A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

Xia Ling finally laughed and responded, “Deal.”

Wang Tao sent her home in the Bugatti Veyron.

They passed the red walls of the bungalow district and the row of warmly-lit streetlamps. It was quiet all around. He stopped the car in front of her gate and gave a low whistle. “Wow, this place is fancy. Is that Pei Ziheng’s house next door?”

When he was driving in, he caught sight of the word “Pei” on the neighboring signpost.

Xia Ling did not respond but instead limped out of the car.

Wang Tao got off hurriedly and helped her to the main door.

She opened the door and stepped into her front yard, filled with ivy creepers and evening primroses. “Thank you for sending me home. I’ll not invite you in today since it’s so late.” It was close to 12 midnight, and a lone crescent moon shone in the sky amongst the twinkling stars. She did not want to send the wrong message to Wang Tao and put herself in a compromising position.

Wang Tao laughed and leaned forward with his arm on the wall. “I’m not a tiger. I won’t eat you up.”

She smiled but did not change her stance.

He shrugged, feigning disappointment. “Alright then. Good night, my little beauty.” He walked back to the Bugatti Veyron and opened the driver’s seat door. Just before he entered the car, he turned and said, “You were the most beautiful of the ladies at the dinner party tonight.”

The smile widened on Xia Ling’s face. She knew that he was trying to make her happy, but her mood lifted a notch in hearing his compliment, numbing the pain from today’s events a little.

“I’ll give you a VIP seat for my concert.” She said.

“Thanks in advance.”

“Why aren’t you leaving yet?” She asked as she saw him lean his tall stature against his car.

“I’ll leave after you go into your house. Don’t you know that is what a gentleman should do?” Wang Tao gave a cheeky half-smile, which made him look more handsome. His family did not allow him to be part of the family business, and thus, all he did was dabble in fun, games and chase girls. He was very smooth with girls.

Xia Ling felt more attracted to Wang Tao, but not in a romantic way. She merely felt that it was comfortable being around him, and she did not feel held down by the burdens in life.

She waved to him and told him to be careful on the way home before she went into the house.

Wang Tao remained leaning on the car until he saw the lights in her bungalow switch on. He then got on the car and left.

Xia Ling’s ankle was severely swollen. While Wang Tao had helped to realign her bone at the dinner party venue, the injury did not recover quite so quickly. The abrasion on her elbow was also raw with blood seeping out.

She sat down on the sofa and surveyed her injuries. She had just moved over and had not prepared a first aid kit, so could not tend to the injuries. Should she go next door to borrow some antiseptic medication? That was not a possibility given who was living next door.

She cursed Old Master Li in her heart. How crooked was his mind to make her live next door to Pei Ziheng? She sighed as she removed her exquisite high-heels and hopped precariously barefooted across the cold, marble floor to the water feature. She dipped a towel into the cold water intending to clean her wounds.

The doorbell rang.

Her hand stopped midway through wringing the towel, a flash of happiness running through her mind. Did Li Lei come over here at this time of the night? He said that he was going to send her home but didn’t keep his promise. Was he here to apologize?

She threw the towel aside and hopped towards the door. In her urgency, she almost fell down again. She reached the door with difficulty but saw that it was Pei Ziheng outside the fence.

He was standing under a bush of ivy creepers, under the warm streetlamp next to the red wall.

His expression was unreadable, and she couldn’t tell if he was happy or angry. He stood tall as usual.

“Why are you here?” She asked but did not go to him.

“I recall that Li Lei does not have a Bugatti Veyron.” Pei Ziheng replied. “Another man sent you home. I came over to check if you are alright.” Since they were staying so close, he had told his security guards to monitor the movements in and out of her house. He was informed once she was sent home in the Bugatti.

Xia Ling said, “All is well.”

She was still barefooted, and her good foot was standing on the cold marble floor. The chilly ground made her toes curl up. She held onto the pillar in the doorway that was decorated with carved flowers to steady herself as a gust of wind blew through her thin evening gown, making her shiver.

Pei Ziheng frowned and commented, “Are you cold?”

She replied, “Yeah, I’m going in now.”

His gaze landed on her foot. “You’re injured?”

“… mmhmm.” There was no reason to keep her injury from this man. He would always rely on his judgment anyway, and since he was certain that she was injured, he would not believe her even if she said she wasn’t.

He said, “You can’t leave it like that. Let me have a look.”

He placed a hand on the low brick wall and flipped over it easily.

“You… !” She glared at him unhappily. “This is my house!”

“You’re injured.” He merely said patiently. “The wind is strong here. Let’s go inside. I’ll leave after tending to your injuries.” He knew that Old Master Li had arranged for her to stay here so that he could shower her with concern. He heard that there was a ceremony today to introduce suitable wives to Li Lei. If he didn’t take advantage of the situation now, he shouldn’t even try courting Xia Ling.

Xia Ling gave him a suspicious look.

Was he really going to leave after tending to her injuries?

“I can tend to my own injuries.”

“Do you know how to?” Pei Ziheng’s simple sentence rendered her speechless. He continued, “I’m doing this for your good. Are you going to open the door and let me in or do you want me to break in myself?”

Xia Ling knew that it was useless to convince him otherwise.

She opened the door dejectedly and coldly said, “Pei Ziheng, do you think I’ll be grateful to you if you do this and go back to your side?”

“I need to try before I know.” He said calmly and lowered his gaze to her elbow and ankle. He made a call to Nanny Zhou and asked her to bring the medicated ointment over.

Nanny Zhou brought the ointment over in no time.

Pei Ziheng helped Xia Ling to the sofa and carefully helped her to apply the ointment on the injured areas.

Both of them were silent.

“He’s gone for the ‘wife selection’ ceremony, and you’re still hung up over him?” She heard Pei Ziheng all of a sudden.

“He has his reasons for that.” Xia Ling responded in a low voice. She guessed that Li Lei was being forced into attending the ceremony and breaking his promise to send her home. Otherwise, she struggled to reconcile the fact that the person who had sacrificed half the blood in his body to pray for her safety would have a change of heart so quickly.

Pei Ziheng’s said in a deep voice. “I had my reasons for not marrying you in the past.”

She lifted her eyes to meet his gaze.

Under the warm lights in the living room, she could see the sadness in his eyes.

Xia Ling extracted her arm from his hands and said, “It’s different.” What difference was there? She could not articulate it and, suddenly, felt an emptiness in her heart.

Pei Ziheng said, “There’s nothing different at all… You know that. You don’t have to draw boundaries.”