A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

Xia Ling looked at her. It was the shrewd woman Liu Cuiyu from next door.

She probably just returned from the vegetable market, and her plastic bag was full of loofah cauliflower.

Some reporters’ eyes lit up and grabbed her. They asked, “Big sister, are you living next to Xia Ling? As her neighbor, what do you think of her cat abuse, did you know that she abuses cats?”

“Xia Ling? Who is Xia Ling?” Liu Cuiyu asked strangely.

“You didn’t know she’s Xia Ling?” The paparazzi gestured to the girl at the security door in shock.

Liu Cuiyu turned her head and suddenly widened her eyes. She was so shocked she dropped the vegetable onto the ground. “You, you…” She pointed at Xia Ling and stuttered. “You are Xia Ling? That big star Xia Ling?!”

Usually, when Xia Ling left the house, she always wore her sunglasses, so this was the first time she had seen Xia Ling’s true face. The girl behind the anti-theft iron gate had a fair complexion and looked as beautiful as a drawing. She was exactly like the unforgettably beautiful girl she had often seen on television. No way, this kind of character that could only be seen on TV was actually living next door? Liu Cuiyu was shocked senseless and stood in the same place in a daze.

The paparazzi reacted first. “Big sister, didn’t you know Xia Ling lived next door to you? How many days has she lived here for, and what did she usually do? Has she been living here?”

Liu Cuiyu regained her senses under their incessant questioning. She had never seen such a big commotion before and her usual arrogance had long disappeared. She stammered and replied, “I, I didn’t know she was a big star, I thought she was here to rely on someone dying… Pah, no, a distant relative relying on the old grandma. How could she be a big star, why is a big star living here, and fighting with me over the cats?”

“She fought with you over the cats?” A group of paparazzi was excited. “Can you elaborate?”

Liu Cuiyu swallowed and said, “I, I don’t mean to scold her for not having social morality, but her house really has too many cats. I really want to vomit after smelling them. I, I told them and they simply didn’t listen, so…” She smiled awkwardly at Xia Ling and said, “Big, big star, I’m sorry.”

Some people were just like her, a sheep in wolf’s clothing. Once she saw someone more powerful than herself, she softened up.

However, Xia Ling wanted to vomit blood at this Liu Cuiyu. How was she answering the paparazzi’s questions? Was she deliberately finding trouble for her? Sure enough, the paparazzi excitedly asked, “There’s a strange smell in the house? What kind of smell, is it the smell of animal rot? I heard injured animals have a heavy smell, were there cats injured?”

They still wanted to continue the cat.

Xia Ling was angry and anxious, she immediately shouted, “No!”

Liu Cuiyu was scared by her and was so anxious she didn’t know where to put her hands and legs.

A paparazzi said, “Miss Xia Ling, don’t scare her. Big sister, you can tell us honestly, it’s alright.”

Li Cuiyu stammered and said, “I, I don’t know.” She picked up the vegetables on the ground. She didn’t want to be involved in this storm, what if Xia Ling came looking for her for revenge later? She didn’t want to offend the big star!

The paparazzi misunderstood her meaning. “You don’t know? Do you really not know or is there a hidden message?”

“You live so close to her, how could you not know?”

“Could this be the secret base for Xia Ling to abuse cats?”

Xia Ling said furiously, “No, no!”

Unfortunately, nobody paid attention to her. This group of paparazzi was hyenas in the press world, and wherever there was a bloody smell, they would flock there and turn the world chaotic. “Xia Ling’s abusement of cats” was such big news, and could attract countless of views all over the world, so they had to report it.

As for the truth? The truth wasn’t important at all.

Xia Ling was so anxious she didn’t know what to do. She wearing cotton pajamas that belonged to the grandma’s daughter’s old clothes. She didn’t have makeup on and didn’t have anything to hide her face. The paparazzi were desperately shotting her, capturing Xia Ling’s rare bare face! So many media would be willing to pay a high price for it!

And she was so furious her chest heaved up and down and she wanted to slam the door down fiercely.

At this moment, there was a commotion at the end of the aisle.

“Make way, make way.” Several tall and broad men squeezed in without any effort and cleared a passage amongst the paparazzi.

The paparazzi complained. “What are you squeezing for, who are you?!”

They wanted to get rid of this group of men but were pushed to the side instead. Liu Cuiyu was also crushed in the crowd and was dazed. She had never seen such a squad before. These men were all wearing uniformed black suits, and they looked on with indifference, seemingly very well trained. Liu Cuiyu looked at them and forgot to close her mouth.

A Rolls-Royce stopped in front of the residential building.

Xia Ling’s expression was no better than Liu Cuiyu’s. She looked at the man coming down from the car through the anti-theft iron gate—he wore a fine iron-gray suit, and every line was meticulously sewed on. Even though he was surrounded by a group of murderous bodyguards, he still looked majestic and formidable. His eyebrows were cold and made people look on with respect.

Pei Ziheng.

Why did he come?

Xia Ling’s legs turned to jelly and she looked at him approach step by step. She instinctively wanted to escape.

She hadn’t seen him for many days, and his expression held many things she couldn’t understand, feeling familiar yet strange.

He looked down at her through the iron gate. “Have you played enough? Come home with me.”

Xia Ling woke up from her daze and slammed the door close. The huge closing sound shook her eardrums, and even her hands were trembling. The old grandma behind her asked with concern, “Xiao Ling, what’s wrong? Who is he?”

Xia Ling took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down, but her face was still pale as a sheet of paper.

She remembered her tragic fate of fleeing the villa, the humiliation of being tied to the bedroom bed, the beatings, the abuses, and the many cruel things that trampled her heart to the soles of her feet…

The old grandma called, “Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling?”

“I’m fine.” Xia Ling used all her strength and exhaled. “He… he is the one who hit me.”

The old grandma’s expression changed. She remembered the wounds on Xia Ling when she first came and was filled with indignation. “So he’s that beast! He still dares to come to find you?! Xiao Ling, you can’t go back with him. Don’t be afraid, I’ll protect you!”

Xia Ling shook her head weakly. She knew that with Pei Ziheng here, grandma wouldn’t be able to protect her at all. She rushed to the window and wanted to see if she could escape through it, but found she had been surrounded by bodyguards. Even Chu Chen was standing outside the window of the bedroom, looking at her through the security window.