A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return
chapter-162

Xia Ling read between the lines, and her temper rose slightly. “No need, I can manage it.”

Bai Murong side-eyed her doubtfully.

Xia Ling glared back at him. “What are you staring at, I…” She was about to mention the time she was still a Diva, how Bai Murong would have had to bow down to her — that was no exaggeration, in those days, if Bai Murong and Zheng Chenhao were considered heavenly kings, she was a Super Diva that surpassed them easily.

They met at an event once, and Bai Murong had literally stopped in his tracks to give way to her.

But there was no way she could bring this up now, there was no way she could flaunt the talent she had before. All she did was continue to glare at him seriously. “Don’t look down on me, I’m a woman who wants to be a Diva someday!”

“Ha ha.” The few artistes from Skyart, including Bai Murong and Xie Linlang, laughed aloud, thinking of how innocent and adorable this newbie was. Xie Linlang could not help but pet her on the head. “Be good, don’t kick a fuss. Alright, alright, you’re a woman who wants to be a Diva… pfft.”

Xia Ling was practically in tears. How could nobody believe her?

Bai Murong could not help but smile. “Alright then, I’ll go first. You do your best to get into the same team as me.” He would try to pick a team suitable for her, and this way was better as well — if she joined his team, it would be with her ability, and word about him favoring her would not spread.

Sister Mai Na was right. Since they intended to groom her, they should do it graciously and flawlessly with no room for gossip.

The selection had started onstage.

There were five rounds of selection, each round featuring between 10 and 20 candidates. Tonight, only Xie Linlang was featured among the Skyart artistes. Her stage presence was extremely likable and was chosen by a pretty good team.

After the show, they smiled and bade their farewell.

Back at the apartment, the doorbell rang.

Xia Ling opened the door and realized that it was Su Tang at the door. Big Beauty Su Tang was carrying many bags and had a cold smile on. She politely said, “Miss Ye, Young Master got me to bring these to you.”

Xia Ling stood aside to let her in.

She had been so busy recently that before Su Tang appeared, she almost forgot how little time she had spent with Li Lei. The last time she contacted him, he was on a business trip, and she did not even know how he was after that.

Su Tang left the paper bags in her apartment.

Xia Ling asked, “What are these?”

Su Tang elegantly but coldly replied, “You can see for yourself. If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave.” Concerning Xia Ling becoming Li Lei’s girlfriend, he had kept Su Tang in the loop. Su Tang had lost sleep over this and was a lot more tired and haggard than before, relying on makeup to cover up her fatigue.

She looked at Xia Ling. This petite girl standing before her, who was in a pair of casual room slippers with her hair done up loosely, and who only looked pleasant at best, had already become a thorn in her heart. There was no way she could remove this thorn nor stop her heart from bleeding.

With all her might, she suppressed her desire to shoot her a look of hatred.

Xia Ling tilted her head. “That’s all then, thank you.” It was probably a woman’s intuition, but she had always felt that Su Tang did not particularly like her, though she had no idea why. Xia Ling could not be bothered to speculate anyway. If there was no chemistry between people, then there was no point forcing them to get close.

She politely walked Su Tang out and then returned to open up the paper bags.

Li Lei had given lots of clothes, beautiful and elegant colors, simple and fitting designs, and their texture was simply too good. She took a look at the tag and saw that they were pullovers made with top quality mulberry silk and Scottish cashmere, dresses and blouses made with Egyptian cotton, as well as Scabal cardigans…

She was very used to wearing such quality goods and knew exactly how rare they were.

She gave Li Lei a call. “You don’t have to give me so many expensive gifts.” Although he was her boyfriend and was very rich indeed, she always hoped to be independent so they could be on equal standing. She did not want a relationship where she was always dependent on him.

Li Lei sounded joyful over the phone. “That’s nothing much, Xiao Ling. You’re my girlfriend, as long as you like something, I’ll definitely find a way to let you have it.”

“I like it?” When did she say she liked it? Though, of course, she did like them very much.

“Have you forgotten?” He still sounded happy about himself. “When you first debuted, Sister Mai Na had asked what brands you liked and you named these two. Back then, Tan Ying was present as well and told me about it. So, I took note.”

She recalled that incident.

“How did you come to know about these two brands?” Li Lei was curious. “It’s a European handmade brand and their products are all made with top quality goods; even I have never heard of it. I had to get Su Tang to find out about it for me.”

“Doesn’t Sister Mai Na know about them? When I mentioned it, she knew what they were right away and even told me I could forget about wearing them because they were too expensive.” She tried evading the question. “It’s not that rare, you’re just uninformed.”

On the other end, Li Lei stood by the full-length glass window in a presidential suite of a hotel, admiring the night scene. Xiao Ling did not mention how she knew about these brands, and he had conducted some checks to find out that Xia Ling loved donning these brands when she was alive. Was this a coincidence?

His brows were furrowed, but he managed to regain his composure. “Xiao Ling, are you mocking me for being outdated?” Grievances again.

Xia Ling sighed.

Only after getting along with him frequently did she realize how coquettish he was as a man. There was no way he could get off it unless she talked him out of it each day. She wondered thoughtfully, how and why did she find him fierce and threatening when she first met him? She must have been sick then.

He hung up in satisfaction when she gave him the response he wanted.

Xia Ling tossed and turned in bed, recalling many memories regarding the two brands. She hardly got any sleep that night.

The following day, Sister Mai Na saw the clothes she was wearing. “Psst, Xiao Ling, aren’t these the brands you mentioned previously? Xia Ling likes these two brands too. Not only do you sing like her, but even your fashion tastes are also similar.”

“Boss gave it to me, so I’m just wearing it around,” said Xia Ling a little unconvincingly. She could not let them think about how similar she was to herself in the previous life, it was too dangerous a line to thread.

Sister Mai Na shook her head and smiled. “Only Boss would happily get them all for you, cherish them.” She went on to say. “Actually, it looks really good on you, you should dress like this more often. But you must keep your relationship with Boss a secret. Otherwise, it’ll ruin your career as an artiste.”

Xia Ling was silent for a while before replying, “Yup, I’ll take note of it.”

In her memory was such an incident —

“Xiao Ling, don’t kiss me like that in front of others, you need to be mindful of your public image.”

That was Pei Ziheng’s low and attractive voice.