A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

Xia Ling urged him to leave again.

Seeing that her body was no longer in grave danger and she only needed to stay in the hospital to rehabilitate, he did not insist on staying beside her. “If you promise not to take off that amulet anymore, I will leave.”

How long had it been? Why did he still care about that amulet?

Xia Ling wanted to send him away quickly, so she insincerely replied, “Okay.”

Li Lei looked at her seriously. “You can’t take it off even when you’re performing.”

After hearing that, Xia Ling refused to promise him anymore. “I can’t always wear it. I have to ensure that my accessories match my outfit.” This was a matter of principle. Being an artiste was like her second life, and she did not allow herself to have a slight flaw on stage, let alone wear mismatched accessories.

Li Lei furrowed his brows and lost his patience. “I will inform Sister Mai Na to choose your jobs more carefully. As long as they require you to take off the amulet, she will reject them all.”

Xia Ling looked at him coldly. What was he trying to do? Threaten her?!

“Li Lei, do you think you can act high and mighty just because you are the boss?” She sneered. “You’re interfering too much!”

“Then obediently wear it.”

“I refuse!”

Li Lei looked at her unusually red face which was due to her emotional state. “Just think about it again.” After saying that, he stood up and walked out of the ward. He did not want to continue arguing with her and hoped that she would make the correct decision after calming down.

Just as he reached the doorway, he heard Xia Ling’s voice. “Do you think that all the other entertainment companies in the world are dead and Skyart Entertainment is the only company left?”

He spun around. “What do you mean?”

Xia Ling was infuriated. Since she had mentioned it, she was not going to take it lying down. “Exactly what I just said. Li Lei, do you think that just because I have signed with Skyart Entertainment, I have to stay at Skyart Entertainment forever?! If you don’t give me jobs, I can leave the company and look for a new one!”

“You can try your luck.” Li Lei did not think that she would say something like that. He was so angered that he started to laugh. “I would like to see which company would dare to hire you.”

He slammed the door as he stormed out.

Xia Ling was so mad that she slammed her recovered fist violently onto a pillow.

He was right. She could not leave. She had just paid off her debt to Skyart Entertainment and depleted her savings to buy New Year’s gifts for Old Master Li and others. How would she get the money to buy out her contract? Furthermore, even if she left Skyart Entertainment, besides a giant competitor like Imperial Entertainment, no other entertainment company would dare to hire her.

However, she also could not go to Imperial Entertainment.

Thinking about it caused Xia Ling to become disheartened.

For the next weekdays, she had a cold war with Li Lei. No matter what he said, she would ignore him. Li Lei also did not have much to say to appease her. He would leave after observing her eat and her physical examination.

She recovered more day by day. Under the treatment of the best specialist he had spared no efforts to hire, her body regained its original beauty, and it was as if she had not been injured at all. The only flaw was the long scar that was created after the operation. It was wrapped in gauze and had not fully healed.

The “War and Death” team sent a few staff members to visit her and apologize to her.

She was in a bad mood, so she was impatient while socializing with them. Thus, they sat down only for a little while before leaving.

After about a month, she was finally discharged.

When she was discharged, she did not wait for Li Lei to send someone over and also did not go home. She immediately made her way to the recording studio to look for Ah Wei. As she had spent about a hundred days recovering from her injuries, she had halted the new song making progress for too long, so she needed to make up for it.

Besides, she also did not want to return to the apartment that was under Li Lei’s name.

Seeing that her wounds had healed, Ah Wei was very happy. After they had finished working, he took her to the small bar downstairs to celebrate her recovery with a bottle of champagne. The atmosphere of the bar was good, and many people in the entertainment industry frequented it. It was comfortable, intimate, and had a wide range of tasteful wines. Once they entered, they saw many people who often appeared on television. They greeted people whom they were acquainted with and things became more lively.

Xia Ling joked with them. Feeling that the champagne was insufficient, she opened another bottle of spirits and became drunk after a short time. Ah Wei was also half-drunk, but his eyes were very bright. If one did not engage in conversation with him, one would think he looked no different from when he was awake.

“Xiao Ling,” He said as he drank. “Who do you think is more impressive, Feng Kun or me?”

Dizzy, she replied without thinking. “Feng Kun.”

He was angry. “Nonsense!”

Slurring, her voice faltered as she spoke. “Ah Kun’s musicality may not be as good as yours, but as a businessman… he’s much better.”

He was still angry. “That’s rubbish!”

They bickered back and forth until the assistant Wei Wei interrupted them. “Sister Xiao Ling, it is quite late. Should we head back home?”

She stood up unsteadily and bid Ah Wei farewell. Wei Wei wanted to support her, but she pushed him away.

As she staggered outside, the cold wind blew on her face and slightly awoke her.

The chauffeur and bodyguard opened the car door for her. Suddenly, she remembered something and turned to give some instructions to Wei Wei. “Li Lei is an asshole. Help… Help me look for a new home. I want… to move out…”

After drinking, she spoke the truth and said a desire that she had buried in her heart for a long time.

When she returned to the apartment, Li Lei frowned when he saw her in a drunken state, but still reached out to help her.

She vaguely heard him asking Wei Wei a few questions and suddenly increased the strength of his grip around her hand.

“It hurts.” Xia Ling yelled incoherently. After a futile struggle, she increased her volume and screamed louder. “It hurts!”

He finally reduced his strength.

Xia Ling pushed him away in anger and stumbled up the stairs, almost falling down a few times along the way, and fumbled for some time before entering the toilet in her bedroom. She wanted to turn on the shower, but could not twist the knobs correctly after a few tries.

Even the shower was bullying her.

She continued to twist the knobs violently to no avail and started to pound them with her fists until the bathroom door opened. A person walked in and grabbed her hands.

“What are you doing?” It was Li Lei’s familiar voice. He had wrapped her into his arms.

“I can’t turn it on.” She felt a little wronged and continued to hit the knobs.

“You want to shower?” He restrained her hands. “Don’t move. Your hands are all red. Also, that’s a clothes hanger and not the way to turn on the shower. Xiao Ling, the shower knob is here.” He turned her body around to face another direction.

Without thinking, she reached out to twist the shower knob. Warm water instantly poured out and drenched both of them.

“You, leave. I want to shower…” She blabbered and pushed him away before trying to feel for the soap.

He did not leave. “You’re going to shower like that?”

She ignored him and started to cover her body with soap.

He snatched the soap away and turned off the shower. “I will help you take off your clothes.”

“Get out.” She stubbornly pushed him.