Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu

Ai knew she was in no position to judge others as she was breaking in herself. But she also knew her conscience was clear.

She couldn't say the same about the man, though, who was shifting skeptically in his place. His every action made her only more and more dubious.

Ai clutched her bag in which she kept Jun's gift. She could simply ignore the thief and walk away, pretending that she didn't see anything.

She looked up towards the mansion.

This is Jun's house and his family. How can I let anybody do something bad to them? Especially tonight at his parents' anniversary celebration…

Ai touched her chest and felt her racing heartbeat. For all she knew, he could be a dangerous man with a weapon. It was easier to tell the guards, but she was a runaway herself. They would throw her out if they saw her.

Coming to a decision, Ai glanced left and right. She couldn't find any stick or some sort to help her strike the man, but she did find something.

Carrying her weapon, Ai took slow steps towards the thief. Every step brought her heart to her throat to the next level. Her hands were trembling as she heard the thief sinisterly chuckling to himself.

He seems too confident…

Ai reached an arms distance away from the man. She was surprised to see grey hair on his head and overall physique to be that of an old man's.

But a thief was a thief despite whatever age he was.

Ai steadied herself and taking a deep breath, she poked her weapon into his arm.

"Ow, ow, Owwwww!!!!"

Instead of safely retreating, the adrenaline rushed inside her, and she poked him more and more. "Begone, thief! Begone!"

"Ow, ow! Heyyy! What are you doing!? Stop it!"

"You should have thought that before thinking of stealing from here," Ai scolded as she kept poking the man's hand he covered to hide his face.

"Owww! I am not a thief! Ow ow- stop it! Why would I steal from my own house!?"

That made her abruptly stop. Her hand hung in mid-air as she blinked several times at the man. "Your house?"

He slowly lowered his hand and raised his head as her vicious poking attack stopped. His mouth heavily twitched upon seeing the weapon in Ai's hand.

A rose.

It was a damn flower! She was pricking me with those damn thorns!

Ai asked again, "Your house?"

He was dumbfounded. "Yes, it's my house!"

"But this is Liu villa."

"And I am Liu Hai!"

Ai tilted her head. "But this is Mr. Liu Jinhai's house."

Liu Hai was speechless. "Who do you think gave birth to that brat?"

She stared at him. "You…are his father?"

"Yes!"

That means he is Jun's grandfather.

Now that she observed him more closely, she indeed found the resemblance between them.

Ai promptly lowered her hand. "My apologies."

"..."

"That's it?"

She didn't understand. "Anything else?"

Liu Hai gasped. "Y-you…you suddenly started poking me with those thorns and look how you hurt me! I am bleeding! You came out of nowhere! And you just say 'My apologies' and that's that?"

He never imagined in his whole life that he could be attacked by a rose's thorns someday. Her choice of weapon simply blew his mind away.

Ai calmly answered. "But you were acting suspiciously first. It's not my fault I mistook you for a thief. Anybody would have thought the same."

Liu Hai puked blood.

"Hiding behind a tree, moving restlessly and evilly giggling to yourself - what else should I think?"

Liu Hai pointed his trembling finger towards her and opened his mouth to counter, but nothing came out in his defense.

"You…you make a valid point."

Ai nodded.

But she still felt bad for his bruises, so she shuffled something inside her bag and took out some candies.

"Here."

Liu Hai beamed upon seeing them. "Candies!"

"Old Master!" The guards came rushing in and panted. "Are you alright?"

Liu Hai suddenly shook off Ai's hand with the candies.

"Yes, I am fine," he cleared his throat.

They noticed the bruises on his arm and looked as if their soul flew away. "Who attacked you, Old Master!?"

They glared at Ai and found the rose in her hand. "You! So you were feigning your sickness! How dare you hurt the Old Master?"

"He was acting like a thief."

!!!

The guards looked at her in horror. "You are calling Old Master a th-thief? Do you want to die?"

"Naturally, I don't," Ai clearly stated.

Dying once was enough, she added in her mind.

"But his actions made me mistake him to be one. Now, the misunderstanding has been solved."

The guards noticed the candies in her palm.

By consoling him with candies?

"Old Master…" they doubtfully glanced at him.

Liu Hai panicked and exclaimed. "I didn't touch those candies at all! She was bribing me!" He shamelessly pointed at her.

Ai looked down at the candies and then back at him. "But you were so eager to have them."

"Of course not! Look at my age. Do you think I am supposed to get all excited like a kid over some candies?" He snorted.

"You are not supposed to act suspiciously like a thief at your age either, but here we are anyway." She rebutted him, calm and unfazed.

Liu Hai and the guards - "..."

He coughed hard, not expecting that response.

The guards quickly said, "We will take her away immediately. She is not a guest-"

Liu Hai raised his palm. "Forget about it. I will deal with her. You two go and do your duty."

"If you say so…" the guards didn't want to but left anyway under his orders.

Liu Hai craned his neck and as he watched them leave, he immediately lunged onto the candies in her hand.

Ai was speechless.

"Now, I can eat them in peace hohoho!" He grinned.

Watching the confusion marred on her face, Liu Hai explained. "You don't understand! The guards here are spies! Spies set by my wife to keep an eye on me!"

"Why would she do that?" She asked with interest.

"To prevent me from eating sweets!" He harrumphed. "Those guards report to her if they find me loitering around anything sweet. You had almost killed me there! That's why I was hiding here to eat my pastry. Tch, you caught me though."