A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

Get married as soon as possible?

She hadn’t even decided whether she wanted to reconcile with him or not, how could she even think about marriage?

She placed the cup of lemon-infused water on the table and poured at Wei Shaoyin. “You keep talking about things between me and your boss, but what about your own future? Do you plan to remain single all your life?”

“Music is my soulmate!” Wei Shaoyin raised his chin.

“You don’t want a physical partner?” Xia Ling asked.

Wei Shaoyin showed a look of disdain. “That sounds so crude, what do you mean physical partner? It’s so dirty, how do you even take it?”

Xia Ling was speechless. This was the most absurd reason to remain single that she had ever heard.

She was done talking to Wei Shaoyin and decided to start recording the song. They got it done in just one morning.

“Lunch together?” Wei Shaoyin asked.

Xia Ling looked at the time. “I’m meeting Feng Kun.”

Wei Shaoyin’s expression darkened and he shooed her out of the studio.

Xia Ling was on the way down to the car park when she noticed a flash of light from the corner of her eye, which seemed like a camera flash.

She stopped in her tracks.

She took a few steps back and kept herself concealed. She then took a mirror out from her bag and tried getting a glimpse of the surroundings and what lay behind her. This time it was obvious — there was a reporter squatting nearby.

She could not be sure whether the reporter was waiting for her. After all, this was Skyart’s building and tons of celebrities strutted in and out every day. But it would still pay to be a little more cautious; having been a Diva for so many years, she knew the troubles that a reporter could bring — especially when she was alone now without any assistants or employees.

Skyart and Phoenix Down were located very close to each other, and she hardly took anyone along when she came to Skyart.

Now that this had happened, she could only blame herself.

She backed off some more and planned to walk back to the elevator the same way, and then seek some refuge in Wei Shaoyin’s studio before getting Lin Yunan to send somebody to fetch her. However, she had only taken a few steps when she heard two people’s voice coming from the elevator’s direction — their footsteps were hasty and they sounded a little hurried. “What happened? Didn’t you say Ye Xingling had already come down? Where’s she?”

“This building is too huge, she may have left by another exit. Let’s try to find her again.”

“Alright, get Xiao Zhou to standby near the elevator landing, just in case she hasn’t come down yet.”

They walked in her direction as they spoke.

Xia Ling shrunk back into the shadows of a corridor and held her breath as they walked by her. The two people did not notice her, but now she was sure they were both reporters, although she had no idea why they were so fixated on finding her. Xia Ling sensed something was wrong and tried to find a way to escape.

The elevator landing was now guarded, and there were people around in the car park.

From the way they spoke, it seemed like the other exits were all guarded as well.

She thought of the fire exit, could she possibly access the building through it? There was only one way to find out. She kept a lookout of her surroundings as she walked towards the fire exit. Finally, she tugged at the knob and realized that it was locked.

“Li Lei, you jerk!” She couldn’t help but chide Skyart’s big boss. How could the fire exit be locked for no reason?! What if there was a fire?! How could this man have no safety awareness at all?! How was she…

How was she supposed to escape now!

Xia Ling was on the verge of tears.

“Ye Xingling! She’s there!” Out of the blue, she heard a surprised exclamation.

She turned around and saw that the two reporters from before had returned after making a round and were walking toward her. Shocked by this scene, Xia Ling tried tugging at the door again, but to no avail.

This was the only option left. Since it was inaccessible, it seemed like there was no escape.

The two reporters rushed toward her, “Miss Ye, please hold on! We’d like to interview you! What’s your relationship with Mr. Li Lei? Are you still together?”

What… what’s going on?!

Xia Ling did not expect that so many reporters were after her just for this question. Not wanting any gossip or scandal to fester, she slammed against the door even more anxiously. “Open up! Hurry, open up!” She was muttering to herself in anger, “Li Lei, you jerk! I’ll sue you for this fire hazard once I’m out of here!”

She was in a fluster.

The reporters were getting closer and Xia Ling had not succeeded in getting the door open. This was getting hopeless, it seemed like there was no escaping them…

She turned around and took a deep breath as she faced the reporters rushing toward her. All of a sudden, the door behind her opened, and a strong arm dragged her in before the door was locked once again.

“Ah!” Xia Ling was startled.

“Shh, it’s me.” It was a familiar voice.

Xia Ling looked up and saw that it was Li Lei, in a comfortable outfit and a cap that was lowered to cover his face. He had one arm around her waist and a key in the other hand.

The reporters began knocking on the door, “Miss Ye, please open the door!”

“Miss Ye, don’t run! We just want to ask two questions!”

“Miss Ye, are you really dating Mr. Li?”

Li Lei put a finger to his lip, gesturing for her to keep silent as he held her hand and led her up the stairs quietly. By the time they reached the third floor, she was already panting — it was tiring walking in those heels.

Li Lei quietly said, “Let’s take a break.” He removed his jacket and let her sit on it.

She did as he suggested without even thinking twice.

She heard the two reporters conversing outside the door. “She’s not on this floor.” They tried opening the door to the stairs. “The stairway is locked, and she doesn’t have the key to escape by this route. It seems like she must have gone to a higher floor. We’ll just have to search floor by floor.”

They took off.

Li Lei stood near the door to make sure there was nobody else outside, before taking his cellphone out. “Security department? Please help me privatize elevator no.3 of the recording studio building… Yes, besides me, nobody is allowed to scan their cards and access it.” A while later, he responded, “Thank you so much.”

He hung up and told Xia Ling, “You take a rest, I’ll check it out.”

He opened the door with his key and cautiously went on to check the corridors outside. He then returned and helped her up. “Hang in there for a bit more, we’ll take the elevator up.”

She nodded and followed him into the elevator.

Ding! — elevator no.3 was not in access.

“We’re safe now, nobody else can get this elevator door open.”

Only then did Xia Ling heave a sigh of relief. “What a scare, those reporters are mad.” Then, something hit her and she glared at Li Lei. “And you, why did you lock up the fire exit? What if there’s a fire in the building? Everyone’s going to be burnt alive!”

Li Lei smiled innocently. “Yup, the fire exit is always left unlocked. I got somebody to lock it up when I saw some reporters coming in earlier. Otherwise, they’d definitely be stationed at the exits waiting for you. How were you going to escape then?”