A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return
chapter-521

Xia Yu was ghastly pale.

In the cacophony of noise, she finally felt that as pathetic as a clown.

She cried harder but did not know whether she was crying for real or faking it. Covering her face, she turned around and stumbled down the stage.

The emcee finally came back and said, “Well then, our ultimate winner is—”

“Ye Xingling! Ye Xingling! Ye Xingling!” Below the stage, the crowd was emotional.

Xia Ling looked at the boundless crowd, smiled, and raised her hand.

The crowd cheered louder as they celebrated the birth of their new Arena Queen who dominated the world.

Xia Ling’s battle was very successful. Not only was her new song widely acclaimed, but she also managed to ruthlessly expose Xia Yu. The only unsatisfactory part was that Xia Yu only admitted to lip-syncing once. This made Xia Ling feel unsettled.

She got off the stage and removed her makeup backstage.

Li Lei walked up to her with a smile. “Congratulations.” He then passed her something from behind his back.

Xia Ling originally thought that it would be a bouquet or something similar because he used to send her flowers at the end of her performances in the past. Unexpectedly, this time, he gave her cotton candy. It was pink and fluffy. His smile was gentle and sweet.

She also smiled and took a bite from the cotton candy in his hand. It was a delicious strawberry flavor.

Click! A shutter sound was heard beside them.

Both of them turned around to see a reporter running away with a camera.

“Should we chase him?” Li Lei asked for Xia Ling’s opinion.

Xia Ling did not feel like chasing him after looking at Li Lei’s expression. She reached out and snatched the cotton candy. “Jerk, I won’t let you eat it. It’s obvious that you wanted to let the reporter announce it to the world.” Ever since she returned to Skyart, rumors circulated in the outside world ceaselessly. There were rumors about everything, and the most widespread rumor was that she escaped and ditched Pei Ziheng after seeing that Imperial Entertainment was about to go bankrupt. After that, she went to seek refuge from her ex-boyfriend Li Lei and was accepted by him after he found her pitiful.

Besides telling the people in the Skyart’s building that their “lady boss was back,” Lady Boss had not officially announced their relationship to the public. According to him, she just left Pei Ziheng and lost her son. It was not appropriate to announce a new relationship after a short month.

Xia Ling also agreed.

However, this did not prevent the reporters from continually speculating. Occasionally, he let them take pictures of him being affectionate with her to give her a rightful title. She did not pitifully beg to stay. Rather, she was treated like a treasure in someone else’s hand.

At this time, hearing her rebuke, Li Lei smiled. “Why can’t you be smarter when it’s time to use your brain?” He secretly snuck his head over to take a bite of the cotton candy she stole from him. He caught her off guard and bit off a large chunk of it.

“Li Lei, you’re stealing my cotton candy!” She widened her eyes as she stared at its remaining half and looked as Li Lei smiled delightedly. She reached out and punched him. “You jerk! You said this was my gift!”

Li Lei ran away, and Xia Ling chased him.

Backstage, the other singers and staff looked at them with some disdain and envy. The disdainful part was that both of them were already adults. Why were they still acting like children? Those envious felt that such a sweet love was so beautiful.

A makeup artist secretly took a few photos of them chasing each other and uploaded them online with the caption: Li Lei and Ye Xingling, the sweetest pair in history.

This blew up very quickly online. Many people gossiped and speculated how far their relationship had progressed. Had they already rebuilt their relationship? Could it be that the Ye Xingling who had divorced once and lost a child was thriving with the privileged Big Boss Li?

Someone even started to gamble and bet on whether they would last as a couple.

A Rolls Royce was moving smoothly on the street. The air in the car was quiet. After being busy for the entire day, Pei Ziheng was on his way to his next meeting. There was a dull pain in his stomach. He ate a few dry biscuits and drank some mineral water in his small storage box to suppress the pain.

“There are still 15 minutes before we reach. Mr. Pei, you should rest for a while.” The chauffeur said.

Pei Ziheng turned on his phone and habitually entered the search keywords “Ye Xingling.” Ever since she left his side, he could only monitor her this way.

News articles popped out. There were some articles about how she defeated Xia Yu in the arena battle and more articles about her laughing with Li Lei. Pei Ziheng looked at the photo. He reached out and gently covered the part of the screen which had Li Lei’s body on it, leaving behind the slim and petite girl.

She was a little plumper compared to when she was by his side. She looked healthier, and her originally thin cheeks had regained their whiteness and smoothness. With just light makeup, she looked so beautiful that people could not turn their eyes away.

Pei Ziheng looked at her for a long time.

She liked to eat cotton candy from a young age and consumed it using small bites. She cherished and enjoyed every moment. When she ate it comfortably, she would slightly squint her eyes and look like a satisfied cat. He always looked at her as she ate it and restricted her consumption of it as it was junk food which did not meet the balanced diet standards set by nutritionists. Sometimes, she would throw a tantrum and puff up her cheeks as she glared at him.

However, Li Lei was different. Without reasoning with her, he directly ate a large portion of the cotton candy.

She did not feel unhappy at all.

Even when she chased after that man, her eyes were shining with happiness.

There was a bitter feeling in Pei Ziheng’s throat, and his stomach hurt again. He turned off his phone, placed one hand on his stomach, and frowned.

The chauffeur glanced at him from the rearview mirror and was a little worried. “Mister, how about I buy a hot takeaway meal for you? You can eat it before your meeting so your body won’t be hurt.” Mister had not rested for days. In order to drag Imperial Entertainment from the dirt, he had to do his best and even slept on the way when he was traveling to venues, whether by car or plane.

Pei Ziheng replied faintly. “Naggy.”

Thus, the chauffeur did not say anything more. His master was stubborn, and it would be useless to persuade him again.

At this moment, the chauffeur really missed Miss Ye. It would be really great if she were here because at least Mister would have a person who knew him well. Mister would probably only eat more after listening to Miss Ye.

“Play some music.” Pei Ziheng said in a hoarse voice. His stomach hurt tremendously, and his head was filled with thoughts of Xiao Ling. The pain was eating him alive, and he was suffering.

He wanted to look for something to avert his attention.

The chauffeur obeyed and turned on the radio.

“Next, we will play the new song that Ye Xingling sang today at the Heavenly Voice Music Festival, ‘The Butterfly Can’t Transcend the Seas.’ She said that she wanted to give it to a person in hopes that the person would forget her…”

“Change the station.” Pei Ziheng’s voice was frighteningly cold.