A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

He received the microphone from the emcee and looked toward Xia Ling. “Sing well, live well.”

The underlying meaning was deep.

Speculations and discussions began on the floor. Everybody understood the part about singing well, but what was it about living well? Was Ye Xingling involved in something shameful, something so major that a superstar had to mention it?

Xia Ling read between the lines, and rage rose inside her.

It was deliberate! His intention was for them to misunderstand her, he wanted her reputation to be further tainted.

Xia Ling was never one to appear weak in front of the public. She smiled and tilted her head as if she never picked up the deeper meaning in Zheng Chenhao’s words. She simply replied, “Thank you. You too, live well.”

Zheng Chenhao was fuming. How dare this little celebrity to lecture him like this! She was still a nobody when he made his name! Zheng Chenhao was way angrier than he appeared to be but decided that saying any more would do him no good. Instead, he shot her a glare when no one was looking.

Xia Ling kept her smile on, unwavering.

The awards ceremony was a warzone of implicit sarcasm that celebrities had to keep their guards on over.

When she got off the stage, her assistant Wei Wei came up to her. “Sister Xiao Ling, you must be tired. Here, have some water. Those people were too much, don’t bother about them. You’re way better than they make you out to be!” Ever since Xia Ling had let Wei Wei leave first during the encounter with Li Feng, this assistant had become a die-hard fan of Xia Ling, defending her in every way possible.

Xia Ling smiled. “It’s fine.”

She was upset about it, but what good did it do to share this negativity with the team? Moreover, there was nothing much that an assistant could do in such a scenario. She comforted Wei Wei and walked towards the car.

Only when she entered the car did she realize that there was someone else inside — Li Lei, Big Boss Li.

She was surprised. “What are you doing here?” Ever since their breakup, Li Lei was rarely seen with her. He usually assigned tasks to the bodyguards instead. But, why was he here today?

Li Lei was sitting in the back of the car, where the light that shone through the tint of the window flattered his side profile. His eyes were quiet that day. “I’m taking you to the temple. Remove your makeup.”

She did not resist anything he said now. She felt like she was living in a big cage, where there were certain areas in which she could throw her tantrums the way she did with Li Lei in the past. However, that was only because it did not cross the line, so he took it lightly.

However, once it crossed the boundary in the cage, like the day she moved out, she would be subjected to repression.

The same way it was with Pei Ziheng.

Since it was futile, why attempt to resist?

She was used to getting along with an authoritarian from her experience with Pei Ziheng in her last life. Hence, all she did was ask, “Why the sudden thought of going to the temple?” She then got a few of the appointed people to prepare the necessary items for removing her makeup.

Seeing that she was obedient and cooperative, Li Lei felt a strange sense of frustration. She was acting like a young beast who kept her claws because she was no longer interested in something that once appealed to her. Was she so nonchalant about it because she no longer had any attachment?

He suppressed his unhappiness. “Our operations haven’t been running very smoothly recently. I’m going there to pray for the ill luck to cease.”

She gave a disinterested nod and carefully wiped her face with the lotion as if that simple movement was more important than his words.

Li Lei was even more annoyed now, but his rage was not acting up. He then thought about the day he forced a kiss on her and scared her, and how her attitude toward him had changed only after that day.

He was too anxious that day, not knowing what he had to do to keep her.

After that, he told himself never to scare her a second time.

But by the look of things, those words to himself were not so useful after all.

After removing her makeup, Xia Ling rinsed her face with some water and saw a pile of clothes nearby. It was a brand new sweater, a beautiful feminine cut in her favorite pastel shade. She then looked down at the outfit she was in — a classy gown — and realized it was not the most appropriate dressing for a temple visit.

“It’s for you.” Li Lei signaled for her to remove the tag on the sweater.

“I’m changing here?” She did not move.

“We’ve already slept together, why does it matter?” Li Lei understood what she was trying to say and got even angrier. He simply sat there and looked at her. In the dim light, the gown hugged her figure beautifully, revealing her fair shoulders and the butterfly-like structure of her back. Watching her was enough to arouse him.

Xia Ling bit her lip.

It was quiet in the car, the chauffeur and others were not around. The doors were locked, and they were the only people in the car.

But that did not mean that she could change clothes in front of him. So what if they had slept together? It was by no means her choice! She barely had any memory of what happened, except for the pain in her body that came after.

There were things that she could give in to him.

But there were some things that she would not tolerate.

“Can you go out?” She tried to use her best tone to negotiate.

Li Lei did not say a word. He just looked at her, suppressing her silently. If Pei Ziheng was the one sitting in the car instead, would she have said the same? The thought emerged like a poisonous snake, and she could not take her mind off it. “I’m right here.”

Xia Ling did not want to say anymore. She knew that when it came to big figures like him, her willpower was the most crucial.

But she was genuinely afraid; changing in front of a man was a shameful thing for her. Meanwhile, he just sat there in his prim and proper shirt, watching her silently.

Xia Ling recalled the year she was imprisoned, there were too many insulting moments.

She slowly grabbed the sweater and put her head through it, using it to cover her shoulders and some of the gown, but she did not proceed beyond that. The sweater was short and stopped only at her waist. For the bottom half, he prepared fitting pants for her, but it was unable to fit inside the mermaid-cut gown.

If she wanted to put on the pants, she had first to remove the gown. She held the pants in her hands and looked at him with a trace of a plea, hoping that he would give in and get off the car.

But he sat there, not budging an inch. Eventually, he got impatient. “Hurry up, we don’t have the time.”

“You get out.” She finally repeated herself.

Her unwillingness to give in was written all over her face. There was no way out, this was her final struggle.