A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

The atmosphere in the conference room was heavy and the directors wearing dark suits all sat together.

Among them were many members of the Pei family that Xia Ling knew, and also some strange directors she didn’t recognize.

Many of them turned their heads and looked up at her with different expressions at the sound of the door opening. Sitting at the front was Pei Ziheng, who did not move and was instead continuing to study a piece of information, the wrinkles between his eyebrows as deep as a knife.

Xia Ling maintained her position and stood quietly at the door watching him. The man was still as cold and majestic as the Gods, making her worship and love him. At this moment, under the judgemental stares of the people, her heartbeat was like a drum and she wanted to rush up to him to ask him but could not move her feet.

She was afraid.

She was afraid she would hear an unbearable answer, afraid that he would tell her personally that he was engaged.

She stood alone at the door, advancing and retreating back and forth.

Pei Ziheng flipped the information in his hand. “The Green Jade Media is Wang family’s best business in the entertainment industry, but it can only be regarded as chicken ribs to Imperial Entertainment. After the merger, there would be a lot of redundant trivia to deal with. I will propose this to the Wang family and at the same time strive for better benefits for Imperial Entertainment in the cooperation business.”

Beside him sat his Grand Uncle, Pei Zhenyuan. Pei Zhenyuan had already seen Xia Ling, and he sneered and said, “Ziheng, you know why negotiation is more difficult than what is forecasted. Although the Wang family has promised to give their daughter’s hand to you, they don’t wish for you to put Miss Wang Jingwan in an uncomfortable spot. You have to at least take good care of your own people.”

Pei Ziheng looked up and followed his Grand Uncle’s line of sight. His gaze fell on Xia Ling.

Even though his affair with Xia Ling was a secret, in the past decade or so, the big directors of Imperial Entertainment were more or less informed. The entire conference room was silent, and people exchanged meaningful glances with each other.

Pei Ziheng’s voice was very heavy. “Xiao Ling, go out and wait for me.”

He didn’t ask her why she came, because Chu Chen had already called him and told him that Xia Ling had accidentally heard about the news of his engagement. Originally, he had intended to take Xia Ling out tomorrow to distract her, then slowly, he would skillfully let her accept the news. But now, it looked like all his plans were all disrupted.

Xia Ling looked at him with sorrow and her heart sank to the bottom.

It was needless to ask, the sneer of Pei Zhenyuan had already explained everything, he… was really engaged.

“Why?” she whispered. “Why are you engaged with another woman? You said you would love me for a lifetime, did you… forget?”

Tears blurred her line of sight and he looked even vaguer.

Pei Ziheng frowned. “Be good, go out and wait for me.”

She didn’t go out to wait for him, instead, she was provoked by him and rushed to his front in a few steps. She grabbed his hand-tailored suit and yelled hoarsely at him, “Don’t use this kind of child’s tone to pacify me! I’m not a little child anymore! Tell me, why did you lie to me? I have been with you for so many years, why did you get engaged with another woman in the end!”

She screamed and glared at him with tears in her eyes, her body swaying slightly.

Pei Ziheng’s eyebrows tightened and he looked at his watch. “The meeting is suspended for ten minutes.”

Then, he grabbed Xia Ling with one hand and forced her out of the meeting room. “What the hell are you trying to do!” He threw her against the wall and pressed his hands on her shoulders, exploding in anger. “I told Chu Chen to tell you that I’ll accompany you for the whole day tomorrow. We can discuss this problem then! Didn’t you see I was in a meeting?”

“Is your meeting more important than me?!” She cried again and shouted. “What am I to you!”

“Stop messing around.” Pei Ziheng took a deep breath and suppressed the bubbling anger in his heart. “The merger with the Wang family is at a critical juncture. Be good, wait for me in the lounge and I’ll come to find you after I’m done.”

“No!” She cried incessantly. “Pei Ziheng, don’t marry that woman! Don’t!”

“It’s just a business marriage,” said Pei Ziheng. “It doesn’t mean we can’t be together if I marry her. Wang Jingwan knows about your existence and can accommodate you—this was also one of the conditions I made before promising to marry her. She knows very clearly what she’s doing. Xiao Ling, you have to be sensible and understand the big picture.”

“To hell with the big picture!” She couldn’t help but cry and scream. “I hate you!”

Pei Ziheng looked down at her. “I’m going to the meeting now, you go to rest and calm down. We’ll talk again later.” He let go of her and turned round to return to the meeting room.

Suddenly, Xia Ling grabbed onto him and hugged his body from behind, her tears falling like rain. “Ziheng, don’t go. Please don’t go… Don’t marry that woman, okay? I beg you… I beg you…”

It was her first time begging him, her tears fell like rivulets and her heart was broken.

However, he took her hands off him immediately and walked back into the conference room without looking back.

She was left alone, kneeling down in the long empty corridor and crying incessantly.

She cried for as long as the meeting was held for. Gradually, the news spread inside Imperial Entertainment that Queen Xia Ling was crying outside the VIP Conference room on the seventeenth floor. Could it be she had offended Chairman and had finally lost her position? Some people pretended to pass by and peered at her with curiosity, gossiping behind her back, but she didn’t care. She waited till the meeting was over and the well-dressed directors came out in twos and threes.

The white-haired Pei Zhenyuan passed by her and stopped. “What a scandal.”

He said it with a high, disdainful voice.

She cried and grabbed his suit trousers. For the first time, she bowed to the old man she had never dealt with once. “Grand Uncle, I beg you to persuade Ziheng, okay? Don’t let him marry that woman, don’t…”

Pei Zhenyuan reprimanded. “Let go! Have you not thrown enough face? If not for the fact that you can sing well and help strengthen Imperial Entertainment, why would the Pei family endure having you around? Don’t call me Grand Uncle, how are you worthy?!”

The cool and smooth texture of his suit trousers slowly slipped through her fingers and Pei Zhenyuan walked far away.

Xia Ling was dazzled and waited for a long time at the door for Pei Ziheng. However, she waited until everyone else had scattered and he still did not come out. It was Chu Chen who came out instead. He gently lifted her and said, “Let’s go, don’t wait anymore. Boss will be busy the whole day today. There are several major issues that cannot be delayed.”

“So my business can be delayed?” She choked with emotions and whimpered.

Chu Chen was silent for a long time and said, “Xiao Ling, you have to accept your life.”

“What is life?”

“We are born as commoners, don’t think about fighting with these aristocrats. You can only survive by complying with the rules.” Perhaps it was a reminder of his childhood, and Chu Chen said to her sincerely, “Xiao Ling, we are already considered lucky. We have a brocade of garments and jade meals, and thousands of people revere us. We shouldn’t be too greedy.”

“So I’m being greedy because I want to marry him?” She cried again. “You all think I’m in the wrong, right? Over the years, you saw me looking at him longingly of my own wishful thinking, was it like watching a joke?”