A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

He lifted her delicate chin. “Call me Ziheng.”

His low, mellow sound scattered in the still space with an unspeakable temptation.

Xia Ling looked at him motionlessly, her heart skipped half a beat and she almost cried out, “Ziheng.” It was the first time he called his name, and it flowed between her lip and teeth a little awkwardly with a strange sweetness.

Pei Ziheng smiled with satisfaction. “Say it again.”

“Ziheng.”

“Again.”

“Ziheng, Ziheng.”

“Good girl.” He gave her a rewarding kiss. “You have to call me that in the future, understand?”

She blushed slightly. “Can’t I call you Brother Pei anymore?” She was used to calling him Brother Pei and was a little reluctant to change it. Although she was also happy… she was still a little reluctant and shy.

“Silly girl,” he said. “Even Xiao Yu knows to call my name, only you’re this stupid.” Calling him Ziheng was more intimate than calling his surname, but only she was so stupid she didn’t know to change.

“You called me silly.” She felt wronged.

“Aren’t you?”

“You’re the silly one!” She glared at him.

“Call me Ziheng again.”

“No!”

“Be good.”

“No!” …

Only a girl like her dared to throw a tantrum in front of him so unscrupulously, like a butterfly flying in front of a tiger and unconsciously showing off its beauty. She took Pei Ziheng’s hand and walked around in and outside the villa, putting forth a lot of ideas for decoration and discussing it with him with great interest.

Pei Ziheng said affectionately, “You can decide.”

The next day, he found a very good interior designer for her and a complete construction team.

Xia Ling started to busy herself, giving out notices and decorating the new house. Her dream home became perfect bit by bit. The ivy draped over the red wall, and a cluster of rose flowers bloomed in full swing. Their bedroom faced a small grove and had a view of the lake—it was misty in the morning, and at night, the lack reflected the stars from the sky. She couldn’t help but stand at the window and think, how comfortable they would be once they moved in here formally.

Furniture, porcelain…

She personally picked them one by one.

Pei Ziheng liked sandalwood, so she went everywhere to collect fine quality lobular rosewood. To balance the retro elegance and the agility of everyday life, she even spent a lot of time studying how to design furniture so it looked good. She heard there was a home improvement fair in the city, so she was interested in participating.

Pei Ziheng was very busy and couldn’t go with her. Xia Yu said she was unwell and also refused.

Xia Ling wanted to invite Xiao Hua or Yun Yan, but as a new star she was already eye-catching enough in a crowd, if the two popular actresses were to join, it would be useless to even disguise themselves. She sighed and gave herself a low-key makeup, wore normal shirt denim, tied a ponytail, wore sunglasses and a cap and went out alone.

The home improvement fair was crowded with people.

She looked around and gained a lot of new insights and ideas.

She stood in front of a tulle screen with a rosewood bone and admired it for a long time. She couldn’t help but take off her sunglasses and was quickly recognized by people. “You, you’re Xia Ling, right?” The two girls ran over excitedly and surrounded her while suppressing their screams. “Hello, Xiao Ling, we’re your fans. We didn’t expect to meet you here, we’re too excited!”

This was the first time she met a fan, and with some novelty, she said with a smile, “Hello.”

“You’re really Xiao Ling!” The girls jumped in excitement. “Can you give us an autograph? And a photo, we want to take a photo!”

“Sure,” she said in a good mood. She signed with the pen they handed her and also took a photo. The laughter of the girls attracted a group of curious people and some people nearby said, “Look, a star.”

In the precious wood root carving area, two elegant ladies were picking things when one of them heard the commotion and turned to look. Suddenly, her eyes were fixated. “Sister Jingyu, Sister Jingyu,” she screamed in amazement. “Look quickly, isn’t that Xia Ling? Why is she here?”

It was Pei Jingshan who spoke. Very soon, Pei Jingyu also turned to look.

“Tsk, what an embarrassment.” Pei Jingyu was dressed in a high-end, custom-made dress that had a pearl brooch. Her voice was cold and she stared at Xia Ling’s enchanting beauty in jealousy. The crowd increased.

“Yes, what an embarrassment,” Pei Jingshan also said. They had not dealt with Xia Ling since they were young, and now that they had grown up, they were becoming more and more grievous. As big ladies born with a golden spoon, what they were most indignant about was that Xia Ling this wretch was obviously from a lowly background, so how could she share everything they possessed?

The Pei family was rich not to give alms to her!

“Sister Jingyu, should we go and teach her a lesson?” Pei Jingshan had long found Xia Ling unpleasant to the eye. “As a foster daughter of the Pei family, how much of a scandal is it to be surrounded by people in a public place? Big Cousin is too much, why did he even promote her as a star and revealed her face in a drama, she’s really throwing the face of the Pei family sisters.” In fact, Pei Jingshan didn’t even think that the Pei family was managing an entertainment company and all their earnings that supported the ladies’ food and clothes were earned by their artistes.

Pei Jingyu agreed with her words and looked at Xia Ling with a layer of frost on her face. An unknown fire started to rise in her heart! However, she held herself with dignity and didn’t want to lower herself to Xia Ling’s level and argue with her, so she slowly played with the root carving in her hand and said, “Just ignore her.”

The two continued to look at the root carving.

The crowd around Xia Ling was increasing, and she found it uncomfortable and quickly put on her sunglasses again. She smiled and bid farewell to them before sneaking away to a place where there were fewer people. In the nearby area, the exhibit of the root carving museum was the most expensive, so there were fewer people there. Xia Ling walked into it quickly and gasped in relief.

As soon as she looked up, she saw two people she recognized.

Pei Jingyu and Pei Jingshan.

She couldn’t help but frown. She was really unlucky, how could she bump into the sisters on the rare occasion she came out to visit a home fair? She hated them just as much as they hated her.

“What are you looking at,” Pei Jingshan chided her from high above. “lowly servant girl.”

Xia Ling exploded. “Who are you scolding!”

“I’m scolding whoever just spoke!”

“You are the lowly one!” Xia Ling was used to being arrogant and wilful, so how could she possibly swallow this insult? She scolded back on the spot. “What are these two people sneaking around here for? You’re so ugly you don’t dare to go out and see people in case they can’t stand it!”

Pei Jingshan also exploded. “Lowly servant girl, what are you saying. You eat and use all the things from the Pei family, so what are you arrogant about?! You still have the face to come visit the home fair! The root carvings here cost dozens of millions, you still have the face to squander money from our Pei family!”