A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

Halfway through, she could not help but choke on her words.

However, he smiled faintly. “It’s quite good. You see, I don’t even have to handle official business now. I take a walk every day, look at albums—” He gestured toward the album in his hands. “A beautiful bird, you will like it too.”

She glanced over at it. “Yes, I like it a lot.”

At an angle where he could not see, she secretly wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes.

Wearing the sick gown, he looked as thin as a bone shelf, yet was still pretending that nothing happened. “I was preparing for the surgery recently, and the doctor said that I could have the surgery soon. I will get well soon. Xiao Ling, you don’t have to worry.”

She nodded, sitting with him for a while and smiling, not knowing how bad her acting skills were, how her fake smiles were uglier than her crying. Pei Ziheng could not bear to see it, and in turn, advised her. “Go back, we have plenty of time.”

Plenty… of time…?

These few words were like the most uncertain questions in the world, who knew if they could be realized?

She could not bear to go, and said, “Pei Ziheng, Pei Ziheng…” She murmured but did not know what to say.

Pei Ziheng smiled warmly and elegantly, reassuring her. “Don’t be sad, the baby in your belly is more important. How can I die? I still want to see your child be born, and call me his Godfather.”

She was teased by him and smiled. “Okay, once the child is born, he will recognize you as his Godfather.”

“Li Lei will probably be very angry?”

“He will definitely be angry, and then call the child to bring the riches back to his own house. You have to be careful, don’t let the Pei family be emptied by the little guy.” Xia Ling sniffed, and was silent for a while, before saying in a low tone, “You have to get better.”

He nodded. “I promise.”

Afraid that she would be upset and injure her body, he persuaded her a few more times until she finally left.

Looking at her disappearing figure at the corner of the corridor, Pei Ziheng held onto the door frame for balance. He bent down and started coughing violently. The doctor had said that his condition was not good—let alone to undergo surgery, even whether he would stay alive till his surgery was unknown. He slowly sat down on the ground, an unbearable aching pain coming from all over his body. It was a cancer pain that was unique to the last stage of cancer. He had already been enduring it for a long time in front of her and was finally unable to hold it in any longer. He pressed the emergency button immediately.

Xia Ling was headed down the other direction and did not hear the bell sound.

She returned to where she had parted from Li Lei, but could not see him.

She looked around everywhere, and when she could not find him, she stepped out of the hospital and was almost knocked down by a speeding car. Behind her, someone pulled her back. “You are looking for death!”

It was Chu Chen.

She took some effort to get out of her shocked state to recognize the person, and asked a little awkwardly, “He’s going to die, isn’t he?” One’s physical state could not lie, and Pei Ziheng’s body was already at its weakest point. The chances of him living were slim. She was not stupid. Even if he did not tell her, she could see it.

Chu Chen’s expression was ferocious. “If you were to die before he dies, I will kill your whole family! You can die as and when after he dies, nobody is going to stop you!”

Indeed, he was really dying…

Even Chu Chen, who was such a loyal dog, was saying something so depressing.

Xia Ling shook her head and stared at him, suddenly saying something sarcastic, “Chu Chen, if he was to die, what would you do? An emperor has a courtier. If it was Pei…” She paused for a moment, swallowing back Pei Xiu’s name. She was uncertain if Chu Chen knew about the matters of the next successor. She only said, “If it was changed to someone else, I’m afraid you won’t be able to gain power? You should just take good care of him and pray that he lives to a hundred years!”

It was Chu Chen’s turn to sneer. “What happens to me is not your place to worry about. And so is his life and death.”

All these years, he had witnessed just how his boss had loved the woman in front of him, even when he was ridden with a terminal illness he could not forget about her. Other than Imperial’s stocks that could not fall into the hands of outsiders, a huge part of the other assets were all taken up by this woman when he was consulting the lawyer to do his will.

This woman, however?

She even came to the hospital with Li Lei to see Boss!

He was afraid that Boss would see the figure standing at the corner of the corridor and that his condition would aggravate. Hence, he had devised a plan to lure Li Lei away. Looking at Xia Ling, he said, “Li Lei is not coming back anytime soon, he has urgent matters to attend to. Seeing that Boss cares so much for you, why don’t I send you home so that nothing happens to you midway and Boss need not worry.”

Xia Ling looked at him. “Where did Li Lei go?”

“I saw him on the way here, he was on the phone and was dealing with a little business at the headquarters.”

The business over at the headquarters was complicated, and something big must have happened, or he would not have left so urgently without informing her. Xia Ling was, however, unwilling to just leave with Chu Chen. “I’ve received your good intentions, but I’ll just call for the driver to come pick me up.”

Chu Chen shrugged and watched as she took her call.

She was just talking to the driver when, all of a sudden, she heard Li Lei’s voice sound from not far away. “Xiao Ling! You have to be careful—” He sounded anxious, and his face was full of worry.

She raised her head, saw him run over towards her, but could not react in time before she felt her body being pushed into a car. The car was stuffy, and a man laughed inside. “Hi, we meet again, my cute little rabbit… Or should I call you ‘sister-in-law’?”

… Li Feng.

It was Li Feng!

All of Xia Ling’s body hair stood on end. This pervert, was he not locked by Li Lei in the headquarter’s dungeons? There was even someone to deliver him three meals a day and medicine, and that medicine was supposed to turn even a highly intelligent elite into an idiot once taken for long!

Why did he look fine?!

“You must be very surprised, how did I manage to escape?” Li Feng’s laughter was cold and slippery, like a snake-like breath that was licking her in the darkness. “Xiao Lei looked down on me, that makes me so upset… Speaking of that, that medicine is so interesting, I gave it to the people who guarded the dungeon, and they actually became idiots, falling onto the floor and spewing white foam from their mouths. It was convenient for me to take my keys, so I did and walked out of there gloriously…”

His smile was disturbing yet charming. “My cute little rabbit… I heard that you’re pregnant with my dear brother’s baby again? I am so happy! This time, what game shall we play?”

His cold hands pressed onto her belly, causing her heart to rise to an inexpressible fear.

“Li Feng! Don’t! Don’t hurt the child!”

He smiled. “Hurt? What do you consider as hurt? I’m the child’s uncle, I will definitely treat it well… Let me think, what kind of games will make it happiest?”

Xia Ling only felt a moment of her chest tightening, and before she lost her consciousness, she grabbed tightly onto the wrist of Li Feng and said with her final strength, “Li Feng! If anything happens to the child, Li Lei and the Xia family will not forgive you!”