A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

In the abundant sunlight, he looked bright and presentable.

Xia Yingluo squinted. “How did you get into my house?”

Wei Lingnan smiled gentlemanly. “The honorable father-in-law opened the door for me.”

Xia Yingluo’s eyelid practically twitched. She wondered if this was her real father, a man who was so nice to his wife but terrible to his daughter. “Firstly, don’t call him your father-in-law. Secondly, don’t trespass my house this way. Thirdly, I won’t watch the movie with you, stay away from me.”

Her tone was stone-cold.

But he was completely unfazed. With flowers in his hand, he said, “Ah Luo, you look beautiful when you’re angry.”

Xia Yingluo wondered if he was sadistic, why did he seem to enjoy this torture? She turned away and decided to walk further into her home.

Wei Lingnan grabbed her hand and stuffed the bouquet of white flowers into her arms. “I groomed these flowers for you. Do you like them?”

She was not prepared to push it away and ended up holding it in her arms. The fragrance was sweet and drew her heart to it. She wanted to throw the flowers in his face, to get angry with him, but she couldn’t bring herself to do any of it when she saw his look of anticipation. She’d been all ready to give him a stern warning, but the words came out nice and gentle. “Why do such pointless things, if you wanted to win me over, why are you only doing it now?”

His eyes glistened. “I’m willing to do anything for you.”

As the breeze swept past the house, he looked at her with eyes filled with emotions.

She turned away and happened to see Li Lei walking past in the corner of her eye. She raised her voice. “Dad!”

Li Lei stopped in his tracks and walked over, grinning cheekily at his daughter. “Yes, Yingluo?”

Xia Yingluo shoved the big bouquet into his arms. “Don’t make me clean up the mess you started!”

Li Lei turned away and did not hold onto the flowers. He smiled. “What mess? Isn’t it nice that someone’s here to ask you out? All I did was open the door for him, the rest is up to you to handle. Be good.” He then ruffled her soft hair.

Xia Yingluo thought, Is this really my dad?

Before she could say anything, Li Lei was already looking at Wei Lingnan. His voice was cold and stern as he said, “Treat my daughter well. If you dare hurt her at all, the entire Li family will come after you.”

Xia Yingluo couldn’t bear to look. Dad, isn’t it a little too late to say this?

Wei Lingnan was very accommodating. There wasn’t a hint of cruelty or coldness on his face. “Father-in-law, don’t worry. I’ll treat Yingluo well.”

“He’s not your father-in-law!” Xia Yingluo was fuming.

Wei Lingnan smiled. “Come on, let’s go to the movies. We can discuss the formalities of addressing one another after the show. Maybe I’ll consider changing my mind before the next movie publicity.”

Was this a threat!

Xia Yingluo could understand what Wei Lingnan was saying—if she did not agree to this date, for the next publicity event, he’d announce that he was her future husband!

“Dad!” Xia Yingluo glared at her father.

Li Lei was grinning. “You can continue chatting. I just remembered I have something else to attend to. I’ll be on my way.”

Xia Yingluo felt like bashing him up as she watched him leave. She asked Wei Lingnan, “Just what did you drug him with?!” Li Lei had had his guard up against Wei Lingnan just a while back, why had he suddenly become so supportive of him?

Wei Lingnan smiled. “Nothing much. You know how much Father-in-law loves Mother-in-law, I simply helped him settle the issue with Pei Ziheng, and now he sees me as family.”

“Really?” Xia Yingluo eyed him suspiciously.

Although it sounded rather logical, Li Lei’s change in attitude still seemed a little too drastic.

Wei Lingnan was still smiling. “Let’s go, come with me to the movies. We haven’t gone out together in a while.” Of course, the answer to her question wasn’t as simple as he made it out to be. He had told Li Lei all about the Skatana species and their lifespan, how she was going to leave Earth eventually, and everything about them. Li Lei came to realize that only he was able to be by her side for eternity…

That was why Li Lei approved of him.

And of course, Wei Lingnan wouldn’t tell Xia Yingluo about these details. Li Lei wouldn’t tell her about it, either—he knew that Xia Yingluo had kept her future plans from him for fear that he would worry, and hence, decided to play along.

Seeing that Xia Yingluo was still not too convinced, Wei Lingnan added, “I’ve already got the tickets for Star Wars Era 2. It’d be interesting to watch this in a crowd of ordinary movie-goers. I even pre-ordered Coke and popcorn.”

Xia Yingluo looked up at him. “Just this once.”

He smiled. “Sure.” Just this once? Of course, it was alright to watch Star Wars Era 2 just this once, he had other plans for their dates in future, like shopping, stargazing, road trips… wouldn’t that be a second, third, nth time?

Wei Lingnan held her hand and walked towards the door happily.

Xia Yingluo shook him off. “I’ll walk on my own.”

He kept his smile on and let her storm out of the villa and into his car.

His black sports car was way too striking, and ever since he became a known figure, countless reporters had stalked him whenever they saw his car on the road. He did not wish to be disturbed and hence, was now driving an ordinary-looking BMW today. The interior, however, was extremely extravagant and luxurious, like it was the most prestigious car in the world.

He took Xia Yingluo to a popular area in town. When he parked his car, he got out of the driver’s seat and very gentlemanly opened her door for her. Xia Yingluo took her shades and mask out of her bag and was all ready to put them on when he said, “No need.”

“No need?” She looked at him. They were both celebrities now, they were going to attract a lot of attention.

“No need,” he repeated. “I can use my energy to do some facial modifications. In others’ eyes, we’d just look like ordinary people.”

Xia Yingluo understood what he was getting at. The Skatana species had this special power—their energy technology was considered the best in the universe. So, with the appropriate chemical compounds, they were able to fulfill many of their needs, from big ones like destroying a planet to small ones like facial modifications.

But she still wanted to put on her mask. “Don’t waste your energy.”

He held her hand down. “We hardly get to come out, it’d be uncomfortable to be wearing this the whole time. We’ve been gathering a lot of energy lately, we don’t have to give every bit of it to the World Tree. This little bit won’t make a difference to its arrival.”

In the back of her mind, the seed of the World Tree began screaming, as if agitated by his words—

[Eat him! Eat him! Eat this horrible traitor!]