Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu

"Well…" Jian mumbled.

Leina hugged her boys and apologized. "I am sorry dear. I was wrong in how I handled this situation. Please, please forgive me!"

Aang mumbled. "I don't hate Mom too…So…rry…"

The young boy realized how hard it was to actually apologize as his face turned red.

Nana nodded in satisfaction. She shot an intense stare at Jian.

"Go ahead, young man. I think you need to say something too!"

"But I-I…"

Her eyes squinted further and Jian cleared his throat as he looked at his boys.

"Hey I will buy you whatever games you want!"

"That's a bribe, not an apology!"

She glared at Jinhai. "It's all your fault."

"..."

Jinhai, who was quietly observing the situation from a distance, didn't know why he was brought into the limelight.

"What did I do?"

"Your sense of communication with the boys was always like this! Even though I tried my best to be fair to all the children, you were always hard on them. And now they are being hard on their sons. Who is to account for this?" her cheeks puffed.

"I…" he couldn't defend himself so the only thing he did was to pass the blame.

"I didn't suffer anything different from Dad's hands."

Jing raised his arm. "I concur!"

Liu Hai gasped. "You two traitors! I raised you with so much love and heart!"

A hard smack landed on his head.

Liu Chunhua glowered. "What love and heart? You were horrible to them!"

He cried. "Ch-Chunhua dear…I-I was really a good father!"

She scoffed. "Telling lies will take you to hell, Hai."

Ai now silently appreciated Jun's behavior towards Ailun more and more. He was sweet to his boy as much as he adored Junxi. Even Jin loved all his nephews and niece equally.

Xing Bi didn't share the same sentiment towards her husband though and narrowed her eyes. "You know, I feel you tend to ignore Baihu a lot."

"..."

"You always want to play with Yina. Of course, that's important but what about your son?"

"I-I play with him too! I also lovingly change his diapers!"

"That's your responsibility to help me take care of him but what about spending quality time with him!"

Amidst the chaos, Aang happily hopped over to her side and offered her his bun.

"Take a bite, pastry aunt!" He shone.

Taio copied his brother and offered her his bigger slice. "My too!"

Ai sniffled. "This is so beautiful…"

Her brow twitched at her emotional reaction. Alix paused and somehow couldn't reject their offer. "..Thank you."

As she chewed on the bun, she wondered how she never thought that the treatment of the sons was such a deep-rooted problem in the Liu family.

Nian exclaimed. "Well then blame Grandpa who always treated us like cockroaches!"

"That accusation! I have always adored all my grandchildren. Fine, a little more towards Nuo but hey, I gifted you toys too!"

"..."

"Who cares about your toys! We just wanted some warmth…" he dramatically sniffled.

It was at this point that Jin chose to express his grievances too. "You are the last person to talk about warmth who always used the excuse of your age to rule on Bro and me with your tyranny!"

The twins glanced at each other and then at him. "Well, of course we would, right~ After all, you and Jun are our adorable younger brothers and as such, must always listen to your eldest brothers. The hierarchy is very important," they smirked.

Jin banged his palms. "See, this is the attitude I always hated about you!"

Nian pouted. "Lower your voice, younger brother, lest I shall be angry~"

"You stop this right here, lest I shall be angry," Alix snorted and blurted out before she knew it.

Everybody fell absolutely silent and stared at her.

Wait, did I speak that out loud? She wondered for a moment and then shrugged.

She observed everybody's confused expressions. "What?"

Liu Hai chirped. "That's the spark! The youngest daughter-in-law shall not bow down to anybody's tyranny hohoho!"

Alix blinked. "Youngest? Who's the youngest?"

Ai coughed. "He is talking about you."

"I'm not the youngest."

Seeing the question marks on top of their heads, she stared at them.

"You all do realize that I'm the oldest here, right? I mean, I'm twenty-five and thirty-five at the same time."

Jin's jaw dropped. The realization came to him and all the family members like lightning striking them.

The age gap between Jin and the twins was five years. Zhan Yahui, in her previous life, was seven years older than Jin - which also made her older than the twins. So it meant that Alix was twenty-five physically. But the soul that resided within her was of a woman who would've been thirty-five now had her body been alive.

Alix smiled. "So if age is the game you want to play here to set the hierarchy, then the twins should respect me a little bit more. And by that extension, him too," she pointed at Jin.

By that logic, of course, Xing Bi couldn't be forgotten, who was also older than the twins but as it turned out, Yahui was a few more months older than her too.

Her gaze fell on him, who was on the verge of tears. She grimaced. "Why are you crying?"

"I-Is this my salvation…?" His voice choked.

Jin couldn't believe it. The fact that Yahui was actually older than him had completely slipped his mind because everybody was too focused on Alix. Everybody only saw Alix. The fact of her previous soul's age, as a result, got jammed into some dusty corner.

Will I have a voice of my own now?

There was finally someone who could suppress the twins in this messed up sibling relationship and that happened to be the youngest but also the oldest daughter-in-law of the family. Xing Bi did support him but having his own wife on side was a different feeling altogether.

The corner of her lips twitched heavily.

Why so dramatic?

"I…am so happy…" he cried.

Ailun poked his leg and offered him his sweet treat. "Don't cry, Uncle!"

Nana burst into laughter. "Aiya, just look at the twins' faces. You two look like your royal throne has just been snatched."

The twins trembled and cried. "No, no, no! That's not how it's supposed to happen! We are supposed to be the oldest!"

She rolled her eyes. "Well now, time to accept the reality. You are under Alix's thumb now."

And since Alix was Jin's wife, it actually raised his status by leaps and bounds.

Jing sneered. "Good luck."

Why are they being so dramatic now? Alix grimaced again.

Jin wiped his eyes as he chomped on Ailun's treat. "Th-Thank you Alix…I will never forget this."

Not like I had any control over my age. I just happened to be the older one…

And that's how the curtain came to a close to Alix's very first breakfast with the Liu family, bringing in a new pecking order that successfully flipped Jin's and the twins' positions in one fell swoop.