Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu-Chapter 1181: A Liu’s backing

The confusion after Zhong Sihan’s storm was finally settled when Lin wheeled in the new menu items.

"Oh, oh, everything looks so delicious!" Ai beamed.

Jun took a bite of the puff pastry and said, "That’s good. You want to compete with Natsukashi Bakery?"

Lin’s eyes widened. "No, Sir."

"Don’t call me Sir. Also, Bro Nian will be happy with a challenge."

Jin grimaced with disdain. "What challenge? Does he even work or just dump his work onto his employees? I just see him playing with Yina all the time."

"He surely works when she acts as a customer," he snorted.

"Lin my boy!"

Zhong Sihan grinned and beckoned him to his side. "You will be pleased to see my gift for you~"

"Are they adoption papers? Then I must humbly decline."

He glared. "No! And you don’t have to reject me every single time! These are share transfer papers! Now, you also have a stake in the business!"

"I must decline it."

"This is my birthday gift for you! You cannot decline it!" He forcibly pushed the black file into his hands as Cai watched them dumbfounded.

Shareholder?

Lin remained firm. "I cannot accept it. I’m not a part of your family. It doesn’t make sense for me to have any shares."

"Isn’t that why I want to adopt you in the first place, you buffoon? You just refuse to come forth with it!"

Jun arched his brow and watched the whole scene unfold in silence. He exchanged glances with Jin and wondered what kind of a storm this would bring.

"When you say you want to adopt Lin.." Alix couldn’t help but ask, "you mean you want to adopt both Lin and Cai.. right?"

"Why would I adopt his brother? I like only Lin!"

Cai’s jaw dropped, dumbfounded.

Excuse me, I am still here helloooo? I appreciate you like my brother but you can say nice things about me too!

Alix stared at him. "...That’s not gonna happen, you know that right?"

"I will give Hou Cai lots of money too," he smirked.

"That’s irrelevant. I am saying you cannot separate them like that. None of them will agree to it."

"Lin will come around sure enough."

"He himself is the first hurdle to your plans. He would never agree if you don’t include Cai in.. whatever it is you want to do."

"It’s not like I am separating them. Lin will just be a part of my family, that’s all!"

"He is not going to leave behind his brother."

"That’s actually the easier part," he smiled. "A sibling relationship doesn’t mean much when you are all grown up. The same brothers become enemies with whom you had shared a bed to sleep together in childhood," he sneered.

It was at that moment when unanimously, Shui, Ai and Alix looked at Jun and Jin, especially Jin.

Jin felt their gazes. "...What?"

Shui then glanced at Zhong Sihan. "Not all brothers grow apart, Mr. Zhong. There are some who can even fight the Gods."

"*Cough, cough!*" Jin choked and cleared his throat. For some reason, he couldn’t look up and just focused on his plate.

"Besides," Jun pitched in this time, "I heard that Cai and your grand-niece, Ru Yi...have a history?"

Cai stiffened.

Alix looked up at him, squinting her eyes at him. She had always known him as the bratty Cai so knowing that he liked someone gave her a certain itch.

"W-What!" He felt her gaze and became defensive. "It’s nothing really!"

Now that he knew it was Yahui within her, Cai felt even more abashed.

Jun said, "First of all, the dynamics will become a whole lot weird between them if you adopt Lin."

Zhong Sihan snorted. "I don’t care about them."

"The one you want to adopt does," his eyes narrowed. "You see, you cannot declare to be all family-family when you don’t want to even look at the things Lin looks at. You cannot be a grandfather and say that what your grandson holds important to him is irrelevant to you. That’s not how this works."

He gasped, exasperated. "His brother’s relationship with Ru Yi is none of my concern. They have broken up anyway. What should I do?"

"How about clarifying the misgivings her family holds against them for starters? They opposed them because of Lin. The least you can do is show them who he truly is."

"They will come to know anyway when I adopt him!"

"That will be too late for Cai and her."

Zhong Sihan looked at Cai and frowned. "Must be nice everybody taking your side! I just want to adopt one person and it’s so complicated."

Shui sighed and got a headache.

Ugh, why is it so hard to get it through him?

—

The small birthday celebration went on and before Jun and Ai were about to leave, they met Lin one last time. Jun smiled and gave him his wishes once again.

"Don’t worry about Cai, alright? I know the kind of things you must be thinking about, which I don’t want you to do. Anyway, I will talk to Zhong Heng about Cai. They are making a big mistake if they let him go."

His eyes widened. "N-No, Sir. It’s enough for me that you worry about Cai."

"It’s not. I know you want to resolve things on your own, but you should know when to reach out. I wouldn’t have known if Shui hadn’t told me."

He stared at him. "Miss. Han?"

"She told us about Cai and Ru Yi and why her family didn’t want her to have any relationship with him. We both understood his side too, so she had asked me if I could talk to Zhong Heng since you and I had worked together in the past, and I could help him see you brothers in a different light."

He trembled. He slowly understood Shui’s intentions. Not only would he have Jun vouching for him, it would be coming from the Liu family. Having a Liu’s backing and trust would make everyone pause at the very least. They couldn’t ignore it if the words came from somebody belonging to the Liu family.

His gaze drifted toward Shui in the distance, an inexplicable sense of belonging slowly taking root in his heart.