A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

“Promise you what?” asked Xia Ling without her guard up.

Li Lei’s request was simple enough. “Xiao Ling, too much has happened in these past few weeks. You have been working too hard and your throat has only just recovered; you need to take some time to recuperate. From today onwards, you’ll take a leave of absence and resume duties half a month later.”

Xia Ling was stunned. “Just this?”

“What else did you think I would suggest?”

Xia Ling was speechless. Was he even the Boss, why would anyone advise their employee to take a leave? “But, my song…” Ever since her debut, excluding the theme song “Meteor Wings,” she had only recorded one song in total. Wei Shaoyin had already gone berserk long ago, with tons of proposals piling up like a mountain. If she were to say to him that she was taking a leave, she could not promise that Ah Wei would not go crazy.

“Whatever song can be recorded anytime, but you only have one throat,” said Li Lei.

She appeared to be stuck in a dilemma.

“You also need some time to familiarize with the change in your voice, don’t you?” Li Lei added.

She thought about it and realized that what he said actually made sense. Thus, she hesitated no more and nodded.

From the next day onwards, she began to live her life like a pig, eating and sleeping repeatedly. Li Lei said to let her familiarize with her voice, but he sneakily locked the door of her workroom, leaving her to idle in her house every day, doing nothing other than sunbathing occasionally.

She was miserable and whiny as at times when she wanted to practice a song secretly, a self-invited guest would appear after a few sentences — Er Mao. That exquisite leopard still liked to visit and swagger around in her house from time to time. Ever since it saved her from Pei Ziheng, it somehow began to see her as its property, inspecting her house freely as if it was the emperor.

Xia Ling did not dare to provoke Uncle Er Mao, thus she could only endure its ways without protest.

Whenever she started to sing, Er Mao would definitely appear beside her, lying flat on its stomach on the floor mat with its eyes half closed and guarding her, appearing to be asleep. Initially, Xia Ling thought that it was really taking its afternoon nap, but then, she realized things were as they seemed to be. Every time Uncle Er Mao finished listening to her song, Li Lei would come back to nag at her about taking care about her body, cherishing her throat and not work so hard…

She then realized that this furry leopard could tell on her.

She was displeased, but there was no room for discussion with Li Lei regarding this matter. “James and the other experts have already said, your throat has yet to fully recover. It wasn’t easy to have sung ‘Meteor Wings’ previously, you need to sing in moderation.”

She felt wronged and replied, “But I’m really bored.”

As a result, Li Lei often would go to her house to keep her company when he had the time. He thought of everything, he cooked for her, chatted with her and even gave her presents.

It was then her turn to feel embarrassed, as she invariably felt that she owed him big.

“Don’t feel embarrassed,” said Li Lei straightforwardly. “Who asked you to be so thoughtless, always thinking of work, work, and more work. If not for me watching you, who knows if you would be really resting during your leave.”

He was strictly on his guard in terms of defending her from others, including slamming the door in that workaholic Wei Shaoyin’s face.

Wei Shaoyin lamented to her on WeChat, saying that his Big Boss was heartless and cold-blooded like an animal, hindering him from visiting his buddy singer. Even across a huge distance and a computer screen, she could feel his misery.

Xia Ling really felt like crying. She and Ah Wei were in the exact same situation. She typed to him via WeChat, Ah Wei, you should be content with your lot. A few days ago when he discovered we were discussing the new song behind his back, he almost confiscated my phone.

Ah Wei began to rage. How could he do that? Who exactly am I earning money for?!

Xia Ling silently typed, Your Boss said that even with just a day of not touching music, you would feel uncomfortable. Earning money etc, were all excuses.

Ah Wei choked and replied with a long row of angry emojis after a long while.

Xia Ling gave a bitter smile and shut down the computer.

She sat on the sofa with her legs bent. She clearly understood that ever since her work progress had been delayed, Ah Wei had become more anxious than her. He claimed that he would help her snag the annual Best New Artist Award in front of Sister Mai Na, and the music industry was similar to that of a battlefield — not a second could be wasted. He had worked incessantly to become her perfect assistant.

Ah Wei…

He appeared harsh and fierce, but in reality, he was the best person one could ask for.

Her lips were curled up tenderly, sipping her tea while sunbathing lazily. The tea was made from Old Master Gu’s Longjing tea leaves, every green leaf was beautiful and exquisite, slowly unfolding within the cup. The delicate fragrance spread across the air under the sunlight continuously, refreshing her mind.

Xia Ling’s mood lightened as the fragrance spread further.

She grew weary and sleepy, however, the doorbell rang unexpectedly.

Xia Ling dragged herself up from the sofa unwillingly and opened the door. It was Sister Mai Na. Sister Mai Na still had her claret-red bob hair and was wearing a professional suit of a similar color shade as though she was a hot and blazing flame. It was unknown where she came from, but she appeared to be in a rash and haste. She charged into the living room directly, sat down in Xia Ling’s seat and downed the half-cup of Longjing tea with one gulp. She then passed the cup over and said, “Add water.”

Xia Ling was cooperative and went to add water for her without complaining. Just as she held up the teapot, she said—

“Hey hey, that’s too hot, use the water dispenser.”

Xia Ling silently looked at the shriveled tea leaves in the cup, then silently turned towards the water dispenser. As she looked at Sister Mai Na downing the drink in big gulps, Xia Ling mulled it over seriously. Forget it, the tea leaves are for drinking purposes, this shouldn’t be considered wasteful… right? However, it’s still better not to tell Li Lei.

As Sister Mai Na finished her water and caught her breath, she lied on the sofa in satisfaction.

Xia Ling sat down next to her extremely carefully and was prepared to receive instructions. This lady usually never visited unless she needed something and, once she appeared, something must surely have happened.

As expected, she immediately said, “This time, Xia Yu is in deep trouble.”

Xia Ling looked at her with a confused expression. Previously Xia Yu had just embarrassed herself, that isn’t considered being in deep trouble?

Sister Mai Na shot her a side glance and asked, “What kind of expression is that? You didn’t watch the news these past few days?”

“I didn’t,” Xia Ling replied honestly.

Sister Mai Na held her forehead in her hands and said, “Seriously, you win.” Then, she suddenly flipped over and sat up straight. “Xiao Ling, do you remember that Boss had sent people to investigate the truth behind Xia Yu’s heart attack previously?”

“I remember.” Previously, she had indeed heard Sister Mai Na mentioning that matter.

“She likes to feign heart attacks, right? Boss had already investigated her and got the records regarding her operation many years ago. He found out that her illness had indeed recovered and that it wasn’t possible for her to have a relapse,” said Sister Mai Na as she laughed coldly.

“This set of records have been brought out by Boss’ men, including the complete medical records, operation report, discharge summary, and also many X-ray radiographs. Our internet trolls released and spread this information. With concrete evidence, chaos erupted over the past few days. People outside are all saying that Xia Yu is a liar, pretending to be fragile in order to gain sympathy and cheat her fans’ feelings.”

“Yesterday, when she came out of the television station after filming a show, her car got smashed by someone.”