Rebirth: Once Again With You

Today was just a rollercoaster of emotion and a flood of new information. Meng Renshu massaged his throbbing head. His vision spun a bit.

It was a shame that Li Caiyi rejected his idea of sleeping together. The last time they did it, it was like all burden was lifted from his body. He felt as weightless as the paper.

But now that they haven't done it again, the weariness refused to leave him, despite all his effort to relax. He thought this must be a punishment for him.

Li Caiyi spent a lot of restless nights because of him, and now the karma was coming to bite him. And Meng Renshu gladly welcomed it because he deserved it.

"Young Master, we have arrived."

Meng Renshu didn't even notice that the car had stopped for a while until his driver notified him. He got out of the car, thinking he would rest early today. He still had to bring Chu Kong's medicine to the lab for a checkup, so he should have left earlier tomorrow.

The servants greeted him at the door before informing him that the Master was currently resting in the living room. It made him stop in his tracks.

It was rare for his father to be at home around this hour. Thinking back to his previous conversation with Li Caiyi, he changed direction toward the living room.

When he arrived, Meng Yaoshu sat on the couch with a newspaper in his hand.

"Father, you came home early today." Meng Renshu smiled before taking a seat across from him.

"Yeah. The deal I made today went through faster than planned, so I got nothing to do until tomorrow." Meng Yaoshu responded without looking away from his newspaper. "What about you? It has gotten pretty late, and you just came back?"

"Ah yeah, I went out to meet someone."

"I don't mind, but make sure you are not slacking in your studies. You can't let Junjie keep beating you all the time."

Meng Renshu chuckled. "Father, I'm just a regular student and can't be compared with Junjie. I don't know if I can secure the first place, but I'll try."

"Hmm."

Li Caiyi mentioned that his father was pretty wary of Li Junjie. At first, he thought Meng Yaoshu was only trying to motivate him to study harder, but maybe there was a deeper reason for that?

Meng Renshu didn't expect his chance to probe further would come this fast. He decided to test the water.

"Father, I admit that  Junjie is excellent, but aren't I pretty good myself? Listening to you comparing me to him made me upset  sometimes."

This time, Meng Yaoshu finally put his newspaper down. His sharp eyes examined his son closely. "What's wrong with you today? You seem like you're in the mood to whine."

"Am I not allowed to do that? After Auntie and Uncle divorced, Junjie became the head of the family. He was already amazing before, but he became even more amazing now. Can you blame me for feeling a bit inferior?"

"You are the sole heir of the Meng family. The Meng family and company will fall into your hands sooner or later. Feeling discouraged just because your friend got ahead faster than you proves that you still don't have what it takes to inherit the family business. Your mindset is weak," Meng Yaoshu lectured him sternly.

"But Father, you also can't deny that it's probably impossible to beat Junjie. He is born different from the rest. He is a natural genius. I can't beat him just with hard work alone."

"Enough!" Meng Yaoshu raised his voice as he slammed his newspaper onto the table. "You disappointed me. I don't want to hear your excuses anymore. If you came here just to seek comfort for your bruised ego, go find your mother. I will not tolerate your silly complaint."

Meng Yaoshu suddenly became more sensitive at the mention of Li Junjie becoming the head of the family. Was there something bothering him about that?

Meng Renshu feigned a gloomy look. "I'm sorry, Father. I must be tired and couldn't think clearly just now."

"It's not like the usual you. Don't forget you should never let others see your weakness. We don't know when and how people will take advantage of that. You shouldn't let your guards down even with the Li siblings."

"I'll remember that. But Father, now that Uncle Li is no longer part of the Li family, what will happen to the old promise between our family?"

"You are talking about the marriage promise, right? We'll need to discuss it with Junjie again, but the promise is still valid."

"Is there any need to do that? It was just an old promise, and aside from Uncle Li, I have never seen you or mother being enthusiastic about it."

"It's better to maintain a good relationship between the two families. Our family business wouldn't have flourished if it weren't for the Li family and everyone knew about that. If there is a party that disagrees with the agreement, it should be from the Li family side and not ours."

"Come to think of it, I kept hearing about this old promise, but I didn't know much about it. It was from my great grandfather's generation, right?"

"That's right. At that time, my grandfather had just started the business but fell sick during the crucial time. And it was Junjie's great grandfather who helped him. I was still a child then, but I remember that he was revered as a genius. I have no doubt that Junjie is following in his footsteps."

"Aside from that, did they ever do something else for our family again? You said that he helped our family business to flourish after all."

Meng Yaoshu eyed him suspiciously. "You seem awfully interested in this topic. You never paid any attention to the promise. What makes you suddenly change your attitude?"

"Well, I was curious since you put so much emphasis on that. I know my father will not make hasty decisions without much consideration. So I thought the old promise must have a deeper meaning than a simple marriage agreement."

Meng Yaoshu pondered for a bit before saying, "I guess there's no harm telling you this since you are bound to know sooner or later. Aside from helping your great grandfather recover his health, he also worked for our family for some time."

"Is that so?" Meng Renshu was quite surprised. Even in his previous life, his father had never mentioned anything about this.

"During his time working with us, he developed a medicine which became our company's breakthrough. His research became the foundation for developing various other drugs. It was even approved by many other doctors and researchers overseas. Around then, Meng Pharmaceutical became widely known as the best pharmaceutical company in this country."

"Really? Then our family was very indebted to the Li family because of this?"

Meng Yaoshu slightly frowned, but he didn't outrightly deny it. "If it weren't for your great grandfather's help, an ordinary doctor like him wouldn't even have a chance to do research, let alone gain a name for himself. I'd like to call it mutual benefit for each party."

"But what kind of drugs did he develop at that time?" Meng Renshu probed further. He felt that he could finally see the thin string that pieces everything together more clearly now.