A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

“We aren’t just acquaintances… we know each other very well.” Xia Ling said.

“Don’t speak rubbish and make yourself sound so high and mighty. Brother Lei doesn’t know you at all!” Gu Lin was so angry she was close to jumping up. She glared at Xia Ling and said, “Brother Lei is mine!”

Miss Nangong, who was watching this scene from the side, thought to herself:This little singer does seem to be well-acquainted with Li Lei. Otherwise, why would Gu Lin react in such an agitated way? She gave Xia Ling a quick once over. She looked so normal, and at maximum, could be considered pleasant to the eye. Was Second Young Master Li’s type so innocent and plain? She asked, “What relationship do you have with Second Young Master Li?”

This question stumped Xia Ling. Could she say outright that they were lovers now?

They hadn’t announced their reconciliation to the public, and Old Master Li hadn’t given them his approval. What’s more, if she were to announce herself to be Li Lei’s girlfriend at this “wife selection” dinner with his relatives, there was a danger that she would become a huge laughingstock.

Xia Ling felt upset but couldn’t bring herself to say anything.

Her silence made Miss Nangong heave a sigh of relief. It seemed that things were not as grim as she thought. So this little singer had an ambiguous relationship with Second Young Master Li that could not be spoken about. She was probably just one of his playthings. Once she firmed up her engagement with Li Lei, she would find a way to get rid of her.

With this thought, Miss Nangong stopped concerning herself about Xia Ling and smoothed her dress before walking by Xia Ling. Xia Ling could not tolerate them approaching Li Lei, and thus, started to follow them.

Gu Lin reached out and stopped her. “Ye Xingling, are you that shameless?! Why are you following us?”

Xia Ling felt her anger rising and was about to retort.

Before she did, a man’s voice rang out from the side. “Miss Gu, please be more respectful to others. Aren’t you from a wealthy family? Please maintain the proper decorum a daughter of a family with such high status should display.”

Who was this person insinuating that she did not have decorum?

Gu Lin felt like she was going to blow her top. Her head flicked around and caught sight of the man that was silently standing behind Xia Ling now — Wang Tao. Wang Tao came forward and put an arm protectively around Xia Ling as if he were her knight in shining armor.

He couldn’t tolerate these two wealthy ladies bullying the girl that he was fond of.

Xia Ling glanced at his side profile and felt touched. She had only met with cold treatment and eye-rolling since walking into the room today. Other than Li Lei, Wang Tao was the only other person that showed any kindness to her.

Although she didn’t know why.

“Who are you insinuating is being disrespectful?” Gu Lin sneered at him. “Wang Tao, I heard that your biological mother is just the second wife that can’t be brought to light. Uncle Wang merely pitied you, so he raised you as one of his Young Masters. But a lowly person will always be lowly… It has been so many years, and you’ve never managed to marry any of the wealthy ladies around you. All you did was to mix around with random women out there. Birds of a feather do indeed flock together!”

Wang Tao’s expression darkened. The reality of his birth status was something that he couldn’t get over easily, and he hated when others spoke about it. Unfortunately, Gu Lin had been spoiled at home, and she spouted whatever came to mind when she was upset.

Xia Ling saw his fists clench tight and felt bad since he only had to deal with such bad treatment because he had stepped forward to help her. Fine, they were battle partners now. In a mark of camaraderie, Xia Ling swept up a cocktail glass from the table next to her and splashed it at Gu Lin’s face.

“Ye Xingling! You!” Gu Lin shouted out in a fluster.

Even though Miss Nangong had hurriedly taken a step away from Gu Lin, the splash of the cocktail still got onto her face and the silver-white gown she was wearing. Their expressions became ashen.

“Ye Xingling! How dare you splash cocktail on me?!” Gu Lin was almost hysterical as she covered her face. Her makeup was smudged, and her long dress dripped with the colorful liquid. No one had ever treated her like this before. She reached out her hand and made to pull Xia Ling’s dress.

Wang Tao hurriedly blocked her attack.

Xia Ling merely stood quietly and set the now empty cocktail glass back onto the table. Her expression was calm as she retorted, “Why wouldn’t I dare splash cocktail on you? You were the one that started this by slandering me, calling me a shameless woman! I was originally Li…”

“Miss Ye, you’re being too much!” Miss Nangong interrupted her.

On hearing the word “Li,” Miss Nangong knew that something was amiss. For someone of such a lowly background to dare act out like this in the dinner, she had to be one of the wild women that Li Lei had on the outside. For men with wealthy backgrounds, this wasn’t unusual. Having grown up in such an environment, Miss Nangong was not too surprised.

Her mother had long taught her how to deal with such women.

Given the conflict they were in now, she couldn’t let Xia Ling reveal her relationship with Li Lei as it would put her in an awkward position — it would be weird to apologize, but also weird to continue fighting with her. The best scenario was to chase Xia Ling out of the dinner without her revealing her identity. That would emphasize her position as the legitimate future wife while being able to absolve herself from blame if Li lei were to ask about it later as she could feign ignorance.

Any man in the right mind would not question his future wife in such a scenario.

Miss Nangong finalized her plan in her head and raised her voice, “Security!”

Security guards came over swiftly.

Miss Nangong asked, “Shouldn’t we ask people who create trouble to leave?”

The security guards replied, “Yes.” They were slightly embarrassed at seeing the mess in the place created by Ye Xingling, who somehow managed to be let into the premises. Earlier, when the Old Master found out that she had been allowed in, he had been furious and had ordered them to make sure she could not make a mess of things.

This dinner was planned to introduce several potential wives to Young Master Li. They would not be able to handle the responsibility if anything were to go wrong. The security guards were already planning on getting Xia Ling out of the premises but had yet to find a suitable excuse. This little conflict now was the perfect opportunity for them to make her leave.

“Miss Ye,” The head of the security team addressed Xia Ling. “we need to ask you to leave for creating such a disturbance here.”

Xia Ling gave a cold laugh. “What?! You guys haven’t even investigated the matter yet… how do you know I was the one that was creating a disturbance? Why aren’t you saying that both of them were bullying me?”

The head of security was speechless. They didn’t care who was in the wrong. The two wealthy ladies were amongst the candidates to be Young Master Li’s wife, whereas Miss Ye was just someone that the Old Master despised. That alone was enough for them to make the decision on who had to leave. However, if they were to say anything to that effect right now, that would just make it seem like they were being unreasonable, wouldn’t it?

“Miss Ye was the one that threw the cocktail at Lin Lin.” Miss Nangong’s elegant voice rang out as she came to the security guard’s assistance. “We were just having a casual conversation and joking around. Who knew that Miss Ye here couldn’t take a joke and would react in such a way? This is simply unacceptable.”

The head of security followed Miss Nangong’s train of thought and nodded. “Yes, Miss Ye, you were in the wrong for throwing the cocktail at them. Please come with us.”