A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

Xia Ling knew what he was referring to.

She had gone to so much trouble with handling Shaohui’s identity, just so that the public would not find out that he was the same child that she had had under Pei Ziheng’s name. The whole setup took her much time and effort to plan.

As for Pei Ziheng, he saw through it immediately.

She smiled. “There’s nothing much to thank me for.” She did not make a move to accept his gift.

He was still standing at the gate. “You’re not going to invite me in?”

She simply said, “It’s not convenient.”

He looked down at her. He was hardly ever rejected by anyone in his life, yet even as she challenged his authority and power time and again, he could not do anything about it. But it was alright… they were destined to be entwined with one another for the rest of their lives. He was sure that she still had a place for him in her heart. Otherwise, why would she go to this much trouble for him?

And, she was not with Li Lei yet.

Nothing was set in stone.

He would take everything back.

With a gracious smile, Pei Ziheng placed the gift box in her hands and said, “I’ll leave the gift with you. If you need any help, look for me.” He left without giving her a chance to respond.

Xia Ling saw his back view disappear into another villa before she took the large hamper into the house. She opened the gift box and saw that it was a splendid nightgown; it was very much like him to give her something like this. The design and color were elegant and extravagant, with brilliant details.

The most crucial part was, it suited her wonderfully.

Still, she had no intention to wear it. She dragged the nightgown upstairs and placed it in a storage room — over the years, Pei Ziheng had given her too many things for her to fit into a storage box, and she had to move them into a room instead. Everything in the room wasn’t going to be used anytime; they were just memories sealed in the past.

“Mom, did Uncle Pei give you something again?” Little Shaohui had suddenly appeared in the storage room beside her.

“Yup.” It didn’t have to be kept from him. “Don’t let your Dad know.”

Little Shaohui nodded obediently. Truth be told, Dad already knew what lay in the storage room and had even tried urging him to take some things out and throw them away.

Little Shaohui decided he could not do something like that — and more importantly, Uncle had instructed him to let his father feel a sense of threat sometimes. Dad had bullied Mom for years, he couldn’t let him have her so easily. Little Shaohui did not agree with his perspective, but…

He dared not go against Uncle.

So Dad would have to bear the brunt of this.

As such, the storage room still existed until now.

Before Xia Ling closed the door, she scanned the room — everything Pei Ziheng had given her was expensive and valuable. She let out a quiet sigh and remembered a poem: “If only life were always like the very first encounter.”

If only it was, how nice would that be.

With Pei Ziheng out of the picture, she often took Shaohui out to play, went on dates with Li Lei, and even visited Old Master Li every so often for a meal or tea. It seemed like Old Master Li was really beginning to accept her — each time she was there, he would make sure Su Tang wasn’t around. She noticed that and did feel a little moved by his efforts.

Maybe Li Lei was right, he was a good grandfather indeed.

Until something happened.

That day, Xia Ling went home after a day of work. It was already late at night and extremely quiet all around.

She went upstairs to see Shaohui, only to realize that he wasn’t there. She frowned a little. It was late, why was he not sleeping? Back in the hallway, she called out, “Shaohui?”

Still no response.

She went back downstairs to take a look, but he wasn’t around either.

Xia Ling started to get anxious and woke the nanny up. “Where’s Little Young Master Shaohui? Did you see him?”

The nanny was puzzled. “Little Young Master? Isn’t he in the bedroom? I only came back to rest after tucking him into bed.” She followed Xia Ling to take a look, but he wasn’t there.

The nanny was getting worried too and joined Xia Ling in around for him.

He was nowhere to be found.

Her heart was pounding and a bad feeling began surging inside her. She was about to call Li Lei when her phone started ringing — it was an unknown number.

“Hello?” She picked up.

The other end was Old Master’s voice, “Ye Xingling?”

“Old Master?” Xia Ling was all worried about Shaohui but still did her best to remain courteous to this elder. “Is anything the matter? Could you call back in a while? I’m busy—”

“Looking for that child Shaohui?” Old Master’s voice was calm and collected.

Xia Ling’s heart almost leaped out of her chest. “How did you know? Where is he?!”

“He’s safe for now, don’t worry.” Old Master sounded a little different from usual. He sounded colder, more ruthless. “Miss Ye, I’m curious as to how much you love this child. Would you give up your supposed love for this child?”

Xia Ling felt her head buzzing. “What?”

Old Master’s voice got even colder. “Honestly, I didn’t like you the first time I saw you, and I still don’t. This period of time, I’ve been putting on a front of accepting you, but this is only to make Xiao Lei feel better. And…” He sneered. “So that Xiao Lei wouldn’t suspect me when I send somebody to kidnap Shaohui.”

“You kidnapped Shaohui?!” Xia Ling felt like her world was going to collapse. So, all the harmony that they had achieved was just a lie? She had fallen into his well-plotted trap. “What… do you want? What does it take for you to return him to me?” She asked with a trembling voice, even though she could already guess the answer.

Alas, Old Master said, “Leave Li Lei.”

She bit her lip. “What if, I can’t?”

“I got someone to email you a video. If you’re interested, you can have a look.” Old Master spoke slowly. “Maybe, it’ll be better to negotiate with me after you’ve taken a look at it.”

Xia Ling dashed to her laptop before she even hung up. Indeed, there was a video file lying in her inbox. With trembling fingers, she opened the file and saw a horrifying scene — Little Shaohui was stripped naked, and his arms were held up by a set of handcuffs hanging from the center of the ceiling. He was blindfolded as a man dressed in a black suit caned him.

Shaohui’s expression was distorted with pain as red lines emerged on his skin.

“No!” Xia Ling screamed. She seemed to have lost her senses as grabbed her phone once again. “Li Shanhe, what are you doing to him?! He’s only a child!” Her voice was so shrill, it no longer sounded like her. Now, all her horrid memories from her previous lives flooded her mind once again. Her vision began spotting as she almost lost her footing.