A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

Her face spelled misery as she turned her head to the side, avoiding eye contact.

A trace of anger could be seen in Li Lei’s eyes as he clenched his fist. In an instant, however, he used the same hand to caress her face gently, cautiously turning her face towards him. “Xiao Ling, don’t be afraid. Open your mouth and let me take a look.”

She gazed at him helplessly. Under the flickering lights, his expression was so tender that it had a calming presence. Slowly, she gave in and opened her mouth.

He took a careful look at her throat. “Pei Ziheng’s a beast, he fed you medicine?”

She nodded her head, on the verge of tears.

“It’s alright, I’m here.” He calmly comforted her and reached for his cell phone to make a call. “Hello, James, go to the clinic at the Third Base immediately. Xia Ling was fed some muting formula and needs treatment.”

He hung up and bent down to her. “Let’s get out of here now.”

He got up and offered her a hand. Xia Ling gripped his hand firmly and attempted to stand before the pain in her foot struck again and she fell back down. Only after peering down did she realize that she had run out of the bedroom barefooted and had stepped onto a glass shard and the edges had cut into her sole, causing it to bleed.

Li Lei saw the same sight and bent over, lifting her leg to check on it.

She reflexively tensed her foot in pain the very moment he touched it, but in his warm, calloused hand, she gradually relaxed. “Bear with it and don’t move.” He meticulously picked out the glass shard in her foot as blood continually trickled down her sole and onto his hand.

After he was done removing the shard, he ripped a part of his t-shirt and bandaged her wound with the fabric.

In the dim glow of dusk, his lips were slightly pursed and his side profiled a handsome, vivid image as he worked on her foot with all his focus, as if she was his most cherished possession. The shattered full-length windows and the swaying chandeliers in the hallway were a separate world, tucked in a corner of the background along with the stairwell. Even the gunshots and the commotion from the scuffle were all a part of the distant background.

It was as if he and she were in a world of their own, just the two of them.

She looked at him in a daze and realized she was not as fearful and helpless anymore.

The pain in her foot was ebbing as Li Lei bent over and carried her. “Hold me tight.”

She felt a lightness in her being and instinctively held onto his side. As they moved along, she heard the wind brush against her cheeks, and occasionally the less pleasant sounds of shattering glass and exchange of fire…

She buried her face into his chest. Through his t-shirt, she could smell the faint blend of his sweat and tobacco, and feel the firmness of his chest and the regular pump of his heart. Beat after beat, it was steady and unshakeable.

Xia Ling slowly shut her eyes and went into a deep sleep.

Dawn approached and the sky was a clear white. Li Lei had carried her out of the danger zone, got into a bulletproof vehicle under the protection of his bodyguards and headed for the nearest stronghold. Third Base was one of his strongholds and, by the time they arrived, several medical professionals were already on standby with James as the head doctor, who walked up to Li Lei the moment he spotted him.

“What’s her situation now?” asked James.

With Xia Ling still in his arms, Li Lei made his way to the treatment room briskly. “She’s had a scare and is running a slight fever. Pei Ziheng seemed to have forced the muting medicine down her throat, but I’m not sure what formula it was. You have to reverse the effects.”

“I’ll do my best.” James and Li Lei settled her down in the treatment room and he began running checks on her.

Twelve hours later, night had fallen once again.

“It’s a very potent formula.” Against the shadowless lamp was James’ exhausted look. The whole day of treatment had fatigued him, “I’ve extracted a small sample from her throat to run tests in the lab. What I can confirm is that it is different from any of those sold in the market, there are several ingredients that I’m currently unclear about until the test results are out.”

“Can she be cured?” asked Li Lei.

“It’s hard to say.” James furrowed his brows. “I’ve operated on her and removed some of the toxins, but it has taken effect too fast, so this operation might not be too helpful in recovering her vocal cords fully. I’m guessing that Pei Ziheng didn’t use any of the common ones in the market and has specifically used this one so that she can never recover. There might be no cure to this.”

Li Lei’s face was terribly gloomy.

James and he had been friends for many years and been through trials and tribulations together. However tough the situation might have been, Li Lei had never lost his cool, calming and indolent presence. He was always confident, never before losing himself as he did now.

He was concerned. “Li Lei…”

“James, you have to cure her no matter how much it takes. Please.” Li Lei looked at James in all seriousness, uttering each and every word clearly. When he first met her, he thought it was merely a fling and his only intention was to keep her as his woman. But the way she rejected him outright and in anger had got him even more attracted to her, and from a point — he had no idea when — his feelings for her were no longer as simple, no longer a “fling.” When he saw her curled up on Pei Ziheng’s bed, vulnerable, and when she lost her smile and looked at him in desolation, he felt an ache in his heart.

He hated himself for not having protected her well.

“Send my command, everyone is to gather at Third Base.” Li Lei walked out of the treatment room and instructed coldly.

In the main hall where commands were usually handed down, his private assistant Su Tang looked up at him in shock. “Young Master?”

“Did you not hear me!” Li Lei growled as he glared fiercely at her.

He had always been friendly to Su Tang and had never been harsh to her. Today, he behaved abnormally and aggressively, venting his steam on her because of a girl in a coma. Su Tang felt a stab in her heart and bit her lip as she carried out his instructions.

“Everyone…” She tried to mask her dejection. “including Team Dragon and Team Shadow?”

“Everyone.”

Su Tang was astounded. Li Lei had countless underlings within and outside the country that he mobilized for each mission, but Team Dragon and Team Shadow had always been the trump cards that lay low in the country and which he had almost never revealed. In fact, this night was the very first time these top secret teams had been mobilized in the longest time.

She wanted to offer her two cents and tell him that it was not worth it for a woman. But seeing the anger written all over his face, she decided to swallow her words. “Alright, I’ll gather them.”

Third Base, the hall.

Team Dragon, Team Shadow and the rest of Li Lei’s special forces, bodyguards, elite intelligence officers, and assassins were gathered in the hall at attention, awaiting Li Lei’s command.

“I, Li Lei,” He swept his glance across the neat rows they had formed. “do not usually stir trouble. Since the day I returned and resumed my business, I have kept by the civil rules, leaving the triad life overseas. But because I’ve done that, some people have forgotten what the Li Family have always been in charge of! They’ve forgotten the kind of person Li Lei is!”

His voice was hard and cold, his expression menacing. “Some mindless moron actually dared touch my woman, on my territory! Since they have not abided by the legitimate rules of going about their business and insist on doing it the triad way, I shall let them see what the black triad really is! Team Dragon, Team Shadow and the rest of you here, before daybreak I want this entire city!”