A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

The old grandma felt more relieved now.

She was a lone girl going about on her own, it was always good to have some self-defense skills.

The two of them chatted for a while more before getting busy—doing chores, cleaning the cat tray, washing the clothes and preparing the next meal. Xia Ling wasn’t able to do the difficult chores, so her main job was to play with the cats, change their food and drink and comb their fur. From the way the cats bounced around her, it was evident that they were comfortable with her and liked her presence. Her mood was lifted too and she decided to open the windows for some fresh air. This time, there wasn’t any yelling coming from Liu Cuiyu’s backyard.

Xia Ling thought she’d won.

Who knew that the next day, what followed was revenge.

In the morning when the old grandma was leaving the house, she let out a shrill cry before falling backward onto the floor in shock.

Xia Ling rushed out of the bedroom to take a look, and was taken aback by the scene before her—someone had hung a decapitated cat before their main door; the organs were hanging out of it as a pool of blood puddled beneath. The cat’s eyes were directly facing them.

The old grandma trembled with fear and began sobbing.

Xia Ling was horrified too. She’d never seen such a grotesque scene before and had to hold the wall for support as she puked.

She hadn’t had breakfast, so all that came out of her was some bile. When she was done, she struggled to straighten up before going to help the old grandma. “Grandma, don’t look, don’t look.” Her lips were still quivering when she said this gently and firmly. She then covered the old grandma’s eyes and said, “Go in and rest, I’ll handle this.”

She helped the old lady up and walked her to her bedroom.

She mustered her courage and returned to the scene of the dead cat. Who’d be so immoral and cruel? The cat had died a terrible death, its abdomen was cut open and one of its pupils was missing as well. Xia Ling began tearing up, and she didn’t even know if it was from fright or sadness. She thought about how different things would’ve been if this happened while she was at Pei Ziheng’s place. All she would’ve needed to do was to scream and run away, and a group of people would definitely help her clean up the mess.

But this time, she couldn’t do just that.

There was only her and the old grandma at home now; she had to do it herself.

She found an old rag to hold the cat as she took it down. It was furry and stiff, and Xia Ling felt extremely disturbed by its texture in her hands. She felt like she needed to puke again.

She tossed the cat into a bag and then took a mop and a pail of water to remove the bloodstains at the door. Tears streamed down her cheeks silently as she mopped the floor.

The neighbor’s door opened.

Liu Cuiyu stood at the door and gave her an odd look. “Wow, you’re mopping the floor so early in the morning? It’s so cold and you’re making the area so wet, that’s not good! Ugh, how did I get so unlucky to have neighbors like you?”

Xia Ling’s head swiveled towards her and gave her an angry glare.

The fire in her eyes had Liu Cuiyu frightened for a while. But it didn’t take her long to regain her composure and give a smile. “What’s the glare about? Aren’t you so capable, why are you mopping the floor and crying so pitifully out here? Did something actually die here? It stinks.” She gave a look of disdain and pinched her nose.

Seeing the hint of joy in her eyes, Xia Ling suddenly understood what was going on. “It was you who hung the dead cat at our door.” She threw the mop aside and glared at Liu Cuiyu ferociously. “You’re courting death!”

Liu Cuiyu was so afraid, she went back to hiding in her house. With the door as her shield now, she yelled at Xia Ling, “Don’t accuse me! Whatever cat you’re talking about, I haven’t seen it!” She then started laughing. “What’s the point of rearing cats? You’re ruining their lives and yours!”

It was definitely her.

Xia Ling’s hands and feet went cold. She’d thought that this neighbor was just an unreasonable shrew but never expected her to be this cruel. “The cat didn’t offend you, why did you have to kill it?”

Liu Cuiyu sneered. “Let me tell you, you slut. If you don’t behave appropriately, you’ll continue getting your retribution!” She couldn’t fight it out with Xia Ling, but surely the cats were an easy target? Well, it was on the slut for hitting her in front of so many people! It was so embarrassing! In the past, she’d let the cats off on account of the old grandma giving her fruits and apologizing all the time. But now, with Xia Ling finding trouble with her so often, how could she let them have their way so easily?!

“You’re the one who’ll receive retribution,” Xia Ling said.

Liu Cuiyu laughed hysterically behind the door.

Xia Ling continued mopping the floor and the tears came flowing again. Had she done something wrong? If she’d allowed Liu Cuiyu to have her way screaming about yesterday, would the cat still be alive then? But Liu Cuiyu had gone overboard, she’d only get worse if no one stopped her! The old grandma was already so advanced in age, she couldn’t bear to see her getting bullied by Liu Cuiyu for the rest of time.

At that moment, Xia Ling’s mind was a mess.

She didn’t know how long she’d been mopping the floor for when someone patted her on the shoulder lightly. “Xiao Ling, be a good girl, don’t cry.” It was the old grandma’s voice. After the blow she had had, she was worried about Xia Ling and had to see how she was doing. “I heard everything you and Liu Cuiyu said just now. I didn’t expect her to be this evil. It’s not your fault, don’t take it to heart.”

Xia Ling sniffed hard. Afraid that the old grandma would be worried, she responded, “Mm-hmm.”

They were both in low spirits as they cleaned up the place and looked for a shoebox for the cat. They lined the box with several sheets of cloth and placed the cat into the makeshift coffin. Only after securing it with a ribbon did they place it into the trash bin. “I’m sorry, we couldn’t even find a place to bury you.” Xia Ling looked at the dustbin and choked on her words. “I hope you’ll have a better life.”

The old grandma was wiping tears as well.

They took the whole morning to gather their emotions and compose themselves. In the afternoon, they went about their regular business to feed the cats, but found that there was more to uncover—there were significantly fewer stray cats that had come for food, and among those that came, a number of them sounded weak. What was going on? They didn’t have a good feeling about this.

One of the cats meowed and tugged at the old grandma’s pants, signaling for her to follow it.

Both of them followed the cat and found that there were more dead cats in the green areas. Their bodies were all stiff and straight, and some had puked an unknown liquid. The old grandma’s expression darkened instantly. She went forward to take a look, and then said to Xia Ling with a trembling voice, “It’s rat poison, someone left it here to poison the cats to death!”

Xia Ling’s expression turned cold too. She and the old grandma shared the same sentiment, they knew exactly who did it—

Liu Cuiyu.

That woman was evil!

“I’ll get more rat poison later and kill her with it! She’ll be buried with the cats!” Xia Ling was shaking with anger. She’d been here for so many days and had formed bonds with the stray cats. Now, so many of them had died in such a short time, and it was all because of her. Why was it that everything that she loved and cherished crumbled in her hands?

She turned around and headed for Liu Cuiyu’s house furiously.

The old grandma grabbed her. “Don’t be rash! It’s illegal to kill someone! We can’t do anything even if she killed them!”