Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu-Chapter 1157: Work together

It was easier said than done.

Art wasn’t something that came to an artist like a convenient blessing. At times it would dawn upon akin to lightning striking that would shake your world in a flash or at times, that euphoric feeling called as inspiration never came at all.

Such was Shui’s predicament at the moment.

To affect a person like Zhong Sihan, what kind of earth shattering painting should she make?

Hmm...it’s not so simple.

She closed her eyes as she rested back against her chair.

"It’s not so simple!"

She was now facing Lin, who was plating some sandwiches and coffee mugs on a tray.

The sandwiches look delicious...she slightly drooled.

Lin blinked twice softly. "What is not so simple?"

"Painting."

"So you cannot prove your point?"

Her brow twitched hard. "I never said that! How come you so easily discredit my talent?"

"You said painting wasn’t so simple. What should I have assumed?" He tilted his head.

She glared. "How about asking why it’s not so simple?"

"Because it’s hard to please Mr. Zhong."

Well he didn’t say anything new but why does it feel so irksome?

"Indeed. It’s like he would already be wearing the lens of disdain and scorn. How am I supposed to paint then if he is already biased against it?"

"Indeed," he calmly said as he continued to place the last coffee mug.

"So that’s why I came to you."

He lifted the tray and walked towards the customer’s table. "Me?"

"Yes. You have spent quite some time with him, so there are more things you could probably tell me about him. I understood his family intricacies to an extent, but everything still looks hazy."

Lin placed the tray at the center of the table and bowed. "Please enjoy."

The hyperactive high school girls squealed. "Yes, Lin!"

Shui felt disoriented at that. When they walked back, she asked, "They are so comfortable with you calling by your name? Just the name?"

"It seems so."

"You are okay with it?"

He paused and glanced at her. "Yes. Why wouldn’t I be?"

She shrugged. "I don’t know. I thought you would like an honorific like Brother?"

"I don’t really care who calls me what. They are also quite the influencers with a good following. They post pictures of my cafe, give good reviews and I get new customers," he nodded. "They are very sweet for promoting my business."

Shui turned to take a look at the blushing girls with bubbles and hearts practically floating all around their heads.

Yeah, I don’t think you get why they are doing that...

Lin headed back into the kitchen and Shui followed.

"So like I said, I need to know more about Mr. Zhong. What kind of a person was he in the prison?"

Lin took two slices of bread and placed them on a new plate.

"He was surrounded by other inmates. At first, I thought he would spend time all alone, but I was wrong."

"The other inmates liked him?"

"More like the promise of his power outside of prison. Many inmates who eventually got out had his help in building their new life."

"Oh," Shui was surprised.

I thought it was only Hou Lin he is so fixated on.

Wait, he is fixated but in a different sense...

"Why does he want you to be his son?"

By now, Lin was done spreading his cafe’s special and signature stuffing between the bread slices accompanied by some mayo.

Is it really some political reason to counter his nephew and his family’s influence or...just a random wish of his heart?

Lin thought back to the time when he was soon to be released from prison.

’Lin!’ Zhong Sihan grinned. ’Finally, you will see the light of the day. You want to make a cafe, right? I will help you!’

Lin had politely declined. ’Thank you for the offer, Mr. Zhong, but I will work on it myself with my brother.’

’Brother? Hah! Brothers are of no use in building your empire! They just drag you down.’

’Cai is not like that.’

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. You will learn it soon enough, the treacherous waters of the world called business. Anyway, when I come out, how about you become my son!’

Lin blinked rapidly.

Son?

’I don’t think so.’

’Of course you do! You will be the heir of my empire and you can make bigger things than cafes!’

’I just want to have one cafe, that’s all.’

’Pah. You don’t dream big at all. Whatever. I will whip you up in shape in no time!’

At present, Lin wondered what was going through Zhong Sihan’s mind. He hadn’t taken his ramble seriously at the time only to realize that Zhong Sihan was dead serious about his proposal.

"I need your help."

The chain of his thoughts broke and he looked at Shui. "My help?"

"Yes. I need to know what kind of painting I should make for him. And I’m not just doing this to satisfy my ego or prove him wrong. There must be something in this world that would affect him beyond money."

He remembered the years he spent with Zhong Sihan.

"Yes," he quietly said.

"So I want to know your opinion of how far I have come to know him. If what I draw doesn’t connect to him, then you will be able to tell me that, until I will understand what the final form should look like."

Lin wasn’t sure how much he would be able to help her. He wasn’t sure if he even understood Zhong Sihan in a way she was hoping he would guide her.

"I see. Okay. I will help you."

Shui beamed. "Perfect! I will keep bothering you with my sketches then."

"It’s not bothering me."

Lastly, Lin made a smiley face with ketchup on the top of bread slices and offered the sandwich to her.

"I didn’t order though..." her eyes slightly widened.

"It’s on the house," he smiled.

W-Well I was drooling about it before, did he see that...? Yikes, that’s embarrassing!

She cleared her throat. "Thank you..."

All this time, he was making a sandwich for me and I kept on and on... Really embarrassing!