Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu-Chapter 1172: How are you any different?

Every head turned and whispers gushed among the crowd. Ru Yi trembled behind Shui. "He... he will..."

Lin’s gaze flicked up, cool and assessing. There was no change in his stance. Only a subtle stillness remained that felt like the calm before the storm.

The man cast a threatening gaze toward Ru Yi. "You think you can ignore me now? You think this new company will protect you?" He sneered, catching sight of Lin. "I have heard all about you. Aren’t you the famous ex-con?"

"Leave," Lin said quietly.

The man barked a laugh. "What if I don’t? You think I’m scared of a washed-up criminal?"

"You sure were in the cafe that day," he retorted without missing a beat.

Shui choked.

Cai glanced at Ru Yi, his fingers clenching seeing her shivering behind Shui. He wanted to pull her to his side, but biting his lip hard, he remained where he was.

The man’s gaze darkened.

"Big talk for someone who spent years behind bars," the man said, stepping closer until the sour smell of alcohol filled the air. "It was your cafe so I let you have some face. But this isn’t the prison where you have your con buddies backing you up."

"I never had any buddies backing me up," Lin plainly said.

Yijun wanted to stop them but honestly, he was enjoying the back and forth dispute. Lin’s calmness was getting through the stalker in the most satisfying way possible and he wanted to enjoy more of that show. He felt Shui’s glare but he promptly ignored it.

The man shoved Lin’s shoulder. "So you also spew lies-"

In one heartbeat, Lin caught his wrist. There was no hesitation, no sound, just a precise twist. The man gasped, stumbling forward.

Lin didn’t let go. He pulled him off-balance, his foot sweeping behind the man’s ankle. The motion was almost effortless, even graceful, but the stalker crashed hard against the table, sending cups shattering.

Gasps echoed around them.

Lin leaned down, voice low. "You came here to make a scene. Congratulations. Now everyone can see what kind of coward you are. First in the cafe and now here."

The man swung wildly in panic. Lin sidestepped, caught his arm again and this time pressed his elbow down in a lock that made him cry out.

"Apologize to her," Lin said.

"W-what-"

"Apologize," Lin repeated, calm as ice. "It’s not pleasant to scare a woman like that."

Even Ru Yi flinched at the raw authority in his tone.

Shui’s eyes slightly arched. This was probably the third time she had seen Lin calmly handle a violent situation. She had seen Lin composed, and he was terrifying not because he shouted, but because he didn’t need to.

He seriously keeps giving me Liu men vibes...

"Wh-Why should I apologize!? She is the one who is cheating behind my back! She is seeing some other man and has been using me from the beginning!"

"Shut your mouth before I knock your teeth for good!" Cai’s patience had already touched the roof by this point.

"Why the hell are you getting so agitated by this?"

Cai balled his fists. "...You should be ashamed of speaking about your girlfriend in this way! How can you accuse her of cheating!?"

"That’s what we call a cheater! She had been lying to me since the beginning! She is in love with this man who she hasn’t forgotten about. She broke up with him herself because he was a loser. A family member of his was in prison!"

Ru Yi froze. Her breaths turned chaotic and she didn’t have the courage to look at Lin, who had just fought for her sake.

"That was a good decision. Who the hell loves a criminal or a criminal’s family? They should rot in hell for all I care!"

Cai trembled. He glanced at Lin, who stood unfazed and unaffected by his retaliation that was indirectly pointed at him.

"I thought she left him for good but turns out that she hadn’t forgotten him!" He then glared at Ru Yi. "I’m just trying to bring sense into her mind."

He sneered. "Does she feel guilty now? What is there to feel guilty about letting go of a criminal’s family? She would have died one day had she continued-"

"Can you stop talking for a second?" Shui gritted her teeth.

More than Cai or Lin, she felt like punching the man himself.

"You are one arrogant son of a prick. Who the hell gave you any right to judge Ru Yi? Because what you are doing isn’t coming from a place of concern anyway. You are just salty because you cannot see yourself losing to a ’criminal’s’ family, don’t you?"

He stiffened.

"You don’t care about Ru Yi at all," she coldly said, "You just cannot accept that she cannot forget that humble and sweet man she fell in love with, or that she probably wants to mend things with him. You keep blabbering criminal, criminal, but are you any less innocent? What are you doing?

Stalking and harassing a woman because your ego got hurt? She might be right or wrong but this is no way to talk to the woman you supposedly care about. She had locked herself up in the bathroom all this time because she was afraid of you, so how are you not any different from the other stalkers or thugs out there!? How are you not a criminal?"

"I’m her boyfriend!"

"Shut up! Boyfriend, so what? That doesn’t give you a free pass to abuse your girlfriend. Talk some sense before you open your mouth!"

Yijun was satisfied with the drama, so he whistled. "Well, I am sure he will talk a lot of sense once he is in jail~ Let’s go buddy. We will have some fun time in there."

---

As they stepped out of the bar and Yijun got on his way back to the bureau, Lin looked at Ru Yi. "Let us drop you home."

He squinted at his brother next. "You are coming too, Cai."