written on that particular page with a hint of longing in her voice.

Where could he be right now, and what was he doing right now? Did he reunite with his beloved at this point?

If Dai Shenqiang was truly Shen Qiang, she hoped he could regain his memory, just like Meng Renshu, who began to vaguely remember his previous life's memories.

Her gaze trailed down the page to the list of information she knew about Shen Qiang, but for some reason, there was a piece of information she didn't recognize among those listed.

"Strange, it's clearly my handwriting, but why did I write he likes mint here?" Li Caiyi tilted her head in confusion. As far as she remembered, Shen Qiang never said he liked mint at all.

Judging from her handwriting, she undoubtedly jotted down this sentence, but how come she didn't remember when she ever wrote this before?

"Huh?"

Li Caiyi felt dizzy when an image suddenly flashed through her mind in a split second. She put her hand on the desk to steady her body.

After a moment, that dizziness was gone, but it was replaced by a strange feeling instead.

For some reason, she felt restless, like she had just forgotten something important.