A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

Pei Ziheng’s hand ran lightly over the cold grave tablet as he continued, “It’s Xia Yu. She has recently met with a troubling issue and is anxious to wash clean of the situation. In doing so, she pulled you down with her and told everyone that someone had said you ‘slept your way to the top’…”

“I was very shocked. She’s the younger sister that you adored and cared so much for, how could she do something like that to you? How can she allow you to become everyone’s dinner topic, and for everyone to judge you? Xiao Ling… perhaps I was wrong about her, and she does not love you the way you love her. What should I do with her? Should I punish her harshly for this? Will you feel heartbroken if I do that?”

“Xiao Ling…”

“Do you still remember that year when Xia Yu lost her temper at you for a small issue, and I told someone to lock her up in isolation? You fought so strongly against me that time and swore that if I dared touch your sister again, you would never speak to me again.”

“Xiao Ling…”

“If I don’t do anything to her this time can you come back.”

“Come back from heaven, back to my side…”

The rain became heavier and heavier, and the man in front of the grave tablet was drenched from head to toe.

Chu Chen finished smoking his cigarette and looked up to the sky. He took a black umbrella from the hands of one of the bodyguards, opened it, and walked into the rain. He came to the side of the grave tablet and silently stood behind Pei Ziheng, quietly sheltering Pei Ziheng from the rain.

“Boss, you have to take care of your health. Miss Xia will be sad to see you in this state from up in the heavens,” said Chu Chen.

Pei Ziheng remained half-kneeling in front of the grave tablet, not moving at all. As such, Chu Chen stood silently behind and accompanied him.

“Will she be sad?” Pei Ziheng asked softly after a long while. “She just wanted me dead.” In the last year when she was being imprisoned, she had cursed him countless times in the height of her despair.

Chu Chen sincerely said, “Miss Xia was just venting her frustrations like a child. She would say anything when angry. In actual fact, she loved you more than anybody else. If she didn’t care for you, she would not care to throw her temper at you.”

Pei Ziheng stood up slowly and said, “You’re right.”

He stared at the greenish stone grave tablet. “Xiao Ling, I’ll take my leave now. But I’ll come back to see you again. There are many things I need to do… I need to make all the old fogeys in the Pei family that are against me disappear so that there will not be any voices in the family criticizing me for not getting married. Then, I will pick a successor from the next generation in the Pei family to take over my position as the head of the household.”

“Xiao Ling, I regret agreeing to the Wang family engagement so much.”

“For you, I will never marry anyone in this life.”

Pei Ziheng finished saying all these in a low voice, before turning to leave.

Chu Chen followed closely behind, sheltering him from the rain with the umbrella. However, his heart was palpitating with excitement — oh my God, did he just hear some top secret information? Did he just hear about the shift in power in the Pei family for the next generation?

Chu Chen looked at the tall silhouette of the man in front of him, feeling utterly honored — Boss did not hide this top secret information from him; he was indeed a trusted aide. He swore to become doubly loyal and careful in his work in the future to repay the trust that Boss had put in him.

Everyone else said that Chu Chen was Pei Ziheng’s dog.

So what if he was a dog? He was the most impressive and useful dog.

The news about Pei Ziheng going to visit Xia Ling’s grave was like adding a drop of water to a pot full of oil — it was like pandemonium breaking out.

Countless people talked about this piece of news, discussing the meaning behind the white roses. Even those that had believed that Pei Ziheng and Xia Ling were innocent started to draw up suspicions about their real relationship.

Pei Ziheng did not respond to any of this.

He maintained his usual low-key manner and declined to comment on any of the suspicions and questions from the public.

Sister Mai Na said to Xia Ling, “Do you think he’s just letting all this go into his right ear and out from the left? Not possible. He would not be the domineering and overbearing Pei Ziheng if he did that.”

As Sister Mai Na deliberated, it was not long before the talk died down and there was no sign of this piece of news on any of the media channels and platforms.

Sister Mai Na was not surprised at all. She explained as she gulped down, instead of savoring, a cup of tea made from the excellent tea leaves in Xia Ling’s cupboard. “Pei Ziheng is someone that doesn’t like scandals. With such a big piece of news going out, it was to be expected that Imperial Entertainment would kill it. Don’t underestimate their power in the entertainment circle. No media agency would dare to offend them. What’s more, the Pei family would see it as a loss of face too. Even if Pei Ziheng didn’t do anything, the Pei family would intervene.”

The Pei family would lose face…

Xia Ling was a little taken aback at this statement. Even a bystander like Sister Mai Na thought that it was embarrassing for her to be together with Pei Ziheng?

Sister Mai Na petted Xia Ling on her head. “Are you dumb? The Pei family is a traditional and conservative wealthy family. How can such a family accept that the head of the family was going to marry an orphan? What’s more, Xia Ling was an actress from a poor background… Oh no, let me say that again… an actress that he had adopted. Wasn’t this akin to incest?”

As Sister Mai Na spoke, she lamented out loud. “What kind of messy relationship is this?”

Xia Ling did not know how to respond, feeling sheepish. Sister Mai Na thought about this for a moment before suddenly slapping her thigh and pulling out her mobile to make a call. “Hello? Is that Fusheng? I suddenly realized… Pei Ziheng and Xia Ling are like a Lolita story.”

Xia Ling was speechless. A gossipy female fan was a scary creature.

Xia Ling continued about her daily work in this queer and awkward atmosphere.

That day, Sister Mai Na accompanied her to the recording studio.

It was a pleasant and sunny day, and many people were walking by the entrance of the building where the recording studio was located.

The driver stopped the car to drop them off.

Xia Ling was wearing a pair of sunglasses as she followed Sister Mai Na up the marble steps. She turned to look behind her unintentionally and saw that the huge electronic billboard on the opposite building had changed — this time, the face that was shown was Luo Luo’s.

She was slightly stunned and stopped in her tracks.

“What’s wrong?” Sister Mai Na also turned back and looked in the same direction that Xia Ling was looking at.

“The newbie from Imperial Entertainment?” Sister Mai Na laughed. “Oh let me see… her debut song is being produced by Ling Ling. Not bad… that is the second best producer in Imperial Entertainment behind Feng Kun. Looks like a girl with good potential.”

She did not know that Luo Luo had transferred over to Imperial Entertainment from the Skyart Entertainment training camp. For someone of her level, it was reasonable not to know.

Xia Ling nodded. Luo Luo had always been a girl with great potential. When they were training together in the past, Luo Luo’s improvement had been extremely fast, and she had a great ability to understand what was being taught. Even if Imperial Entertainment was a harsh place, it was only a matter of time before Luo Luo debuted. However, it was unexpected that Luo Luo would make her debut at this time… The newbie that Imperial Entertainment was supposed to be pushing this year was Xia Yu, and they would be pushing for Xia Yu to win the Best Newcomer of the Year award. To debut Luo Luo as another new singer now would mean that they would have to split their attention and give her less support. This would be disadvantageous to Luo Luo.

Sister Mai Na looked over at Xia Ling’s expression. “Are you worried about her?” She laughed again. “You should be happy. This is Imperial Entertainment’s way of punishing Xia Yu. Otherwise, going by Imperial Entertainment’s usual style, they would not debut another new singer in at least a year after Xia Yu to avoid a clash of resources and unnecessary internal competition.”

“There’s still a long way before Xia Yu reaches the one year mark.”

“When Xia Ling had debuted before, the debut of the likes of Liu Jingyun and Hefeng was delayed for a full two years. Hefeng threatened to transfer, but Imperial Entertainment refused to allow him to, and instead paid him handsomely to compensate for the delay. It was only after two years when Xia Ling’s unwavering position in the industry had been established did Imperial Entertainment start to debut the other hidden talents in their training camp…”

The Hefeng and Liu Jingyun that she spoke about were A-listers in the industry now. Few would remember what they had to go through in the early stages of their careers.

Sister Mai Na said, “Imperial Entertainment has always been tolerant. Their objective of debuting a new singer now is not so simple, I think Xia Yu is in for a rough ride.”

The sound of clapping rang up from behind.

Xia Ling turned her head and saw a man dressed in a suit standing under the sun with a crocodile skin work bag in his hands. It was Chu Chen.