A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return
chapter-123

Chapter 123: Leave the Ransom Money Behind

After they rowed the boat to the pavilion in the middle of the lake and only saw Xia Ling there, they were shocked. “Where is Young Master Nan?”

Xia Ling did not say anything and only coldly laughed at them.

The look on her face made Fourth Uncle feel guilty on the inside, but he hid his feelings and asked in a stronger tone, “Where is Young Master Nan?!”

She lightly said, “He was beaten by me until he fell into the lake.”

Fourth Uncle was stunned, then shocked and fearful. “What? You beat Young Master Nan until he fell into the water?! Then, where is he now? Has he been rescued? He… does he know how to swim?” As he spoke, he strode to the edge of the pavilion and scanned the smooth water surface, trying hard to find a figure that looked like Nan Sheng. After searching for a few rounds futilely, he could not help but holler. “Young Master Nan! Young Master Nan!”

Xia Ling calmly leaned on the wooden pillar and said, “So noisy.”

“What did you say?!” Fourth Uncle violently turned his head and glared at her with bloodshot eyes. “Where exactly did you leave Young Master Nan?! If he didn’t swim after you pushed him into the water, doesn’t that mean that he is dead?! You brat, do you know how much trouble you have stirred up? Do you know what sort of status Mr. Nan has? You won’t be able to pay us back the money even if you shoot down a hundred people!”

Xia Ling looked at him as if he were a clown.

Fourth Aunt, who was standing beside him, was also worried as she stomped her foot. “Dear, I don’t think we can do this. We better report this to the police. If Young Master Nan were really drowned by this brat, she would be the culprit. This murderer! We should end our kinship with her!”

“Yes, yes.” With his forehead covered in sweat, Fourth Uncle trembled as he fished for his phone. “Call the police. Quickly call the police…”

Xia Ling was speechless. What sort of lousy relatives were they? First, they schemed to set her up, and now, without distinguishing the right from the wrong, they were going to turn her in to the police. She lightly sneered. “Sure. I was about to call the police anyway, Old Man Ye. What were your intentions just now when you secretly rowed the small boat away? You intentionally tricked me into coming here and was planning on having Nan Sheng deal with me.”

“What did you call me?!” Fourth Uncle was enraged.

“Old Man Ye.” Xia Ling looked at him calmly. “In the past, I called you Fourth Uncle out of respect for my grandma. However, you don’t deserve my respect! What sort of evil person are you that you would collaborate with outsiders to plot against your own niece? Call the police? Sure! I want to see how the police will deal with you when I tell them that you tricked me into coming here!”

Fourth Uncle’s heart quivered after hearing her words. She was right. If the police investigated the situation, they would uncover the reason why Xia Ling was tricked into coming here. Even if Xia Ling pushed Nan Sheng into the water, it was really an act of self-defense. Even if Nan Sheng had died, it would only be considered as justifiable self-defense.

For once, he awkwardly remained silent.

However, Fourth Aunt started to shriek. “Ye Xingling, I will cut your mouth off! How is this matter related to us? You willingly came here. We only rowed the boat back to get something and immediately returned. Who knows what sort of unbecoming things you and Nan Sheng did?! You murdered him, so don’t implicate others!”

Xia Ling looked at her coldly. Her stare was intense and sharp as a knife, causing Fourth Aunt to stop talking suddenly.

Just when Xia Ling was about to say something, suddenly, a small boat stopped at the pavilion. “Miss Ye.” Her chauffeur, Mr. Zhou, addressed her respectfully.

“Just in time.” Xia Ling lightly smiled. “Help me tie these two to the pillars.”

“Ye Xingling, what are you trying to do?!” Fourth Aunt screamed again. “Oh god, this murderer! She just murdered Nan Sheng. Is she going to murder us as well?” The more Fourth Aunt thought about it, the more fearful she became. She backed off to the edge of the pavilion and said to Mr. Zhou, “You… Don’t come here!”

Mr. Zhou was once part of the special forces in the military. After lightly using a few of his techniques, he easily subdued Fourth Aunt. Beside her, Fourth Uncle was so terrified that he did not dare to move as he watched his wife being captured. Part of her long sleeve coat was torn down and used as a rope to tie her body tightly to the pillar.

After he was done with Fourth Aunt, Mr. Zhou did the same to Fourth Uncle.

After that, he respectfully returned to face Xia Ling to await his next assignment.

“Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling…” Fourth Uncle’s voice trembled as he thought about how they could be silenced to death and was petrified.

Xia Ling smiled happily and unhurriedly walked in a circle in front of them. “Let you go? Then I would have suffered this grievance for nothing! You better give me some justification.”

“I understand, I understand!” Fourth Uncle thought he understood what she meant. “Xiao Ling, Fourth Uncle will give you ten thousand— No, a hundred thousand dollars. Please spare my life. I’m begging you.”

“Old Man Ye, are you saying that your life is only worth a hundred thousand dollars?” Xia Ling smiled faintly.

Fourth Uncle felt the pain as he spoke. “One… one million dollars?”

Xia Ling just looked at him without speaking.

“Five million dollars!” Fourth Uncle gritted his teeth. He could not afford to pay more. Although he owned a famous furniture business, the liquidity of his assets was limited, and five million dollars was already the maximum amount he could come up within a short period. “Xiao Ling, please spare my life. I only have five million dollars in cash. Any more and I can only give you a factory in return. Besides, you are a girl and probably have no energy to take care of it, right?”

It was unexpected that Fourth Uncle would offer five million dollars for his life. Initially, Xia Ling only wanted to scare them, but little did she know that she could also obtain some money. That was good, she would take the money as compensation for her emotional trauma. She would not reject the money for the sake of rejecting it.

She pretended to look troubled and frowned. “That’s a little less than what I was expecting, but considering the lowly person you are, your worth is probably lower than that.”

“Yes, yes. I’m despicable, I’m despicable.” To survive, Fourth Uncle readily agreed. But on the inside, he felt like vomiting blood and was filled with anger and humiliation.

Xia Ling smiled again. “However, I’m not so sure about the worth of Fourth Aunt’s life? Is she as despicable as you?”

Both Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt were stunned. This b*tch wanted to receive two sums of money?

The chauffeur, Mr. Zhou, stood beside her in awe. Miss Ye was very good at blackmailing people. It was no wonder that his Young Master liked her so much. The confident manner in which she set her terms was almost identical to the way his Young Master negotiated for military firearms in the past.

Mr. Zhou appeared to stand sternly, but his thoughts wandered. The wife of the head of the Li Family wanted to find someone who knew how to deal with difficult situations, was brave and was not afraid of anything so she would not end up like Young Master’s birth mother. His birth mother was too kind-hearted, which was why she passed away at a young age, leaving Young Master to grow up alone…

Xia Ling smiled delightedly. “Old Man Ye’s life is worth five million dollars, I wonder how much Fourth Aunt’s life is worth? If the ransom money is too low, I’d rather directly kill you both to settle things.” She turned her head and asked Mr. Zhou. “Mr. Zhou, if we sink their bodies in the lake, will anyone discover them?”

Mr. Zhou tried his hardest to resist laughing as he seriously answered, “We can burn their clothes. If we tie large rocks to their bodies, they will sink to the bottom of the lake. After that, their bodies will rot very quickly or will be eaten by the fish and prawns, turning into fertilizer for the lotus flowers and disappear without a trace.”

A cool breeze was felt across the lake surface.

Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt both shivered at the same time.

“Well, have you decided?” Xia Ling slowly paced her steps. “Are you going to buy Fourth Aunt’s life back or not?”