A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

The next few days were uneventful.

Although Xia Ling often pulled a long face, she was more willing to talk to Li Lei now. They usually spoke about day-to-day stuff and appeared like a family. Under Li Lei’s protection, there were no more accidents for the rest of the journey, and they managed to reach the mountain peak safely.

The mountain peak was a flat platform covered by glistening snow.

Li Lei determined their position with his compass and accurately dug a deep, narrow pit at the center of the peak. The three of them stood around the pit and carefully placed the wishing knot in it.

Xia Ling said, “Exactly seven weeks from now, the wishing knot will melt along with the snow. By then, the world will accept that the three of us are one family unit, and we’ll be able to announce Shaohui’s actual identity.”

This was what Xia Moyan had told them before they left for the mountain.

The other two knew about this as well and nodded their heads.

The three of them worked together to fill the pit with the ice they had dug out earlier. Shaohui clapped his hands when they were done and said, “This is great, in seven weeks I’ll be able to acknowledge Dad and Mom as my parents!”

Xia Ling smiled and ruffled his hair.

The journey back was smooth as well.

Since they had already accomplished their task, the rule stating “no outsiders’ help” was no longer in effect. Hence, Li Lei got a helicopter to pick them up from the mountain peak directly.

Their journey to the mountain had come to a good end.

Xia Ling gave Xia Moyan a call to inform him of the good news.

Xia Moyan simply replied “okay,” as if the outcome was expected. After he hung up, he finally revealed a smile on his usually expressionless face without Xia Ling knowing. He left the house immediately and went to inform his parents.

On the other side, Xia Ling’s days were eventful but leisurely.

She took Shaohui to all sorts of places — concerts, filming sets, television stations, shopping… he was always caught on camera. Mother and child were always in matching outfits and seemed to be very close to each other.

Little Shaohui was not camera-shy at all — even if the paparazzi suddenly made their appearance, he would smile sweetly. His adorable and innocent look made everyone fond of him, and he soon had tons of followers and fans.

Shaohui’s photos went viral online.

Lin Yunan did not like where this was going. “Using a child to gain popularity? This is a strategy used by outdated celebrities and celebrities no longer loved by the audience. You’re still far from that stage but are already using this strategy, don’t you find it a disgrace?”

Xia Ling said, “… You mean, I should only do this when I’m no longer popular?”

Lin Yunan looked at Little Shaohui standing beside her and the baby chub that he still had. He was engrossed in eating candy floss. “Well, by the time you’re unpopular, your child won’t be cute anymore. It’d be wiser if you just adopt another one.”

Xia Ling laughed.

In fact, Xia Ling wasn’t taking Shaohui around to boost her popularity — given her current standing, there was absolutely no need for that. She was doing this so that there’d be an easier transition when their family acknowledged one another in seven weeks’ time. When they first left the mountain, Xia Ling had already discussed an issue with Li Lei: Little Shaohui was their biological son, but when did they give birth to him? Where? How? This would be hard to explain to the public.

Xia Ling was a celebrity, and everyone knew that she had only been pregnant once. That time, the child she delivered was “Pei Ziheng’s son.” So where did this second biological son come from?

Li Lei made his stand clear. He felt that it was better for them to be honest to the media and the public — they should explain that the child she had back then was Li Lei’s, not Pei Ziheng’s, and that the child had not passed on.

But Xia Ling was not for it. “That’s not nice.”

Regardless of the reason back then, Pei Ziheng had agreed for her to deliver the child and had even given the child the Pei family name. If they exposed that lie now, how was Pei Ziheng supposed to explain himself to his family and to the commercial world?

He was going to be mocked at for being a cuckold his whole life.

Li Lei was a little bothered. “Xiao Ling, at this point, you’re still concerned for him? If he had not forced you to stay by his side, would all these have happened?”

Xia Ling looked up at him. “Li Lei, you had your grievances, and I had mine. I did not interfere with whatever you had between you and Su Tang, so I hope you’ll respect my decision with regards to Pei Ziheng.”

With that, Li Lei kept quiet.

He felt as if something had pricked his heart, and it was stinging.

Maybe this was life. Besides the sweet parts of a relationship, there were also compromise and negotiation involved. It wasn’t easy to maintain a relationship, even if there was love.

She was right. Since she could tolerate having Su Tang’s child registered under his family name, what right did he have to insist that she exposed Pei Ziheng’s lie?

“We’ll think of something else.” He said.

Xia Ling heaved a sigh of relief and toned down, “Thank you, Li Lei.”

“What for?” He smiled and concealed his unhappiness.

Hence, she smiled as well.

Both of them came up with an idea that would help explain Shaohui’s identity, and the first step to this was for Xia Ling to take him out and make him appear to the public often.

She did the first step well.

It was about time they got started on the second step.

On this day, she took Shaohui to the office early in the morning. She postponed all other meetings and deadlines and spent the time playing with him in the office, awaiting something.

Not too long after, Lin Yunan came to look for her with an odd expression on his face. “Xiao Ling, there’s a lady outside who claims to be Shaohui’s biological mother. She tried to get the security officers to let her through, and even got captured by reporters.”

This was not a surprise to Xia Ling.

But in front of Lin Yunan who knew nothing about their scheme, she had to put up an act. “What? Shaohui’s biological mother?!” She stood up in shock. “What’s going on?!”

Lin Yunan’s expression got even odder. “I’d already told you not to take him around and show him off so much, but you wouldn’t listen. The lady said she saw a photo of him online, and insists that this is her child who went missing about a year ago — that’s about the same time as when you adopted him.”

Xia Ling looked at Lin Yunan as if she was trying to process what he said.

She started walking out. “Whatever it is, we need to go and take a look. We can’t let her make a scene.”

Lin Yunan hurriedly caught up with her. “That’s what I thought too. I’ve already brought her to the meeting room.”