A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

Xia Ling didn’t just sit back and watch.

She asked Li Lei, “Exactly how many sets of outfits were purchased by Su Tang for you?”

Li Lei blinked and gritted his teeth as he responded, “Well… almost… almost all of them.” With his busy schedule as the family’s young master, where was he going to find the time for the menial task of shopping? Moreover, Su Tang was meticulous and would purchase everything he needed every season. Since he was young, he had been used to having his outfits ready for him. It was as natural as having food on the table and water to drink. Even though he was most distant from Su Tang in recent years, and prevented her from managing his wardrobe, he had been lazy to buy new stuff and was wearing all the old clothes that she purchased before.

Xia Ling lost her temper. Dragging him back to the apartment, she opened the closet and went through each and every outfit, throwing away everything that Su Tang had bought. Li Lei’s expression was blank as he saw the empty closet. What was he to do? He had a meeting with one of the big military ammunition dealers the next day, and there was nothing for him to wear to the negotiations!

Xia Ling threw him a random t-shirt. “Wear this for the time being.” He had no suits left, just casual outfits.

Staring at the cute teddy bear design on the t-shirt, Li Lei could only resign to his fate.

Xia Ling announced: “I’ll be responsible for buying all your clothes in the future! You’re not allowed to let any other woman do so, do you understand?” She was already thinking of going to the tailor and purchasing suits for all four seasons, as well as accessories, socks, and shoes. Hmm… she should go to the Li Family headquarters and clear out the closet there as well…

And how was she going to deal with all the old clothes that Su Tang bought?

Hur Hur, Hur Hur, Hur Hur Hur…

Xia Ling laughed sinisterly. The next day, she really made a trip to the Li Family headquarters.

Even though the headquarters was now headed up by Li Lei, he was still concerned about her safety. He sent Ah Nuo to accompany her as her bodyguard and sent Tan Ying as well to do everything she bade.

Tan Ying cringed as he watched her swagger into the headquarters, go through Li Lei’s closet excessively, throwing out everything including the suits he wore in his childhood. She then instructed the staff to find an empty basement storeroom to store all of the clothes. Tan Ying was of the view that if not for the fact that burning clothes was inauspicious, she would have done so in a blink of an eye.

Women were scary.

Especially jealous women.

Rumors were rife in the headquarters, saying that the future missus hated Su Tang, and this was an act to stake her claim and show Su Tang who was boss. Some staff that were closer to Su Tang called her to inform her of what Xia Ling was up to, exaggerating most of the facts.

But so what if Su Tang knew?

Xia Ling was the future missus. And she? She was just someone that was instructed to take care of the young master since he was a child. Su Tang hung up and sat in a daze, recalling all that she had done for Li Lei out of love all these years. Her tears started to fall without warning.

“Mama!” Li Rui suddenly ran into the room, shouting angrily. “Jennifer from next door said that I’m a fatherless child! I gave her a good beating! Her face is all scratched up, but she deserves it! That stupid old butler of hers is here to pin blame on me! Don’t pay them anything! Hmph!”

As he shouted, one of the maids came into the room as well. “Miss, Young Master Rui scratched Miss Jennifer’s face. It’s quite serious and might leave a scar. The butler from next door is here to seek an explanation.”

This was an expensive neighborhood, and everyone staying here was of high standing. Jennifer’s father was the heir to a multinational conglomerate and the current Pacific Asia CEO. Jennifer was his only daughter and he doted on her excessively. And her son had scratched up her face such that it might leave a scar?! This was a grave matter that she might not be able to handle.

Su Tang hurriedly said, “I’ll come to have a look.”

She scolded Li Rui. “You troublemaker!”

Li Rui was shocked by her harsh words. He glanced over at his mother and realized that her face was streaked with tears and her makeup was a mess. He started to cry. The maid caught sight of Su Tang’s face as well and her expression turned to shock. She had never seen Miss Su Tang cry. What was wrong with her today?

Su Tang realized that something was amiss. She reached out and wiped away her tears, glaring at Li Rui and the maid sternly. “What’s there to look at?! Get out, all of you! Get out!”

Seeing her close to hysterics, the maid dragged Li Rui out of the room.

She was so scary…

So the elegant Miss Tang had such an ugly and angry side to her?

Su Tang covered her face and cried out loud in the room.

On the other side, at the Li Family headquarters.

Xia Ling finally cleared out all of Li Lei’s old clothes and was feeling accomplished.

Old Master Li’s face was ashen, thinking to himself that this granddaughter-in-law was being wilful and overbearing, but couldn’t do anything about it. Li Lei was the one that called all the shots in the Li Family now, and Xia Ling was next in the hierarchy. Li Lei had instructed his subordinates to give Old Master Li the respect he deserved, but still to take his words as subservient to Xia Ling’s. Hence, Old Master Li could do nothing when it came to matters involving Xia Ling.

Old Master was furious. Why was he so cooperative in going to the Xia Family to ask for her hand in marriage?! “Miss Ling…” He couldn’t resist saying to her while glaring coldly. “There are rules within this household. I don’t care how powerful your family background is. If you marry into the Li Family, you should follow our rules. How can you cause such a huge commotion?”

However, Xia Ling wasn’t afraid of him.

She smiled and sweetly said to the Old Master, “What do you mean I’ve caused a commotion? Have I killed anyone? Committed arson? Logically, women should be in charge of the household while her husband is out working. I’ll call the shots in the house in the future! Why? Do I not have the freedom to move my man’s stuff as I wish?”

The Old Master glared at her. “Just be reasonable… Ah Tang has worked hard for this family. Don’t be too harsh on her!”

“Shouldn’t that apply to her as well?” Xia Ling remarked. “To be fair, if she didn’t try so hard to buy clothes for Li Lei this around, I wouldn’t have even thought of clearing out his closet. We give her all the riches so that she and her son can live out their lives worry-free. I didn’t say a word about that at all. But Old Master… if she has any ideas that she shouldn’t harbor, then don’t blame me for being harsh!” Her words were sharp like a knife, and the Old Master could think of nothing to retort.

Xia Ling was mildly frustrated. Who would be happy if the grandfather of her one true love was biased to her love rival?

She said to Tan Ying, “Hurry and bring all these to the basement storeroom and lock it tight. Throw the key to the sharks!”

The Old Master was so upset he had to be helped away.

Tan Ying frowned. Even though she was the missus-to-be, she was being a tad too arrogant.

When they returned back home, he went to look for Li Lei in the office.

“Boss.” He said to Li Lei. “Miss Ling is being way too harsh. If you guys treat Su Tang so badly after she’s been so loyal to you for so long, it will affect morale for the other subordinates too.”

“Xiao Ling treats Ah Nuo quite well, though.” Li Lei smiled lazily, with a tinge of warning in his tone. “Tan Ying, I know you’re close to Su Tang. However, you need to view this matter separately from everything else. Su Tang’s overstepped Xiao Ling’s bottom line for this matter, do you understand?”

“But…”

“Do you understand?”

The danger in Li Lei’s tone was intensified the second time he asked the question. Tan Ying was taken aback and lowered his head. “Yes.” So what if he didn’t really understand? If he persisted in speaking up for Su Tang, he would possibly make the situation worse.

Love was something that couldn’t be explained.