A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

In the evening breeze, he heard the chatter of two children—

“What do you think of this pitch? How about this?”

The girl was laughing and singing segments intermittently. It was a beautiful melody, one that Pei Ziheng had never heard before.

Pei Ziheng’s face darkened.

“Xiao Ling.” He called out to the girl.

“Ah!” Xia Ling got startled. But she was delighted when she turned around and saw that it was him. “Brother Pei!”

She held her dress up and walked up to him, not bothering about the soil that got onto her clothes. “You’re back. I just composed a tune and Xun An says it’s nice. Oh right, this is Xun An, a new friend I made!”

The girl’s eyes were big and bright.

Pei Ziheng bent his knees slightly to brush the soil off her, chiding affectionately. “How could you just sit around on the ground anyhow, what if you catch a cold?”

She smiled. “I won’t, Xun An is blocking off the breeze for me.”

Only then did Pei Ziheng see the young man by the lake. Seeing that he was approaching, the young man stood up, right at the spot where there was a draught. Indeed, he had blocked off quite a bit of wind from Xia Ling.

Pei Ziheng was a little less annoyed by him, but still not completely appeased. “From the Xun family?”

His deep voice sent a chill down Xun An’s spine. Gosh, he really was a scary man. Word about how cold and ruthless Imperial Entertainment’s Chairman Pei was had gotten around. Now that he had seen him, he realized that…

He looked ruthless indeed!

Xun An’s heart pounded. He could not understand how the innocent little girl beside him could have said that “Brother Pei is the gentlest person in the whole wide world”. Was his judgment impaired, or was hers? He looked at Pei Ziheng and forced a smile. “Chairman Pei, I’m Xun Zhengxuan’s son.”

Xun Zhengxuan? Wasn’t that Flying Eagle Theatre’s current Chairman, the one who had just closed a huge deal with the Pei family a few days ago? No one ever mentioned that his son was so… so detestable.

Pei Ziheng sized this brat up and still did not like him.

Xun An’s hair was standing from the way Pei Ziheng looked at him. That was strange, Pei Ziheng seemed to love and pamper Xia Ling a lot, and since Xia Ling had a good impression of him, Chairman Pei should like him too. Why did it look like he was glaring at his enemy?

The young man was stressed out.

Meanwhile, Xia Ling was completely oblivious to all of it. She grabbed Pei Ziheng’s hand and said, “Brother Pei, Xun An is really nice to me, he taught me how to shine at the Summer Belle talent segment. He said that he hoped I’ll recommend him to you. He thinks that he’s capable and wants to seal a deal with you for his family!”

Pei Ziheng realized something was wrong and frowned.

He reached out to ruffle her hair as if trying to get rid of any trace Xun An had left on her when he did the same. He gently said, “Go somewhere and play on your own for a while, I have a few things to say to Xun An before coming over.”

“Alright.” Xia Ling skipped away.

Only then did Pei Ziheng look down at Xun An as his smiling expression was replaced by a gloomy one.

Xun An was practically shrinking his head back. Was something wrong now?

“The thing I hate the most all my life is for someone to get close to Xiao Ling with an agenda,” he said very solemnly.

Xun An was almost rolling his eyes from the absurdity. He had only adopted her for days, and this had become something he “hated most all his life”? But at least he figured out why Pei Ziheng was upset at him, and hurriedly made up for it by smiling. “It’s a misunderstanding, I just happen to click well with Xiao Ling, and at the same time…” He peeked at Pei Ziheng’s expression and decided to change his statement. “Alright, I was trying to get close to you, and at the same time I happened to click with Xiao Ling.”

“Is Xiao Ling a name you should call?”

“… Miss Xia, Miss Xia.” Xun An couldn’t believe how unlucky he was. He had calculated everything properly but just did not expect this man to be so protective. He didn’t look like someone who was taking care of his adoptive sister, but rather a lover fending off other rivals!

How extreme…

Xun An continued ridiculing Pei Ziheng in his head while putting up a smile to curry favor. “Chairman Pei, Brother Pei, as they say—one who does not know is not guilty. Would you let me off? I’ve admired you since I was a child, really! I’ve got lots of posters of you at home, this big, and this tall…”

The young man gestured to show him the poster dimensions.

Pei Ziheng was speechless. Why hadn’t he ever heard about such a weirdo from the Xun family?

Xun An beat about the bush before going back to Xia Ling. “Xiao Ling, wait no, Miss Xia… is in a foreign place and she’s trying to win the Summer Belle title. There’s no way she could achieve it with just your vote alone, right? But it’s different if I help out, every vote counts! If you agree to help me with my family’s business, and get my father to let me take charge of it, I promise I’ll do my best for this!”

Pei Ziheng was speechless. He wasn’t sure he could simply entrust such a huge deal to such an incoherent lad!

The young man blinked in anticipation.

Pei Ziheng asked, “You really want that deal?”

The young man nodded vehemently. His family’s situation was slightly different from other rich and powerful ones—

He used to have an older brother who was groomed to be the heir since he was a child. However, he had passed away a few years back due to over-exhaustion. As the younger son, Xun An had been pampered all this while. Although he did have the heart to take over the heavy responsibility of managing the business in the future, his parents were not in favor. They’d rather have him live healthily and happily, than risk him getting fatigued and potentially running into health problems as his brother did. As such, they had been trying to discourage him from getting too involved.

Xun An was upset; he did not want to be nothing more than a rich and profligate second generation.

He blinked again, trying to appear as pitiful as possible. “Brother Pei, Brother Pei, please agree to it! On the account that I and Xiao Ling, oh no, Miss Xia, get along so well? Help her good friend, please…”

Good… friend…

Pei Ziheng felt his eye twitch a little as he felt bad for Chairman Xun. Everyone talked about how dependable and outstanding the First Young Master was, but why was this Second Young Master so different!

He did not wish to continue this conversation and decided to get it done and over with. “I can let you have this business deal. But you have to publicize our agreement—you vote for Xiao Ling, I’ll give you that opportunity. Let as many people know about this as possible.”

Xun An immediately got what he meant, and was shocked at how much this man was willing to give up just for this girl. It wasn’t difficult to imagine what the people who wanted to favor Pei Ziheng would do once they got news of this…