A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return
chapter-517

Hence, the song “The Butterfly Can’t Transcend The Seas” came about.

“I could forget half of my lifetime, but not the soul in your eyes…”

“I could face all worldly encounters, but not escape this boundless abyss…”

It was a beautifully enchanting song with a tinge of sadness to it. Xia Ling looked up slightly, her voice low, as every lyric brought about some hurt.

She knew that a man would be watching her on screen. Even if it weren’t screened live that day, he would be able to search for the video in no time and scrutinize her on screen. She knew Pei Ziheng well enough. If he missed her as much as he did before, he wouldn’t pass any opportunity to catch her on camera. If he had forgotten her, however, then it did not matter whether he got to listen to this song anymore.

She sang, “The longing of the past, has been reduced to the clouding of our visions…”

“No promises, no cares, no looking back. We’ll take our separate paths, and time shall fly by fast…”

She had left too hurriedly the other day and did not get to bid him farewell. She wanted to let him know through the song, that the love they had only existed in the past. She no longer loved him and never would, and hoped that he would forget about her as he went about his life. He deserved better.

“The butterfly can’t transcend the seas…

“Happiness is around you, in your hands, never across the seas…

“No promises, no cares, no looking back.”

She closed her eyes and let the memories flood before subsiding. Quietly, she whispered into the void, Pei Ziheng, I hope you forget me and find a happiness that truly belongs to you.

“If you find happiness, hold on tight. Forget your past…”

The song came to an end.

The beautiful and magical tune mellowed to a stop.

On the floor, the quiet crowd suddenly burst into an uproar of cheers. “Ye Xingling! Ye Xingling!” As the applause and the cheers roared on, some of them were wiping tears from their eyes.

She sang this song from the bottom of her heart. Along with this spectacular style of music, which was Feng Kun’s specialty, she managed to pulse enthusiasm through the audience with her infectious rhythm and voice.

Even the emcee was on the verge of tears.

“It’s amazing…” The emcee said, “Ye Xingling, you sang amazingly.”

When Xia Ling wasn’t singing, she looked so quiet and reserved, almost like a lone bird at rest—not particularly alluring, but brought about a curiosity.

“I haven’t heard such a moving song in a while, really.” The emcee continued, “Did you compose this song yourself?”

“Yes.” Xia Ling replied.

“Earlier on you said that these are the words you didn’t manage to tell someone in time? It sounds like a farewell song. Could you tell us who you’re bidding farewell to?”

Xia Ling simply gave a gentle but sad smile. “He’ll know.”

After a pause. “I wish him well.”

“Is it Pei Ziheng?” Someone screamed from the audience. Her leaving Pei Ziheng was public news, and such news about a wealthy family often stirred curiosity.

Rumors about their divorce were already going around.

In fact, Li Lei had already settled the paperwork for her since the beginning, deeming her marriage invalid in the first place. Now, she was not a divorcee, she was merely regaining her single, unmarried status. But she was not comfortable with letting the public know about her “invalid” marriage. Not only would this cause trouble for the professionals and authorities involved, but it would also have many people speculating if Pei Ziheng had forced her into a marriage. The thought of such questions and speculations was enough to keep her from revealing it.

Whatever she had with Pei Ziheng was in the past now.

It should remain in the past.

She did not want anyone to dig it up.

Hence, Xia Ling did not answer the question. She turned to Xia Yu and said, “It’s your turn now.”

Xia Yu still had a rather calm demeanor, but she was not about to hold it out any longer. Xia Ling’s “The Butterfly Can’t Transcend The Seas” was just too good. Xia Yu realized that even if she used her best recording for this round’s lip-sync, she would not be able to beat Xia Ling’s live singing.

Xia Yu was indignant as she cursed Xia Ling in her heart. Why did the last contestant have to be her? This wretched woman just wouldn’t let her off!

In any case, she refused to lose to her this way.

She needed to find a way to put her down. “May I ask who composed the tune to this song? It’s really good, and doesn’t sound like Wei Shaoyin’s style.”

Xia Ling was a little annoyed knowing that Xia Yu was trying to antagonize her. Instead of evading the question, she simply spoke the truth, “It was Feng Kun.”

Some chattering started in the audience.

It was Feng Kun, a producer from Imperial Entertainment!

“Ye Xingling, I see you’re pretty capable. You’ve already left Imperial but still managed to sing a song that Imperial has written for you.” Xia Yu lined her statement with poison.

The audience thought: She makes sense, Ye Xingling has already betrayed Imperial and left for Skyart, wasn’t it unethical of her to be using a song from Imperial to compete against their very own singer? All of a sudden, the audience was split—one team was still for Xia Ling, the other criticized her morals.

“This isn’t a song from Imperial.” Xia Ling said, to Xia Yu’s surprise. “It’s all a coincidence, actually. I only bumped into Feng Kun at the music festival earlier today. Although I’ve left Imperial, Feng Kun and I are still friends, and we ended up chatting and catching up with each other. I mentioned a new song I wrote, and he was interested in it, so he decided to compose the tune for me.”

With that, Xia Ling smiled. “I thought it sounded really good and couldn’t wait to share it with everyone, so I decided to perform it here on stage today. But Ah Kun had only composed it on his cellphone at the last minute, and there are some imperfections that we haven’t brushed up on yet, so I seek everyone’s understanding.”

There was another wave of discussion in the crowd. So this song was actually composed by Feng Kun at the last minute! “He’s one of the finest music producers indeed, he can even compose a song so well with such little effort!” Some of the audience was full of respect for him.

“Exactly! And it’s nothing wrong for Feng Kun to be helping a friend with her song.”

“That’s right, that’s a personal favor. And it wasn’t Imperial’s song, to begin with. Ye Xingling didn’t really do anything wrong.”

In just an instant, their disdain towards Xia Ling turned into utmost admiration towards Feng Kun.

“Ye Xingling is amazing too…” Some said. “It’s a new song, and she managed to sing it so perfectly. I think she’s done it even better than Xia Yu can for a song she’s practiced hard for.”

Many of them agreed.

Xia Ling smiled in satisfaction—it seemed like this topic was in her favor. She hurried Xia Yu. “It’s your turn to sing now, don’t let us down.”

Xia Yu had tried to turn the tables against Xia Ling multiple times but had failed at every single one. Angry as she was, she had no choice but to take a deep breath and receive the microphone as she prepared for her final song.