A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

Li Lei’s expression showed disappointment.

Xia Ling smiled and lifted her glass. “Boss, don’t dwell in the details. There’s still a long way to go, let’s just get drunk today.”

Li Lei reverted to his usual lazy self as he watched her. “Today? Xiao Ling, you aren’t someone to get drunk.” He lifted the glass in his hands and clinked it gently against hers. He said suspiciously, “If you really get drunk, why don’t you just live in the moment and agree to be my girlfriend again?”

Perhaps because she had a little to drink, Xia Ling’s face was slightly flushed. She cheekily said, “No, no… it’s not that easy to be my boyfriend.” She stared at him and maintained her smile. “Let’s talk after you have dealt with your family.”

She did not want to have to break up all of a sudden again if they rekindled their relationship.

“I will.” Li Lei promised with a serious expression.

After that incident, the fact that she had not declined his pursuit of her was already something that he was very grateful for. Even if she had not raised this issue, he was already thinking of how to deal with his family. It was not merely ensuring that his grandfather would not harm her, but also ensuring that his entire family would willingly accept her and that she could properly become the Li family missus.

To this end, he needed to fight it out with his crazy brother.

Li Lei’s gaze turned colder as he thought about this. The reason he had left China before was to avoid getting into a fight with his brother and acceded the role of the family heir to him. In fact, he felt that Li Feng was more suitable to manage the Li family businesses since they mostly involved the underworld. Li Feng was more vicious than he was, and enjoyed the dog-eat-dog nature of the underworld, whereas Li Lei did not.

He never had strong intentions to battle it out with Li Feng.

However, things were different now. Now, there was Xiao Ling in the picture.

He needed to ensure that he acquired enough power to guarantee Xiao Ling’s position and safety in his family. The best way to achieve that was to become the head of the family like his grandfather, such that nobody could question anything he said and dare harm the girl he loved.

It was also good for Xiao Ling to leave Skyart Entertainment at this time.

Skyart Entertainment would be embroiled in this power struggle and be a piece in his masterplan for the war with Li Feng. There would be danger and storms brewing, and he did not want his girl to be implicated in all of it.

Li Lei looked at Xia Ling with a gentle smile on his face. “Wait for me to give you a safe home.”

They had a pleasant and happy meal, and after this bit of flirting, Li Lei gave her some useful advice regarding choosing the right agency. “If you want to become a Diva, you need to pick a big agency with enough experience and ability, with the right systems in place, and it would be best that they are focused on being a management agency with few other side businesses. Those kinds of companies are different from conglomerates like Skyart Entertainment or Imperial Entertainment as they only focus on the management of their artistes. They don’t dabble in the making of movies or music production, and all their energy will be focused on marketing and packaging their artistes, or picking the best activities and shows for them to go on. They tend to be highly experienced and have good ties with all the production companies in the industry, and they also provide a lot of breadth in terms of endorsement deals.”

“So you’re saying that they wouldn’t be like Skyart Entertainment and not accept deals from Imperial Entertainment because they have a bad relationship?” Xia Ling commented as she digested what the Big Boss was saying.

Big Boss was unhappy with her statement. “Are you so bent on working with Imperial Entertainment?”

“Actually, Pei Ziheng has approached me and invited me to join Imperial Entertainment. I’ve rejected him.” Feeling relaxed under the influence of alcohol, Xia Ling lazily revealed her earlier conversation with Pei Ziheng to Li Lei.

Li Lei’s eyes narrowed into a line as he contemplated her. Suddenly, he laughed and said, “I’m glad.” He then lightly clinked her glass again and continued. “I won’t see Gu Lin, and you should not see Pei Ziheng as well.”

Xia Ling nodded. “I won’t see him.” She paused before shaking her head. “But, he… he is an important person to me… should I forgive him? I… I might forgive him soon.”

Her mumbling made Li Lei’s expression darken, and he instinctively felt that she was going to reveal an important answer to him. Almost holding in his breath, Li Lei softly asked her, “So, who is he to you?”

Xia Ling did not hold her alcohol well and easily became drunk after a few sips of red wine. Yet, even though her head was spinning from the alcohol, the truth of her relationship with Pei Ziheng was too important and caught herself before she revealed the secret with what remained of her rationality. She looked at Li Lei, a sad smile on her face, and said, “Very important… Do you know he’s more important to me than Gu Lin is to you? Many, many, many times more important…”

She refused to say anything more.

“Why is he so important?” Li Lei tried to pry more information from her and asked in a seductive voice.

“My head is spinning.” She mumbled and put her head in her hands. She lightly closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Li Lei watched her calm sleeping expression for a moment. There was something that he could not bring himself to ask. Is he more important than me?

He wanted to know the answer to that question but was afraid of what he might hear.

When Xia Ling woke up the next morning, she was in her rental apartment and sleeping in her own bed. Someone had helped her change into her pajamas and covered her with the blanket.

As she got up to brush her teeth, Luo Luo spied her and commented, “Boss Li sent you back yesterday and told me to prepare something light for your breakfast because you drank too much.”

She nodded and sent Li Lei a message thanking him for his concern.

She could not remember what she had told him yesterday. It looked like she should stay away from alcohol as much as possible in the future.

She went to the company and completed the necessary administrative procedures to release herself from Skyart Entertainment as Sister Mai Na and the others looked on, their unhappiness with her leaving apparent on their faces. She was also sad to leave them and promised that there would be opportunities for them to work together in the future and that she would stay in touch and come back to visit everyone.

She walked out of Skyart Entertainment.

At this moment, her body felt light, but she felt slightly at a loss at what the future held for her.

She had still not chosen a management agency, although Li Lei and Sister Mai Na had given her some direction for her consideration. She was still very much on her own in making the decision. She was undecided between several companies and managers, and she suddenly thought of a person that could give her more advice. That person was more professional than Li Lei and Wei Shaoyin…

Feng Kun.

Feng Kun was a well-reputed veteran in the industry, and everyone considered him to be steady, diplomatic, and meticulous. He had lots of friends and understood the people in the industry a lot more than someone like Li Lei, who was a Big Boss that left the day-to-day matters to his subordinates. Compared to Wei Shaoyin, who was arrogant and anal, Feng Kun was more objective and calm in his assessments. If she were able to get advice from him, she could supplement what she knew from Li Lei and the rest to make a more informed decision.

Xia Ling took out her mobile and called Feng Kun without further ado.

Feng Kun invited her to meet him in the private room of a cafe.

“I was waiting for you to look for me.” He gently smiled as he looked at Xia Ling.

Xia Ling felt a little apologetic. “I really need your help to assess which company and manager I should join.”

“I’d be sad if you didn’t approach me.” Feng Kun jokingly said and continued, “You should have received quite a lot of offers, right? Show me the list.”

Xia Ling was prepared and took it out.

Feng Kun scanned the list before saying, “There are several good companies on the list, and the managers listed are good as well. Unfortunately…”

“Unfortunately what?”

“The person that I was thinking of recommending is not on the list.”

“Who is that?” Xia Ling’s curiosity was piqued.