A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

Xia Ling watched as Xia Yu was taken away by the police.

The room was now empty except for Pei Ziheng, Xia Ling, and Li Lei, who was standing behind Xia Ling.

Pei Ziheng held onto the sofa for support, still maintaining the position where the police had restrained him. He was looking at Xia Ling with deep pain in his eyes.

She wasn’t responsible.

What confounded him to treat her so harshly in the past?

If he had believed her when she said “I didn’t do it”, or he didn’t whip, ****, and torture her… she wouldn’t have given up and admitted to such a crime, would she?

Then, they would have been so happy…

His heart clenched and he had trouble breathing.

The Pei Ziheng that Xia Ling was looking at appeared to have suddenly aged ten years, his deep sorrow almost making him unrecognizable. Wasn’t he always so strong and dominant? This man would never admit his mistake… What was this sorrowful expression for?

If life was left only at first impression…

But all that was in the past.

“Let’s go, Xiao Ling.” Li Lei spoke up as he gently took up her hand and led her out of the room.

She glanced over at Pei Ziheng one last time before she followed Li Lei into the car. After shutting the heavy car door, she suddenly felt fatigued, like she had just fought an intense battle and her body felt empty.

Li Lei asked, “Tired? I’ll give you a massage when we get home.”

Xia Ling said softly, “It’s alright. Send me back to the bungalow… I want to be alone.” Now that the truth was finally out, and her name was cleared, Xia Ling didn’t feel any joy but rather understood how terrifying the world could be. The heavens were playing a huge joke on her—the Sister that was so precious to her was her enemy, and the man that she had loved so dearly was now like a stranger.

Li Lei didn’t insist on staying with her. He sent her back to the bungalow and watched her enter the house.

He understood her need to be alone. He was an outsider and couldn’t help her face the pain and misery of what had happened in her past. She had to face all of that alone.

“I’ll head over to the film location to fetch Shaohui.” Li Lei told her helper. “Shaohui can stay at my place, I’ll take care of him for these few days. You take good care of Miss Ling.”

The helper nodded.

Li Lei left after leaving these instructions.

Xia Ling hugged the feather-filled pillow as she sat cross-legged leaning against the bedhead. The pillow was soft against her fair cheek, and her puppy dog eyes were half-open. It was hard to tell if she was thinking deeply about something or merely in a daze. The sun started to set, and soon, twinkling stars peppered the night sky.

Nanny Zhou came over and knocked on the door.

After a moment, the helper knocked on Xia Ling’s room door. “Miss, Nanny Zhou from Mr. Pei’s residence wants to see you.”

Nanny Zhou? Why was she here? Xia Ling put down the pillow and grabbed a random cardigan to put on, before following her helper downstairs to the living room to meet Nanny Zhou.

Nanny Zhou was rubbing her hands together uneasily. “Miss Ling, sorry to disturb you at this time of the night. I know that I’m acting out of place, but Mister has been out all day and hasn’t come back. I can’t reach him on the phone, and Mr. Chu can’t reach him, either. I’m really too worried and wanted to ask if you knew where he went?”

Nanny Zhou remembered that Pei Ziheng mentioned that he was going to meet Xia Ling in the morning.

Xia Ling had come home a long time ago, so what happened to Mister?

Xia Ling was mildly stunned. “He’s still not back yet? Perhaps he’s having a meeting somewhere and forgot the time. His phone would be in silent mode then.” This was not something that was unusual for Pei Ziheng.

However, Nanny Zhou said, “I’ve checked his schedule with his secretary. He has no meetings today. Everyone can’t find Mister anywhere. Miss Ling, you’re the only person that I can think of that can help. If you don’t know Mister’s whereabouts as well, I’ll just have to report his disappearance to the police after 24 hours. But who knows what can happen in such a long time?”

Nanny Zhou was so anxious that she was jumpy. Nothing can happen to Mister!

Xia Ling frowned. “Wait here. Let me call him.”

She took out her mobile and hesitated for a moment, but still dialed his familiar number. This was the number that Pei Ziheng had specially created for her. Nobody else knew about it.

The phone rang for a long time.

Just as she was about to give up, the line connected.

Pei Ziheng’s husky voice could be heard. “Xiao Ling, I’m alright.” It seemed like he had been crying.

She could hear that he was not in a good condition, and she worriedly asked, “Pei Ziheng, what’s up with you? Where are you now? Everyone is really worried about you!”

However, Pei Ziheng hung up and refused to answer the phone thereafter.

Nanny Zhou looked hopefully at her. “Miss Ling, did you manage to contact him? How is he?”

Xia Ling rubbed at her temples, feeling uneasy. So much had happened this afternoon, and even she, who had found Li Lei and was so blissful, had to spend some time alone to lick her wounds from the pains of the past. What about Pei Ziheng? All these years, he had been trying all he could to win her back. Today, he found out that he was the cause of the breakdown in their relationship. How could he deal with the regret and the desolation?

Xia Ling was worried that he would harm himself.

She asked Nanny Zhou, “Did you go look for him?”

Nanny Zhou told her, “Mr. Chu has already dispatched a bunch of men to look for him, but they couldn’t find him.”

Xia Ling was even more worried. Even though she didn’t love Pei Ziheng anymore, she didn’t want anything untoward to happen to him. Instinctively, she wanted to call Li Lei, and ask him to use the Li Family’s satellite tracking system to pinpoint Pei Ziheng’s location. However, she had brought up Li Lei’s contact before she retracted her finger.

She called Xia Moyan instead. “Brother, can you help me to pinpoint the location of this number…”

Xia Moyan gave her the coordinates of the number very quickly. It was a random location in the outskirts of the city—number 89 private residence, a private bungalow that Pei Ziheng rarely used.

Xia Ling knew the place. She drove out of the crowded city and reached the destination very quickly.

The deep red, retro-designed wooden door was vine-filled and quiet. There were two bodyguards standing in front of the door, and Xia Ling recognized them to be Pei Ziheng’s personal bodyguards.

They blocked Xia Ling from entering. “Boss instructed us to not allow anyone to disturb him even if the sky was falling.”

Xia Ling said, “Tell him that I’m here.”

Yet, the bodyguards refused to move. “It’s useless even if you are here, Miss Ling.” Just as Xia Ling recognized them, they also recognized her. Even though their tone was polite, they were firm in their stance.

Xia Ling felt her heart drop. In the past, no matter how critical the matter he was handling was, she always enjoyed special treatment and could meet Pei Ziheng as she wished. And now? Knowing Pei Ziheng, it was unlikely that he would retract her special privileges. Hence, the only possibility was that he didn’t want to see anyone. Even her.

She anxiously ran up to the door and started slapping her palm on the wood. “Pei Ziheng! Pei Ziheng, open up!”