Rebirth: Once Again With You

Meng Renshu left not long after Li Caiyi returned to her room.

When Li Chunhua came into the room with a cup of ice cream in her hands, Li Caiyi pulled her to sit on the bed.

"What are you doing? I almost dropped my ice cream!" Li Chunhua protested in annoyance.

Li Caiyi snatched the cup from her hand and stopped her sister from grabbing it again. "No ice cream until you answer my question. Why aren't you stopping Father and Mother when Brother Renshu asked me to be his partner?"

Li Chunhua tilted her head in confusion. "Why should I?"

"But you like him, don't you?" Li Caiyi stubbornly pressed on. Li Chunhua did not understand why Li Caiyi always brought that up, to the extent she confiscated her ice cream!

"Xiaoyi, you think too much about it. Nowadays, people can kiss even without feeling involved. Not to mention, that kiss between me and Brother Renshu was just an accident! It's not real!"

"You don't know about that! What if Brother Renshu took it seriously?"

Li Chunhua looked at her sister strangely. "If he is serious, then shouldn't he ask me to be his partner instead, and not you? You are weird, Xiaoyi. Why do you keep trying to match us together?"

Li Caiyi could not comprehend this situation. She was clearly the sane one here, so why was she treated like the insane one? Li Caiyi could not shake this uneasy feeling she felt. If the change she caused was like a speck of snow, then that speck had slid down the cliff and rolled down uncontrollably, creating a huge snowball that could crash anytime. She had a nagging feeling that the situation would turn in an unimaginable direction if this kept going on.

"Xiaohua, are you really not having any feelings towards Brother Renshu?"

Li Chunhua's eyes narrowed down as she scrutinized Li Caiyi's face. "What about you, then? Do you like Brother Renshu?"

"No." Li Caiyi answered decisively.

Li Chunhua nodded her head in satisfaction. "See? Being a childhood friend does not equal love. Kissing does not equal affection. If I don't like him, then I don't like him. What is the problem here?"

It did not look like Li Chunhua was bluffing at all. Li Caiyi massaged her forehead in frustration. "My head hurt. Take your ice cream and leave me alone for a while."

Li Chunhua beamed. "Yay!"

The rest of the night was spent with Li Caiyi tossing and turning in her bed. She could not sleep even after midnight had passed.

***

The relationship between Chen Ruolan and Feng Nian seemed to get better after their last trip to an ice cream parlor. Li Chunhua kept her promise and did not mess with those three anymore after that. Everything would have returned to normal if not for Meng Renshu, who made her confused.

In her previous life, Li Caiyi had always been on his side. Whether it was as his friend or wife, she did everything she could for him. But what did she get for that? A divorce agreement slapped ruthlessly on her face.

He should not have thought that much about her, so why would he keep pulling the rug under her feet? If Li Caiyi did not know better, she would suspect that Meng Renshu was also being reborn somehow!

Li Caiyi sighed inwardly. Sadly, that was impossible.

She had returned to the past for some time, but it did not seem like she could find Shen Qiang anytime soon. It made her wonder if Shen Qiang did not retain the memories of his past life after all.

'Even if the place we will go to is different, I promise I will find you no matter what it takes.'

Li Caiyi still remembered his promise, and her nose soured.

Feng Nian was right. The most unreliable things in this world were men's promises and women's tears. They fell together in the same spot simultaneously, so it was strange if Shen Qiang did not retain his past memory.

But if he retained his memory, why didn't he come to find her? Did he not remember about her, after all?

"Uhm… Miss?"

Li Caiyi was snapped out of it when a voice roused her from her daydream. In front of her, the ice cream parlor's employee looked at her weirdly. "Miss, here is your mint choco ice cream. The total is 50 yuan."

Li Caiyi quickly realized that the other customers who were waiting in line looked at her impatiently, so she hurriedly paid for her order and left the premises. She sighed in relief when she had gotten out of that place.

Li Caiyi looked down at an icebox with three cups of ice cream in the plastic in her hands. "Yes. This is not the time to be discouraged. All hope still isn't lost!"

With renewed vigor, Li Caiyi walked briskly in the hospital's direction. She still had to make sure whether Dai Shenqiang was the one she was looking for or not. Let's see if he could resist this mint choco ice cream or not!

Thankfully, Li Caiyi did not bump into Li Jirong and his mistress this time. She walked straight to Dai Shenqiang's room. He noticed Dai Shenqiang was sketching something using his left hand when she entered.

"Hello there," Li Caiyi greeted with a smile. Dai Shenqiang was startled, but his face soon broke into a smile when he saw Li Caiyi.

"You're here!" He said with an unconcealable joy. "Sit down first!"

Li Caiyi took a chair and sat beside his bed. "How is your condition? I see the swelling on your face has reduced a lot."

"My condition has gotten a lot better now. My body was not hurting that much anymore. The doctor even said that if my condition keeps improving, I can get discharged sooner."

"That is great news! Oh yeah, I brought you something." Li Caiyi took out a cup of ice cream from her plastic bag, and Dai Shenqiang's eyes shone when he saw that.

"You shouldn't bring a patient cold food, you know," Dai Shenqiang said playfully, but he was eager to taste the ice cream in his hand. "Can I eat this?"

"Of course," Li Caiyi smiled.

Dai Shenqiang ate a spoonful, and his face broke out in a big smile. Looking at him, Li Caiyi could see how this boy and Dai Zhiqiang related. Their personalities were the polar opposite of each other, but their faces looked so much alike.

"Did my brother ever tell you that mint is my favorite flavor? If yes, I should thank him later."

Li Caiyi's train of thought stopped when she heard that.