A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

But Xia Ling insisted on giving it to her.

The old grandma didn’t manage to decline it and hence, kept it. She decided that she was just temporarily safekeeping it for Xia Ling, and would discreetly return it to her when she left. Over the next few days, everything was calm and peaceful and the old grandma brought home a few more cats in need of care. One of them had a broken leg after being run over by a car and required help changing its bandage regularly.

Xia Ling stayed home to take care of them.

When the old grandma went out to feed the cats one day, she said to Xia Ling, “Open the windows for ventilation while there are few people around. When the neighbors are back, we’ll close them again. There’s a smell in the house from all the cats that live with us, the neighbors won’t like it.”

Xia Ling nodded and opened the windows.

There was indeed a smell in the house—one that was inevitable when many animals congregated. The old grandma was already very conscientious when it came to hygiene in the house; she cleaned up every day and picked appropriate times to ventilate the place, but still could not eradicate the issue. The neighbors weren’t very nice about it, but each time, the old grandma would simply apologize with a sad smile.

Seeing her open the windows this time, the neighbors voiced their objections again.

“You people who own cats, don’t you have any consideration for others?” Their living room window was diagonally facing the neighbor’s courtyard, where an angry woman was standing in. She was pointing at their window and yelling, “It smells so bad, how are we supposed to live with this? The old woman can barely feed herself, and she has the heart to think of feeding cats and dogs?!”

Her mean words were crystal clear to Xia Ling.

Xia Ling wasn’t as nice to mess with as the old grandma was. Having lived here for a while, she’d figured out that the neighbor had objections no matter what time of the day they opened the windows. She put on her sunglasses and sneered at that woman through the window. “The council has already come and said that this smell is alright! It doesn’t affect anyone’s life! What else do you want?! Granny is just too nice to give in to you all the time. If you go on, I’ll open the windows all day to anger you! I’ll put their litter tray on the window ledge! You can smell it for as long as you want!”

The lady did not expect her to rebut and was now trembling with anger. “You’ve got a lot to say, huh? Where did you come from? Are you that damned old lady’s distant relative? I bet you don’t even have a house or registered permanent residence in City S, and you think you have the right to talk to me this way!” City S was a higher-end and more extravagant city, and a few of the locals here despised foreigners who did not own a house or an official permanent residence. As such, they often subconsciously displayed their sense of superiority when getting into arguments with others.

Xia Ling was a little taken aback. She was from City S too, but at her status, she’d never heard anyone flaunting their wealth with property ownership or registered residence before. Who knew that just owning a house called for a big deal? Even so, she could tell that the neighbor was actually being arrogant and condescending.

Hence, she sneered. “What’s so good about having a house and registered permanent residence, haven’t you ended up in the house beside ours anyway? If you’re so capable, move into a villa instead! Golden Sands Coast, Red Brick Garden or Moonlight Courtyard! Which district can you afford? Oh, sorry, I bet you haven’t even heard of these places before; do you need me to take you there for some exposure?!” She always had a way to trigger others when in a fight.

As she’d guessed, the homemaker from next door was going hysterical with anger. She didn’t expect that the property and registered residence that she’d been so proud of would be so unworthy in someone else’s eyes. But she wouldn’t back down. “Don’t you think too highly of yourself! Making it sound as if you can afford to live there! If you could, would you be squeezing in that tiny house with a damned old lady and some smelly cats? Do you actually think you’re a princess? What a joke!”

Xia Ling was caught off guard for a moment.

Oh, how she wanted to shove her title deeds of those villas in that fat woman’s face. But she couldn’t. Since she’d left Pei Ziheng, she had nothing now. All the extravagance and luxury she lived in was a thing of the past.

There was an ache in her heart.

The neighbor grinned with delight. “Cat got your tongue? Oh slut, you’re just as dirty and pitiful as those cats, being taken in by the damned old lady. Hurry and close the windows for her!” Xia Ling had been living here for a while now, and the old grandma had been telling others that she was a distant relative settling some matters in City S. As such, the neighbors believed that she really was a poor distant relative from a foreign land.

Xia Ling looked at her quietly, unwilling to expend any more energy yelling at her.

There was more than just one way to get back at one’s enemy, anyway. She gave a sly smile before getting the cat litter tray and placing it onto the window ledge. She then got an electric fan, put it beside the litter tray and directed it at the neighbor. A strong stench instantly traveled to her courtyard, and the woman almost went insane.

“How dare you!” She glared at her

“Why wouldn’t I dare?” Xia Ling said. “Old Granny has been too nice to you. She opens the windows when few people are around, and even hand you fruits and gifts as an apology. Moreover, the smell isn’t even that strong, it doesn’t affect anyone’s lives at all. You’re just bullying her because you think she’s timid! But I’m not the same.” Given that the old grandma had helped her at her lowest point, she’d always wanted to speak up for her and put that woman in her place. As the old grandma and Xia Ling did their cleaning religiously every day, the smell was indeed rather faint—although Xia Ling wasn’t used to living in such an environment in the first couple of days, she had gotten used to it by now. She wouldn’t believe that the woman next door had lived a better life than her before.

But that shrew was still furious. “You’re courting death!”

“Why, you want to kill someone?” Xia Ling burst into laughter.

“You!” The shrew went back in and filled a basin of water to splash at their window, but Xia Ling was quick-witted and shut the windows just in time. When she was done, Xia Ling opened the windows again and smiled. “Well, you can splash some more. We’ll see who gets tired first.” She stood at the window grinning arrogantly.

The shrew screamed and cursed but could not do anything about Xia Ling.

Xia Ling watched her “performance” for a while before she went back in. Knowing that she was tired of arguing, Xia Ling took the litter tray down and went back in as well.

A while later, the old grandma was back.

The moment she entered, she sighed at Xia Ling. “Child, why did you end up arguing with Cuiyu next door again? It’ll be alright if we each take a step back. As neighbors, harmony is key.”

Xia Ling went up to her smilingly and helped her to the couch. “Granny, you’re too kind, that’s why she’s been picking on you. But don’t worry, with me around, no one’s allowed to bully you.”