A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

Xia Ling was there to apologize, but now she simply could not utter anything.

Li Lei waited for a while. Seeing that she was not saying anything, he asked, “Is anything the matter?” He felt like he held himself cheap. He was the one that was hit but ended up being the one to initiate conversation. All his life, was there even anyone who did not treat him like a gem? It was truly strange, no matter how this woman made things difficult for him, he simply could not bear to see her leave.

Li Lei looked awful and angry at himself.

Xia Ling was a little frightened by his expression and paused for a while before saying, “Well… I apologize. I shouldn’t have hit you.” Her voice was soft, not daring to even look up at him.

Li Lei did not respond for a long while.

She looked up, slightly apprehensively, and saw that he was looking at her with an expression she could not comprehend.

She thought he had not heard her the first time and tried again. “I’m sorry?”

“That’s it?” He spoke calmly.

“Huh?”

“That’s too insincere.” He said curtly before closing the door.

Outside his door, Xia Ling was stunned at what just happened. What was with Big Boss? She had apologized, and he was still unhappy? She never saw him as a petty person, but now she wondered… But this time it was indeed her fault, offering a simple apology for hitting someone on the face was a slipshod move.

Xia Ling went back to her apartment and tossed on her bed the whole night, wondering what she could do to appease him.

What she did not know was that Li Lei’s expression changed the moment he shut his door. On his face was a look of bliss, sadness, and some grievances… too many different emotions altogether. There was so much going on that he could not hold his cold expression before her for another second.

He had done so much for her.

And she knew nothing about them.

He had shouldered all of the pain, anxiety, and obstacles on his own, but she did not understand them. To him, being a man meant not having to share these problems with a woman, but her misunderstanding of him got increasingly serious, and today she had slapped him. He felt that he was willing to bear it, that he could understand her panic and accept it the same way somebody would find a rose pretty even after being pricked by it.

He knew that she could hurt him the very moment he fell for her.

But today, she finally understood his pain and uttered the words “I’m sorry.”

At that moment, his mask had fallen, and he could no longer keep up his image. He turned away simply because he was afraid she would see his vulnerability.

He was truly happy.

Xia Ling tossed and turned, unable to come up with a good way to apologize to him. Besides saying she was sorry, what else could she do? He was better than her at treating wounds, at preparing meals, at saying sweet nothings. He also had more money to get little gifts and items she could not afford… Surely she could not sing to him?

Xia Ling was caught in a fix.

In the morning, she washed up as usual, but Li Lei did not come over to pick her. Xia Ling waited for a bit since she was not in a position to hurry him. With that, her plan to ease the situation on the way to the office had failed.

She got into the car alone and had the chauffeur take her to the recording studio.

What good idea could she get out of the recording studio? There was only Ah Wei around, and he was the type to scold others without ever apologizing to them… If she told him “Ah Wei, I scolded somebody wrongly and want to apologize” he would laugh at her and then criticize her for even having that thought.

Xia Ling had no other ideas. Sister Mai Na was out with another celebrity, and Wei Wei was too young for this, she had no one to turn to for ideas. She sat in the back of the car and thought for a while as the car drove by a huge advertisement banner.

It was… Imperial Entertainment’s huge logo.

Xia Ling had an idea and asked for the chauffeur to make a turn. “Old Chen, hold on… turn around!”

While giving directions, she made a call to Feng Kun and asked to meet him at the city center.

It was a quiet tatami room at a teahouse.

Xia Ling sat with her legs crossed as she sat opposite Feng Kun.

Feng Kun filled a cup of tea for her and spoke gently, “So, you stood Ah Wei up at work and came to look for me?”

She nodded.

“Ah Wei will kill you.” Feng Kun smiled.

“If I don’t apologize properly, Li Lei will be killing me instead.” Xia Ling was troubled. “Ah Kun, only you can save me now. You’re nice and smart, can you think of a way to appease Li Lei?”

“You’re very concerned about him?” Feng Kun asked.

“That’s not true!” She denied at once. “But I was the one at fault, so I should be apologizing.”

This little girl was never good at concealing her emotions. Feng Kun looked at her and simply did not believe that she was not the least bit moved by Li Lei. Otherwise, given her character, she would not even admit her mistakes, much less apologize for them.

He probed. “So you detest him? Otherwise, why else would you call him and his pet beasts?”

“I…” Xia Ling was at a loss for words. “Alright, I do detest him a little. No, I’m… afraid. Ah Kun, I want to move away from him, but he wouldn’t let me. Don’t you think he’s very similar to Pei Ziheng in this aspect? How could I be with someone like this? They’re all beasts.”

“Well, tell me then, in what other ways are they similar?”

Xia Ling looked down at her cup of tea. “They’re good to me, they accompany and send me from place to place, they get me gifts on special occasions, they’re thoughtful and protect me in front of others, but I have to act according to their wishes. The moment I mention moving away… escaping from his control, he would lose it.” She remembered the day Li Lei cornered her and bit her, he was acting like a beast.

How much hurt had been inflicted in the name of love?

Xia Ling looked back up. “Ah Kun, there’s no use in him treating me well. Everything that Li Lei has done for me had already been done by another man in my previous life. Back then, I loved Pei Ziheng so much and thought he meant everything to me, but what happened? Whenever I look at Li Lei now, I can imagine how it’d be like to live with him in future — our happy days will be short-lived and replaced by arguments and eventually a tragic end… Ah Kun, I don’t want it to be that way anymore.”

Feng Kun swirled the tea in his cup. “Is there not a bit of difference at all? Li Lei and Pei Ziheng are two different people after all. Is there anything that Pei Ziheng had never done for you, but Li Lei has?”