A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return
chapter-21

Xia Ling turned over and ignored him, yet he still rambled. “You’re being petty if this makes you angry, little beauty. Have you forgotten that while you slept, you wouldn’t let go of my hand and even demanded that I sing for you?”

Her heart clenched. Perhaps the voice was not a dream.

She raised her head incredulously. “You… you sang for me?!”

His face broke into an attractive smile. “That’s right, if I wouldn’t sing, you wouldn’t let me go. You wouldn’t sleep well, waking up in a cold sweat. I had no choice, I had to just hold you and sing. I sang so many songs — I think I sang all the songs I know before you finally went to sleep.”

Li Lei mockingly continued, “You’re so hard to please, little beauty.”

Xia Ling could not understand. In this life, she would consider herself pleasant looking at best, but she was nothing compared to the stunning drop-dead gorgeousness from her last life. Even among all the other celebrities, she was average. How could he call her Little Beauty so easily?

Of course, at this moment, her main concern was not his peculiar choice of nickname. She had more urgent things to settle as she frenziedly asked, “What did I say when I was sleeping?” She could vaguely remember Pei Ziheng somewhere, and she prayed that she had not let slip what she should not have said.

Li Lei squinted in her direction and broke into a grin. “Don’t be so nervous. I only understood what you were saying when you were begging me to sing. Anything beyond that escaped me entirely.”

“Really?” she asked, not quite convinced.

“Why would I lie to you?” Li Lei leaned back into his chair, hand outstretched to pat her head before closing his eyes yet again. “Go to sleep, we still have a long way to go.”

Cocooned in a soft, warm blanket, his steady breathing low by her ears, she gently drifted back into a dreamless sleep. When she woke up, it was already the next day’s afternoon, in her luxurious room in the mountains.

She had been given a prescription and even got a shot, but most importantly, the doctors advised her to rest.

Her rest days were fundamentally different from before though — no thanks to Wei Shaoyin.

From the day he borrowed her song sheets for study, he would come to her every other day. In the beginning, he would discuss matters regarding the song sheets with her, and gradually, the topic of conversation gradually deepened. It began by analyzing the different transitions and continuations of different musical theories. The discussion was mostly centered around the works of her previous incarnation. There was no other way about it. Xia Ling’s music style was just too classic.

Anyway, Wei Shaoyin’s MV was in honor of Xia Ling.

The song title was lyrical and melancholy, called “I’ll Sing Another Song for You”.

I’ll sing another song for you/the last song/bid farewell to yesterday’s blossoms/yesterday’s legends

I’ll light you another lantern/a lotus lamp on the other shore/forget the ebb and flow of time/let the smoke and rain bring you home

The production was Wei Shaoyin’s style, no doubt, but for some reason, it was lacking something. This was inevitable, after all, why did he want to work on a song for her? In Xia Ling’s last life, they were never familiar, neither with each other nor her work.

They were essentially strangers.

In this life, Xia Ling and Wei Shaoyin met by chance. He was a top producer, she was an unknown trainee. And she sometimes felt like she was not in the position to pry into certain things. However, as their musical discussions deepened, she let the question slip. “Mr. Wei, if I’m not wrong, you and Xia Ling have never been close, why do you want to dedicate a song to her?”

The bitter aroma of his deep roast Mandheling coffee punctuated the air as Wei Shaoyin swirled the porcelain cup in his hand. His posture was elegant, and in his voice, she could hear a note of feigned ignorance and helplessness. “I have no choice, Mai Na forced me into it. I don’t think you know her, she’s the most difficult manager in our company, and a famous, die-hard Xia Ling fan.”

Mai Na…

Xia Ling turned the name over in her head for a moment, but to no avail. The truth was, in her last life, she hadn’t kept tabs on her fans, so it was not surprising that not a single fan’s name could come to mind.

Thinking back to how they had mourned for her after her death, she could not help but feel that she had let them down.

Xia Ling took a shallow sip of her tea and softly asked, “Just this reason?”

Wei Shaoyin smiled. “Of course, there’s also the money. Xia Ling’s popularity is no joke, writing her tribute song will be extremely profitable.” Even though he was a genius producer, he was still essentially a businessman.

She nodded in comprehension but faltered. “But if the company releases a tribute song, and then all the other companies follow in succession, I don’t know if the fans will follow.” After all, in her last lifetime, she had ten years in the spotlight, spanning from her debut to her suicide, and all of it was spent in Imperial Entertainment.

“This is the magical part.” Wei Shaoyin laughed, reminding her of a sly fox. “I met Feng Kun the other day. He said he wasn’t intending on writing any tribute.”

Feng Kun had been her producer, and all her songs from her last lifetime had been exclusively produced by him. In the company, if Feng Kun did not take on the responsibility of the tribute song, then nobody else could.

Xia Ling’s heart sank, probably like how the remaining notes of Wei Shaoyin’s coffee settled deep, bitter and sour. She supposed that Feng Kun had simply abandoned her after her death. Feng Kun, her most treasured and trusted friend on her musical journey, didn’t even want to do her a last favor.

Wei Shaoyin continued, “Feng Kun says that Imperial Entertainment doesn’t deserve it.”

“What?” She had to take some time to react.

“He said, ‘Imperial Entertainment doesn’t deserve to make Xia Ling a tribute song, and doesn’t deserve to make this money’.” Wei Shaoyin repeated. “A gold-star producer that has worked for Imperial Entertainment for over a decade said this. It really makes people wonder what relationship he has with his own company… Or perhaps, what relationship Xia Ling had with the company.”

She did not hear his last sentence, only fixated on the fact that Feng Kun had said that Imperial Entertainment was unworthy.

She shut her eyes, overwhelmed. Feng Kun and Chu Chen were the same. They had both known the truth, except unlike Chu Chen, Feng Kun had not abandoned her. Out of all the people who had been around her, there was only him. Only him.

In her memory, Feng Kun was like her. They had great pride, and demanded nothing less than perfection in their work, despising anything less than that. He was much more mature though, and like an older brother, he was always keeping her in line. Whenever Xia Ling offended people, he would chide her. “Xiao Ling, be more down to earth, please. After all, being the bigger person is how we can be happier.”

Unfortunately, she never listened.

Until today, after everyone had left her. He really had her best interests at heart.

Feng Kun…

I’m sorry that I put so many years’ worth of your work to waste.

Since she had a second shot at life, she promised to herself that she would never forget his words, to never commit the same mistakes again.