A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

The two of them walked for a bit in the snow.

It was a distance before Li Lei stepped onto something hard, something that did not feel like snow. He stopped in his tracks.

Xia Ling asked, “What’s wrong?”

Li Lei did not say anything. He bent over and, with trembling hands, dug into the snow. Having been out on battlefields for years before, he already made a guess — it felt like a corpse that had chilled and hardened. He prayed hard that it wasn’t his biological son buried beneath.

Thankfully, it wasn’t.

Under that layer of snow was a random stranger’s face, distorted but frozen in a moment of shock and panic. Seeing the outfit he was in and the luminous bangle on his wrist, Li Lei identified the corpse — this was one of the people who followed them and eventually caused the avalanche.

He told Xia Ling about it.

Xia Ling had mixed feelings. On one hand, she felt sympathy as she looked at how tragically he had died. On the other, there was some gloating and anger towards him — after all, wasn’t their actions that caused the avalanche? If not for the avalanche, would Shaohui have gone missing?

By the time she snapped out of her daze, Li Lei had already dug deeper into the icy ground.

Beneath the surface were more corpses, all belonging to the same group of people.

Xia Ling went over to help dig even deeper. There was a fear she couldn’t put into words, and she could only wish that all the snow could melt away, just so she could confirm that Shaohui wasn’t buried deep under.

She would rather not find him at all than discover his body.

As she had hoped, Shaohui was not any of the corpses that they had dug up in the vicinity. Xia Ling heaved a long sigh of relief and let herself collapse to the ground, tired.

The chilly winds coming from all directions had tangled her hair, and she did not know whether she was sweating or if it was melted ice stiffening the knots.

Li Lei searched the belongings of the deceased and gathered all the food and medical supplies he could find. Given the aftermath of the avalanche, their descent to the foot of the mountain was sure to be delayed, and having more supplies was an advantage.

After that was done, he said to Xia Ling, “Let’s go, we’ll continue looking for Shaohui.”

She took one last look at the corpses lying around and tried her best not to picture how Shaohui could possibly look like by now. Both of them covered a great distance, but still did not see Shaohui at all. They began walking in another direction — this time, they saw a child’s glove lying in a pit.

“That’s Shaohui’s glove!” Xia Ling walked there hurriedly and picked it up. She couldn’t be wrong, she was the one who put it on for him.

She put it back down and searched the surroundings, digging at the layers of snow…

And yet, the glove was the only thing they found.

Her hope vanished instantly, and it felt even worse than if there was no hope to begin with. Xia Ling felt every ounce of energy in her evaporate as she plonked onto the icy ground, tears welling up.

Her child was still so young, so vulnerable against the forces of nature. Without the protection of an adult, how was he going to survive…

A hand rested on her shoulder lightly.

“Shaohui will be alright.” Li Lei said.

This time, it did not offer her any assurance. She turned towards him and glared angrily. “Why didn’t you save him?! Why didn’t you save him during the avalanche?! He’s so young, he’s still a child! You’re his father! You’re his father, do you know that?! Why didn’t you save him?!”

She cried incessantly.

Li Lei’s hand tightened into a grip, but he remained silent.

It was an emergency situation, and his first instinct was to keep her in his arms and protect her. If he had to make a choice between mother and son, he would have chosen her. Cruel as it was, and even if it meant that he was an irresponsible father, he would still make the same decision if given a second chance.

If he lost her, what meaning was there left in his life?

But she did not understand that. She cried and slapped his arm away. “You’re not fit to be his father!”

Li Lei took it all in without refuting her.

He looked up and saw that the sky had darkened slightly. “Xiao Ling, we’ve got to look for a place to stay the night. Otherwise, we’ll freeze here.”

She choked on her tears. “I’m going to look for Shaohui!” She struggled to stand and began staggering off.

He grabbed her and pulled her into an embrace. “Be good!”

She tried to wrench herself out of his embrace. “I’m going to look for him! What if he’s still alive… he must be alive! But it’s so cold in the night, what’s he going to do? What if he can’t hold it out till tomorrow morning?!”

“It’s so dark in the mountains, how are you going to find him?!” Li Lei raised his voice. “Xia Ling, you’d better listen to me and find a place to rest at! You want to look for him? Fine! I’ll go! If you fall into a pit or go missing, how am I going to account to Shaohui when he gets back?!”

Only then did she stop crying and look up at him.

“You’ll go?” She asked with some hesitation.

Li Lei held her hand and walked on. “I know how to survive out in the wild, it’ll be safer if I go. I’ll look for a safe spot for you to rest, and tomorrow, I’ll bring him to you.”

He sounded confident and convincing.

Xia Ling did not say anything. She simply hung her head low and followed him.

They walked for a long time before reaching a hiding spot, a cave-like structure.

Once they entered, Li Lei started a fire for her and left.

Xia Ling watched him walk in the chilly wind; that handsome man looked so small against the majestic nature. She suddenly regretted her actions — she should not have lost her temper at him. It wasn’t his fault that the child went missing, and it was already tough on him to keep her safe.

“Li Lei!” She dashed out and called.

He turned around and she saw his torch flicker.

“Don’t…” She hesitated before going on. “Don’t look for Shaohui. It’s too dangerous at night, we’ll look for him together tomorrow morning.” She was worried about Shaohui, but she was worried for him as well.

Li Lei smiled upon hearing her words, and all the hurt in his eyes faded. “I’ll be fine,” he said. “The first 72 hours are considered the golden time for rescue. I have to get to Shaohui as soon as possible. Xiao Ling, I’m not trying to pit myself against you, I’m being serious. It’s dangerous in the night, but not to the extent where I can’t be out on my own. I survive well in the wild, don’t worry.”

With that, he vanished into the wind.