A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

“Hmph, do I need her in order to improve by leaps and bounds?” Ye Xingfei was fuming mad. “She was never as good as me in the first place! Back then, I was the one who scored well enough to get into the training camp! The school just took her in on my behalf! Why would I beg a woman who’s not even at my standard?!”

But Liu Li disagreed. “Feifei, don’t you know that we should look at things in the present? Even if you did way better than Miss Ling back then, she’s the one who’s become a Diva now. Don’t talk about your entrance score anymore, do you know a lot of our classmates are saying…”

Liu Li stopped mid-sentence.

“What do I not know?” Ye Xingfei asked impatiently.

Liu Li hesitated, unsure of whether to go on.

“Tell me!” Ye Xingfei hurried her. “Liu Li, am I still a friend to you!”

Liu Li had no choice but to go on. “Feifei, a lot of our classmates are saying that Miss Ling has incredible talent and that it’s evident to everyone. The only reason she could’ve scored lower than you back then was that… the examiners must’ve been blind.”

“What?!” Ye Xingfei was angry and shocked. “How could they say that? They’re the ones who’re blind! Did they know who my examiner was! It was Tan Ying! Chairman Tan! How could Chairman Tan be blind?!”

“Feifei, don’t be like this…” Liu Li tried appeasing Ye Xingfei, who was beyond agitated.

Out of the blue, they heard a faint laugh. “Haha, I was blind indeed.”

The high and mighty voice lined with sarcasm got the two girls to turn around. They saw Tan Ying holding a huge stack of files, and he simply said, “Please excuse me.”

Ye Xingfei and Liu Li made way for him in shock.

“C-Chairman Tan!” Ye Xingfei called him just as he was about to disappear into the distance. “You said, you… you were blind?” She asked incredulously.

“Yes.” Tan Ying admitted easily, not the least bit embarrassed. “My vision must have been clouded when I saw Ye Xingling back then. The biggest mistake I’ve made in my life was almost selling her to Imperial Entertainment.” He thought for a while before smiling at Ye Xingfei. “If you really want me to pick, a hundred of you can’t even hold a candle to Ye Xingling’s fingertip.”

Ye Xingfei’s eyes widened in disbelief as she staggered backward.

No… how was this possible?!

Chairman Tan actually said that a hundred of her couldn’t hold a candle to Ye Xingling’s fingertip! Was she really trash?

She… was indignant!

“Feifei! Feifei!” Liu Li looked at her, concerned. “Are you alright? Don’t take Chairman Tan’s words to heart, maybe he just isn’t in a good mood today? You’re actually very outstanding, you…”

“Ye Xingling.” Ye Xingfei uttered this name through clenched teeth.

Liu Li was frightened by her terrifying expression.

Ye Xingfei said, “I will definitely surpass Ye Xingling and prove to the world that I’m the best!”

If Xia Yu was here, she would definitely have told her not to do something so silly. Back then, Xia Yu had also tried to surpass her dazzling sister. She ended up spending so much of her life chasing in the trails of her sister, only to find out eventually that it was an impossible task. Her sister was too good for her, and it had all been a hopeless dream.

What a pity that Xia Yu wasn’t here.

Ye Xingfei was still an immature little girl who thought that she could achieve anything in this world as long as she tried hard enough. She clenched her fists in determination and swore that one day, she would walk all over her sister!

“Fight!” She shouted.

On the other end of the hallway, Tan Ying smiled.

Not too long ago, Li Lei had instructed him to agitate Ye Xingfei. He was to make her face the reality that she was nowhere as good as her sister so that she’d stop being so disrespectful. Now, although Ye Xingfei still detested Xia Ling, she knew full well that her sister was way ahead of her in terms of achievements. Only when she realized that would she work hard.

Tan Ying did not want Ye Xingfei, who was considerably talented, to waste her potential.

He’d let this girl work hard for her goal. Then, when she improved herself and was in a position closer to her sister’s achievements, maybe she’d finally realize the difficulties her sister had faced.

While things were getting ugly here, Xia Ling completed her shoot on the other side.

When she was done, she dragged her tired self to the lounge and removed her makeup. Meanwhile, her assistant Wei Wei walked in and gave her the latest updates. “Hua Yu Financial Firm called today and asked if you could reconsider your decision regarding their opening ceremony—they really hope that you will be present on the day… Reporter Liu of the Entertainment People magazine called to ask if you’re available for a special interview anytime soon… Nebula Television Station has come up with the guestlist for their end-of-year banquet and asked if you’d be willing to share a table with Mr. Zheng Chenhao from Imperial…”

Every point and detail was presented clearly by Wei Wei.

Xia Ling listened while she removed her makeup and gave her comments here and there. In no time, most of the items on the checklist were roughly settled. “Oh right,” Xia Ling asked as she removed her earrings, eyes still on the mirror. “How are things at Skyart training camp?” She’d stirred some things up for them the day before.

Wei Wei couldn’t help but laugh. “The news reported it. It said that you went back to give a seminar as an alumnus on the topic of artistic ethics and even emphasized on the attire in the camp, the discipline, and more. A lot of middle-aged mothers were very happy to learn about it. They were always worried that their children would go astray when they idolized celebrities, and now they’re saying that if their children had to idolize someone, they’d want it to be Miss Ye Xingling, someone who has both talent and morals.”

Xia Ling was speechless. Talent and morals, what?

In any case, she was surprised that she had the support of middle-aged mothers. To a female celebrity, middle-aged women were the hardest target audience for them to impress and gain support from. This audience was hypercritical and nitpicked at everything when it came to female celebrities—they could even criticize one at length just for wearing a bare-back outfit to a red carpet ceremony.

Xia Ling wasn’t all too popular with this group of audience, but it seemed like now there was some good result.

Wei Wei put her notebook down and helped her remove her hair accessories. She smiled. “Sister Xiao Ling, a national goddess needs to gain the support of everyone, regardless of age and gender. You used to be extremely popular among young men, and now you even managed to impress so many mothers. In the entire entertainment industry, I don’t think anyone is as ‘national’ as you are!”

Xia Ling wasn’t as excited as her, though. “Any other news?”

Wei Wei said, “No, that’s all.”

Xia Ling said, “How’s the situation regarding the new disciplinary committee member I appointed?”

Wei Wei was shocked. What committee member? She did not even know about such a minor thing. But since Xia Ling asked, she had to check it out. She came back to report her findings once she was done. “The committee member Hua Mei’er has been pretty badly bullied by her classmates. Everyone’s blaming her for offending Boss Li, and causing everyone to be wearing boring clothes!”

“Blaming her for offending Li Lei?” Xia Ling was confused. “Isn’t it for offending me?”

Wei Wei did a more detailed check and said, “Boss Li protected you very well. He didn’t mention your name throughout. Now the students are all saying that Boss is being too strict, but nobody’s directing their unhappiness at you.”