A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

After their meal, Xia Ling volunteered to stay behind in the kitchen to help him clean up the mess. She primarily did not want to stay in the living room facing the leopard named Er Mao alone. Li Lei saw through her and said, “Don’t create more trouble here. Go rest in the guest room, it’s the second room on the left.”

She obediently went into the guest room, as if he had just saved her life.

The guest room was neat and spacious, with a thick and soft carpet spread out over the floor. An oak wine fridge contained a variety of expensive wines.

Xia Ling pulled open the closet and saw many unwrapped outfits hanging in it. The tailoring was professional and made of specially selected materials, and the tags on the outfits indicated that they were all pieces from internationally renowned luxury brands. None of these could be purchased by a normal person. Scanning quickly across, she found that there were many different sizes and ranged comprehensively from pajamas to jackets, clearly with close consideration and preparation for different guests.

The only unfortunate thing was that they were all male outfits.

Xia Ling frowned as she found this odd. Boss Li was handsome, rich and a Casanova. His playboy tendencies could be seen in his attempts to flirt with her… How could someone like him not prepare female outfits in the guest room?

She suspected that she had entered the wrong room and turned back to look for Big Boss Li. She asked, “Boss, do you have a guest room with female outfits?”

Li Lei was in the midst of cleaning up the mess in the kitchen. Under the dim yellow lights, he looked dashing and his tan, strong fingers were glimmering under the lights in accordance with his movements being covered by the white foam bubbles from the dishwashing liquid. On hearing her question, he turned his head to look at her and laughed, “Female outfits? I completely forgot to prepare that. I usually don’t invite female guests here. Wait a moment, I’ll get someone to send some outfits over.”

She hurriedly said, “No, it’s fine. I can wear the male outfits as well.” She was well aware of her current status — an insignificant trainee at the bottom of the company food chain — and the big boss had already graciously saved her and took her in. She was already enjoying free meals and lodging, she couldn’t possibly ask for more.

However, Li Lei said, “Just wait.”

A command that was not to be questioned.

He cleaned his hands on a white piece of cloth, took out his mobile phone and rang a number. “Su Tang, go buy some female outfits and bring them over. Yes, I’m in my place at Cheng Nan Apartments. It’s for a 17-year-old girl, and she needs bathrobes, pajamas, jackets… everything. Size?” He gave Xia Ling a once over and told the lady on the other end of the line a string of numbers. They were an accurate estimation of her height, weight, and measurements.

Xia Ling was speechless. She had underestimated the extent of Big Boss Li’s Casanova tendencies. There was no way he could so accurately estimate a girl’s measurements simply by looking unless he had a wealth of experience doing so.

Not long later, the doorbell rang.

Without waiting for Li Lei to open the door, the person came in on her own accord. Clearly, she was someone that Li Lei trusted and had the house key.

Xia Ling looked over and saw a graceful, pretty girl with long hair that reached down to her waist, which looked like smooth seaweed shimmering under the warm light of the crystal chandelier. She was wearing a lilac, silk embroidered long dress with a tasseled scarf draped over her shoulders. She had a silver bracelet on her wrist and was carrying many luxurious-looking shopping bags, leaving a trail of fragrance behind her as she walked.

She stopped in front of Li Lei and greeted him. “Young Master.”

Li Lei asked, “Did you manage to buy everything?”

The girl’s voice was pleasant as she replied, “Yes, I got everything. They’re right here.” She handed over all the shopping bags that must have cost quite a lot of money.

Li Lei took them from her and, in turn, passed them to Xia Ling, “Here, take your clothes.”

The bags were slightly heavy and had the pungency that brand new luxury items tended to have. Xia Ling was familiar with these items in her past life and thus did not feel shockingly pampered at receiving them. She politely said, “Thank you.”

Li Lei replied lazily, “Don’t mention it. It was my mistake for not being considerate and forgetting to prepare female outfits. If you are still lacking anything do tell me, or just inform Su Tang directly. She will make sure to get it for you.”

Xia Ling indicated that there was nothing that was lacking and turned to Su Tang to express her thanks.

Su Tang was well-mannered and only spoke with reverence to the Young Master that she knew after entering the room. She did not even give a glance to the guest in the house for fear that it might make her feel uncomfortable. She only lifted her eyes to look at Xia Ling upon hearing her word of thanks, smiling at Xia Ling politely.

Yet for some reason, Xia Ling felt that her smile was cold and insincere.

This graceful, elegant girl seemed to dislike her… As Xia Ling started to guess how she had managed to offend her, Li Lei commanded. “Alright, Su Tang, you can go back now.”

Su Tang did not leave immediately. She said to Li Lei, “Young Master, you mentioned yesterday that you wanted to eat ox-bone stew braised with tomatoes. I have already prepared the ingredients in the kitchen this morning, shall I prepare dinner for you now?” As she spoke, she glanced at Xia Ling and said, “I can prepare more for this miss here.” Her cooking abilities were outstanding and not inferior to that of her Young Master, most girls were unable to match up.

Su Tang had already made up her mind to show off her skills.

However, Li Lei said, “Ox-bone stew braised with tomatoes? Are you referring to the tomatoes that were in the fridge? I’ve already used them up.”

He glared at Xia Ling as he spoke. Xia Ling rubbed her nose in embarrassment. Alright, she would admit that she had wasted all the tomatoes. But all she did was peel them a little unevenly, he did not need to throw them all in the bin.

“We’ve just had dinner.” Li Lei told Su Tang. “You can go about your other business and needn’t be up here.”

It was Su Tang’s turn to be stunned. Since when did her Young Master cook together with another woman?! Even though her Young Master was skilled in the kitchen, he was lazy and had not touched the stove for several years. Dinner would usually be prepared by Su Tang. Why did he make an exception for this stranger?

What’s more…

She could not resist giving Xia Ling another once over, her gaze landing on the shopping bags in her hands. Young Master might be a playboy and had one date after another. However, he had never allowed a female to stay in this apartment. What was his deal today that he was allowing this little girl to stay here?

As she pondered, the coldness in Su Tang’s glare became more apparent.

Xia Ling’s mind was still on the wasted tomatoes and did not discover Su Tang’s animosity.

Even if Su Tang was really unhappy deep down, she could only display her elegance in front of Li Lei. She looked down as she composed herself, saying calmly as she gave a small bow to Li Lei, “Then, I’ll take my leave.”

She backed out of the apartment as she spoke.

Li Lei narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched Su Tang leave. Turning to Xia Ling who was still in a daze, he could not help but say, “That is what I call a woman.”

“What?” Xia Ling looked at him, confused.

Li Lei expressed his unhappiness. “You can’t even cook. What kind of woman are you?”

Xia Ling did not know how to respond.

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him. Xia Ling clenched her teeth together in frustration as she returned to the guest room. She then locked herself in the bathroom to take a shower.

As warm mist sprinkled out from the showerhead, she felt herself slowly relax. There had been too many things that happened today, especially the shocking encounter with Pei Ziheng, making her feel tired both physically and mentally. After her bath, she picked out a soft bathrobe from the clothes that Su Tang had brought for her. She changed into it and fell into the huge, fluffy down feather duvet. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Her conscious became fuzzy and she found herself surrounded by a heavy mist all around, no end in sight.

She was completely naked and, somehow, had returned to that giant cage. In the mist, she saw the majestic, white fence around her and she could not pry it open no matter how hard she tried…

Lowering her head, her ankles were shackled with a pure gold chain…