A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

Xia Yu grew impatient and told her Manager, “Go take a look at what’s going on.”

Manager Li went away for a long time before returning with a sheepish expression. “The other artistes aren’t done with their parts yet. The broadcast station is asking us to wait.”

Xia Yu’s expression darkened. The broadcast station was clearly bullying her! The hierarchy in the entertainment industry was closely followed, and this was determined by popularity. If a big star was filming, then he or she wouldn’t have to wait at all. If it were a normal artiste, they would have to abide by the broadcast station’s schedule. There was no way of telling how long they would have to wait.

In the past, Xia Yu never needed to wait to film a show. However, she was now being treated like a normal artiste. How could she take that lying down? But she knew that her popularity now was a far cry from before, and even though she was fuming, no one would bother about her. Hence, she had no choice but to swallow her anger and wait.

Two hours passed… three hours passed…

Xia Yu couldn’t sit still any longer. She told her manager, “Go hurry them a little.”

Manager Li went away again and returned with news that made her even more furious. “Xia… Miss Xia Yu… they… they’ve packed up. They forgot that you are still here…” Manager Li’s voice grew smaller as he spoke.

“That’s preposterous!” Xia Yu slammed the table and stood up in anger.

Manager Li felt like he was incredibly unlucky. Why was he assigned to an artiste that was in such a slump? “How about… we come back tomorrow afternoon?” Manager Li suggested. “The broadcast station said that the part about the clown getting hit by water bombs is interesting and they would like to take a few shots of that. They will borrow the filming venue of another program tomorrow for a little after that program is done filming.”

What? She had to be hit by water bombs?

Xia Yu shouted, “Are you still my manager? Why are you taking all this just like that?! You’re not speaking up for me even though I’m being so obviously bullied! Go tell them that I’m not filming this! Go!”

“Then, the compensation…”

“They are the ones that breached the contract first. At most, I’ll hire a lawyer to sue them. Go! Right now!”

Manager Li sighed silently but left reluctantly to do as she said.

Xia Yu stayed in the tiny makeup room by herself, staring at the empty walls. She looked at her reflection in the mirror. The colorful clown makeup seemed to be gloating at her misery. She stared blankly at the mirror for a while, before reaching out to wipe off the makeup with vengeance, like she was ready to tear her skin off.

After which, she picked up her bag and walked out of the makeup room.

When she got to the carpark, she realized that her driver seemed to be skiving off somewhere and hadn’t arrived.

She stared at the empty cars in the carpark, a sudden feeling of helplessness falling upon her. Backing into the shadows near the walls, she slid onto the floor.

She couldn’t care less about maintaining her image any longer or the possibility of there being paparazzi staking out in the carpark. She thought of all the years that she felt like she was living in hell… her sickly childhood… always living in her sister’s shadows… the revelation of her lip-synching… being captured for live experimentation… the punishment from the Xia Family… And now, even a mere staff member dared to bully her.

She hugged herself tightly, her shoulders suddenly shaking as she cried.

She heard the sound of footsteps coming closer.

A pair of expensive, elegant, pointed-toe heels came to a stop in front of her.

A bottle of water appeared in front of her.

Xia Yu didn’t raise her hand to receive the bottle and glumly said without lifting her head, “Are you here to jeer at me as well?”

A woman squatted down and said in a soft voice, “I’m not here to laugh at you. I’m in the same boat as you. Ye Xingling is the most hateful woman on this Earth, don’t you agree?”

Xia Yu lifted her head and saw that it was Su Tang.

Today, Su Tang was dressed in her usual embroidered long dress, donning her carefully applied makeup, and her long hair tied into a bun. She was the embodiment of elegance. Su Tang smiled and said, “An enemy’s enemy is a friend.”

Xia Yu’s expression relaxed, but she was still in high alert. “What do you want from me?”

Su Tang said, “This isn’t a good place to talk. Let’s have a secret meeting tonight, okay?” She gave Xia Yu the address of a cafe that had a private room with soundproof walls.

Xia Yu wasn’t sure what Su Tang’s objective was, but was intrigued by her statement: “An enemy’s enemy is a friend.” Everyone was aware that Su Tang had lost Li Lei to Xia Ling, and Su Tang had every reason to hate Xia Ling as much as Xia Yu did.

Xia Yu nodded her agreement.

Su Tang’s lips curled into a smile again, then she stood up and walked away.

On the other side, Xia Ling accompanied her family for a few days before bidding them goodbye and heading back to the city for work matters.

When she was back in the familiar surroundings of S city, she felt her mood lift. It wouldn’t be long later that she and Li Lei would be officially married. She smiled blissfully as she called Li Lei. “Hello, I’m back. Where are you?”

Li Lei was delighted to hear from her. “You’re finally back from the village? I’m in the headquarters settling some stuff and will be home in three days to see you.” He had taken over control of the entire Li Family business and had to go back to the headquarters every once in a while to oversee the operations. It was nothing short of a miracle that he was able to handle the family business so well despite being based away from the headquarters on a long-term basis.

Xia Ling knew that he was busy, so she reminded him to take care of his health before hanging up.

She went back to the bungalow to rest, before updating her personal social media page with a post telling everyone that she was back.

In moments, Luo Luo sent her a text message. “Xiao Ling, you’re finally back! We’ve missed you so! Do you have time tonight? Several of us have prepared something special for you at the Blue Imagination Club! It’s a huge surprise… you have to be there! Oh right, remember to dress really nice!”

Xia Ling smiled at the text message. Luo Luo was still the same playful girl as before. What crazy idea did she have now? Xia Ling recognized the name of the club as one of the high-end clubs in the city. Many artistes frequented that place, and Xia Ling herself had been there once or twice.

“Okay.” She replied Luo Luo.

She dressed up for the night and headed out to the club.

The bouncer at the door recognized her and asked smilingly, “Miss Ling… what an honor to have you here tonight. Are you here on a whim or do you have a reservation?”

Xia Ling said, “I’m with someone.” She gave him the room number that Luo Luo had texted her.

The bouncer led her inside and commented, “I didn’t think that Miss Ling was into this as well.”

She didn’t know what he meant and was even more curious what Luo Luo had in store for her. She followed the bouncer deep into the club to a mysterious and half-hidden door at the end of the corridor, where the bouncer waved her into the room.