Rebirth: Once Again With You

The first thing that greeted her eyes in the morning was the empty bed.

The place where Li Chunhua usually slept was already empty by the time she woke up. It took her a few seconds before she recalled their argument last night. Li Caiyi sighed as she ruffled her messy hair.

"No, this is for the best. If I don't do this, that child will force her way forward just like she always does."

Her brain knew what to do, but when she recalled Li Chunhua's upset face last night, she felt immense guilt.

Right at that time, her phone vibrated. It was a call from Shao Jingfei. Li Caiyi could already feel an incoming headache her way.

"Did something happen? Chunhua called me, and it seemed like she was in a terrible mood. Based on experience, this situation usually concerns you." Shao Jingfei said.

"I'm sorry, did she say something rude to you? You're right. She is like that because of me."

"Well, on the contrary, she was very silent, unlike usual. It scares me. She hurled insults at me when I tried to poke fun at her."

Strangely, Li Caiyi could easily picture the image clearly in her head. Their bickering wasn't a new sight anymore.

"You should probably leave her alone for now. I predict she will act like that for a long time."

"Anyone can see that, but what happened between you guys? She appeared fine when we parted ways yesterday."

"Don't worry too much, Jingfei. She'll be fine once she calms down."

"If you say so. But let me get this straight. I'm not particularly worried or anything, okay? I'm just curious."

"Sure. You just called me first thing in the morning because you are curious about other people's problems."

"Ack, when you put it like that, it sounds like I'm a very nosy person." He responded weakly.

"I'll leave that to your imagination."

"Hmph. Since you have the energy to make a witty comeback like that, it seems you are doing better than I imagine. If it's not a big deal, make up with her quickly, okay? Or I'll be the victim of her abuse after this."

Li Caiyi shook her head. He said it bothered him, but she knew Shao Jingfei was not the type to leave Li Chunhua alone. Thinking how a reliable person like him was beside her sister at times like this reassured Li Caiyi.

"Thanks, Jingfei. I'll leave Xiaohua to you."

"Huh? Hey, why are you dumping her on me? Wait—!"

Li Caiyi hung up before Shao Jingfei could say anything else. She got up and prepared to go out. There was somewhere she needed to be today.

***

"How are you faring, Young Miss? From your face, it seems you just had a rough night." Detective Tang grinned teasingly as soon as they faced each other.

Li Caiyi had no energy to respond to his every comment, so she sat across from him. "Forget about it. Let's talk about our business."

"Why are you so in a hurry? I may not look like it, but I'm pretty concerned about you."

"Yeah, right. What I see is you are pretty enjoying this, though."

Detective Tang shrugged lazily. "Young Miss is so suspicious of me. There's no way I'd think about my soon-to-be-benefactor that way."

"Enough. I'm not in the best mood today, and having to talk about this makes my mood grow worse."

Detective Tang studied Li Caiyi's face closely and acknowledged that she wouldn't like it if he kept playing around. Considering her situation, the older man didn't blame her for acting crabby like this.

He put a picture on the table and slid it to her. "I found the car that tailed us the other day."

Li Caiyi took the picture and examined it closely; sure enough, it was the same car chasing them. She couldn't forget it even if she wanted to. She lost count of how many times she thought she would die that day.

"And the driver?"

"After investigating, I found out that this is a rental car. It's possible that whoever drove this car that day was very meticulous and cautious. They didn't leave their trace behind at all."

Li Caiyi put her fingers on her chin, thinking hard. "To rent a car, one needs to use their ID card. Any clue from that?"

"Sadly, no. That crazy driver used another person's identity to rent the car. So, the ID card registered ultimately didn't belong to them."

"Are you sure? There is no lead to them at all?"

"I found the person who rented the car, and apparently, he knew nothing about this. He said he was doing a favor for a mysterious person in exchange for money."

Detective Tang slid another picture to her, showing a young man with a plain-looking face.

"What makes you so sure this person is not the same person who chased us that day? He could have just lied about the existence of this mysterious person."

"Rest assured. I have cross-checked with the guy before coming here. He can't be the one because he is color-blind."

"What?" Li Caiyi gasped in astonishment.

"Yeah, it doesn't seem like he can see anything but black and white. He rented that car online. Although this doesn't completely erase the possibility of him being that crazy driver, the chance is pretty low if you ask me. One would be too scared to ride any vehicle with that condition."

Li Caiyi was still skeptical but couldn't argue against him. After waiting several days, she thought she could finally find something, but she returned to the starting line again.

"Now, don't make a face like that, Young Miss. I still have something to show you."

Li Caiyi raised her head again and saw another picture. It was a black-hooded figure coming out of the car.

The picture was taken from quite a distance, so the face couldn't be seen clearly, but it was evident that the figure belonged to a man.

"Detective Tang, where did you get this?"

"I have my own way of doing things," he grinned proudly before tapping the picture using his index finger. "It took some effort even to have this single picture. How about it? Does it ring any bells?"

"I'm not sure." Li Caiyi thought deeply. "If only I could see his face."

"If you can't identify him, do you at least recognize anything else from the picture?"

Li Cayi took another good look, and this time, something hit her. "Wait a minute. This place…it can't be…."

"What? Do you know something?" Detective Tang asked eagerly.

"Although I'm not sure, this place shown in the picture, don't tell me it's the park near my school?"

"Oh, you figured it out? That's right. But, what of it?"

All at once, her conversation with Li Chunhua returned to her rapidly. If her hunch was correct, could this person come to the park to meet with someone? Was it to report his recent harassment of her?

"Earth to Little Miss? Please don't put me in suspense. I'm dying to know what you have to say."

"Detective Tang, there is something you need to know."