A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

Xia Ling appeared on stage.

She was dressed in her stage costume and sparkled on stage with her beauty, her alluring gaze sweeping across the audience, eliciting screams wherever she turned.

She started to sing.

It was a melody that was more moving than any before.

The moment she released the first note from her lips, Bai Murong sat up straight in his seat, his expression turning grave. This girl would always bring her singing up a notch just when the world thought she was at her limit of perfection. She was a creator of miracles when it came to singing. That opening note tugged at his heartstrings so strongly that he was sure that tonight…

She would be the star.

As expected, Xia Ling’s singing was astonishing, using the falsetto that she recovered from her previous life with ease and matching it to the style of the current song. The effect of this was way more than a mere 1+1=2 equation. Everyone was transfixed by her voice.

The more Bai Murong listened, the more shocked he became.

His expression changed with the course of the song. Looking at the girl on stage now so full of arrogance and poise, shining in the limelight, it seemed to confirm his suspicions — A few months ago during the Heavenly Voice Music Festival preliminaries, they had sung “Powerful Opponent” as a duet and she purposefully…

Pushed him to break past the bottleneck and achieve a breakthrough in his singing.

Bai Murong could hardly contain himself and raised the beer can to his lips and took a huge swig.

Beside him, Lu Tao and Leng Hui were completely enthralled by Xia Ling’s performance. That girl seemed to have magical powers, and even singers that sang a completely different genre from her would be pulled into the emotions that she put into her songs and fall for her.

The entire audience stared riveted at her.

Only Bai Murong was distanced and shaking from his thoughts. He had suddenly thought of something that frightened him. He had not realized that when they were singing “Powerful Opponent,” not only did she help him to achieve greater heights in his singing, but had also purposefully pulled herself back in the recording studio!

If she hadn’t pulled back.

Then, she would have completely overshadowed Bai Murong with her spectacular voice.

If that was the case, there was no way that they could record a masterpiece like “Powerful Opponent.”

Bai Murong took another huge swig of the beer. He was a veteran in the industry for more than 10 years and considered his voice to be as close to the benchmark of perfection as it could be. He had never thought that anyone would overshadow him in the recording studio. This mere thought was frightening.

However, Xia Ling was such a person.

She had pulled back to let him shine and did all this so discretely. When they were recording the song, he had never felt her dominance like she was a queen ruling over all!

She was like…

A Phoenix! A Phoenix flying high up in the sky, looking resplendent and watching everyone down below.

Bai Murong looked up at the girl on stage with her head held high and subconsciously crushed the beer can in his hand such that the beer spilled out of it.

In front of her, all other singers had to bow their heads.

Even someone so indifferent about things like Leng Hui, and the outspoken, ostentatious Lu Tao, were completely taken at this moment watching her.

Bai Murong had a strong feeling that Xia Ling was like a Phoenix, and they were mere skylarks. Skylarks were meant to look up to the Phoenix — she deserved all the praise and reverence!

Onstage, Xia Ling finished her song and bowed to thank the audience.

The audience erupted in cheers.

“Encore! Encore!”

“Xiao Ling! Encore!”

The audience chanted this resoundingly to a fixed beat in the entire stadium.

Xia Ling didn’t follow the usual routine of singing an encore, but rather stood in the middle of the stage and looked up in a specific direction.

The noise from the crowd started to quieten down and many looked in the same direction that she did.

The concert director instructed a lighting technician to shine a spotlight in her direction of sight. It was to a mysterious VIP box in the corner. Xia Ling raised her microphone in the direction of the VIP box.

She stayed like this for a few seconds

All her fans could not understand what she meant by this action until a man walked out from the VIP box. It was… Bai Murong!

“Murong, Murong!”

“Bai Murong!”

There was a huge reaction from the crowd as many started to cheer in excitement, the noise deafening.

Bai Murong was dressed in a simple white shirt with the two top-most buttons unbuttoned. He leaned lazily against the VIP box entrance, his charming eyes glinting with a smile. He looked extremely attractive.

The two of them exchanged a long glance across the dark expanse of the stadium.

The cheers from the fans became even louder. They had not expected that the other party of the largest bet in the entertainment circle for the year would be present at the concert today. Bai Murong had come to watch Ye Xingling’s concert!

Now that the concert had ended, who was the winner?

The staff quickly passed a microphone to Bai Murong.

Bai Murong didn’t take the microphone from them but instead pushed the staff member away and walked towards the stage. His steps were slow but elegant and confident, with an inexplicable reverence. He walked through the cheering audience stands until he reached the stage as if he was on a pilgrimage.

Xia Ling had already lowered the arm that was pointed to him.

They stood face-to-face, and while she had to lift her head to look him in the eye given that he was taller than her by a head, she heard Bai Murong say, “You’ve won.”

It was a simple phrase but had so much packed into it.

The audience started to discuss animatedly amongst themselves. Xia Ling’s fans had not expected Bai Murong to admit defeat so easily. After all, concerts were not competitions, and it was difficult to set a standard on what would be good criteria to judge it on. Even if Xia Ling had sung exceedingly well and was popular beyond belief, if Bai Murong and his fans didn’t agree that she had done better, then there would still be no conclusion on the matter.

Surprisingly, Bai Murong had admitted defeat here and now.

Without an ounce of delay or hesitation.

He got down on one knee in front of Xia Ling in a mark of respect.

The stadium became quiet. Some were stunned to silence, whereas others were busy taking photos, and still others were texting their friends about all that was happening.

Similar pandemonium was breaking out online with many of Bai Murong’s fans being unable to accept what had happened.

“Murong is wonderful! How could he have lost?!”

“How can he bow down to Ye Xingling? She can’t even hold a candle to his female co-stars!”

“Our Murong is the best! He can’t have lost!”

“It’s fake news! It has to be fake news!”

While Bai Murong was still in his half-kneeling position onstage, a battle had erupted online.

Xia Ling lowered her head to look at him and asked, “Are you going to sing ‘Conquered’?” She was not surprised at this outcome. In fact, she had learned from her staff earlier that Bai Murong had gotten tickets from them to watch her live. She guessed then that there were only two outcomes — Bai Murong would not kneel, or he would kneel down to her at the concert.

He had come specially to support her and to create a more spectacular outcome for her with all the talk.

If she showed her mettle, he would show his reverence.

Her exquisite small face broke into a smile as she said, “Go ahead and sing.”