Rebirth: Once Again With You

The wind blew pretty harshly that night. On that chilly night, Li Caiyi wore her pajamas with a blanket covering her legs and sat on top of her bed while busily typing on her phone.

Because of a series of recent incidents, she didn't have much time to write her story. Still, she always made time every day to write a few pages. Since her next story would be for a novel, she opted to write digitally this time. She found writing stories on her phone to be more comfortable, maybe because she was used to it.

Li Caiyi had been writing since she got home and took a shower. Her writing progressed smoothly, and she predicted she could finish this novel in a few weeks if she kept this pace. She already made a clear outline beforehand, so what was left was to pour all her creativity into visualizing the story she had in mind through words.

When she was so immersed in writing, she received a chat from Gu Xue. She briefly glanced at the time on top of her phone screen, and it showed 23.46 PM. It seemed her threat was pretty effective since Gu Xue actually kept her promise to report the result to her before the day ended.

[Gu Xue: I did it. You'd better keep your promise].

Li Caiyi quickly confirmed it with Detective Tang. Only when he gave an affirmative response did she feel genuinely relieved. Threatening Gu Xue really was the best option.

Compared to Li Caiyi, Gu Xue had more opportunities to access her father's room. It was less likely for Li Jirong to suspect her as well since they had spent a lot of time together in that room, so it wouldn't be weird even if she came in and out of that room regularly.

Plus, if Gu Xue got caught, Li Caiyi could easily wash her hand clean and pretend she knew nothing of it. Not a very honorable move, but Gu Xue deserved that much after what she had done.

[Li Caiyi: Good job].

Since she had somehow managed to install those devices at her father's office, she could only leave the surveillance job to Detective Tang now. Li Caiyi was very curious to know what her father hid behind their back. She hoped that there would be more information soon.

After reminding Detective Tang to stay alert, Li Caiyi returned her focus to her phone again and wrote until very late.

***

Li Chunhua woke up two days after that. Li Caiyi had gone back and forth between school and hospital to monitor her sister throughout that time.

She didn't want her mother to stay at the hospital and risked the chance of her bumping into the shameless duo. Hence, she spent the night at the hospital on behalf of her mother. Thankfully, it was a VIP room, and the couch was spacious enough for her to sleep in, so she had no problem sleeping at all.

When Li Chunhua finally awakened, she saw the familiar white ceiling first, then Li Caiyi's worried face by her side.

Both of them stared at each other for a few seconds before Li Caiyi took an uncapped bottle of mineral water and put a plastic straw in it. "You are unconscious for three days. Here, you need to drink first."

Li Chunhua said nothing and obediently opened her mouth when her sister poked her lips with the straw. After she took a few gulps of water, she said in a hoarse voice, "Why are you here? Didn't you say we should separate?"

Li Caiyi didn't expect her sister's first words after regaining consciousness would be about their last conversation. However, she calmly folded her hand together and faced the pale-looking Li Chunhua. "This and that is different. I did say we should keep our distance and not bother each other again, but it doesn't mean I can't care about you when you are in a weak state like this."

"What's the point of showing any care if you aren't going to stay?"

"Can't I do that?"

Li Chunhua looked away as if she wanted to avoid answering that question, and the room fell into deafening silence once again. None of them said a word for a while. Both were too deep in their own mind.

In the end, Li Caiyi broke the ice first and said, "Do you still remember that one time we went to Brother Renshu's house, and we played together in the backyard?"

Li Chunhua still had her head turn away from her, but Li Caiyi knew she was listening. "There was a big dog that suddenly appeared in front of me then. I was so scared without knowing what to do, but you came to save me, even when you were on the verge of collapsing. I really admired your strength and courage back then."

"Just say what you want to say directly. Don't beat around the bush." Li Chunhua said coldly.

"What I want to say is, as much as you want to be me, I also longed to be like you, Xiaohua. We keep chasing each other's back, without knowing we are just running in a circle all the time. I want to stop that exhausting cycle."

"Easy for you to say."

"No, it isn't! It took me a very long time to reach this simple conclusion. Even those things you said about me the other day, it wasn't easy for me to gain all that. I wasn't a natural at socializing like you, nor did I have your smart brain to quickly learn things. It wasn't easy to have those things AT ALL!"

"In the end, you want to say you don't want to be with me again, right? You should save your breath now because I don't want to listen."

"Can't you understand what I'm trying to do here? We will only hurt each other if we continue being like this. We should stop chasing after each other's backs and try to accept ourselves more. Besides, you might not notice it, but you need help—"

"Enough!" Li Chunhua shouted harshly, interrupting her sister's words. She turned her body away from her, so she had her back on Li Caiyi before she continued in a milder voice, "I'm tired. I want to rest more. Don't disturb me."

Li Caiyi sighed helplessly, looking at Li Chunhua's small and frail back. She knew it wouldn't be easy to straighten Li Chunhua's already twisted mind. However, she still wanted to try it nevertheless.

As expected, it didn't seem like anything she said would weigh anything in front of the current Li Chunhua.

Her sister had just regained consciousness, and continuing to press her wouldn't be right. Li Caiyi could only give up talking to her for now.

She didn't expect Li Chunhua would still refuse to talk to her, even after time passed. Based on their last fight, it should be Li Caiyi who felt angry and ignored her, but what happened was the opposite. It was a drastic change from Li Chunhua's clinginess to her before.

The question was whether her change was genuine or just another calm before the storm? Li Caiyi made a mental note to observe her sister more closely.