Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu-Chapter 1211: Spying

The next day.

Shui paused at the entrance, staring at the huge signboard lit up with bright colors. The amusement park buzzed with weekend energy. Laughter, music and the distant whirr of roller coasters filled the air. Families rushed past with balloons, teens squealed near the rides and couples walked hand in hand.

She tightened her grip on her sling bag. Something inside her felt restless. The consciousness pounded harder with every step she took.

Is this dress really okay? Do I look too plain? Or even worse, gaudy?

Her phone buzzed.

’I am here.’

Shui turned. He stood not too far away, hands in pockets with a relaxed posture. She stood at the same place, watching him in a daze. It hit her then that this was different. He wasn’t in his apron or serving customers. No boxing gloves in sight, nor a bowling ball.

He was just Lin...outside his usual world.

He walked up to her, pausing at a comfortable distance.

Shui cleared her throat. "Did you wait long?"

"No. I just came." he nodded.

There was a beat of silence. She wasn’t sure if the air felt different today, but seeing him dressed in casual clothes was oddly...satisfying. The first two buttons were unbuttoned and his hair looked unusually messy but still in style nevertheless.

"...You look different today."

Lin stiffened.

"Do I not look good?"

"Ah? No, no! I didn’t mean bad different. Good different!"

"...Are you sure? I can change how I look. Cai helped me get dressed today. I don’t know why. He was oddly very insistent today."

She sweated.

Did he figure out anything? He does seem to be like the twins who can sniff out secrets...

"You look fine. Really. There is no need to change anything."

He looked into her sincere eyes and nodded. "Thank you. You look cute too."

"T-That...Really? This dress looks fine?" she nervously tucked a lock of her hair.

"Yes. You always look good in everything."

Her cheeks reddened at a pace she was unable to handle.

"Sh-Shall we go?"

Oh come on, we are not high schoolers! Don’t embarrass yourself today, Shui!

She noticed Lin staring in the distance on the right and she followed his gaze. "Anything wrong?"

He retracted his gaze and looked back. "No. Nothing wrong. Let’s go."

They entered together. The moment they crossed the gate, a giant bear mascot attempted to hand them flyers. Lin politely declined, but the bear insisted on a free sticker. Without a choice, he accepted and the sticker ended up on his sleeve.

The giant bear pinned a sticker on Shui too and he said, "We match."

Shui tried to hold back a laugh. "It suits you more than me."

He glanced at the cartoon bear’s grin on his arm. "I disagree. It will suit Cai more. The sheepish grin feels like his."

"Well, I think it’s cute," she regretted the word immediately.

"I see," he barely commented, but the faint pink on his ears didn’t go unnoticed.

They walked slowly along the main avenue, surrounded by a riot of colors and sounds. Children ran with balloons shaped like dinosaurs and stars. Somewhere, popcorn popped cheerfully. Someone nearby screamed as a roller coaster dropped.

"What do you want to try first?" Lin asked.

"I don’t know...? I just want to look around a bit."

He nodded and matched her pace without question.

They stopped near a claw machine arcade. Kids and adults alike were fixated, hoping for a soft toy prize. Shui lingered a second too long in front of a plush panda. Lin followed her gaze, then stepped forward and inserted a token before she realized.

"Wait, you don’t have to-"

The machine whirred. He navigated the claw with silent concentration. His eyes narrowed as if he was in a war - one that didn’t last too long. The claw caught the panda, lifted and rolled it into the prize slot.

While Shui was occupied being dumbfounded at his supernatural speed, the crowd was heavily impressed with Lin’s clawing skills. Many who couldn’t win a prize despite many tries urged him for help. Lin was happy to.

Going back to Shui, he picked up the panda and gently placed it in her hands and said, "It looked like something you would like."

She blinked down at the plushie, unsure whether to hug it or hide it. "Thank you..."

The panda plushie’s eyes looked pure and innocent like Lin’s. They continued walking, the penguin tucked safely in her arms.

They stopped at a cotton candy shop and when it was time to decide on the ride, Shui couldn’t.

"Roller coaster or the swing?" she asked, taking a bite of the fluffy cotton. "There is a long queue at the swing side."

Before he could make his choice, somebody else did.

"Swing it is!"

They turned slowly and saw Zhong Sihan standing right behind at a distance, eating his own share of cotton candy. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"Mr. Zhong," Lin stared at him with acute eyes. His gaze fell on the left for a moment before it fell back on him again.

"I am your father. Call me Dad."

"I never signed any papers."

"So sign them now. I always have those papers with me," he sneered.

"What are you doing here?"

"Aw, are you mad that I am disturbing your little date?"

Shui had no idea what to say. The last person she had expected to see was Zhong Sihan in the amusement park.

"It’s not..actually a date," Lin didn’t want to make Shui uncomfortable with the pressure.

"Of course you are. Just because I remained single doesn’t mean that I am blind. Right, Ruyi? Ruyi?"

He looked around and saw she wasn’t there.

"Oh, yeah. I sent her to bring a dessert for me."

Shui grimaced. "You are treating her like your gofer or something?"

He smiled. "She wanted to come with me. I didn’t. She promised she will do anything. So she is doing anything I say. You got a problem?"

Her gaze darkened.

"You shouldn’t, but I do. With this little date."

"Uncle!" Ruyi returned rushing, slightly breathless. A small box of dessert was in her hand. She looked at the two and stiffened.

"That..."

"Yeah, I was only supposed to just watch, but it was going too sweet between them and I felt like puking. So I interrupted."

Her lips pressed into a thin line. "That’s not a nice thing to do."

Zhong Sihan snorted and looked back at Lin. "You want to go to the swing? You should go to the swing. There will be no queue for you."

"And why is that?" Shui asked dryly.

"If they don’t want me to crash this park for good, then there will be no queue for my future son."