Rebirth: Once Again With You

"Y-you!"

Li Caiyi blinked her eyes in disbelief when Li Chunhua appeared out of nowhere and stood between her and the curly-haired girl with a fierce expression on her face.

"What are you trying to do to my sister? You are the one courting death!" She growled angrily and without hesitation, gave the curly-haired girl a slap on her face, shocking everyone in the perimeter.

The curly-haired girl shrieked in pain, and every trace of arrogance was gone from her face, replaced by fury and disbelief. "D-did you just slap me?"

Li Chunhua haughtily raised her chin and snorted. "So what? Do you think you are the only one who has the hands to do that? I have it too, and unlike my sister, I'm not that polite to waste my time talking to no-brainers like you."

"Xi-Xiaohua…" Li Caiyi called out after she finally snapped out of her daze.

"Xiaoyi? Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?" Li Chunhua turned her head and asked worriedly.

"I'm fine. But why are you here?"

"Hmph, how can you just leave me behind like that? I want to visit the cafe too, so I'm going with you," Li Chunhua pouted.

"Hey, don't act like we are not here! How dare you slap me? Aaahh!!"

Li Caiyi hurriedly pulled Li Chunhua behind her to face the frenzied girl. However, before Li Caiyi could do anything, the rest of the gang had restrained the curly-haired girl in the place.

"Mei, calm yourself down! Remember that we can do something to the older one, but we can't provoke the younger one."

"Yeah, I know it's frustrating, but you shouldn't mess with Li Chunhua, or she'll collapse, and the blame will be on us!"

"Guys, but she is sooo aargghhh!! Can't you see how they looked down on us?!"

"We know, and we will pay them back for this later. Let's retreat for now." One of the other girls, with a hairclip, glared at the twins with a vengeful stare. "You'd better remember this."

"Go, go away, you cowards!" Li Chunhua stuck out her tongue and made fun of them from behind Li Caiyi, which only further angered the curly-haired girl. But with the teamwork of her friends, they managed to drag her away, and peace finally returned.

Li Caiyi sighed in relief. She was prepared to be dragged into an unsightly cat-fight scene, but thankfully, the situation didn't escalate. Although she wasn't sure if Li Chunhua provoking them was a good idea or not. At least, it saved her some trouble for now.

"Xiaohua, thank you for your help." Li Caiyi smiled.

"Of course! You shouldn't even have bothered to talk with them. How can pigs understand human languages? Xiaoyi, you are still too soft!" Li Chunhua harrumphed.

"It's because I don't want this problem to escalate further, but I guess you are right."

"Yeah, even if nothing's happening, they will still make it as if something is happening, anyway. Don't waste time talking with them."

"Did they bother you a lot, too?"

"No? They are just spineless cowards who can only speak badly about us behind our backs. How can people like that compete with me, the school goddess?" Li Chunhua flipped her hair smugly, eliciting laughter from Li Caiyi.

"You are right. Xiaohua, you are strong, as I expected."

"Uhm, are you guys finished already?"

Li Caiyi jerked her head upon noticing a familiar voice and witnessed how Shao Jingfei carefully emerged behind the electricity pole.

"Jingfei? What are you doing there?" Li Caiyi asked in surprise.

"Hmph, he saw you fighting with those girls and got scared, so I have to settle this myself. He really is useless baggage." Li Chunhua complained.

"Hey, don't accuse me like that. It's uncool for a man to intervene in a girl's fight, you know? And what do you expect me to do? Heroically appear and give the bad girl a punch in the face? I don't hit girls!" Shao Jingfei defended himself.

Li Chunhua clicked her tongue. "That's just an excuse. It's more unmanly for you to leave a girl in trouble like that!"

"Nah, I'm sure Caiyi will be fine even if we leave her alone. You are the one who got agitated too fast and jumped ahead without observing the situation first."

"Bullying my sister meant they bullied me too! How can I just stay there and watch?" Li Chunhua stomped her feet in disbelief.

Once again, Li Caiyi found herself stuck between these two bickerings. However, she couldn't be more grateful for their impeccable timing.

"Guys, stop fighting. Everyone is alright, and that's what matters, right?" Li Caiyi tried to calm both of them down, and they reluctantly stopped their bickering while turning their heads away. Li Caiyi shook her head helplessly, looking at them.

"Aren't we going to Jingfei's place? Shall we go now?"

"But Caiyi, why are those girls targeting you? Aren't they that popular group in the second year?" Shao Jingfei asked curiously.

"Are you living under a rock all these times? Isn't it obvious why they went after Xiaoyi?" Li Chunhua folded her arms in front of her chest.

"What did I miss? Sorry, I usually don't care about rumors and hearsay."

Li Chunhua rolled her eyes. "It's because they are jealous, duh. Those girls are Brother Renshu's diehard fans. The incident this morning must have reached them, so they went to vent their jealousy to Xiaoyi. Ugh, this is irritating!"

"What incident? Are you talking about how Senior Meng suddenly came up and talked to us this morning?"

Li Chunhua massaged the bridge of her nose in frustration. "Nevermind. I'm too lazy to explain it to you. Just ask one of your friends, and they'll tell you."

"Are you shutting me out right now? How mean!"

"It's a misunderstanding, actually," Li Caiyi laughed dryly. "I wasn't in the best condition this morning, so he helped me to the infirmary, and that…seems to cause an uproar. Brother Renshu is too popular."

"Hmph, he didn't even tell me you were collapsed. Brother Renshu has changed now. He likes you so much he completely forgot about me!"

Li Caiyi's body stiffened when hearing that. Even now, Meng Renshu's confession and blatant jealousy this morning were still shocking to her. She wasn't used to this, but as Li Chunhua said, he did look serious when he said and did those things.

Li Caiyi shook her head to shirk away from that thought. There was no use thinking about that since nothing would change between them.