A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

Li Lei was silent.

But his deep eyes told her that it was because he was indebted to her, so he couldn’t bear to.

“You couldn’t bear to, right… Hahaha.” Su Tang laughed while crying. She reached out her fragile, thin hands and pointed straight at him. “Li Lei, you too have times when you can’t bear to do something?! Why don’t you just kill me directly! Come, kill me!” She shouted, throwing herself at him, pulling his arms and hitting herself with them. “Kill me, kill me! Kill me!”

He easily caught her arms and stared silently at her. He waited till she was exhausted from crying and had collapsed onto the muddy cold floor. Su Tang covered her face and cried hopelessly. “You won’t even kill me…”

Li Lei finally opened his mouth. “Kill? You will forever be a loser if you die here. Why don’t you live on, perhaps then you could turn over the flow of your life—that is the Su Tang I know.”

Turn over?

He had said—turn over?!

Su Tang quickly raised her head, seeming to have forgotten about crying. She stared at him dead in the eyes and asked hurriedly, “Will you love me? Will you love me in the future?”

“No.” The only reply she got was, however, a harsh denial.

“Then why are you talking about turning over?”

“Perhaps you could fall in love with someone else, someone better than me, and thus take revenge on me.”

Hearing that, Su Tang burst out into crazed laughter. She laughed so hard that tears fell. This man still did not understand her. How could she fall in love with anyone else? “Li Lei, just tell me.” She glared at him spitefully. “What is your real motive in coming here? It isn’t to see me, is it?”

Li Lei had not wanted to come see her. His heart was indeed upset to see someone he had fought alongside with end up in this state. However, the things that Xia Ling had told him about yesterday night had reminded him—since certain things were already done, why not do them with a little insurance.

“When Xiao Ling was here yesterday, you gave her a suggestion but was rejected by her. I’ve come because I hope you can carry out that suggestion. In return, I will give you the best care possible in the few days before you enter X Prison,” Li Lei said. He had already heard from his subordinate that Xiao Ling had not given Su Tang food yesterday. Looking at the frail and starving Su Tang, he was slightly emotional—how had things come to this?

Su Tang was shocked. The clever her understood his intention immediately. “You want Xiao Rui to hate me so that he can devote himself completely to Ye Xingling! Li Lei, you are so cruel to me! Li Rui is my son!”

“He was not your son from the moment you tried to kill him.” Li Lei’s voice turned cold. It was true, he wanted Li Rui to see the true colors of his birth mother. So what if the child was to suffer? That was better than him backstabbing them and retaliating even after Xiao Ling raised him painstakingly!

In the face of certain things, Li Lei was cold-hearted.

He did not dote on the child as much as Xia Ling. Instead, for Xia Ling’s safety, he was more than willing to hurt the child and cut off all his thoughts on his birth mother!

Since Xia Ling had raised Li Rui, then he should see her as his mother!

Li Lei stared at Su Tang unquestioningly. “Tell Xiao Rui the truth about you trying to kill him.”

“What if I don’t?” Su Tang was not satisfied. How could he be so good to that wretch?!

“Then you’ll enter X Prison with an empty stomach,” Li Lei said. “You must have heard much about the prison from me. What happens to those who are unfit… you must be clear.”

Su Tang’s body trembled at the thought.

Of course, she was clear. If she was to go in that state, even death would be considered lucky!

She stared at Li Lei. In his calm and innocent eyes, she could not see any room to change his decision. Finally, she gritted her teeth and said, “Fine. I promise you. But you have to promise me something too.”

Li Lei raised his eyebrow.

Su Tang pleaded softly. “Young master… Give me a picture of you and let me bring it to the prison.” That would be the only form of support to her in the future long, slow and dark times.

Li Lei was surprised. He had not thought this would be the condition. His heart ached. How had such a capable side-kick of his turned into this state? He nodded. “Yes, I’ll get someone to deliver it today.”

“Thank you,” she said softly.

There was no more to say between the two of them. Li Lei opened the door and left.

That night, he brought Li Rui over and entered the room next to the imprisonment room as planned. Through the room’s one-way glass window, he could see clearly what was going on in the imprisonment room, yet that room was unable to see through the glass window.

Li Rui looked at his mother and grabbed onto Li Lei’s hand in nervousness.

Li Lei lowered his head to look at him. His voice was gentle as he said, “Scared?”

Li Rui shook his head, then nodded. He hid his body behind him before saying, “I”m afraid she’ll hit me again.”

“She can’t see you, she doesn’t know you’re here.” Li Lei reassured the child before finding him a stool to sit on. The things that he was going to hear next would develop into an incurable psychological damage to him, but there was no perfect solution in this world.

“Xiao Rui,” Li Lei said gently yet sternly. “You are a man, and you have to be brave. Some things might be very cruel, but a man can only grow from that, understand?”

The child nodded as though he understood.

Li Lei heaved a sigh of relief in his heart before sitting down next to him.

He held onto the child’s hand tightly as if giving him strength.

In the imprisonment room, an interrogator went in and conversed with Su Tang, letting her tell the truth.

Li Rui could hear everything clearly from the other room. He widened his eyes in disbelief. What… Was it not enough that his mother had tried to hit him to death? This time, she was even going to kill him and Brother Hui, and even Mother Ling?!

The child’s heart trembled, and his face was soon covered with his tears.

After a while, the interrogation finally ended.

After hearing the truth, Li Rui’s hands and feet were ice-cold. He was so upset he could not speak.

Li Lei took off his jacket and wrapped the child in it before carrying him into the car. Inside the car, the air conditioner was warm as summer, and it let out a low rhythmic rum. The driver manipulated the steering wheel and drove into the streets of the city, letting the child come back to his senses little by little.

“She’s not my mother…” He whimpered.

Li Lei held onto him. “She only gave birth to you to try and make use of you to garner Father’s affection. She never truly loved you. But it’s okay, Xiao Rui. I and Mother Ling love you, and we dote on you as if you were our own son. You will have a very very good mother, so good that other kids would be jealous.”

The child was silent for a long time.

They stopped in front of the house and he finally said softly, “Mother will not hurt me. I only have one mother.”

In an angle where he could be seen, Li Lei smiled. He reached out his hand to wipe away the child’s tears. “Yes, you only have one mother. Stop crying now, and don’t tell mother about where you’ve been today or she’ll be sad.”