A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return
chapter-1115

Chapter 1115: Withered Rose

Yes, why didn’t she kill him?

Pei Ziheng knew that the girl named Xia Ling would never do anything to him. Even in her saddest and most desperate moment, there was not a single hint of murderous intention in her broken eyes.

She admired and loved him so much…

When she threw a tantrum, she could have just said the words out of a whim, but it didn’t mean she would really take action. But why was he so stupid to actually believe that she had killed someone?!

Maybe someone was framing her!

The thunderstorm dissipated the grey clouds in his heart. He didn’t have time to say anything to Li Lei and quickly hurried away.

In the snowy night, the ninety-two-year-old man’s brows stretched out and in his confused state, he suddenly understood why Li Lei had appeared then—he had been there to remind him, to warn him, that he would lose her if he obstinately clung to his own course.

Pei Ziheng had once thought that he was very strong. Until she died as a bright firework in the splendid years of her life, he realized in shock that among them, the powerful one had not been him.

Xia Ling could drag her suitcase and tell him she was leaving.

But him? He couldn’t even bear to think of how they would be separated.

The one that should be begging was him.

If this was a dream, even if it could only be a dream…

He still begged God to give him another chance to let him re-own her in his dreams, regardless of the price he had to pay. This time, he never wanted to lose her again.

Pei Ziheng re-examined the truth.

The result made him angry and happy—the murderer was Xia Yu.

It was Xia Yu who had secretly bought drugs and followed Xia Ling to the coffee shop. She had sneaked into the restaurant and taken their order information, then put the poison in the coffee cup. She knew her sister only drank lemonade. Then, the cup of blueberry coffee next to the lemonade was definitely for Wang Jingwan. The poisoning time was right after an hour, just after Xia Ling left.

Why did Xia Yu do that?

Pei Ziheng pondered over it, but he could not think of anything. He summoned Chu Chen and let him monitor Xia Yu.

Chu Chen also heaved a sigh of relief. “Boss, congratulations.” As long as the murderer was not Xia Ling, then it was a happy event. The revenge of the Wang family would not fall on the head of his most beloved girl. Then, it didn’t matter whose head it casually fell onto. Chu Chen asked again, “How do you plan on dealing with Xia Yu?”

“Hand her over to the Wang family to vent their anger or hand her over to the police, both are fine.” Pei Ziheng didn’t care about the details. He paused and said, “But before that, she must pay a price for what she did.”

His tone was gloomy and Chu Chen felt a chill.

“What about Xiao Ling?” Chu Chen asked. They both knew how much Xia Ling cared about her sister. Even if it was her sister who had killed someone and framed her, she might not be willing to watch her sister suffer.

Pei Ziheng said heavily, “I will tell her that she was framed by Xia Yu. I’ll ask her… what happened between the two of them for things to have come to this. As for how we have handled Xia Yu, you don’t have to tell her too much. When things have died down, tell her she’s dead.”

Chu Chen lowered his eyes and obeyed his orders.

Pei Ziheng went home by car. Halfway on the road, he told the driver, “Go to the No. 3 flower shop.”

The driver detoured and took him to Xia Ling’s favorite flower shop. Pei Ziheng entered and personally picked a large bouquet of red roses, coupled with a large bunch of baby’s breath and packaged it with the most gorgeous packaging, intending to surprise Xia Ling. She had suffered these days, but they would live a good life from now on.

He got into the car again and the fragrant rose aroma diffused around every corner of the Rolls-Royce.

Pei Ziheng finally relaxed the nerves that had been tight and on-edge for a while. His originally expressionless face now showed slight tiredness and a smile. She was probably frightened, right? And also in pain. So he would apologize to her and take time to spend with her to appease her feelings of having been injured. He still hadn’t told her about the matter of children yet; there had been too many things on his plate and he hadn’t had time to tell her. Even if he didn’t marry her, he would still keep to his promise with her and give birth to adorable children with her. He would give their children a lot of wealth, power, and status.

Their family would be so happy.

The Rolls-Royce stopped before the villa.

But he saw Nanny Zhou and the butler greet him in a panic. “Sir, it’s not good! Miss is gone!”

The bouquet in his hand fell to the ground with a bang.

“What happened?” He heard his own calm voice asking. “Find her! How could she suddenly disappear?”

Hence, Nanny Zhou told him that Miss had still been locked in the bedroom in the afternoon, but when she went there half an hour later to bring snacks to her, she realized Miss was gone. The floor-to-ceiling window on the second floor was open and there was a long shred of torn sheets hanging there reaching all the way to the small garden.

She had escaped.

Looking at the empty bedroom, Pei Ziheng did not have time to be angry nor even sad. He called the Wang family’s Old Master first and told him, “The murderer is Xia Yu, I’ll get Chu Chen to send you the evidence now. Xia Ling is innocent, if you dare to touch her, I’ll destroy your whole family!”

He hung up the phone and dialed a bunch of other calls. A series of orders were dispatched. He got people to look for her, to monitor the Wang family and the police, and do everything possible to ensure her safety.

But she seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth and couldn’t be found anywhere.

Pei Ziheng sat in his bedroom and deeply realized what it meant to have the sky collapse.

The ninety-two-year-old man was sleeping peacefully.

If he was destined to lose her once, then he would rather lose her in this way than to be apart from her forever. He had been too overbearing when he was young and had protected her too well, so much so that every time she had tried to escape during the time she had been imprisoned, she had failed.

Every time she failed to escape, he had been more cruel and abusive to her.

But this time, he was willing to let her run away. Only when she left could he learn what was concession. Only then could the young emperor who never knew how to make a concession would truly own her for a long time.

You only know to cherish when you’ve lost it.

Xia Ling ran desperately.

In the long dark night, she didn’t know how long she ran for until her calf had cramps and she was exhausted.

She hid for a night in the area’s garbage bin and wheezed for a long time. In the morning, she surveyed her surroundings and suddenly didn’t know what to do. Yesterday, her mind had been full of thoughts of escape. She couldn’t stand being imprisoned and being humiliated by him anymore. But now that she had escaped? What should she do?

She had followed Pei Ziheng ever since she was twelve and had never faced the outside world alone before. She didn’t even know where to eat when she was hungry and where to stay for the night.

The neighborhood was getting more and more crowded. The aunts who bought food in the morning and the white-collar workers who rushed into the bus to work passed by her and looked at her with suspicion. “Look, that woman is so strange, she’s wearing sunglasses in the early morning and is wrapped up. She has been sneaking around here for a long time, is she a thief?” An aunt who was shopping for food murmured.