A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

A shocked expression came over Old Man Bao’s face, but he very quickly regained his composure. “I don’t understand what you are talking about.”

“Don’t understand?” Li Lei laughed lightly. “Bao Renjiu… that’s the name you go by now? If you put the characters together, it reads ‘revenge.’ What deep grudge are you holding onto? Don’t be too keen to deny it, I’ve checked up on you, and while it was clean at first, I found out about your relationship with the Wang family when I dug a little deeper. What a pity for the once head of the family to be relegated to such a lowly position.”

Old Man Bao stared at him with animosity. “What do you want?”

Li Lei was right. He used to be the illustrious chairman of the Wang family corporation, Wang Jingzhou. His daughter, Wang Jingwan, who had passed away tragically, was Pei Ziheng’s unwed fiancee. It was this wedding that had brought destructive misfortune upon the Wang family.

Li Lei said, “I want to know what you said to Ye Xingling the other day.”

Old Man Bao gave a start. He did not expect this man in front of him to go to such great extents to expose his identity only to ask him this question. He narrowed his eyes as he examined Li Lei. “I have seen you before… Second Young Master Li. There was a year we both were on a luxurious yacht near the Canary Islands, and we have even fought… together. Second Young Master Li, you want to ask me a question, but do tell me, why do I have to answer you?”

“I’m right.” Li Lei said as he looked Old Man Bao up and down closely. The unkempt white-haired old man in front of him, skinny and filthy, was miles apart from the portly gentleman he had met on the yacht three years ago. He looked like he had aged 20 years. Perhaps he had even had plastic surgery done. If Li Lei had not investigated his identity, there was no way he would have recognized Wang Jingzhou in his current state.

“What do you want?” he asked Old Man Bao.

“Very simple.” Old Man Bao’s eyes lit up. “I will tell you what I told Ye Xingling, and you will help me keep my identity a secret.”

“Deal.” Li Lei agreed readily.

As such, Old Man Bao told Li Lei what he had told Xia Ling. After hearing what Old Man Bao had to say, Li Lei’s heart sank. If Xia Ling reacted so strongly to Old Man Bao’s reference to killing someone, did it mean James had been right, and she had indeed met with a death threat before?

“Why did you tell her this?” He stared at Old Man Bao with a grave expression.

Old Man Bao said, “That day, everyone had left, and I was the only one who stayed behind to organize the props. I saw her practicing the assassination scene in the big hall alone. From the back, she really resembled someone. It’s someone that you probably have heard of — Xia Ling. Xia Ling was murdered by a stab in the back on stage. Watching Ye Xingling practice made me think of the memories of the past, and I simply spoke subconsciously.”

“What? Xia Ling was stabbed to death?”

Old Man Bao sniggered. “Didn’t you know? The news spouted nonsense, saying that she lost her footing on stage. Xia Ling was murdered — she was stabbed through the heart from the back and pushed offstage. Puhha…” He laughed canonically. “… her head was split open, and brain matter was all over the floor. There was no worse way to die.”

“Why do you know this so well?”

“Why wouldn’t I know this well?” Old Man Bao’s voice became agitated. “I know it so well because the person that took the fall for the murder was my son! I don’t know which animal killed Xia Ling and framed my son! My poor son Wang Yu… before they shot him dead on the death row he was still shouting about how he had been wrongly accused, but no one would believe him! No one would believe him…”

Old Man Bao lowered his fraught with agony voice.

Li Lei did not know that Xia Ling’s death had such a backstory. He simply felt that Old Man Bao’s words were not pleasing to the ears. What did he mean by Xiao Ling looking like Xia Ling from the back? How could his Xiao Ling look anything like that lady that had died so young?

Did Pei Ziheng also think that Xiao Ling resembled Xia Ling, and as a result had been bothering her so much?

Li Lei frowned. “Tell me more about Xia Ling.”

Old Man Bao slowly began his story.

At first, when Wang Jingwan wanted to marry Pei Ziheng, Old Man Bao was against it. The Wang family Corporation was big and rich enough, and while it was definitely a good thing to be connected to the Pei family through marriage, there was no real need for them to. Rather than marrying up for the sake of business relations, Old Man Bao had wanted his daughter to be happy. However, if Wang Jingwan were to marry into the Pei family, she was destined to be unhappy.

Why?

That was because the first condition that Pei Ziheng had set down when he was negotiating the prenuptial with the Wang family was that they were not to touch Xia Ling under any circumstances.

It was clear as day that Pei Ziheng was protecting Xia Ling, and whenever he mentioned Xia Ling, there was a gentleness in his eyes that was enough to make anyone jealous. Everyone could tell what kind of relationship Pei Ziheng and Xia Ling had.

He had even left all of his assets to Xia Ling before his marriage.

Old Man Bao had advised his daughter to give up on Pei Ziheng, but she loved Pei Ziheng and was bent on marrying into the Pei Family, vowing to compete with Xia Ling for the top spot in Pei Ziheng’s heart. The young Wang Jingwan had naively and arrogantly thought that there was no way that she, the princess of the Wang family, would lose to a lowly, powerless orphan girl. She thought that once she was married to Pei Ziheng, she would be able to use her status as his wife to remove Xia Ling from the picture and become victorious.

She did not expect Xia Ling to argue with her.

And she did not expect that she would die at Xia Ling’s hands.

“Xia Ling killed my daughter,” said Old Man Bao through clenched teeth, his voice breaking a little. “She also indirectly killed my son…” His son Wang Yu was extremely close to his elder sister Wang Jingwan. After hearing about Wang Jingwan’s death, he had been furious and went around announcing that he was going to make Xia Ling pay with her life.

Pei Ziheng had isolated Xia Ling on an island with heavy security to protect her.

Everyone had thought that he had given her the cold shoulder and was preventing her from continuing on in the entertainment business. Only the Wang family knew that he just did not want to give them a chance to take revenge on her. The negotiations between Pei Ziheng and the Wang family went on and on — he offered them land in compensation, ignoring the pressures that he received from within and outside the company. For Xia Ling, the man that was known to be so overbearing was willing to put aside his pride and apologize to the Wang family, until the Wang family had promised not to do anything to Xia Ling.

It was only then that he had let Xia Ling out from the isolated island.

He had organized a grand ceremony to celebrate the tenth anniversary of her debut.

However, it was at that concert that trouble struck. The sudden blackout, and the unknown murderer that took Xia Ling’s life. After the incident, the police investigated the matter, and the biggest suspect turned out to be Wang Yu. All of the evidence pointed to him as if it had all been put nicely in place. There was no way that Wang Yu could wash it all clean, and he was ultimately sentenced to death by shooting.

Old Man Bao had delivered Wang Yu’s last meal.

Wang Yu had knelt before his father in tears, saying, “I really didn’t kill anyone! I’m innocent! Dad, help me get revenge on whoever did this to me!”

Old Man Bao was furious and devastated at the same time, and he vowed to take revenge for Wang Yu. However, before he could take any action, the storm of Pei Ziheng’s fury struck first.

Anyone that hurt Xia Ling needed to pay the price —

Pei Ziheng turned turtle on his humble attitude in his anger and used all the power he had with the Pei family name to get at the Wang family. It was not long before the Wang family was declared bankrupt, and many in the family either lost their minds or committed suicide. The remaining survivors tried looking for jobs to feed themselves, but even that was taken away from them by Pei Ziheng.

All the living souls from the Wang Family had to be made into beggars.

Pei Ziheng declared that as long as the Pei family was still around, the Wang family would never ever have the chance to make a comeback!