A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

Truth to be told, Xia Ling was not entirely happy with Li Lei allowing Er Mao over every day. However, given that this did not solely concerned her safety but also Li Lei’s, she could only keep mum and tolerate. Luckily, Er Mao was a very clever leopard, and seemed to know that she was afraid of him. Hence, every time he came over, he would stand at the entrance for a moment and warn her that he was there with a low growl.

His growl was gentle and did not have any semblance of a threat, completely different from the leopard she had first met.

After completing his patrol, he would crouch on the expensive tree in her lounge area to sleep, the green leaves camouflaging his spotted fur. There were many times that Xia Ling had not realized he was there until she would walk really close and then jump in shock. Other times, he would lie in the balcony in the sun, watching the fish in the stream with his tail wagging from side to side, lazy and relaxed.

Xia Ling could not help but wonder, for whom did Li Lei renovate the house to look like a forest for?

The good thing was that his range of movement appeared to be largely limited to these two spots.

Even if he wanted to patrol other areas, he would pick times when Xia Ling was not home to do it. Occasionally, Xia Ling would find light leopard paw prints in the kitchen and the carpet of the work room. As for the bedroom, he seemed to have passed by the entrance several times but never entered it.

This made her feel much safer.

The making of “Glass Fingertips” progressed very smoothly and, under the careful preparation of Sister Mai Na, the pre-release publicity was released without a hitch.

The headlines of the entertainment news reported that Wei Shaoyin was producing the debut song for a mysterious new singer. The report mentioned that gold-class music producer Wei Shaoyin was a perfectionist and picky beyond measure. In the many years that he had been in the industry he had never helped any singer make their debut song, as none of the singers before were able to meet his eye. Now, he had made an exception. Why was this?

When this new report was released, it caused quite a sensation. Many tried to guess who the lucky new singer was and if she had achieved the crazy standard of perfection that Wei Shaoyin looked for through her singing alone, or was there any hidden stories behind it all?

Following the initial article, information on the new singer was pried out slowly.

First, a photo of Xia Ling and Wei Shaoyin filming outside the city was released. Then, she had just finished filming a shot that required her to be in the water, and she was coming out of the pond completely drenched, her face white and lips turning purple from the cold. Wei Shaoyin was draping a towel that he had received from a staff member on the side over her, his tall stature leaning slightly forward with an expression of concern on his face.

The camera angle was well-chosen and Xia Ling looked frail but beautiful in the photo, her face looking like exquisite porcelain reflecting the sunlight. Water dripping down from the strands of her hair flowed down her neck and into the soaked white blouse, which was now translucent to the point that it was seductive. This last sentence was decided by Sister Mai Na, and the picture was also one that she had instructed to be candidly taken while they were filming.

She said, “Xiao Ling, I’ll bet you this photo will definitely make you popular. Do you believe me?”

Xia Ling said she believed her as every photo taken of her had caused a huge buzz. Sister Mai Na rolled her eyes at her.

Sister Mai Na continued saying, “Ah Wei, sacrifice yourself and let us use your popularity to create a buzz for a few days.” Ah Wei had looked at Xia Ling with hesitance, but finally relented under Sister Mai Na’s pressure tactics.

Xia Ling was not interested in using Wei Shaoyin to create news, but she left this to her manager to manage. However, she had forgotten one thing, she had forgotten to check how unscrupulous her new manager was. As a result, she was completely stunned and did not know how to react when she saw the the papers swimming with news saying that Wei Shaoyin and her were a couple.

Wei Shaoyin had been furious when he called to lecture her, “What idiot of a manager did you pick? Sister Mai Na is the queen of creating tabloids, didn’t you know? Why do you think I didn’t want to give her free rein? Do you know how scary scandals like these are?!”

In the end, it was Xia Ling who had to spend time to comfort him over the phone. After she had hung up, she recalled something. That bastard, when Sister Mai Na had suggested to use him to create a buzz he had clearly guessed what she was about to do, but he did not raise any objection… she was the one that had been fooled by him?! She was the victim?! He… he was now blaming her?!

In her anger, Xia Ling had almost returned his call to give him a piece of her mind. However, she held it in when she remembered that her debut song was still in his hands.

Forget it, she would control herself. Impulse was a demon.

New reports were released one after the other. Photos of him bringing her to attend the music extravaganza were dug out, and he specially picking her to participate in the group dance for the condolence song the previous year was also released.

There were all kinds of reactions to the news. Some said that she was using him to gain fame, others said it was true love, and yet others said that she could not match up to Wei Shaoyin… Luckily, Wei Shaoyin had many righteous fans who argued that he was innocent, and that he was simply favouring her for her musical talents.

Regardless, Xia Ling, now under the name of Ye Xingling, had become a household name yet again.

Sister Mai Na orchestrated it such that naturally many started to dig into Ye Xingling’s background. Ye Xingling was born into a normal family, had a nasty stepmother and a younger sister in a vegetative state. She was strong and independent, and had been very diligent in the training camp. Imperial Entertainment had once offered a high price to poach her for her talent but Skyart Entertainment had refused to let her go…

The news was written such that even Xia Ling herself felt rather moved.

The people anticipating her debut song became more and more. Everyone was keen to find out if she was truly talented or simply managed to gain the favour of Wei Shaoyin for other reasons. Even Imperial Entertainment had wanted her for themselves and had gone to Skyart Entertainment to make an offer?

This was such big news that even news of Xia Yu releasing her first solo album was pushed aside.

Regardless of her methods, from the result it was clear that Sister Mai Na was indeed a skilled manager. However, Wei Shaoyin had to tolerate the displeasure of being chased and surrounded by reporters for many days until he almost did not dare to leave the house.

Finally, “Glass Fingertips” was released as promised. Within the first week, it topped the new song chart and received great reviews from all around.

Even the most picky of critics had to admit that the delivery of the song, whether it was the melody or the lyrics, was of an extremely high quality. Voices that said she was using Wei Shaoyin to gain fame started to fade away, and many said that they were almost touched to tears by her voice. Very quickly she gained her first strong following of fans, and under the deft orchestration of Sister Mai Na, her official fan club was established.

Luo Luo sent her a postcard congratulating her on her debut.

Lu Tao, Lan Lan and some other classmates from the training camp sought favours from people around her to send her gifts.

This morning, Xia Ling got up to wash up as per normal, meaning to go to Wei Shaoyin’s studio. All of the sudden she heard the doorbell ring. When she opened the door, she found the head of security of the apartment dressed in a suit. He handed the nicely wrapped gift in his hands over to her, “Miss Ye, someone sent you flowers.”

Xia Ling had only found out after she had moved in that this entire apartment was Li Lei’s. The people living here were all his closest confidantes and subordinates, even the security guards downstairs were extraordinarily skilled and loyal to the Li family rather than to this residential area.

She thanked the head of the security and received the flowers.

It was a huge bouquet of beautiful blue orchids, the morning dew settling on the many layers of petals and the fragrance from the flowers luxuriant. Holding the flowers in her arms, they almost hid her slender frame completely.

She closed the door and sat back down on the sofa. She searched through the sea of petals and found a small card with difficulty. When she read the note, she flung it away as if she had been struck by lightning, her body curling away, like that big bouquet was the most terrifying poison on the planet.

The card read, “Xiao Ling, my butterfly, I’m waiting for you to come back to my side.”