A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

Actually, it wasn’t that Xia Yu’s voice was unpleasant.

Her voice was simply not one that stood out particularly, but it wasn’t bad. If she was able to harness it properly, she would still gather quite a following of fans. The bad thing was that her opponent this time was Xia Ling. Getting onstage as the audience was still reveling in Xia Ling’s angel-like voice, the comparison was just too stark, oh no, it was courting death…

Who else would the audience criticize but her?

“This is horrible. How dare she compete with our Xiao Ling with a voice like that?!” One of Ye Xingling’s loyal fans remarked.

Those that were waving the lightsticks around in the audience started to get fewer and fewer until only a few of Xia Yu’s loyal fans were left diligently waving their lightsticks. Onstage, Xia Yu realized that things were not going well. She had no better plan other than to try her best to sing the song well, but she could not regain the favor of the audience.

Backstage.

Sister Mai Na poured out a glass of warm water and passed it to Xia Ling. “Xiao Ling, you’ve won for sure.”

Xia Ling accepted the glass as she affirmed her statement with a simple, “Mmhmm.” She lowered her head to drink the water, which had a little honey stirred in, making it sweet and refreshing and particularly suitable for her fragile throat that was recovering from her poisoning incident.

Sister Mai Na said, “Have a rest, we can leave whenever.”

“Hmm?” Xia Ling raised her head and looked at Sister Mai Na with a confused expression. “After Xia Yu has finished singing, the emcee will announce the final result of the competition. I still need to be present for that, right?”

Sister Mai Na laughed. “There won’t be a final segment.”

Xia Ling was utterly confused. This wasn’t scientific and did not follow the usual rundown for a competition.

Sister Mai Na did not explain further and just said, “Just follow me. I will bring you to watch a good show.”

Seeing that she was being mysterious, Xia Ling blinked and finished the honey water in her glass with one big gulp. She then got up and left with Sister Mai Na. They navigated the maze-like terrain of the stadium and emerged at the carpark.

In the quiet carpark, there was a discrete black Audi.

Sister Mai Na pulled open the door and told Xia Ling, “Get in.”

There was still a little bit of confusion in Xia Ling’s mind. Why weren’t they taking the Lincoln limousine that they had arrived in? She obediently slid into the back seat of the Audi as she pondered.

“Hi, Xiao Ling.” An attractive voice rang out all of a sudden.

Xia Ling turned her head and saw that there was another person in the car — Li Lei. He was now lazily leaning against the back of the seat and looking intently at her with his mesmerizing eyes.

This situation took her by surprise.

Although she had suspected that Li Lei was watching the live-stream or had come to watch directly at the stadium when she saw the police appear to take away the man that had framed her, she had thought that he would be in the audience or in an exclusive VIP room. She did not expect that he would appear in person here in a small, discrete car.

“Are you really happy to see me?” He smiled radiantly.

Xia Ling was speechless. Why was this Big Boss acting all cute as a kid in front of her again? “Why did you come?” She asked out loud.

“You don’t welcome me here?” His face fell immediately, looking forlorn and disappointed.

Stop acting, Boss . Xia Ling rolled her eyes in her head, but her lips curled into a smile. “You’re welcome, of course. Thanks for being such a big help.” He had gotten the Gu Financial Magnate to choose her as their model, and also got the police to appear earlier.

Li Lei was not satisfied. “You’re just going to thank me for helping you?”

Xia Ling glared at him and asked, “What else do you want?”

“I want… ” He became happy again and reached behind him to get something. “This is for you.”

Xia Ling stared in surprise at the huge bouquet of flowers that appeared in her lap. It was a bouquet of luxuriously perfumed lilies with clear dew drops threatening to fall on each of its pink flower petals. “You… ” She was at a loss for words.

“Do you like them?” He smiled at her.

“Why?” Her emotions were in a blur, and she did not know what to do.

It had been a long time since she had received flowers after singing at an event. The last time she had sung live was in the open judging at the Skyart Entertainment training camp, when she had given her all to sing “Sea Demon” as it determined her fate. Even though she had succeeded, there was no glory or flowers that came along with it. Before that, the last time she sang live was in her past life, in the tenth anniversary concert of the Diva Xia Ling. It was in that concert that she had been stabbed through the heart from the back and pushed offstage. And before that…

How long had it been? Two years? Three years? It was so long ago that it felt like two or three lifetimes ago.

Her relationship with Pei Ziheng then had been really good, and she could wilfully whine and throw her temper at him as she wished. He would give her all that she wanted, and after every concert, he would give her a huge bouquet of bright red roses, their love blazing like a fire.

She had thought that he would be hers forever.

But now, looking at the perfumed lilies in front of her, she understood that the promises that they had made before about their love lasting several lifetimes did not exist anymore. Only the perfumed lilies in her hands were real right now, slightly cold to the touch and exuding an intoxicating fragrance, reminding her what belonged to the “Ye Xingling” in this life.

Yes, she was Ye Xingling now.

Even if she would occasionally think about her heart-wrenching love story of her past life, that was all a thing of the past.

“Thank you, Boss, they are really pretty.” Her bewildered expression disappeared, and her mind became clear again. She lifted her head and gave Li Lei a smile. “I really like them.”

Li Lei was watching her all this while, and the change in her did not escape his eyes. Although he did not know what memories the perfumed lilies had made her think of, he was glad that she had finally decided to accept this bouquet of flowers.

“If you like them I will make sure to give them to you often in the future.” He said in a joyful tone. He made up his mind that no matter what Xiao Ling was hiding from him, he would make sure to erase every bit of those memories such that she would only focus on him!

That day would definitely come.

The Audi slowly drove out of the carpark.

Xia Ling curiously asked, “Boss, where are we going?”

Li Lei laughed. “To watch a good show.”

Xia Ling could not understand. Sister Mai Na had said the same thing earlier. What exactly was this good show?

At the venue of the head-to-head competition.

Xia Yu put in her all to sing her song but could not hold a candle to the “Meteor Wings” that Xia Ling had sung earlier, and the audience was not impressed. Many in the audience started to leave, and others were getting restless.

An incoming message tone rang out from one lady’s phone in the audience and she lowered her head briefly to see what it said. Pulling her boyfriend beside her, she said, “Let’s go, we should stop listening to Xia Yu’s singing.”

“Why?” Her boyfriend asked, confused.

“At the entrance of the stadium Skyart Entertainment and Gu Financial Magnate are having an event. If they amass ten thousand signatures that say ‘Ye Xingling, I support you’, they’ll release the evidence to show that Ye Xingling did not insult Diva Xia Ling!” The female audience said excitedly.

“Really?” Her boyfriend also got excited. “That’s huge!”

“Let’s go, hurry! What if we are too late and miss it?”