Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu

Shui was dazedly sitting in her office, her pencil barely touching the white paper. Yet the nip of it grazed against it as she lightly shaded something.

Jun says that he believes in Hou Lin but…is it really okay?

Somewhere in a small corner of her heart, anxiety was creeping its way in.

What if his simplicity was all an act?

What if he wanted revenge for Zhan Yahui's death?

Everybody knew how much he loved her. So was it easy for him to let go of his anguish and sincerely start anew?

Feeling restless, she left her office and headed outside. She walked the distance where she had seen him last. The view shocked her.

The slightly dilapidated shop looked almost as good as new. There was a banner that hung on top of the door on which it was embossed

Lin's Coffee

. Apart from some minor fixtures here and there, the coffee shop was almost ready for business.

Shui walked closer towards the shop but still kept a distance that would make her stay out of Lin's sight. From a distance, she found Lin standing near the cash counter where he was dusting and cleaning the area. There was another man roaming inside the shop, sorting out the leftover boxes and arranging the tables and chairs. She blinked twice.

Who is he…?

She stayed at her spot for thirty minutes but did not find anything suspicious in the way he carried himself. A small tempo had arrived as she waited and Lin and his helper carried a big, heavy box inside. Through the glass windows, she saw that the box revealed an exquisite coffee machine and many other supporting tools. By the looks of it, it definitely wouldn't have been a cheap deal.

The tempo driver left and Lin and his helper got back to the business of setting up the machine. Lin looked extremely serious and careful as he properly checked its working.

It's not like Hou Lin will show his true colors so soon anyway. He will be cautious and take it slowly if he is planning something…

"Shui!"

Her daze broke and she looked back, surprised to see Yuze waving at her with a smile.

"Hey."

"Hey back," he smiled. "I went to your office first but you weren't there. I came outside to attend a call and look who I found. What are you doing here anyway?"

Shui cleared her throat and said, "Nothing. Just looking for some lunch options."

"Then that's a great coincidence because I came to visit you to ask you out for lunch only. If only you don't mind obviously."

"Sure," she didn't particularly mind it. She also wanted to distract herself from her overthinking about Lin's situation.

Yuze craned his neck and commented. "Seems like a new coffee shop is opening."

She slightly coughed. "Yeah."

"I can already say that it will become popular in no time. Lots of commercial complexes and office goers here. Anyway, I found a cool outlet near the station. Let's go there."

Reaching the outlet, they took their seats and Yuze ordered lunch. He stared at Shui and said with a tinge of tension.

"I am sorry Shui."

Shui slightly widened her eyes. "What's wrong? Why are you apologizing to me?"

"For what happened at my party," he clasped his hands together. "To be honest, I wanted to talk to you all this time but I just felt too shameless to face you."

"No, it's not like that. Why would you even blame yourself? It was Ren Mui-"

"I know and though she was behind everything, I couldn't help but feel that I should have been more vigilant. It was my party after all. I invited you and it was my responsibility to take care of my guests. Yet, I let something like this happen…"

Shui smiled. "Nobody could have seen this coming, Yuze. Only Ren Mui is at fault here, nobody else. And I believe she is already punished enough for that. She was made to step down from her position. Everything is okay now."

Yuze grimly nodded. "Thankfully yes. It's also great to see Alix stepping up to take the position."

"Yes," Shui brightened with joy. "She wasn't so much in favor at first but I am glad she changed her mind. Handling the company will be a good change in pace after her coma."

"Definitely…"

Their lunch arrived and they dug in. They chit-chatted about random topics but Shui felt that Yuze seemed out of sorts.

"Are you okay? You look a little down," she blinked.

"Ah? Not really," he smiled it off.

She frowned. "Something is bothering you, right?"

Yuze looked to be in a conundrum and eventually released a sigh. "Actually yes…"

"What is it?"

"Guess I should apologize to you again. Of course, I did want to apologize for the party evening but I asked you out for lunch to distract myself too."

Shui inwardly coughed.

Same as me…

"I don't really mind. But what exactly happened?"

"Alix came to visit today. She ended the Ren and Kang family's business partnership."

"Huh? Why?" Shui was taken aback.

Yuze gave her a small gist of what happened and looked heavily troubled.

"I cannot even begin to express how ashamed I feel. I had no idea something like this was happening right under my nose. Even Mui never mentioned a word of it. Naturally, I apologized to Alix and am also ready to give the compensation, but she still went ahead and ended the contract. I tried my best to convince her to give me one more chance to make it right, but she is firm on her decision," he shook his head.

Ah…

Shui released a sigh. There were definitely big and shocking lapses on the Kang family's side.

"But that's strange. How come Ren Mui didn't highlight this before? It was her responsibility until now. She could have well avoided these losses," she narrowed her eyes.

"I wonder the same and so I will definitely talk to her too. I have already started an investigation into the quality issues at my part. But Alix…our families have been close and now the partnership has ended like this…"

Shui wondered.

Is Alix going this far to completely cut her off from Yuze in order to end all the rumors and gossip between them?

Like a clean slate?

"Shui if you don't mind…" Yuze scratched his chin awkwardly, "Can you talk to Alix and suggest she give some more thought on this? We don't want to lose them and I know it's a blunder from my side, but I am doing everything I can to make this right.

We might not be dating anymore but I still consider her as my good friend. Her company's state will worsen even more without our backing. And no, I am not being arrogant about it. It's just the reality of her situation."

"Of course. I will talk to her and see if she can give it another thought. But I cannot promise if I will be able to convince her."

"No, no, that's okay. I don't need promises. It's enough if you just talk to her and she hears your point of view too," he helplessly smiled.

Shui's phone buzzed at that point and she saw that it was the devil herself. Alix had sent her some picture on chat. She choked hard as soon as she opened it.

Yuze was bewildered. "Did you see a ghost or something?"

"Nothing less than that..." Shui was still reeling from her shock. "Yuze, I am sorry but I think...Alix might really not need the Kang family's partnership anymore."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

Shui coughed and showed him the picture.

In the selfie, Alix posed with a victory sign and smirk, holding a twenty million check in her hand with Jin besides her, who was seated on his CEO's chair with a heavily grumpy expression as if he was forced to sign the check at gunpoint.

Alix had captioned the picture as -

Got 99 problems but money ain't one when Liu Jin's around~

#SorryButNotSorry #CashCow

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