A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return
chapter-38

Xia Ling was stunned for a moment. Realizing that she was the boss now, she cursed silently, wasn’t he supposed to send her?

She weakly said, “You tell me what should be done then.”

Li Lei spun the car key around his finger, his eyes gleaming. “Come over to my apartment and we’ll get together for a night. I’ll get someone to take you to the training camp tomorrow morning.”

His apartment?

She recalled his suggestion about her being his woman and frowned.

Li Lei seemed to have read her mind. ” As I said, I have no interest in coercing anybody. And given your guts, what made you think you could provoke Pei Ziheng?” He walked on without a care. “Come with me when you’ve thought it through, otherwise you can go back on your own.”

As Xia Ling gazed at his back view, images of Pei Ziheng’s sinister eyes came to mind. She weighed her options for an instant and decided to catch up with him.

Li Lei’s private vehicle was an SUV. In her previous life, Xia Ling was also a highly experienced driver, and with one look she could tell that…

The people in Skyart Entertainment seemed to enjoy driving their own cars. Wei Shaoyin was one; Li Lei was another.

Xia Ling got into the passenger seat and fastened her seatbelt, as Li Lei then skilfully steered the wheel and merged into the heavy traffic on the freeway. A half hour later, the SUV drove into a relatively serendipitous high-end estate — with large green areas of various types of rare vegetation, the place boasted thick shades of lush with a tranquil absence of people.

Li Lei parked the car into the garage and then led Xia Ling to a personal elevator which they took to a higher floor.

As they entered the front door, what came into view was an extremely spacious living area, taking up about half the floor area of the entire level. The ceiling was about five to six meters high, the four walls were replaced by full-length glass panes and the natural light was streaming in abundantly, illuminating the place beautifully.

Li Lei casually flung his outerwear onto the couch and then said, “Sit.”

That said, he turned his back and walked off.

Xia Ling looked at the sofa and was just about to sit when she noticed a leopard resting lazily on a white carpet near the couch. It had beautiful rose-like spots all over and its legs were stretched out, almost laying like a carpet itself.

She cautiously took a step forward.

Yet, she couldn’t help but back off a little, letting out a small gasp.

The leopard, Er Mao, looked up at her with heavy eyelids, and then shut them again and continued resting.

Xia Ling dared not make another sound. She held her breath and took a few slow, cautious steps back until she bumped into a sturdy physique. She was about to let out a scream when she got wrapped around in someone’s arms and heard Li Lei’s deep, magnetic voice from behind her, “Don’t be afraid, it’s me.”

She exhaled in relief and calmed down slightly.

Recovering from the shock, the first thought that came to mind was: This owner-leopard pair must be my nemesis, giving me one shock after the next.

Freeing herself from his embrace, Xia Ling turned to look at him, “I’m not sitting on that couch, is there… another room?”

He laughed, his eyes twinkling, “No more dinner for you?”

“Huh?”

He turned around. “Come help out in the kitchen.”

Xia Ling was stunned for a moment but followed him anyway into the well-lit and spacious kitchen. She got another shock — in the kitchen, Boss Li Lei had a white apron around him as he held a pot in one hand and a ladle in another, looking skilled.

“You… you prepare your own meals?” She stuttered. This shock was definitely greater than the one she got from almost stepping onto the leopard. Really, a big boss like him with a triad background actually had such a hobby?

Watching him go about it with ease, it was obviously not his first attempt.

Li Lei took no care about her shocked expression and tossed her a tomato. “Get the skin peeled.”

Xia Ling instinctively caught it and stared at the fresh red half of the tomato in her hand until he told her to hurry. She snapped back to reality and started on it clumsily. Though she had lived for two lifetimes, she had never cooked, and so only just realized how difficult it was to peel a tomato. After a long struggle and a whole lot of tomato juice on her hands and clothes, her job was still not well done.

She looked at the bruised tomato that suffered in her hands and thought seriously. Can this even be eaten?

“Hand it over once you’re done, it’s going into the pot,” said Li Lei. When there was no response, he turned around, only to see Xia Ling bent over the counter at a loss as she held a clump of… something red that had lost its shape. Boss had seen much of the world, its novelties, and quirks, but faced with the scene before him, even he was shocked.

“Ye Xingling, are you sure you’re a woman?”

“Boss, Your Honour, you can’t blame me, it’s my first time.” She held the tomato up with a look of innocence.

Li Lei wanted to sigh in disappointment as he grabbed the red clump of the unidentifiable object and threw it — with an incredible trajectory — into the bin. He then took another tomato with a look of resignation and did the work himself, peeling the tomato as he instructed her, “Wash the vegetables in the sink. If you can’t do that either, then go and accompany Er Mao in the living room.”

He thought for a bit and felt that he was a little harsh, and so turned his head to flash her a smile.

Xia Ling was frightened by that smile and went ahead to wash the vegetables, indignantly thinking: Hmph, what’s the big deal about owning a creature, there’s nothing to be so conceited about. I’ve really never seen somebody who flaunts like this… And then she realized that disaster had struck — the vegetables had been ravaged into broken pieces.

“Boss, this…”

“Ye Xingling, you should go accompany Er Mao.”

“…” She swore never to return to Li Lei’s apartment.

Having gone through so much for this dinner, she had to admit that Big Boss Li’s culinary skills were indeed good — his delicacies were almost like that of a chef’s.

“Boss, you really are good at everything.” She complimented him from the bottom of her heart.

Li Lei smiled kindly. “After living out here alone for a while, you tend to learn a bit of everything, including cooking.”

She nodded her head in understanding. The fact that he drove his own SUV showed that he was likely a very independent person who liked to get things done himself. In this case, it wasn’t too surprising that he didn’t hire a domestic helper.

She was curious. How did he keep his house in this condition?

Compared to Pei Ziheng… he was the complete opposite.

She unintentionally thought of that scheming, scary man — adhering to the rules and etiquette of his aristocratic family, donning luxurious silk dress shirts and fur coats, employing a bunch of helpers, and always looking impeccably refined. His voice was deep, his tone mild, as he calmly told her, “I need a wife who can match up to my family’s status, a woman worthy of the title of Missus Pei.”

Pain crept in the depths of her heart.

To hell with these rich people’s rules.

Xia Ling fiercely scooped up a mouthful of rice and swallowed the tears that were on the verge of falling.

From an angle that she had not noticed, Li Lei looked at her thoughtfully, his expression unreadable.