Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu

Cai Lingyun burst into a maniac laughter, pointing his vicious gaze at Ai. "You broke your promise, Ai. You weren't supposed to participate in the competition!"

Jun kicked on the back of his knee. "What nonsense are you spouting!? Why wouldn't she participate?"

"Because Ai said so herself! Right, Ai?"

Jun glanced at Ai, clueless. "What the fuck is he saying?"

Ai crinkled her brows. "That's true. I did say at one point that I won't participate in the competition."

That took him aback. "Why not?"

Her gaze slightly dimmed. "Because coincidentally, the writing competition fell on my Mom and Dad's anniversary. They had been divorced for nine years by then but whenever that day would arrive, the atmosphere would…get a little heavy. I always noticed that distinct change in them. When I found that the dates coincided, I didn't feel like participating anymore when I knew that Mom and Dad would be feeling low that day. My story also wasn't really adhering to the happy ending theme, so all in all, I thought it was for the best if I didn't participate. I told the same to Guiying."

"But you did!" Cai Lingyun shouted. "And because of that, everything fell apart!"

Jun felt his blood pressure rising by the obvious fact that Cai Lingyun was overlooking. "Cai Lingyun, if I may remind you. It was Cai Guiying who won that competition. I don't see how anything would have fallen apart when she literally won the highest title that there was to win."

Cai Lingyun shot a murderous glare back at him. "And what was the use!? That dumbass of my sister relinquished all the prize money she had gotten! I was so happy that she participated in the competition and I repeatedly urged her to win the competition anyhow. That prize money would have helped me so much with my finances!"

Ai stared at him, stunned. "You…were pressurizing her to win the competition?"

"The cash prize was a big deal to me, okay? A person like you who never had to worry about financial problems while growing up wouldn't understand my concerns!" He raised his voice against Ai.

Jun banged his head against the floor and warned him coldly. "Watch your mouth or I will tear your tongue off."

Cai Lingyun laughed again. "I don't care. I am already in such a miserable state. How much more pathetic would you make it for me?"

Jun returned his laughter with his own impending one. "You have no idea. Even a person like you would crawl to beg for forgiveness if I showed you what I am truly capable of. Now care to explain more about the competition? Why the fuck are you blaming Ai? If Cai Guiying gave up on the cash prize, then that's her decision. Ai had nothing to do-"

"She had everything to do with it! Because apparently, my sister has too much self-respect. Instead of celebrating that she won, she wallowed herself in despair because she lost to Ai."

"For the hundredth time now, Cai Guiying won the competition!" Jun snapped.

"But it was originally Ai who had won! The judges were in favor of making her win, but they couldn't because of the theme. And for my idiot sister Guiying, it was Ai who won the competition in the truest sense. She thought she could only win because of Ai's misstep."

Ai froze.

"And then what? She let her useless self-respect come in the way, giving up on the money. She even wanted to withdraw from the winner list. But the judges didn't allow that."

He threw his angry gaze back at Ai. "It's all because of you, Ai! I was so mad at Guiying that she gave up on the money. I beat her up for it but then…t-that person came back," he unconsciously shuddered. "I thought she was gone for good, but she returned!"

He didn't have to explicitly state further how he was assaulted back for all the slaps he landed on Guiying's cheeks.

Ai trembled, tears pooling in her eyes.

"That fucker 'other' person started kicking me back, but 'she' was also furious at you! You went back on your words and entered the competition. If you hadn't, Guiying wouldn't have felt like an imposter winning the competition!"

"But…i-it was Guiying who first asked me to join with her-"

"That was courtesy you fool!" Cai Lingyun completely lost it. "She felt obligated to ask you as your best friend when you saw her preparing for a competition. She actually didn't want you to be in it with her. Don't you understand? Guiying was always so useless. She was academically pathetic. Even though Aunt Nuying did help her with her studies and she improved a bit, the fact remained that she was just average.

You had everything. Yes, your parents were separated but they loved you a lot. Guiying didn't have that. You were raised in a financially stable environment. Guiying wasn't. You looked charming and pretty. But Guiying fell average beauty wise as compared to you. You were academically smart and always scored high on tests. But Guiying always had to struggle to survive. She had nothing, no quality with her that made her stand on an equal footing as you. And by winning the competition, she wanted to prove that there was at least something where she excelled at."

He mockingly laughed. "But she failed. She won but in a sense she lost. You were the true winner of the competition, and it only proved to her just how much of a loser she was. She was actually a little relieved when you took back your entry. But you suddenly said again that you would indeed participate. The result was that she gave up on everything. She even threw away her Best Fiction Writer Award in the trash because she felt she didn't deserve it. She hadn't earned it. It was your prize. Like I said, she felt like a cheater snatching your award."

Ai shook with her warm tears plopping on the floor.

Guiying…