A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

She waited painstakingly in the airport for him the whole week.

During that time, she would call his mobile periodically and, every time, Old Master Li would pick up and insult or berate her. He even sent her a video of Li Lei walking in the garden with Su Tang. “Xiao Lei doesn’t have time to bother about you right now! Go back to China to explain things to you? There’s nothing to explain… he has just done what most men would do… unsatisfied with what he had and cheating. He was just bewitched momentarily by your looks and was treating you well so you can be his mistress or second wife. A woman like you who is a jinx and barren can’t expect anything more than that!”

She was stunned to silence at his horrible words and stared blankly at the couple in the video.

In the video, the light from the setting sun shone on Su Tang’ts face, and she had a hand protectively over her abdomen, walking slowly alongside Li Lei. She smilingly asked Li Lei something and his reply appeared to make her even happier, as she laughed emphatically. While she was laughing, she suddenly tripped over something and looked like she was about to fall.

Li Lei quickly caught her and hugged her to him.

The two of them seemed to be in a shock and said something with Li Lei looking down at her abdomen in concern.

Xia Ling shut off the video.

There were many people passing by her in the arrival hall. The sun was sweltering, and in her fatigue, she felt a little dizzy.

Pei Ziheng said to her, “Let’s go back, Xiao Ling. He doesn’t appreciate you, but there are many others who do.”

She got onto his car and returned to the bungalow, locking herself in her room.

Pei Ziheng knocked on her door wanting to accompany her.

However, she said, “Let me be alone.” She locked herself in the bungalow for many days and nights, forgetting to have proper meals. The only thing she religiously did was to make sure that her mobile was charged to the fullest, and constantly worried that her phone was spoiled because it didn’t ring for extended periods of time, testing it time and again with the landline in the house.

Many days passed again.

She had reached the point where she had given up and accepted that Li Lei was not returning. Her heart felt like it was falling apart as if her life was being sapped from her bit by bit. She never felt him so far away before, even when the paragliding incident happened or when she was trapped with Pei Ziheng—her heart hurt then, but she always knew that Li Lei’s sunlight was shining upon her.

Yet, now she felt that her sunlight had disappeared.

Her sunlight was shining upon another woman.

She was numbed in despair.

She struggled to pull herself together, seeking distraction in surfing the web, where she saw netizens discussing the concert when she suddenly fainted onstage. Some accused her of being unprofessional, but many others showed concern over her circumstance. Many fans sent their regards to her in the Weibo comments.

Tears started falling freely down her face. So it wasn’t that everyone in the world had forgotten about her.

She showered and changed into a clean set of clothes. Putting on some light makeup, she headed out to Skyart Entertainment. She wanted to resolve the matter with the concert and inform Sister Mai Na and her team that she was fine. She needed to immerse herself in her work again.

Skyart Entertainment was bustling with activity as usual.

She walked towards Sister Mai Na’s office and many people that she passed by shot her weird glances. There were so many news articles about her recently that even the internal staff were wondering what was going on, let alone the netizens. Moreover, General Manager Tan Ying had issued a command…

Xia Ling was indifferent to all their glances and walked straight to Sister Mai Na’s office doorway.

She heard the sound of a heated argument inside.

It was Sister Mai Na shouting at someone. “You can’t do that to Xiao Ling! It was an accident that she fainted on stage, not that she was intentionally skipping out on her work. How can you cancel all of her schedules and work thereafter?!”

“Sister Mai Na, I understand how you feel.” Tan Ying responded calmly. “You have a close relationship with Ye Xingling. However, you need to think about the company’s operations. It’s not the first time that there have been issues with Ye Xingling’s events. I think the company needs to reassess her value and the possible risks and damages that she might bring if she continues activities under us. We need to reprioritize and put her behind Xie Linlang and the others.”

“Put her behind them? Then, what resources will be made available to her?” Sister Mai Na was furious. “Tan Ying, you’re picking on her unfairly and bringing your personal grudges into this! I know that Old Master Li doesn’t like Xiao Ling, and perhaps he has given you instructions to put her in cold storage. But don’t forget who the real boss of Skyart Entertainment is! If Li Lei returns and sees how you are treating Xiao Ling, what makes you think he will let you get away with it?!”

Tan Ying’s cold laugh could be heard from inside the office. “Sister Mai Na, don’t be so naive. Boss and Su Tang are a match made in heaven. How can Ye Xingling compare to her? Wake up! Su Tang is already pregnant with Boss’ child.”

Xia Ling could not bear listening to their conversation quietly outside the door any longer. She pushed open the door and entered the room.

Everyone turned their heads towards her.

There was Tan Ying, Sister Mai Na, and several senior executives.

Tan Ying frowned and piped up first. “Don’t you have any manners? How can you enter a senior managers’ meeting without knocking?”

Xia Ling ignored him as her gaze swept across everyone in the room. She asked, “What’s going on?”

Sister Mai Na stood up and said, “Xiao Ling, everything is fine. There’s just a little…”

“The rest of your world tour has been canceled.” Tan Ying interrupted. “We can’t waste the concert premises so I’ve arranged for Xie Linlang and Zi Yan to take your place. Your close-up interview with the broadcast station has also been canceled, as has the new advertisement gig, your VIP role for the music explosion panel… ” He rattled on as he flipped through the material in his hands. Finally, he said, “There’s a product event for a feet odor removal product in ten days. We are planning to send you to represent Skyart for that.”

Xia Ling understood immediately that all her good programs were being taken from her and replaced with less reputed ones.

She stared at Tan Ying coldly. “I came back to Skyart Entertainment not to endorse feet odor removal products.”

Tan Ying returned her steely gaze. “We all know why you returned to Skyart Entertainment. Ye Xingling, don’t be too naive. Do you think you can have all the best privileges under Boss’ protection? You’ve given us nothing but trouble in your activities thus far, and the company has suffered immense losses as a result. You should be thankful that you’re not being cold-storaged altogether.”

“Cold-storaged?” Xia Ling’s eyes narrowed.

Yes, she wasn’t the strongest mentally or the most intelligent in dealing with the incidents that were thrown at her. When she heard that Li Lei was with another woman, she was so distraught that she fainted onstage. However, this did not mean that she was a weakling. At least she wasn’t one when it came to her singing career that was her soul and life!

Tan Ying did not know that he had stepped on her pet peeve.

He continued to speak domineeringly. “As an artiste under Skyart, you have to follow our arrangements. Don’t think I won’t dare to put you in cold storage!”

“Tan Ying! Don’t be too much!” Sister Mai Na shouted at him before pulling at Xia Ling’s arm. “Xiao Ling, come with me. Let me explain to you what’s going on.” She wanted to pull the two of them apart and advice Xiao Ling. Otherwise, how would Xiao Ling be able to fight against the top management as a mere artiste?

However, Xia Ling said, “Sister Mai Na, let go of me.”

Her tone when she said this was different. It wasn’t weak or arrogant, it was calm and with a certain authority that made everyone catch their breaths in anticipation.

Sister Mai Na was stunned and released her arm.