Rebirth: Once Again With You

Meng Renshu woke up listlessly. His whole body was tired, and his facial expression screamed pain and agony for whoever watched him.

Qin Xiangjun's heart ached, looking at how thin and pale her son had become. He only ate a little, even when she had made the best chef in a five-star restaurant serve them breakfast.

However, considering everything he had gone through, it was no wonder that he would reduce to this state.

The most heartbreaking thing about this was that she also played a part in her son's current condition, although she hated to admit it.

After her daughter-in-law, Li Caiyi, passed away three months ago, her son gradually lost his smile and became lifeless. His eyes were devoid of any light and always appeared unfocused and hollow.

Meng Renshu, who always exuded a confident and amiable ambiance, was replaced with a cold and reticent guy who didn't like to speak much. Qin Xiangjun couldn't remember when was the last time he talked to her son.

No matter how much she tried to convince him that what happened to Li Caiyi was just a big misunderstanding, he refused to listen. At first, Meng Renshu would still refute her, but after some time, he just gave up on giving a response.

"Renshu, you should eat more," Qin Xiangjun said worriedly as she put the egg roll in his bowl.

"Look at how thin you are. Do you intend to live the rest of your life like this? No matter how painful it is, the living has to continue their lives forward. You won't achieve anything by torturing your body like this. Mother begs you, please return to your usual self. I can't watch you like this."

Qin Xiangjun poured all her emotion into those words, but it was as though Meng Renshu had turned deaf. He didn't speak nor even react. It felt like she was talking to an empty casket sometimes.

Qin Xiangjun tried to say a few more things but forgot about answering; Meng Renshu didn't lift his spoon anymore. He only stood up from his seat and left without words like usual after eating.

Even when his mind and health were messed up, Meng Renshu never took an absence from his work. On the contrary, he worked even harder to the point even his subordinate almost cried, begging him to go home and rest. Because they couldn't go home if their boss was still at work.

Everyone knew it was only his desperate attempt to forget his sadness of losing his wife early. The news came like a bolt of lightning in the middle of the day. It shook everyone, and Meng Renshu never recovered after that.

His assistant also felt distressed about this. His boss was like a lifeless working machine, while the secretary stopped coming to work altogether.

He was curious to know what happened to Li Chunhua after Li Caiyi's death, but he felt it wasn't right to ask. Because he was pretty sure that the complicated relationship between the three of them was one of the reasons why Li Caiyi took such a drastic measure.

"It must be hard living like that. Somehow, I can't really blame the Madam," The assistant sighed before taking the files he had compiled to the President's office.

He felt terrible for pushing more work to the President, but it was also a fact that his work maniac state helped their company a lot.

Although he secretly wished this person would find his inner peace soon. It was hard to look at him like this.

***

Meanwhile, at S Health Hospital.

Li Chunhua had another headache today. She would occasionally have it a few times in a month, but its frequency occurred more often now. There were also times when her episodes scared the life out of his family members.

They didn't need another member of the family to die tragically again.

Li Junjie walked past the hallway wearing his white coat. His face was cold and rigid, but it softened slightly when he entered her sister's ward.

However, he felt a pang of heartache whenever he looked at Li Chunhua. Because her face always reminded him of his other sister, whom they had greatly disappointed. To the point, she took her own life.

Pushing the stuffy and unbearable guilt to the pit of his stomach, he maintained his stiff face as he walked over.

"Xiaohua, how are you feeling today?"

Li Chunhua raised her head. The first things that caught his eyes were pale, almost transparent skin, a pair of wrinkled and tired eyes, and a yellow-ish tip of the hair. It brought another wave of heartache inside of him.

No matter how much he tried, there was no way to help her sister's condition. Her body was sickly in the first place, but now he had a more severe heart disease that would never heal forever, engraved by the closest person to her.

And the one who should be blamed for that was the entire Li family. Regret and guilt gnawed on his flesh, and only because of this sister of hers he still could continue.

Li Chunhua's gaze was empty. She looked at Li Junjie, but it didn't feel like she 'saw' him at all. Those eyes reminded him of a certain person's eyes and how he had lived his life like a dead person ever since that dreadful day.

"Brother…Jie…"

After some time, Li Chunhua finally recognized his existence in the room. She reached out with shaky hands, and Li Junjie gently took her hand in his.

"You are here." Li Chunhua said softly, with a slight rise from the corner of her lips.

After three months, her condition finally became better. Although better was still an understatement, considering how bad her body and mental health was right now, it was still an improvement from her previously corpse-like state.

After Li Caiyi's death, Li Chunhua wailed for three days before she finally stopped. As though she had wasted all of her emotions in those three days, she never spoke or looked at anyone after that.

Li Chunhua would wake up every day only to look at the sky outside the window, without eating or sleeping. She only slept again when she fell unconscious because her body couldn't take it or when he gave her an injection to help her sleep.

Thanks to Li Junjie's patience, she finally spoke a few words in a day again. But, the broken vase would never return to its previous state no matter how much effort he put into fixing it.

With eyes brimming with hope, she quietly asked, "Is Xiaoyi here today?"