Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu-Chapter 1197: Beyond his shoulders

Zhong Sihan’s strides were heavy and sharp as he crossed the gallery’s marble floor, his fury pounding like an impending earthquake. The crowd instinctively parted to give him the way, whispering among themselves as they sensed the tension rising in the air.

He stopped in front of Zhong Heng’s family, his jaw clenched with rage. "Who told them about the swallows?" His voice was low and dangerous like the onset of a storm.

Zhong Heng frowned, the displeasure clearly evident in his expression. "What are you talking about, Uncle? What swallows?"

"Don’t play dumb with me!" Zhong Sihan exclaimed. "You think I wouldn’t recognize my own past being thrown onto a canvas for everyone to see? Who gave it away? Was it you, Heng? Or your wife? Or..."

His eyes narrowed dangerously at his brother’s wife, Anrui.

Zhong Anrui slightly gritted her teeth and whispered, containing her anger. "What are you on about? Why the hell are you making a scene for everyone to see!"

Zhong Heng’s wife, Zhong Qiuyue, blinked rapidly, confusion etched all over her face. "You are misunderstanding something-"

"Misunderstanding?" he hissed. His eyes burned as his gaze darted from one family member to another. "That painting...That injured swallow! Yuhang had drawn a drawing like that in the past of a wounded swallow!"

At that moment, a small, trembling voice broke through the air. "I-It was me..."

Everyone turned toward Ru Yi, who was standing half behind her mother, her fingers clutching the hem of her dress. Her voice was almost inaudible. "I...I was just-"

Zhong Sihan’s head snapped toward her, his stare sharp enough to cut. "You?"

Ru Yi flinched, her voice at a loss to find the words. "I-I just went to your room once to ask about y-you and Mr. Hou Lin. I just wanted to know if you were serious about adopting him. You weren’t there in the room, but I just saw a picture on your desk when I was about to step out... I-I didn’t mean to look, but I saw the swallows in it."

His gaze darkened. "Who the hell gave you the permission to go through my things!" His voice thundered.

Ru Yi shook her head frantically. "No! I didn’t touch anything! I only saw it from the door, I swear! I didn’t tell anyone about it. But one day...when I was talking to Miss. Han, I just mentioned the picture I saw. I didn’t think it meant anything! I didn’t know it was a secret!"

"You-"

Cai’s hand immediately shot out to grip her shoulder, pulling her behind him.

"Don’t shout at her like that! She didn’t do anything purposely!"

"She’s no child to act like that!" Zhong Sihan snapped. "She doesn’t know what she has done! That was my stuff. She had no business looking at it!" His voice trembled with more than anger - was it fear? Grief? He didn’t know.

Zhong Heng’s expression was getting worse. "Don’t you dare speak with my daughter like that, Uncle!"

Han Tian quickly stepped in, placing his hand on his shoulder. "Sihan, that’s enough. Everyone is watching. This isn’t the place."

Zhong Sihan’s fists clenched so tightly that his nails dug into his palm. His breath came raggedly, chest heaving as he fought to reel himself back to balance. The murmurs among the guests had turned to open gossip, and Mr. Yang was watching from afar with concern.

Ru Yi was stunned for several long moments, seeing Cai’s tall figure standing before him. She couldn’t believe it for a very long time that he would come forward to help her.

Her eyes brimmed with tears. "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just...I thought you really loved those birds. I di-didn’t even touch the drawing I promise!"

Her brother glared at her. "Why are you apologizing to him anyway! I am more shocked to know that he has Grandpa’s drawing with him? After all these years? After what he did to him!? Why the hell does he even have something like that?"

Zhong Sihan finally tore his gaze away, the fury draining from his features, replaced by a hollow emptiness. He couldn’t answer even if he wanted to. So he redirected his resentment to the main culprit in question, who was none other than Shui.

"Who gave you the right to paint this!"

Without another word, he turned sharply and stormed toward her, only to be crossed paths with Lin in between. He held his palm facing out, his gaze serious and stern as ever.

"Don’t approach Miss. Han when you look like you are about to strangle her."

"Get out of my way!"

"No. You are not in a calm state of mind."

He gnashed his jaw. "You expect me to be in a calm state of mind when she stole Yuhang’s drawing!?"

"She didn’t steal anything. She didn’t even see it. She simply heard about it and took it as an inspiration."

Just in time, another pair of scrunching boots on the ground caught their attention and Han Tian confronted him.

"Hey! I know you might not like all this but you better not be violent against my Shui or I will kill you!"

"How about I kill you first?" His gaze darkened.

Standing behind Lin, Shui was in a similar state as Ru Yi. She had expected some kind of a reaction from Zhong Lin, but not such extreme anger. She knew that same anger would be directed at her. If he didn’t even spare Ru Yi, then who was she?

But she was taken aback when Lin suddenly blocked her view and stood tall before her, facing Zhong Lin’s raw wrath of full force. It felt like whatever trouble was on the other side of his shoulders would never get to reach her.

She took a breath and stepped aside from the safety of Lin’s back and met Zhong Sihan’s gaze. It was her painting and she had to be answerable herself.

"Yes, I drew the swallows whom your brother had drawn once, Mr. Zhong. But I don’t think that is the question, isn’t it? The question should be this - Why does the swallows affect you so much when you hate your brother from the bottom of your heart?"