A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

Xia Yu was tempted. Did Xia Ling really say she’d help her get together with Pei Ziheng?

That man had lived in her heart for the longest time. She’d put her heart and soul into plotting to be with him, even killing the people around her, but in exchange for what? If she could be with him, she was willing to pay any price! With Xia Ling’s help, they might really be able to be together!

Xia Yu tried to suppress her wild desires as she glared at Xia Ling. “Why should I believe you?”

Xia Ling said, “Pei Ziheng hasn’t given up on me yet, and it disturbs me. I love Li Lei, and I want our marriage life to remain peaceful and undisturbed, which is why I’m trying to get rid of the pest Pei Ziheng while I can. The best solution I can think of is finding him a loving wife such that he’ll forget me. Xia Yu, you’re the most suitable candidate.”

Xia Yu’s eyes lit up. “Sounds good. But I didn’t kill Wang Jingwan, how do I admit to that?”

She’s still trying to deny it at this juncture!

Xia Ling felt like reaching over and shaking her, or even slapping her on the face. But she calmed herself down and spoke in the same calm, sweet voice, “What? Then take it that I never mentioned helping you get together with him. Besides, I’ll even tell Pei Ziheng that you never loved him and that you’re just eyeing his money and power.”

Xia Ling got up slowly and picked her handbag from the desk before walking out. Just as her hand landed on the door handle, Xia Yu’s voice was heard. “Xia Ling, don’t you go too far!”

“How is this going too far?” Xia Ling turned around slightly and smiled. “So only you’re allowed to lie, while others can’t? Xia Yu, you either spill the beans about Wang Jingwan’s case and how I died or just wait on for Pei Ziheng to misunderstand you and hate you. He’ll probably not want to see you for the rest of his life.”

Xia Yu glared at her with hatred.

But Xia Ling was unshaken. She stood by the door and looked back at her.

Both of them stared off.

At this point, someone knocked on the door.

Xia Ling opened the door and saw that Li Lei’s bodyguard-cum-chauffeur-cum-assistant Ah Nuo was standing before her. “Miss Ling, Young Master finished his tasks early today and wants to take you out tonight to watch some night fishing activity at the club. He sent me here to pick you up. It’s about time now, are you ready to leave?”

Xia Ling glanced at Xia Yu and casually said, “Let’s go.”

She made a move to leave.

“Hold on!” Xia Yu finally called out.

Xia Ling’s lips curled up ever so slightly before disappearing again. She said to Ah Nuo, “Wait outside first.” She then strode back towards the desk and spoke to Xia Yu, “I don’t have much time. You’d better speak soon, Li Lei won’t be happy to miss the night activity.”

Xia Yu glared hard at her, wishing that her glare itself could rip her face apart. She remembered the first time she saw “Ye Xingling”—back then, she wasn’t all that pretty, she was just another face in the entertainment industry. But now? Her skin was fair and smooth, actually even radiant. Her eyes were bright and her features put together a perfect face. She was so beautiful now.

Only a woman who lived in luxury and was showered with tender loving care could glow this way.

Xia Yu felt a stab to her heart. As much as she wished her dead, she could not deny that she envied her. Could she be this blissful as well if she was with someone she loved? She wavered. “What if I told you the truth and you decide not to help me get together with Brother Ziheng?”

Xia Ling said, “We grew up together, you should know better than anyone that I never go back on my words. If I say I’ll help you, then I will. Moreover, what more can you do besides trust me?” She took a glance at her wristwatch. “If you’re not gonna talk, I’m leaving.”

Xia Yu clenched her jaw. “I’ll talk! You’re right, I killed Wang Jingwan and then made you the scapegoat. I was also the one who hired a hitman to push you off the stage!”

Xia Ling’s expression darkened. She could barely take it, hearing the sister she had raised say something like that. She had to reach for a wall for support as her head spun. “It really was you.”

“It was me, indeed.” Once she’d started, Xia Yu was more than comfortable to go on. “Xia Ling, I’d hated you since we were kids, especially because you were in the way between Brother Ziheng and me. I’d wanted to kill you a long time ago, but I never had the chance. Then, when Brother Ziheng mentioned marrying Wang Jingwan, I realized that my time had come.”

She looked at Xia Ling and broke into a grin. “Silly woman, you actually met up with Wang Jingwan one-on-one to thrash things out, and even told me about it beforehand. Didn’t you hand me my opportunity on a platter? I disguised myself as you and went to buy drugs from the black market before following you to the location.”

Xia Ling shook her head. “I treated you as a close sister and told you everything, but you…”

Xia Yu scoffed. “Close sister? You just needed a prop! You used me to bring out your kindness and virtues! Let me tell you, I’m not dumb. I’ve had enough!”

“That’s not it.” Xia Ling said. “I was just caring for you. I didn’t expect the praises others had for me would cause you so much pain.” Xia Yu was born with some congenital disease and Xia Ling was still young when it all happened. Moreover, they were living in an orphanage, who could have possibly taught her how to heal her sister’s heart of jealousy?

She was only trying her best to give her sister all that she could.

When others praised her, she felt good as any other person would and did not read too much into it.

She was only a child back then, and it was hard enough fighting for her sister’s survival. How could she have thought of the hurt her sister felt from comparing the two of them to each other?

After all, her sister had never even shown any hint of unhappiness.

When Pei Ziheng adopted them, Xia Ling lived better than before. She had thought that her sister would be as happy as she was—after all, she was able to go for her surgery, to recover, do well enough to get into an elite school, and life had gotten better.

It was too late to discover the truth now.

But Xia Yu did not care for her explanation. She sneered. “I hid the drugs under my fingernails. When the waiter walked past me with the tray, I casually bumped into him and dropped the drugs into the cup of coffee. Don’t ask me how I managed to figure out which cup was Wang Jingwan’s, it was clear as day to me—you’re always drinking lemon-infused water to protect your throat and voice, so the beverage that did not hold your lemon-infused water was definitely hers.

“And alas, I guessed right.

“I hid in the corner to watch. Half an hour later, you left the private room, leaving Wang Jingwan behind. She sat there for a while longer. The drug took about an hour to take effect, and I walked in thereafter to imprint your fingerprints I got from home onto the coffee cup. It was all too simple.”